MechaNika

MechaNika is Mango Protocol's debut adventure, set in the same Psychotic Universe later expanded by Agatha Knife. Nika is a brilliant seven-year-old who carries chocolate shakes spiked with cognac in her backpack and is obsessed with the transfer of energy, magnetic fields and electrical engineering. Her teachers and parents don't listen. Her classmates are dorks. Her solution: build MechaNika, a machine to eliminate everything in the world that isn't cool.

The adventure is colorfully hand-drawn and committed to its premise. Nika gathers parts and convinces (or manipulates) the increasingly bizarre cast around her to help complete her plan. Each puzzle offers multiple solution paths, and references to other games, anime, films and music run thick through the dialogue.

Mango Protocol established their stylistic identity here: bright cartoon aesthetics paired with willingly uncomfortable themes (here, a child planning mass destruction of mediocrity, framed dryly), references geek culture treats as inside jokes, and original music tied to each environment. Short runtime, dense humor, and the bones of what became a cult Spanish indie studio.