Nintendo is often accused of not making many new IP. This is completely untrue, even aside from games like Splatoon and Arms as Nintendo publishes several smaller games and they often release new IP that was developed by other devs. Astral Chain from PlatinumGames is a fully owned Nintendo IP for example, and yet many don’t acknowledge that. Now Nintendo’s NST has teamed with Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios to create something very unique.
The Stretchers sees you control paramedics rushing to save “Dizzies”, aka civilians who have been affected by the evil Captain Brains, and take them to a hospital. It sounds easy enough, but the game quickly proves itself to be less realistic and more arcade-like in feeling. The Stretchers has been likened to Overcooked meets Crazy Taxi, and that is a valid comparison indeed. The driving sections see you control the ambulance so recklessly in a callback to the classic Sega title, and earn points based on stunts performed. I am pretty sure that would kill the patient rather than get them to the hospital faster, but hey I guess the laws of physics work differently in this universe.
Loading the patient into the ambulance requires some effort and this is where the Overcooked comparisons come in. This can be done in single player or in co op with a friend and both ways have their ups and downs. Single player can take a bit of time to figure out as you control the characters, and you may make some mistakes as you play. Co-op is just inviting chaos as players will struggle to coordinate with each other, which will lead to many physics based disasters. That said, the disasters occur in both single and multiplayer, but the same puzzle will have a different nature depending on one or two players, as the way of approaching it is different. The puzzles provide a bit of an obstacle course but are done in a very inventive way and play well with the over the top nature of the game.. They will take you some time to figure out and actually pulling them off is a feat itself.
It is by no means bad, as the frustration is intentional and part of what is there to amuse you. This is clearly not a game that takes itself seriously ( again, doing stunts in an ambulance is a bad idea that will get real emergency responders fired, but would make for good videos I might add), and is meant to be played overtime and laughed at. Its the kind of game you play continuously even if you are doing bad and yet just want more of. I could also compare this game somewhat to Emergency Call Ambulance, the Sega Model 3 arcade game about getting patients to a hospital quickly. That game was played a bit more realistically though, and I like to view The Stretchers as that game meets the insanity of Crazy Taxi and Overcooked.
Overall, The Stretchers is another hit for the Nintendo Switch and I highly recommend checking it out for fans of classic Sega arcade games as well as fans who want some co-op fun.