Antonblast is ready to take on Pizza Tower and its chaotic platformer rule

Nintendo's legacy in gaming is arguably in carving out new niches that are fun and then not fulfilling them. Since 2008, there hasn't even been a new Wario Land, and fans of the anarchic, aggressive, kleptomaniacal brand of platforming have been left hungry. Pizza Tower last year was a great game, but it's been years since we've seen a new Wario Land. Enter Antonblast through a brick wall.

This is one that I've been waiting for. It launches on Tuesday. It's a new take on the Wario Land formula: smash your way through the level, blow something heavy and then scramble to the beginning as everything crumbles. It's an easy formula, but one that is really fun. Antonblast is loud, fast, and deeply cathartic.

Antonblast, with its bitcrushed voice clips, is trying to look like an old Game Boy Advance game. It's a commitment to the bit that is impressive, channeling all the energy from MTV-era cartoons, full of Beavis & Butthead, Rocco’s Modern Life, and Ren & Stimpy.

It's rude and crude. Anton is using some foul language, and his main motivation for his screamy cartoon rage today is to retrieve his collection of spirits that have been stolen by a mole-people army working for Satan. Satan is jealous that Anton's redder than his. Look, this is an anarchic comic--don't worry too much about it.

Also, screaming is the way to go. There's even a button for yelling. It's strangely cathartic. Antonblast is a game about being mad and solving your problems with a hammer. (Or mace, if you play as Anton's demolitionist colleague and drinking buddy Annie). By slamming the hammer down on the ground you can super-jump. Swinging rhythmically as you run will make you faster. If you only have a hammer at your disposal, everything will look like a nail.

My only real worry is that the commitment made to the GBA's aesthetic may be a little bit too much. The aspect ratio is a bit wider (which is actually best for a fast-paced platformer), but there are some chunky pixels, especially when Anton and Annie jump into the background. They become just a few pixels wide. Cutely retro, but the graphics can be a bit difficult to understand when things get really hot.

Antonblast, the scrappy multiplayer game that preceded Antonball Deluxe, is available for pennies.