Play Nangoku Shounen Papuwa-kun - Ganmadan No Yabou (japan) Online

Nangoku Shounen Papuwa-kun: Ganmadan No Yabou came out for the Game Boy in 1992, published by Taito. It was part of that wave of early 90s portable games, a time when developers were figuring out how to build substantial adventures on the small screen. This one is based on a manga, which was a common source for games back then.

You control Papuwa, a boy exploring a tropical island. Your main goal is to stop the evil Ganma Dan's ambitions, which involves traveling through a series of distinct areas. The game plays out screen by screen; you walk into the edge of one screen to load the next. Your primary actions are jumping across platforms and using a slingshot to defeat the quirky enemies that get in your way. You also collect various items to help you progress, and there is some light puzzle solving involved in navigating the world. The pacing is fairly methodical, and the difficulty can be unforgiving with precise jumps required. Playing it feels like slowly uncovering a strange, compact world from a different era.