Game:

Aero the Acro-Bat (1993)

Duration: 8:46

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Aero the Acro-Bat is another platforming hero amongst a huge crowd of rising-star wannabes cashing in on the whole "Heroes with Attitude" phase spearheaded by Sonic the Hedgehog and "Heroes with Platforming Greatness" like Mario. It's the first of 2 & 1/2 games in the series and one GBA remake. However, while Aero never really caught on, it's kinda sad because Aero was better than many of the me-too platforming characters of the 16-Bit era and did make at least a small effort to distinguish itself. Due to the mild success of the first game, Aero the Acro-Bat 2 would be released in fairly low quantites and Aero's spin-off, Zero: the Kamikaze Squirrel, would be released in even lower quantities.

In Aero the Acro-Bat, you play as, well, a bat named Aero, who lives at a circus. Aero is the star of the show and people line up to watch his acrobatic feats and amazing skill. However, an evil Ex-Clown/Industrialist named Edgar Ektor wishes to eliminate Aero and destroy the circus permanently, and build facilities in its place to further his evil schemes. He dispatches henchmen pretending to be part of the show to deal with you and kidnaps Aerial, Aero's acrobatic pal, so Aero has to go it alone. The crowd is still watching all of this take place and think it's part of the act, so Aero has to dispatch his foes in style and do acrobatic moves and tricks to entertain them and make them think the "violence" isn't real. Neat.

In this game, Aero's primary abilities is looking around, hovering briefly (good if you need to control or slow down a jump), shooting out stars he collects, and doing a corkscrew spin attack to defeat foes. He can get power-ups that alter his abilities such as allow him to corkscrew more times in a row or fly temporarily, among other goods. Additionally, Aero can take advantage of certain stage doodads like Cannons, Unicycles, Balloons, and more.

Aero isn't simply about going from left to right; there are objectives for each stage, that range from eliminating platforms to finding keys, and stages have many secret areas. You can also play Mode-7 bonus rounds (which we show near the end of the video... I love how he hits the pool without really hitting it). The audio/visuals are good, though the music could have been a little better. If you like a platformer that's one big collect-a-thon with lots of secrets and hazards, this is a game you'll want to play. I'd pick it up if you can find it for cheap or a price you're comforable with. David Siller (of "Maximo" fame) designed Aero the Acro-Bat and Aero was, for a time, Sunsoft's mascot. This is a video of the first few levels. Enjoy.