AntonBlast is a Wario Land tribute cranked up to 11

digitaltrends.com:

Sometimes when a major publisher refuses to do anything with one of its best franchises, indie developers have no choice but to step in.

That was the case last year with Pizza Tower, a ludicrous ode to Nintendo’s dormant Wario Land series. The indie hit captured the the eccentric thrills of the Game Boy Advance era perfectly and revitalized players’ love for a long lost series. This year, that’s happening again with AntonBlast. The new indie title is another bombastic tribute to Wario’s unique franchise, though it’s certainly not riding on Pizza Tower‘s coattails. AntonBlast is a wild vision of its own that’s far tougher and more hectic. It’s a lot — maybe even for me — but it’s an artistic vision executed with a maximalist wackiness that I can’t help but admire. AntonBlast will either make you feel very young or very old.

In the chaotic 2D platformer, players either control the red-faced Dynamite Anton or Annie. Both are firecrackers that blast through stages with an enormous hammer. Like Wario’s games, levels have players dashing through stages, getting strange power-ups that twist their mobility, and eventually racing back through stages backwards to make their grand escape. ImaginePizza Tower, but replace all the Italian iconography with constant explosions.

AntonBlast has more energy than a nuclear bomb. It is a creative tour-de-force, from its rich pixel visuals to its wildly inventive stages. Each level is a themed roller coaster ride full of boxes to smash, obstacles to navigate, and secret collectibles to find. In one stage, I’m bouncing off my hammer to stay above a sea of sludge and grinding rails. In another, I’m transformed into a pinball and have to smash my way through machines in between traditional platforming challenges. No two stages are alike, and each one has a dozen gimmicks packed in that it fires off at a rapid pace.

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