Sometimes there are just releases that make you stop and wonder what it is you’re looking at. Granted, I’ve played some pretty minimalistic efforts over the years, and some of them have actually managed to redeem themselves as releases, but many haven’t. Where it can sometimes get weird for me are cases like this one, where someone has taken the time and effort to put together a release that represents 3 very different games made by the same developer, but they don’t feel like they were likely very good when released the first time, let alone having them come around for another pass. But anyway, here we are and I’ll try to share my thoughts about all 3.

The first I actually struggle to think of much as an overall effort, since ultimately the only thing you’ll concern yourself with is changing the color of your guinea pig’s snout to match different falling items. I suppose if the goal was to make something that roughly feels like an Atari 2600 level effort, just with slightly better graphics, you could consider it a success. While the second game in the trilogy is obviously far more ambitious, it has its own failings as well, and that’s its odd controls and animations that somehow make everything more miserable. You’ll try to get your guinea pig to push, climb, and grab items in order to clear a room. The fact that you’ll also be able to lay down what look like Tetronimos to help is interesting, but only serves to make the game’s mechanics more complicated. The deeply annoying issue with both games is that you’re provided zero direction on what you’re doing, or what the controls are. This just serves to make them both all the more irritating when you realize you’ve wasted time figuring them out in order to play such simplistic and dull games.

The last in the trilogy is the only one worth saying anything about, but even it doesn’t have all that much going for it. Where it succeeds where the other two failed miserably though is with its overall simplicity. Your goal will simply be to jump from platform to platform, being mindful of the numbers on them, working out which sequence to jump between in order to open the sewer grate at the end and be able to jump into it. That’s it, nothing more complicated, no controls to stumble over or get confused with, just a reasonably well-implemented, if quite simple, puzzle game. I suppose I can appreciate being able to see the progression in the efforts and ultimate at least quasi-success in the trilogy at the end. Still, without any particular direct tie to the game through nostalgia or some other interest there’s not much here to enjoy.