First play through was great! Everything feels and sounds really good! I started and played right through to the finish and didn't expect what was at the end at all! The only gripe I have is the boss battles seem a little easy but other than that it feels great!

It's a masterpiece created with pico-8.
I had so much fun, while playing and forgot all my problems.
The secound level is challenging and takes a little more time, because there a so less checkpoints, but I really like that.
I don't finish the game yet, but will try it tomorrow again.

Great game, thanks!

This is really fantastic!

This is a very well thought out game. Great job. I have completed the first mission so far. Forgot what the code was for the second though...

Pretty neat little metroidvania-ish game. A few thoughts:
Pros:

• Interesting use of rectangular half-screen rooms to fit more in.
• Minimap was nice.
• Nice sprites and textures.
• Good use of particles.
• Music, while simple and maybe a little repetitive, never got annoying.

Cons:

• Enemy balancing issues
  • Skeletons (especially the red and white ones) were WAY more of a struggle than any other enemy. There didn't seem to be a good way to deal with them besides spamming jump and attack before they got to you and hoping it hit. They never really give you a window of attack.
  • The bosses, meanwhile, could be easily dispatched by standing in place and spamming the attack button since they orbit around you. This is less of a problem in challenge mode when they can withstand one hit.
• A lot of similar-feeling rooms. ("Oh look, it's almost identical platform tower #7" or "Haven't I been on this broken lava bridge with jellyfish before?") Some more varied room layouts would be more interesting and make them feel more distinct.
• While this seemed to be going for a Metroidvania type of gameplay, the first level didn't really seem to have many/any places where you could revisit an earlier area and do something you couldn't before now that you had a new ability. Once you'd been through an area you were completely done with it (unless it had a locked door). The challenge level does a lot more interesting stuff with this.
• Aerial shooting is kinda finicky due to how quickly your character falls.
• The abilities were rather predictable (This is minor, they still worked fine they just didn't bring anything original to the table.)

Even with those issues, it was overall still quite nice!

Lovely game!

I do agree a bit with Josiv's comments regarding balance.

Also seems double-jump almost always useful and the fire blast (sorry may have the wrong name) rarely is useful.

Secrets would be a hoot too, adding another layer.

Really sweet game!

Played it through right away and everything felt just right, and so well put together; especially the level layout. A little marvel!

I was moving to the left in a boss fight and somehow got moved into and stuck in a room with bricks that spells out "NIL" (next to the boss in the lower-left) and there was no way to exit or progress. Having a function to respawn at the last checkpoint would have really been appreciated. I had to restart in the PICO-8 and that lost all my progress.

Great little game and a good advert for what Pico-8 is capable of!

Great game, masterpiece for sure! Congrats Mash!

Cool game; really clever ways to save map space on the cart. I actually like the reused screens; reminds me very heavily of the original Metroid, which also used similar tricks to save memory.

Awesome! Reminds me of Gargoyles, which I loved as a kid. Very good soundtrack!

Nice game, but the jumping mechanics kill it for me.

Don't take this the wrong way.
Dragon adventure is a great game.
Look, I don't want to ruin it for anyone.
Don't think you're doing well the first time you play.
Real challenge can be found if you know where to look.

I loved this game, thank you :-)

Epic little adventure game! Great job

Code for challenge map:

down down left down right

The skeletons aren't bad, actually. Because they dodge your bullets, just shoot a little bit before they reach you, and they'll jump right over you! Provided the ceiling is high enough, of course.
The jellyfish, however... I could do without the jellyfish. I either have to have uncanny aim/timing with my fireballs, or I have to wait until they're almost at the bottom before jumping.
Other than that, challenge mode was really cool! The map was so full -- there was so much more to explore!

It was hard, but i beat challenge mode. Awesome P8 game!()

Great game! Even if it's is a couple of years old I feel like leaving a comment:D

Pacifism seemed to well for everything but the bosses. Figured out pretty quickly that double jumping over skeletons and everything and running away worked 99% of the time. Not necessarily a design flaw, just wanted to say how I played it. This along with the checkpoints and extra hearts made the game very laid-back for me.

Not much else to say that hasn't been said already: Love the minimap, nice environments, some areas and enemies got repetitive, cool particle effects.

I have now finished a metroidvania! Thank you for providing the experience.

The level of difficulty (items puzzle and fights) is right for low-pressure gaming (with a gamepad). Jumping and firing often didn’t do what I wanted, but I found out that charging + jump and release worked to get the turtles one tile higher than me, so good enough. The bosses could have been harder to defeat. The thing we get at the end is really nice.

٭ and will recommend to friends.

That was a load of fun. Great game : )

Got to the last room, but the glowy thing at the top just sits there and nothing happens. Looks like one of the creatures I was supposed to kill went off the map.

This was a lot of fun and super inspiring!

I beat the game, completely forgot to write down the challenge mode code ;(

Me first playing:
Oh, this is cool!
Hey, this kinda looks like a Metroid demake!
Wait a minute.
(jokes aside, pretty good!)

Nice game, YOU WIN !

Having trouble with the jumping skeletons ?

You earned my Gold Star, @Mush. Well done.

nice game. challenge mode took me twice as long to beat then normal mode. pretty good challenge.

challenge mode code:

Nice work! Once I learn how to code with PICO-8, I plan to make a game that is very similar to this. It will have a more compact and tightly optimized map, and there will be more power-ups to get. It will likely have a similar mini-map and half-size screen as well.

pretty dang good

i love it and the secret mode is so cool i wish there was a full version
kinda

Me parece un juego muy bueno, pero sobre todo el modo secreto:D

A solid-as-hell metroidvania that I somehow missed until today? Always a fan of your games. With pico8 games, I always wish there was more when I reach the end... and this game does have more. I really appreciate u going the extra mile here. Thank u!

Very fun. I gotta say, the dragon is cute.

YES I cleared the game twice :D

Really enjoyed this game. Played the first board a few years ago and returned to it this week (now on my Mini Miyoo+). Beat both board this time. Thanks so much for a nice little game with a cute little dragon.