Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo expertly melds classic gameplay and visuals with modern magic.
Pipistrello is a game that we at SideQuesting were super excited for a year ago at PAX East, and one of the few unanimous agreements as one of our favorites of the show. It gave us a taste of nostalgia with some interesting new ideas meshed together with classic ones, and we’ve been looking forward to it since.
The project, which aesthetically and gameplay-wise feels like a late era Gameboy Advance game, is a sort of combination of Zelda and StarTropics, not just because of the yo-yo but also thematically. It has some of that treking, adventuring soul that makes adventure RPGs like those so delightful (and, well, I love me some StarTropics). I’m not quite sure what full genre you’d put Pipistrello into; it’s a top-down 2D action puzzle platformer, with some lite Metroidvania elements but not a ton of backtracking. The game uses forward momentum to keep us going, so we will naturally get a key that we can use to go back into a hall and unlock a door.
In Pipistrello we play as a little smartass bat that goes back to town to visit his family. His grandma is a big deal here; everyone knows her and the family, but not everyone is happy to know them, including the main villains in the game. Through some circumstances bad things happen and grandma gets posessed into the yo-yo, which becomes our ultimate tool for everything.
The bulk of our combat and special abilities are yo-yo based moves. We can attack and do multi-hits. We can cross areas of water by using the classic “walk the dog” trick. We have a cool ranged ability that lets us throw the yo-yo off leash to follow the angles and bounce around, hitting or picking up or activating things. It’s really satisfying, both in combat and mobility and puzzle-solving. It’s also a very parry-centric game where we have to press a button at the right time to send a projectile back at an attacker, but learning that is worth it to be able to engage in fights effectively.

The game has an interesting power up system that I haven’t really seen anyone really pull of in this way. We have an underground bunker with trap doors and secrets that allow us meet some of our grandma’s associates. They can give us upgrades, but there are caveats and sometimes negative impacts. Do we want this specific upgrade knowing that it will reduce our heart total? They may be valuable, but early in the game we may not want to because it’ll really put a strain on us. On top of that we have to pay these associates back, but not with the money we have on hand. Interestingly because they’re germophobes they don’t want to touch the money we’ve touched, so after they’ve given us an upgrade they take half of the money that we find until we reach their price. Eventually we can go back to them and they’ll remove the debuff. It’s a clever system that is risk reward, but we kind of have to do it especially if we’re woefully underpowered and need to make a big enough move.
The story is also really, really good. It’s goofy, and our character is very sassy, but by the time we get to the end the story has a terrific payoff. The game is always throwing something new at us, like a new way for a boss to attack or a new puzzle to take on or a new twist to the story. It never slows down, and keeps us smiling. It’s definitely trying to be a Gameboy Advance game, but it’s not limiting itself to being a Gameboy Advance game. It even includes some neat Gameboy Advance overlays that make the game look like it’s being played on a classic system.




Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo feels like what a great GBA game felt like, in all of the right ways, almost like it was made specifically for my gaming self. It’s on my short list for favorites of the year, and may very well end up being on more.
This Review is based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. It originally appeared on The SideQuest for June 13, 2025. Images and video courtesy publisher.
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