Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – A Magical Adventure in Game Boy Advance Style

"Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo" — the perfect game for your Game Boy Advance. As a child, everyone was fascinated by yo-yos, but I only learned to do simple tricks — lifting and lowering the yo-yo. However, in this game, I could imagine myself as a master, all while playing a fun top-down adventure game that is a spiritual successor to classic GBA games.

The main character is Pippit, a cute bat who dreams of becoming a yo-yo master, but at the same time relies on the financial support of a wealthy aunt who is an energy magnate. At the beginning of the game, the aunt teams up with your yo-yo after four major antagonists steal her Mega-Batteries. Your goal is to retrieve the batteries and help free her from their evil intentions.

The game is charming and filled with humor. Pippit is a cute and slightly silly character, and you will have to complete funny tasks, such as gathering people for a football fan club to gain access to a stadium run by a corrupt boss who wants people to place bets. The vibrant pixel graphics perfectly capture the atmosphere of classic GBA games, even though the game uses the modern Steam Deck OLED display. To fully immerse yourself in retro style, there is an emulation mode that mimics the look of GBA and is even designed like a fake portable device.

The game's developer, Pocket Trap, has made Pippit's yo-yo not just a toy but also a weapon for fighting enemies. It can be thrown at a distance or spun around to keep enemies at bay. With experience, new moves based on real yo-yo tricks are unlocked, such as "walk the dog" — a quick forward motion and transition over water obstacles.

The game features a skill tree with a contract system: by taking a contract, the player incurs a debt that needs to be worked off, with possible penalties — loss of a heart or attack power. This forces careful consideration of your decisions and prevents becoming too strong too quickly. Don't worry about the difficulty: "Pipistrello" is quite a challenging game, especially at the beginning, with numerous battles where enemies often outnumber you. Dying isn't scary — you only lose coins and can retry the room. Some levels require several attempts. Fortunately, the difficulty system can be adjusted: you can modify attack strength, the number of dropped coins, and even fall damage. Many players, including myself, adjusted the game to ease difficult sections.

Closer to the end of the nearly 10-hour game, I made myself invulnerable to quickly see the plot and puzzles. Even without the constant threat of enemies, I enjoyed smashing them with my yo-yo. Puzzles had to be solved independently, which added complexity — it wasn't a simple stroll. If you miss the nostalgia of pixel graphics and the dynamic soundtrack of classic GBA games, "Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo" will satisfy that craving and introduce some new ideas.

The game won't make you better at using a yo-yo, but it will provide genuine enjoyment from playing with this item in video games. It is already available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.