Felix the Cat

The Good
This was developed by Japanese mysterious studio Shimada Kikaku a.k.a. S-Plan, almost erased from history out of never crediting their own games.

Felix was the first animated Hollywood star, extremely popular in the silent cinema of the early twenties, but by the end of the century completely forgotten, to the point that an unknown Japanese studio was able to secure themselves with the rights to the character for their first game ever.

This is usually a recipe for disaster, but oddly enough the game is a platforming jewel.

The jumping feels nice and the character controls to perfection, and that I'd say is the most important element in a platformer.

You control Felix with his "Magic bag of tricks" that can assume a variety of shapes.

Like a Tank, and a Wizard, a plane, etc., which are way better than your basic attack; If you get hit you lose the current costume for your previous one, so they also serve as extra – hit devices. There are only slight variants in the mechanics for each costume.

So, if everything feels the same, how come the game is good?

Because there's a timer for the costumes so in order to keep them you need to collect Felix's coins - ten of them will get you extra time for your current costume - this forces the player to explore the level and find the coins while speeding up.

The Bad
The graphics are a joy to watch, thanks to classic Felix's endearing cartoony designs, but a minor complaint would be how dark the screen looks. It should look brighter and happier. The music is also a bit generic but serviceable enough.

The Bottom Line
Felix the cat is platforming perfection for the 8 bit era.
Yes it's basic run, shoot and jump, but extremely well done. Sometimes that's all you need.