Sometimes, a brilliant idea simply exists before the means to put it into play has come into being. For example, Da Vinci has notebooks filled with unique concepts and inventions that simply couldn’t be created, and thus his “what ifs” remain a point of interest for many to this day. By the same degree, M.C. Kids could have been the most beloved platformer of its time had it been birthed onto a 32-bit system instead of being hamstrung by the limitations of the NES. Having now established the same level of importance between those two entities, we look at Leo’s Fortune, a brilliant mobile game from 2014 that has now landed onto the Nintendo Switch. This is not some remaster, remake or upgrade: this is almost equivocal to the HD Edition on Steam that’s been there for over a decade.

It makes a bit of sense, if only because this is a quintessential mobile title. You play Leo, a mustachioed green fuzzball who has apparently lost his Fortune, which was stolen by dishonorable people. Leo, having no arms, legs or obligations (besides a wife he leaves a very casual note for) heads out to get his cash back. Strewn across the land in the form of coins and some golden cogs, Leo has a sort of jump/float ability that’s propelled by nothing I can see, as well as the choice to suddenly drop like a rock to hit triggers and activate pulley puzzles, of which there are many in this foreign land. Don’t worry about baddies or boss fights: it’s just you, Leo and the race against the clock to see how quickly you can make it through 24 levels of surprisingly complex level design.

Get coin, don’t get impaled. Such simple instructions that I wish my father had told me.

Now, I think it’s important that players understand what they’re getting with Leo’s Fortune, though I can’t imagine many haven’t heard of this title in at least some capacity. You’ve got three trophies to achieve by playing each level: finishing, no deaths and time attack. Get all three and you feel a sense of accomplishment, and you also get some stars that, over time, will unlock a bonus stage that is purely ornamental. The first bonus stage, for example, is a speed circuit course where you try to see how many times you can go around the loop of a level that’s designed like an abandoned roller coaster track. Doing this makes you feel cool and that’s it. There’s no alternate ending or special bonus game that comes from completing all the trophies, and goodness knows the Switch long ago gave up on trying to have achievements.

I don’t want to poo poo what Leo’s Fortune is, though, because it really is quite a marvel. A simple concept that’s executed exceedingly well through design and visuals. You could take a look at the diverse worlds of forest, caverns, water, ice and more today and think the game was crafted within the last couple of years. In spite of it being something that originated for phones and tablets, Leo and his surroundings simply burst off the screen in a dramatic and honestly fantastic way. 

Leo has decided to inflitrate this castle in order to encourage a Dishonored crossover.

If I had to put a tone or a feel to it, I would say that it feels like an upgraded version of an animated movie from the 70s. It has the vibes of natural surrealism that you might find in The Hobbit or perhaps The Phantom Tollbooth, but done in a style that feels very practical: instead of being drawn, it’s like someone cut each blade of grass out of plastic, airbrushed it and arranged it just so to mimic lifelike while still being very much fake. It’s this sheen, this prestige to how it looks that probably captivated people for so many years. It doesn’t hurt that Leo himself looks like a grizzled Muppets cousin who assaulted one of the Fry Kids over a misunderstanding and now lives in seclusion to avoid arrest. Somehow, I mean that in a very positive way.

Moreover, the mechanics of the game are dirt simple but done to such delicate timing that it feels laser tight in precision. You have some wiggle room to get Leo to where he needs to be, and you will, over the course of your play, die quite a few times figuring things out. The art of the floating jump, the gravitational slam and knowing precisely when to inflate and deflate are essential if you have any cares whatsoever about nailing the time trophy. You can only get better with practice, and the bloodless deaths make for Leo’s untimely demise on spikes, pits or other hazards to be merely inconvenient instead of traumatic. The reload is almost instantaneously, and you’ll never respawn in a position where you’ll immediately die again. The game is tough, but fair.

Yes, I look ridiculous, but I’m getting an elaborate pachinko machine to open doors, dammit.

Frankly, Leo’s Fortune is a marvel that should have been on the Switch back at launch. While perhaps the developers didn’t see the opportunity then, the game was still very well known back in 2017, and having a mobile title that made more of an impact with buttons than not would have been quite a windfall for Qubic Games. The controls, which were fine for a touchscreen situation, make for even more accurate reflex play with buttons and a joystick, something that Playstation and XBox players have known for quite a while now. You really get a strong feel for response time when you are compressing a button instead of mashing your finger against a flat, glass surface. It’s a joy to perform, and it easily trumps the mobile phone play style.

My only complaint is the soundscape of Leo’s Fortune. The music is fine: it’s whimsical, adventurous, has a bit of a tonal shift between biomes and areas but isn’t something that particularly sticks with me. Instead, I oddly take umbrage with Leo’s voicework. His exposition during the opening and occasional injection between stages is fine: I could have easily just read his tale, but giving him a bit of a spoken part is fun enough. But it continues, at very irregular intervals, throughout the game itself. He’ll just announce things and random quips as you run along, and it feels entirely forced and pointless. He’s a cute and memorable enough dude as it is, you don’t need to have him sounding like a soundbite from a Dos Equis commercial while he bounces around and solves puzzles.

And now I ride a train! Stay fluffy, my friends!

Lastly, don’t get too attached to Leo’s Fortune. As dramatically wonderful as the visuals are and as great as the gameplay is, it’s tragically short. 24 stages and a warm and fuzzy ending about the true treasures of the world can all be enjoyed in less than three hours, probably under two if you aren’t deadset of replaying to get better times and more stars. Once it’s done, I really enjoyed it and I praise it, but I have no desire to jump back into it. The stages will not be different. My approach might be faster but still the same. Places where wind vents lift me, cogs grind out tricky patches or hard-to-reach coins will all be exactly where they were. It’s a joyous distraction, but not something that I will be immediately restarting to experience again. I was happy, and now I’m done.

So here’s to you, Leo, and to Leo’s Fortune. The game may be older than my children, but it found purpose in coming back to the public eye a decade after release, and now floated its way onto the Switch in the long shadows of the console’s twilight. If you’re remotely curious, the price is right and the Switch is where it should be played, giving players an opportunity to enjoy the mobile aspect but with full console support. You’ll have a good time, even if not a long time, and who knows? Maybe you’re more open than I to redoing the same thing again. In that case, long may you run, and long may Leo float.

Leo’s Fortune is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC, Switch and mobile.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Leo’s Fortune was provided by the publisher.