Jack B. Nimble

Really cute endless runner with a distinctive gimmick: the whip, activated in midair to try and extinguish any candle on the path, as they are essential to multiply the final score; just managing to not fall as long as possible doesn't cut it. Even before that gimmick is revealed, the homages to [b]Castlevania[/b] are clear, with a couple of 8-bit styled tracks being outright remixes of famous music from the Konami franchise. The Game Boy inspired graphics are nice, and the unlockable palettes are quite faithful to the different "styles" of the old Nintendo portable we are used to, including the 4-color palettes of the Super Game Boy accessory. I don't know if it happened randomly or because of specific conditions, but at some points I got a "What a horrible night to have a curse..." message, folllowed by having to play with a Virtual Boy palette - cursed indeed. The first few unlocks come fairly easily and are a nice way to rope the player in, as the requirements for the rest ramp up. However, I have to question the way the Rocky Rapids level is generated: far too often crates are placed unfairly, smack in the middle of fairly narrow platforms, with an easy chance to either land just behind the crate, or manage to land on top or on the other side, only to not have enough time for the physical reaction necessary for another jump before falling from the platform. It's jarring because the levels unlocked beforehand, besides occasional passages with too many narrow platforms in a row, feel much more fair. Even if one isn't interested in setting some record, it's a perfect little time waster.