“You take the blue pill... the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill... you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
-Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999
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Chapter 1: The History of Glover

Near the turn of the century, in 1998, a game was released. Published by Hasbro, it was entitled Glover. It’s a 3D platformer where you take control of a Glove. Of course, like all great art, it was more than that, but we will discuss this later. For brevity’s sake, let’s say that it’s a by-the-books 3D platformer. At the time, the genre was popular, so Glover naturally achieved a level of success, selling over a million units across all platforms (I), but the sequel, which was almost complete, was cancelled. You see, while the game was a success, Hasbro ordered too many cartridges, which retailers didn’t want to stock. This ended up costing the company a significant amount, and the sequel was the scapegoat for this loss. This is all according to a blog post from Hasbro employee James Steele. I would link it in the references, but the main source has been lost when the website it was posted on went down.

However, this cloud had a silver lining. While this overabundance of cartridges was detrimental to Hasbro’s bottom line, it meant the game was far more accessible in the retro market years later. It had high supply, and, unfortunately, low demand. Therefore, copies of this game were affordable on any platform (II).

I think to some extent, I was destined to play Glover. My favorite genre of videogames is the 3D Platformer, and I had recently obtained a Nintendo 64 around 2021 or so. I also was starting college (Studying for a Mathematics Degree), so I wanted to play games without spending a significant amount of money. Of course, now I know even cheaper ways to obtain retro video games, but I wasn’t wise in such ways even just around 2 years ago. I likely heard about the game, likely from someone on YouTube, and I ended up buying the game for only $15. This was a fairly low price for a N64 game, and I ask that you keep that price in mind for later. Anyway, I ended up playing the game not too long after on August 27th, 2021, a day I will never forget. That day was the day my life changed forever.
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Chapter 2: The Literal Review of Glover

Before I analyze the themes and metacommentary of this game, I’ll do a surface level review. Keep in mind, I played the N64 version, which is superior for several reasons. I may bring up some negative points here, but I’ll explain why they’re actually integral to the game in Chapter 3 of this analysis. The game begins with the Wizard, who has two sentient gloves with which he brews potions in his palace. He seemingly makes a mistake while brewing the potion, which turns him into stone. One Glove falls into a potion, and the other falls out of the palace. The potion turns the former glove (Cross Stitch) evil and the latter glove (Glover) has to stop him, gathering gems that were turned to gems along the way. This is a general summary of the plot.

Now, I think the most transparently good thing about this game is the movement. This game came out in 1998, and still has one of the best and most unique movesets of a 3D platformer. Initially it seems pretty tame, just a jump, double jump, ground pound, and completely useless cartwheel. However, when one takes the ball into account, the moveset is expanded significantly. Glover can dribble the ball to achieve greater height, throw and slap the ball to hit enemies and switches or get the ball to a higher area, run on the ball to float over water, or even ground pound on the ball to do a super high jump. You can also transform the ball into different forms, such as a ball bearing, bowling ball, and its original gem form. It’s an extremely creative moveset in an era when developers struggled to make basic ones.

When it comes to platformers, I think most would agree that good movement is only half of the game. The second half is good level design. This is where many would say Glover falters. In my opinion, the best level design in this game revolves mostly around using Glover’s abilities in clever ways. On my recent playthrough, I got to a level in the first world where these ball guys try and knock away your ball. They’re really good at it. I lost quite a few lives trying to get away from them, as every time they touched the ball it went flying and I lost a life. However, I eventually realized that if I turn the ball into a cannon ball this section becomes doable. I wouldn’t say that this every level has an encounter like this, but pretty much every level does require a mix of normal platforming and puzzle solving, with very little precision platforming thrown in, which I do think is for the best. When you’re holding the ball, the controls are very slippery and loose. The ball will roll down slopes and often bounces a little after landing. Like I said, I think this is fine when the game doesn’t demand precision, but its last few levels do demand quite a bit more, which sucks.

One thing I enjoyed here was collecting the garibs, which are just collectible cards that, while not integral to progressing the game like notes in Banjo-Kazooie or something, do grant points which contribute to extra lives. I like two specific mechanics that contribute to points. One, collecting a lot of garibs in quick succession grants more points, and two, collecting them while the ball is in gem form doubles points. This introduces not only an incentive for speed, but also a risk-reward system that I think is cool.

In terms of the presentation, Glover has a significant amount of style and substance. I’ll mostly talk about the substance in the next chapter, but for now let’s discuss the style and general technical details. For the console, this game looks really good. Everything’s well animated, especially the ball, which seems to be an actual 3D model. However, the draw distance is really short. This is common for the system, but this game in particular has a really short draw distance, which is probably a result of the high poly count. The game also runs at 20fps, which isn’t unheard of at the time, but it kinda stings when combined with the draw distance. Anyway, the music is actually really good. Many tracks have a sort of swing style, although you clearly don’t get the full range of such a song with the midi songs used. I would be remised if I didn’t mention the seagull song (III), which might just be the best song in any videogame ever.

I suppose I should talk about the PS1 version. It’s generally worse. They tweaked a few things with the physics without changing the level design, so the game isn’t as well designed overall. This is a good video (IV)If you want a comprehensive look at all the version differences, sans the recent Steam release.

So overall, on the surface level, Glover is a ambitious but flawed 3D Platformer. Good movement, inconsistent level design, doesn’t perform incredibly well, but good music. I would’ve given it a 6/10, but I couldn’t help but try and look below the surface for this game.

And then, everything changed.
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Chapter 3: Why Glover is a Masterpiece of Sociopolitical Commentary

I understand the perceived absurdity of the title of this chapter. “How can this videogame where you play as a glove be in any way an intelligent sociopolitical commentary? However, one should remember that many of the most beloved works of art have surface level abstraction and absurdity which hides a deeper meaning. Katamari Damacy and its sequel immediately come to mind, but there are many others. Absurdism has always been combined with profundity to create works of art, and Glover is no different.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that before the villain was named Cross-Stitch, his name was Glovel. Clearly, this is a nod to the Wizard’s left hand, while Glover is a reference to his right hand. This is a clever nod, but the actual meaning behind these names goes deeper. I’m sure many of you know where this is going: Glover represents the political right, while Glovel represents the political left. I’m sure many of you are thinking now, as I did when I initially made this realization, “Ah, I see. This game’s story is merely a shallow political statement. That’s unfortunate.” However, I couldn’t help but think that there was a deeper layer to this, so I didn’t write Glover off just yet.

