Spy Bros. (Pipi & Bibi's DX)

This is a fun game. I have played to world F-1 and you get 4 levels per world (A - F). The exploitative wealthy person that has hired you for the job (different for each world) gives you access to bonus levels too, if you earned them by collecting all the H coins (without losing any) in the world's levels (1 per level). You get areas that are like Mappy, some like Frogger on stairs, a Casino and other diverse worlds to play in that do get hard. This is way harder than Elevator Action, would eat quarters much faster and some areas don't even use Elevators but instead things like either stairs or bounce pads. The Mappy like bouncing levels do not let you pass by enemies without being hit and 1 hit, life lost but not your bombs placed on the level. Being good at any of those older arcades won't help here, at least not much. Continue as much as you want and even on game over you continue the level with bombs you placed not getting reset. This is a quarter eating, score chaser arcade game so continue as much as you want and after, I think it's 10?, game over screens you get an option appear on screen saying Press Y to skip level if you want. I wish this game had save state and a way to chose a level to start on. Like right now I have the game paused on level F-1 because I don't want to start from the beginning because I want a break for a bit but don't want to do all those levels over again just to try World F some more. You can play 2 player co-op but I've not been able to try playing that way. I have only seen a choice between 2 characters, not 4 but maybe you beat it to unlock more or the other 2 character choices show if playing 2 player? It's a not a big deal, just curious to find out. There's no extra modes, just the base game. Options include 2 types of CRT scanlines which are done right, unlike many other games that implement the option. You can play using the regular pixel graphics or a more clean looking "upscaled" graphics which look the same, just not as pixelated, more clean looking but too much so for my taste. You get a few bezels/boarders to choose and you can play windowed of full screen. The new images behind the stages (stage transition images) are an improvement because they fit well with what's being played. The cheap looking originals are not in this and if you lookup the original, you'll see you are not missing anything either, even if you like cheap looking nekkid cartoon art (well, some were clothed to a degree). Saying this is a censored version is ridiculous. This is a DX upgrade release, supposed to have some differences. Censored would be redacted sections of the art, blurred parts or something of the like. In this version you see the stage explode into an image that's based on what you are playing instead of a cheaply done/looking "reward" cartoon image that isn't even related to what you are playing. I'll buy this twice if it's put on Evercade (would be perfect for handheld) and maybe even a third time too if it's also put on Xbox. I'm sure players of other systems will feel the same after trying this on PC. This is a fun game that starts fairly easy and gets hard to do good in but remains easy to play. *Edit* [spoiler]I just beat the game and found that after doing so, you get 2 female characters to choose from now and the 2 male characters from before are gone. I am guessing that if beaten one more time, all four will appear to choose from from then on? Just a guess. The female characters are more than just a different looking character to play as, there's another difference which is pretty cool but I won't spoil that here.[/spoiler]

My impressions video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCk2tH8-Fos Old school arcade shmup fans will know the name Toaplan well, but they weren't just known for those and released a few different, but largely unknown games in other genres. Spy Bros. (known originally as Pipi & Didi's) is one of those, brought to modern platforms by a one-man developer who has done some excellent GODOT Engine port work. This game is a little bit Elevator Action and a little bit Dig Dug, but is also doing its own thing. It was originally an "eroge" game, where the aim was to finish the levels to reveal pictures of pixelated naked ladies. As you might expect, those images have been replaced here, but the gameplay is otherwise untouched. You aim is to place bombs in specific locations throughout the levels and escape before they go off. You have a long range stun weapon that you can use to either knock enemies down to get by them or if you hold it long enough, they'll fall to the level below (or out of the level if on the bottom level), and you'll get more points for that as well. In the first world, things won't seem too difficult, the game gets proper "arcade hard" after that. You do have unlimited continues, but your score resets if you use one, as it should be. There is local-only (or Steam Remote Play) co-op and sadly, no online leaderboards or replays. I know those aren't free to implement and that this is a very small project, but online leaderboards add substantial competitive longevity to a game and in the end, I think are worthwhile. In terms of "retro options", the ones in this release are minimal, but serviceable. Most of the bezel art is honestly not that great, but you have several options, or can turn it off if you want. There's also an art upscaling function that makes everything look too smooth and weird for my taste, but others may like it. There are two scanline options as well, which may not be enough for some users, though I don't use them so it's hard for me to say. The bottom line is that this may not be for everyone, but give the demo a try and see for yourself. Personally, I love that we now live in a world where niche arcade games that would never make a bigger collection can get preserved and updated by small developers like this, who don't need it to sell a million copies to recoup their investment. Both from a preservation and curiosity perspective, this is only a good thing. Toaplan were nearly unmatched in the shmup genre, but this shows they had chops in other genres too. I hope this does well and the RAWRLAB can put out some more.

this game is awesome!!!!!! Loved the original, but this one amazing :D so much love and care went into game!!! The animations rock and the new art is awesome. This game is awesome and I shall be checking out whatever is next from this studio :D

VERY AWESOME REMAKE OF A VERY AWESOME GAME I REALLY ENJOY THE ANIMATION UPDATES AND HONESTLY I APPRECIATE THE NEW BONUS ART MORE THAN THE ORIGINAL GAME GOOD JOB RAWRLABS THANKS FOR LETTING ME HAVE SOME FUN

Una maravilla de juego rescatado y mejorado, pero también añade varias sorpresas. Recomendadísimo para todo aquel que haya jugado al original y también al que jamas lo haya probado. Muy divertido en un jugador y un estupendo coop de dos jugadores o más. Risas aseguradas. Es mejor no spoilearse y jugarlo y más al super precio que tiene. No te arrepentirás.

I thought it was the original game, but I see that neither the gameplay nor the unlockable images are the same. It's a shame because I played the original a lot. I hope they release the original Toaplan version on Steam. Unfortunately, I'm going to return it :-/

Buen juego, un poco corto pero divertido.

Increíble juego, me encanta esta versión, me hace recordar cuando era un niño chico y jugaba en la recreativa del bar. Un 10!

El juego original, Pipi & Bibi's (Whoopee), era una maravilla y este es, sencillamente, el mismo juego.. lo que tiene de diferente es que cambiaron a las chicas que podías ir desnudando entre pantallas al recolectar las monedas por escenas de bonus, lo cual no esta mal.. particularmente no me gusta el arte gráfico implementado en el juego (cuando ganas un nivel aparecen imágenes random de lo más cutres, algunas son solo bosquejos). Repito, el juego es, elementalmente, el mismo.. sin prácticamente nada nuevo que agregar. Prefiero el original, pero aun así me alegra que lo hayan traído a Steam. Además, una vez finalizado podes acceder a una nueva versión con dos nuevos personajes y una mecánica distinta a la original donde si bien, se repiten los niveles, le da un nuevo giro a un juego tan añorado.

It's a good platformer game game but I suggest playing also the og arcade version with emulator, because this version is cencored. If you want the original arts between levels play that 😎👍.