Stand back. All cylinders are firing!
Sigi – A Fart for Melusina is a game that genuinely surprised me. I’m sure many of you must read the title and think “eh? Is this really about flatulence?”. So you may be surprised to find out that it actually plays quite a small role in the finished product!
You play as Sigi, a bold knight on a quest to save a mysterious mermaid who you encounter right at the start of your adventure. She goes by the name of Melusina and unfortunately you scare her away from – excuse the pun – your heavy wind. As she delves into the lakes below it is then your mission to find her.
The game has a classic, retro feel with the developers opting for an 8-bit graphical style. It’s a solid platformer and is set across 20 levels where you’ll be encountering various gruesome looking enemies and collecting treasures along the way. There is a boss fight on every fifth level which means you’ll encounter a total of four, they’re varied enough but don’t provide too much of a challenge. If you make it to the final encounter then you may notice someone based off quite a well known wrestling figure!
Along the way there are four letters to collect on each level which spell out our hero’s name. Much in the the same vein as the Donkey Kong Country series. You can also find secret pathways hidden amongst the levels environment which will enable you to collect extra coins and treasure. Once you’ve beaten the game you’ll get an overall percentage score based upon how much treasure and items you collected, so if you don’t get 100% the first time round you can always replay some of the levels.
The music fits the retro aesthetic and sounds like something you’d hear in the late 80’s with a chip-tune sounding vibe – there wasn’t really any part of the game where I found it repetitive which is always a bonus. Sigi handles really well and whilst each stage probably borders on a little too easy for seasoned gamers (I never found myself seeing the Game Over screen) each level had me wanting to play more. At the end of each level you are greeted by a hot dog stand and Sigi lets out a celebratory trump -but other than that there really isn’t too much flatulence involved!
The only downside I found was that the game was over far too quickly, you can finish the entire thing in less than an hour. I really wish there was maybe a couple more worlds to play through and a few more boss fights as it’s a really enjoyable little platformer. Inspiration seems to have been drawn from the likes of Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda series in its look and gameplay style, if there is going to be a sequel I’d like to see a difficulty option added as well. The level design is varied enough to keep you playing but as you can gather extra lives quite quickly you’ll often find you can blitz through most in under 2 minutes.
As a whole, I think it’s a great title for the Switch if you’re after a game you can quickly jump into. It won’t require a lot of head scratching and is great fun in terms of platforming and overall gameplay. It’s a shame your adventure is over so quickly but perhaps next time Sigi will lay off the baked beans.
Sigi - A Fart for Melusina
Summary
Sigi – A Fart for Melusina is a fun, retro inspired platformer and whilst you probably won’t be revisiting this flatulent little fella too often it’s a lovingly inspired homage to some Nintendo greats.