Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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A playthrough of Sunsoft's 1993 action-platformer for the Super Nintendo, Aero the Acrobat.

Aero the Acrobat, Iguana Entertainment's first original game (and their second project, following the Sega Genesis port of Super High Impact), was part of the wave of mascot platformers that flooded 16-bit console libraries in the first half of the 90s.

Edgar Ektor, a crazed ex-clown who resents Aero the Acrobat's success, has decided to make the star's life difficult by sabotaging Aero's show at The World of Amusement Circus and Funpark. To wrest back control of his livelihood, Aero has to battle Ektor's cronies through the bigtop, the amusement park, a forest, and a museum over the course of his nineteen-stage adventure.

Most stages are huge areas made up of snaking paths that lead to things like stage objectives (like golden rings or light switches), hidden item caches, and on occasion, a death trap filled with spikes or lava. Making matters worse, there's an angry mob of armed circus folk milling about, and they'd love nothing more than to send Aero howling to an early grave. Fortunately, Aero has had extensive on-the-job training. He can spin as he flies, which allows him to drill through enemies and reach out-of-the-way ledges, and if all else fails, he can fling sparkly stars at things.

The first few stages are mundane collect-a-thon platforming fare, and for a long time, I gave Aero the Acrobat the cold shoulder based on the impression they left on me. I didn't think the gameplay was bad, but everything about those levels struck me as dull, and the music irritated me to no end.

I don't know what inspired me to go back and give Aero another chance, but once I'd trudged through the circus stages, I was pleasantly surprised by what awaited me. The game's mood shifted, the tone brightened, and the locations grew more interesting and varied. The stage layouts became less maze-like. A sharper sense of creativity began to show in the challenges. The music stopped trying to make me put my head through a plate glass window. I was actually enjoying myself, so much that I think I could've gotten into this back in the day had they axed the first half-hour and started with the amusement park.

Finally, now that I've finished it, I can confidently say that Aero the Acrobat is a cut above the average throwaway 90s mascot platformer. It's not an A-lister, but it's more playable than Bubsy, more imaginative than Awesome Possum, more personable than Zool, and less Titus than Titus the Fox. I liked it.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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