Serious Scramblers – Vertically Scrolling Platformer

Serious Scramblers Featured Image

Developer: Chinykian
Released: November 2018 for iOS
Price: $1.99

Platforms: iOS, PC, more platforms coming soon
Available on: Apple App Store, Steam, itch.io
Engine: GameMaker

Serious Scramblers is a vertically scrolling platformer where your character cannot jump. Made by developer Chin Yong Kian and inspired by an old mobile game called Rapid Rolls, the game does everything it can to get you stressed, and most importantly, scrambling.

About the Game

The game includes over 20 levels and an endless mode, with the goal being to fall as far as possible before dying. There’s no shortage of ways in which you can die, such as hitting the spiked ceiling, falling below the screen, touching an enemy from its sides, fireballs, spike platforms, bullets, or bosses! Several of these hazards can be on screen at once, and they become more frequent in later levels where you must fall deeper to get to the goal. While you can’t jump, you can still bounce by stomping enemies.

Serious Scramblers Screenshot
Scrambling to get to the bottom!

In addition, there are coins spread around the game, and each enemy you stomp awards you with a coin; this adds an element of conflict where you’re not only fighting the rising platforms and the obstacles but also your greed for coins, which can buy you better characters and revive you (for as many times as you can pay).

Speaking of characters, you have plenty of character choices, each with their own passive abilities. Some characters can get more coins, or fall faster, or move faster in general. The default character has no special qualities, with the rest needing to be unlocked.

To that end, the game is a satisfying experience, worthy of being the next Super Hexagon, especially on mobile where the simple left and right controls can be easily translated to the touchscreen.

Serious Scramblers Screenshot
Beware of the boss!

The pixelated visuals are clean and nice, and you won’t have any trouble telling what you’re falling onto. There is a scanline effect that you cannot turn off but gives the game a nicer retro look and feels right at home. The sounds are alright and so is the music, although there is only one track when playing the levels and another for boss encounters, which may quickly get repetitive.

In Conclusion

If you quickly manage to get the gist of the game, all its levels can be cleared in an hour or two, and even less if you can minimize your mistakes. If you’re looking for an arcade experience based on old-school platforming with scroller levels, Serious Scramblers is the game.

Want more arcade games? You can read my reviews for Byte Driver and Blink Rogues!

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