A few flippant impressions of WayForward's Mighty Flip Champs DX (PSP Minis)

OK, so most people wouldn't describe the impressions below as "flippant." Honestly, I only used the word in the headline above because I liked how it complemented the "Flip" in Mighty Flip Champs DX.

With that out of the way, here are my initial impressions of this WayForward-developed, PSP-based puzzler-slash-platformer:

1. I really like how this game sounds. The trance-y background tunes are nice, but they're not what I'm talking about here. Instead, I'm talking about the Donkey Kong-esque (or Mario Bros.-ish, if you prefer) sound effects that accompany the protagonist's every step.



2. I also like how it looks. The above-mentioned protagonist, Alta, and her fishman friend, especially. Both are wonderfully realized and animated sprites that hark back to the 8-bit era.

3. That said, I wish I could see the game's graphics more clearly. Everything is so small that it's hard to fully appreciate the sprites that the folks at WayForward took such pains to create.

4. The main reason everything is so small is that the game's developers had to cram two of each stage's "pages" (areas) onto the PSP's otherwise-roomy screen. Although that negatively impacts Mighty Flip Champs DX's graphics, it positively impacts its gameplay (since it allows players to easily see where Alta will be positioned post-flip).

5. Mighty Flip Champs DX may look cute and cuddly, but it's got some serious teeth (i.e., it's tough). The first few stages are so easy that you'd be forgiven for thinking the whole thing is a cakewalk. Then you come to, oh, stage 1-7 and that notion is blown to smithereens as you try again and again (and again, if you're me) to reach Alta's amphibian compadre.



6. The only element of the game that I'm not so sure of at the moment is its emphasis on replaying each stage over and over in order to get the best time. Personally, I'm more of a beat-a-stage-once-and-then-get-on-with-it kind of guy, although I'm sure there are a lot of people who like this sort of gameplay.

So, that's what I think of Mighty Flip Champs DX after playing through its first two worlds. I'll write up a more formal review of the game after I've finished it. In the meantime, have any of you played it--or its DSiWare predecessor? If so, what do you think about it?

See also: 'WayForward's Austin Ivansmith is a pretty awesome guy'

Why didn't somebody tell me Mighty Flip Champs received a PSP port?

While researching today's other post (about Mighty Switch Force's teaser trailer), I discovered that another WayForward-developed title that I've had my eye on for some time, Mighty Flip Champs, was rather stealthily released as a PSP Mini a few months ago.

Surprisingly, said port is supposed to be a pretty good one. "It's a game that, previous to its arrival on PSP, I could only imagine as a DS game," Joystiq's JC Fletcher wrote in a recent review. "But the PSP version turns the vertical 'flipping' horizontal, and puts the two locations on the left and right side of the PSP screen. To my surprise, this arrangement works out just fine! It doesn't feel like an adaptation to a less adequate platform; it just works."



Although I'd love to add Mighty Flip Champs DX to my ever-growing collection of digital PSP games, I'm going to have to hold off on doing so until I actually have some money. Another possibility: I could wait until I buy 3DS and then purchase all three of WayForward's "Mighty" titles (Mighty Flip Champs, Mighty Milky Way and Mighty Switch Force) via that system's eShop. Decisions, decisions.

See also: 'Metroid + Mega Man + Mischief Makers = Mighty Switch Force?'