Malaika: Prehistoric Quest

One day, a young cave princess called Malaika comes back from a visit to her
relatives, only to find that all inhabitants of her village are gone. The
villagers have been turned into energy crystals by aliens from the future, who
plan to use Malaika’s fellows as fuel for their machines. Malaika sets out to
rescue her friends and put a stop to the aliens’ plans.

You control Malaika in a basic platform game, playing like a cross between
Super Mario Bros and the original Wonder Boy, but without any offensive
weapons. The mainstay of the enemies are coloured blobs, most of which
disappear when you jump on them. The purple blobs are more dangerous, since
they can electrocute Malaika if she jumps on them at the wrong time. Other
enemies are flying blobs and Super Mario-style cannons.

When you jump on an enemy, you bounce just a little bit higher than a normal
jump. Using this effectively means that Malaika can reach high-up places which
would otherwise remain inaccessible.

Powerups are available in the shape of stars which will render Malaika
invincible for a short time, just like in Mario, and extra lives. Malaika does
not die on first contact with an enemy, since you have a graded system of
three hearts which are expended when you touch an enemy. Hearts can also be
found at some points to restore your health. Spread throughout the levels are
the small crystals that used to be friendly cavepeople. Clearing a level with
100 or more crystals will give you bonus points. There are six worlds to
clear, each made up of four levels. Each world has an end-of-level boss to
beat.

This game was made for the 2006 edition of the MSXdev coding contest.