Considering the fact that I grew up in the earliest days of the console revolution, cutting my teeth on game systems dating back to the original home version of Pong, it has been a lot of fun seeing the resurgence in interest in retro games. Whether in the form of remakes or even modern games being made within the confines of older systems like the NES, there have been some wonderful surprises out there for people who don’t mind some old-school aesthetics and generally simpler play. Doodle World Deluxe is one such title, looking and feeling reminiscent of the 8-bit days, and having a very family-friendly hand-drawn vibe.

In terms of the positives, there’s no doubt the game has a light and cheery vibe. In a style very reminiscent of many classic games including Super Mario Bros, you’ll be challenged to jump your way around enemies, discover secret areas, and defeat bosses along your way to facing the evil King Eraser. Another great feature is that, to some degree, the experience can be catered to different skill levels. The original Doodle World is a bit on the more traditional and simpler side, while Doodle World Redrawn adds the ability to perform a double jump, and is thus a bit more varied and challenging, forcing you to make thorough use of that ability. An option to play in Kids Mode makes everything at least somewhat more approachable as well, blessing you with extra lives to provide a bit more longevity if it is needed.

The problem though, in my mind, is that whether you’re putting the actual level designs and gameplay up against more modern games or even platformers of that bygone era… it’s simply quite generic and bland as a whole. Granted, as modern gamers we’ve been spoiled through entire generations of platformers of all sorts, but the developers here should also be well aware of what else is out there and stepped up to the plate with more ambition. If I hop into Super Mario Maker 2, and download a few random levels, I’d wager that roll of the dice will result in stages that are at least as good as what’s available here, but would more likely be superior. More often than not the stages almost feel checklist driven, fulfilling the requirements of a level mechanically but without showing much in the way of inspiration. Yes, you could argue a goal of the game’s design was to be approachable for all ages, but I’d point out that pretty well all 2D Mario games over the years have had the same goal and that’s never held them back from having more complex and satisfying designs.

In the end, this is a title that’s absolutely banking on a combination of nostalgic rose-colored glasses and some degree of forgiveness for its family-friendly nature. Yes, it is absolutely playable and can put up a degree of challenge at times. The problem is that because its overall design is lacking in any ambition of note, it really struggles to make much of an impression to anyone who has played even just a few decent platformers in their time. It appears to have succeeded in its goals, but having seemingly set the bar quite low for itself, it’s hard to be eager to reward it with more than a grudging acknowledgement that it’s thoroughly OK, but nothing more.