“Demakes are retro-inspired reimaginings of modern games, as if they had been created on earlier hardware. Demakes are not necessarily created to run on older machines, but their design and behavior are constrained by the real or perceived constraints of vintage systems.”
- Bogost’s Hacks, Remakes & Demakes
This game was created using the NES platform on 8bitworkshop. Enjoy my Pokémon-themed demake of the modern classic Jetpack Joyride!
Click the game window to play & press Space to fly through the adventure.
Jetpack Joyride (2011) is a side-scrolling endless runner game made by Halfbrick Studios. The protagonist, Barry Steakfries, steals a jetpack from a top secret laboratory. He must collect coins and avoid various hazards while running away. It was very positively receptive and has over 750 million downloads on the App Store today. Barry is controlled with just one touch on the screen. When the user touches the screen, the jetpack is activated and Barry flies up towards the ceiling. When the user isn’t touching the screen, Barry falls down towards the ground then walks on the ground. In the original game, there are 2 main obstacles. One is zappers, which are randomly placed on the screen. Another obstacle is flying missiles. These also randomly appear and fly across the screen. If Barry collides with either of these hazards, he dies and falls to the ground. The main objective of the game is to collect as many coins as possible while running away. Coins randomly appear in differently shaped clusters across the screen. For scores, the original game keeps track of the meters Barry has traveled and the number of coins Barry has collected.