Hello and welcome to the inaugural Nindie Design Focus! A feature series where we highlight some of the best aspects of game design across the Nindie scene. The game we are looking at today is Kero Blaster. From the minds behind the indie revolution Cave Story, Studio Pixel’s Kero Blaster is a 2D side-scrolling action platformer and labor abuse allegory. The game does a number of things well, but we’re here to look at innovative ideas.

The Tutorial is Finished Before Picking a Save File

This is the first screen that you see when booting up the game. It looks like a normal title card, but it’s fully interactive. The phone is what the main character uses to open the save select screen, but they can’t use it until all the creatures are destroyed. Doing so requires learning all the skills the player will use in the game. Shooting and jumping as well as how ladders work are all covered on one screen, but without ever explicitly telling the player what to do. These aren’t difficult actions and could easily be covered by a “Press B to Jump” prompt. Instead, Studio Pixel chose a method to teach the basics that feels more like a playground than a lecture.

The Hard Mode is Essentially a New Game

After completing the game, a new mode called “Zangyou Mode” is unlocked. I expected it to be the same game, but with enemies who take more hits and a scarcity of gold. For example, Breath of the Wild’s Master Mode basically amounts to stat increases to existing enemies with some mild enemy shuffling. What Zangyou Mode turns out to be is an entirely reframed story featuring new cutscenes and character motivations. The mode even comes with a brand new villain since the previous big bad was already dispatched.

Opening cutscenes contrasted between Normal (left) and Zangyou (right)

The levels undergo vast changes. Enemies from later levels in normal mode show up in the first level of hard mode. Coin chests and extra lives are hidden in easier to miss locations. The platforming sections are more challenging; now, there are death pits everywhere. Beyond that, the returning boss arenas are redesigned and new bosses are added. To accompany these new bosses are new levels. Even Kaeru, the frog character, is a new color. If not for the art style being the same, Zangyou Mode stages would be barely recognizable from their Normal Mode counterpart.

Let’s Compare

Below are some comparison screenshots from the first level since I don’t want to spoil too much of the game. If you don’t want to know what the first boss of the game is, skip the pictures below. Like before, Normal Mode is on the left with Zangyou Mode on the right.

First Screen

Shop Screen

Boss Arenas

Many games have a hard mode that simply tacks more health on enemies or adjusts the economy then calls it a day. Studio Pixel crafted a new experience. The team put as much effort into designing their hard mode as they did with the original mode. Like Ocarina of Time to Majora’s Mask, the assets might be re-used, but the story is all new; Kero Blaster is just on a much smaller scale.

Kero Blaster has a lot of good things going for it. The music is top notch, levels are fun to play through, the story and characters are charming, and the icon is arguably the best on the eShop. The interesting take on the tutorial and amount of effort put into hard mode are two designs, among many great moments, that stand out.

Click here to check out my look at other great design decisions made by the West of Loathing development team. Read Zach’s gushing about my personal 2017 Game of the Year, Night in the Woods here. Share your thoughts on the game by joining our Discord. You can also support our ad-free site and buy us a coffee.