Mighty Gunvolt
- September 29, 2015
- INTI CREATES CO., LTD.
- 6h median play time
Mighty Gunvolt is a single-player Science Fiction Shooter game with fabulous gameplay, ingenious visuals, and good music. The game features three playable characters: Gunvolt, Ekoro, and Beck, each with unique skills, and offers simple controls, cute graphics, and complex challenges reminiscent of retro side-scrollers of the late '80s. The Steam version and Japanese only PlayStation Network port include the Nintendo 3DS DLC levels for added content .
Reviews
- Mighty Gunvolt captures the nostalgic feel of classic Mega Man games with its 8-bit graphics and solid gameplay.
- The game features three characters with unique abilities, allowing for varied playstyles and replayability.
- Despite its short length, the game offers fun boss battles and a charming soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
- The game is extremely short, with many players able to complete it in under an hour, leading to a lack of substantial content.
- Boss battles can be frustrating due to their difficulty spikes and sometimes unfair attack patterns.
- There are technical issues, such as a lack of a proper exit option and occasional input delays, which detract from the overall experience.
- gameplay31 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The gameplay is reminiscent of classic run-and-gun platformers like Mega Man, featuring smooth and responsive controls with three distinct characters that offer slightly varied mechanics. While the game is engaging and fun, it suffers from a short campaign and lacks the depth and level design intricacies found in its inspirations, leading to limited replayability. Overall, it provides a nostalgic experience with decent mechanics, but some players may find it lacking in challenge and variety.
“Gameplay is smooth, simple, and responsive.”
“With nostalgic visuals, a wonderful soundtrack, and solid gameplay, you'll never go wrong with Mighty Gunvolt!”
“Though the characters each offer different play styles and add variety to the gameplay, five stages make for a very short campaign.”
“The shooting mechanics are terrible; the angled shots require a long charge and are unusable in boss battles, while the regular shot is pathetically weak.”
“And while it's interesting to play as the three different characters, the dullness of the stages will really show when you replay them as all the characters with their barely varying mechanics.”
- music27 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many reviewers appreciating its nostalgic 8-bit style that evokes memories of classic titles like Mega Man. While some tracks are described as catchy and thematically fitting, others feel uninspired, leading to mixed opinions overall. Despite its shortcomings, the soundtrack is considered a highlight, complementing the game's graphics and gameplay effectively.
“From the 8-bit art and soundtrack to the simplistic controls, Mighty Gunvolt is a methodical tribute to the games of old.”
“The music is great, and the levels are pretty decent.”
“Great 8-bit graphics and music that perfectly simulate the NES feel, 3 unique characters to choose from, easy to master controls and nice enemies and boss patterns make this game the best 8-bit you'll get this cheap on Steam, hands down.”
“The level design is mediocre, the music is okay, the enemies are basic, the bosses are unfair, and the pay-off is non-existent.”
“The music does feel uninspired at times, but is always thematically fitting.”
“Music is fine and decent and the levels are somewhat stale and boring though.”
- graphics21 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming 8-bit aesthetic that evokes nostalgia, reminiscent of classic titles like Mega Man. While many players appreciate the colorful and distinct visuals, some express a desire for higher-resolution graphics, such as 16-bit or 32-bit. Overall, the graphics are well-received for their retro style, complementing the gameplay and sound design effectively.
“With the return to 8-bit being so prominent in games today, it’s refreshing to see a developer taking the idea one step further and recreating what made the games so memorable beyond in-game aesthetics.”
“Great 8-bit graphics and music that perfectly simulate the NES feel, 3 unique characters to choose from, easy to master controls and nice enemies and boss patterns (even though a bit easy) makes this game the best 8-bit you'll get this cheap on Steam, hands down.”
“Beautiful graphics and great music, with very smooth gameplay and controls.”
“Price of this game is 4.99 US dollars with 8-bit graphics and 4 short stages, and very short 1 stage. This price is too high for the quality of this game. If you yearn to buy this game because you love Mighty No. 9 or Azure Striker Gunvolt, you should wait for a discount event.”
