Developer: Psygnosis Publisher: Vik Tokai Release: 05/94 Genre: Platformer
During the 16-bit era there was a very clear divide in quality between Japanese and Western platformers. The likes of Sonic, Mario, and Mega Man all featured tight controls and best in class level design to back up their technical prowess. Western games usually had one but not the other. It was always frustrating to see a game that looked cool like Tinhead but played like amateur hour. The Misadventures of Flink epitomizes this divide like no other. It has some of the best pixel art you will ever see but does not have the gameplay to back it up sadly.
The evil wizard Wicked Wainwright has kidnapped the four leaders of Imagica Island and sealed their spirits in four crystals scattered throughout the land. The only one left to oppose Wainwright is apprentice wizard Flink who embarks on a journey to recover the crystals and save the land. Flink was originally a Genesis game only released in Europe. Sony passed up releasing that version but Vik Tokai stepped in to publish the later Sega CD port. The only differences between the two are two extra levels and a CD quality soundtrack.
Flink has a number of ways to defeat enemies. Bouncing on their heads will stun them the first time and kill them the second time. A stunned enemy can be picked up and tossed. There are other items in the environment you can throw like rocks and empty treasure chests. Flink can also slide down slopes to defeat enemies as well. Once you create them there are a few offensive spells like lightning bolt and dust devil to use as supplements provided you have enough magic energy.
I will say I like the magic system even if it is underutilized. As you progress you collect a variety of ingredients necessary to create magic spells. Throughout the game you will receive recipes for spells that have a variety of effects. But knowing the recipe is only half the battle. You must select the three ingredients in the correct order while creating the spell for it to work. Thankfully you only need to do it once per spell. The spells are diverse; some are necessary for progression like the growth and shrink spells. Others are convenient like magic key. The rest are offensive and pretty cool. Spirit bomb is a heat seeker while the demon spell summons a familiar that attacks a set number of enemies. Admittedly I did not bother with magic unless necessary but the system is cool nonetheless.
The controls are my issue with Flink. The best way to describe them is sluggish. Flink moves slowly and builds momentum as he walks. The problem is they did not design the game around this. The level design feels like it was created for a more nimble protagonist. The platforming calls on pinpoint precision jumps and reactions as timed platforms and auto scrolling segments are introduced. They are still manageable of course but you always feel as though the game lacks the tightness of the best in the genre. Once the game starts to introduce more aggressive enemies and populate the levels more you notice the deficiency more. The rom hack for both versions of the game alleviates these problems and is how the game should be.
Due to the sluggish control Flink is a very difficult game. Part of that is the Sonic the Hedgehog style of death. Your magic meter is also your health; magic disperses like Sonic’s rings if you touch an enemy. As long as you have the equivalent of one you will never die. This is the reason there is less emphasis on magic, you lose it a lot. The hit detection is often questionable leading to cheap hits. The distinction between background and foreground elements often is unclear and leads to unfocused level design. There is a lot of variety in the levels too bad you have to put up with a lot of jank to get to it. But damn if you won’t want to because of the insanely detailed art.
It is no exaggeration to say that Flink has some of the most detailed pixel art you will ever see. Even today when the tools are more advanced Flink still stands up there with the best of them. The level of detail is exquisite; everything from individual leaves to patterns of grass has intricate details. The imaginative backgrounds never cease to amaze and while you are adventuring through standard forests, caves, and mountains they have never looked like this. Special effects that defy the hardware like scaling and rotation are around every corner and they even toss in multi-jointed bosses as well. The most unbelievable part is that the art is largely the work of one man, Henk Nieborg and he is still crushing it to this day.
In Closing
It is hard to not want to like Flink. The gorgeous pixel art literally begs you to soldier on to see what beautiful landscape you will explore next. But to do that you will have to put up with a lot of jank that in my opinion is not worth it. The moments where everything comes together show the potential Flink has but they are fleeting with too much frustration in between to be worth it in my opinion.