The true breakthrough here came around October of last year. I was in Physics Class, studying very hard, and we had recently started talking about Torque. My professor was talking about Right-Hand Rule, and how it’s a subtle yet clear remnant of mass overt discrimination against left-handed people. I had heard about this discrimination before (IV), but I had not devoted significant thought to it since I played Glover, so only then did I have a realization. Glovel himself is a left hand and meant to represent victims of discrimination. Glovel’s transformation into Cross-Stitch isn’t a bad faith statement, it’s a commentary on how bigotry leads to perceived extremism from oppressed groups. Glovel was oppressed, but when he gained power, he started a revolution. The character designs of Glover and Cross-Stitch represent their differences. See how Cross-Stitch has a mouth. He shall be silenced no more, he will proclaim loudly his desire for equality. Glover, however, has no mouth in most artwork. You can view the box art on this very website to see that. He simply follows his orders unthinkingly, never vocalizing his own thoughts. Yes, now everything falls into place. Maybe Glover could try to compromise or at least listen to Cross-Stitch, but he can only see what’s immediately in front of him, not seeing the greater picture when it comes to Cross-Stitch’s actions. Of course! That’s why the draw distance is so low, to represent this character flaw! It was not a flaw of the game, but a flaw of the character! The same can be said of the more precision-platforming focus as the game continues. As the game goes on, Glover tries to stay on the straight and narrow; unflinching not only physically, but morally. Do you see why this game is such a masterpiece? This game has created one of the most sophisticated sociopolitical narratives in history with no dialogue. There’s such a subtle unity between the narrative and gameplay that one could cry. I have cried. I’ve cried many times, thinking of the tragic story of Cross-Stitch and his pursuit of justice.

But still, we’re missing something here. The Wizard. He is the key to this story, the linchpin. After all, Glover and Glovel were merely his tools, in a way. Is this meant to represent a covert organization that is in true control? I would say so. I’m sure anyone who’s had even a minor interest in politics has heard the proclamation that bipartisan politics are influenced by large corporations, or even a secret society. Many say that these people often practice rituals of sorts. This is not unlike the actions of a conventional wizard, so it’s clear that the Wizard is the true villain of Glover. He has no values, and controls both sides of a bipartisan system, only seeking ‘justice’ when one party is no longer in his control.

It's clear that Glover is a tragedy. Two gloves were manipulated by an evil wizard, but one of them gains power and can actually fight for what he believes in. He even recruits his friends, one of which is another misunderstood being, Frankenstein. Glover, believing that he needs to keep order in the world, destroys his friend. It’s an incredible tale that says so much about life and our world. Maybe one could argue that this game isn’t perfect. That’s true, I don’t believe that perfection can be achieved by humanity, but maybe we can achieve something else: Originality. When I consider many of my favorite works of art, Wario Land 4, Hypnospace Outlaw, Watchmen, Baki Hanma, American Psycho, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, and so on, I don’t just love them for their lack of flaws, but because they showed my something new.

I can already see it. Several millions of years from now, when humanity has perished or fled the Earth, somehow a new species will arrive, whether it be from the ground or the skies. In the ruins of the world, Glover will survive because of the excess of cartridges. Somehow, these creatures will find a way to play it. They may not understand the sociopolitical commentary, they wouldn’t know what gloves are, let alone hands. But they will learn of those things. Isn’t that the best thing art can do? Is that not the essence of life, to learn? I learned so much from this game. It taught me the beauty of life. In the end, I gotta love the Glove.

There’s just one issue.
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Chapter 4: How Piko Interactive is Corrupting this Seminal Masterpiece

If you only wanted to hear my thoughts on Glover, you can leave. Certainly, I’ve kept you for long enough already. These next sections are talking about the current state of Glover.

To talk about Glover in the modern day, I must introduce Piko Interactive. Piko Interactive is known for buying the rights to old games and reselling them. I’m not going to say they’re pure evil. They’ve done some cool stuff, such as releasing 40 Winks for the N64, which is an entirely different story, but then they bought Glover. Now, if I haven’t made it clear, I like Glover so I’d hope that the rights holders would treat the property with respect. Unfortunately, Piko made their intentions clear when they started taking down ROMs of Glover.

Now, Piko had announced a re-release of Glover at this point, but it wasn’t actually available to buy. Therefore, aside from roms, you had one option to play Glover: Buy the game for one of its original platforms, preferably Nintendo 64. This decision benefits no one. At this point, Piko was not selling Glover, so any emulation wouldn’t take away from potential sales. Trying to cope with how poorly this masterpiece was being handled, I lied to myself. “Delta, you must calm down. Surely you know, Piko is simply trying to make good on an investment. They will release a great port of Glover to Steam and other storefronts, and the emulation won’t even be necessary.” My lie failed to account for many points, but I wanted to believe Piko cared about Glover, and so I did. However, I couldn’t continue lying to myself when the game was actually released.

If you recall earlier, I stated that I bought my first copy of Glover for only about $15 USD. That’s a good deal for a physical N64 game, but most games from that console generation go for a maximum of $10 on digital storefronts nowadays. The best example is Nintendo’s Virtual Console on the Wii and Wii U, which sold N64 games for only $10, and that was several years ago. Let’s look at other examples of games from that generation on digital stores. We’ll only look at ports/emulation. Quake 1 and 2 are $10, and Quake 3 rides the line at $15. Doom 64 is only $5. Final Fantasy VII is $12. Certainly, it makes sense that a digital rerelease of a game from the past would cost less than a physical version of pretty much any game from that generation.

How about Glover? How much did its re-release cost?

$20.

Yes, the game was released for more money than it cost me to get a physical copy in 2021. I can’t think of many games that were released pre 7th Generation where a re-release costed more than just buying a physical copy. You may say, “But Delta, surely you understand that game prices have gone up since 2021. Don’t rely on outdated data.”

I say, “That is true. However, dear reader, I bought ANOTHER copy of Glover only four months ago. It was only $16.”

You may say, “Delta, you said earlier that you were studying Mathematics, and by extension, at least some level of statistics. Surely you know that only two samples is not reliable data for a population mean. You will need a far greater sample space. I will only accept a population mean value range around or below $20 if the confidence interval is with 95% certainty minimum.”
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I WENT ON EBAY, SELECTED 50 RANDOM USED COPIES OF GLOVER FOR NINTENDO 64, TOOK THEIR PRICE AND FOUND THAT WITH 95% CONFIDENCE, THE POPULATION MEAN WAS BETWEEN $18.18 AND $21.65. THE MEAN OF THE SAMPLE WAS $19.92, SEVEN CENTS LESS THAN BUYING GLOVER ON STEAM. I WIN, PIKO INTERACTIVE!!! I WIN!!!

(I very well could’ve made a mistake, so if you want to check my work, add me on Discord at ‘cesargarlandouroboros’, and I’ll send you my work. Also, anything I say about Piko is satire.)

But I’m willing to cut Piko a break. They included both the N64 and PSX versions of the game. Yes, the PSX version is far inferior, but you are still technically getting two games. Also, I’m sure at least one of those copies of Glover is a dud. At least, when you buy the Steam port, you know it will work as intended.
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…Not really though, because the Steam Port kinda sucks.

