Donut Dodo

The only shame about Donut Dodo is that Pixel Games’ later titles are yet to match it. It’s an 80’s style arcade game that’s hard-as-balls while remaining madly addictive. Similar to Donkey Kong, it’s a simple, single-screen gauntlet to collect all the donuts and reach the eponymous Dodo before time runs out. As well as being immaculately presented and accompanied by a stellar chiptune soundtrack, Donut Dodo deftly balances a simple gameplay loop with smart level variety. Even if the goal of every level is the same, the level stages and gimmicks squeeze as much mileage as possible out of the simple running, jumping, and climbing controls. Meanwhile, small nuances in the score-chasing ensure that dedicated arcade players can spend hours perfecting runs and climbing leaderboards, long after they’ve finished their first successful run through the arcade mode. In other words, it does everything that makes Donkey Kong and Pac Man timeless classics that remain beloved to this day. It’s a classic, a masterpiece of its genre, and a game nobody with even the slightest appreciation of video games should be without.