Doodle World Review – An Enjoyable Little Kids Platformer for the Evercade From Indie Heroes Collection 1!

With 2D Platformers being a very popular genre, it’s difficult for games of that type to stand out and find an audience. Yet, Doodle World has a charming character about it that makes it rather enjoyable. Especially for kids!

The reason I say it is charming is because the graphic style of it is fun! You play as Doodle, who is this little guy who walks across sheets of lined paper that looks like a kid’s coloring page. You are trying to retrieve a magical crayon that was stolen by King Eraser. Along the way you’re able to run and jump, just as is typical in many platformers on the NES.

Although there is some clear influence from Super Mario Bros in the game’s control scheme, it’s unfortunate that Doodle World doesn’t share much use of power ups. There’s only one in the game: a flashing crayon that makes Doodle invincible for a few seconds. Beyond that, the common bonus items you acquire are crayons that are found throughout the levels. After acquiring 100 of them are awarded an extra life. The crayons are extremely plentiful, especially on the bonus areas. These are accessible by touching small notepads that are located in most stages.

Graphics

Turning back to the graphics, I think this is a nice little looking game. Although not due to any technical reasons. Rather, I enjoy the art style and the different enemies you face. They are based on office supplies. Some examples include push pins, scissors that walk around, and rulers.

The game is made-up of about five areas, such as a forest or desert. Each of these are charming looking with the doodling appearance that I described earlier. I also like that there’s little cinemas similar to Kirby’s Adventure before each area, which is a nice touch.

Control and Hit Detection

In regard to enemies, each of them have a predetermined movement pattern which you can exploit to defeat them. Unfortunately, while the game’s control is fine, the hit detection is a bit suspect. This is particularly the case with the walking scissors. About a third of the time, I would jump on them to defeat them, but I would die in the process. At least I could take solace in defeating the enemy when I did this (both of you die at about the same time). Oddly enough, it almost makes sense when I see it happen, but it isn’t consistent enough to learn how to avoid it. Nor do I know exactly what is happening that causes it.

On a related note, I found a glitch that would cause me to die repeatedly at the third boss. There’s a way to be killed by him that causes you to reappear on the same screen and die repeatedly with no way to avoid it. All you can do is watch helplessly as all your lives go down and the dreaded “Game Over” appears. It happened to me at least 3 times.

Both the problematic hit detection and the unavoidable deaths with the third boss are the worst things about the game.

Game Difficulty

For some reason, prior to me playing Doodle World, reviews often said that it was a decent platformer, but it was way too easy. I don’t agree with this latter option. I consider the title to be of a moderate challenge in at least two places. The first is at a place that I have already alluded to, that being the third boss. It’s one of the two hardest parts in the game. Of course, the last boss also provides a decent challenge, but that is to be expected. Yet, other bosses in the game are pushovers! So, gameplay balance isn’t great when fighting bosses.

On the other hand, level design does get more difficult as you progress. While the first area has few pits and easier enemies, the game becomes more complicated as you progress. It never becomes irritatingly difficult either, at least for regular stages.

One neat feature that people don’t typically mention is that there is a Kids Mode. I thought it was rather well done! In the three areas I played on it, I noticed that there were lot fewer pits to fall in, there was only one type of enemy (easiest one), and bosses took only 2 hits to defeat. This was especially appreciated in the case of the third boss.

Music and Sound Effects

Outside of the game’s art design, also enjoyed the music. The piece that plays during the bonus screens is particularly peppy and fun, and it made me want to run around fast and pick up the crayons for extra lives. Sound effects were just there, but they were effective.

Conclusion

Considering Doodle World as a whole, I really enjoyed the art design and music. The gameplay was fine, even if the hit detection and difficulty balance was a bit off. I think one reason those aspects didn’t completely frustrate me is because I played this on the Evercade and I was able to use save states at the difficult parts. I don’t know if the game has continues. If it doesn’t, then that would be frustrating. Again, I’m glad that the title has a Kids Mode so that younger gamers would have an easier time playing the game. I think it’s a good game!

Note: While this game is on Indie Heroes Collection 1, a “redrawn” version of it is available on Indie Heroes Collection 3. Steam also has both games available in one package. As I reported on before, Indie Heroes Collection 1 is going legacy in December, 2025, so it probably won’t be easy to buy soon.

Title: Doodle World
Genre: Side-scrolling Platformer
Year Released: 2020
Developer: Nate Peters
Available On: NES, Steam, and Evercade on Indie Heroes Collection 1
Price Paid: $1.14, or $16.00 for Indie Heroes Collection 1

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.