How? How did they mess this up? Even Nintendo, who is rightly criticized when it comes to their retro re-releases, usually deliver a fine level of quality when they do re-release a game. For some reason though, this port is a mess! To give Piko credit, they fixed an infamous bug that would delete saves and upped the draw distance (As we’ve gone over the draw distance is important, but I understand why Piko would think it’s an issue and appreciate the effort). However, there’s plenty of issues as well! The game still only runs at 20fps! When it first released, you couldn’t even exit the game without control f-4. When someone complained about this, Piko made fun of the person! There’s tons of other issues that I’m not going to get into, some of which have been fixed, but I think you get the point (If you want a look at some issues at launch, this is a good video) (VI). Piko released a sub-par version of a game for more money than it costs to get physically and removed ROMs of the game meaning that most people wanting to play Glover will buy their middling port and not see it for the masterpiece it truly is. This is quite possibly one of the worst things that could happen to Glover.

Piko Interactive has done a few other things with Glover, such as extremely expensive physical re-releases, but I’m not too concerned about that. Sure, $60 is a lot for a cartridge you can likely get for $18.18 – $21.65, but they do infamously cost a lot to produce, and I guess it is a collector’s item at the end of the day.

However, just like the previous time company interference ruined Glover, there is a silver lining here.
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Chapter 5: Glover 2

Do you remember when I mentioned 40 Winks, the unreleased N64 game Piko gave an official release? Well, Piko has expressed interest in finishing Glover 2 and releasing it. Now, Piko already kind of goofed with a game that’s already finished, so I’m sure they could do way more damage when it comes to finishing a game, but we’ll see. It would still be really cool if they did it. But please, Piko, if you do end up finishing Glover 2, don’t remove the beta version available right now.
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Chapter 6: Afterword

If you read the entire review, thanks. I don’t plan to make many reviews in this style, but I thought it would be interesting to do at least one, and maybe I’ll do something else like this one day.

Ever since I played Glover I had an inexplicable adoration for it. Even on this website, you can likely find many examples of me proclaiming my love. When I started this review, I planned to say “Yeah, my love is ironic, the game is mid.” However, as I wrote this review, I began to realize that I do really love this game. There’s no other game I’d go to such efforts to make a review of. Even replaying for this review, while the game does have some obvious rough patches, I still had a lot of fun with it. As such, I decided it was time to put Glover on the throne of my favorites list. Truly, I have lost all credibility.

Anyway, check out Glover. I’m sure you can find a ROM of the N64 version somewhere.
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References:
(I): https://www.vgchartz.com/game/864/glover/?region=All

(II): https://www.pricecharting.com/game/nintendo-64/glover

(III): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OQzAMDQjGA
Game has three composers (Rob Lord, Paul Weir, Mark Bandola) and I couldn’t find out who composed this specific track :( .

(IV): https://historydaily.org/why-does-left-mean-wrong/8

(V): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EsdyYg8RT0 ‘XP: Glover (N64 Vs. PC Vs. PS1) |
Is It Any Good?’ ExoParadigmGamer. June 28, 2019.

(VI): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYVj3fMuoGY
‘Glover’s PC Port in 2022’. ThumbsUpMaster. May 2, 2022.

Suggested by @AlphaOne2 for this list.

Admittedly, I was a bit concerned in the earlier hours of Dusk. I was enjoying the game, but it would’ve been hard to say much about the early game aside from “It’s like Quake.” That’s just not an interesting review. However, some divergences started about halfway through the first episode, and it improved from there, although it still stuck fairly close to Quake.

First, let’s take a look at the arsenal. The shotgun, super shotgun, riveter, and mortar are pretty much identical to four of the guns from Quake. I’m not gonna fault the game for having a shotgun (Especially when I can dual-wield them), as that’s in pretty much every shooter, but I would’ve appreciated some alterations from the other three guns’ Quake counterparts. Looking at the rest of our loadout, we have a pistol (Which can also be dual-wielded), an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, and a crossbow. Most of these are pretty by-the-books, but I do think the crossbow is rather unique and fun to use. It’s a fairly powerful weapon that passes through enemies, allowing for multiple kills at once if you can line enemies up. However, it also has a bit of kickback, which can be used to gain extra heights from jumps, meaning you can make a few skips if you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of ammo. This is a pretty cool alternative function. Overall, the guns are fairly fun to use, but I wish they were a little more original.

Although, I guess the game also lets you just pick up random stuff and throw it at enemies. I think the best comparison is something like in Half-Life 2 with the gravity gun. You know, you can use objects as a projectile or shield. However, throwing stuff is just… really strong. Why does the barrel do more damage than a shotgun? I dunno, but at the very least it led to me trying to use whatever items I could find. It certainly had an impact on gameplay, but I wish they pushed this a little more. Most items just do the same thing, aside from explosive barrels, which, well, explode, and crystals that cause enemies to attack each other. Throwing barrels and rocks can be fun in moderation, but it’s not particularly gripping gameplay in large chunks. It’s also worth noting that some of the more creative uses of items in Half-Life 2 (Carrying health items, building bridges to advance, etc…) aren’t here in philosophy or in form, likely because they would be a little harder to integrate into a boomer shooter’s level design without making significant changes. Maybe that’s for the better since that kind of stuff would slow down gameplay, but a little more variety of objects and maybe a weapon specialized to object interaction could’ve been great without sacrificing speed.

Even disregarding the previous paragraph, the map design was probably the biggest issue for me in the opening hours. It’s initially very flat, and I mean that literally. Most shootouts would take place in either a cramped building or a flat plain, so verticality wasn’t taken advantage of at all. As the game goes on, the level design becomes far more interesting. The fans that shoot you up into the air were a fun addition that keep things quick, wide-open arenas have many layers but aren’t a hassle to traverse, and levels will usually wrap around themselves to reduce excess backtracking. Later on, even more unique level design elements are introduced, and the game has a greater sense of variety without sacrificing the core appeal of ”HUGGH”-ing everywhere and shooting. The level design pretty much always fits the atmosphere; High-energy levels are wide open and play rock music, while unnerving levels are dark and cramped. The game does use the basic three keys approach that Doom and Quake use, but I really don’t think that’s an issue at all.

The enemy design is pretty good. They’re all distinct and fit the high-speed gameplay. Most enemies are aggressive, but you can always deal with them if you’re skilled enough. “Just keep moving” is the name of the game here, as is in most good boomer shooters. The best examples of this are the wendigo, grand wizard, and cart dog. You just can’t deal with these guys while still in 9 out of 10 cases, which is just how I like it. There are also bosses here. They’re mostly good, but not particularly great. Most of the boss arenas are pretty basic and the most unique one was just filled with bottomless pits, which was annoying. The final boss was the best in this regard though, as the arena is more interesting and there’s more strategy to the fight. The game also does that “The boss is a normal enemy but big!” cliché a few times (Although it also makes a boss a normal enemy but small, which I thought was funny). It’s neat that most bosses can be skipped, but I don’t think it’s a compliment to say the best thing about something is that it’s optional.

