Timmy — the esteemed Treasure Hunter previously seen in Jussi Simpanen’s Tiny Dangerous Dungeons (our review) — is back once more, and this time he’s brought along 48 levels jam-packed with trap-avoiding platform-jumping action! As you might have surmised from what I just stated, Timmy’s latest outing in Super Dangerous Dungeons (out now, free) doesn’t take place within a single Metroidvania-style complex anymore. Perhaps it would be more accurate to compare this game to Jussi Simpanen’s Duke Dashington (our review), except with all the stages being a touch longer than Duke’s ten-second escapades (yet still comfortably capable of fitting within a single break period).
Much like Tiny Dangerous Dungeons before it, the controls in Super Dangerous Dungeons aim to keep things rather simple (while still providing amazingly tight performances, no less). On the left side of the screen exist your left/right movement buttons, and the other end has the jump button (with the height of your leap being controlled by how long its held, and your jumps may additionally be steered mid-air). This time around — however — there’s no knife-throwing command available, seeing as how Super Dangerous Dungeon’s action is instead focused entirely upon Timmy’s efforts to evade — and sometimes outrun — a variety of perilous traps and obstacles.
Part of this newfound simplicity is that Super Dangerous Dungeons is actually an enhanced remake — featuring graphics and audio deliberately meant to evoke the Super NES — of the series’ original flash-based Newgrounds-only outing: Dangerous Dungeons. That said — for those who’ve already tackled Timmy’s debut escapade — things here aren’t merely just a graphically enhanced cut-and-paste job, with many of the levels being heavily-tweaked and/or replaced entirely. What’s more, an entire fourth dungeon segment — filled to the brim with various electrically-themed traps — has been added to further extend the over-all running time of Timmy’s visually-enhanced origin story!
One item particularly worth pointing out is just how radically different Super Dangerous Dungeon’s levels all feel from each other, even across two different stages found within the same theme-region. Another thing worth noting is the near-perfect difficulty curve contained inside, wherein the game starts out seemingly simple enough — almost insultingly so — and then starts ratcheting the challenge up until you’ll likely to cry blood! Thankfully Timmy has an infinite supply of lives with which to finish each danger-filled level, and — seeing as how he’ll perish the precise moment anything goes wrong — he’ll definitely need every last one of them during his pilfering-trip gone horribly awry.
You’ll additionally never be asked to pay for a single one of these lives, nor even made to wait for some patience-testing energy bar to recover, despite the fact that Jussi Simpanen is offering Super Dangerous Dungeons for the rather low-low price of absolutely free! Instead of endlessly harassing people for money, the only IAP-option to be found within is a one-time $1.99 purchase that will forever disable the occasional post-failure appearance of video-based ads. Although I’d personally argue how the entirety of Jussi Simpanen’s latest offering is certainly worth that much, whether or not someone decides to graciously tip Super Dangerous Dungeon’s creator will be left entirely up to them.
My chief complaint with the package — however — would have to be how short the entire affair currently is, even after the inclusion of an entire electrically-themed fourth dungeon for Timmy to explore. Although Super Dangerous Dungeons is quite likely to last awhile for those purely playing the game during their lunch breaks, those giving the game a hardcore dedicated-shakedown will likely complete the journey within just a day or two. That said, it must be stated how there does additionally exist — much like Duke Dashington before it — an optional time-trial mode (which becomes available after Timmy’s initial journey has been fully-conquered).
Still, complaints aside, if you previously enjoyed any of Jussi Simpanen’s earlier games — mobile, or otherwise — then you’ll surely adore the absolutely free Super Dangerous Dungeons just as much!
Verdict
Jussi Simpanen’s recently released Super Dangerous Dungeons is an enhanced remake — featuring both updated and brand-new levels — based upon Timmy’s original Newgrounds outing, and is furthermore available for absolutely free! Players are presented with 48 different trap-filled levels — across four different elementally-themed regions — against which to prove their platform-jumping prowess, and some of them are even hard enough to make long-time veterans cry tears of blood! Fans of the earlier Tiny Dangerous Dungeons might be disappointed, however, to learn that the lauded Metroidvania-style motif has been abandoned this time around (although — technically speaking — this is accurate to the flash-based original’s layout). The game is furthermore a bit on the short side, capable of being finished with a day or so — should you give the app a hardcore tackling — yet is still likely to please anyone whom ever enjoyed any of Jussi Simpanen’s other offerings (like Duke Dashington).