On December 3rd 2024, indie game developer Tony Grayson and his studio, SummitSphere, released their widely anticipated game AntonBlast- a fast paced platformer game.

Through their many years as a game development studio, SummitSphere had their own series of games featuring a character that is essentially their Super Mario; Dynamite Anton, a red skinned hot headed exterminator. Anton was featured in many short games created by the studio for challenges known as “Gamejams” where developers had three days or twenty four hours to create a game from scratch, eventually leading up to the studio’s full fledged release of AntonBall Deluxe. This was a fleshed out version of a short game that the studio made which gained a ton of popularity.

Anton and the cast of his games gained a ton of popularity and praise amongst gamers, due to the off the walls and zany nature of the game’s universe, as well as humour that was akin to early Adult Swim cartoons and shows from Cartoon Network. With their newfound support, the team released a Kickstarter campaign for a full fledged story based platforming game starring Anton called AntonBlast, the game was funded in under 72 hours of being announced, allowing the team to create an extended version of the game featuring more story content and a side mode where you can play as Anton’s coworker, Annie throughout the whole game, akin to how you would unlock Luigi at the end of some Mario games.

For around 2 years, the team gave insight into the creation of the game while sharing teasers and demos, as well as releasing digital artbooks for Kickstarter supporters revealing the design process of the characters and levels. There were a few changes made to the story, including the introduction of new characters and changing Anton from being an exterminator that worked in the sewers to a demolitionist to fit the game’s explosive chaotic nature, as well as changing the artstyle of the world to look more cartoony and stylized, resulting in the characters having sharp outlines and overexaggerated expressions.

Eventually, after two years of waiting since the Kickstarter campaign in 2022, the team announced in a video displaying the opening cutscene that the game would be releasing on Steam on December 3rd 2024, with a port to the Nintendo Switch coming soon after. The game became a top seller on the store due to its affordability and popularity.

AntonBlast as a story is pretty simplistic, but hugely entertaining and comedic as well. The game begins with a cutscene, where the main antagonist of the game- the devil himself- asks his magic mirror if he is the reddest being in the world (Despite his overall purple color palette). In true Snow White fashion, the mirror reveals that there is a being redder than Satan himself. Although he’s doubtful that there was a human being that shined more crimson than he did, the mirror reveals the being who is most redder than him is none other than Dynamite Anton, his arch nemesis. Enraged, Satan orders his army of moles (yes, the rodents) to find out what Anton loved most and to take it from him in order to provoke him, so he could “siphon his delightfully rosy tone” and become “the reddest being of and/or in the planet”.

The cutscene transitions to our two main protagonists, Anton and Annie napping, when out of nowhere, Satan’s army of moles break in and steal Anton’s collection of booze, much to Anton’s shock and dismay, literally leaving his jaw on the floor when the moles disappear in a flash. He initially thinks the incident is Annie’s fault, but after she “admits” to it while half asleep, he senses something sinister is afoot. Grabbing his hat and mighty hammer while declaring in sheer anger that he’ll find out who stole his booze and “blast them to teeny tiny pieces” in his own words.

Yes, the plot is ridiculous. You play as a demolition man powered by nothing but pure rage on a mission to beat up the devil for stealing his alcohol. But this is where Antonblast shines. The voice cast brings a whole new aura and comedic tone to this game, taking inspiration from Adult Swim shows like Beavus and Butthead as well as Cartoon Network shows like Cow And Chicken. One particular stand out within this game is the delightful performances of the two voice actors of the protagonist and antagonist of this game. Satan is voiced by Toronto based voice actor, Gianni Matragrano. Matragrano brings a whole new energy he has never explored in any of his other more serious performances.  He gives the crimson ruler of the underworld a flamboyant tone, his voice oozing with jealousy and egotistical nature. On the other hand, the main character, Anton is voiced by the creator and main developer of the game, Tony Grayson. Grayson’s performance as Anton takes a lot of inspiration both from Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam and well known character from the Super Mario franchise Wario, mainly with his over the top intense voice while screaming, instead switching out the western accent associated with the character with a New York accent.

It’s not supposed to be subtle that almost all of Antonblast’s gameplay and mechanics was inspired by games from the Super Mario franchise. Grayson was very open about the main inspirations behind the game like Canadian based run and gunner Cuphead. But one clear inspiration of the game was the Wario World game trilogy on the Gameboy Advanced. The game revolves around the round specimen of a plumber charging through levels and enemies at a fast pace to steal a treasure. The game also pays tribute to the main inspirations behind it throughout the game, such as certain bosses being references to cartoons by animator Chuck Jones, famous for working on the Looney Tunes franchise, as well as copying the various 8-bit styles of both the original Gameboy and Virtual Boy consoles by Nintendo.

The game follows the exact same formula as the Wario World games but expands upon it with new mechanics involving Anton’s moveset. By pressing the charge button, Anton is able to do a “clutch”, which allows the player to boost forward, by repeatedly pressing the charge button in a steady pattern. Through following the timing of the boost meter on the bottom right corner of the screen, the player is able to chain boosts together into a combo. By pressing the charge button after jumping, Anton is able to do a hammer vault, a boosted jump that allows him to travel into higher spaces that may be hiding collectibles. Although the controls may be confusing at first to new players, they flow amazingly with the level design focused both on speed as well as verticality, as the players progress through this hilarious, bombastic and wonderful game.

AntonBlast is an absolute gem of an indie game, shedding light on the pure passion and drive that indie developers such as SummitSphere have towards creating amazing experiences for both players as well as inspiring any future developers looking to create their own.

AntonBlast is currently available on both Steam and Nintendo Switch for $25.99 CAD, consider trying out the game to support the amazing team behind it and their labour filled journey towards creating this amazing gaming experience.