Antonblast

Antonblast, stylized as ANTONBLAST, is a 2024 platform game made by independent video game company Summitsphere. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the full game is set to release on November 12, 2024 for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. The story follows the demolitions expert Dynamite Anton, set on recovering his collection of spirits stolen by Satan.

Gameplay
Antonblast stars Dynamite Anton, a demolitions expert operating in the town of Boiler City. His vivid red skin attracts the ire of Satan, the ruler of the underworld, who desires to be the reddest thing alive. After Satan steals Anton's collection of spirits, believing them to be the source of his power, the vengeful Anton sets out to reclaim them, accompanied by his violent coworker Dynamite Annie. The pair must navigate through several levels populated by Satan’s minions to retrieve Anton’s spirits, then activate a detonator and return to the beginning of each level before it collapses.

Anton’s primary means of attack is the "Clutch", a dash that harms enemies and destroys obstacles. The Clutch can be boosted by pressing the button when a meter is full, further enhancing the speed of the dash. Pressing the button just before dashing into an enemy sends Anton into a high-speed “Clutch Spin”. The player can also swing their hammer in a circular motion to bounce off of the floor and enemies for greater height, or slam down to enter manholes. Pressing down on the control pad lets the player slide through gaps while clutching or roll down slopes.

Levels place strong emphasis on destruction and collecting items. Populating the level are poker chips of different values, beetroots that restore the player’s health, Anton’s stolen spirits, and cassette tapes. Many different types of breakable blocks are also present, including mundane crates and scaffolding, stronger multicolored bricks, iron weights that require tremendous force to break, harmful “hate crates”, and blocks that can only be removed by the detonator with the corresponding symbol. Destroying a block or defeating an enemy extends the player’s combo, which awards a large point bonus when it finishes.

Each level is divided into a series of rooms and two layers. Anton can move between layers by jumping on special springs, and can occasionally transform the opposite layer by pressing a detonator. After reaching the end of the level, the player activates a clock-like detonator that opens the level exit: doing so, however, triggers an event known as "Happy Hour", adding a time limit within which the player must return to the exit. During "Happy Hour", blocks that previously obstructed the player's path become intangible, and vice-versa, thus creating a new route the player has to traverse in order to finish the level.

Development
Antonblast is being designed by the studio Summitsphere, which is also slated to self-publish the game. It is a successor to the studio's previous release Antonball, a Brick Breaker with controls inspired by those of Mario Bros. It was first revealed on 17 May 2022 as a Kickstarter campaign with an accompanying demo featuring the game's first level, Boiler City. The game started development in November 2021 after they finished Antonball Deluxe . Summitsphere cites Wario Land, Crash Bandicoot, Metroid Dread, Sonic CD, Cuphead and Shovel Knight as influences. The graphics are pixel art created from hand-drawn animations, scaled down before being implemented into the game.  According to studio head Tony Grayson, he was in talks to feature the Crash Bandicoot voice actor, Brendan O'Brien in the game. It is slated to be released on Microsoft Windows PCs via Steam and the Nintendo Switch. The game was shown at PAX East 2023, and was later featured at the Guerrilla Collective Showcase 2023, where a new public demo was announced featuring updated mechanics and an additional level, Cinnamon Springs.

Reception
Time Extension writer Jack Yarwood praised the demo, appreciating Antonblast for "fill[ing] the gap" left by the lack of new Wario Land video games. Hardcore Gamer writer Kyle LeClair included Antonblast in his top 10 list of games featured at PAX East 2023, praising it as a "terrific ode" to both the Wario Land series and to the Game Boy Advance in general. He found the platforming enjoyable, calling the mechanic of jumping in and out of the background "clever," and also calling the destruction in the game "wildly-fun." Kotaku writer Kenneth Shepard included it in his list of indie games releasing in 2023 that he wanted to showcase, praising its pixel art, action, and premise.

Upon being shown on Nintendo's Indie World Showcase on April 17, 2024, many people have compared this game to Pizza Tower due to its gameplay and its art direction being inspired by cartoons from the 1990s.