I really wish I liked this more than I did. It has a terrific Mega Man Legends-esque aesthetic that lends it a lot of visual charm, but once you start properly playing the game, you quickly realise that its charm can only get it so far.

Dr. Slump is essentially a series of vignettes, I assume taken directly from the manga. Lots of random shit happens. Very random. And it all feels very disconnected. Maybe that structure works better in manga form, but here, you get a very fragmented story that features a lot of humour that doesn't land. The adventure-type moments aren't too bad. Bland but inoffensive. You run around, talk to supporting characters, sometimes engage in minigames, etc. They're kinda bleh. But then you get to the more action-focused segments that are centered around platforming, and oof, let me tell you, those are a chore. Mechanically they're just no good. Like a far lesser Ape Escape. And they become more frequent the further you progress.

I always feel bad when a translation team puts in the hard work to make something like this available to a wider audience. Hilltop does fantastic work, there's no doubt about it. But it sucks when you play one of these formerly Japan-only releases and it becomes obvious why it was never localised in the first place. Dr. Slump is such a game.