With my continued frustration with most of the games industries bigger players in full effect, I’ve been turning increasingly to indie developers and smaller but beautifully formed games to get my enjoyment. Cash Cow DX is a wonderful nod to the current gaming trends but is a glorious throwback to the 80s coin-op arcade games of Pacman and Donkey Kong. It is a joy to play and doesn’t skimp on the difficulty curve either.
Cash Cow DX sees you dropped into five levels where every flat surface is lined with moooney (jewels) for you to collect. It is your job to run and jump through these 5 or 6 screen long levels and collect absolutely every single one of them to then advance to the next level. In many ways its a 2D platforming Pacman because there are various enemies running backwards and forth, following you around and bouncing between platform edges to try and catch you out. There are also spikes and water to contend with and each level has its own unique additional challenge to deal with. It doesn’t sound revolutionary – and it isn’t – but my goodness its a whole lot of fun to play.
There are a few things that makes Cash Cow DX a delight and a challenge to play. Firstly, your cow is easy to control and fast – especially when you unlock the turbo character. That speed can trip you up though as enemies are running around at speed too, and the harder the difficulty, the faster they run. On hard mode they match your speed and since hard mode also adds additional level design challenges to deal with, you’ll have to really out platform and whit your enemies to keep away from them. This is made both easier and harder by the fact you can screen wrap from bottom to top and the ends of each level have a pipe that loops you sideways too. This gives both you and the enemies dexterity and you have to look everywhere on the screen to make sure an enemy isn’t going to land on your head whilst you think about your next move. In another nod to Pacman, a single pickaxe collectable is available to turn you into a killing machine for a few seconds, killing nearby enemies for points. It also makes you invincible so you can run across spikes and water to quickly grab another kill before the power up ends. There’s only one per level though so time it wisely.
Whilst initially I was sad that Cash Cow DX only has five levels (and special stage mini games), they are all unique. One has loop-de-loops like Sonic. Another is all about trampolines that break. Level 3 has ships moving over water to catch you out, whilst level 4 has minecarts to move across big gaps on. The final level involves ziplines with an end boss that is quite easy to clear and whilst it takes precision and skill to learn the game, you quickly get into a flow with it. Once easy and normal difficulties are cleared you then get access to speedrun and endless modes that switch a few things up.
The last thing to call out is that Cash Cow DX is most definitely a score attack dream. Memorise the levels and enemy patterns, chain your moves like a pro and use the diamonds to trigger multipliers that boost your score. When its going well for you, its like a flowstate of arcade bliss that you just struggle to get in so many games these days. Add in a stonking chiptune soundtrack that reminds me of Sonic’s Casio styled theme songs and I had a silly grin on my face as I hit retry after yet another death.
Cash Cow DX is a glorious homage to arcade coin-op classics whilst feeling fresh and able to stand on its own four feet. Whilst I’d have loved a couple of extra levels, Cash Cow DX leaves its mark seared in your brain as it is such a compact and joyous experience. I’m hoping this retro coin-op trend grows and continues across 2024.
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