By Adam Smith on January 12th, 2012 at 1:41 pm.
Abobo was the large bald man in Double Dragon, the perpetually angry and brutal swine whose car-sized fists were the doom of many an intrepid sprite-puncher. Browser-based mini-epic Abobo’s Big Adventure isn’t a Double Dragon rehash though – it starts that way but it soon becomes apparent that it’s actually a homage to the NES itself, with a variety of easily recognisable worlds, enemies and play styles. It’s a joy to play, although nearly as tough as an actual NES game at times. Because a lot of the fun lies in discovering the sheer amount and variety of stuff that’s packed in there I’m tempted to recommend playing it immediately rather than watching the trailer below. There are more surprises that way.
Throwing a bunch of old sprites together and having them interact reminds me of terrible webcomics of old, some of which are probably still trundling along, but Abobo has been created with the games in mind, not just the characters. It’s not just a nostalgia trip with a sense of humour, it’s also a well designed series of tiny games that more often than not succeed in capturing the pleasures of the originals.
It’s a commendable achievement and entirely free, although donations are accepted and those generous souls who give some of their hard-earned will receive a small gift-game in exchange.
Thanks to Indiegames for bringing this to my attention.
12/01/2012 at 13:54 Xan says:
Any way to download this game?
12/01/2012 at 14:09 skyturnedred says:
I want this on my phone!
12/01/2012 at 14:32 Vagrant says:
I was having fun until they made me play an entire dungeon of Zelda. Why did anyone ever like that game? Zelda 2 was the good one.
12/01/2012 at 14:38 Newblade says:
I thought I was the only one who preferred Zelda 2 to the original.
12/01/2012 at 14:42 Buemba says:
You’re wrong – Zelda 1 is the good one. Zelda 2 is the amazing one.
12/01/2012 at 14:53 deadly.by.design says:
I agree — the Zelda section was disproportionately long. The fact that they had overworld enemies in the dungeon annoyed me, but I can cast that aside to appreciate the absurdity.
Zelda II was great in its own way, but definitely more challenging in terms of skill.
12/01/2012 at 15:04 Craig Stern says:
Zelda 2 was good at precisely one thing: making want to chuck my controller through the screen.
12/01/2012 at 14:38 Oozo says:
Staring Eyes-tag!
Also, looks splendid. Will check that one out, once I can.
12/01/2012 at 14:49 Tams80 says:
Beta tester: 13500
O yeah. *smug face*
12/01/2012 at 14:54 deadly.by.design says:
I played until dying too often in the balloon stage. It grew tiresome at that point.
Also, why on earth are the action buttons mapped to A & S? I have to reverse my hands across the keyboard to play as a right-hander.
Final nitpick: The constant achievements annoy me. Why did they include them?
12/01/2012 at 14:56 YanDaik says:
Whoa. Looks like just what i need.
12/01/2012 at 15:01 Skabooga says:
I’ve been looking forward to this. Abobo is one of the baddest dudes around.
Oh Abobo. You threw me behind your back and off a cliff so many times in Double Dragon II. Sometimes out of a helicopter.
12/01/2012 at 15:06 Commander Gun says:
Actually i punched him out of the helicopter. Easiest boss there was in that game that way :)
12/01/2012 at 15:16 Toberoth says:
Played it and enjoyed it until the Megaman stage (after the tiresome wrestling stage), and then the stupid insta-death lasers put me right off. There’s no difficulty ramp there, it’s just throwing your lives away until you’ve learned the right sequence – exactly the element of NES games which I’m glad modern games have left behind.
13/01/2012 at 05:01 Wedge says:
That part was ripped verbatim from Quick Man’s stage in MM2… it’s really not very hard at all, but I got bored around then too after the horrible balloon fight and wrestling sections.
12/01/2012 at 16:01 Reapy says:
They already have me at the loading screen. Awesome.
Played a bit… Awesome, awesome NES homage. I don’t want to call it difficulty more so than rote memorization and extreme repetition. I’m glad those have been left in the dust as others have said.
Still, I guess it wouldn’t be an NES homage if it was easy, though I wish you could turn on an invulnerable mode just to cruise through and see all the sprites and music the guy ripped.
12/01/2012 at 16:10 Stevostin says:
I am stuck in the zelda part, in the bottom left ball – digger guy room. Killed the guy who pumped me, now just can’t find anything to do but hitting the square shiny thing, which doesn’t do anything. Idea ?
12/01/2012 at 16:17 daktaklakpak says:
All that sword swinging must have tired you out. Maybe if you leaned on that shiny block and took a break, something would shift and reveal the answer?
12/01/2012 at 17:50 Matzerath says:
I totally finished it! When the Contra level started I was filled with an ancient dread, remembering how badly I sucked at Contra, and the game obliged by suddenly being one-hit kills. But then, then — it hands you the code for massive extra lives, and everything was OK.
I finished this game, and can’t say I ever finished ANY of the original games.
12/01/2012 at 16:16 leonhjones says:
Gamepad support would be nice.
12/01/2012 at 17:32 Berzee says:
http://www.abobosbigadventure.com/gamepad.php
12/01/2012 at 17:32 Berzee says:
It’s awesome, but I’m probably never going to finish it. The second to last level is so hard =(
12/01/2012 at 21:16 Berzee says:
Whoa, just kiddin’! I managed to beat that one, now only a final boss remains!
12/01/2012 at 18:48 MondSemmel says:
“Throwing a bunch of old sprites together and having them interact reminds me of terrible webcomics of old”
I do object, good sir! Or rather, I hope you do not count 8-Bit Theater among these! That one is simply spectacular. Highly recommended. (It is a ~1.2k sprite webcomic epic. Easily found with google.)
Concerning the game, I guess not growing up with the NES made it rather easy for me to wonder how anyone could ever play such a game. It may be a fine homage, but it is not an enjoyable game (for me).
13/01/2012 at 09:41 apocraphyn says:
“Concerning the game, I guess not growing up with the NES made it rather easy for me to wonder how anyone could ever play such a game. It may be a fine homage, but it is not an enjoyable game (for me).”
Blasphemy! Away with you, fiend!
12/01/2012 at 18:50 Jac says:
Tomatoe guy!!! I’ve never laughed so hard at a game in my life as when he appears through the door of the helicopter in dd2. “Tomatoooooooooooooo!” He should have constipatedly screamed. Who knew he had a name
12/01/2012 at 22:44 spcd says:
Bug in zelda castle, the dragon killed me, then i returned to the beginning, the door i used to get to dragon wasnt there anymore
12/01/2012 at 23:45 vivlo says:
WHAT YA DID TO CRONO’S CAT :’”"(( meanie.
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