In this story
If you’re looking for a whimsical, polished, and miniature masterpiece for Switch, look no further Bzzzt. It’s an action platformer with a cute robot tasked with avoiding one mischievous death trap after another. It scratches that same itch How Astrobotthe most challenging levelsand I’ve been having a blast since the game launched on Nintendo’s portable hybrid console earlier this month.
If Bzzzt looks familiar, as the game actually came out last November on PC. It’s the work of a lone Czech programmer Karel “KO.DLL” Matějka and punches above its weight. Combining the stunning pixel aesthetic and simplified gameplay of 80s arcade classics, it’s a great palate cleanser between bigger, more complicated games. Imagine Super Meat Boy if it looked like this Mega Man and it was much shorter.
Your job is to guide the ZX8000 robot through a series of sci-fi hazards in a futuristic testing facility, while battling the minions of a Dr. Wily-style villain who is trying to take over the world. The game is divided into 52 compact stages, which the ZX8000 can navigate using an evolving arsenal of power-ups, starting with dashes and double jumps. Completing a level is enough to advance, but the ultimate goal is to collect all the collectibles and finish the game within the time limit. There are also many secrets to discover, with plenty of nods to older 8-bit games.
Some levels I breezed through. Others stopped me in my tracks like a meat grinder in a puzzle platformer. The controls feel very tight, the music is a catchy chiptune homage, and the game looks electric on the Switch OLED. What makes Bzzzt at the top, though, are the cleverly designed levels. They require you to create a mental map of your actions in real time, then adjust it after each death until you’re ready to string together the commands necessary to hit every collectible, avoid every hazard, and reach your destination in under 30 seconds.
It’s a lot of fun, even if it is rock challenging. Bzzzt It’s also very tiny—just two to three hours to complete—but that’s part of the charm. It’s perfect for playing for five minutes here or 10 minutes there, jumping out before you feel like furiously retreating, then diving back in once things have cooled down a bit and your fingers are ready to make the magic happen again. And for true platformer geeks, Bzzzt even has a permadeath mode. Deathless runs aren’t for me, but I liked it looking at this person trying.
