Giana Sisters
Unlike disappointing Dreamscape, the Giana Sisters HD game is fabulous and totally deserving a “Best” rating!
The game has multiple levels to challenge you, laid out on a map which requires progress level-by-level, but happily once you’ve completed a level even if you lose your lives, you can start with more lives and full access to all the unlocked levels (no need to go right back to level 1):
Just like the vintage Super Mario Brothers (which this game is clearly inspired by), you begin play as a weaker “blonde” with no weapon, but you can upgrade yourself to redhead “punk power” with a fireball and the ability to smash rocks!
Challenges include creatures like those above that kill you if you touch them (but you can jump on and kill them, or hit them with a fireball if you’re redhead); there’s also nasty piranha to avoid and many other creatures as the game progresses:
Difficulty also comes in the form of platforms to jump between – falling below the screen kills you (except if there’s a secret place below); I found this section quite hard, especially as the game character takes time to start and stop (acceleration & deceleration):
But again, once you’ve cracked a level, you don’t have to play it again even if you lose your lives!
The game offers many features I’ve not even got to yet – loads of new levels to challenge, optional non-joystick touch controls; this game will keep any iPad owning platform fan happy for a long time …
(there’s a great video of the iPhone version on the creators website)
I remember a game of the same name back in the days of the Spectrum. It didn’t get past the preview stages before it was blocked, apparently by Nintendo, because it was too much like Mario. It still looks like fun, a factor missing from many games nowadays.
I think this is that same once-banned game, presumably after some extra changes to make it a bit more different!