Ardy Lightfoot

Developer: ASCII     Publisher: Titus     Released: February 1994     Genre: Platformer

It is funny to look back on the mascot craze of the 16-bit era.  For some god forsaken reason every publisher felt they needed a mascot.  The idea that a smart assed talking animal would embody your company values is completely absurd.  But that was the state of things in the 90s.  One of the last companies I would have expected to jump on that craze was Ascii.  Back then they made third party peripherals but even they could not resist that sweet mascot money.  Surprisingly they turned out one of the better efforts as Ardy Lightfoot is a solid platformer all around.

Ardy Lightfoot is a treasure hunter together with his partner Pec.  In addition to exploring ruins he also helps people in need.  One day he unearths a stone tablet that tells of seven rainbow colored jewels that grant one wish when assembled.  The evil Visconti has also heard of this tale and the race is on to see who will collect the Dragonballs…I mean jewels first.

No one cares about the story in a platformer but this is a special case.  Ascii tried to give Ardy Lightfoot a bit more plot but have failed spectacularly.  It tries to tell a story with no words like Super Metroid but it doesn’t work.  You’re left to infer what is going on through character actions but are left with more questions than answers.  Seeing a black and white flashback of what just happened ten seconds ago is just silly.  I suppose they at least tried.

At its core this is a simple game.  Ardy is accompanied by Pec who can be tossed to devour enemies in one gulp.  He is also a shield; take a hit and he disappears until found in a chest.  By himself Ardy’s only means of offense is a tail attack.  It also doubles as a spring although it can be imprecise at times.  There are only two power-ups; one inflates Pec like a balloon to ride and the other allows him to eat stone.

Ardy Lightfoot is a long game at seventeen levels and covers a lot of ground.  The level design borrows liberally from a variety of titles.  There are simple block pushing puzzles like Monster World, hills and inclines to build up speed like Sonic, and most importantly plenty of precision platforming.  While it is derivative it starts to become inventive later on.  One end game sequence tasks you with using the top and bottom of a mirrored surface to dodge incoming electric lances.  The boss battles all feature a unique that elevates them above a simple one on one fight.  When Ardy Lightfoot is creative it is incredibly fun but these moments are rare.  If they were spread throughout the game it could have been special like Sparkster.

It may seem like your typical cheery mascot platformer but Ardy Lightfoot puts up a fight.  This might actually be one of the more difficult platformers from that period in fact.  You can only suffer two hits before death and they go fast.  Once Pec is gone you’ll walk on eggshells and live in fear of every little enemy.  That is mostly due to the wonky tail attack.  It’s a bit deceptive at times; the levels are set up to make you think running through them as fast as possible is optimal.  But that only leads to a quick death.  There is no time limit so it is better to explore for stars or extra lives of which there are plenty.  Boss battles are tough but also feel incredibly rewarding as well.  The frequent extra lives and passwords make Ardy Lightfoot less frustrating than titles with a similar difficulty level.

It’s a bit saccharine but Ardy Lightfoot looks pretty great.  It hits most of the platforming staples such as a forest, pirate ship, and mine complete with mine cart chase.  Yet thanks to the game’s art style they still somehow feel unique.  There are few special effects aside from transparency but the game doesn’t need them.  1994 was an especially strong year for platformers with Donkey Kong Country and the Sonic games.  But even so Ardy Lightfoot does not look archaic by comparison.

In Closing

Ardy Lightfoot was an innocent bystander in the mascot wars.  While we (rightfully) throw stones at crap like Awesome Possum there were many titles like this that went unnoticed.  This is a solid platformer with enough content to provide hours of entertainment cheaply.