Pixel Plumber

Side-Scrolling Platformer

Pixel Plumber is a classic side-scrolling platformer in the RobuxClicker Arcade, built in the tradition of NES-era running and jumping games. You play Pippo, an apprentice plumber who sets out across thirty-two levels and eight worlds to rescue his kidnapped mentor. Run, jump, stomp enemies, find power-ups and beat the boss waiting at the end of every world.

About the game

If you grew up with side-scrolling platformers, Pixel Plumber will feel like home from the first jump. It is a love letter to the genre that defined the 8-bit era: you start on the left of a level, the screen scrolls rightward as you move, and you run and leap your way to a flagpole at the far end while pits, enemies and hazards try to stop you. Nothing about it is complicated to pick up, and that is the point — it is built around tight, responsive controls that feel good in the first thirty seconds.

The story is a simple, classic setup. Pippo is an apprentice plumber from Borgo Fontana, a peaceful village built around ancient pipe networks. When the villainous Forge King — a tyrant who rules the volcanic foundries deep underground — kidnaps Master Lorenzo, the village elder and Pippo's mentor, Pippo grabs his cap and sets off. Eight dangerous regions stand between him and the Forge King's fortress, and each one ends in a castle with a boss guarding the way forward.

Under the friendly surface there is a real, full-length game. Thirty-two hand-built levels are spread across eight themed worlds, every one introducing new terrain, new enemies or a new twist on the rules. Like every game in the RobuxClicker Arcade, Pixel Plumber draws all of its pixel art from data in code rather than image files, so it loads instantly and runs at a smooth sixty frames per second on a 960 by 540 canvas. It plays the same on a laptop or a phone, with nothing to download and no account to create.

Ready to start the rescue? Launch Pixel Plumber and come back here whenever you want a refresher on the controls or the strategy below.

How to play

From the title screen, choose "Start Game" to begin at World 1-1, or "Continue" to pick up from the last world you reached. The goal of a standard level is to reach the flagpole on the right; a castle level ends with a boss fight instead. You begin with three lives, and you lose one by taking a hit while small, falling into a pit, touching lava, or letting the timer run out.

On a computer

• Move: the left and right arrow keys, or A and D.
• Jump: the up arrow, X, W or Space. Jump height is variable — tap for a short hop, hold the button for a much higher, floatier jump.
• Crouch: the down arrow or S. Crouching only works once Pippo is in his Big or Fire state. Press down on top of a pipe to enter it.
• Sprint: hold Shift to run faster and jump farther.
• Throw a fireball: Z, available only in the Fire state. Up to two fireballs can be on screen at once.
• Pause: Escape or P. Press Enter to start or to confirm a menu.

On a phone or tablet

• Move: use the on-screen directional pad in the lower-left corner. Down on the pad crouches or enters a pipe, exactly like the keyboard.
• Jump: tap the large A button on the lower-right. Holding it gives the same higher jump as holding the key.
• Sprint and fireballs: the B button beside it — hold it to sprint, tap it to throw a fireball when you are in the Fire state.
• Pause: tap the small pause icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

Tips and strategy

Pixel Plumber rewards players who understand its movement. These tips will carry you a long way past the first world.

1. Master the variable jump. Pippo's jump height depends on how long you hold the button. A quick tap clears barely half a tile; holding the button the whole way up reaches roughly five tiles. Learn the in-between to land exactly where you want instead of overshooting.
2. Trust coyote time and the jump buffer. You can still jump for a brief moment after walking off a ledge, and a jump pressed just before you land still registers. Stop fighting the timing — the controls are built to forgive a few frames either way.
3. Chain your stomps. If you bounce from one enemy to the next without touching the ground, the points escalate fast — 100, 200, 400, 800 and upward. Reach the ninth stomp in a chain and every further stomp grants an extra life.
4. Stay powered up. A Super Mushroom turns Pippo Big, and being Big means a hit costs your power-up instead of a life. A Fire Flower then upgrades Big to Fire, letting you throw fireballs. Try not to take a careless hit and drop back to small.
5. Know which enemies you cannot stomp. Iron Beetles, Spinies and Nipper Plants will hurt you if you land on them. Deal with those using fireballs, a Starman's invincibility, or simply by jumping over them.
6. Hit blocks from below. Question blocks release coins and power-ups when bumped from underneath. Brick blocks shatter when a Big or Fire Pippo hits them, and some plain-looking bricks and even empty air hide coin stashes and 1-Up mushrooms.
7. Collect coins and grab the pole high. Every hundred coins earns a free life. At the end of a level, the higher up the flagpole you grab, the bigger the score bonus — from 100 points at the base up to 5000 at the very top.
8. Watch the clock and explore. Each level has a time limit; when it drops to 100 seconds the music speeds up as a warning, and reaching zero is fatal. Even so, it pays to peek down side pipes — some lead to coin-filled bonus rooms, and hidden warp zones can skip you ahead whole worlds.

Game details

Pixel Plumber is a complete eight-world adventure. Here is the shape of what is waiting for you.

Eight worlds

Green Plains, Desert Dunes, Ocean Shores, Frost Mountains, Sky Heights, Dark Forest, Lava Caverns and the Final Fortress. Each world has its own art theme and introduces a fresh mechanic — slippery ice in Frost Mountains, falling platforms in Sky Heights, rising lava in Lava Caverns and more.

Thirty-two levels

Four levels per world: an opening overworld stage, an underground stage, an athletic jumping stage, and a castle stage that ends in a boss fight.

Three power-up states

Pippo starts each life Small. A Super Mushroom makes him Big; a Fire Flower then makes him Fire, able to throw fireballs. A Starman grants a short burst of invincibility on top of whichever state he is in.

Ten enemy types

Grunters, Shell Crawlers, Nipper Plants, Sky Grunters, Iron Beetles, Hammer Bros, Bullet Bills, rotating Firebars, Spinies and cloud-riding Cloud Tossers — each with its own behaviour and its own weaknesses.

Eight bosses

Every castle level ends on a bridge over lava with a boss to beat — either by landing five fireballs on it or by reaching the axe behind it to collapse the bridge. The final boss, the Forge King, is bigger and tougher than the rest.

Items and pickups

Super Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, Starmen, rare 1-Up mushrooms and coins, hidden in question blocks, brick blocks and secret invisible blocks throughout every level.

Lives and scoring

Three starting lives, with more from 1-Up mushrooms, every hundred coins, a score milestone, and long stomp chains. Score comes from coins, defeated enemies, the flagpole height bonus and the leftover-time bonus at the end of each level.

Built for any screen

A 960 by 540 canvas running at sixty frames per second, with full on-screen touch controls on phones and tablets. Free, browser-based, with nothing to install.

Frequently asked questions