Get to know the people who make great videogames

[Update: Thanks for watching everybody! Expect the rerun up soon. In the meantime, here's a trailer for the last entry in the Electronic Super Joy series, Hot Sticky Mess.]

We're going live the creator of Electronic Super Joy, Mr. Michael Todd! Join us!

The post Sup Holmes goes live with Electronic Super Joy’s Michael Todd appeared first on Destructoid.

And it's a morsel of greatness

Groove City, a standalone "mini-sequel" to indie platformer Electronic Super Joy, ?is now available via Steam, Michael Todd Games announced today.

Just like its predecessor, Groove City is a bizarre and challenging experience. It's loaded with irreverent humor, which I just adore, and sports silhouetted rave-like visuals to go with i??ts pulsing EDM s?oundtrack.

It isn't quite as long as Electronic Super Joy, sporting a total of 15 levels that I completed in roughly 90 minutes, but it's every bit as good. And I look forward to returning to Groove City's harsh landscape to hone my skills and rock out to th??e awesome music. 

Groove City is currently on sale for $4.24 until June 13, w??hen the asking price will rise to $4.99.

Electronic Super Joy: Groove City [Steam]

The post Electronic Super Joy: Groove City?? out now on Steam appeared first on Destructoid.

Laser-nipples!

Indie platformer Electronic Super Joy is receiving an expansion called Groove City next month and its premise sounds just as bizarre as that of ??main game.

"A giant robot stripper called JoJo has smashed Groove City! She's angry because Dr Swinger stole her laser-nipples," reads developer Mic??hael Todd's description of the upcoming release. "Help JoJo reclaim her laser-nipples & defeat the evil plans of Dr. Swinger, with the help of Pope Boris the Super Sexy!"

So there's that. The original game, mind you, followed the journey of a silh??ouetted protagonist on a mission to take down the Groove Wizard, who stole our hero's butt. So strange plotlines and amazingly crude humo?r are just par for the course really. Oh, and the great gameplay and brilliant tunes don't appear to have skipped a beat either!

The post Electroni??c Super Joy: Groove City jumps to Steam in June appeared first on Destructoid.

Super Beat Boy

??The finish line is in sight and a pair of homing missiles are bearing down on my position. I sprint, narrowly dodging one, and leap from a ledge to avoid the other. I breathe a momentary sigh of relief before the panic sets in. I realize my trajectory is sending me right into the path of a laser beam. Soaring through the air, I struggle, desp??erately trying to avoid the spinning shaft of light, but it's too late. The all too familiar feeling of death embraces me.

There's a fleeting moment of frustration. Screams of profanity emanate throughout the room. Within seconds, though, I'm off and running once again. A wide grin repl??aces my scowl. I make another att??empt. And another. And several more after that. I inch closer and closer to my goal, eventually surmounting the challenge, only to be presented with by an ever greater one.

Electronic Super Joy (PC)
Developer: Michael Todd Games
Publisher: Michael Todd Games
Released: August 23, 2013
MSRP: $7.99

He lost an arm in the Disco Wars of 1515. The War of Rock 'n Roll claimed his eye. Defeating DJ Deadly Skillz cost him both legs. Eviscerated and at wits' end, our hero is now without a butt, thanks to the villainous Groove Wizard. Thus begins Electronic Super Joy.

The ensuing adventure i??s a bizarre and exhilarating one. It's a flippant tale of revenge brimming with off-color humor, alluring environments, and some of the most exacting platforming in recent memory. Oh, and the music isn't half bad either.

Electronic Super Joy draws players in with a stark visual design and an infectious soundtrack. Silhouetted figures are cast against brightly-colored landscapes with intense flashing lights. That vivid aesthetic is backed by pulsing electronic dance music. ??It's an ideal match if there ever was one. Reminiscent of a rave or nightclub, the scenery and beats intertwine and coalesce into an almost synesthetic experience.

The music isn't just catchy though. It's the driving force behind the entire game. The notes bleed into the art and level design, with?? each track serving as inspiration for one of the platformer's many formidable obstacle courses. These relationships seem to reverberate throughout the adventure, harmoniously creating a unified experience where each individual facet is inte?rlinked with the others. 

The soundtrack plays a motivational role as well. Electronic Super Joy is difficult. It's very difficult. Drawing inspiration from titles like Super Meat Boy, the game challenges the player with a myriad of hostile environments and deathtraps that must be approached in a very precise manner. It c??ould be very frustrating, but it isn't. Thanks to the liberal placement of checkpoints, near-instant respawning, a?nd uplifting tunes that never miss a beat, the game spurs the player on in a rather encouraging fashion.

The various hurdles along the way seem to ebb and flow with the musical accompaniment. Always upbeat, it constantly charges forward, serving as an ever-present incentive to press on. Even in the brief moments whe??n I felt like tossing my con??troller across the room, the soundtrack seemed to crescendo along with the difficulty, inviting me to try again. And again. And again.

