Indie Quickies #1: Super 56 & Sunshine Heavy Industries
In this inaugural edition: a madcap minigame collection and a relaxing spaceship builder!
In the grand tradition of starting new things and maybe continuing them in the future, Indie Quickies is a new semi-frequent series that will cover some of the smaller, bite-sized games that I end up playing between larger titles. I recently reviewed Dredge, Dave the Diver, and Cassette Beasts, but those games were anywhere from 10 to 30+ hours long. There was also my roundup of "survivor-likes" that, while not exhaustive, was a bit too long for its own good. This series will cover independent games that can be picked up and played in short sittings, in a format that will be equally quick (as the name implies).
This first installment features Super 56 and Sunshine Heavy Industries, two charming titles with a lot of heart and humor. Read on to see if they're right for you!
Super 56
Released October 11, 2023
Price: $6.99
This is a quirky, fast-paced minigame collection that primarily takes inspiration from the WarioWare series. Players are met with an onslaught of zany tasks ranging from old-school arcade staples like shooting apples off of statues' heads and driving a race car through checkpoints to levels that showcase the developer's wide range of influences: Street Fighter, Animal Crossing, Doom, and more. Each game can last anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute, so "minigame" is definitely the correct term to use, at least compared to WarioWare's lightning-fast "microgames". There are a few longer ones that overstay their welcome as well as some fairly significant difficulty spikes, but I suppose the latter point is both par for the course and mitigated later on by an unlockable "skip" function (more on this later).
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| Even the simpler games are fun to look at. |
On top of all this, Super 56 has one additional trick up its sleeve: the various minigames are only controlled with a single button, so players are either pressing, tapping, mashing, or holding down the A button (or its equivalent on your non-Xbox styled controller of choice). There's still the familiar WarioWare challenge of figuring out what exactly you're meant to do in any particular minigame, and there are some that will take most players a few tries to figure out. Thankfully, Super 56 has a few unlockable accessibility options, including a hint guide that can be purchased on a per-page basis and equipable gems that start players with more lives, decrease the number of speed-ups, enable the ability to skip certain games, etc.
Super 56 is also a genuinely funny game with an entertaining and endearing cast of characters. There is a light frame narrative about you visiting Hell through a cultural exchange program and helping a pair of goofy monsters beat a new game, which predictably turns out to be called Super 56. Players can dress up their avatar with ridiculous unlockable costumes from the various minigames, and there are even customizable catchphrases that can be displayed on the worldwide leaderboards.
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| As someone from New Jersey, I found this one particularly stressful. |
Finally, while the game did release in October, the developer is continuing to release content updates and zany new features, like the option to control the game with a microphone. They're also super responsive to feedback. I made a post on the game's Steam forum requesting a fast-forward/skip feature for the post-game points and XP screen, and not only did one of the developers respond within 24 hours; the feature was implemented in the next beta build three days later. Now, this shouldn't be the expectation for any developer, nor is this an invitation for anyone to pester their favorite devs with demands. I was just impressed with Onion Soup's communication (in addition to being impressed with their latest game), and I'm looking forward to future updates!
Sunshine Heavy Industries
Have you ever wanted to get rich by building spaceships? Probably not, but nonetheless, Sunshine Heavy Industries is a delightful little puzzle game that has players fulfilling contracts for a variety of freight haulers, fighters, and colony ships. Clients typically request a certain amount of engine power, cargo capacity, firepower, etc., and the builder is free to arrange any parts at their disposal so long as the various components do not conflict and have their basic requirements met.
For example, engines must be adjacent to a heat sink and a fuel pump, but there's nothing stopping you from sandwiching the cheapest and smallest version of these two components between two engines. Certain add-ons such as radar and weapons systems require generator power, but they only need to be in a certain proximity in order to receive power. Thus, the game becomes more about optimization than aesthetics. There's no score or bonus for designing an attractive ship—just cold, hard cash for meeting specifications—so players are encouraged to accomplish as much as possible with as little as possible in order to maximize profits. And with a steady stream of new parts, each with their own considerations, Super Heavy Industries keeps the admittedly straightforward gameplay loop fresh with each new contract.
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| Very few of my creations looked as clean as this early ship. |
As with Super 56, I found Sunshine Heavy Industries to be a charming experience filled with cheeky, clever dialogue. None of the story or characters are absolutely essential to one's enjoyment of the game, but when paired with the pixel graphics and chiptune soundtrack, they give Sunshine Heavy Industries a strong sense of identity, so much so that the developers' new game, the roguelite deckbuilder Cobalt Core, continues the aesthetic direction of its predecessor despite the shift in genre.
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| I probably wasn't much help. |
I have a few minor critiques here and there, such as the lack of a windowed mode and official controller support (Steam Input can be used to create controller mappings, but it's awkward). There is also no way to revisit old ships and further optimize them outside of one or two contracts from repeat clients. Even a ship viewer would be nice, since there is definitely evidence that the game saves your previous builds (you can see the silhouettes of each ship flying by in the background). The included gif export feature is a nice way to immortalize your creations, but these animations are saved outside of the game. I'd prefer a hangar or gallery mode accessible from the main menu.
Gripes aside, I'm having a lot of fun with this one! It's a very comfy game that scratches a specific creative and organizational itch.
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| Don't ask why the stabilizer fin is on the front. I couldn't tell you. |
That's a wrap for this inaugural edition of Indie Quickies. Stay tuned for more bite-sized games and reviews!