Super Mega Zero

Genre: Platformer / Shmup

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: Included in Super Hard Bundle along with Dust & Neon, Super Glitch Dash, and Super Impossible Road.)

Super Mega Zero is a challenging Platformer with Shmup sections released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2022. In this game, you play as the number zero, who is in love with another zero, but unfortunately for him, she’s been kidnapped by… a bunch of corrupted graphics, I guess? This is all clearly a spoof on the old trope of Mario rescuing the princess, but it’s not really the story that’s the star here, it’s the gameplay.

The core gameplay here is a Platformer where the catch is that your number determines how many jumps or dashes you have. Zero, being a zero, cannot jump or dash at all, but whenever he touches another number, he becomes that number… at least until he expends that number of jumps or dashes. This clever mechanic challenges you to use jumps and dashes wisely, which can call for some precision platforming… but that’s just the beginning.

As the game progresses, it continually introduces new mechanics, such as minus and plus signs that reverse your gravity. Playing this game, I had a constant smile on my face as it kept introducing clever game mechanic after clever game mechanic, and then combined this with some really impeccable level design.

Then, every few levels, you find yourself in a Shmup stage. These stages are also quite good, though Shmup fans will likely find them to be far too easy. Still, it makes for a fun change of pace, and the game seems well aware that these levels aren’t nearly as challenging as the platforming, as it even calls them “intermissions”.

The presentation here makes use of 2D pixel art characters largely constructed out of ascii code, with a simple patterned background. It’s nothing impressive, but it does a good job of maintaining this game’s “in a computer program” -style presentation. These visuals are joined by an absolutely outstanding chiptune soundtrack that reminded me a lot of the Nintendo Entertainment System Mega Man games. And all of this fits into a tiny 147MB.

When it comes to complaints, there’s not much I can really complain about here. I guess the visuals aren’t especially impressive, and the difficulty level is probably so high that it’s not going to be accessible to less-skilled players, and as mentioned before, the Shmup levels are probably a bit too easy.

However, overall I was delightfully surprised by Super Mega Zero. The wonderfully clever gameplay, the delightful variety and creativity, the excellent level design, and the killer soundtrack all make this an absolute winner, and any fans of challenging Platformers should absolutely consider this a must-buy.

tl;dr – Super Mega Zero is a challenging Platformer with some Shmup sections where players control a zero who can’t jump, but who can touch numbers to jump or dash that many times. This is one of many creative gameplay mechanics that this game is constantly adding into the mix, and combined with excellent level design, a fantastic soundtrack, and some really fun (if a bit overly-easy) Shmup levels all make for a game that’s a lot of fun, and should be a no-brainer for fans of challenging Platformers.

Grade: A-

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