Electronic Super Joy is a pure gameplay experience. Superfluities are stripped away, leaving behind a raw platformer. Our protagonist runs, jumps, and... Well, that's about it. It's more about rolling with the punches and keeping up with a continually evolving set of rules than any??thing else.

A series of linear obstacle courses, the five-plus-hour campaign is punctuated with a ??multitude of hazards ranging from familiar genre standbys like pitfalls and patrolling enemies to more insidious machinations such as spinning laserbeams and missile barrages. It starts of??f simply enough, but wrenches are tossed into the cogs soon enough. New mechanics are introduced just as everything becomes relatively comfortable, forcing the player to adapt as the gameplay regularly turns on its head.

There are a colle?ction of rotating special moves that serve to enhance the environmental diversity. Our hero acquires various abilities throughout the journey that correspond to particular levels, allowing the designers to play with new ideas and steadily breathe new life i??nto the experience.

Despite its ostensibly traditionalist sensibilities, the game is surprisingly refreshing in many respects. There's a great deal of heart and soul shaded between the bright colors and pixel graphics, making i??t so much more than yet another retro-inspired platformer.

A large part of that is the humor. There's an air of levity threaded throughout the experience. Checkpoints emit sexual moans and groans that will likely catch players off guard at first, but eventually seem perfectly fitting ???astride the flashy atmosphere. 

Foul-mouthed characters strewn throughout the campaign lend the title personality, particularly in?? the shoot-'em-up showdown with the Pope or whilst fleeing from a towering monster that bears a striking resemblance to Godzilla. There's so many bizarre and wonderful little moments tossed in along the way that make the game such a joy to play. 

It's not all great though. Electronic Super Joy occasionally suffers from some troublesome slowdown that, in one particular instance, nearly obstructed my progress throu?gh the campaign. It w?as a relatively brief hindrance in a resoundingly well constructed product, but it was enough to leave an indelible impression of game-induced frustration on an experience where any fault is otherwise placed squarely on the shoulders of the player. 

That said, it's difficult to levy complaints against Michael Todd Games. This is masterfully crafted sensory experience. Visually stunning, hilarious, and brutally challenging, Electronic Super Joy is a delightful and charming musical platformer that will ensnare you????r heart.

The post Review: Electronic Super Joy appeared first on Destructoid.

This is where I'll be 90% of the time

The Indie MEGABOOTH just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Topping PAX Prime 2012's 30 games and PAX East 2013's 62 games, the booth at P?AX Prime 2013 will feature at least 84 different titles from more than 60 stu?dios and will be the largest single booth at the show.

Even with four days to play this year, it seems unlikely that anybody but the most devoted indie fan will get to experience all of the games at the booth. I'm trying to decide if I can keep up a schedule of playing at least 21 of the games each day for a sufficient amount of time, while also making room in my schedule to pester Vlambeer about bringing Ridiculous Fishing to Android.

Some of the notable games that will be present are shown in the trailer above, and the full list is up at Indie MEGABOOTH's official website.

The post PAX Prime’s Indie MEGABOOTH will have more than 80 games appeared first on Destructoid.

'An unholy merging of Super Meat Boy & Super Hexagon'

Electronic Super Joy is an awesome platformer set to some killer electronic music. It's both addictive as hell, and pretty damn challenging too. Developer Michael Todd thinks of the game as "an unholy merging of Super Meat Boy & Super Hexagon." Sounds about right.

The game is now available via the Steam Early Access program, and it can be grabbed for $5. You save $3 here, as?? the launch price will be $8 once it releases for the PC, Mac, and Linux.

You can expect this one to come out for iPad and Android d?own the line too.

The post Electronic Super Joy enters Steam Early Access appeared first on Destructoid.

Intense indie platformer brings the beats, difficulty

Prepare to die. A lot. Electronic Super Joy drew me in with it?s pulsing beats and proceeded to bring the pain. With electronic dance music blaring, ?I stepped up to the controller with a crowd on onlookers at my back.

I'd watched several challengers before me come and go. And despite their persistence, eventually all walked away in defeat. Confident in my platforming abilities, I was sure I would be the on??e to finally surm?ount the obstacles this exacting platformer placed before me. Boy, was I wrong.

Electronic Super Joy follows the ??journey? of a silhouetted hero on mission to get his booty back from the butt-thieving Groove Wizard. To complete his quest and make sure his nemesis is deader than disco, our valiant protagonist must run a gauntlet of perilous levels inspired by the tunes of electronic musician Envy.

Developed by Michael Todd, the title was originally scheduled for release as a part of the Super Shock Bundle last year. However,? after exceeding the scope of his initial ambitions for the project, Todd brought Cassie Chui on board to help out with the pixel art and level design.

Now set to launch on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android later this year, the title is drawing interest from the likes of Nintendo and Sony, who seem eager to have the intense action-platformer on their systems. Despite the recognition, Todd seems adverse to jumping through hoops to get his game on consoles, though a 3DS port remains a possibility.

The post Electronic Sup??er Joy is hardc?ore, will make you rage appeared first on Destructoid.