After getting this game’s sequel, Mighty Gunvolt Burst, before the 3DS eShop shuts down, and before getting into it, I’ve decided to replay this thing now after years since I originally played it.
Since I remembered practically nothing about it and because I sucked at games like these when I got into Mega Man games during my late teens, I figured it would be nice to give this another chance, since I recall not enjoying it that much at all back then.
Well, I can safely say now that it was surely not that bad. In fact, it was actually quite fun while it lasted.
Unlike its fully-fledged sequel, Mighty Gunvolt serves more as a “bonus” sort of thing, both as a homage to the classic Mega Man NES games and as an appetiser for the then upcoming release of Mighty No. 9 (just like what more recently Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon did for the bigger game, Ritual of the Night).
And I still think it’s bonkers how this super short game, that basically doesn’t take itself seriously at all, ended up being way more fun to play than that infamous monstrosity.
Mighty Gunvolt consists of a very small collection of stages, each containing its own boss with different attack patterns for you to learn to avoid and master defeating. For a game of its scale, the level design is quite fun, especially considering Gunvolt’s manoeuvrability with his double jump.
I gotta say, the first boss felt way more challenging than the rest of them, but I think the challenge is well balanced enough throughout the entire game, and it may even be a great entry point for people interested in this type of game, especially classic Mega Man, since the experience you’ll find here won’t be as robust as a “full” game, but straightforward enough for you to learn how they usually play and get used to what will be a much more difficult, but much nicer gameplay. For this aspect, I can totally dig this game’s simplicity.
For a veteran in Mega Man games, though, it probably won’t be anything special. Maybe a cute homage, ok, but nothing that special apart from that. For some, this can be disappointing, but as I said, you’ve got to know what this thing is about before getting into it, since you can’t expect it to be more than it actually is: just a side game, a bonus project.
Let’s talk DLC then. You’ll get to play some additional levels and, again, each with their respective boss at the end.
Overall, I’m not that crazy about these. I think the base game stages are much better designed and fun to play. The Factory and Gym stages are fine, but the Bio Lab has some very obnoxious enemy placements and the Highway, despite being arguably the best looking stage in the entire game, is simply an easy linear path. By the way, the boss at the end of it (Mighty No. whatever, the ninja guy) is by far my least favourite in the entire thing: his movement pool is small, but he’s quite fast and his pattern is completely random, forcing you to rely almost purely upon reflexes instead of learning a way to properly dodge him. I personally dislike this type of design, which is pretty much like Mega Man 3’s Shadow Man.
The real meat of the DLC, though, are the two new playable characters, that have completely different gameplay styles, which can be a nice factor for the game’s replayability aspect.
However, in my opinion, if you want to milk out everything you possibly can out of this game, the logic can be quite counter-intuitive: you must play as the extra characters first, if you don’t want to harm the overall flow of the thing.
The game was designed with Gunvolt in mind, so if you beat it with him first, it can be hard to adjust to the other characters right out of the bat, since they are much less nimble.
With that in mind, if you’re really willing to play this thing entirely, I believe Beck should be your first choice, since he’s the most limited one out of the bunch: basically Mega Man 3 with an air dash that you have to charge.
Next, play as Ekoro, since she’s the most unique out of the three, and the game itself progresses a bit differently with her.
And, just then, play as Gunvolt, since he’ll be the ideal character, and will be much much easier to adjust to how he plays than starting with him and trying to adjust to the others later.
…in my case, however, I just played through the entire thing with Gunvolt, as intended, and called it a day. And, if you’re not really into the extra characters, this may be the way to go. Despite some routes in the stages being made for Beck to go through with his slide, these are completely optional and won’t reward you with anything other than extra points (yeah, the game has a point system, go figure).
The game was made for Gunvolt, and it shows. So, it sits in this weird place: it feels better when played solely as him, and a bit weird if you don’t play as him last.
Aside from that, it’s everything I said: a fun, short little game, that tries to be 8-bit. The gameplay is far from something special, but it’s fun enough, and will be a nice diversion.
On a side note, I just wanted to be able to remap the button layout… the game forces you to jump with B and shoot with Y, and while this is perfectly fine on a proper controller, it can feel a bit uncomfortable on the 3DS’ smaller buttons, especially on boss fights. With my smaller handhelds, I always play these “Jump ‘n Shoot” kind of games with A for jumping and B for shooting (much like on the NES or Game Boy), since this layout is much more comfortable for me to reach both with the tip of my thumb.
