All screenshots taken by Dani of Leaf and Core. Gameplay and graphics owned by Amano Games.
In the early game, I like to make him bounce to the music… before it gets frantic
Tetris was a phenomenon whose effects we still feel today. It helped games become mainstream, especially when it was introduced on the Game Boy. Nintendo included the game with the console, and many people found they were instantly hooked on the block stacking game. In fact, it spurred a strange psychological effect, called simply, the Tetris Effect. People who played Tetris for a great deal of time would report seeing falling blocks in the corners of their eyes, and even when they fall asleep and dreamed.
I never got into Tetris very much. It quickly became tedious, often with me ending a game myself rather than finishing it. However, I started playing a game called PullFrog Deluxe shortly after I got my Playdate. At first, I found it too hard to get very far. All the difficulty of Twtris, with none of the control! Soon, however, I was hooked. The cute graphics and character, the bouncy music, and the fast-paced and high-risk gameplay did something for me that Tetris never did. I spent hours beating it and cementing my place on global high score charts.
And one night, as I closed my eyes while I was brushing my teeth, preparing for bed, just before they were closed completely, I could have sworn I saw a falling block.
Where Tetris failed, Pullfrog Deluxe succeeded. I experienced the Tetris Effect, and it turns out, Pullfrog was better at triggering it for me than Tetris ever was. The Pullfrog Effect.
Does that mean it’s a good game?
In This Article:
The Basics of Pullfrog
There are a few different characters with different play styles
Tetris was a global trend. For people of a certain age (read: older millennials and gen-x’ers), they have fond memories of the puzzle game that helped make video games, especially portable gaming, mainstream. Even if you never played, you’re likely aware of the game genre of “falling puzzle pieces fit together to form lines and clear them.” There have been twists and variations, but the “blocks fall and you get rid of them” genre has been done in so many ways.
Except how often has it been done by a tiny frog sorting those dangerous falling blocks from below?
In Pullfrog Deluxe, you’re a tiny frog trapped in a world of falling blocks. Line them up to clear them, which you’ll need to do to survive. You’ll also have to avoid being squished. Clear three lines and you’ll have a chance to get a bonus, an extra life (one per game), a longer tongue, higher jump height, and other bonuses can help your character live to see the high score board. You don’t manipulate the falling blocks directly, as you would in Tetris. Instead, you pull them into place with your long froggy tongue. Collect eyes from some of the blocks by forming a line containing them to get… something.
Gameplay
Like many block-stacking games, this starts off easy and quickly becomes frantic. It’s especially difficult when you have to consider getting blocks in place without getting squished. You’ll be jumping around, directing your tongue, and trying to pull blocks in place frantically, often just missing being under a block at the wrong moment. It’s a fast-paced puzzler combined with the fast-paced nature of a platformer. If you like both genres, you’ve found your next game.
Story
I love story in a game. I don’t play online games much. The closest I came in recent memory was Overwatch, and that was only because it seemed like story would be a bigger deal to the company. Instead, they’ve focused on microtransactions and keeping users toxic as possible. My favorite games have rich stories. The morally bankrupt world of Cyberpunk, the ruins of an old world in Horizon, the branching possibilities of Baldur’s Gate 3. These games captivate me.
But sometimes you just want a game to play during a 5 minute break at work.
In PullFrog, you play as a little froggy. For some reason, you’re trapped in an area with strange blocks falling. This is never explained to you, true show, don’t tell.
Okay, there’s not much by way of story here. However, at the end of one of my more successful runs, I got something other than the usual game over screen. I won’t spoil too much here, but it introduced me to just why I was collecting little eyes in each block. Why it was important to preserve some blocks and collect them. Suddenly, there wasn’t much of a story, but a bit of a mystery. What’s next? What happens when I collect more eyes? More souls? Whatever they are.
Am I the baddie? No. Look at that adorable frog. How could that little guy be bad?
Game Length
This is one of those games that does have a clear ending, and yet, the play isn’t done just because you’ve unlocked everything. You won’t find much in the way of a story, but you will enjoy trying to collect as many eyes as you can to unlock everything. Once you do, you’ll be able to compare your scores with other players, both overall scores and each character. You’ll be able to figure out which one is your favorite, who you score the best with, and which one you like playing with the most, even if they’re not your best. Each is unique, and the way you play the game will change slightly depending on which one you’re playing as.
In that sense, and especially if you’re a high score chaser, you’ll find the game is far longer than simply unlocking every character. The credits will roll, and you’ll be right back in, trying to unlock a new achievement: making it into the top 10 on the leaderboards.
Presentation: Graphics and Music
Everything about this little game is so polished. The characters are so small, yet adorable. I love the little characters! The music is catchy, and, while it doesn’t get annoying, I have found it getting stuck in my head after playing for a few hours. I’ve caught myself whistling it while I did dishes or cooked dinner.
Everything about this game has character. Nothing feels cookie-cutter, like the code or sprites were pulled from some bargain bin. That’s saying something because this isn’t a completely unique game. It was originally made for the Pico-8, by the same developers. The tune’s the same, the general idea of the original project is still there, but it’s definitely better presented here on the Playdate. Somehow, with less color, it just feels more lively. The sound is sharp and the little tune is wonderful. Pullfrog Deluxe is a game all of its own, and it feels so polished it’s hard to imagine it being anywhere but the Playdate.
Overall
This wasn’t my first Playdate game, obviously. In fact, I typically don’t play Tetris games or games like them. However, this little game got me. The cute graphics, fun music, and fast-paced gameplay made it challenging and fun. It’s one of the standout games on the Playdate, and when I’m trying to show off this console to friends, it’s frequently one of the games I use to show it off.
Pullfrog Deluxe is just $8, and it’s available on the Playdate Catalog. That means you can buy it, get it over the air, and get updates automatically pushed to your device as well. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes fast-paced puzzle games, especially if you also like platformers. If you’re looking to fill up your new Playdate with some games, you won’t go wrong with Pullfrog Deluxe as an early download.