This is a bit of a weird one. At it's best, it is definitely a fun platformer albeit outside nothing particularly special outside of the art style. I really like the game's concept visual-wise, and I really liked the different system aesthetics this game had to offer. The controls work fine - nothing much to talk about there but about what I expect from an indie platformer of this calibur.

At it's worst though this game can be outright frustrating. I kind of feel like the game goes for a sort of "Super Meat Boy" vibe, but I feel like it worked better there since that game's levels were generally bite size. With this game, some of the levels - especially the unlockable ones - can feel longer than they need to be, and full of annoying NES-esque design tropes with leaps of faith, cheap enemy places and insta-death spikes and hazards. On top of that, there's no checkpoints and you only get two hit points - and if you get once by an enemy, the extra life pickups feel pretty sparse, and as mentioned this game's full of insta-death spikes, which can make replaying those later, longer levels more of a slog.

This isn't a bad game, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it, but I have trouble recommending it if you like this sort of challenge and/or just enjoy video game history. It can definitely range from being pretty fun to downright obnoxious with it's level design and lack of checkpoints and hit points.

Also there were a few consoles I could've unlocked but they required collectables I didn't really feel like going for, and since I played all of the "main" stages plus the SNES, Amiga and Apple II stages (which are unlockable just by playing everything up to the NES stages) I just decided to mark this one as completed lmao. Maybe at some point I'll have another go at them.