I was sick this weekend, with a cough, scratchy throat, and fuzzy head. I don't really enjoy 'big' 3D games when I'm feeling like that, but I felt like playing something, so I wiped the dust off my little-used 3DS and downloaded BOXBOY! for $5. It's the first game in one of those series that, with each release, has gotten a small amount of buzz from critics I trust, and a simple puzzle platformer seemed like a good fit for how I was feeling.

In less than 24 hours I'd beaten the game (though I haven't done all the extra worlds yet) and downloaded the two sequels. BOXBOY! is, simply put, a perfect puzzle platformer. Its ambitions are small but it executes on them to perfection, which makes for the gaming equivalent of your favorite childhood meal. Nothing's surprising but everything's delicious.

BOXBOY! has a beautiful, clean, whimsical aesthetic that shows, once again, that great games don't need to be detailed or "advanced" to be beautiful. Graphically it looks like it could almost have been on the original Gameboy from the 1980s (though the lack of screen resolution would interfere with some of the puzzles) and it makes no use of the 3DS' 3D function or other bells and whistles. However, what it lacks in color and complexity it make up in expressive, endearing, characters, and clean gameplay oriented visuals. The various switches, lasers, and conveyor belts in BOXBOY! all stand out as clean black and white line drawings, and their simplicity makes them easy to spot and understand.

BOXBOY!'s music is also simple but delightful. I wouldn't call the tunes particularly memorable, but they're pleasant enough, and they fit the pared down aesthetic perfectly.

The gameplay is, of course, where BOXBOY! shines. The premise is simple: you are an anthropomorphic box who can run, jump, spawn additional boxes like Tetris pieces from your body, and throw or detach from those pieces. With these simple actions BOXBOY! presents about 150 levels and manages to avoid wearing out its welcome by providing variations in the level mechanics, with each of the 22 worlds offering 6-8 levels built around a single theme, like lasers you need to protect yourself from, or magnets that you can stick yourself or the Tetris pieces you make to. Each level provides about 4-6 challenges, with collectible crowns to pick up if you can reach them using a limited number of created boxes, and then you're on to the next world and next mechanic. There are a few short cut-scenes and some items you can buy at the shop (including a few costumes that alter gameplay by, for example, letting you move faster or jump higher. The costumes are also pretty cute.)

And that's it. As I said, this game could plausibly have come out in the 1980s, except that something this polished and carerfully put together was extremely rare in that era. It's as if Nintendo has simultaneously been pursuing the latest and greatest 3D game design AND having a small group of designers continue using the same design tools from 30 years ago, and now they have mastered to those tools to the point where they can produce a game like this with classic design but none of the rough edges or design dead ends that come from designers learning new tech, or compensating for the limitations of slow processor speeds and tiny memory allotments.

Of course BOXBOY! is not the only series that feels like this. Pushmo is another series that does basically the same thing, of providing a new twist on an old design space. Rather than being stuck in the Gameboy era it feels more like an N64 era game, but it is equally polished and fun.

Both Pushmo and BOXBOY! have that special Nintendo polish. Other developers may make more technically impressive or innovative games, but nobody can create a package that so perfectly accomplishes what it sets out to do (though Nintendo obviously also has their share of misfires.) In a way it creates its own sense of immersion where, rather than getting lost in a huge detailed world, you're able to get lost in a tiny world that's perfectly internally consistent and where if you think you can do something you almost certainly can, because the rules are perfectly defined and articulated.

I can't think of a $5 game I liked as much as BOXBOY! and, honestly, I would have happily paid $15 or $20 for it. There are certainly plenty of games I've bought at those price points and had less fun with. A depressing number, actually.

The launch of the Switch has set me on a Nintendo kick for the last 6 weeks or so, and in many ways it has felt like coming home. I grew up with the NES and SNES, and BOXBOY! both plays to that nostalgia and provides a game that's up to modern standards and has all kinds of niceties like frequent checkpoints and a comprehensive hint system.

I hope that BOXBOY! and Pushmo come to the Switch (since I prefer playing on a bigger screen) but even moreso I hope that Nintendo keeps quietly producing these little downloadable gems. I may have been sick this weekend but BOXBOY! made sure I was far from miserable, and what's more Nintendo than a game you can sink into while sick, forgetting your ragged cough and painful swallowing to focus on the simple adventures of a little square protagonist in a world of perfect puzzles? Nintendo was there for me when I was sick in 1987, and 30 years later it's still there for me.

There's a reason people have such loyalty to this company.