Platform Game - Blog Posts

New Games From Columbus

I’ve updated the Bakamo Studios site with a new post about three locally developed games that could use some hype right now. While you’re waiting for Evo 2014 Championship Series to start, why not watch these trailers?

Lemma – first-person parkour playground

Breaking Block – polished creative Arkanoid-like

Hatch-It! – cute ice physics puzzle

Source: Columbus Game Developer Spotlight » Bakamo Studios which sources Evan Todd, Smiling Cat Entertainment, and Multivarious Games

Yumi’s Odd Odyssey/Sayonara Umihara Kawase Stage Time Attacks

Two months ago, I told you I was hooked on this game. Since then, I’ve played for 47 hours, reached every door, collected every backpack, and got every survival mode ending. I’ve also brought the heat to the North American version’s leaderboards with dozens of stage times in the top three. Since this game helpfully lets you save replays, I get to show you how I got there. Enjoy!

0:03 F1 → F2 11″83 0:21 F11 → F12 11″63 0:38 F20 → F21 21″83 1:04 F20 → F37 28″86 1:38 F39 → F40 13″90 1:57 F28 → F29 13″26 2:15 F29 → F18 29″83 2:50 F29 → F30 15″73 3:11 F30 → F31 13″53 3:30 F31 → F32 16″83 3:51 F32 → F33 13″80 4:10 F32 → F42 24″73 4:41 F42 → F43 38″86 5:25 F43 → F49 16″56 5:47 F22 → F23 8″16 6:00 F23 → F24 9″43 6:14 F24 → F39 2″13 6:25 F24 → F35 9″03 6:37 F35 → F36 14″86 6:57 F36 → F37 19″20 7:22 F37 → F38 20″40 7:47 F38 → F41 7″16 7:59 F38 → F47 15″63 8:19 F44 → F45 6″73 8:30 F45 → F46 18″46 8:54 F46 → END 35″46

Source: Yumi’s Odd Odyssey (Sayonara Umihara Kawase) Stage Time Attacks – YouTube recorded with my phone’s camera

Yumi's Odd Odyssey/Sayonara Umihara Kawase

The best grappling hook in video games has finally made it to the West! In the hands of an expert, the title character can climb all over everything and fling herself across the screen while stressing the elastic fishing line to its breaking point. Beginners can stick to the main route, but everyone else gives it the finger and looks for shortcuts, backpacks, and hidden exits. This series is very speedrun-friendly and has always let you record replays of your fastest stage times.

It you’re looking for a nice, challenging 2D platformer, pick it up on the North American 3DS eShop for $30. That sounds like a lot, but it’s the lowest price I’ve ever seen a game in this series and you won’t be disappointed. Most of the players on the English version’s leaderboard hang out in this NeoGAF thread which I’d love to post in but NeoGAF has a weeks-long moderation queue for new members. UPDATE: I have now posted there.

Source: Sayonara Umihara Kawase Promotional Video English Subs – YouTube which is a fansub of the Japanese trailer

Poleovermania Mario 3 Collections

Super Mario Bros. 3 has been out for 25 years and we still keep finding new ways to break it. Poleovermania puts on a master class in tool-assisted Mario 3 trickery and shows off dozens of the game’s lesser-known bugs. When I play the game, I can only do some of these tricks, usually by accident.

Source: マリオ3小ネタ集 – YouTube (Mario 3 Clip Collection), マリオ3小ネタ集2 – YouTube (Mario 3 Clip Collection 2), and マリオ3無限1UP集 – YouTube (Mario 3 Infinite 1UP Collection) via the name of a song by desk that he wrote for a Marvel vs. Capcom 3 bug video

Maldita Castilla

Locomalito makes hard traditional 2D games that can be beaten in one sitting, and he releases them for free out of his love of arcade culture. Check out Maldita Castilla, his love letter to dark Nintendo Hard platform games like Ghosts ‘n Goblins and Castlevania. Most of the monsters come from Spanish myths we don’t normally see in video games. Find the hidden Moura’s Tear item in each stage and try not to lose your soul. The developer also made Hydorah, a brutally difficult horizontal scrolling shooter with powerups.

For God and Castile!

Source: Maldita Castilla – Locomalito and YouTube

Hitstun's Challenge (and Failure)

For the past four years, I've been doing a weekly Twitch stream where I attack a game in my backlog. If I pick the game and fail to finish it in reasonable time, my viewers get to pick next week's game as punishment. That happened tonight.

This time, I've put up a poll with five games my friends and Skype chatters want to make me play. Whatever wins this poll is the game I will run next Tuesday at 10pm EDT. This poll is open to everyone. Here are your choices:

Amnesia: The Dark Descent (PC) Megaman X6 (PS2) My Little Pony Crystal Princess: The Runaway Rainbow (GBA) Redneck Rampage (PC) Kick Master (NES)

I must have seen this screen a hundred times.

Source: The House of Hitstun » Stream and my Twitch stream of Rogue Legacy.

Tower of Heaven

Tower of Heaven is a Game Boy-styled platform game with a great soundtrack that keeps adding conditions for failure. The controls are simple, but it's easy to get near the end of a section and accidentally break one of the game's many rules. Take ten minutes and try this out. Since then, they've made another game, Pause Ahead, which I want to run blind on my stream soon.

Speedrun times are almost a minute faster than this. This is a fun game to run, and I'd totally race this on SpeedRunsLive. There's only one real skip, and everything else is just platforming skill.

Source: Play Tower of Heaven | askiisoft.