A lot of games are best suited to be enjoyed at night. From the theatre stages of Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door to the glittering nebulae of Starfox adventures, there’s something about having an evening sky out the window that makes these games click.
But night doesn’t suit all games. So what would the perfect morning game look like? Easy: let me introduce everyone to Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg. This game screams Saturday morning cartoon, not only in its storytelling but in its music, its childlike character design, and its colourful environments. Billy Hatcher is a third-person action-adventure by Team Sonic, all about a kid in a chicken suit, and, outside of a rare PC port, it never left the GameCube.
It’s hard to explain what you do in Billy Hatcher without sounding odd, but trust me, rolling giant eggs around and trampling over enemies is surprisingly brilliant. Your egg is both a weapon and a means of getting about. The more you roll the egg, the bigger it grows, and while it may sound like a recipe for awkward controls, the game makes you feel surprisingly agile. You can defy the laws of physics in Billy Hatcher, bouncing with your egg high in the air and navigating complex levels at speed. Like most cartoon platform games you travel through the desert and across ice floes, but having an egg along for the ride makes a real difference.
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