Pinkman+ Switch Review – A Watered Down N++

Let’s get the cat out of the bag right now. Pinkman+ has an all-too-familiar look, feel, and sound about it, and it is unfortunate that I am the professional N++ player at Nintendo Link. There are very few minimalistic platformers out there, and it is of my opinion that N++ is not only the best of the bunch, but it is arguably one of the best indie platformers of all time.

So how does a cheaper and less polished game follow in N++‘s footsteps? Well, to be honest, it is tough, but that does not mean that Pinkman+ is a bad game. Quite the contrary, it is a lot of fun. It is only unfortunate that it has very big shoes to fill, but I can already tell you from the front that this game is worth its price.

You play as Pinkman, a… well… pink man who is traversing his way through short yet dangerous rooms en route to taking out the environmental hazard known as “The Mind”. You do not really need to know any of this to enjoy the game, as it is a simple platformer about getting from Point A to Point B.

Pinkman+ is a minimalist platformer where you are jumping and jetpacking your way through all sorts of obstacles as you try to clear all 100 levels. Naturally, the game progressively gets harder and harder with each passing stage, but thankfully the difficulty progression is on point and it feels like the game is progressing alongside you.

To say that Pinkman+ is similar to N++ is an absolute understatement. From the color schemes to the the style to the various enemies and even the EDM sountrack, this game does a little more than pay homage to a series that has been around for 17 years. It blatantly copies many things and even lacks its own personality because of it.

But don’t let that discourage you. Pinkman+ is the N++ for people on a budget. It is significantly cheaper, way easier to clear, and a nice little game to play over a weekend. Compare that to N++, a game that takes hours and days of your time to fully clear, and the difficulty is miles ahead of Green Dinosaur Games’ new entry.

In regards to gameplay, this is a very simple yet challenging platformer. Pinkman needs to get to the door of each stage, and in order to do so, he needs to find the key. To get the key usually requires getting through obstacles and enemies which is a lot of the fun and challenge, especially thanks to the one unique gimmick: the jetpack.

Stages do not take any longer than one minute to clear, and that is even considering casual players. Since Pinkman+ has checkpoints, sometimes even two on a stage, the hardship of starting the whole stage over upon death is eliminated, but it also means that playtime is shortened as well. Compare that to N++, which has no checkpoints and similar stage setups, and you have a much easier game than the one it is copying.

Upon each death, the color scheme changes, which can be a bit too much especially if you die rapidly. Also, since the completion of the previous stage immediately throws you into the next stage, accidental deaths are quite common, because you are holding a particular direction from the previous stage and that direction may launch you right into a trap in the next.

A couple cool buttons on the controller outside of moving, jumping, and jetpacking are Y and X. Pressing Y will zoom the stage in and out, which was a relief, because I personally prefer the full-screen look like N++ provides. Next is the X button, which mutes the music. I thought this was a nice touch, but honestly, the soundtrack in Pinkman+ is outstanding! It is not quite as stellar as the one in N++ (I know I’m comparing these too much), but it definitely holds its own and I never felt the need to mute it.

A couple major things worth addressing are the length of the game and some performance issues that I faced.

As you may have figured from my previous terminology, the game is only 100 stages and each stage takes less than a minute to beat. That means, at maximum, you are looking at around an hour and a half to beat the game. But for someone like me who plays platformers regularly and has cleared every stage in N++ (Every stage), Pinkman+ took me less than 30 minutes to clear and there is little-to-no reason to come back. There are no leaderboards, no extra game modes, and no multiplayer, so once you clear the game, you are pretty much done with it.

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Sadly, I also experienced two crashes during my time, one that even happened on the very first stage right when I entered the door. I cannot replicate the crashing situations, but considering the amount of time I put into the game, a couple crashes in such a minimalist game is not a good sign.

Thankfully, the game loads up fast so even if it does crash, you will be back jumping and jetpacking in no time.

The biggest reason why Pinkman+ is worthy of a purchase is due to its quality and incredibly affordable price. The game only costs $4.99, making it the perfect N++ clone for gamers on a budget, and for the most part, the game plays great, sounds great, and even looks great.

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this is a solid platformer. It is only unfortunate that it takes such little time to clear and it is not nearly as challenging as the games it obviously borrows from. Let’s hope that Mateus Ferreira surprises us with some more stages down the road or even some different modes, because once you beat Pinkman+, you are done with Pinkman+.

Pinkman+ Review provided by Nintendo Link
Developer: Green Dinosaur Games
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Release Date: March 12, 2021
Price: $4.99, £4.99, €4,99
Game Size: 54MB