Antonblast is a new Wario Land-like with a demo dropping today

Today’s Indie World Showcase announced Antonblast, a new 2D action platformer that looks to have been inspired by Wario Land.

As Dynamite Anton or Dynamite Annie, you’ll wield a hammer or mace as you barrel through all manner of stages to reclaim your spirit collection from the devil himself. Much like in Wario Land, Anton and Annie boast a dash attack to plow through enemies and obstacles, and completing a stage will require you to rush back through it in reverse before a timer runs out.

Developer Summitsphere, which ran a successful crowdfunding campaign for the game on Kickstarter in 2022, has cited Wario Land as one of its chief influences. However, with its zany pixel art visuals, fast-paced platforming, and copious amounts of destruction and explosions, it brings to mind not just Nintendo’s own series, but indie hit Pizza Tower as well.

With Nintendo not doing anything with the Wario Land series (the last entry came out in 2008), and Pizza Tower still locked to PC, Antonblast may be the perfect substitute for Nintendo Switch owners. Although it’s only described as a temproary exclusive, meaning it’ll likely come to both PlayStation and Xbox down the line. For the time being, Antonblast is scheduled for a November 12 launch on Switch and PC via Steam. There’ll also be a demo later today (in fact, it may already be available by the time you read this), so you can give it a try for yourself if you can’t wait another seven months.