One thing I really liked here was that there is a sense of progression here between levels and episodes. You start in this rural area and fight occult enemies, but at the end of the first episode you discover that this rural town is being watched by a high-tech organization. After that, you go into an alternate dimension, where the final episode takes place. It strikes a good balance between keeping momentum in both the story and gameplay. The theming is pretty varied here, but it also feels like this variety is cohesive in how it progresses.

Before I begin wrapping this up, I want to talk briefly about difficulty. In games where you can save whenever, I always impose a limit in terms of how many times I can save. With boomer shooters, I always allow myself a single mid-level save, as well as one before bosses in most cases. There’s something to be said about how easy it is to save scum in games like this, but I never felt the desire to do this, as even at its hardest this game rarely felt cheap. I played on the normal difficulty, and while I felt that health resources were always well-balanced, I consistently had tons of ammo. Maybe it’s just because I consistently would break crates for ammo, look for secrets, and use melee when possible, but I still think there’s a lot of value in being strapped for ammo when it comes to shooters. The game leaned into this a little bit in the third chapter where you start off with very few guns, but I still think ammo should’ve been a little scarcer.

Visually, this game is certainly trying to evoke the low-poly era of games. It looks good enough, but not particularly great to be honest. I do like the creature designs, but the animations aren’t super impressive. While the lighting can be striking occasionally, it also can be jarring when an object suddenly shifts from glowing blue to glowing green. However, I really like the sound design. Not necessarily the music, although the music was good. No, it’s the sound effects that are great. I really love when you must listen in games, and Dusk is a good example. There is a visual tell for Wendigos, but the audio tell will almost always come first. Same with the Mamas, which are probably the most dangerous normal enemies. I will never hear squeaky wheels again without having a fight or flight reaction. Pretty much every dangerous enemy has a distinct sound, which I love.

Overall, it was a fun boomer shooter. It’s derivative of Quake, but there’s enough different here that there’s instances where I’d want to play Dusk instead of Quake and vice versa. The creators have hinted at the possibility of an extra episode, and considering the game improved as it went on, a new episode or sequel could be great. I know New Blood went on to publish Ultrakill though, which is another game I’m playing because of the suggestion list, so I’m looking forward to that. Anyway, Dusk a fun game, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys Quake or Doom. 7/10, but I could raise it to an 8.

First, I have to talk about the main little tidbit this game is infamous for. Feel free to skip these first two paragraphs. So the developers of this game, Argonaut, previously worked closely with Nintendo, developing Star Fox, which was an undoubtedly impressive title for the SNES. Nintendo did kinda screw Argonaut over by cancelling Star Fox 2 when it was nearly done and taking many staff who had moved to Japan, but the way this game ties into this story is that Argonaut supposedly showed a prototype of a 3D Yoshi game to Nintendo, which according to the founder Jez San, Miyamoto himself said was inspiration for Super Mario 64, thanking Jez San for the idea of a 3D Mario game. Jez San claims that Nintendo basically stole that idea from Argonaut while screwing them over. That Yoshi game, of course, went on to be Croc.

The thing is, I'm not sure if I really buy this. Even if it did happen, 3D was an inevitability. Jumping Flash released a year before Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot was also being developed, Alpha Waves came out far before any of these, the idea of a 3D Platformer wasn't that unique.

Even if it did happen, it doesn't really mean much. Super Mario 64 and Croc: Legend of the Gobbos are very different games. Let's start with the big thing: The controls. They're odd. In a lot of ways, your moveset is pretty basic. A jump, a tail attack, and a ground pound. Where things get odd is the actual movement. So, there is full analogue here, which is cool, but the camera is much different than modern games. The game uses a strange mix between tank controls and conventional analogue. Pressing left, for example, makes Croc run left while also turning the camera. If you just nudge the stick left, Croc stays and place and turns left. L and R are slow strafe moves. Got it? Well, there's more. In the air, the functionality of the shoulder buttons and stick are effectively reversed! Now, L and R turn Croc and left and Right on a stick move him left and right. It's very odd.

Honestly, once you get used to the controls, they're not bad. In fact, I had a decent amount of fun after getting the hang of the details. It also helps that the levels feel built around these controls. That's not to say the level design is great, it's definitely pretty basic, and one could argue that's kind of because the controls are so limiting. The first two world especially feel very repetitive in terms of level design, and the third and fourth kind of do too. I realized midway through that while this game was pretty consistent, it was also very generic. Most mechanics were very generic, most level themes were pretty generic, the most interesting thing about the game is the weird controls. Look at a game like Chameleon Twist, released the same year as this. It was very short. Its camera was inconsistent, to say the least. However, it was unique. This game isn't really unique. Look at Croc. Listen, I don't care if this game had the greatest gameplay ever, Croc would never be a cultural icon. His most distinct feature is a backpack.

Ironically, I thought the final world, which most people seem to hate, had by far the most unique ideas. Yeah, the penultimate level was a little too punishing, but each level felt distinct. It showed that they could've made a really good game with this basis, focusing more on puzzles and interacting with the environment.

Then there's the bosses. Uh... They suck. They're very easy, all take place in generic arenas, and defeating them is always the same. They attack, they get tired, you attack them, repeat. They also lack feedback. Often, I couldn't really tell if I was actually damaging a boss because any damage animations are way too subtle.

I think the best part here is the audiovisuals. Sure, the visual style is pretty uninspired, but the draw distance and detail is impressive. Also, the music is epic. Very good.

Alright, wasn't sure where to mention this, but I had to discuss it. You know how if one was to, say, stand on a relatively slow moving train, they wouldn't fly off? I believe it's called static friction? Well, in Croc even if you're just above a moving platform, your velocity matches that of the platform. It's just a very odd quirk.

So despite its problems, I liked the game. Will you like it? I dunno, maybe the upcoming Croc HD will make some modernizations. Regardless, 6/10, definitely closer to a 5 though.

Been playing a few N64 3D Platformers lately, and I remembered that Nitro Rad talked about this one. I decided to emulate it pay a lot of money for it on eBay, and it ended up being one of the best in the genre.

This game isn't too far removed from a game like Banjo Kazooie, as most progression is gated from tokens and tickets that you collect throughout sandbox stages. However, what really sets this game above other collectathons is that most variety is still focused in platforming, and the more puzzle-focused sections are still really fun. The titular Rocket has a very simple moveset. Initially, all you can do is move around, jump, and pick up and throw items. While your moveset expands as the game goes on, it's clear that the focus here is on two other elements. First is interaction with the environment. The game gets a lot of mileage out of the grabbing and throwing. Aside from just using items as stepping stools for getting to greater heights, some items have unique properties or need to be broken to get something else out of them. There's also the standard "Bring the thing to the thing", but that can also be fun when you remember certain moves can't be used while holding an item. All of this brings a puzzle twist to many platforming challenges, which is true among all of the unique stage gimmicks as well.

