Go retro with Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Box

At first glance, you might assume that these screenshots were merely an April Fool’s Day ruse, playing off the comedy of Guild Wars 2’s lush character designs in a retro-themed, blocky virtual world. But no--those are actual in-game screens taken from within the Super Adventure Box, the latest addition to the realm of Tyria and a brilliant homage to the games of yesteryear.

The story goes that this whimsical new zone is actually a virtual reality construct, designed by the Asuran inventor Moto to educate his progeny in a whole new way. By plunging into the Super Adventure Box, players will be warped into an instance filled with pixelated enemies and old-school platforming sections. For those who aren’t so keen on jumping puzzles, fear not--friendly 8-bit rainbows will let you bypass any chasms that prove too tricky for your spacebar skills.

It’s all a delightful tribute to games like Zelda, Minecraft, and Pitfall, and offers quite the departure from GW2’s traditional fantasy universe. Players will get the chance to traverse through the Super Adventure Box all throughout the month of April; you’ll find Moto and his Holography playground in Rata Sum near the Lion’s Arch portal. Now, if you’ll excuse us--we have to go conquer some sweet platforming challenges.