Cascada
Cascada is basically a calmer Peggle, which itself is a more wild pachinko. So, if you’re looking for a Playdate Peggle, you don’t really need to keep reading this right now – just go get it. But I’m going to keep going for a bit anyway!
Each stage of Cascada has a bunch of pegs arranged in a certain way. Most of the pegs are white and just serve to get in your way or be utilized as bumpers for trick shots. Some of the pegs have a checker design – these ones give you a special power on your next ball. And finally, the pegs with stripes are the actual targets, of which you need to hit them all to advance to the next level. Hit a peg and it disappears, and you shoot one ball at a time from the top of the screen, aiming with the crank. Up and down on the d-pad will scroll through the level so you can plan your shots, and A or B are the firing buttons. Hold the button down to shoot at full strength, or release it early for a softer shot. The slight delay WILL throw off your timing, which is a fun wrinkle that Peggle didn’t have as much, because the pegs here will move!
As you start making the target pegs disappear, the screen will automatically scroll down, making it easier to hit the remainders. And the special power pegs, like ghost (flies straight through everything with no bounce), elastiball (extra bounce), and blast ball (big explosion on impact, destroying many pegs at once) are all helpful and specific to the level they are found in. Like, a level that the ghost ball would work great on won’t usually have the blast ball power-up. It’s all very meticulously designed by a human, and the pegs will often be laid out in fun shapes like a tsunami or the whole solar system (completely with orbiting planets), or just to express a vibe.
Each level has a par score like in golf, and it’s not easy to get that. I’ve played many levels and never got a single birdie, but a few pars feel good! As your ball approaches the last peg – just like in Peggle – it zooms in as you get close to make it more dramatic. Hit that final shot and everything explodes with fun particle effects like a little fireworks show at the end of every level. This is no matter how badly you score, because it actually doesn’t really matter? There are no online leaderboards, and the game never shames you for all your triple bogeys. Yes, each of the six included courses might have a +22 next to it, but you don’t have to show that to anyone. You can save any time, redo any hole as often as you want, and it’s just generally a calm, easygoing game. This is unlike Peggle, which always kind of makes you feel like you’re in a casino (complimentary?).
There are over 50 levels to master, and a lucky/good shot will always make you feel like you pulled off some kind of magic trick. It’s a calm game with a good mix of luck and skill that makes you feel like you have a grip on at least one thing in this crazy world. It’s just… it’s just nice, you know?
And bonus: you can play it for free in-browser on Itch and also make your own levels using a level editor. Submit them to the creator and they might show up in a new downloadable level pack in the real game someday. Wonder how many levels have been sent in so far? Hopefully this post inspires at least one more, even though there are already over 50!
(Released June 10, 2025, on Catalog and Itch, where you can also try it for free in-browser. Here is how to create your own custom levels for the game.)