I'm halfway through Switch Online's latest emulator additions. Let's continue. BACKGROUND:
I vaguely remember watching a Let's Play of this game somewhere, but I retained very little information about the game itself. This is essentially a fresh experience for me. SUMMARY: Spanky's Quest is a 2D platformer where you play the titular monkey on a quest to do... something. The opening cinematic is a little vague, but what I gleaned from it is that there's an evil witch who's overdue an ass-whooping. Seems simple enough. As opposed to a typical linear platformer where you simply need to get into the end, Spanky's Quest has levels that feel more akin to small challenge rooms. The objective in each room is to find the required keys to open the exit (the number of which varies per level). You must do this while avoiding enemies and navigating hazards, but that's about it. You won't really need to solve complex puzzles or go through particularly grueling platforming sections. Spanky has probably one of the most unique modes of offense I've ever seen in a video game. Pressing A causes a tiny bubble to spawn overhead, and you can bounce it atop your head to change its color. You can then press A again to transform the bubble into a ball, the type of which depends on the color of the bubble at the time you popped it. These balls kill enemies on contact, and while every level of the attack is equally effective at killing enemies, the higher charge levels cover a lot more ground and can take out multiple enemies at once. For example, the baseball (which appears when you pop the bubble immediately, AKA you didn't bounce the bubble) is tiny and can only kill one enemy, but the basketball (which comes out at the highest possible charge) is a massive spread attack that throws five balls across a wide area. Ideally, you want to fire off basketballs as much as possible, but as the levels progress, you'll find it increasingly tricky to find the opportunity to charge the bubble to that level, or perhaps find trouble hitting enemies that move around too much. In situations like this, the lower bubble levels can come in handy. There are fifty levels in the game spread across five worlds, each boasting unique layouts. In terms of unique level mechanics, there aren't a lot to speak of, but the game does enough with a little to provide distinct challenges to work around. Coupled with a small variety of weird enemies (which are anthropomorphic fruit with unique movement patterns), no two levels felt exactly alike. Although few and far between, the game does have power-ups in the form of hats that Spanky can wear. These hats confer different abilities, such as a quick charge (that straight up maxes out the bubble on one bounce), or an extra hit against enemies. It's neat, but I got by without relying on these hats too much. At the end of each world, you face off against a fruity boss, and I found that fighting them is a lot of fun. It's here that Spanky's unique brand of offense shines, as the dance of avoiding the boss's relatively simple patterns while also charging your attacks is a surprisingly engaging challenge. The game doesn't have a ton of secrets, but you can uncover the occasional bonus level or power-up by breaking sections of the level with your bubble. I thought that was neat, if a little inconsequential. Another little thing I liked was that you can acquire extra keys if you look around enough in certain levels, allowing you to breeze through later levels by decreasing the keys you need to actually find. VERDICT: I thought Spanky's Quest was a fun, unique experience; while everything else seems like standard fare for platformers, the fact that it's all built around the unique bubble bouncing mechanic changes things significantly. I enjoyed this game a lot more than I thought I would, and I'd probably still enjoy it even if the game was just the boss fights. Perhaps this game is one of those "too weird" kind of experiences, but I think people should give this one a chance. Even if you end up not liking it, I think the simple act of just exploring its core mechanic for a couple of levels is something that's worth checking out. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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