I think fairy tales have given us a slight mistrust of mirrors and reflections. Ever since Alice went through the looking glass, and the magic mirror in Snow White, we've wondered what could be lurking behind that shiny surface. Thankfully in real life, we don't have to worry about parallel universes existing behind our mirrors (as far as I know). But you can explore this idea in a mysterious dungeon with your mirror image in Ditto, an excellent puzzle platformer game from Nitrome. Use [WASD] or [arrow] keys to control the character, and hit [A] or [up arrow] a second time while in the air to glide. When there is a yellow wall or floor, watch for a copy of yourself to appear on the other side of it. The object is to get one of you to the doorway at the end of each level, collecting gems as you go. Green gems can only be collected by the white character, and black ones by your image. Avoid anything red (aside from your trusty cape), and beware of spikes and water, because If you or your copy die, you have to start the level over again.
Pay close attention to your and your reflection's surroundings as they both influence where you can go and what you can interact with. If you seem to be hitting an invisible wall you probably are, but your mirrored self is hitting a real one. Keep your eyes on both characters to see where you should jump to keep things moving. There are many different elements to the game that keep things interesting. Sometimes the level is about avoiding enemies, other times there's a platform maze to navigate, or air drafts to jump on. While this keeps things from ever getting boring, some of us are just not that good at wafting around an entire level avoiding spikes.
It's a pity that you can't immediately replay a level, as sometimes it was all I could do to get to the exit, let alone collect any gems. This can be frustrating especially if you realize too late that you missed a gem, or hit the exit before you're ready. And sadly if you die, all the gems you've collected on that level are taken from you, and respawn in their original positions. You can, however, hit [R] to reset the level at any time, and your game progress is saved automatically. Ditto is an imaginative game that is a fresh combination of classic platforming and puzzle platforming, one that really requires you to keep your wits about you. It's chock full of atmosphere and it's my favorite Nitrome game since Icebreakers.
Thanks for Jon and Donald for sending this one in!
This thing is ridiculously cute. Between her little animations, the "eep" she lets out as the gate crashes behind her, and the painful sound she makes when she dies (which in a very cool move seem to echo to a distance as she's teleported back to the start) make for just an enjoyable trip.
Cute but super laggy for me on Chrome. Ok on FF.
The name of the game
is especially appropriate considering the ending.
I second this being my new fave Nitrome game. I absolutely adore the audio! I might leave the game open just so I can fall asleep to it. :)
So it was Chrome causing the lag? Phew. Must play this game.
I haven't been seeing any lag in Chrome. It might just be the PC.
I AM a little surprised at the lack of a stage select. That is really rare for Nitrome. I missed two gems in one of the levels and there's no way to pick them up now. That earned a bit of a rage quit from me. Ah well.
I didn't have any problems with Chrome myself.
I suppose I can understand not wanting to break up the flow of the gameplay, but it would have been nice to be able to go back to individual levels after you win to pick up missed gems.
Only problem with the game I've had so far is that red devil that chases your ghost, managed to nab me near the beginning and I was stuck in a bit of a loop till I was able to figure out to hit R.
Dying, and not having the ghosts reset, was a bit of a pain.
I can't recall a more beautiful game that has encouraged me to ragequit so many times.
I think "ragequit" should be a tag :)
It's worth it for the ending, though, which is actually pretty darn amazing.
Is there some sort of special ending if you collect all of the gems? I'd try to do it myself, but I value my sanity.
Because of all your warnings, I was playing slowly and taking care to get all the gems. Then, on one of the "floating around" levels, I accidentally stepped on the exit door before getting all the gems and couldn't reset the level in time. Perhaps sanity is being forced upon me, Onjit.
I finally managed to collect all 130 gems, but it didn't affect the ending in any way, so don't try over and over again to get all gems if you don't want to do it for a higher score.
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