Available now on iOS and Android – Free to download (ad supported)

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the incredible pun work here? Your character is a Dad tasked with finding his many lost children. Your character also happens to be a radish.

Hence: Dadish. It’s genius – I’d probably recommend trying this game based on that pun alone.

Thankfully, there’s a lot more to like here than just top class punnery. I’ve mentioned before how mobile games on the whole get a bad rap, which is a shame – because gems like Dadish will often go unnoticed, especially by the types of gamers who’d appreciate it. It’s a loving homage to old school platform games with a nicely appropriate level of challenge. The touch screen controls work pretty well and the art style is absolutely gorgeous – beautifully colourful, strikingly simple pixel art is the order of the day here. The script is very witty indeed – your kids are generally very cheeky and not all of them are happy to be rescued.

There’s 40 levels to get through and – though there are occasions where more frequent checkpoints would be welcome – they’re generally on the right side of challenging without becoming infuriating, and very rarely feel unfair. There’s a star to collect on most levels, adding a further challenge – some of them are very deviously hidden and/or placed. And there’s a possum. Don’t ask.

Bosses also feature; like the general, regular sized enemies these tend to be fast food themed (because junk food is the most obvious enemy of a vegetable, right?). Again, like the levels in general, the bosses tend to be tough but fair; challenging without being frustrating.

I have to mention the level transitions; they’re a superb homage to the transitions found in Super Mario Bros 3, with a very similar sound effect too. It’s a really nice, unexpected – but welcome – touch.

As a free to play game, it’s ad supported (though ads can be removed for a small cost) – but the ads don’t feel overly frequent or intrusive in any case. They’re a small price to pay (as is the cost of removing them!) for such a nicely designed, well written game.

In short, Dadish is a surprisingly good experience; a nostalgic, funny throwback to classic platformers, that’ll challenge you and make you smile at the same time. Well worth playing!