8-Bit Boy

I got this game for free, but I don't remember when, why, or how.

Anyway, the story starts off with a beleaguered 32-year-old man who just graduated from college. Despite such a triumphant achievement, he's feeling down. He's unemployed, lonely, and has no clue where he's going in life. His thoughts turn to the halcyon days of his youth, playing video games for hours at a time. Did I make this game? In time, he goes down to the basement to see if his old console works. He finds his game pile as weathered as you'd expect but plugs everything in. But, oddly, there's a cartridge he doesn't remember having. Not only that, but it's blank. There's no title, and it looks brand new. Something calls out to him to plug it in. Despite knowing this is a bad idea, he does it. His Sega Genesis/Mega Drive begins to glow, and a pillar of light forms from in.

And we see him being pixelated and put into the game.

From here on out, it's all gameplay. And it is 100 percent a Super Mario clone. You can run, break blocks, get power-ups, and stomp on the heads of your enemies. And don't forget to collect coins. You even enter a castle to leave a level! It plays just like it too. Floors feel slippery when dry, and pinpoint jumps are sketchy. Pitfalls are a-plenty, and water will murder you! If you've played a side-scrolling platformer, Ala Mario, then you know what 8-Bit Boy is about.

The thing it has that's different is mob variety. I played for an hour and stomped on several types of creates trying to kill me. Various birds, some with flight, worms, fish you can't kill, frogs, snakes, and even a boss bird. That's just in world one! I didn't get too much into world two, but there were a few new mobs in level one that made me want to keep playing. And each enemy, for the most part, has its own AI. Some are complacent, and others may actually try to attack you. Frogs pose no threat, but you can kill them anyway. Beware the bats! Two types of beasts will need to be struck twice to be defeated, and I found it oddly engaging.

I only got to one boss, but it was no boring Bowser battle. You actually have to engage and avoid something. You can't just grab an axe to drop a bridge. It's more Donkey Kong than Mario here. Sadly, the boss after is was much the same. The only difference was it called in ads to provide distraction.

Power-ups were a bit boring, though. There are only three, and they all do the same thing: shoot stuff. Do you want red, green, or black fireballs? The black ones shoot two balls, so probably that. All the variety went into mobs, I guess?

I really dug exploring the, what you'd expect to be, straightforward, 80's era worlds. There's a surprisingly large amount of ways to go. But I guess it needs to be. Every level has two secrets on it. One is a collectible coin, and the other is a bonus world to gather as many coins as you can. Get them all, or you fail. I failed both times I found one. There's a lot of secret walls around and platforms just off to the side you might miss if you're only looking for the exit.

The graphics were nice. Are they as charming as the SNES? No, but they get the job done in a world where good sprites have long since gone extinct.

The music was fun. The tracks were a bit ominous, but I just how I like my video game songs. I would have wanted to hear more of them, but I only got through one world. I conquered the forest, and the desert one was different, so I'm sure I'll get to more down the road. There's even a slight, but wonderful, change when time starts to run low. The tracks I heard had no business being that good.
 
It's really hard, though! Fortunately, you can just respawn back at the world you died on, but I ran into a weird issue where I kept being revived with one life left. This meant I kept coming back with the same power-ups and having to click the respawn icon after every death. It's a bit tedious, and I don't know if it's a bug. Maybe it's the only punishment for being bad? There is a hard difficulty if you want to be even tougher.

8-Bit boy was a game build by one dude whose life resembles mine. I hope he's happier than I am since he made a fun game. It looks like an old school platformer. It plays like an old school platformer. It's as difficult as an old school platformer. If you're an old man who wants something new but similar, here it is. I'm lead to believe that there are even more power-ups down the line, but I've only gotten through World One. Who knows what lies beyond in the desert?

I had wanted to remove all the games I play during these new few weeks from my computer, but I might keep this one around for a while.