Guacamelee!

Guacamelee! takes the classic metroidvania structure and dresses it in Mexican folklore, luchador masks, and colors that practically glow off Vita's screen. The hero is farmer Juan Aguacate, who, after dying at the hands of a skeletal villain, receives a magical mask and transforms into a wrestler. The goal is to rescue the mayor's kidnapped daughter and prevent the realm of the dead from merging with the world of the living. The script doesn't take itself seriously at all, pouring out references to other games and internet culture, and regularly reaches for downright loose humor between fights.

The core system combines a brawler with a platformer. Juan learns special strikes that serve simultaneously as weapons and as keys: each has its own color and only breaks blocks of the matching hue. As the game progresses, combat and movement merge together, since enemies are protected by colored shields and the platforming sections demand chaining double jumps, dashes, and mid-air strikes. Add the ability to switch between the world of the living and the dead, where platforms appear and disappear, plus a transformation into a rooster for squeezing through narrow gaps, and you get one of the most demanding acrobatic games of its generation. The optional final sections rank among the toughest the genre offers.

The Vita version launched simultaneously with the PlayStation 3 release and was offered bundled together, which wasn't a given at the time. The vector-based graphics get along well with the smaller screen, and the game runs smoothly even in the busiest bursts of color. The music blends Latin American motifs with electronica and manages to be as danceable as it is dramatic. Critics mainly praised the precision of the controls and the inventive visual identity, and the title quickly became one of the most frequently recommended indie picks on Sony's handheld console. A later expanded edition added new areas and abilities. Even today it's an exceptionally slick game that works exactly as well in short sessions as a portable console demands.