Thanks to Mega Cat Studios for the review code
Title: Flap Happy
System: Game Boy/Color
Price: $40/$50
Release Date: 2024
Story
In this precision platformer (also on NES), you take control of a bird trying to get his way out of a dangerous environment! At least, that’s the most I can make up for the plot, since this is just quick-paced stage by stage action!
Presentation
Being the GBC version we have here, Flap Happy scales pretty well to the handheld’s screen size. The colors pop and look pretty good like on NES, and the randomized levels are all properly sized to fit the handheld screen, so you won’t have to do any sort of crazy scrolling to reach all the platforms.
When it comes to the sound, Flap Happy is rather weak. Generic tunes throughout the whole game, and basic sound effects that get the job done, so there really isn’t much to note here.
Gameplay
In this very simple precision platformer, you take control of a bird as it sets out to clear four worlds worth of semi-randomized stage layouts! The controls are simplistic moving and jumping, as you try to flap your way around various hazards like spikes, sharks, flames and other crazy obstacles thrown your way! In order to activate the exit at the end of each stage, the bird must land on several platforms in succession, revealing the next one until the exit is opened and you can escape the stage and go onto the next one! Rinse and repeat across many worlds while trying to get a high score, and maybe try and nab the fruit bouncing around while you’re at it to get a point bonus.
So yeah, Flap Happy is really, really simple, with a bit of balloon fight mixed with connect the dots, and the semi-randomized levels remind me of Cloudberry Kingdom, of all things. Sure, the worlds and themes are the same, but they can be mixed and matched in so many ways that going through a run of the game on a chosen difficulty can seriously throw you some curveballs, and playing this on an emulator device is especially handy for saving high scores, (since unfortunately, this game doesn’t seem to have SRAM for that task) as they’re associated per difficulty level. So while the Easy mode was pretty manageable and the typical sort of precision platforming challenge I’m used to, the hardest setting was just pure insanity, and the kind of decent challenge I enjoyed trying to chip away at and get further and further in while going for the high score, since you get more points the faster you clear a level, along with a bonus for getting three specific fruits in a row.
There are a couple extra level options too. You can do a single stage mode where you mix and match attributes of your choice to make or recreate a level before taking it, or just have the game throw you through completely random sequences of stages, making for an absolutely unpredictable experience. Despite the simplicity, I still enjoyed my time dabbling with Flap Happy, and I feel the Random/Hard options are a big factor in what made it click with me more than I expected it to.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Flap Happy might be the simplest game I’ve covered for SFG in a long time. It’s a homebrew for a simple hand held, the game only tasks you with a single button action between platforms, and you either play it to try and survive a long gauntlet of stages, or go for the highest score, something that’s a bit harder on a physical version considering the lack of SRAM, which is a big shame.
Still, while I feel nabbing this physically is insanely costly for the price, I really do hope this one gets a port to modern consoles or the Evercade in the future, in some official format that makes it easy to save and preserve those high scores. This is a pretty fun pick up and play platformer, and while the depth is little, the core loop was enough to satisfy my time attack and score chasing needs for a quick play, and well worth checking out if you don’t mind the physical cost.
I give Flap Happy a 6 out of 10.