

Enemies look like bizarre, random placeholders like floating stop signs or what appear to be dancing beer mugs with the word “YES” above them. It’s unabashedly inspired by Commodore 64 computer graphics of the eighties, so it’s all simple pixels and bright colors. VVVVVV’s graphical presentation isn’t too special. Still, it’s generally incredible how near-perfectly the controls have been adapted to touchscreen. None of the control schemes are quite precise enough to pull this off well. The biggest issue is trying to move only a few steps when on a small ledge (which happens semi-frequently). There are three control schemes, each intuitive in their own way, but I can’t deny a subtle loss in accuracy from not having actual buttons to press. None of this would be remotely fair if the controls weren’t as solid as they are.

Nabbing a trinket will require you to hit a checkpoint in the process, so you can’t die and respawn back where you started, but instead have to again navigate the insanely hard area you just bypassed. Checkpoints are often cleverly used against you.
#Vvvvvv shiny trinkets how to
These often require you to invert your thinking, figuring out how to get to the underside of where you’ve just been walking on. Each time you find a crewmate there’s a small escort mission-each one with a slightly different spin on it.įurther challenge comes from collecting the optional twenty trinkets found throughout the world. Making it over a spike-coated chasm means falling down into it, navigating your way to a disappearing platform at the bottom, then flipping off it and floating back up to the other side. You’ll have to flip deftly up and down across conveyor belts alternating both horizontally and vertically. Lives are endless and checkpoints plentiful, but every screen is a maniacal challenge the satisfaction comes from seeing how many you can pass without dying. There’s no health bar one slip-up and you’re dead. There are conveyor belts, platforms that disappear once landed on, lines that involuntarily flip your gravity when touched, and spikes. VVVVVV keeps the concept fresh with a variety of hazards and environmental junk. There’s some cute dialogue from the crew and computer terminals offering backstory, but it’s all just an excuse to get down to some old-school, hard-as-nails platforming.Ītypically, there’s no actual jumping you avoid spikes, enemies, and other obstacles by switching Viridian’s gravity, sending him flying up to the ceiling or back down to the earth (and there’s no flipping mid-air). You, as ship captain Viridian, must explore the hostile planet, rescuing your five crewmembers and collecting shiny trinkets.

VVVVVV is about a crew of little pixel people who get accidentally warped to another dimension and separated. Now, it’s finally on Android, and while I still favor playing it on a device with keys or buttons, it’s been translated for touch screen play amazingly well. It wasn’t quite as streamlined as its successor, but featured the same hallmarks of a great soundtrack and maddening, rewarding challenge. Before that, Cavanagh made a platformer called VVVVVV. You may know Terry Cavanagh from a little game that frustrated you to insanity called Super Hexagon.
