Thank the gods for Marcus Richert/Raitendo. He has crafted a lovely platforming distraction called Lee-Lee’s Quest on Adult Swim. While the platforming mechanics are solid, they are nothing revolutionary, not counting the Star-man interaction.

The real joy for me was in the clever writing (including the sarcastic achievements) and the stellar performance of Joshua Tomar. He voices all the characters in the game, and within that dozen or so (including the enemies) it’s sometimes hard to believe it was all by him. Zack Striefel’s music is light and whimsical, fitting the overall atmosphere of the game.

As Lee-Lee’s Quest is described on the site: “Embark on an epic journey to save your girlfriend!… [omitting this to avoid revealing any puns] But she needs saving… maybe.” It’s this kind of irony that sets the mood for the rest of the game. There is quite a bit of dialogue and nerdy math jokes to enjoy. My only little gripes come from wishing there was a little more dialogue and from not being able to always reproduce that dialogue if I kill someone prematurely.

I also may have beaten the boss a little too easily and missed some of that final dialogue. Slight boss spoiler: there’s a way to beat him by continually bouncing on his head with a little balancing.

But like the rest of the game, the joy isn’t in smashing the enemies; it’s in the interactions between them. Now go enjoy some seriously funny platforming at Adult Swim with Lee-Lee’s Quest.

BONUS: Check out Marcus’s very amusing You Only Live Once, which was highlighted at Tokyo Game Show’s experimental gameplay celebration: Sense of Wonder Night. I personally adore the Japanese voice acting here:

Yeah, so sorry about the distraction, go play Lee-Lee’s Quest. Please report back if you beat the game with the  Star-man “power up” and if you figure out what special thing pressing down does while powered up. I pressed down about 100 times, but I got no achievement. Having created this power-up, I have no doubt how deeply Japanese culture has impacted him (thanks for the unko, Raitendo!).

His latest effort called Experimental Gameplay in 10 Seconds skewers simplistic twists touted as innovation. The previous two entries in the series are: Passage in 10 Seconds and An Abtract Art Game in 10 Seconds which showcase hilarious reactions to two other types of games.

(I also recommend checking out his older games Doeo and You Only Live Once for some other interesting and more traditional games he’s made.)

That monocle dropping at the end of Passage gets me every single time.