A giant worm has swallowed poor Slime-san, and now you must help him escape before being digested in this super challenging 2-D platformer.  Very similar to other titles like Super Meat Boy, Slime-san is available to download on Nintendo Switch and PC (later on PS4 and Xbox One), but reviewed on Switch here.

Each area in Slime-san is a single screen, with a level comprising of a few of those screens.  Slime-san can hop, jump up walls, and do a quick dash.  You can also perform a move that makes you transparent to go through green blocks, and it also slows down the action.  But it doesn’t slow down the actual timer, so use it sparingly.  If you dawdle, a pool of digestive juices will rise up, and you’ll have to hurry so you don’t get dissolved.  Each stage has four hidden apples to get, making it even tougher for a perfect run.  And if you can complete a stage in record time, you get a trophy.  And in some levels, there are super secret hidden coins you can use to buy things in the shops.

Yes, the giant worm that swallowed you is so big that there is a street you can visit inside with shops.  You can buy outfits for your slime, special powers that enhance or limit your movements for more challenge, arcade mini-games, and more!  I only wish the coins weren’t so hard to get to buy these things, as the arcade games look really fun (they only cost five coins, but I’ve only found one so far).  Aside from the shops, you can also explore Slime-san’s family house, try speedrunner challenges, and much more!

The graphics in Slime-san have a very retro feel.  In fact, there’s only like, four colors used (blue, white, green and red).  It makes the game look like it’s being shown on an old PC monitor.  Even better is the awesome 8-bit soundtrack.  Aside from how hard it is to get coins, the only other problem I had with the game is it just gets way too hard in general.  I’ve never been a fan of games that are ridiculously hard for challenge’s sake, but I will say that Slime-san kept me interested more than most of these kinds of games do, so you know it has to be good.  So if you enjoyed Super Meat Boy and its ilk, you should really try this one, too.

Kid Factor:

Slime-san is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Crude Humor.  When you get hit by an obstacle or enemy, you just explode and appear at the beginning of the stage.  Reading skill is a must for the text, and younger gamers and less experienced players may get frustrated at the high challenge level.

Tags: Game Reviews