After the mock-retro game collections, here’s a game with a similar premise.

Pixel is a green pixel who breaks free of his screen and travels across various game consoles. This is the framing for a journey through the 8 and 16-bit eras of gaming (plus a little 32), a mostly consistent platforming gameplay experience that effectively mimics the graphical styles of 19 different game systems (along with a sweet chiptune track for each in their respective styles).

Having explored a lot of these systems through my streams, I was impressed by how they matched up (aside from the resolution and aspect ratio, naturally). Being based in the UK, Super Icon brought their British perspective to game history, with systems like the Spectrum and BBC Micro as well as the Game Boy, Apple II, etc., and going as far as the Saturn (as a bonus extra). There’s 13 systems with 8 levels each, plus 6 more with 2 levels each (additions for the “Super” rerelease).

It’s not just the graphics that advance as you progress through history; the levels themselves get bigger and more complex (from single screens to large, scrolling areas with multiple rooms and teleporters), and there’s the occasional new mechanic introduced. You get the double jump early on thankfully, but there’s also powerups or rideable vehicles every now and then as a novelty, and the EGA PC levels introduce keycards as a nod to games like Commander Keen. The structure is still the same all the way through though: get all the gems to open the exit, and along the way find a secret or two.

This formula stays engaging for the most part, depending on the level design. But later on, and especially in the extra levels, the scope can get overwhelming. Individual levels are just too long sometimes, and with the difficulty increasing it can be tedious/intensely frustrating to lose minutes of progress to one mistake (Pixel can take a hit from an enemy before dying, but most hazards bypass this; the retracting spikes in particular can sod right off). For a “many deaths, quick respawning” game (like Super Meat Boy, etc., etc.) the balance seems off with the sheer size the levels grow to that need to be memorised and mastered in one attempt with no checkpoints.

There’s a little bit of jank to things too, although to be (facetiously) honest that just makes it feel more authentic to the European gaming experience that it’s replicating (the credits and cutscenes also display text in charming demoscene style). The novelty of seeing the enemies and collectibles continually reinterpreted faithfully in so many nostalgic looks continues to be a novelty over the whole game, and there’s some lovely backgrounds throughout. Not to mention the constantly changing tilesets, even within systems, many of which homage specific games from that system’s catalogue. To cap it all off, each new set of levels gives you a little spec sheet and history lesson about the real-life system that inspired it. It’s a real love letter to the 80s and 90s in gaming, and I couldn’t help but be charmed by it all. By the way, my final stats were about 10 hours and 600 deaths, although I only finished two of the extra levels before deciding they were beyond my limits of patience.