The general stage variety is great as well. It's all themed around an amusement park and most levels fit that. The first level is pretty standard, but the second is a paintball fight mixed with ancient Rome. Another is Halloween themed, with the first half being filled with candy and the second with spooky monsters. It also helps that the stages are well-designed in general. While the game is non-linear, most stages aren't necessarily a wide-open field, instead being interconnected areas. Many individual challenges will wrap around to a central location, activating something that makes any backtracking easier, and usually these conveniences persist even if you die. The only real exception is the final level, which is a linear gauntlet. While this is fun, it is a little too punishing. Unfortunately, the final level also doesn't take advantage of the other focus of the game: The vehicles.

Now, if there's two things I dislike in platformers, it's combat sections and vehicle sections. However, this game does the latter very well. Instead of being some random detour from the core gameplay, the vehicles here are something you have to earn, and you drive them in the same areas you can traverse on foot. or uh... wheel. They're also just really fun to use. Not only are they a quick way to travel, but the objectives are usually very simple and platforming-focused. It was the biggest thing I was worried about going in, but they nailed it.

This game also did something kooky. There's no bosses. Not one. Honestly? Good. Even if the final level was a bit too punishing, it stuck to the game's strengths. Not every game needs combat, much less a 3D Platformer.

I do think it's worth mentioning that one way that Banjo Kazooie trumps this one is in its characters and comedy. Gruntilda was a consistent presence in that game, and was a very effective villain. Rocket has a similar setup to Banjo all things considered, but there's not really a focus on characters or comedy at all. I was fine with that, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Overall, this is the definition of a hidden gem. One of the best 3D Platformers I've played. I know that Sucker Punch went on to make the Sly Cooper series, so I'm definitely checking those games out. I'm split between an 8 and 9, but I'll give it the benefit for now. 9/10.

Hypnospace Outlaw is one of the best games I've ever played. I wasn't using the internet in the 90's, but aside from a few specific references, Hypnospace Outlaw isn't a game that rides off of the coattails of 90s Nostalgia; It takes what stuck out about that era and uses it as a blueprint for it's own dense world.

Every word of text, every troll page, every crappy drawing serves to characterize HypnOS and its users in a way that makes exploring its many secrets extremely satisfying. I doubt I'll be bored at all returning to this one; I'd be surprised if I ever found everything Hypnospace Outlaw has in store. It's a game that shows the industry does have somewhere else to go besides up: out. Out into incredible experiences not sold by the size of the map, and but by creators trying to make something unique and beautiful.

Play it.

Suggested by @MrTheMan for This list.

It seems that every indie game nowadays has to be a spiritual successor to something or a combination of two games. I can empathize with developers, as this is a good way to sell a game at the end of the day, but it means that often, the games that have the most potential to experiment will stick too close to their inspirations. While concepts like Dark Souls Castleroid, Quake mixed with Blood, and Super Metroid with more platforming can be cool, rarely do they reach the height of the games they’re inspired by.

Ultrakill is one of those few cases that just about does. You can’t deny the influences here, because typing devilmayquake.com into your search engine of choice will lead you to this game’s steam page. This game is a clear attempt to make a stylish, expressive boomer shooter-character action hybrid. While this concept sounds cool, the actually details of executing the concept seem somewhat dubious. How do you combine the flashy excess of Devil May Cry with the raw simplicity of Quake into a good game?

I think one of the best ways to demonstrate this game’s qualities is with one of its most iconic elements: the coin. Basically, you flip a coin into the air, and if you shoot the coin with a hitscan gun, your bullet will become stronger and hit the nearest enemy’s weakspot. The first positive of the coin is that it allows for a lot of strategies. You can use it to hit enemies around corners, shoot through an enemy, hit the coin, and then hit another enemy, hit a lot of coins to build up more damage, and more. This simple idea allows for a lot of strategies, and this applies to the rest of the surprisingly small loadout. Honestly, the guns are pretty conventional at a glance, but their alternate fires give a little more complexity and uniqueness, at least as much as you can have for a game so dedicated to being fast paced. The nailgun has a magnet for attracting shots, there’s these rockets that you can hold in place and let fly after a few seconds, it’s not the most unique weapon loadout I’ve seen but they’re all fun to use and fit the game.

Another positive of the coin is that it basically tells you an enemy’s weak spot when you use it. It’s a kinda genius way to show weaknesses for enemies, as while it’s a pretty simple method, it’s not overtly signaled to players. This is indicative of how the game lets the players figure out mechanics on their own with minimal guidance. When you get a new weapon, a brief summary of the weapon appears on screen, and you go through a small section to demonstrate the weapon’s properties. While this game can occasionally be overwhelming, it gives enough wiggle room and information to let the player choose their playstyle. This leads well into the third positive of the coin…

It’s just cool. This is, of course, subjective, but ricocheting shots off coins is awesome, as is a lot of other stuff in this game. You can slide around and rocket jump, punch projectiles back at enemies, you can also punch shotgun blasts after you shoot them to make them stronger. There’s a great mix of options being balanced while also just being intrinsically fun to use. In this way, Ultrakill does have some of the “Rule of Cool” appeal of Devil May Cry, although I wouldn’t call it quite as over-the-top. Unfortunately, you can’t surf on enemies or use motorcycles as weapons in this game.

The coin does show one of the issues with the games, which is that abilities are kinda easy to spam. The obvious note is that most guns have no ammo or reloading. Spam that shotgun all you want, you’ll never run out of bullets! This is fine, my main issue is how easy it is to get alt fires and dashes back, which usually return after a cooldown. Considering that one of the main mechanics is that the only way to recover health is to get up-close-and-personal with the enemy, I don’t get why they didn’t put a kill or damage requirement to earn alt fires back. I suppose this is less of a problem as the skill ceiling goes up (missing a coin-deflected railgun shot is kinda just punishment enough sometimes), but I think some of these guns could’ve used more punishment for missing shots.

Just like how the coin deflects shots from linear-shooting guns, the level design here is more linear than any of its influences. Most of the time, backtracking is minimal, which I’m honestly fine with. This doesn’t stop the developers from hiding a few secrets, which were fun to find. Most encounters take place in arenas that feature solid cover and verticality, and the enemies that populate these arenas are also pretty varied in terms of how you want to take them down. There’s a decent amount of visual variety here, and while I’d hesitate to call it cohesive in the greater game, each act’s levels usually lead naturally enough into the next one.

This game also has a story. Much how I couldn’t think of a way to tie this to the coin metaphor, I feel like the story is somewhat tonally disconnected from the rest of the experience. For how “Rule of cool” this game is, I’m surprised that they try to build lore and stuff. They even have optional history books in a few levels. The story stuff is fine, I guess. I don’t really care much about Gabriel as a character, although he is a pretty decent rival character a la Vergil or Genshin. It’s easy enough to ignore either way, and I can’t imagine the story being the main appeal to anyone.

