Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake review - "An adorable platformer adventure"

• Exciting platforming action
• Gain new abilities from treasure chests
• Challenging boss battles

Tiny Dangerous Dungeons is a mini Metroidvania that initially launched in 2015 and features Game Boy-like green-hued graphics. However, Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake, an updated version featuring better graphics and physics, has officially launched. Brand-new items and boss battles are also awaiting you in the now much larger dungeon.

You play as Timmy, a young treasure hunter who manages to fall into an adorable, pixelated dungeon. Now, Timmy must collect abilities to journey through the dungeon and find whatever treasures await.

Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake Bring Big Fun

You unlock new abilities, like being able to push blocks and attack enemies by opening treasure chests you find throughout the dungeon. Of course, you'll have to put all your platforming skills to the test to reach them. This means dodging enemies by clocking their patterns and looking for openings to slip by while jumping from platform to platform.

At times, you'll need to reach platforms with static obstacles in the way, such as spikey balls. To avoid them, you'll need to jump and wait for Timmy to be high enough to reach the next platform while being low enough to dodge the obstacle before tapping a directional button. You’ll also need to manoeuvre between moving platforms and avoid enemies, arrows, and more.

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Every so often, you'll pass a statue of a woman holding a red orb. These act as checkpoints, which you can activate by standing in front of them and pressing jump. Activating a checkpoint not only saves your progress and becomes your new spawn point upon death it also replenishes your health, so it’s always worth activating it when you see one.

Adorable Enemies

The foes you’ll fight during your escapade through this charming dungeon are themselves quite enchanting to look at. From cutesy purple bats to fetching frogs, you’ll wish your mission were to pet these adorable beasties rather than slay them.

For the most part, enemies don't outright attack you. Rather, if they touch you, you take damage. While it may sound easy enough to simply avoid them, each level is expertly crafted to make slipping past enemies tricky. Of course, it’s easier to make your way through the dungeon once you’ve unlocked the ability to attack. One hit from your throwing knife is enough to take down common enemies; however, if your target swims, jumps, or flies, you'll need to time your throw just right.

Battling Challenging Bosses in Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake

Brave young Timmy will also encounter bosses blocking certain pathways, such as the Frog King and a giant mecha-fish. To beat these bosses, you’ll need to time your movements and attacks just right. For instance, when you nettle the Frog King, you won’t yet have the ability to directly attack. 

However, avoid his jump attack and the rocks it dislodges from above long enough, and a spiky platform will appear, which you can use to your advantage. By clocking the Frog’s movement patterns, you can determine when to move or jump.

No Controller Support for Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake 

The only real downside to this splendid remake is that the touch controls can be a bit problematic. In the lower-left corner are two arrows that you can use to move in either direction, while a jump/interact button is on the right. 

Due to the spacing of the controls, it's easy when playing on a tablet to tap next to the right arrow instead of on it, which can quickly lead to your demise, especially in a boss battle. Other than that, however, the touch controls are responsive and easy to pick up. Still, I wish the retro platformer had controller support, as using an external gamepad would negate my issues with the controls, but overall, they work well enough.

Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake is an excellent 2D platformer adventure that pays homage to the Gameboy era with challenging levels and quirky, adorable enemies. The compelling gameplay melds perfectly with charming, nostalgic graphics to create an immensely fun platforming experience. While the controls could use some work, overall, Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake is a real gem that platformer pros will be happy to add to their treasure trove.