Ruffy and the Riverside is a platformer first, but its cut-and-paste puzzle gameplay separates it from other games in the same genre. The hand-drawn open-world game has players cutting and pasting textures to continue progressing through the platforming world. Originally set to be released in Q1 2025, Ruffy and the Riverside was delayed to allow time to polish it and…
There was a time when the 3D platformer was one of the most creative genres out there. Driven by the delight that people had for Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, and others, developers fell over themselves to try to carve out their own niche with quirky, different ideas. Most of those…
Remember the childhood game of trying to keep a balloon in the…
The recent passion for retro remakes has seen a whole host of…
Just in time for the Game Boy’s 35th anniversary, Nintendo has quietly dropped three more classics on to the Game Boy app on the Switch Online service. The headline of the three is Super Mario Land, the first time Mario appeared on the console. Today, this game comes across as…
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Developer OutOfTheBit definitely has experience with cinematic puzzle platformers: Full Void was all about handcrafted 2D art, innovative mechanics, and atmospheric storytelling. OutOfTheBit is taking on that genre again with Nanuka: Secret of the Shattering Moon. Announced today, the game promises to fuse handcrafted animations, engaging combat, and magical adventure.…
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Violet Wisteria is two things – firstly, it’s a brute of a game that wears its old-school homage on its sleeve. It’s also heavily inspired by the classic Valis series of fanservicey magical girl platformers. Things start off really well with a story sequence pulled directly from the PC-98 era…
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Princess Peach must be a difficult character to work with now. Originally she was the archetypal damsel in distress, which made for a convenient single-line narrative to power Super Mario Bros., but that trope hasn’t done so well over time. Where Princess Zelda has been relatively easy to empower without…
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It’s hard to find innovation in the 2D platformer genre at times. However, “Dig Dug plus Ecco the Dolphin” is certainly a concept that we don’t remember coming across before! That is how the developer of Pepper Grinder describes his debut title, which has been more than seven years in…
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Contra: Operation Galuga was a mistake. It’s not that everyone involved didn’t try, mind you. As much as a certain kind of gamer loves to swipe at Konami, Konami did the right thing here to give this project every chance of success. The publisher recruited WayForward – veterans and legends…
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We live in a world where we’re all working harder and longer than ever, and what little free time we have really needs to count. I’ve addressed this in opinion pieces in the past that developers aren’t really competing for people’s money any more. Cost of living crisis or not,…
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I’m starting to get a little peeved at Nintendo for not remaking Fire Emblem (as in the first Fire Emblem to be released in the West; the one with Lyn). Not only is there a game there that would desperately benefit from modern production values (Lyn and her lovely dress…
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The preservation of video games is a subject that’s near and dear to my heart. Not just in some kind of dusty academic sense, either. I’m a keen retro gamer, and I truly do think that there’s huge benefits for all audiences to take in the breadth of gaming history.…
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The release of Atari 50 last year represented a change in mindset about how retro compilations are packaged up. I hope so, anyway. Including development documents, timelines, video interviews, and other materials made Atari 50 essential, even if those classics aren’t really your kind of games (as is the case…
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