Jolly Chimp Champ
This is one of those “elegant in its simplicity” puzzle games, and it’s proof to me that – like with Icy Dungeon – a clear, understandable concept and a strong, meaty demo can really sell your game. The demo in this case was 25 levels that were unique to the demo, too, so it’s worth your time to play both!
It’s so light and silly: use the crank to guide one of those classic cymbal-clapping chimp toys from the start to the goal. Every level is a single screen, and there are pitfalls, bombs, cannons, and magnets to contend with that’ll impede your progress. And each of these obstacles is comically oversized like in a classic Tex Avery cartoon and immediately recognizable on the 1-bit screen.
The full game is exclusively crank controlled. Crank forward to move the conveyor belts forward and back to run them back, at 1:1 speed commensurate with your cranking. This will control all the conveyor belts on the screen at once. While some obstacles like holes and cannons and bombs might be stationary, many are riding along the same conveyor belts that you’re on. If you move, they move (just like that).
My favorite part is just how short these stages are. Each level has one gimmick, and they build on past levels in a very smart way. So you’re getting better as the game is getting harder, and the learning curve is perfect. Only issue I had is when there was a new mechanic introduced at around level 80 (there are 100 unique levels), it had to go back to easy mode for a while you came to grips with it. After 79 other increasingly difficult levels, having a few tutorial levels to teach the new mechanic this deep into the game meant that you got a breather. Maybe that was the point! But it never got back to the super complex levels that were just before this, and the path to the end was easy breezy.
Still, it’s great to have a puzzle game that – with enough tries and persistence – you should be able to beat this whole thing. There are only so many ways you can go forward and backward, even with branching paths for your chimp, and cannons, and bombs. And it’s all at your own pace, kind of in a Superhot way. The world moves when you do. Why not move like a jolly chimp, and become a champ?