I don't normally write public reviews since I feel like I'm not critical enough, but it's a special occasion, as this is apparently the 300th game I've beaten in my life. And because this is a) an obscure enough game that b) a ton of people actually have easy access to (via it being on Nintendo Switch Online) but are likely to write off because it sounds goofy, I'm going to try and encourage you to give Spanky's Quest a look.
The easiest praise I can give this game is its music. There aren't that many tracks in total but some of them are REALLY good, especially around the midgame. The sprites are also cute and colorful, and the general aesthetic is super charming.
But what really captivated me about this game is its unique gameplay. You throw a bubble and bounce it off of your head, and the more you bounce it, the bigger the bubble grows and changes in color. You then choose when to pop the bubble, and depending on how big you've grown it, it will turn into a sports ball with different effects: the first stage is a weak baseball with a basic arc, the next is several soccer balls that fall downwards in a line, the next is a volleyball which has a small range on its own but will multiply and explode outwards if it hits something, and the last is a line of big basketballs that cover a large range. Hitting an enemy with your bubble will stun them, but you have to use one of the popped bubbles (aka the sports balls) to actually defeat them.
The game is divided into a series of worlds which themselves are made of ten levels (including a boss). In each level, you must find enough keys to advance through the locked door, and the number of keys required varies by level. Sometimes the keys are just sitting around, but they can be picked up and carried by enemies which you must then defeat.
Now, the big point of frustration in this game: you have a very small amount of lives, and EACH HIT takes away a life. Spanky is not a very agile creature; there's a delay to his floaty jump, and it's often very hard to avoid the enemies- especially because they have a tendency to fall out of the sky onto you. Your first time in a level, you'll have no idea what you're dealing with and are likely to get hit as you're figuring it out. When you lose all your lives/hits, you get sent back to the beginning of the entire ten-level set. This essentially means that you'll be replaying the same early levels again and again and again just for the chance to make it to later levels and figure out what to expect, how to avoid the enemies and where you need to go.
That is, of course, if you're stubborn like me and insist on playing classic games without using save states or the rewind feature. If you're less scrupulous, you'll have a much easier time. But I tried to get the experience as if I was really playing it on the SNES, and... whew. The last regular set of levels in particular was mind-numbingly frustrating, as there are a couple levels in that set with enemies bouncing all around and falling from the sky and it's basically sheer luck to make it to the door without getting hit. (Note: there is a password system for going between worlds, although there is no saving otherwise.)
As for the bosses, once you figure out a pattern that works for you, they're pretty easy to do damageless. However they have way too much health and take too long, turning them into a test of patience. And of course the trial and error nature of this game applies here, so you can easily get punished and sent back to the beginning of the world when you're figuring them out.
The real fun of this game comes from learning the level sets - for instance, there are some levels with extra keys you can get that will make later levels easier, since you can carry extra keys from level to level. You'll also benefit from finding hidden bonus rooms or other places where you can get extra lives, which will help you a lot in the long run (especially since bonus rooms help you conserve your keys). I had put so many attempts into a certain level set before I learned that throwing the bubble onto a cannon can sometimes make an extra life shoot out. But I'll leave other methods of obtaining hidden bonuses for you to figure out. All of this still doesn't make up for how absurdly punishing and random the last world is, though.
I would say this for most anything, but: if you approach this game without save states/rewinds, you're going to get more out of the challenge aspect and finally getting through a world will feel super rewarding and satsifying. However, it WILL be frustrating, you WILL die to things that are unfair or that you had no way of knowing were coming, you WILL grow to absolutely hate Spanky's flailing around hit-animation and the sound that goes with it, and all of this WILL be a turnoff. It's why I stopped playing this game a year and a half ago, and just recently picked it back up and beat it. So it's up to you how you want to approach this if you check it out.
But I love unique gameplay systems and I became weirdly passionate about this strange little game, despite its many flaws. It's better than yet another caveman-based platformer, probably.
The easiest praise I can give this game is its music. There aren't that many tracks in total but some of them are REALLY good, especially around the midgame. The sprites are also cute and colorful, and the general aesthetic is super charming.
But what really captivated me about this game is its unique gameplay. You throw a bubble and bounce it off of your head, and the more you bounce it, the bigger the bubble grows and changes in color. You then choose when to pop the bubble, and depending on how big you've grown it, it will turn into a sports ball with different effects: the first stage is a weak baseball with a basic arc, the next is several soccer balls that fall downwards in a line, the next is a volleyball which has a small range on its own but will multiply and explode outwards if it hits something, and the last is a line of big basketballs that cover a large range. Hitting an enemy with your bubble will stun them, but you have to use one of the popped bubbles (aka the sports balls) to actually defeat them.
The game is divided into a series of worlds which themselves are made of ten levels (including a boss). In each level, you must find enough keys to advance through the locked door, and the number of keys required varies by level. Sometimes the keys are just sitting around, but they can be picked up and carried by enemies which you must then defeat.
Now, the big point of frustration in this game: you have a very small amount of lives, and EACH HIT takes away a life. Spanky is not a very agile creature; there's a delay to his floaty jump, and it's often very hard to avoid the enemies- especially because they have a tendency to fall out of the sky onto you. Your first time in a level, you'll have no idea what you're dealing with and are likely to get hit as you're figuring it out. When you lose all your lives/hits, you get sent back to the beginning of the entire ten-level set. This essentially means that you'll be replaying the same early levels again and again and again just for the chance to make it to later levels and figure out what to expect, how to avoid the enemies and where you need to go.
That is, of course, if you're stubborn like me and insist on playing classic games without using save states or the rewind feature. If you're less scrupulous, you'll have a much easier time. But I tried to get the experience as if I was really playing it on the SNES, and... whew. The last regular set of levels in particular was mind-numbingly frustrating, as there are a couple levels in that set with enemies bouncing all around and falling from the sky and it's basically sheer luck to make it to the door without getting hit. (Note: there is a password system for going between worlds, although there is no saving otherwise.)
As for the bosses, once you figure out a pattern that works for you, they're pretty easy to do damageless. However they have way too much health and take too long, turning them into a test of patience. And of course the trial and error nature of this game applies here, so you can easily get punished and sent back to the beginning of the world when you're figuring them out.
The real fun of this game comes from learning the level sets - for instance, there are some levels with extra keys you can get that will make later levels easier, since you can carry extra keys from level to level. You'll also benefit from finding hidden bonus rooms or other places where you can get extra lives, which will help you a lot in the long run (especially since bonus rooms help you conserve your keys). I had put so many attempts into a certain level set before I learned that throwing the bubble onto a cannon can sometimes make an extra life shoot out. But I'll leave other methods of obtaining hidden bonuses for you to figure out. All of this still doesn't make up for how absurdly punishing and random the last world is, though.
I would say this for most anything, but: if you approach this game without save states/rewinds, you're going to get more out of the challenge aspect and finally getting through a world will feel super rewarding and satsifying. However, it WILL be frustrating, you WILL die to things that are unfair or that you had no way of knowing were coming, you WILL grow to absolutely hate Spanky's flailing around hit-animation and the sound that goes with it, and all of this WILL be a turnoff. It's why I stopped playing this game a year and a half ago, and just recently picked it back up and beat it. So it's up to you how you want to approach this if you check it out.
But I love unique gameplay systems and I became weirdly passionate about this strange little game, despite its many flaws. It's better than yet another caveman-based platformer, probably.