Bing in Wonderland: Power-Up Edition Review

Step right into the eclectic world of Bing in Wonderland: Power-Up Edition, where our charming hero Bing dons a conical bamboo hat and is armed with a cool spear/bow weapon that shoots arrows at your foes! Plus, you are welcomed by a three-piece band playing traditional Japanese instruments like shamisen, which is really cool. Developed by Wanba Studio, this action-platformer throws you into a chaotic, ink-washed world brimming with unique enemies, bizarre settings, and, of course, plenty of butt slams.

As you start, you’re greeted by a mysterious courtyard that will be the spot where you learn how to play. I am playing on the Nintendo Switch, so to jump, you use the B button (bottom face button). You can jump on the shrine and other buildings for practice. There is a stuffed dummy with a target on his chest saying, “Wanna hit me?”. It looks pretty innocent, so I feel guilty about smashing this harmless guy with my arrows. You use Y (left face button) to fire, and if you hold the button down, it will charge your shot to inflict extra damage on the enemies. Like other action games, you have a dash button that lets you dodge enemy attacks and get from one side of the stage to the other more quickly. In Bing in Wonderland, you will also throw your hat to do additional damage to anyone standing in its path. 

The last and most important move that Bing will learn is the butt slam. By jumping into the air, you can smash into the enemies below you; this move works great to destroy shields that enemies have while also dealing massive damage when the foe is exhausted. To perform the move when the word exhausted is displayed, you hit the X (top face button) to slam into them. Using this attack is incredibly helpful when you are fighting bosses or enemies who don’t seem to take much damage from your arrows and other attacks. Now that the tutorial is done, you start your adventure by entering the gate.

The first stage you visit is the Great Desert, which has 13 different stops, and you will face a big boss at the end. You select the path that you want to follow, like other roguelike games with stops for the store where you purchase items, a Tavern where you learn boons (attacks) from Wanba Heroes, or visit the Alchemy Furnace to improve Bing's attributes (here there is a snack stall with cheap food that is delicious but will probably give you diarrhoea…). Did I mention that this title occasionally features a childish sense of humour? Some people will find this entertaining, while others may not be as impressed. At one point, you get a hint saying, “Shhh! Using Poophead will cause your Bing Poop to spawn balls of lightning when you have diarrhoea!” Yup, that seems a little weird, not really something I was expecting. 

No matter the place you select to stop, the stage will always start out the same way, with a big battle. Here, you will jump and blast all the enemies on the screen, collecting coins and naan bread they drop when defeated. The coins are used at the store or at the home base to upgrade your character's stats, and the Naan bread is used to unlock new abilities and Naan perks for Bing. You can visit your chosen attraction after killing all the enemies, which won’t take a long time. For both the Tavern and the Store, you will be presented with three different options for what you can purchase. If you find that you are short on money, no worries: you have the option to beg. Begging will spend your wisdom points to buy it instead of coins. I have never seen a game where this was an option to use! There is a huge variety of boons and power-ups, so no matter how many times you visit these spots, you are sure to find new stuff to try out. 

There are 16 different stages to visit before you complete this chaotic game. The battles are fast-paced, so each full stage of 13 levels will probably only take about 10 minutes to complete. I will warn you that the music that plays on the menus when you are shopping or selecting boons is incredibly repetitive. I think there is a loop that is only a few seconds long that repeats nonstop. I also felt that after playing Bing in Wonderland for a long period of time, the game itself became quite repetitive. This was particularly evident in stages, such as the desert stage, which, with its tan colour palette, felt uniformly monotonous. After a while, it all started to blend together.

Bing in Wonderland: Power-Up Edition is a fast-paced, 2D adventure title with tonnes of battles and action to keep you busy. It has an interesting sense of humour that surprised me on different occasions. The variety of boons and weapons made levelling up your character fun. Besides a few downsides, this title will be entertaining for fans of the genre.