Thanks to Broken Rules for the review code

Title: Electronic Super Joy
System: Wii U (eShop)
Price: $7.99
Release date: 11/05/2015

The main game/story

In this epic tale of heroism, you engage on an epic quest to save your hiney. No, that’s not a joke, that’s seriously the plot of the game! A challenging action platformer with a lot of content, ported over by Broken Rules, the same publishers who ported over the fantastic Guacamelee back in 2014.

Graphics

The game sports a monochromatic art style, with a heavy emphasis on bright background colors. Despite its simplistic appearance, the game still looks incredibly sharp, and is a sight to behold on a HDTV.

Music and Sound

True to the name, Electronic Super Joy is jam-packed with electronic music, and lots and lots of it to boot! Nearly every song in the game is meant to stir up energy for the challenges ahead, which greatly helps towards relieving some of the inevitable frustration from this game.

The sound effects are satisfying and work as they should, however it should be noted that for some baffling reason, some sound effects from the PC version are outright censored. According to the developer, it was self-censorship on their part in order to get the game an E10+ rating. While I can understand making alterations to lower a games rating to allow accessibility for a new audience, (Metroidvania title Unepic did the same thing with its Wii U eShop port) what bothers me is that the sequel to this game, Groove City (Which launched a few months prior to this port) was released on the Wii U eShop with its mature content intact. This kinda seems a bit off considering how folks who may have completed Groove City would be willing to try the original, but might not get why these changes were made, or the opposite could happen where those who complete this version might want to try Groove City, but get turned away by the mature content. Thankfully, its overall minor suggestive sound effects among other things that were censored, so no cut levels or worlds. Just something to keep in mind for those more familiar with the PC original.

Gameplay

Similar to your standard platformer, the main goal of the game is to rush through the levels as fast as possible, while being absolutely sure to avoid all hazards that block the way. Each of the levels relate to the corresponding musical track in some way, which can offer just the bit of help you may need to beat a challenging level. Speaking of challenge, it’s all over the place in this game, as outside of the initial few levels, this game is brutal with its difficulty, holding back no punches whatsoever. There’s plenty of levels in the game, and they only get more challenging as you conquer them. For those wanting the ultimate test in punishment, alternate modes like Micro-Hell and the endless mode are available for you to try out.

In terms of the actual controls, it’s fairly basic. You move, and you jump, with the occasional extra move given to you, whether it’s a stomp or a double jump. While it may disappoint those hoping for all sorts of extra powerups to find or special abilities, overall I think that these simple controls help keep the game fair, despite it’s incredibly high difficulty.

Conclusion

I’ll be completely honest when I say that Electronic Super Joy is one of the most difficult games that I’ve ever played. Still, despite my horrible attempts at beating this game, I had fun nevertheless. For the price of $7.99, you’ll be getting a lot of challenging content, and for those ready to take the challenge, it’ll be worth it. That being said, being an incredibly difficult game, this will also be a game that’s not really recommended for most other games. Don’t be fooled by the rating or the artstyle, as this is a punishing game through and through. For Platforming masters only. I give Electronic Super Joy a 7 out of 10.