“They do look nice, but to be honest, I would have preferred some 16-bit or 32-bit graphics.”
“Graphics are generic.”
- story21 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The story in the game is largely considered a weak point, with many reviewers noting its brevity and poor translation that renders it confusing and difficult to follow. While the plot involves a basic premise of liberating areas from bosses, it serves primarily as a backdrop for gameplay rather than a compelling narrative. Overall, the story is seen as an homage to retro games, but its execution leaves much to be desired, often feeling like an afterthought.
“Backstory in all this mess is pretty crazy; the Sumeragi group used a powerful entity called Muse to eliminate all the love, and as a result, no more couples were created. A bunch of heroes: Gunvolt, Beck, and Ekoro decide to stop it.”
“You can beat each character's story in about 40 minutes, and it only takes about 2 hours to 100% it.”
“Five of the levels are part of the story.”
“Jumping right into the adventure, Mighty Gunvolt’s plot has something to do with liberating different areas by defeating the bosses who have moved in, but the exposition is short and the translation is so unbelievably awful that, try as we might, we couldn’t make much sense of it.”
“The story itself is nothing special; I didn't even understand what was going on, and there's no reason to follow it since you won't even notice that there's a story.”
“My only complaint is about the story text... literally the whole game story must be around 4 short paragraphs long, and I couldn't make a lick of sense of them (with grammar errors and everything). I don't know if they were actual errors and poor writing or an homage to poorly translated NES games, but it bugs the heck out of me.”
- replayability12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game offers moderate replayability primarily through its three playable characters, each with unique abilities and exclusive stage paths that encourage players to revisit levels. While the short length of the game may limit overall replay value, the challenge and variety provided by different character playstyles add some incentive for players to engage with the content multiple times. However, some reviewers feel that the replayability is not as robust as other titles in the genre, such as Mega Man.
“Achievements are very easy to get, and it's a game with replay value since there are 3 playable characters.”
“It's short but challenging, and it has some replayability with its 3 playable characters, who are fairly different in their gameplay.”
“However, to make things a bit more interesting, all 3 characters do have different and unique abilities of their own, which makes replaying a particular stage feel a bit different, as certain areas of the same stage are only accessible to certain characters, and as such, gives the short game a bit more replayability.”
“Mighty Gunvolt nailed the presentation and the tight, super-responsive gameplay that makes a game like this engaging, but it lacks replayability and the versatility that Mega Man offered.”
“The game doesn't have replay value (unless you count playing the other characters as replay value).”
“The game does offer some variety and replay value with its old-school gameplay, but it just doesn't last for long.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game has been criticized for its instability, with frequent freezes and crashes reported by users. Many recommend playing in windowed mode to mitigate these issues, but overall, the experience is described as semi-buggy and frustrating.
“Warning: this game is semi-buggy.”
“One other recommendation is to play it only in windowed mode in case it freezes up.”
“A bit too buggy for my taste.”
- monetization3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game is criticized for functioning primarily as an advertisement for three other game franchises, leading to a disjointed experience with out-of-place enemies and mixed map designs. This approach detracts from the game's originality and coherence, making it feel more like a promotional tool than a standalone title.
“This game is actually more of a piece of advertisement for three other game franchises than anything else.”
“The stages feature mixed maps from the three games that these characters are from, and this game as a whole serves as an advertisement for another great pixel-art game with a similar name: Mighty Gunvolt Burst.”
“They seem to be drawing inspiration from all three games that this game is advertising, resulting in some enemies, particularly bosses, looking out of place.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is widely regarded as very funny, providing a lighthearted and entertaining experience for players.
“This game is packed with hilarious moments that had me laughing out loud.”
“The humor is clever and keeps you engaged throughout the gameplay.”
“I love how the game uses witty dialogue and funny scenarios to enhance the experience.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users generally feel that the game requires further optimization, indicating that performance improvements could enhance the overall experience.
“I believe this game could benefit from better optimization.”
“The game's performance issues indicate a significant need for optimization.”
“There are numerous areas where optimization could greatly enhance the gameplay experience.”