The legendary Nintendo handheld console, which launched more than 25 years ago, continues to receive new games today despite being discontinued since 2003. Last year, McDonald’s released a Game Boy Color game to celebrate the anniversary of one of its mascots, featuring it as the main character. This time, the sports brand giant decided to follow the same strategy to promote the launch of the Air Jordan 11 sneakers, which explains why the game is titled ajXI Cosmic Climb. It was developed by the creative studio Krool Toys, the same team behind the Grimace’s Birthday game for McDonald’s campaign.
How to play ajXI Cosmic Climb on an original console?
While the original idea was to play it via a website, the gaming community once again came to the rescue by uploading the ROM online for anyone to download and try it on their original console using a flashcard or through emulation on compatible devices.
The “game” itself is extremely basic. Players can choose between two characters whose only difference is their appearance, and the goal is to climb to the very top of each level. You can jump and throw basketballs at enemies. The game has no point counter, and you can’t die, regardless of how many times you bump into the robots. There are only two very short levels with highly simplistic backgrounds and three types of equally basic enemies. As an “extra,” you can collect letters to complete the phrase “jump man.” Doing so unlocks the time trial mode when you finish the game, which removes all enemies and adds a timer to focus on completing it as quickly as possible.
It’s clear that this is more of a marketing campaign than an actual game release, as the gameplay factor is extremely limited. In this regard, it is a step back compared to its predecessor. Even though it was very simple, the previous release offered more gameplay elements, a greater number of levels, significantly better graphics, more (and well-executed) cutscenes, a wider variety of enemies, and more game modes overall. No one expects these titles to be more than mere curiosities, but even so, there are better and worse results.
