Bit Boy!! ARCADE (Hands-On) (Nintendo 3DS) Preview

The early demo version of Bit Boy!! ARCADE only contains three short stages, but it is already showing off how addictive and decidedly tough the full game is set to be. Each level has a particular retro graphical theme, and puts the player in control of a little block character called Kubi who must rescue friends trapped by black shadow creatures in cages up in the air. To do this, players use the control pad to move Kubi in one of four directions, watching as the little block trundles along, trying to dodge the oncoming black shadow monsters that are dashing about on patrol in the same arena.

In some ways this very early concept version plays like a new version of Pac Man, except from an isometric 3D point of view, and it definitely benefits from Namco’s classic gameplay, picking up its ‘just-one-more-try’ quality. Bplus has stated that the game opens up further into the action puzzle journey, so any fears of it being too basic can hopefully be cast away. Trying to swiftly dash around, pausing momentarily under each of the seven friends that need to be gathered whilst Kubi twists into the air and sucks them from their mid-air position back downwards, is quite the challenge. Not only is avoiding the enemies tough, but everything is done against the clock. When the seven friends have been collected, they form a special shield around Kubi and the race is on to locate the exit portal, knocking out any enemies along the way for extra points.

All of the action takes place on the top screen, whilst the bottom half of the 3DS shows off how many of Kubi’s friends still need to be found, the number of lives remaining, the score per level, and overall points total. Additionally, players can keep track of the Score Timer, which starts off at 60 and gradually goes down with each in-game second that passes. Defeating monsters or being reunited with friends then triggers a score multiplier of 100 times the timer position -- for example, when at 51.2 seconds, the score received would be 5120. Complete the current level and all points accrued will be added to the total score. Die within a level, however, and the score for that stage alone is wiped out. Hopefully the final edition of Bit Boy!! ARCADE will have some sort of online ranking table to act as a strong incentive for beating high scores.