I wasn't planning on going through another indie dev gameography so soon, but Stellar Nexus happened to be one of the games on the SRG Mixtape, and I had already been thinking of going through Frankie's games, so here we are. This isn't Frankie's first game, but I'm starting my reviews with this one because, based on a blog post, this is really where Frankie's oeuvre as an independent game dev starts. (I did review some of their earlier projects though, which I'll link here.)

As for this game, it's a firefighter sim in the same vein as The Firemen series but reframed as a sidescrolling platformer. That is, until you reach the 6th citizen in danger, when an alien invasion shows up and you have to fend off against the many horrific creatures while rushing back to your station. I'm marking this as a spoiler because nothing on the game's page, old website, or even within the game itself hints at this twist, so I think people deserve to go into this game blind.

Before this point, it was a bit of a hassle going through Frankie's old 2000s work, as it was spread over websites and forums (many no longer available); ultimately, the work I was able to play felt divorced from Frankie's strongest pixel artwork, as many of his projects simply never materialized. With Station 37, I finally get to see his gruesome creature designs put to good use, backed up by a mechanically refined game and excellent soundtrack, both with help from his TIGSource/Poppenkast buddies. (The soundtrack is in fact by ChefBoyardee of Barkley's Shut Up and Jam! Gaiden fame, and Frankie would be on the team for the unfortunately mismanaged sequel.) Even as "just" an (enhanced) game jam game, it's a great game on its own and the best introduction to Frankie's work from their earliest days, and I'm glad that it recently got readded to itch.io.