Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo puts a playful spin on Link's Awakening

Every time I come to play Link's Awakening, there's one moment I always look forward to: getting Roc's Feather. That first dungeon treasure can never come soon enough, as it's the all-important item that lets Link jump about like he's suddenly grown a pair of kangaroo legs. It's oddly freeing in many ways - not just as a traversal tool, but the feel of it - the glide, the airtime, the speed - is just so perfectly engineered to give you pitch-perfect control over Link's movements.It's a sensation that developer Pocket Trap have perfectly recreated in Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, a top-down adventure that sees you spin, grind and leap across the screen as the young yoyo master Pippit Pipistrello, whose aunt's spirit gets trapped in said yoyo when their home gets attacked by some shady corporate crime barons. So begins Pippit's quest to save his family and take revenge on the mob bosses who are now running rife in their fair city.In fact, Pocket Trap's homage to Nintendo's handheld Zelda games even goes as far as framing the whole of Pipistrello as a (completely legally distinct) Game Boy Advance cartridge that you boot up the moment you come to play it. It certainly looks the part, too, as its colourful sprites and sparky chiptune soundtrack do a brilliant job of capturing that specific era of 2D platformers, right down to the twhip-twhip sound effects that make every one of Pippit's yoyo strikes feel just like one of Link's sword chops. Read more

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo puts a playful spin on Link's Awakening

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo puts a playful spin on Link's Awakening

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo puts a playful spin on Link's Awakening

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo puts a playful spin on Link's Awakening

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo puts a playful spin on Link's Awakening