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Elasto Mania, best and most absurd game of all time*, returns.

Yimothy

Red Plane
(he/him)
I first encountered Elasto Mania on a university computer in the early years of this century, and probably took the shareware version home on floppy disk. I think at some point I got the full version, I suspect without paying for it. And now, a chance to rectify that wrong: Elasto Mania, best and most absurd game of all time*, is releasing on Switch (and other platforms) in a few days.

Elasto Mania, originally released in 2000, is a 2D puzzle platformer in which you control a motorbike rider. Or it’s a physics based motor cross simulator. Doesn’t matter. Your rider is trapped in a hellscape of unlikely platforms, and must collect any apples in the area before finding and touching a flower. Only three elements of the character and their bike can interact with the environment: the front and back wheels, and the rider’s head. The wheels are used to move around, and if the rider’s head makes contact with anything other than an apple or flower you must restart the level. The bodies of the rider and the bike do not interact with the level geometry, meaning that if a platform is thin enough you can ride along it with one or both wheels on top, the rider’s head underneath, and the bike itself sharing space with the platform. The bike’s suspension is very impressive, able to expand and contract as impacts require.

Controls are conceptually simple: you can accelerate, brake, turn around, and make the rider pull back or push forwards. Once you start moving, it quickly becomes clear that trick riding is essential to get anywhere. Accelerate, and the bike will start to tilt backwards. If you don’t slow down or lean forwards, the bike will tip over backwards and you’ll be starting the level again. The physics are pretty floaty, and this is key to the game - you need to be able to use your bike to climb and jump off the scenery to get where you’re going. After a little practice you’ll be flying through the air, spinning wildly, and all going well landing perfectly where you need to.

This remastered version includes the original game, some extra levels, updated graphics (hopefully optional), split screen multiplayer, online leaderboards, and probably some other stuff, I dunno it isn’t out yet. I haven’t actually played this game in probably fifteen years or more, I’m not sure if it actually holds up, but I know I loved it back then. Anyone else remember it?


*maybe
 

Yimothy

Red Plane
(he/him)
Here's the game in action (original version):

gS4Tp36.gif


I think sometimes doing flips is actually the best way to conserve momentum, but mostly I do them because I like flips.
 

FelixSH

(He/Him)
For dome reason, "2D" translated in my head into an isometric thing with floating platforms, above a void.

Anyway, never heard of this game, but looks interesting.
 

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
I have no recollection of this title. That screenshot, on the other hand, has sent memories flooding unbidden to my head.
 

Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
I played the game's predecessor Action SuperCross much more as a kid--it was a completely ubiquitous staple of shareware in the late '90s. I'm glad the legacy still endures, and the influences seem clear to see too--I don't think Trials would have existed without Rózsa's work in the genre, even if it was roughly contemporary to Elasto Mania and likely working off of shared inspirational material between the two to some extent.
 

Kalir

Do you require aid.
(whatevs)
I have no recollection of this title. That screenshot, on the other hand, has sent memories flooding unbidden to my head.
The way I said it to my brother was "ïf you dont remember elastomania, go look it up on the switch, and you will". This was exactly how it happened.
 

Yimothy

Red Plane
(he/him)
It’s out on Switch! And it’s Elasto Mania. I was a little worried they’d mess it up somehow. To my surprise, I actually like the updated graphics (mostly they seem to smooth the background so it looks less like an elevation map), but the key thing is the gameplay is as I remember it. I wasn’t sure how it would handle the controls - I think this is a game designed to be played on a keyboard, where four of your five inputs are on the arrow keys. This version gives only two of those (left and right rotation) to the d-pad, I think correctly since it is operated by a single thumb rather than three fingers. The other two (accelerate and brake) go to the shoulder buttons, and the space bar’s turn function is one of the face buttons. I’ve had some issues with expecting the shoulder button functions to reverse when I reverse the biker, but it works well on the whole.

So far I’ve reached level 6 and after several attempts at it I’ve taken a break. This is a hard game.

One advantage of having gotten it right after it came out is I have some hope of being competitive on the leaderboards. One of my times is in the 30s, or was when I got it. Once more people start playing I’ll probably never get that high again.
 

Yimothy

Red Plane
(he/him)
I’m plugging away at this - it’s a good game to pick up for a few minutes here and there, and the switch is a good console for doing that too. That said, I do tend to get sucked in - one more try! I’m not really trying for good times, I’m more interested in just finishing the levels. There have been a few that I’ve cleared first time, and many more that have taken several attempts. I’m currently stuck on Slalom, level 22 I think. It starts by sending you down a curved ramp whose surface drops away before bottoming out, so you have to carefully control your momentum so you don’t lose it all hitting the ground, because you need to be going fast to make the jump just ahead. Clear that and you need to do a jump into a wall for an apple, then make yourself bounce off the wall far enough to reach another, then you climb up a repeating s-shape by flipping off the edges. So far I clear the first jump maybe one time in three, and if I get that far I manage to get the apples I’d say one time in four. Haven’t made it through the climb yet.

Something I both like and hate about the game is how slow it is - sometimes you can go really fast but it’s generally a bad idea unless you know exactly what’s ahead, but most of the time you’re moving fairly slowly, frequently breaking contact with the ground, and often just kind of drifting through the air hoping you’ll land where you want to. It’s peaceful, sort of.

I’d forgotten about the stages where the apples change the direction of gravity. They can be very frustrating, especially before I realised that each apple changes gravity in a specific way (I’d thought initially they all just inverted whatever the current gravity was). I forget the name, but the gravity apple stage shortly before Slalom is excellent, particularly the start where (if you got the momentum right) you snake through the air changing gravity twice without touching the ground, then land just so and go on to turn gravity sideways.
 
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