Super Bit Adventure is an Android adventure game that offers players a retro dungeon crawling experience with simple controls and the classic retro RPG tropes of skills, equipment and mini-games. Super Bit Adventure is not afraid to poke fun at itself, either and the dialogue will be a lot of fun to anyone that’s been around gaming culture for a long time, and it’s a nice way of getting involved in something that celebrates games of old, rather than bringing them back via life support. With 16-bit style graphics, funky chip tune music and more, Super Bit Adventure is a tongue-in-cheek dungeon crawler, but is it more style than substance? Let’s find out.
As with other games, players can download Super Bit Adventure from the Play Store and then fire it up to get started.
The game starts off much the same as the Legend of Zelda does, with the player washing up on shore with no idea of what’s going on. There’s even the classic line from Zelda games that many people will remember.
It quickly transpires that where you’ve ended up is an Adventurer’s camp, and there are a number of different characters you can interact with, including our friend here, Norteko, the shopkeep.
There’s a fishing mini-game included in Super Bit Adventure, which was my first taste of the hilarious dialogue the developers have come up with.
The fishing mini-game is good fun, but it’s obviously not where the meat of the game is found.
The real meat of the game is of course inside of the dungeon, which has multiple different floors and more difficult enemies the more time you spend inside of it. Things do start off pretty easy, with just some slimes to take on.
These slimes do leave behind gold, which of course can be used to purchase more potions and stronger equipment, but there’s also gold lying in the grass heaps which you can quite easily cut down as well.
These slimes are a helpful little introduction to a key element of the game; bounties.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the game for you, as it can be addictive tackling each level of the dungeon, but over time things get quite tricky, and you’ll be able to put together some bad ass armor and skills.
Weapons and skills can be changed by transmuting them as you progress further into the game which is good fun.
Super Bit Adventure is free to download and play, but free users have to put up with some limitations in exchange for the game not having ads. For instance, free users can only play mini-games a certain number of times per day. However, “going Pro” with Super Bit is not too expensive, thankfully.
I had a lot of fun playing with Super Bit Adventure, and I can’t wait to get further up into the dungeon to unlock some more cool stuff. This whole retro-revival thing isn’t for everyone, that much is clear, but the fact that Super Bit doesn’t try too hard to be something from yesterday is why it’s such fun. It’s not afraid to be a game that pokes fun at itself, and it’s pretty funny with the type of dialogue and such that’s on offer. The weapon upgrades and equipment are satisfying, and the inventory and shop screens take me back to classic Final Fantasy games I used to play when I was younger. For me, personally, Super Bit feels like a mash of Zelda, Secret of Mana, Pokemon and Chrono Trigger all in one glorious, tongue-in-cheek dungeon crawler I can play whenever I want without having to take things too seriously.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Everything here runs nice and smoothly, and the pacing of the game is such that players won’t feel overwhelmed but at the same time satisfied.
- Theme (4/5) – I really liked the retro graphics and the cool music, but they won’t be to everyone’s taste. I would have preferred the dungeon itself to look a little more exciting in parts, however.
- Features (4.5/5) – With lots of different gameplay elements coming together in one app, Super Bit Adventure has a wide-range of different players catered for and the fact that it doesn’t take anything too seriously is a blessing, rather than a curse.
- Overall (4/5) – A solid dungeon crawler game that will bring back memories for some, and help younger players find something different to the usual stuff that’s out there.
Pros
- Great fun for those that lived through there 8 and 16-bit eras of gaming, they’ll love all of the references and menus.
- Combat is simple, yet not a cakewalk either, there’s a good amount of challenge here in Super Bit.
- Cool graphics will appeal to fans of the retro aesthetic and the music helps bring it all together, too.
- Has more than enough on offer to keep players interested and coming back for a long time to come.
Cons
- Dungeon look and feel is a little standard, and I felt there was more that could be done with how it looks.
- Free users seem to be limited by some of what they can do in Super Bit Adventure.
All-in-all, there’s a lot on offer here, and we’re sure players both old and young will find something they like about the new game. With tongue-in-cheek references to older tropes from games long past and a simple, yet challenging combat system to get to grips with, there’s a lot to love about this overall. Well worth trying out, it’s a fun game that doesn’t throw ads in the face of free users, and handsomely rewards those willing to pay for good work.