Fix-It Felix, Jr.

In 2012, as a spectacular advertising campaign for their new movie, Wreck-It Ralph, Disney released a few different takes on Ralph's fictional home game. Each based on the clips from the film, they offer similar aesthetics and gameplay, but their different development teams and target platforms meant they wouldn't exactly match each other. Of the different versions, the only one I have played myself is the iOS release that came both as a free standalone and in a dollar combo pack alongside mobile interpretations of all of the fictional arcade games featured in the film. I downloaded both immediately after seeing the movie and absolutely loved the fact that I was actually playing Wreck-It Ralph's game! However, it was only after replaying it now that I was able to appreciate all of the features the developers managed to pack in to make it feel like a real arcade release.

Fix-It Felix Jr! sees you playing as the titular character as you attempt to repair an apartment building faster than the misunderstood villain, Ralph, can wreck it. Reminiscent of the first stage in Donkey Kong, Ralph will begin each stage by destroying large portions of the building all at once, and then he'll start dropping streams of bricks once you begin your repairs, giving you something to dodge while you fix windows with your magic hammer. Every time you complete all of the repairs on the screen, Ralph will get mad and climb higher, where he will wreck a new part of the building and start up a new stage. Eventually, you'll force him up to the roof, where the building's residents will throw him to the ground and award you a medal for your help, with the loop then beginning again at a higher difficulty.

With this just being a clever interactive advertisement, the developers could have left this game pretty bare-bones while still fulfilling their assignment, but they went above and beyond to recreate that full, quality, quarter-eating feeling. This is mostly achieved through how the game increases its difficulty as you progress. While this is an obvious requirement for any arcade game, I especially appreciated how it was handled through new mechanics, rather than just upping the speed or the amount of work to complete. Tenants in the building will start having planters that stop you from traversing vertically, or open shutters that prevent horizontal movement; Ralph's bricks will start breaking windows, even if you've already repaired them; and even more tricks start to appear once you have defeated Ralph multiple times. All of these things encourage you to think on your toes and readjust constantly, keeping the game engaging while also granting an impressive level of depth for a glorified advertisement.

Wreck-It Ralph is a movie about video games, so it made sense to create a playable version of the main character's fictional home game. What makes its release unique is the fact that Fix-It Felix Jr. was distributed for free, indicating that the game was, in fact, the advertisement, not the product. As such, it really just needed to be a short, cute little game that pointed its players back to the movie. Instead, we got a high-quality title that feels worthy of its own cabinets in arcades and random dive bars throughout the country. There are a few versions of Fix-It Felix Jr. released, each made by a different development team, but I would expect a similar amount of polish for each of them based on what I've heard. They may be harder to find now that a whole decade has passed, but if you get a chance to play any version of this game, I'd say it's probably worth it.

Although the game is no longer being distributed, you can learn more about it here (as of 12/31/22): https://wreckitralph.fandom.com/wiki/Wreck-It_Ralph_App#Fix-It_Felix,_Jr.