Awesome Pea

If you want to reminisce about playing the DMG-01 in the backseat of a car, this will take you right back. It's obviously not the most polished platformer out there, but it offers decent entertainment for a short while and can be picked up bundled with the second game for next to nothing during a sale.

Awesome Pea, developed and published by PigeonDev, is a retro-inspired precision platformer that pays homage to the simplicity and challenge of classic handheld gaming. At first glance, it is a charmingly minimalistic game about a greedy little green pea who embarks on a quest to collect as many coins as possible across a series of deadly, trap-laden stages. Beneath its seemingly lighthearted premise, however, lies a platformer that demands timing, patience, and a keen sense of rhythm, echoing the unforgiving spirit of old-school arcade titles. It’s a love letter to the early Game Boy era, complete with a nostalgic visual filter and chiptune soundtrack, but it also modernizes the formula enough to make it accessible for contemporary players who crave quick, skill-based challenges. The game’s presentation is deliberately simple and effective. Everything is coated in a green monochrome palette reminiscent of early portable consoles, and this stylistic choice not only defines its identity but also enhances its nostalgic charm. The character designs are cute yet straightforward, and the environments—spike pits, crumbling platforms, moving obstacles—evoke memories of an era when visual clarity and challenge were paramount. Each level is carefully constructed to look deceptively simple, yet as you advance, the traps become increasingly unforgiving. The aesthetic consistency extends to the music as well; the retro chiptune soundtrack pulses with energy and rhythm, perfectly complementing the tight platforming. The sounds of jumps, deaths, and coin collection add texture to the experience, immersing players in an authentic retro vibe that feels both familiar and refreshing. Gameplay in Awesome Pea revolves around mastering momentum, timing, and precision. The controls are basic—move left or right, jump, and double jump—but they form the foundation for intricate challenges. Every level is packed with spikes, saws, cannons, and collapsing platforms, all arranged to test the player’s reflexes and memory. Dying is a frequent and expected part of the experience, as each failure teaches the player the exact sequence of movements required to succeed. The satisfaction of clearing a particularly brutal stretch after multiple attempts is one of the game’s defining pleasures. The addition of collectible coins scattered throughout each level adds another layer of difficulty, rewarding players who dare to take the riskier routes rather than just rushing toward the finish line. It’s a formula that thrives on repetition and mastery, echoing the design philosophies of classics like Super Meat Boy or VVVVVV, but stripped down to its bare essentials. The level design balances accessibility with challenge. The early stages ease players into the mechanics, introducing hazards one by one, but before long, the game ramps up in complexity. Each level introduces subtle variations—a faster moving platform, narrower timing windows, or more demanding jump arcs—that require careful observation and practice. Checkpoints are nonexistent, reinforcing the importance of precision and focus. However, the short length of each stage keeps frustration at bay, making each retry feel like a manageable lesson rather than an insurmountable obstacle. The sense of flow becomes intoxicating once you find your rhythm, transforming frustration into determination and, ultimately, satisfaction when you finally nail every jump. Despite its solid design foundation, Awesome Pea does have some limitations. Its greatest strength—its simplicity—can also become its biggest weakness over time. The game’s visual style, while striking at first, may begin to feel repetitive due to the lack of environmental diversity. Likewise, the gameplay, though consistently engaging, doesn’t introduce many new mechanics or twists as you progress through its 25 levels. Once you’ve mastered the basic movement and hazards, the game becomes more about endurance and persistence than discovery. The difficulty curve can also feel uneven, with some levels presenting sudden spikes in challenge that may frustrate less patient players. Still, these issues are relatively minor in the grand scheme, as the game’s design philosophy thrives on repetition, muscle memory, and the joy of incremental mastery. On the technical side, Awesome Pea runs smoothly and maintains responsive controls—a crucial factor for a game that lives or dies by its precision. Its short load times and instant restarts after death ensure that the pace remains brisk and uninterrupted. The minimalist art style also ensures stability across systems, making it accessible to players regardless of their hardware. The game’s structure and pacing encourage short bursts of play rather than marathon sessions, making it an ideal pick-up-and-play title that fits neatly into quick gaming sessions. In the end, Awesome Pea stands out as a small but well-crafted tribute to retro platforming. It doesn’t rely on flashy visuals or narrative complexity to engage players; instead, it focuses entirely on the purity of its mechanics and the satisfaction of overcoming finely tuned challenges. It may not reinvent the genre or offer surprises beyond its core premise, but it succeeds admirably in what it sets out to do—deliver a tight, nostalgic, and challenging experience that rewards persistence and precision. For fans of minimalist platformers who appreciate pixel-perfect control and an old-school aesthetic, Awesome Pea is a delightful test of skill wrapped in charm. It’s proof that even the simplest ideas, when executed with care and personality, can leave a lasting impression long after the final jump. Rating: 8/10

