Kero Blaster is a platforming video game developed by Studio Pixel, and was released for Microsoft Windows on May 11th 2014 as well as April 27, 2015 for iOS. Kero Blaster follows the frog work of a business-suited frog as he tries to make his way through office buildings and cubicles to reach his teleporter home. The game has only one playable character, the Kero Blaster himself.
The game’s backdrop is presented as an 8-bit environment; however, the sprites are shown to be three-dimensional models with depth, unlike games that use 2D sprites in a 3D world. Kero Blaster takes inspiration from Mega Man and early Shigeru Miyamoto games. Kero Blaster features the ability to jump on enemies and dodge enemy attacks shortly before landing back onto the ground, which is a common mechanic in many of these early games, such as Super Mario Bros. Kero Blaster also has mid-air dashes that can be used after jumping and touching certain white bells. Kero Blaster’s weapons consist of the Kero Blaster, which is his default weapon and shoots bubbles, and the Frog Gun which fires bullets in six directions. Kero Blaster can also acquire special weapons from enemies by jumping on them.
Studio Pixel began Kero Blaster as an April Fool’s joke for 2013 titled Kero Kero Keroppi no Daibouken Kogane no Kagi to Fushigi no Dungeon (which translates to Kero Kero Keroppi’s Adventure Golden Key and the Mysterious Dungeon), a spoof of Kero Kero Keroppi no Bouken: Mahou no Kagami. The following year, Studio Pixel decided to expand on the joke and turn Kero Kero Keroppi no Daibouken Kogane no Kagi to Fushigi no Dungeon into a real game, Kero Blaster, which was released on May 11th 2014.