But, well, if you’re playing on Steam or PS4, you won’t face this issue.
Since I remembered practically nothing about it and because I sucked at games like these when I got into Mega Man games during my late teens, I figured it would be nice to give this another chance, since I recall not enjoying it that much at all back then.
Well, I can safely say now that it was surely not that bad. In fact, it was actually quite fun while it lasted.
Unlike its fully-fledged sequel, Mighty Gunvolt serves more as a “bonus” sort of thing, both as a homage to the classic Mega Man NES games and as an appetiser for the then upcoming release of Mighty No. 9 (just like what more recently Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon did for the bigger game, Ritual of the Night).
And I still think it’s bonkers how this super short game, that basically doesn’t take itself seriously at all, ended up being way more fun to play than that infamous monstrosity.
Mighty Gunvolt consists of a very small collection of stages, each containing its own boss with different attack patterns for you to learn to avoid and master defeating. For a game of its scale, the level design is quite fun, especially considering Gunvolt’s manoeuvrability with his double jump.
I gotta say, the first boss felt way more challenging than the rest of them, but I think the challenge is well balanced enough throughout the entire game, and it may even be a great entry point for people interested in this type of game, especially classic Mega Man, since the experience you’ll find here won’t be as robust as a “full” game, but straightforward enough for you to learn how they usually play and get used to what will be a much more difficult, but much nicer gameplay. For this aspect, I can totally dig this game’s simplicity.
For a veteran in Mega Man games, though, it probably won’t be anything special. Maybe a cute homage, ok, but nothing that special apart from that. For some, this can be disappointing, but as I said, you’ve got to know what this thing is about before getting into it, since you can’t expect it to be more than it actually is: just a side game, a bonus project.
Let’s talk DLC then. You’ll get to play some additional levels and, again, each with their respective boss at the end.
Overall, I’m not that crazy about these. I think the base game stages are much better designed and fun to play. The Factory and Gym stages are fine, but the Bio Lab has some very obnoxious enemy placements and the Highway, despite being arguably the best looking stage in the entire game, is simply an easy linear path. By the way, the boss at the end of it (Mighty No. whatever, the ninja guy) is by far my least favourite in the entire thing: his movement pool is small, but he’s quite fast and his pattern is completely random, forcing you to rely almost purely upon reflexes instead of learning a way to properly dodge him. I personally dislike this type of design, which is pretty much like Mega Man 3’s Shadow Man.
The real meat of the DLC, though, are the two new playable characters, that have completely different gameplay styles, which can be a nice factor for the game’s replayability aspect.
However, in my opinion, if you want to milk out everything you possibly can out of this game, the logic can be quite counter-intuitive: you must play as the extra characters first, if you don’t want to harm the overall flow of the thing.
The game was designed with Gunvolt in mind, so if you beat it with him first, it can be hard to adjust to the other characters right out of the bat, since they are much less nimble.
With that in mind, if you’re really willing to play this thing entirely, I believe Beck should be your first choice, since he’s the most limited one out of the bunch: basically Mega Man 3 with an air dash that you have to charge.
Next, play as Ekoro, since she’s the most unique out of the three, and the game itself progresses a bit differently with her.
And, just then, play as Gunvolt, since he’ll be the ideal character, and will be much much easier to adjust to how he plays than starting with him and trying to adjust to the others later.
…in my case, however, I just played through the entire thing with Gunvolt, as intended, and called it a day. And, if you’re not really into the extra characters, this may be the way to go. Despite some routes in the stages being made for Beck to go through with his slide, these are completely optional and won’t reward you with anything other than extra points (yeah, the game has a point system, go figure).
The game was made for Gunvolt, and it shows. So, it sits in this weird place: it feels better when played solely as him, and a bit weird if you don’t play as him last.
Aside from that, it’s everything I said: a fun, short little game, that tries to be 8-bit. The gameplay is far from something special, but it’s fun enough, and will be a nice diversion.
On a side note, I just wanted to be able to remap the button layout… the game forces you to jump with B and shoot with Y, and while this is perfectly fine on a proper controller, it can feel a bit uncomfortable on the 3DS’ smaller buttons, especially on boss fights. With my smaller handhelds, I always play these “Jump ‘n Shoot” kind of games with A for jumping and B for shooting (much like on the NES or Game Boy), since this layout is much more comfortable for me to reach both with the tip of my thumb.
But, well, if you’re playing on Steam or PS4, you won’t face this issue.