A longer version would absolutely be worth a full-price NES cartridge. Controls are snappy, the yo-yo is fun to play with and not too hard to figure out, and while the platforming is easy it's also dependable. Everything works perfectly and it's fun to quest and explore.

Lovely game, as expected.

* I really like the yoyo mechanic, it feels smooth, looks accurate, you definitely have a knack for nailing mechanical gamefeel with the pops and spinny jumps.

* Music is such a vibe.

* I love the NPCs and sidequesting aspect. Very Simon. Or Zelda 2? That one guy looks suuuuspiciously like Error lol.

* I like the art overall, the color choices were great, but the buildings felt a little barren in terms of texture. I think it works as a stylistic choice but it did make things feel a little empty...

* I appreciate that the entire game was built on a pun. Everything really tied together with the final boss fight moment lol. I think that boss was also very effective in rounding out the mechanic. Maybe a little on the lax side.

Overall solid game, I think the yoyo mechanic easily is deserving of a full experience, I'd buy it.

Second yoyo game I played this jam… This one really nailed it. Felt like Super Mario for a minute.

I thought I explored everywhere but didn’t have the 6, or even 4 bones required by the NPCs.

It was fun, and the 8 year old me might have persevered, but I think I let a lot of Metroidvanias beat me at that age.

Really fun gameplay. The movement is satisfying and the variety of missions keeps the game fresh. Thank you for hosting!

Very representative of what a cartoon game would look and feel like on the NES (like Kirby or Gimmick!), only a few graphics that seemed directly inspired from other NES games seemed a bit out of place (like the tree trunk platforms and some Castlevania-like enemies). The yoyo gimmick is fun and feels very smooth and polished. I like that there's lots of little secrets to discover in the town, and the action feels very fair and forgiving thanks to the short stages and intuitive controls. Excellent entry!

Nailed the NES feel! Liked the mix between beating levels and doing city missions to break the curse. The movement is very good! Good stuff!

Very solid player movement!

The stops between transitions and yoyo swings pulling you along made it feel quite authentically NES, as well as giving the player time to prepare for the next input, making going through the level very intuitive and fluid.

Love the yoyo mechanic, traversal is a lot of fun once you master it, and still fun while you're getting used to it.

Took me a bit to get used to the nuances of it, like how the up swing is a bit forward and up so you'll miss trying to swing at stuff from directly below.

Love the additional challenges thrown into the main area, traversing from one side of the street to the other from the top was easily my favourite! (the timing for that last bit is tricky,  much earlier than I expected)

The boss was fun, if a bit on the easy side, but it matched the overall challenge of the rest of the game, so it makes sense. I do wish it maybe went higher once it got to half health or something so you couldn't just beat on it from below the whole time (aside from dodging the one ground covering attack) (ps. I did spend the game wondering if it was going to make that reference, and I was not disappointed, haha)

Only nitpick I have is that the game could have a bit of a grace period after you finish a level before letting you reenter, or just close off the doors that no longer have something new to collect. I ended up redoing a level I'd just finished because I'm a bit fiddly with my controls and tried to upswing the yoyo before moving away ^^;;

8 Bones collected! Not sure if I missed any, could maybe do with a message at the end that lets you know how many there were in total.

Excellent !

This made me think of a mix between Mario and Castlevania (maybe with the candelabra). The only issue I have is on the smoothness of the yoyo, it need to be a little too accurate.
 

Great exploration of a fun platforming mechanic. The art, audio, and gameplay were all great, but I most enjoyed the variety of platforming challenges you were able to fit into the game outside of the basic, level-based platforming formula (e.g. crossing the street, finding the cat, hidden stage, etc). Thanks sharing your game and hosting!

This is absolutely perfect for a NES jam game!  I loved the sprite work and overall aesthetic, the simple two frame animations work really well and the sound effects and music are great.  

I really enjoyed the yo-yo/platforming mechanics and how natural it feels to sling yourself around the level, and I remember you having a similar mechanic in Frimble last year which also felt just as good and equally as polished as this. 

Love the horror theme too.

Great job, and thanks for hosting such an awesome game jam! 

wow, can't believe someone else also made a yo-yo game! this was absolutely delightful - the controls and physics felt just right, and the hubworld was so fun to explore and comb for secrets! i ended up with 8 bones, but i'm wondering if there's one more...

Fantastic game! I'll admit that I couldn't find the woman's cat and thus never made it to the final stage (maybe some day), but other than that I had a great time. I can see the references to Super Mario Bros. 2, Kid Dracula, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and several more... you clearly know your stuff! Phenomenal job :)

Excellent gameplay, graphics and Music, i had a lot of fun. Great Work!

nice stage design and the yo-yo street quest was really challenging!!!

i got very close to cracking it, but i have to admit defeat!

PS i checked if i could hold Down to drop through the windows in the house... "There's no hidden stage here" so of course i tried a bunch of things lol

it's a pretty polished game and i liked it, prob so much that i've beaten the whole game lol, it's a short but polished experience, i've collected all 7 bones (i wonder what i'm supposed to do with the extra bone tho XD ), maybe i didn't like the sliding a little when i was at the boss's stage (was it there the whole time? cuz i only noticed it at that boss stage lol), and sometimes the lights weren't placed well enough so the player can catch them (or maybe that's my own skill issue lmao), other than that good job doc ;)

Really good job. Very cool yoyo mechanic. Nice design. I thoroughly enjoyed. I did skip one of the levels, since I got 6 bones and went straight to the church.

Love how the neighborhood feels like the towns in zelda 2 with it also being the hub world for stages. I love the yoyo mechanic to grapple on to things for an extra bounce. Nice work and thanks for hosting this Jam.

100% NES!