The Legend of the Dark Witch 3: Wisdom and Lunacy

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

The Legend of the Dark Witch 3 is an Action-Platformer released on Nintendo 3DS in 2017. This game has players taking the role of a witch fighting against a group of witchy enemy witches, each residing in a different area with its own theme.

Much as with the first two games in the series, Legend of the Dark Witch 3 plays a lot like a Mega Man game, with players taking on the opposing witch researchers in any order, and with each of them surrendering their unique weapon to you when you defeat them. And as with those prior games, this game combines this structure with an in-game shop and a Gradius-style upgrade system to enable players to get even more powerful in a way they can manage as they progress through the game’s levels.

However, while this could have easily turned into yet another retread of the first two games’ flaws, The Legend of the Dark Witch 3 actually addresses the issues I had with prior games in the series. The levels are more varied and interesting, and the difficulty is far more in line with what we’ve come to expect from Action-Platformers, meaning this game isn’t a cakewalk like the previous games were.

As a result, the in-game shop’s permanent upgrades and the mid-level Gradius-style upgrading system actually stand out more in this game, where they feel like an important edge in battle and a gameplay element that truly sets this game apart from the Mega Man franchise, rather than an interesting extra you don’t actually need to succeed.

And as with prior games in this series, The Legend of the Dark Witch 3 uses cutesy chibi-style 2D pixel art visuals that are colorful and often feature some nice animation, backed by decent but forgettable music and Japanese-language voice acting for all its characters, with yet another wacky story – you’re apparently targeting a group of formerly genocidal witches, not because they’re monsters, but because you’re trying to “save” them from a revenge-fueled attack by their former comrade. It’s very silly, but I suppose it could come across as charming.

In the end, The Legend of the Dark Witch 3 absolutely surprised me. While I didn’t dislike the previous games, I felt like there was a clear lack of interest in improving on the glaring flaws this series had, yet this game proved that assumption wrong. Not only is this a better game than its predecessors, but in fixing the flaws of the earlier games it allows this franchise to shine as a truly great alternative to the Mega Man series. If you enjoy Action-Platformers, this is a must-have, and one you won’t want to miss before the Nintendo 3DS eShop closes for good in March 2023.

tl;dr – The Legend of the Dark Witch 3 is an Action-Platformer with gameplay similar to the Mega Man franchise, but with cutesy witches instead of cutesy robots. This game fixes long-standing problems the series has had, actually helping this series come into its own as a truly excellent alternative to the Mega Man games. If you like Action-Platformers, you should absolutely get this game now before the Nintendo 3DS eShop closes in March 2023.

Grade: B+

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