The Fancy Pants Adventures

As a young kid playing Flash games on my grandparents' computer, I had a few staples I liked to return to. I loved the feel of the Fancy Pants games, and they earned their status as a staple in my catalog, but I was never any good at them. I could tell that there was something good there, but I never had the coordination to make it more than a couple levels into either of the first two games. Thankfully, I have gotten a little better since then, and with the entirety of the first three games available within The Fancy Pants Adventures package, I finally had a chance to redeem myself.

The Fancy Pants games are what I like to call momentum platformers. Like the Sonic the Hedgehog series, much of the gameplay revolves around building and maintaining momentum in order to efficiently traverse the levels. There are plenty of times when the games force you to stop and act with a little more precision, especially when it comes to the combat, but most of the time, you'll just be going fast. These moments of speed coupled with the silky-smooth animation style make for a game that just feels good to play.

Unfortunately, the fun in The Fancy Pants Adventures isn't too balanced across its offerings. The main campaign of the game was actually originally released as the third game in the series, and it sets a bar that the first two fail to meet. This makes sense, as I would expect sequels to improve upon their predecessors, but starting with the third game really hurt my enjoyment of the first two. The three games play identically, but World 3 has a humorous story that weaves into the whole adventure, easily the best level design in terms of both momentum and variety, and the largest amount of playable content. After finishing that, my motivation for going back to the first two games was fueled purely by a blend of nostalgia and completionism, not fun. It was exciting to revisit the games I was never able to beat and finally see their conclusions, but I don't think they are really a must-play next to the main experience.

For those of us who still think about our old Flash game staples every now and then, seeing games like The Fancy Pants Adventures find new life on other platforms is great to see. That entire sector of gaming had a lot going for it, and it would be a shame if it was all just lost, but thankfully, it's not! If you have the opportunity, and especially if you have some nostalgia for it, playing The Fancy Pants Adventures is totally worth your time, even if you just play through the main campaign. All the magic and fun of playing the first two games is still present there, but it feels much more like a complete videogame experience. Right now, this is actually my favorite momentum platformer that I have played. Granted, there are still a lot of Sonic games on my backlog, but the smooth animations, intuitive controls, fantastic level design, and sprinkling of humor make this a delightful little adventure.

The game is available for iOS here (as of 10/17/23): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fancy-pants-adventures/id1210083042
The game is coming soon to Steam here (as of 10/17/23): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1668460/The_Fancy_Pants_Adventures_Classic_Pack/

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