Super Skelemania

About

Super Skelemania is a single player arcade platformer game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Ben Allen and was released on November 17, 2017. It received very positive reviews from players.

"Super Skelemania" is a single-sitting metroidvania game featuring an acrobatic skeleton. Explore a mysterious planet's vibrant underground, discover power-ups, secrets, and five distinct areas. With unique mechanics like headbutting spiders and rolling your skull, uncover the planet's mysteries and maybe find your way home.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 74 reviews

gameplay9 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game features tight and responsive controls, making traversal and platforming enjoyable.
The pixel art and music are charming, contributing to a delightful atmosphere throughout the game.
It's a fun, compact Metroidvania experience that emphasizes exploration and movement, making it ideal for quick play sessions.

The game is very short, typically completed in under 2 hours, which may leave some players wanting more content.
Combat is minimal and lacks depth, with only two bosses that are considered easy and unchallenging.
The map design can be confusing, with a zoomed-out view that makes navigation difficult and no option to mark locations.

gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The gameplay is characterized by smooth movement mechanics and a focus on platforming, making it enjoyable despite the game's short duration of around 1.5 to 3 hours. While the lack of story and some unclear mechanics may detract from the experience, the well-designed levels and satisfying movement options provide a fun challenge for players. Overall, the game showcases solid pixel art and engaging mechanics, though it feels somewhat incomplete.
- “Simply put, there are several smooth mechanics in this game, and it's always about movement above anything else.”
- “Super Skelemania is a really enjoyable metroidvania that doesn’t contain a single bit of filler content - just purely awesome platforming-focused gameplay.”
- “My two favorite aspects of the game are the excellent movement mechanics and the wide array of power-ups that you constantly find during the brief ~1.5-hour playtime.”
- “A good part of the challenge of the game is about figuring out the right combination of skills to use or performing an action enough times so that you understand the mechanics well enough to allow you to reach something that you couldn't before.”
- “Backflipping to shoot up ladders is really satisfying whether or not I can tell if it's an intentional mechanic or a weird platforming physics thing.”
- “The pixel art is solid and every single area has been extremely well thought out to encourage you to utilize the movement mechanics to their full potential.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The music in the game is highly praised for its atmospheric quality, evoking nostalgia while maintaining originality, reminiscent of classic titles like Metroid and Donkey Kong Country. Reviewers appreciate the thoughtful integration of music with the overall experience, noting its charm and polish, which enhances the game's appeal. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a standout feature that complements the game's visuals and gameplay effectively.
- “The music is very atmospheric and manages to evoke the spirit of predecessors like Metroid while not sounding derivative.”
- “The music and sound effects fit perfectly with the experience.”
- “The nicest thing about Super Skelemania is that the developer Ben Allen clearly put a lot of thought and effort into the progression, upgrades, level design, animation, and music in the game, to the point where everything feels great and polished.”
graphics
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
37%
13%
The graphics of the game are praised for their charming art style and excellent character design, evoking a nostalgic SNES aesthetic. Players appreciate the beautiful visuals and fluid animations, which contribute to a relaxing atmosphere, despite some criticisms regarding level design. Overall, the graphics enhance the compact metroidvania experience, making it visually appealing and engaging.
- “A compact little metroidvania with charming art style and music.”
- “It's a short little game, but it has a lot of heart, really cute visuals and cool enemy designs, and great music.”
- “Love the graphics and the music.”
- “- decent SNES-looking graphics.”
story
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game features minimal to no story or world-building, with many players noting the lack of substance in the narrative. Despite this, the gameplay remains enjoyable, and the short duration of the game (under three hours) means that the absence of a compelling story does not detract significantly from the overall experience.
- “There's not a ton of story or world building, but the gameplay is fun and it's enjoyable for the less than 3 hours it took me to beat it.”
- “It is completely lacking in a story but that's okay.”
- “There doesn't seem to be a story of any substance (or any story at all?) but I mean, I'm not heartbroken about it.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its minimalistic style and evocative music, reminiscent of classic titles like Metroid, while maintaining originality. Reviewers highlight the relaxing ambiance and appealing art, contributing to an overall immersive experience.
- “Awesome little game, I love the minimalistic style and atmosphere.”
- “The music is very atmospheric and manages to evoke the spirit of predecessors like Metroid while not sounding derivative.”
- “But, for me, the fluid mechanics, the appealing art style, and overall relaxing atmosphere more than made up for the length.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
The game boasts exceptional replayability, particularly appealing to speedrunners, and is noted for having the most content in the series, enhancing its overall replay value.
- “It has stupendous replay value, especially in the realm of speedrunning.”
- “I have played the previous games in this series, and this one definitely has the most content and the highest replayability.”
- “And I don't want to make it seem as if the game has no replay value, because it does, particularly if you are somebody who is into speedruns.”
- “So I have played the previous games in this series, and this one definitely has the most content and most replayability.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers praise the character design and artwork, highlighting it as a standout feature that enhances the overall character development experience.