1Bit Marcos, LAUNCH YOURSELF And COLLECT Your TOKENS!

1Bit Marcos is a simple game that reminds me of another 1 bit game I played recently, Tokki. However Tokki was a premium game, and this one is free. While both are pretty tough, 1bit Marcos is just a little bit easier. Gameplay wise 1Bit Marcos has you throwing yourself at walls and sticking to them in order to collect the various tokens scattered across each level. Interestingly you don't need to collect all the tokens in order to complete a level, and you aren't graded either by how many you have picked up. Which I thought was kind of weird, What's the point of even collecting these tokens if it doesn't matter in the long run.

I have never played a game like 1Bit Marcos. This game is extremely challenging for me. It took me a good few minutes to understand how it plays. The visuals are pixel-based but the audio and the gameplay are retro vibes. The in-game sound is missing or lacking thereof. The game is simple, Marcos cannot jump, run or hide but he can shoot and cling to where your guide arrow will show you. The red things are a no-go. You cannot touch them or you have to return to the starting place.

I’m enjoying Tokki as it is a cool,  old-school platformer that reminds of the games that came on Nintendo’s Game & Watch units. Tight, responsive controls make the world go ‘round (or up, down, left, right in this case) in an experience like this, and Tokki definitely has pinpoint controls...so if/when I die, I know it's my own damn fault. The controls are paramount because this challenging platformer will keep you busy for several hours with its simple objective: grab all the gems and reach the exit. Even though you can bust out the standard moves, the double-jump, dash, and rewind, you're still probably going to die. A lot. Stages are filled with enemies that respawn after a few seconds which is annoying (but I got used to it) and spikes that can be hard to spot in this surprisingly detailed 1-bit, black and white world.