Mr. Run and Jump review

Kids today don’t realise how tough platforming was back in the olden times, or just how anxiety inducing it could be managing those precision jumps, or avoiding that bed of spikes. With its roots in the Atari 2600 homebrew scene, the beautifully named Mr. Run and Jump is cut from the same cloth as the bonkers-tough titles of my childhood, but imbues the standard platform hopping with a wonderful balletic flair that elevates it beyond its deceptively simple appearance.

The titular Mr Run and Jump has so much more to him than his name suggests. Straight off the bat you can execute a lunging dive, a roll, a classic double jump, a timing-based wall jump, and can chain all of these manoeuvres together in order to work your way through the synthwave-inspired world of 20 increasingly more environmentally hostile stages.

Harking back to the days where platformers like Manic Miner was based around moving between multiple rooms, Run & Jump is merciless in its difficulty, with the ante well and truly upped very early doors. The aim is to progress whilst collecting treasure, with a succession of ultra-tight jumps and obstacle laden pathways to negotiate. Some moments require such intense precision that you will find yourself dying multiple times before you get it right. The design can seem cruel at times but there is always a way through, and there is a real sense of accomplishment not to mention exhilaration when you finally nail a particularly challenging segment using the moves in your avatar’s locker.

The other denizens of the super attractive neon world are straight out of the irritating video game beast playbook. All of the usual denizens are present and correct. Mosquito-like creatures that fly in jagged patterns, ominous floating skulls, anthropomorphic spikes that leap out of the ground and try to swallow you, annoying blighters that course towards you when you stick a landing. There are little homages to classic games – including distinctly Thwomp-like falling blocks. The way you career through the stages collecting jewels is somewhat reminiscent of Sonic The Hedgehog. Except Sonic was never this bloody hard.

One hit kills and plenty of chances to perish means that you have to be patient and expect to practise some areas before you will clear them. You get sent back to the start of the room if you croak, ready to dive headlong in once again. Remember, that games like this were ten a penny back when I owned a Commodore 64, and as such could be a tough thing for modern gamers to swallow. If you do ever become proper stuck, the game does offer you a chance to negotiate stages with a burst of temporary invulnerability or a more generous checkpoint – however in this scenario you will be unable to snaffle the in-game collectables which are an essential part of getting the true ending of Mr. Run and Jump.

At the end of each world on the map screen is a special stage known rather forebodingly as The Void – essentially a series of bonkers challenges where the constantly closing walls require you to reach the end before you become sandwiched. Think of the Void as Run & Jump’s version of a boss battle. As well as this, meeting the conditions collectibles-wise between the shards and orbs that you can find unlocks the final Dark World, the final and ultimate challenge that marries all of the obstacles, enemies and concepts the game has introduced and presents them to you in one mind-meldingly tricky set of masochistic rooms.

This isn’t going to be for everyone, due to the sheer level of challenge on offer, however it does give a feeling of pure unadulterated gaming joy like no other when your co-ordination and the sharp controls combine in the sweet spot that guides you through a devilishly hard segment. It is another cool little title in Atari’s current mini-revival.