Platform: Sega Genesis

Developer: Sega

Publisher: Sega

Release Date (NA): May 1991

Genre: Platformer

Nerd Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by NerdBerry

Making its debut in the arcades, Flicky made its way to the Sega Genesis in 1991 but not after being ported to multiple other home computers and the original Sega home-system, the SG-1000. Flicky demands your undivided inner-retro attention as you control our eponymous hero, Flicky, in an effort to starve out the world’s overpopulation of housecats. While making waves on the arcades in Japan, Flicky couldn’t even fly across an excited kid’s puddle of piss on the floor at Babbage’s in America. Interestingly enough, Flicky would not see a Japanese release on the Mega-Drive, although it was available as a download via the Sega Game Toshokan in Japan. Flicky’s lack of popularity might not be a surprise to some, but it is a shame because once you start playing Flicky, you’ll ask yourself “How in the hell did I miss out on this simple yet addicting game?!”

In Flicky, you control the cutesy flightless blue bird Flicky as he attempts to rescue all of the little tiny baby birds, known as Chirps, from the evil no-good housecats, a tiger, and an iguana. Flicky attempts to collect the Chirps and lead them to the exit door without being attacked by any of the enemies.

Flicky’s moves are limited to only a jump, but he also has the ability to “glide” as he descends back towards the ground. His ability to change directions mid-air is particularly useful as you will often find yourself in tricky situations which require such maneuvers in order to stay alive. Flicky himself does not have any attack moves, but there are items scattered throughout the levels that Flicky can hurl at the predators, such as phones, flowerpots, and more. With the single button being used for jumping, Flicky needs only to walk across a Chirp or an object to collect it. When he jumps, the collected item will be chucked across the screen and kill any enemy it hits.

The cats come out of the black holes in the walls, which are easily seen and a little “warning” is given, letting you know that the cat is getting ready to come out. You will see a pair of cat eyes blinking and looking out of the hole (the cat is not yet able to attack or BE attacked either). Then the cat peeks its little orange head out. At this time you can hurl a telephone at the cat’s stupid face and send him bouncing all over the screen until he disappears (but beware, the cats don’t stay gone). Through the first few levels, the cats are pretty easy. There are very few of them and they don’t really do much except jump up or down as they run in a single direction. As the levels progress, so does the computer A.I. The cats will stop and change directions based on your location. You can fake them out sometimes and get them to jump up on a ledge by making it look like you’re about to jump up there but it’s not always an easy feat. The quantity of cats also increases as the game goes on (to a limit, of course).

Once you reach level 10, a little green iguana comes out of nowhere and starts coming after you. I guess iguanas eat birds too? I’m going to have to watch Animal Planet to confirm this. Reading this review has already saved you a life because if you weren’t expecting this iguana, then you’d definitely die. His tiny little green body comes out of nowhere and you don’t really know what to expect!

Every level is different based on the layout of the platforms and the location of the Chirps, cat-holes, exit doors, and items. The stages are set inside houses and this is obvious because of the ridiculous wallpaper and the items you are using. One of the neat features about this game, and this is to your advantage or disadvantage depending on how you look at it, is the stage layout. Each stage is only the width of your TV screen, meaning that what you see at one time is all there is to play on. BUT, the stages are endless as you can access the left side of your screen by going over to the right side and vice versa. It’s identical to Pac-Man and how you exit the little open gaps on the right or left side and how it brings you up on the other side. The benefit to this is that it helps you anticipate what will be coming up behind you or in front of you as you move around. This is one of my favorite features and truly a benefit once I got used to the game. It was difficult at first because I would unknowingly walk right into cats that I didn’t see coming off-screen. After a while though, it becomes second nature to use the infinite stage scrolling to your gain.

There are 48 levels altogether, not counting the bonus levels. Once you beat the 48^th level, you are congratulated and offered the option of continuing to play (at a faster speed… may God have mercy on your soul) or accepting your marvelous feat and laying down your controller and making a BLT sandwich with the best bacon you can buy. The game has numerous bonus levels, all of which are nearly identical with slight variations of each other. The Tigers have see-saws and they launch little Chirps into the air, 8 at a time, and Flicky has to run back and forth catching them into his net. He is awarded additional points towards the overall point score. Points = lives in the longrun, so work hard. There is also a tiny diamond that appears in the game at random and this diamond also awards Flicky with extra points. Considering you only have 3 lives to start the game, and 48 levels to get through, you will definitely need as many lives as possible.

Overall, Flicky is a unique and fun oldschool style platforming game. Making his debut in the mid 80s on the arcade prior to Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Famicom, Flicky, Mario Bros, and Donkey Kong were the cutting edge games of the current platformer genre. While never gaining any steam or popularity the way Donkey Kong and Mario did, Flicky still maintains its status as a true original and one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Unfortunately for Sega Genesis owners, Flicky is a complete flop of a game graphically. It is obviously a straight port from the 1984 arcade game and received no noticeable upgrade in graphics, sound, or gameplay. Everything about this game screams 8-bit! And, unfortunately for Flicky, in 1991, a 16-bit hero was born in the form of a blue hedgehog… and this hero would rule the gaming world for 6 years (some would say longer, but I say the lack of a true Sonic game on the Saturn and the release of Super Mario 64 on the N64 reversed Sonic’s fortunes back into Marios hands). Sonic set the bar pretty high for platforming games and all others were considered inadequate or “lame.”

Lacking the 16-bit visual and stylistic gameplay that America was clamoring for likely resulted in Flicky going largely unnoticed. It’s unfortunate too because I think this game is incredibly fun. Replay value is high because you will find yourself doing just a little better each time and getting just a little further each time. Unfortunately some points will have to be docked due to the lack of upgrading the game to the current-gen system of the time. Flicky is a no-holds-barred edge of your seat action platformer. Once you get past level 10, you will be jumping out of your seat and rolling on the ground every time you narrowly miss a cat or iguana. You’ll be ecstatic every time you drop off 8 Chirps in the exit door all at one time.

You should go get this game… like, right now! If you would rather get it on a newer system, Sonic Mega Collection for the Nintendo GameCube is a beautiful compilation disc with all of the 16-bit Sonic games plus some bonus games! Flicky is on there and you’ll love it!