Celeste Classic

It was only a few days after Christmas and I was exploring the capabilities of my new retro handheld. I had already experimented with the usual emulation and native-run games, so I started to dive deeper when something caught my eye. A few years previous, I had learned about PICO-8, a fantasy console that interested me, but that I had never gotten around to doing much with. Casually listed amongst the consoles my new handheld could emulate, PICO-8 sat ready to bid for my attention once again. This time, I couldn't resist the invitation, so I downloaded the only game for the "console" that I knew off the top of my head and I didn't put it down until I had beaten it.

The original Celeste game is a short, yet challenging, precision platformer. Your goal is to scale a wintry mountain through thirty stages of increasingly complex platforming challenges, mastering your full array of movement capabilities along the way. You'll encounter walls to cling to, gaps to clear, spikes to avoid, and more, each of them requiring near-perfect execution when chaining together your jumps and dashes, with failure typically resulting in immediate death. However, I believe that is where Celeste shows its true value.

Sometimes you may beat a stage on your first attempt, and it feels amazing to do so, but more often than not, you'll probably die a couple dozen times before you finally nail everything. It was those stages, the ones that really challenged me, that helped me to realize Celeste's greatest strength is its forgiveness. No matter how many times I botched a chain of dashes and jumps, I'd get to try again right away. Thanks to the small size of the stages, failure never feels like it takes you back too far, and even the smallest bit of progress from one attempt to the next can feel monumental. If there were a life counter or any sort of pause between deaths, I imagine this would be an incredibly frustrating experience, but Celeste chooses to forgive failure and encourage learning. Because of that, I actually felt even more determined to succeed when I encountered the segments that would've just made me angry in other games.

I have yet to play the full retail Celeste game, but I can only imagine that basing a full-fledged title on the foundation laid here would result in a true masterpiece. I feel like playing Celeste Classic is almost like watching the standalone pilot of a popular show. It holds something special for those who already enjoy the actual show, but it was obviously good enough on its own to have greenlit the show in the first place, so it can still be just as memorable for those who are completely new to the series. Precision platformers aren't for everyone, but if that's something you like, whether or not you've played the retail release of Celeste, this is absolutely worth a try.

The game is available online here (as of 2/13/23): https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2145
The game is available for Steam here (as of 2/13/23): https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/
The game is available for Switch here (as of 2/13/23): https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/celeste-switch/
The game is available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S here (as of 2/13/23): https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/celeste/bwmql2rpwbhb
The game is available for PS4 and PS5 here (as of 2/13/23): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2120-CUSA11302_00-CELESTEXXCELESTE

Popular posts from this blog

Meow Tower: Nonogram Pictogram

Image
I seem to have a thing for mobile games about cats, and I am a huge fan of Nintendo 's Picross series. Normally those two interests don't overlap, but Meow Tower changed that. Combining the fun of befriending cute cartoon cats and solving intricate number puzzles hooked me immediately. While it's technically not a Picross game, seeing as that is a Nintendo trademark, the nonogram puzzles are still the same, and I loved being able to play them on my phone. Granted, there have been plenty of options to play these kinds of puzzles on the phone for years, but Meow Tower  sets itself apart from the rabble thanks to its stellar aesthetic. The developers behind this game are true artists. While it's a solid, straightforward nonogram game at its core, Meow Tower just looks so much better to play than any of the numerous generic options that crowd the app stores. The bubbly sticker-book style used for the art and menus gives Meow Tower a lot of charm and personality from t
Read more

Space Lich Omega

Image
Inspired by the ever popular Candy Box and Candy Box 2 , Space Lich Omega is an browser-based RPG adventure with an almost entirely ASCII display. However, it chose to step away from the established fantasy style of it's inspiration for a more science-fantasy theme. I ended up having a fun time with this game, despite its need for a little polish, thanks to the unique story and hilarious pop-culture Easter eggs that can be discovered throughout the different explorable locations. Despite the crude-ish interface, I never had any trouble navigating throughout the game. I actually ended up beating it in a relatively short time, especially when I had my gunk production going all out, allowing me to jump my health up enormously. Although I did need to do a little grinding every now and then for an item that I missed, that didn't interfere with my enjoyment too much. Ultimately, this is no Candy Box , but it still has its merits and is worth playing if you ever find yourself in
Read more

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

Image
Reusing game engines has proven to be pretty popular in the Zelda series. It offers developers a chance to craft more experimental and risky games, as the initial investment on the engine was covered by the previous, more traditional release. As a huge fan of A Link Between Worlds , I was ecstatic to learn it was getting a pseudo-follow-up. My excitement only grew when Nintendo sent me an early-access demo, and I somehow had no concerns that this was another multiplayer-focused game, despite my preference for solo play. Since the previous multiplayer Zelda games had pretty functional single-player modes, I anticipated that I could expect the same here. Unfortunately, that wasn't an entirely accurate assumption. Like its predecessors , Tri Force Heroes is level-based in order to accommodate its multiplayer focus. All of the stages are designed like dungeons, so they hold up really well for puzzle-solving challenges, but they lack a lot of the same charm you can find in Four Swor
Read more