It’s when a good gameplay idea goes beyond being a mere gimmick that a game truly excels. That’s the case with Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, coming in from Brazilian developer Pocket Trap, known for Dodgeball Academia, a hit from a few years ago. Chock full of charm and featuring a neat twist in gameplay, it was one of the big surprises coming out of gamescom latam.
In it, you play as Pippit, a young playboy-type who fancies himself a yoyo champ, who rides into town in order to visit his wealthy aunt, who happens to be the sole electric power provider of the place and his source of easy income. Things turn out for the worst when he arrives, since as soon as he meets up with her after a short strut around her mansion, auntie gets zapped by the local mob and ends up sucked into his yoyo. Now, it’s up to the boy to somehow save her, hopefully by getting the villains’ super batteries back, which store the old bat’s soul bit by bit.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo reminds me a lot of The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap. It’s played from a side/isometric point of view and has you explore a sizable map, go into what could be called dungeons, dealing with NPCs, collecting heart containers, all the while under the guise of a faux GameBoy Advance-type game. So much so that the starting screen is played on a very close – but still not what would be considered lawsuit-worthy – to a GBA, a cute touch to say the least.
Pippit’s means of defense is of course his yoyo, which is as fun to use as it sounds. You can use it to directly attack enemies and retrieve items, but the catch is that you can bounce it off walls and bumpers, and the resulting ricochet can come into play through environmental puzzles as well. Each screen can be replayed when you die as long as you have enough coins, and you’re certainly going to need them since it can get quite tricky due to how the hero can only take a few hits before going down for the count.
There are numerous ways to spend cash besides reviving, though. Spread throughout Pipistrello are locked pathways, for instance, where you’ll need batteries to unlock the way forward, and you’re also able to invest in skill and stat upgrades through loans that have to be paid to the kid’s cousin. It’s a funny poke that plays well within the game’s quippy sense of humor, very much in the same way as Dodgeball Academia did, by having the jokes work around gameplay and its mechanics.
The same can be said about the world you will be exploring. The city is big, full of people to talk to, and of course, enemies to fight against. All of it is colorful and bustling with life, with hardly a dull moment as you run from point A to B. Very early in the game, you’re introduced to the burrow that serves as your base of operations, where you can equip special items that give Pippit perks. You’re also able to talk to your team members there, such as his aforementioned cousin, as well as store said batteries and other items you don’t want to carry around everywhere.
The loop of the game is very similar to that of overhead Zelda titles, but the direct comparison to Minish Cap comes in because throughout your adventure, your character will constantly bicker with his aunt, who pops out of his yoyo in very Ezlo fashion with Link in the classic Capcom-developed title. Their exchanges are always full of pokes but are also helpful, containing tips on what to do next, not to mention sometimes even giving you new powers depending on the context at hand.
I found Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo to be a great little game. It’s exceedingly charming and full of life, and its gameplay is simple but has enough depth to keep things interesting for the long run. Much like its inspirations, Pipistrello follows a more enclosed structure progression-wise, giving you limited choices when it comes to where to go next. It’s the type of game you’re going to want to look into every corner for collectibles, which are plenty if you are into that sort of thing.