Precision platformer with a good style and fair difficulty. It can be completed in a few hours

Looking for a classical like rpg being an awesome pea? Awesome Pea is a 2D precision-platformer inspired by retro games, developed by PigeonDev and launched in September 2018. It features a Game‑Boy‑style aesthetic with a four-shade green pixel design, centered around a straightforward mechanic: players control a pea that runs, jumps (including a double-jump), and gathers coins throughout 25 to 30 challenging levels. -Atmosphere: The game successfully embraces a retro aesthetic, utilizing an authentic Game‑Boy color palette that appeals to fans of the genre. -Gameplay: It presents a precision challenge with clean jump and double-jump mechanics that reward skilled play, although it suffers from clunky controller input and occasional glitches. While Awesome Pea evokes nostalgia with its genuine Game‑Boy appearance, it struggles with gameplay depth. The game provides enjoyable precision platforming moments, but its limited content, inconsistent difficulty, and repetitive design hinder its ability to stand out. I rate this game 8 Stone out of 10 Rock and Stone.

AP is a pretty simple platformer that has 25+ levels spread over 3 worlds you can see on the map. The levels are usually short, it’s mostly about jumping around, avoiding enemies, collecting coins and gems. You can’t hurt enemies but they can hurt you and one hit instantly kills you, forcing you to start the level from the beginning. I usually don’t like this at all but the levels are short and the game’s balance is not punishing, it’s not so bad with this game. The achievements are almost all about completing the levels and collecting everything which is fine. I 100% the game in 2.2 hours. In terms of issues, the game has some weird input delay, I got used to it. So don’t expect perfect controls. The levels are usually based on 5+ variations (mines, castles etc) that are changed a bit to keep them interesting. It’s pretty blatant but the game is fun and cheap (especially on sale), so it’s not a big deal. Also level 1-2 is the only level that has one hidden coin, I had to watch a YouTube video to see what I was missing. Pretty weird if you ask me. Overall, the game has enough room for improvement, it’s not a must play but I crave these type of short, sweet and fun games. Not expecting much and not feeling robbed since the price is appropriate and the game is decent enough. I got the sequel and already started playing it, I can say that the sequel is already a definitive improvement but you’ll have to wait for the review to find out more.

This is the start of my backlog clean up and it was a fun game to start with! quick game maybe 2-3 hours long for the 100% but it has some pretty tight controlls. i did have a few issues with the hit box tho but other then that it was a fun game. id rate it! you can turn off the crt and the scan lines in the settings, once that was done my eyes didnt hurt as much!

I liked it a-lot! Obviously this isn't the most polished game in the world but I enjoyed the short time that I spent with it. Some of the soundtracks are pretty good and others are "meh" or "huh?" but overall a good listen. This game has a lot of "quirks" such as there being a very few amount of invisible platforms or sometimes entirely pass through blocks. (Mostly above pipes.) There was also a level near the beginning that has a sneaky coin that was entirely off screen which took me like five minutes to find, didn't happen again though. [b]BUUUUT[/b] it did put me on my guard so I was always checking the coin count before a level and even checking platforms that lead off screen. (That caused me to fall at the very end of a level, meaning I had to do it over again...) If you don't like semi-finicky games, then maybe you would dislike it? But for me this kind of stuff doesn't bother me all that much so I was always still having a good time, going up against all the surprisingly difficult challenges this game has. Good game for those who like games that challenge you and very green pixels!

A precision platformer that has a very... bizarre control issue. It isn't something that's repeatable on command, which makes it impossible to work around. Every so often the game just eats an input. No jump for you. First few times I could chalk it up to skill issue. Failing to jump twice and just walking off cliff? Not so much.

Awesome pea 1 is ok but I like 2 more. Nostalgic mario land like graphics, but very simple run and jump platforming. Reflects its price, very simple game. Nostalgic though, 2nd one is better so get the pack not like its asking that much. Is the game good? Its ok like I say nostalgic mario land like graphics, but its... Very basic but at the same time no different than celeste, meatboy, or any of the other tough prove yourself simple platformers. No powerups, no nothing special, move and jump, and collect coins, that's what ya get here except 2 is kinda better.

It's totally playable despite some glitches. It's an overly simplistic platform game with great music. You don't attack enemies, you merely dodge obstacles to reach the exit. You get an achievement for picking up all the coins and gems on a stage which makes it a little harder, but it's still very easy. mastering the double jump is a priority because you need to use it constantly. The stages are all out of order, one stage you're on a train the next you're in a cave. Because there's no consistency it doesn't really feel at all cohesive and it gets very repetitive. This isn't one of those classic platformers that takes you on a journey, but despite some annoying glitches (Like walking over moving platforms causes you to stop moving on them and fall) it's fun. There's no bosses. Disable the screen effects because they're super annoying and don't even make sense (If it's supposed to look like a Gameboy game you wouldn't have screen noise).