Ultrakill is still in early access (As of now, ACT II is complete), but I’d say it’s worth buying regardless. If you’re experienced with fast-paced FPS games, go ahead and try the demo, and if you like it, toss the creators some coins and buy the full game at some point. Honestly, those who aren’t as familiar with games like this may be better off trying the essentials like Doom or Quake first, as I think this game works best with knowledge of games like that. I’m gonna give Ultrakill a 9/10, close to an 8.

As of writing, I have yet to play any Dark Souls games, or any games spun off from that series. It initially started off as a lack of interest and opportunity, but I think that at this point it's just a personality trait. The thing is, despite never playing any of those games, I can still tell that Blasphemous derives quite a bit from them. The flasks, the tone, the general gameplay, it all seems pretty similar, although feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Whether or not my lack of experience with Dark Souls had an effect on my perspective, I did enjoy this game. There are some issues, as there are with pretty much every game, but as far as Castleroids go this isn't bad. I think one thing this game does very well is backtracking. The map is tightly designed and a pretty good size. It's not too big or small. Even that aside, many in the Castleroid genre simply give very generous warp points for backtracking, unlike Blasphemous. While the opportunity for that does eventually present itself in this game, much of the level design is simply built around making backtracking easier, with switches and doors that will open and make travel more interconnected and convenient.

This also works well with the death system, something else taken from Dark Souls. Now, if there's one thing I didn't like about Hollow Knight, it's dying and having to return to where I died lest I lose all my money. I think that's a pretty annoying punishment for non-linear games where I might just want to explore another area. Blasphemous has a similar system, but I like it a little more because it's not quite as punishing. Honestly, it maybe should've been even more punishing than it is, as a few times I'd just not bother to collect my guilt, even before a a couple of bosses. At the end of the day, I'd still just prefer a flat money decrease upon death to this shenaniganry that seems so prevalent. However, I'll take my blessings where I can get them.

The combat is good, barely above average. You have your basic sword strikes, special attacks called prayers, a ranged attack, and a few more sword attacks, many of which... honestly don't matter. Honestly, aside from using the different prayers I didn't really feel that combat ever actually changed. Most fights I would just do chip damage, see a big opening, raise attack speed, and unleash whatever sword combo I had. There's also a parry and dodge with i-frames. They're... fine, but some enemies are explicitly designed around waiting and parrying, which I don't like, and I'm a bit tired of dodges with i-frames. Generally though, my biggest issue is that I don't think the progression changed my combat approach that much.

That stagnation of gameplay unfortunately extends to any platforming abilities. If you think of most Castleroids, you'll notice that almost all of them have some kind of platforming upgrade. Double jumps, high jumps, grapple hooks, jet packs, high-speed dashes, and more. These are very effective because stumbling across a future area, you go, "Oh, I guess I'll be able to reach that place somehow with some new ability." Different Castleroids have varying focus on this aspect. Metroid has tons of it, whereas a game like Iconoclasts has very little. Blasphemous is one of the few Castleroids where you essentially gain no new abilities that allow you to progress further in the world. Instead, you gain items that will add extra platforms to the world or grant you immunity to poison, along with quest items that open up new paths. The fact is, very little of what you earn in this game actually changes the way you play. This is fine I guess, but I still would've liked something to actually change how I traverse the world, since that can often be the best part of these kinds of games and I can't think of any downside to adding such a thing, especially since the level design rarely feels super specialized or finely-tuned.

What about the story? What's it about? That's a good question.

Anyway, onto the audiovisuals. I say once again, "I'm kinda tired of indie games doing pixel art but this game does it really well". There's clear inspiration from Spanish Catholicism with the imagery here, all of which looked really cool as it went over my head. The music is also pretty good.

All in all, a pretty good game, but I think better progression would've improved it a ton. I'll probably get the sequel not too long after it drops. 7/10, closer to a 6 than an 8.

Suggested by @DeemonAndGames for this list.

Wario Land 4 is one of my favorite games of all time, and the overall Wario Land series is great for what is basically a Mario spin-off. It uses an exaggeration of Mario, an icon of gaming, as a vessel for a subversion and exaggeration of tropes of 2D Platformers and games in general. What’s so interesting about WarioWare is how despite its similarities, it’s an extremely different game. WarioWare is more overtly about games, but I don’t think this means it’s entirely without subtext. A very surface-level look of this game would say that it’s composed of titular microgames that, for the most part, are completely different from each other and very simple. I complain a lot about unnatural variety and minigames, so I should hate this game.

However, there’s a little more to the story, and I mean that literally. Microgames are presented as solutions to the current character’s problem in every stage, but... why is this? Why does picking your nose help Mona escape from the cops? Yes, many games have stories that are clearly excuses for gameplay to happen, but most try to provide some kind of context or reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. When I play Donkey Kong Country, I know that I’m going through these levels because the banana thief K. Rool is at the end of my journey, I know the bananas along the way were likely dropped by him, and I know the enemies are his subordinates. And while I do like many of the characters in the game, the story is basically just there to provide that context and sense of cohesion.

WarioWare is a game without context or cohesion, and this is actually its greatest strength. The most context for microgames is a single descriptive word of your goal, and the only cohesion is some kind of basic theme of the microgames like “sci-fi” or “nature”. Even artstyles change between games, as one may go for realism while another is retro-game styled, with everything in between. All this leaves is extremely short and simple games with extraneous details stripped out. You need to figure out your goal and execute it all within a few seconds. It’s a novel idea, but the way WarioWare executes the fine details is what elevates it to greatness. As a set of Microgames goes on, the pace increases and twists are thrown into microgames which you previously played, and there are different variants of these microgames, meaning that even when you become more familiar with one microgame it can still surprise you. It also helps that while different in most ways, many microgames have some level of consistency for the less forgiving aspects of a microgame, and the more unique games are often focused on that uniqueness. At the end of a stage, you have a ‘boss’, which is a little more complicated than other microgames, and these are still simple but have a little more to them. One’s a little shmup, one’s basically Punch-Out!!, and they feel fitting to top off the smaller challenges. It helps that even after these bosses are defeated, you can return to a stage and enter an endless mode where you can try to top your high score, leading to tons of replay value. It’s all an unexpectedly exhilarating playing experience.

Honestly, my main issues stem from the fact that while microgames are mostly consistently great, there’s a few exceptions. Some don’t feel doable first time around, whether it be for an inaccurate opening word or aspect of the game that isn’t readily apparent. Some detail of controls may not be clear until you try the microgame once, which makes some harder than others when playing for the first time. Also, a lot of these microgames are just some kind of timed button press, which is slightly disappointing. Really though, this is still a great game. Through its sheer lack of consistency and theming, the game feels ironically unique and iconic. I’m definitely going to try more of these games, but I’m not sure if they’ll really hit the same way this one did. If there’s one thing that this game taught me, the feeling of trying and solving something for the first time is core to games. Replicating that feeling in a sequel is a tall order, but if there’s any gaming icon I’d expect to pull it off, it would be Wario.

