Hop Top is the love child of Ice Climbers, Galaxian and Doodle Jump. The short burst action always leaves me wanting another game. It took me a long time to master even getting passed the first few levels but the natural osmosis over time through playing is greatly satisfying and rewarding, as failure is almost always on the player as the enemy patterns are fair/predictable with all their own unique behaviours and layouts, similarly the platforms are layed out in such a way that there is almost always multiple ways to progress forward even if you slip up the first jump and have to retry, especially so once you get accustomed to crossing over from one side of the screen to another by warping across ala pac-man and other such arcade games screen wrap mechanics. If the game is a little to hard for you or you just wanna try it and be done with it one sitting you can always cheat and use infinite continues, this doesnt remove all challenge as you still must restart the level ofcourse, I obviously never used this feature as a true gamer, but I imagine for some seeking an easier / shorter time with the game this will suffice without making it mindlessly easy for such a player. Similiarly there is an auto fire option if you dont wish to develop arthiritis playing, although again for me this didnt really serve much a purpose as spamming that button is half the fun, but its still a nice option to have, and it is even a little bit inferior to just mashing, which to some is a controversial choice I suppose, but its either you crank up the auto fire to make it objectively better, pushing players away from even bothering playing the game "properly" (in my opinion anyway) or giving them a very very slight handicap for choosing the easier option, which I think works better since its not exactly game destroying since the type of player to choose this option probably wasnt mashing to their hearts content anyway.

The presentation is stellar, excellent pixel art reminiscent of the era, akin to the more later "arrangement" namco games graphics which looks phenomenal and it really utilises this style rather than using "le retro" graphics as a crutch for bad/lazy art. The soundtrack is similiar, every track is a banger utilising the arcade instruments to their highest potential in short but memorable tracks. Extra shoutout for the kefka laugh cameo and Dancing Mad intro reference leading into Killer Queen, amazing.

Also the addition of the arcade mode emulating the style of the "original" version of the non existence arcade game pre the "arrangement" style is a great touch. SOUL.

One minor gripe I have with the game is that when the game ends, it simply ends. I feel like this game could benefit from a "loop" system like other arcade games where you can endlessly replay the campaign until game over to see how high your score could possibly go. Although this is less a criticism more just something I wish was in the game. Also I wish the main way of increasing the high score was via a time bonus per round as well as traditional point gain via collecting balloons/bouncing high as seemingly the best way to get a high score is just to stall? Which I dont really see the design idealogy behind that as it is rather tedious and without intention usually just rewards you for playing worse and taking longer which doesnt make much sense.

I can't say this is my favorite game to come of the $5-psuedo arcade game trend that I've seen take place over the past couple years, but it's still a solid effort and fully worth your time. Essentially, Hop Top meshes a contemporary mobile game (Doodle Jump) with the arcade classic Galaxian. It's a novel idea, but I feel like the execution is hurt a bit by its randomness in the main campaign.

The formations stay the same, but depending on your luck, it seems like you may either get a really easy set of obstacles to contend with or a harder set. You may get 1-ups and plenty of power-ups (keep in mind that, in campaign mode, you don't get extends based on scoring at all) or you may not. I understand that a lot of people love roguelike design, and by default arcade games always do have a bit of randomness to them, but I much prefer the "fixed" layouts of games like Donut Dodo and Cash Cow.

Still, despite my gripes, this is a fun pick-up-play experience and I will give it credit for going out of its way in a way even my favorites didn't. You actually get two games in one here- an arcade mode that shows what "Hop Top" would've looked like in the 80's and a campaign mode that gives the game a gorgeous 32 bit makeover. This was brilliant, and the latter gives off serious "Arranged Mode" vibes from the Namco Museum collections in the PS2 era for those old enough to remember. I would love to see this kind of thing done more often.

HOP TOP meshes the enemy formations and attack patterns from games like Galaxian and the nonstop jumping from games like Icy Tower and Doodle Jump to create a new kind of arcade-inspired title. The need to watch your footing while making sure to blast enemies attacking from above creates a tense but easily digestible multitasking challenge where both the top and bottom of the screen are of equal importance. Each of the game's enemy types provide unique threats but are all initially vulnerable as they come swooping into formation, similar to the aliens in Galaxian. This games the start of each round extra important, as this is where you can kill a lot of the threats before they have a chance to retaliate. Unfortunately, HOP TOP features a pet peeve of mine where you're given an auto fire option but said auto fire isn't nearly as quick as manually mashing the hell out of the fire button. Like many games of its kind, there's no inherent reason to stop firing in most cases. A couple of the game's stages feature platforms that'll collapse on top of you if recklessly fired upon, but they're few and far between. Mashing till your sore shouldn't be a key part of your game loop but if you're going after highscores, it'll have to be in HOP TOP. This becomes extra obnoxious thanks to the orange enemy type that quickly flies offscreen, only to reappear at the bottom of the screen and zoom its way back into formation. As the game progresses, you're given so little time to hit these guys that they become a real pace killer. They only stay in formation for around half a second after the first dozen rounds, and that makes them occasionally impossible to hit when the layout of ther platforms aren't in your favor, leading to more waiting. Thankfully the game does have a counter against lollygagging players by automatically scrolling the screen up if a player doesn't do it themselves for long enough, but it's a shame the game itself isn't immune to halting the player at times.

As far as balance goes, HOP TOP isn't easy but there's some leeway when it comes to generous hitboxes and the occasional appearance of power-ups that alter HOP's shots. These shot modifications can easily end a round of enemies before they even get a chance to form up, but the frequency of these power-ups (as well as score items like balloons) seems inconsistent. Maybe there's an untold logic behind their spawn rate but I would frequently play for 10 or more rounds with no power-ups in sight, while getting 2 or 3 within the span of just a handful. These power-ups don't feel vital to your success so I never felt my runs were severely affected by the game's willingness to hand me convenient power-ups, but it's a strange aspect that could maybe use some finetuning.

Otherwise, I was surprised by how well realized HOP TOP is. While you'd probably never mistake it for an actual arcade game from the 80's, the paintjob is more than solid enough to sell you on the premise. The game features two main modes; an arcade mode meant to play within the limitations of those older arcade titles (so you're given less variety in enemy waves and power-up) that feels about as pure as any golden era arcade game, and a campaign mode with a larger selection of level hazards, backed by gorgeous 32-bit art. Games last roughly 5-9 minutes from my experience, so it's always tempting to go for one more game. Hopefully we see more games try to mix and match multiple arcade classics.