Antonblast has real Wario Land energy and it’s coming to Switch

It’s cool to see someone carry this torch

Not that long ago, I was out here publicly wishing that Wario Land 4 would show up on Nintendo Switch Online as my one true hail-mary GBA pick, and I’m still trying not to get my hopes up. Admittedly though, my attention is better spent on Antonblast, an upcoming PC and Nintendo Switch indie platformer that taps into the dearly departed series’ vibes.

Antonblast is already winning over fans on Kickstarter, who have pushed past the game’s baseline $75,000 goal on Kickstarter with a month left in the crowdfunding campaign.

If you’re anything like me, the retro action-platformer footage sells itself.

Summitsphere, the studio behind Antonblast, says it was directly inspired by Wario Land 4, Crash Bandicoot 2, Metroid Dread, Sonic CD, Shovel Knight, and Cuphead — quite the list!

The developers are specifically focused on delivering “tight platforming, hand-drawn animation, banger music, and crazy characters,” and they’re coming off of Antonball, a brick-breaking game in the vein of Mario Bros. that we’ve covered before on Destructoid.

One interesting wrinkle gleaned from the Kickstarter pitch: every world in Antonblast is a “mini-metroidvania with a half-hour or more of exploration each on first run.”

They’re echoing Wario Land‘s end-of-level “hurry up!” concept, which is something I used to stress over but have come to really appreciate later in life. The pitch also mentions Hard Mode, Time Trials, and a Boss Rush to complement the “five-hour” main story mode.

“Thank you all sincerely for your support,” tweeted studio producer JB Long.

“This is a life-altering moment for all of us at Summitsphere, including myself. To see something we created rocket to viral overnight & raise its entire budget in like 7% of the allotted time is nuts. I still don’t quite ‘feel’ it.”

PlayStation and Xbox are stretch goals

Should the Kickstarter drive continue down its current path, I’d expect to see players knock out at least a few more stretch goals starting at $100,000 — more worlds, alternate playable characters, and PlayStation and Xbox versions are also possible.

Antonblast is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC, and $20 pledges include digital access to the finished game once it’s out. There’s a free demo, in the meantime.