A game by Michael Todd Games for PC, Mac, Linux, and Switch, originally released in 2019.
Electronic Super Joy 2 follows up on the stylish platforming of Electronic Super Joy and its mini-sequel, Electronic Super Joy: Groove City. Like its predecessors, the game offers tough precision platforming, a world made up of stark blacks and flashy neon, a pumping soundtrack, and a wry sense of humor. An opening splash screen warns that the game may cause seizures or motion sickness, along with “Swearing! Pixelated blood & Murder! Orgasms! Slime, Farts, and Tentacles! Blasphemy & The Devil!” This places the game squarely in line with the spirit of its predecessors, which featured a sexy pope who loved strip clubs, revenge for a lost butt, and a case of stolen laser nipples.
Unlike Groove City, this is a full-fledged sequel, offering more than 50 intense levels, a variety of powerups, four extended boss battles, and even some Doom-esque FPS levels. Your mission this time is to steal the Devil’s Golden Butt, which is said to grant wishes.
At the start of the game, you simply have the ability to jump and move to the left and right. There are numerous powerups, but they only last for the duration of the level. Among these are various quantities of midair jumps, starting with a double jump and going all the way up to a quintuple jump. Other powerups include a butt stomp that allows you to smash enemies, an explosive jump that lets you jump and kill enemies at close range, and a sword that allows you to dash horizontally across the screen.
All of these powerups are stackable with one another, and once you pick them up, the level immediately demands that you put them to use, slowly escalating the challenge by placing obstacles in your path, lining the walls with spikes, or providing you with successively smaller platforms.
There are a number of level elements that require the player to alter his strategies, such as sticky walls that let the player jump up along vertical surfaces, or slick floors that make it hard to slow down… but these can also be used to build up incredible speeds to make huge jumps. The game also features arrows that pop the player into the air and then disappear, stars that send the player even further into the air (and sometimes these stars are in motion), and keys that open doorways.
Hazards include spiked objects, patrolling enemies, projectiles, and the series’ famous missile swarms. Missiles can come at you from multiple directions, and they have a medium homing ability, allowing you some space to outmaneuver them. However, most of the time, you’ll be dodging missiles while also hopping between platforms or destroying enemies, and some levels have forced scrolling which limits the time you have to deal with the surrounding threats.
In levels that grant the butt stomp ability, it’s possible to lure a missile beneath you and then smash it into oblivion… just make sure you have solid ground beneath you because most areas are filled with bottomless pits that will send you back to the most recent checkpoint.
Checkpoints are frequent, and you have infinite lives and quick respawns, per precision platformer standards. Still, players can expect to face certain challenges multiple times before being successful, and there are some significant difficulty spikes along the way. Levels are played in succession, but it’s also possible to select levels from a menu at the start of the game, which offers some branching paths and optional content… but the menu itself flips around in different directions making it unreasonably difficult to navigate.
The world also flips around on occasion, with levels tilting slowly as the player moves through them, and some levels rotating 90 degrees or more, making it more difficult for the player to line up platform landings and dodge obstacles. Some levels also completely alter the gameplay, including a series of challenges where you have to carry your mother through a level and toss her through openings while dodging obstacles yourself, and keeping her from being killed.
The game’s boss battles amount to extended environmental navigation sequences where you have to employ all of the tactics you’ve learned up to that point. Often, you’ll need to dodge a slew of hazards or hit certain triggers in order to open up the boss to your attacks. These include getting a boss to literally show his ass so you can smash it, and another encounter where you have to keep “daddy” happy by hitting baseballs and hi-fiving hands without missing too many… which adds to the humor of the experience.
The game also features a series of simplistic FPS levels that look a lot like those from the original Doom games… but without the nuance of that seminal series. You walk around with a shotgun, and you can collect ammo pickups to increase your stock of shells. Most enemies simply swarm your position rather than offering unique behaviors, and larger enemies take a ton of hits to destroy, allowing for very little strategy on the part of the player. Also, there’s not much feedback to indicate when you’re taking damage or dealing damage, so it’s often best to just run for the exit and skip the enemies altogether.
Aesthetically, this is the gaming equivalent of a never-ending cotton candy orgasm. The player is constantly surrounded by bright lights, spinning level elements, chunky particles, and a heavy pulsing soundtrack. Activating checkpoints or respawning generates a sexy reverberated cry of “oh yeah” from men and women who sound like they’re in various states of ecstasy. The game also offers loads of silly and occasionally lewd humor, which appears as onscreen text as you move through the levels.
2D CRED
Electronic Super Joy 2 was developed by Michael Todd, who is based in Toronto, Canada. The game is a follow-up to Electronic Super Joy and its mini-sequel, Electronic Super Joy: Groove City. Music for the game was composed by EnV, Reptoire, and GetSix.
The game was published by 2&30 Software.
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