There was a unique strata of 16-bit 2D platformer in the ‘90s. Super Mario World and the various Sonic games got most of the attention, but there was a solid B-tier just below them that flew underneath many people’s radar. This is the graveyard of failed mascots, where Earthworm Jim rules, alongside forgotten characters like Blackthorne, Ristar, and Vectorman.
It’s an interesting period to revisit, particularly since many of these games were produced by absolute lunatics. Some of it came from the ‘90s mascot blitz, so any random pencil sketch could become the focus of a transmedia franchise to compete with Mario and Sonic, but it’s mostly just the state of the culture at the time. An era in which someone could not only greenlight but release Boogerman is an era that is unsuccessfully grappling with a deep sickness of the soul.
Antonblast reminds me of those years and those games. From the moment it starts, it’s a crazy gauntlet of high-speed platforming challenges, with graphics reminiscent of a 14-year-old’s caffeine freakout. Intentional or not, it’s a careful homage to a uniquely strange period of game design. I wish I liked it more than I do.
Antonblast stars Dynamite Anton, the protagonist of 2021’s Antonball Deluxe and a bright red, hammer-wielding exterminator. When Satan notices that Anton is the only creature in existence whose skin is a brighter red than his own, Satan sends his minions to steal all of Anton’s booze.
When Anton wakes up to empty shelves, he grabs his hammer and his coworker Annie – the most “I can fix her” character in platformer history – and goes on a rampage. Using a local casino as a base of operations, Anton and Annie set out to reclaim Anton’s spirits and destroy everything that gets in their way. This is all a ploy to eventually bring them to Hell, where Satan plans to steal Anton’s coloration for himself.
Antonblast is a platformer where you’re never quite in full control. Anton charges across each stage like a natural disaster, moving at breakneck speeds and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
Anton’s hammer serves as a dash, accelerator, and spring at once. You can bounce off the ground to get extra height, charge up for extra speed, and slide down slopes with your boots extended. There are enemies, but most of the time, defeating them is something you do along the way. Antonblast is a wrecking ball simulator in the guise of a 2D platformer.
The graphics are simple, but it’s in the service of both raw speed and ensuring that both Anton and Annie – you can switch freely between stages and both characters play the same – look as crazy as possible at any given time. Antonblast makes almost no sense in still shots. In motion, it’s a frenzy of crazy animations; taken frame by frame, it’s a useless pixel riot.
Most of the levels in Antonblast are only a little linear. Your goal, broadly speaking, is to run through it as fast and destructively as possible, then set a bomb and get back to the exit before everything explodes. Along the way, you can find secret areas, shortcuts, and several hidden items, primarily by using a gimmick that lets you leap into and out of the stage’s background.
When it’s firing on all cylinders, Antonblast’s pure speed is a lot of fun. You smash, bop, or punt everything that gets in your way, up to and including entire buildings, while explosions and strange machines reconfigure the world around you. If you’re a big fan of Sonic’s classic era, this should be right up your alley.
It’s not really for me, though. Antonblast has a few issues that bother me, like how it loves to obscure your vision at crucial moments, but it’s primarily just not the kind of platformer I tend to like. It’s all gas, no brakes, to the point where seemingly simple jumps often don’t work unless you’re moving at maximum velocity. If you slow down, you’ve lost. It’s messy in a genre where I prefer precision.
I can imagine this being someone else’s favorite game. It’s got a solid dose of speedrunner mechanics, and beating each stage opens up time trial modes and other challenges. I even like its general aesthetic, which feels like its setting is based exclusively on energy drinks’ logo art, and its cheerful refusal to make any real sense. I bounced off of Antonblast, no real pun intended, but if you like high-speed mascot platformers, it’s well worth a look.
[Antonblast, developed by Summitsphere and published by Joystick Ventures, is now available for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam for $19.99. This column was written using a Steam code sent to Hard Drive by a Joystick Ventures PR representative.]
