Mighty Gunvolt Burst

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Mighty Gunvolt Burst is a game that’s a spinoff of two separate Action-Platformer franchises, Azure Striker Gunvolt and Mighty No. 9. And while this game doesn’t quite play like either of those games, it has elements of both, which is fitting because both franchises were inspired by the classic Mega Man games. This game was originally released on Nintendo Switch and 3DS in 2017 before later being ported to other platforms as well.

While Mighty No. 9 had a more modern presentation with 3D elements, and the Gunvolt series has a look that’s similar to 16-bit Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance games, Mighty Gunvolt Burst has a presentation that’s even more retro, with pixel art visuals somewhere between 8-bit and 16-bit-era graphics, with a chiptune soundtrack that feels like it could have straight out of an NES Mega Man game. Despite the low-fi nature of this presentation, I would argue that this has all been for the best – the result is a great, nostalgic presentation that I would argue is more distinctive than anything either the Gunvolt series or Mighty No. 9 ever did.

The gameplay will take some adjustment for fans of either series expecting something similar, but once you get a feel for what’s on offer here, you’ll likely find this to be a great game in its own right. Players can choose to play as the protagonist of either game, but both here control fairly similarly and without many of the moves of the games they originally hail from. However, in their place is a custom weapon system that is the highlight of this game and a joy to explore.

Where in a traditional Mega Man game, players would earn a new weapon for every stage completed, Mighty Gunvolt Burst works a bit differently, giving players their choice of multiple rewards after beating a stage. These different options all tie into this custom weapon-system, which players use to combine different factors into their various weapons. Do you want the fire element weapon to move in a wave pattern or an arc? Should it go fast, or do you make it slower so you can invest those points into having more bullets on-screen at a time? The amount of freedom players are given to basically custom-design their loadout is liberating, and it gives even more motivation to beat the game’s stages and challenges to unlock more options.

In terms of complaints, I wish this game did a better job of explaining these systems to the player (one of the Gunvolt series’ longstanding issues), and the game can be a bit overly tough at times, particularly with some bosses seemingly being bullet sponges unless you can find the right type of weapon to use on them. Also, the game is a bit on the short side, only 3-4 hours long.

Oh, there is one other thing I should mention here – the price. At $10, Mighty Gunvolt Burst is an absolute steal, and while it may not be as visually-detailed as some of the games that inspired it, it’s probably my favorite of the lot, and being the cheapest as well makes it just that much better.

Many have already noted that this game ended up being the sort of game they had hoped Mighty No. 9 would be, but even those unfamiliar with that misadventure should still be able to appreciate mighty Gunvolt Burst. This is a phenomenal Action-Platformer in the same vein as the classic Mega Man games that adds to that formula a custom weapon-creation system that’s a joy to tinker with to design your own personalized loadout. As far as I’m concerned, this is the best game to come out of either game series, and I sincerely hope this isn’t a one-time experiment.

tl;dr – Mighty Gunvolt Burst is an Action-Platformer that’s nominally a retro-styled combination of Mighty No. 9 and the Azure Striker Gunvolt series, but save for its characters it’s actually a refreshingly unique take on the classic Mega Man formula with an inspired weapon-creation system that makes this, in my opinion, the pinnacle of both game series. The game is a bit on the short side, but it also has a budget price, and given how much fun this small package is, I urge fans of the genre to give it a try.

Grade: A-

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