Academy: Become a Hero

This is an incredibly tough platformer designed for speedrunners and anyone who enjoys repeating the same course over and over until they get it just right. And even that is not enough, because the game demands perfection right from the get go. There are achievements for beating a course on your first try, while certain bonuses disappear after you attempt a track too many times. Restarting does not reset your attempts either. The only way to get a completely fresh start is to wipe your entire save file and begin again. Fortunately, the first stage is enough to show whether this is the kind of game for you. There are 20 stages that you complete in order, starting with Easy difficulty. You have to beat each stage with at least a bronze medal to unlock Normal, and then Hard difficulty. The stages themselves remain the same, but the time requirements become increasingly strict. Strict is honestly an understatement, because even Easy can be tough and will likely require several attempts. Even a perfect run can leave you with only a few deciseconds of breathing room. Speed is not the only thing you need to worry about either. You also have to be precise with your jumps and, later on, …