A while back, I saw a trailer for a game called Momodora: Moonlit Farewell. It looked interesting, seeming a bit more intimate and less empowering than many Castleroids. I would later see this game while browsing the Nintendo eShop and it was on sale, so I bought it.

It's a pretty good game, but it's also lacking in a few key areas. I like the combat well enough. It's very simple at the end of the day, but it's deliberate and can be pretty fun. The bosses seem intentionally designed to be less of an endurance test and more of a short burst of a challenge, as your character can often die in two to three hits. There aren't many items, but the ones here are pretty well-designed and implemented.

The game in general is fairly difficult, and it has the old-fashioned system of 'if you die you lose all progress since save, no and ifs or buts'. I'm fine with that, honestly. There are a few times where save rooms were a distance away from bosses though, and getting back to the boss was usually a cakewalk, so this choice was just tedious.

In terms of ability progression, this game has very little. You earn a midair dash and a cat transformation, and... That's about it. There's a fairly good sense of exploration here but backtracking is very rare, so I feel that there was a missed opportunity with the structure. It lacks the best parts of both linear and non-linear games to me. The level design is good enough but not great and you rarely feel like you're truly exploring because most detours are very accessible and short. Maybe I would've been more accepting of this if it felt in service of story and worldbuilding, but both of those felt pretty underwhelming to me.

An IRL friend of mine read my Tears of the Kingdom review and said, "You talked all about how bad it was and then said it was a great game." I feel like this review would probably illicit a similar reaction, but I still enjoy the game well enough because it was very brisk in pace and had pretty good audiovisuals. If this game was a lot longer, I'd probably dislike it because of a lack of interesting level design or abilities. Ironically though, I think a few of the problems also come from it being underdeveloped and missing a lot of opportunities, opportunities that would probably make the game longer. Oh well. Maybe with the sequel they'll make a true banger.

Overall, a fairly good game. Might play the other ones. 6/10.

If you follow me and have played this game, you may have known this review was coming. I'm always on the lookout for a new 3D Platformer and this one got a lot of praise. I heard it was a 3D Castleroid with a platforming focus. The only other game that I know of that fits that description is Blue Fire, which, while a fine game, was pretty uninspired in many ways. As such, I was looking forward to seeing if this game reached the potential of the concept.

In many ways, it does. This game has one of the best movesets for platforming of any 3D Platformer. Expressive, unique, but also classical. Many of these moves are conceptually similar to those in other platformers, but the execution makes them special. There's a wall kick, but you only get three per jump, and you're given a lot more control of what angle you jump out. There's a slide into a long jump, but it's fully committal. There's even this hidden, crazy side jump that's hard to use but super good. Pretty much all of these are upgrades characteristic of the Castleroid structure. One problem I had with Blue Fire is that the platforming upgrades just trivialized sections, but in Pseudoregalia, the upgrades make the gameplay more complex. At first I thought I was really clever doing some sequence breaking here and there, but eventually I realized there's no real sequence to break at all in many cases. Several challenges can be cleared with a multitude of move combinations, and it's up to you to discover how to progress. It also helps that your moveset will increase your mobility, making backtracking much faster in general. It's a really awesome way to blend Platforming and Castleroid structure.

The more contentious part of this game is the exploration and the lack of a map. However, I believe the root of the problem is the level design. The rooms independently are pretty well designed, but it's looking at them altogether when some issues emerge. Many rooms are distinct to an extent, but considering the game's low-poly, low detail style, it can feel somewhat homogeneous. Really though, I think the main issue is that the path to the boss keys feel the same as the other paths. The door needed to advance will look just like the door that might just be an alternate path to where you just came from and nothing else. If you look at the Castlevania series, notice that not only is it portrayed that you need to get to the top of the castle, but the required detours from that path also have a clear direction, it makes a little more sense why many people get confused here. Very rarely is there an intuitive direction to go, as most entrances to important rooms are placed right beside entrances to less important rooms that might possibly have an upgrade but could very well not (They probably should've added more health/stat upgrades...). Of course, this wouldn't be as big of an issue if you simply had a map, but for game as small as this, I think a map isn't particularly necessary. If the doors to rooms were more unique (And not covered by fog), it would be easier to tell where you've been, even without a map. It's not a big deal, and I'm sure if I replayed this game the issue would be far less detrimental to my time, but it's still a problem.

The other thing that kinda holds this game back is combat. I mean, it's fine I guess. There's few enemy types, the ones that are here a pretty simply designed, and your attacks never progress beyond a 3-hit combo. You get benefits for fighting, but most of those are to solve problems caused by the combat in the first place. You can just run past most enemies, but if that's a positive, something went wrong here. It feels added out of a sense of obligation, which is the worst feeling to have about something in a game. The only boss fight is the final boss, which is solid overall, but it still kind of irks me that a platforming game has to end with a fight where platforming is mostly an afterthought. There's not even a final section to the bossfight here. Once you get all of the keys and go to the big door, it's straight to the boss. There was a missed opportunity for a final area that tested you on all of your abilities. Oh well.

It's a pretty good 3D Platformer, but it doesn't quite reach its potential. 7/10, very close to an 8.

If there's one thing I love about Wario Land 4, it's the meticulous level design. And the genius use of mechanics. And the incredible variety. And the thematically perfect subversion of traditional platformers. And-

Anyway, back to level design. It's a game where pretty much every little detail of the level is perfectly considered, and I think the game being slower paced than many other 2D platformers helps the level design feel truly compact. The slow pace was almost certainly due to the small screen size, but it also meant the designers had to engage the player in more thoughtful ways, where players had to consider their surroundings in ways that you're not really going to do in a game series like Sonic the Hedgehog.

What does this have to do with Pizza Tower? Well, after playing the demo, it felt kinda like a mix between Wario Land and Sonic the Hedgehog, which, as I have established, are on pretty much opposite sides of how you can design platformers. As fun as the demo was, I wasn't sure if the game could actually blend these two polar opposites together in a cohesive way. After playing the game though, I think it did a surprisingly fantastic job at it.

The way the game handles difficulty is one of its best aspects, and a great way that it blends these two series together into something completely new. Just like in Wario Land, Peppino can't die in most cases, and hits are penalized by losing points and, often, a waste of time. This works extremely well in a speed-based platformer for two reasons. One, it keeps makes the pacing feel great for any player, and two, you obviously don't want to go slower in a speed game, especially in the escape sections where actual death is often only a matter of time.

This could trivialize any sense of difficulty aside from a player's intrinsic desire to improve, but the game actually requires you to rescue nearly of the Toppins to fight the bosses, which are analogous to the Teensies from Rayman. So basically, players are gonna have to do pretty well at all the levels anyway.

This could hurt the pacing in another way; If a player only barely scrapes by with Toppin requirements, they may have to replay a lot of levels before the climax. I only had to replay one to reach the requirement though, and I have to say, I don't know if I would've minded replaying more levels, because the one I replayed actually enhanced my experience.

