Self Simulated is a unique platform game that features very tight and precise controls and is a rather fun and unique game on the GameBoy.
The story of Self Simulated is that you play as a robot that was involved in a severe accident. The good news is that your entire mind, including your memories were mapped and saved before the accident. This backup of data is you, and you have been transferred into a new humanoid robot body.
Now it’s up to you to traverse each stage, speak with the AI that runs the facility you find yourself in, program yourself with additional upgrades and abilities, all in an effort to remember what happened and exactly who you are.
The story in Self Simulated is very well written. There is plenty of humor with a serious undertone that fits the game really nicely.
With Self Simulated being a tight platforming game, it plays very well and has a lot to offer. For starters, there are over one hundred levels to get through. That is a lot of levels. Each level poses its own set of challenges, enemies, and traps.
As you progress through the game you will unlock special upgrades as the game calls them which will give you access to things like a double jump and the option to glitch yourself which can be used to traverse areas of the stage that are glitched and would otherwise harm you.
Other content that this game offers are achievements that you can unlock and even cheats or as the game calls them assists. These can be used and in some stages required to be enabled in order to get through the later stages in the game.
Graphically the game looks really nice for the Gameboy. The robotic main character is a bit large compared to the environment you’re traversing, though not in an absurd way. The stages are varied and offer a lot of wonderful looking set pieces, lots of platforms, and a lot of other elements to the game that really make everything look really good and to come together nicely.
While the enemies and traps in the game are well placed, there are times that the stages feel a bit on the empty side. While this is noticeable when traversing the stages at a slow and deliberate pace, this is not the way the game was designed, at least not in my opinion.
You see, the game is a tight platform and can at times be very precise .Accompanying the tight controls and great looking visuals, comes the speed. The game feels like Sonic had his brain and agility placed in one of Dr Robotnicks robotic henchmen. The sense of speed this game has on the GameBoy was rather surprising and very welcoming on the handheld.
All of this speed and wonderful graphics translate into some really wonderful performance. If the GameBoy or Chromatic had an FPS counter, I am sure that it would say it’s running at around 50 to 60FPS. Okay, I realize that this is completely unrealistic for either of these handhelds, but the sense of speed this game gives you is extremely impressive.
Self Simulated has some amazing music. The beats in this game are a blend of metallic and robotic sounding techno, that fits the game so well, it’s nothing short of phenomenal.
There are so many directions that this game could have gone with the music. It could have been done in a melodic classic sound, upbeat hip hop, or some sort of deep and depressing sound track. Now I don’t know how you would pull any of those off, but given how creative and talented chip tune artists are, I am sure all of those types of music are possible.
Sound effects in this game are what you would expect. Metallic sounds of footsteps, electric shock sounds when you get hit, nice bouncing sounds, everything just feels robotic and rather cold, but in a good way.
Self Simulated is one of those games that is just platforming perfection. I mean it truly is a work of platforming genius. A robotic platformer with the speed of sonic and an upgrade system not unlike what you would find in Metroid, there is really nothing to not like about this game. I mean this game has everything and then some going for it. If you’re a fan of platforming games, you really owe it to yourself to pick up this game for your GameBoy or Chromatic handheld.
Those interested in the game can purchase it here.
Disclaimer: We were provided with a review copy
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.