Mega Turrican and Super Turrican are both enormous steps up from the original two games, but still at times overrun with tedium and strange design choices. They're also not very different at all, although they are separate games (except sharing the dumbass alien hive level). Mega Turrican is probably the better of the two, but only by just a hair.

Something I think this series as a whole thus far is really lacking in (besides good level design) is charm. There's nothing quite distinct about it in gameplay or style, and aesthetically it's not very far removed from the trashfire of other garish Amiga games that randomly spawned out of the United Kingdom. I found that the water level is especially ugly, and while it may be deliberately going for a murky look, I really don't think it's pulled off well. There is a pretty hilariously bad looking animesque opening cutscene too, but that's the closest this gets to any visual appeal really.

The weapons are a bit weaker in this one than Super Turrican. There's no real reason to ever use the blue one, and the freezing laser is replaced with a grappling hook that only really makes way for more tedious level design (though it does help set it apart a little).

To put it simply, Mega Turrican is better than their previous efforts in the series, but it's...still Turrican. If you're going to play any of them, make it Mega or Super. Can't speak on Super Turrican 2 yet, I'll get around to that eventually and then I won't have to bother with these games anymore lmfao