Kid Gloves II

The Kid has hung up his gloves

Kid Gloves II was developed by Dave Semmens (click that for his interview) and is nothing like its prequel. In fact, it's more like a Wonderboy, Giana, Mario and the ilk. I believe it was originally called Little Beau, but Digital Magic went bust, and Millennium stepped in with their own ideas, which is an interesting twist.

The background story, you say? The love of our life has been kidnapped by an evil wizard who has trapped her in his castle. We want her back, of course. So that means travelling through five islands before reaching his castle lair to rescue our beloved. Hardly original, I'm sure you'll agree, but I'll buy into it like the sucker I am.

Kid needs to travel through a number of islands on his way to that castle. Each is split into sections with its environment: ice, water, fire, sand, and wind. That means they're all slightly different with their own hazards, monsters and the usual types of platforms to leap across. It's classic and nothing new, which is fine.

Firstly, let's take a look at some screenshots to see what kinda game we have here...

Ice Island is excellent and nicely introduces you to the gameplay styles.

Water Island has been flooded, so bring your swimming costume!

Things are hotting up for the third level with... hmm... warmer visuals!

The fourth level has you walking like an Egyptian...

It's getting windy on the fifth level, but things are looking rather samey!

We made it to the castle, but only with extra lives and a timer freeze. Oh yeah!!

Looks nice, but how's it play?

As you can see, the levels look great. The first stage is ice, so it features snow, melting platforms, and more. Each island follows the same mechanics, so it's pretty much what you'd expect, albeit with the obvious aesthetic differences. However, I found the fifth island tiresome with irritating platforms that were hard and integrated with very long jumps, which meant losing lots of time backtracking!

Getting around most areas is exceptionally easy thanks to responsive controls and helpful arrows guiding you on your merry way. Kid walks using a two-fold method: shorter bursts, from a still, are of a slower pace for jumping across the ledges. Whereas a continuous run is faster and just perfect for leaping over those wider gaps.

The monsters are cute, but they need killing with your trusty dagger (upgradable!). When slain, they drop items like coins, energy fruits and others that can empower special abilities: super-high jumps, monster-squashing boots, balloons, critters and fireballs. Ultimately, we're searching each level for the baddie carrying the exit key. Once at the end, an end-of-level guardian is waiting for you - for an easy battle!

Kid Gloves II features a couple of "hidden" features which you find when exploring the levels. Stumbling upon something that looks like it should be in Vegas is a chance to earn yourself rewards, be it a fruit machine or an arcade game. Use your selection of coins in a slot machine or a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up.

Perhaps this is the perfect time to show you those extra bits of this wonderful game...

Hey, what's that I see? Perhaps I should stop and take a break from the girlfriend's rescue?

Woohoo, I'm back in Vegas, baby!! Well, there's a chance this machine might yield big rewards.

Ignore his freaky eyeballs because this shoot 'em up is a lot harder than you might first think.

Gimme juicy aesthetics!

Kid Gloves II is a cutie pie, thanks to the talents of Doug Townsley. I love its 8-bit personality, with each gorgeous stage. It's the sprites that stand out the most with awesome attention to detail. The backgrounds are also fantastic, but I was a little puzzled on Wind Island as everything looks samey - so some platforms are difficult to see. Which is a tad annoying, especially compared to the rest of the game.

Not many know this, but Kid Gloves 2 was the platformer I played when returning to the Atari ST a few years ago. I instantly fell in love with its cartoon visuals and how smoothly it played. My happy days had returned!! Oh, the floppy still works and remains one of my most cherished possessions.

Musically, this is fabulous with a selection of chiptunes by Andy Severn and Justin Scharvona. What's interesting is that they each suit the gameplay style perfectly. However, I didn't find a way to switch off the tunes in favour of sound effects. But, if I'm honest, I wouldn't have wanted to - chipmusic will last forever!

So it looks and sounds magical? Yes, so let's celebrate with a screenshot before the final conclusion...

Critters are ace because they're as deadly as they are cute!

The CryptO'pinion?

I've absolutely loved playing this game. However, nothing is perfect, so what didn't I like? Well, each level kinda feels the same, albeit with different visuals, and the bosses are far too easy. However, my biggest beef is the unnecessary timer that spoils my chances of beating the third island. Yes, I admit to cheating on those later levels, and I normally never cheat. Honest. Ahem, anyhow, no game should rush the player.

Kid Gloves 2 is a genuinely fantastic platformer packed with entertaining levels, lots of baddies to kill, great power-ups, and control mechanics that are fast and fluent. This game is timeless, and I think your kids will enjoy it as much as we did back in the day. What say you? Let me know in the comments below.

An enjoyable console-like platformer that I cannot recommend enough. A truly fantastic game.

Download available by D-Bug

Floppies can be found at Atari Legend.