Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Push It Real Good: One Button Bob

By Kieron Gillen on February 8th, 2010 at 11:25 am.

Oooh-baby baby, b-baby-baby.

It’s Monday morning. As such, we should gracefully ease into the working, gaming week with a webgame. Too many to name people mailed us this over the weekend. It’s a one-button web-game based on a cheery Rick Dangerous/Spelunky theme. One Button Bob manages shows that, if you limit the context smartly, you can actually create a lot of the “traditional” gaming problems on a single button. It’s also a bit of a giggle. Go play.

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49 Comments »

  1. LewieP says:

    Yeps, I liked this one.

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  2. AndrewC says:

    Liked it!

    Do you get the treasure though? I hope there is a happy ending, but I stopped around click 200 because it was just repeating levels but with more and more cheaty cheap traps. Bats and lava and falling spikes and disappearing moving platforms? That’s just mean.

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  3. Bobsy says:

    Sweet little thing, but sadly it runs out of ideas way too early. Plus the mechanics are inconsistent – on one screen a full jump can take you halfway across, on another it might only go a short distance.

    I did it in 506 clicks, but since some screens require you to click MORE often for success rather than the others which require FEWER clicks, I’m not sure how useful that is as a high score.

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    • Driadan says:

      Plus the mechanics are inconsistent – on one screen a full jump can take you halfway across, on another it might only go a short distance.

      I believe that’s part of the game, you have lo discover what’s the mechanic in each room.

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  4. Choca says:

    Grah ! 484 clicks. The part where you have to jump from a moving platform to another ruined me.

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  5. Vague-rant says:

    Very nice, but I think it would’ve been better to use a key… Maybe its just because I’m using a crappy touch pad though.

    A nice 10-15 minute break off of work.

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  6. 480 clicks, first try.
    I liked the reductionist concept on this one. It’s like a silent protest against the every growing complexity of modern games often requiring you to remember bazillion button combinations. This game is proof of what you can do with one simple mouseclick.

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    • EthZee says:

      ‘Modern’ videogames? Lad, beat-em-ups have been splurging awful button combos on players since the early 1990s (possibly earlier).

      Anyway. Good game. 396 clicks.

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  7. CMaster says:

    497

    Nice idea, don’t think it demonstrates that much though – the “context” sensitivity just being down to what screen you are on. If it could be made cleverer, might be more impressed.

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  8. HopperUK says:

    476! Good fun, I thought.

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  9. Nick says:

    373 clicks, most of which were the fucking bastard boss over and over.

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  10. Taillefer says:

    I think using context sensitive controls per room like that is taking liberties with the one button concept, to some extent. It seems less pure. But it’s pretty fun.

    Oh. 309, first try. Nyuuuh.

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  11. Nick says:

    Also it was pretty unfair with what it considered misses on platforms, still mostly quite fun and the context controls kept it from being tedious. Changing the jump rate for different screens is a bit mean though.

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  12. RiptoR says:

    355 clicks on first try, boss took about 100 clicks…

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  13. Psychopomp says:

    Clever girl

    507 clicks

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  14. Rosti says:

    Gongratulations!

    Lovely little diversion that.

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  15. bradgoat says:

    Love this. 699 clicks unfortunately.

    This would make a great mobile game :)

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  16. Collic says:

    That was great

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  17. Yhglokt says:

    Quite fun. 490 clicks for me. Agree with the comments about moving platforms being unfair. The collision system seems extremely haphazard on these.

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  18. Andy says:

    Yeh I found this over the weekend and loved it. 642 clicks I think…though probably about 200 on the last boss….

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  19. Rane2k says:

    523 clicks, enjoyed the music. :-)

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  20. Heliosicle says:

    588, the music is what made it for me, the epic bolder run….

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  21. Lambchops says:

    Played this a few days ago – got to the boss in about 400 clicks then gave up.

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  22. Persus-9 says:

    Meh ’twas okay I guess and kept me interested enough to continue until the end but this hadn’t come close to changing my plan to spend the rest of my gaming life playing Canabalt if I ever end up only being able to use a single switch controller.

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  23. kyynis says:

    GAWDDAMIT THAT DROPPING SPIKY CEILING I CAN’T CLICK FAST ENOUGH ASLDKAJWRLKSDASRFSDFSDF

    if my mouse wasn’t bust before, it is now

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  24. Tom says:

    278 till I hit the boss. Screw him, I gave up.

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  25. Pod says:

    452
    Technically I didn’t defeat the boss — a boulder was a pixel above my head when he died :)

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    • Heh, I got hit by a boulder after killing him, but it still let me win. 465 clicks (took me forever to notice that the boss actually had a pattern and wasn’t just charging at me whenever I got close) :(

      Fun though!

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  26. Hmm-Hmm. says:

    Nice. Liked this one a lot.

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  27. RLacey says:

    I’m inept, and just can’t get the hold-mouse-to-power-up-jump thing right consistently enough to avoid getting frustrated. Love the idea, though.

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  28. Kakksakkamaddafakka says:

    God, I was literally screaming at that boss level!

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  29. Qjuad says:

    406, and lots of strange looks from colleagues.

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  30. Mike says:

    Very, very good. Surely weeks away from an iPhone version?

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  31. Jahkaivah says:

    This game is dreadful.

    I like it.

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  32. ganggreen says:

    Well worth it for the boss. That got really intense especially if you turned off the sound and put your own music to it

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  33. Zyrxil says:

    360 clicks. I’m guessing a lot of you didn’t figure out the up and down flying platform screens can be done by clicking and holding.

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  34. Lucky Main Street says:

    286!

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  35. wiper says:

    307 clicks, found the boss really easy though, which probably helped. It was the stop-start bits and ohgodtheceiling’sfalling level that really cost me.

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  36. Nice, but the boss is too old school/hard core for my taste. You can’t react to what’s happening, instead you need to have a plan (constructed piece by piece by failed attempts) and execute it flawlessly.

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  37. Cheshire P says:

    280, second try. I’m proud.

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  38. Renzatic says:

    435 clicks. I would’ve had less, but those stupid platforms require you land EXACTLY on them.

    Now I’m going for less than 300. :D

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    • Renzatic says:

      …352. I hate that screen where you have to time your jumps between two platforms flipping back and forth over lava. It takes me at least 5 tries to get through it, even though it looks like I’ve landed properly about each time.

      And the boss is easy once you get the pattern down. I can kill him in about 4 clicks now.

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    • Renzatic says:

      TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY ONE! BEAT THAT! WOOHOO!

      I think I could finish the game in 200 clicks. I might be able to get a little less, but I bet it requires at least a minimum 190 or so to complete.

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  39. Hybrid says:

    531… moving platforms suck.

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  40. sinister agent says:

    463 here. I thought I did quite badly, but it seems to be middling. I’m pretty sure at least 200 were the boss.

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  41. trias says:

    #1 334
    #2 246
    #3 235
    #4 197 yay!

    Fun stuff.

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  42. disperse says:

    If you’re going to do a platformer stick with the tried and true press x to jump, hold x to jump further control scheme. The jump charging mechanic was awkward at best.

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