Dan The Man

Phone / tablet

On-screen controls: move with the left side, jump and attack with the buttons on the right.

Desktop

The usual keyboard scheme: arrows or WASD to move, one key to jump and one to attack.

Attacks launch enemies, and launched enemies hit other enemies. Position yourself so the first guy you hit flies into the second, and rooms clear themselves.

1. Wait for the window. Bosses have a pattern with a gap in it. Mashing through the gap is how I lost three times in a row.
2. Punch toward the crowd. Launched enemies are projectiles. Face the group, hit the nearest one, and let physics do the rest.
3. Jump less in fights. Most of my deaths came from jumping into an attack. Feet on the ground, hit, step back.
4. Use ledges. Knocking an enemy off a ledge usually ends the argument. Fight near edges and let the level finish the job.
5. Phone: thumb on the buttons before the fight. Re-finding the attack button mid-brawl costs a hit. Park your thumb early.

The obvious comparisons are Metal Slug and the old Kung-Fu Master kind of side-scroller: pixel art, a hero with a punch, waves of soldiers and robots, a boss at the end. Dan The Man is gentler than Metal Slug and heavier than most mobile platformers. The launch physics are the difference; enemies here don't die where they stand, they go somewhere, and that turns every room into a little pinball table.

If you've bounced off mobile platformers because the combat felt like tapping a button until a health bar emptied, this one is worth a try for the feel alone.