It took about one and a half stages before I realized all of the inspirations behind 2D platformer Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia. The Donkey Kong, Crash Bandicoot, Rayman, and even Sonic vibes are readily apparent, but the sights and sounds of Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia help it feel fresh and frenetic in spite of some questionable design choices. Its lengthy levels are filled with secrets and charm, and while it didn’t compel me to return for 100 percent completion, I still enjoyed my romp through its varied environments.

It’s entirely possible that, like me, you’ve never heard of Marsupilami before, which started as a Belgian comic book character in the 1950s, before spawning TV shows and a movie. A follow up to 2021’s Marsupilami: Hoobadventure, Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia puts you in control of three different Marsupilami creatures, each with their own special abilities, who have to set out to save the world of Palombia from the Mummy Queen and the cursed melody she has inflicted upon Palombia. The yellow Marsupilami can dive forward through the air and turn his tail into a helicopter to float slowly down to safety; the orange one can do a spin jump to gain extra height; and the purple one can turn into a ball to bounce off enemies or spiked pits. Each stage gives you only two of the three Marsupilami, but you can switch between the pair on the fly, making for some satisfying mid-air swaps and tricks.

The first area is a lush tropical island containing jungle stages filled with vines to swing from and gorgeous vistas to behold. If you so choose, you can sprint through the fairly long levels to reach the end as fast as possible, but the problem with such a strategy is that you won’t acquire enough of the fruits and music notes needed to unlock new stages and the area boss, respectively. Hence, I would consider Marsupilami 2 a collectathon given that you need to be thorough to be able to finish the main story. That said, the area bosses only require that you find 40 music notes, which is about one-third of the total number available per area. Fruits are plentiful, too, with more than 500 to collect in every level, and even more when you revisit a completed level to play its Samba-mode variation that maximizes your fruit harvest with a speed-based multiplier.

Extra secrets include a dojo hiding in every level that offers a unique challenge like collecting or smashing a set number of objects under a strict time limit, and a separate dojo area on the overworld map that houses tougher challenges to earn even more music notes. Co-op play lets two people each control one of the Marsupilamis simultaneously, and the wide-open levels are well designed for playing with a companion, as are the generous checkpoints and unlimited extra lives.

The normal difficulty is fine for the levels themselves, but the boss fights are a genuine slog on this setting. The first one is manageable with the three hearts that normal affords you, but the second boss is just frustrating, prompting me to throttle down to the easy setting so that I could progress through to more of the actual levels, which are a lot more fun on any difficulty. Being able to adjust from easy to normal to hard at any time allowed me to customize the experience, which is always a welcome feature, especially when you’re just returning to old levels to raise your fruit or music note counts.

There’s a great sense of speed and momentum to Marsupilami 2 that reminds me of the best of the Sonic games. Each Marsupilami can continually roll forward to pick up speed, break open crates, and uncover fruits hidden under grass or snow. In basically every level you’ll encounter birds that launch you from one section to the next a la Donkey Kong barrels, and the constant ticking up of your fruit total as you careen across the sky was incredibly gratifying. While the enemy variety is a bit lacking, the major areas all present a novel backdrop and obstacles, like the cars that serve as trampolines and the electrified trains of the city biome.

In motion, the Switch version can leave something to be desired, even when playing on a Switch 2 console. Due to the lower resolution and frame rate, zoomed-out and busier sequences can make it difficult to distinguish between your character and everything else on screen. It can also be harder to spot breakable floors and other secrets due to the lack of detail and refinement. The minute-to-minute gameplay isn’t majorly impacted, but those who prefer a more polished and aesthetically pleasing experience may want to check out Marsupilami 2 on a different platform.

All in all, Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia is a whimsical, high energy platformer that has loads of charm and a delightful soundtrack to boot. The jump in difficulty for the area bosses is a bit of a bummer, as are the forced collectathon elements, but the co-op and solo gameplay experiences are pretty solid. After having been away from the platformer genre for a little while, Marsupilami 2 certainly rekindled that passion in me, and I’m eager to show more of the game to my kids and even pick up the first game if I see it on sale. The Marsupilamis may look like skinny Chester Cheetahs with longer tails, but I’m glad I had a chance to jump and swing along to their world’s salsa beats and be reminded of all the great mascot platformers that have come before and now inspire a new generation of game makers.