Danan: The Simplest Jungle Adventure

Just one look at the fantastic game box art will tell you everything.

In this fine little game you take on as an incredibly well built jungle orphan (probably the buffest sega game character ever) who is the tropic master of really small daggers. Yep. The back story is not very original (and quite long-winded, at least for a small SMS game instruction booklet). You, once a fearful fry, now a marbled man, must become an avid avenger. Avenge your guardian, meet attractive feisty blonde along the way, stab other less friendly blondes, ugly dudes that dare to be more muscular than you, even some nazi looking army men, and above all nasty parrots (jungle, remember?), destroy incredible ancient evil at the end. Seems like an adventure of a lifetime, right?

Well, no. More like an after lunch adventure.
Unlike other jungle based action-platformer games (Contra, Donkey Kong Country, any more?) this game is shockingly simple and short. You can beat it easily in less than an hour on a first try (20 minutes if you know where to go and what to find), but it's a fun hour.

Firstly, the gameplay is quite nice, there are some adventure (dialogs, items to get, animal friends) and rpg elements (leveling up resulting in higher hit points, items that make you stronger, mostly really small daggers with increasingly sinister names), the controlls are responsive and easy. Then there's graphics, which is phenomenal for an 8 bit game, colorful and sharp. Sadly, the music and sounds are only so-so.

All in all, if you can find this game for about $20 don't hesitate to grab it and gift yourself a jolly jungle hour.

Just to make this simple game simpler here are some hints:
Do not underestimate the power of a really small dagger.
Stab the blonde sword women in the back.
Don't mess with the squatting dudes.
Count on friendly apes.
Be afraid of parrots.

Thank you for reading!