Dunkadillo is a game about an armadillo who can turn himself into a basketball. You know, from the guy who brought you Be Brave, Barb, a game about a gravity defying cactus trying to collect her words of affirmation, and Dadish, a game about a radish who’s a dad trying to get his kids back while avoiding a series of evil fast food items. Is it any good? You bet. Here’s our review. 

A week or so ago, I reviewed Be Brave, Barb as the first of 3 games released in 2025 by Thomas K Young. It wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed it. And given that it’s only one of three games the guy has managed to release in the same year, the fact that it is as good as it is is all the more impressive. 

Well, Dunkadillo is the second game Young released this year, and talk about the right game at the right time. Dunkadillo launched on September 9th, and it just brightened up my day. September can be a challenging month, what with kids going back to school and readjusting to that schedule. So having yet another batch of video game comfort food was a welcome joy. 

Anyway, you play as Dill the armadillo. Your friend Pickle (a fish who looks kinda like a pickle) gets kidnapped by a giant tentacle, so naturally, you go after him. It’s a goofy premise, which is to be expected, but it works well enough to get you to the game itself, which is a fun new take on Young’s familiar formula. 

Similar to Be Brave, Barb, Dunkadillo uses polygonal graphics, but it corrects that weird camera angle issue, allowing you to view the game from a relatively straight-on perspective. Which is good, because Dunkadillo is all about challenging platforming! You know those spring shoes Mario gets in Super Mario Bros. Wonder? Where is he constantly jumping? That’s Dunkadillo. You’re in basketball form, and you have to bounce your way through stages to collect super fun trading cards, and eventually make a basket through a hoop to complete stages. The similar sounds and trappings are all here, with a weird new batch of enemies like frogs who try to whip you with their tongues. 

It’s all pretty straightforward. You get the gist of the kinds of things you’re going to be doing in the first minute of playing, and it’s way more fun than I thought it was going to be. See, I hate Mario’s spring shoes. I hate Spring Mario in Mario Galaxy. It’s just not my thing, and it messes with my brain. So playing a whole game that’s basically that (with a double jump) sounded like I wasn' t going to like it, but it’s actually really cleverly designed, and wrapped up in some fantastic presentation. The music is wonderful, the character designs are great, and the way bosses show up with a big warning on screen that says “Bad Boy Approaching" is hilarious. 

If I have one complaint about Dunkadillo, it’s that there just isn’t enough of it. Not that it isn’t worth its modest $10 price tag, because it totally is. But it’s missing that trademark snarky dialogue that makes Dadish so great. There's almost no writing in this game at all. There’s also no way to just view all the cards you collect. Most stages in the game have a hidden trading card featuring artwork depicting various characters from Young’s other games. You get to see them when you collect them, but that’s it. Once you view them once, you never get to see them again unless you replay the stage and get the card again. These things are brilliant, and show off the silly names Young's own kid gave them. It’s a huge bummer that I can’t just scroll through them. 

Anyway, that makes Young 2 for 2 in games of 2025. Dadish 4 comes out December 18th, and I can’t wait to give it a go. Meanwhile, Dunkadillo is a solid game that’s well worth your time. 

Dunkadillo is available now for Nintendo Switch and Steam.