This game could have been soooo much better. First, on the technical side... Not a big deal, but we can't play in windowed mode. Secondly, some of the keys were weird... I think that to escape the game, you have to push escape + B? Options are minimal. The pixel art is actually very enjoyable, and similar to what we saw in the early 90s on Megadrive and Super Nes. Too many indie games go for minimalist and lazy pixel art. This one doesn't. Don't mind the screenshots, it actually looks better than this, especially with the CRT filter! he he (you can also choose a so-called "70s filter", in black and white, but I didn't think it was interesting) Also, the sprites might be tiny, but they're very well animated and full of life! The main character is adorable and sure reminds me of Rabi-Ribi! ha ha http://igg-games.com/rabi-ribi-free-download.html (I actually prefer the graphic style of Dragon Boar, but the gameplay of Rabi-Ribi is better. MUCH better.) It has a feelgood vibe in general, and even when you're in "dark" places, it still looks cute. ha ha The music choice is a mistake in my humble opinion. As usual, I'll never understand why games which try to look "16-bit" get a "8-bit" soundtrack. It's like a Megadrive game with a Nes sound chipset. I don't get it. Even if you're nostalgic and like Nes music, it still seems weird to me. Melodies aren't memorable in general, like the uninspired sound effects. Moving on. But I think this game is plagued by only ONE problem. The jump mechanic, which... You have to use ALL the time, so... big deal. lol The problem could be easily fixed, really... Basically, jumps are waaaaaaaay too slow. I guess the jump height is ok, but why does the character have to go down so slowly?? So, you wonder why I think it's a problem? Well, timing your jumps to kill enemies is EXTREMELY annoying. Maybe you'll get used to it after a few hours of gameplay?... lol But I didn't play several hours, cos I couldn't take it anymore. lol I kept jumping and jumping and always ended up next to the enemy I wanted to kill... I was missing them sooo many times. lol And some of the enemies actually move quite fast (their A.I. "patrol" between 2 points usually, like many old-school platformers) and they can turn back on you suddenly, and if you missed your jump, well they damage you... And you'll pull your hair out. lol And the worst part of this is that... Many enemies are "one-hit" kill types. (snakes, skeletons, etc.) I realize this was actually the case in many platformers in the 80s/90s... But I sure don't like this... And when you die, you just redo the entire level. There are no checkpoints. I consider that level design is also a bit too amateurish. Like, for example, many times, you can't go back after a big jump. Cos the platform you were on is now too high for you to reach. (this is funny, cos first you'll be complaining against the big jumps, and then you'll wish you could jump higher... lol) I grew up with Mario and Sonic games, in which level design was ACE, and usually, in most levels, you could go back and forth smoothly. It's difficult to explain, you'll see when you play it. lol But basically, many times, I had to jump down a platform, the go all the way back at the beginning of a level to be able to reach the area I wanted to go back to... I didn't feel like levels had a nice "flow"... or, er... any flow at all. lol Not gonna lie, I actually STILL enjoyed the little time I played it. Cos it emulates VERY well old platformers. I'm afraid I won't keep it though, unless the developer adjusts the gameplay just a tiny bit.đđ
You mentioning Rabi-Ribi kinda made me interested in this. I loved that game and even finished it a while ago (only credits, not extras and others) And, yeah, having music from what would be a game with 4-color graphics on 16-color is weird, indeed. This game doesn't have power-ups (mushroom from Super Mario for example), right? Or at least more than 1 hit-point. But, yeah, I hope they'll improve it over time. This game doesn't seem that known, from what I saw...
First, on the technical side...
Not a big deal, but we can't play in windowed mode.
Secondly, some of the keys were weird... I think that to escape the game, you have to push escape + B?
Options are minimal.
The pixel art is actually very enjoyable, and similar to what we saw in the early 90s on Megadrive and Super Nes.
Too many indie games go for minimalist and lazy pixel art. This one doesn't.
Don't mind the screenshots, it actually looks better than this, especially with the CRT filter! he he (you can also choose a so-called "70s filter", in black and white, but I didn't think it was interesting)
Also, the sprites might be tiny, but they're very well animated and full of life!
The main character is adorable and sure reminds me of Rabi-Ribi! ha ha
http://igg-games.com/rabi-ribi-free-download.html
(I actually prefer the graphic style of Dragon Boar, but the gameplay of Rabi-Ribi is better. MUCH better.)
It has a feelgood vibe in general, and even when you're in "dark" places, it still looks cute. ha ha
The music choice is a mistake in my humble opinion.
As usual, I'll never understand why games which try to look "16-bit" get a "8-bit" soundtrack.
It's like a Megadrive game with a Nes sound chipset. I don't get it.
Even if you're nostalgic and like Nes music, it still seems weird to me.
Melodies aren't memorable in general, like the uninspired sound effects. Moving on.
But I think this game is plagued by only ONE problem.
The jump mechanic, which... You have to use ALL the time, so... big deal. lol
The problem could be easily fixed, really...
Basically, jumps are waaaaaaaay too slow.
I guess the jump height is ok, but why does the character have to go down so slowly??
So, you wonder why I think it's a problem? Well, timing your jumps to kill enemies is EXTREMELY annoying.
Maybe you'll get used to it after a few hours of gameplay?... lol
But I didn't play several hours, cos I couldn't take it anymore. lol
I kept jumping and jumping and always ended up next to the enemy I wanted to kill... I was missing them sooo many times. lol
And some of the enemies actually move quite fast (their A.I. "patrol" between 2 points usually, like many old-school platformers) and they can turn back on you suddenly, and if you missed your jump, well they damage you...
And you'll pull your hair out. lol
And the worst part of this is that... Many enemies are "one-hit" kill types. (snakes, skeletons, etc.)
I realize this was actually the case in many platformers in the 80s/90s...
But I sure don't like this...
And when you die, you just redo the entire level. There are no checkpoints.
I consider that level design is also a bit too amateurish.
Like, for example, many times, you can't go back after a big jump.
Cos the platform you were on is now too high for you to reach.
(this is funny, cos first you'll be complaining against the big jumps, and then you'll wish you could jump higher... lol)
I grew up with Mario and Sonic games, in which level design was ACE, and usually, in most levels, you could go back and forth smoothly.
It's difficult to explain, you'll see when you play it. lol
But basically, many times, I had to jump down a platform, the go all the way back at the beginning of a level to be able to reach the area I wanted to go back to...
I didn't feel like levels had a nice "flow"... or, er... any flow at all. lol
Not gonna lie, I actually STILL enjoyed the little time I played it.
Cos it emulates VERY well old platformers.
I'm afraid I won't keep it though, unless the developer adjusts the gameplay just a tiny bit.đđ
And, yeah, having music from what would be a game with 4-color graphics on 16-color is weird, indeed.
This game doesn't have power-ups (mushroom from Super Mario for example), right? Or at least more than 1 hit-point.
But, yeah, I hope they'll improve it over time. This game doesn't seem that known, from what I saw...
Ha ha and now YOU make me want to play Rabi-Ribi again!
I never finished it yet!
lol ! Well, I may still have to (re)play it too sometime. I've not tried the current version yet
You can do that whenever you want :3