One of my favorite trends in indie games over the last few years has been the rise of the Wario-like. 2023 was one of the best years in gaming history with the likes of Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, Street Fighter 6, and Alan Wake 2, but I'd argue the best game of that year was Pizza Tower which revived the Wario Land formula with an anxious pizza chef taking the place of the hunky treasure hunter. With 2024's AntonBlast also being one of the highlights of this decade. But that duo focused on the Wario Land side of things, and now another has stepped up to the other side of Wario's enterprise.
Developer Tallglass, which is developing the puzzle platformer BOOM! Buster announced Buster Jam late last year, stating that it is being made in the meantime to help things stay running at the studio and ensure BOOM! Buster doesn't need to sacrifice any of its vision. Earlier this week the studio released the first demo for the game and I'm already in love.
Featuring the same characters from BOOM! Buster, Buster Jam follows Buster and his partner Bridget trying to stop the villain "The Wizard" from turning New York into "Wizardtopia". The game mixes overworld exploration akin to the Mario & Luigi RPGs before you lock in to WarioWare style mini-game gauntlets. It's not enough to just do minigames in a row though, WarioWare has a specific vibe, a level of unhinged that would make Mario blush, and I'm glad to say Buster Jam nails it from the short segment I've played.
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Minigames include Wario classics like having your character avoid other obstacles, realistic jpegs of dogs completely out of place with the art style and various renditions of the main character that can either make him look adorable or ten times more unhinged. And then things you would never see from Nintendo like "stab the wizard" "shoot the devil" and doodle jump where you play as Bart Simpson's head on a shoe. Even from the tiny slice shown in the demo it's already one of my most anticipated indie releases for 2026.
Spooky Express is an adorable puzzle game that has me mapping out tracks in Trainsylvania to help undead passengers, and it's perfect for Halloween
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