Prisonela MD

Prisonela MD caught me off guard with how much fun it packs into its tiny size. The levels are short, the pixel art is charming, and there is a decent dose of chaos from traps, shifting layouts, and those moments when dying means getting thrown into a completely new level. It is retro platformer meets unpredictable jailbreak, and it works. For achievement hunters, there is not a huge list, but the ones it does have are satisfying: stuff like escaping, surviving without dying too many times, skin/costume changes, etc. Nothing feels overly punishing, but unlocking them all means adapting fast and learning your mistakes. If you like platformers where timing and reflexes matter, this is one of those weird little gems you can pop in, struggle a bit, and feel proud when you win.

I really want to like this game. It looks great (when you consider that the graphics are designed for a system from the 90's), and it plays simple enough yet seems like it would be appropriately challenging. There are a couple of issues that make me really not care for it, however. First off, I really don't like the idea of random levels. Randomly generated I would be okay with, but part of the joy of old school platformers is the sense of progression, which you totally lose when you never know which level will pop up next. Add to that the fact that you can't retry a level you failed unless either it pops up again randomly or you go to the level select screen, and for me there's little incentive to keep going. On top of all that, one of the things I used to love about the old school games was the chip tune music, but the music in this game gets so garbled after a few seconds of playing that it sounds terrible. Maybe on an actual Megadrive this would be a winning exerpience, but for my PC there are a ton of better platformers to play.

Ugh, I hate a precision platformer. It's well made though.

Way harder then you think. Really good platformer. Try it cause it's free!

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So far beat 72 out of the 80 levels individually - the achievements are a tough challenge. Single-screen precision platforming, looks great, snappy. Can select from 3 short music tracks, and see a level overview with the stages we beat so far. Would be great if we could practice levels on that screen - for a better chance at a run in the game. It's definitely a fun old-school experience - why is this a free game? Note: For me the full-screen mode resulted in unplayable, stuttery display. Not sure how the coin collection works, after I got over 1500 I could not claim the skin - and when restarting after a game over it's back to 1000 - it does not keep track of last value.