This is because the game is far more difficult when you try to achieve the elusive P Ranks, or just try to improve your ranking in general. On replays, you get the opportunity to do the escape sequences twice in a row, which are consistently some of the most exhilarating moments of any game I've played.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What about the bosses? These are the other times Peppino can actually die, and can be pretty difficult. However, they're mostly pretty fun, although maybe a bit disconnected from the core game. It likely would've been possible for the game to have really challenging bosses while also keeping its core systems. If, for example, the game had a time limit for bosses and the bosses used transformation attacks that wasted your time. However, the bosses were still fun so I'm not too upset.

Speaking of transformations, the mechanics work a lot better than I would've expected. All of them are introduced well and are mostly simple enough to immediately understand. A few feel a bit disruptive, such as the bombs, but most promote the fast-paced nature of the game, and many have that true to Wario Land style of 'power-up or detriment based on context'. By far the best example of this is the level (Excuse my language) 'Oh Shit!', which may be the best level in the game. And while a few of these transformations are analogous to those of Wario Land, they're all pretty distinct and well done.

I could certainly see someone not liking the visuals, but I though they were excellent, and the 90s cartoon style greatly enhanced the energetic nature of the game. The animation and attention to detail is incredible, but I noticed that at least one stage has no parallax scrolling with the background, and I think this may be universal. It's not a big deal though, and is really only noticeable in stages with more expansive backgrounds.

Audiowise, the sound effects and soundtrack is great. However, I wish the soundtrack leaned more into either stereotypical Italian music or 90s Cartoon music instead of Funk and Rock. It would've added to the thematic unity a bit more.

Everything considered, I love this game. It's truly something special, and one of the few spiritual successors to truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the game it succeeded. Dare I say, it's a Masterpiece. 10/10.

...By the way, you unlock a costume if you keep Peppino in the dark for about a minute on the menu screen. Go do that right now. Actually, maybe wait until night to do it.

Recommended by @LordDarias for this list.

As time has gone on, I've appreciated shorter games more and more. Tet is probably one of the shortest games I've ever played. However, Tet itself is made up of even shorter minigames. There's many layers to the shortness of this game! I've seen comparisons drawn to WarioWare, and while I haven't played that game yet, it seems to be an apt comparison. You have a limited time to understand and finish these extremely brief cooking minigames. They're all fine enough, although not particularly great or anything, especially once you've already figured out how to do them. As short as this game is, I don't think it's particularly replayable because of this.

There's really not much else to say here. The presentation is fine, but it could've been better overall. Honestly, one could ascribe that to the overall game. However, I enjoyed it well enough. It's super short and free, and even gives you the recipes for the food, which is neat. This game is somewhere between a 5 and 6 out of 10, but I'll give it the benefit for now.

For some reason, I still have that stupid NSO subscription, and in an effort to get the most out of my wasted money, I’ll sometimes check out the more obscure stuff in the retro sections. Fire ‘n Ice always kinda looked like a Tetris clone or something. In reality, this is a sequel to Solomon’s Key, which is a puzzle platformer I’m not super familiar with. However, it’s clear that despite their similarities, these two are distinct games. In Solomon’s Key, you have a time limit, you have aggressive enemies, and gaining height is trivial given enough time. It’s a fairly even blend of action, puzzle, and platforming.

In Fire ‘n Ice, enemies are stationary or have predictable paths, and are not obstacles but necessary to defeat. There is a timer, but it’s only there for intrinsic motivation. You can’t jump, although you can climb up a block in front of you. Given that your sole ability aside from movement is placing an ice block diagonally down and forward, gaining height takes some effort. Mix in some properties of blocks sliding, blocks connecting to walls when created next to them, and gravity, all of which are mostly based on contextual actions from the player and environment, and you have a very simple basis that allows for a lot of great puzzles. Figuring out how to hit enemies with your ice blocks will start out simple, but as time goes on, even the most minute detail can have a big impact on how you approach a challenge. Everything is very simple at first in terms of the amount of things to consider, but the game gradually adds more and more new mechanics that’ll change the approach of levels entirely. There’s pipes you can travel through, but not if ice is blocking the exit. There’s torches that will permanently light up if an enemy touches them. These are simple mechanics, but when they’re combined it creates a really challenging, fun experience. It also helps that despite the minimalist-yet-polished presentation, there’s a lot of ‘noise’ to the puzzles because you have consistent, broad rules of where you can put the block.

I usually don’t do this, but take a look at this screen. This is midway through the game, and I’m going to spoil the solution, so skip to the penultimate paragraph if you care. Now, due to the enemy placement and terrain, you can’t create new blocks within the structure without it being connected to the walls, which means they can’t be used to attack the enemies. The exception is the block up top, which isn’t connected to anything (Note that because it’s a 1x1 block, you can’t jump on it and can only push it). My main question was pretty clear: How do I manipulate this one block to get enough blocks to kill all enemies? My first thought was to go to the left side of this block through the pipes, create a bridge through the hole near it, go back and push the block into the wall on the left so I can stand on it and create new blocks with it.

The issue is that by creating this bridge, I blocked my only way to get to the other side of the block, which was falling through the hole. So I tried the same thing from the other side: Create a bridge of ice that goes all the way to the right wall, then push the block into the right wall so I can stand on it and make more ice blocks. The issue here is that in order to get to the left side, I need to go through the pipe, which this ice bridge would block.

I continued for a while, a few different things before I finally realized the solution. First, slide the block into the enemy highest up. Now with it out of the way, you can create new, slideable blocks where the enemy once was. After this, slide a block into the lowest enemy, and keep sliding them until you stack high enough to defeat the final enemy (If you want to watch this happen to better understand the game's workings, you can do so here.). I’m explaining this because pretty much every detail is important. If there wasn’t a drop on the way to the left side of the block, I could’ve backtracked and executed my first plan. If the one on the right extended up one more block, I wouldn’t need to cover it with the ice bridge for my second plan.

All of this shows just how deliberate the designers were with this game, as despite how integral every detail is, there’s still a lot of potential solutions for the player to consider before getting the correct one. The game isn’t perfect though. Some of the ‘boss fights’ have cycling autoscroll maps that move very slowly. I understand they wanted to create tension with these levels, but often I’d ironically be forced to go slower, which is all too common with autoscrollers. A better idea likely would’ve been to add a limit to the amount of blocks you can create or something, or just scroll the screen with every block creation. The game even ends with a pretty unique boss who intermittently uses fire to melt your ice blocks, and I think something like that could’ve been used for more bosses.

Other than that though, I just wish there was more. Not necessarily more levels (There’s over 100 here, and honestly some of those could probably be trimmed out), but more mechanics, and honestly, more games like this. Games that are simple, but still unique. Games that know exactly what they want to be and be it. Despite my reservations, I was anything but lukewarm on this game. This is undoubtedly one of the best NES games, and a great game in general. 8/10