previously on show review video games::

when are you reviewing the secuel

RIGHT NOW FUCKR


inti creates just released a 2d retro themed castlevania knock off called bloodstained: symphony of the bloodstained, so i've decided to strike while the iron is cold and review their 2d retro themed megaman knock off
MIGHTY GUNVOLT BUST

this time they only give you two proper characters: azure striker gunbolt and mighty number beck. the angel wasn't there but apparently she's free DLC or something idk
like last time, i played through the game as the only cool character then tried one stage as beck

the characters play completely differently from how they worked in mighty gunnuts, to the point where the two games barely feel related. both characters start out equipped with a basic three shot buster and no movement options. i say start out becuase, holy sfhit, they remembered to let you upgrade your dudes


this is the fuckin BULLET CUSTOMIZER and its lit. you get to tweak all the minute attributes of your shot, from the angle, travel speed, dissipation time, dissipation effect, solidity and whatever the fuck else you want, and then save that shit in your inventory and use it whenever. every stage you get a couple new options for the customizer, and more CUSTOMIZER POINTS to make objectively better shots

at first it seemed kinda shitty b/c the default shot was better than everything i could come up with, but about halfway through i put together a giant piercing wave spread shot that exploded into tinier, more deadly bullets on impact. it's a fun system and extremely intuitive. when i was getting my dick kicked by a boss i'd go experiment with new bullets and find something sick to fight them with.


SPEAKING OF BOSSES HERE'S A FUCKING HARD ONE
this game has a full eight robot masters instead of the 4 robot losers from the previous game. they're all from mighty no. 9, which should be a red flag, but the fights are all heavily redesigned and sometimes just steal attacks from gunvolt bosses so they're fun now
it's kind of bizarre that they give this much reverence to shit from mighty #9. it's like getting an expulsion letter from university and framing it like a diploma. luckily there are additional bosses that aren't taken from mega number 9, and the stages are mostly based off of gunvolt levels i think? with some originals

the plot is based around bech playing VR chat or something and then gunvolt gets sucked inside and there's an evil gunvolt and other shit happens. the writing is about a thousand times better than the previous one, mostly because they remembered not to write it entirely in fucking memes this time. there are a few references and an 8-bit👏 version👏 of👏 the👏clap👏emoji👏 but it actually makes sense in context? they also drew pixel art for the story sequences, probably in response to my scathing review. overall the plot wasn't completely embarassing and gunvolt's ending was actually kinda touching, no homo.


gunbort, mighty number man and the previous mighty gunbort all had weird poorly explained scoring systems, and this one continues the tradition. the multiplier is now based on causing BURSTS, and i'll copy-paste the explanation of that from the manual because it's way funnier than anything i could come up with

Defeat an enemy up close and personal to trigger a "Burst" and a more magnificent explosion.

so when you stand right next to a man and magnificently explode him, a combo starts and you get more points. the combo continues as long as you don't die or kill an enemy from far away. it doesn't run out on a timer or by damage, meaning it's clearly not a combo, but whatever.
this system feels a bit at odds with the rest of the game, especially the BULLET CUSTOMIZER. why would you make gigantic homing bullets when you're supposed to kill everything point blank anyway? for the most part i ignored this shit and just got a D rank in every level but maybe some people would have fun with it?


anyway that's pretty cool i guess but it wouldn't mean much if the levels were all miserable nightmares. luckily they hired some people who played mega man before and they were able to pull together some good shit. the levels are lengthier and more varied than anything in the last game, which is kind of ridiculous since there's also like three times as many stages. they're based around one or two gimmicks, usually inspired by shit from ganboruto or megan number 9. they don't feel exactly like a classic mega man level, but they have the same structure of increasingly difficult platforming mixed with some combat. in some ways i like them better than the stages from either of the source games. it's nice to see gunvolt actually facing difficult platforming challenges, or controlling beck in a game that doesn't have completely broken, unforgivable, shit combat.


by the way, these images are also taken from the official inti creates site, even though the last time i stole material from there it was 11 pixels tall and i had to crop out a giant black border. i guess they only take proper screenshots of good games.

i would've written this review like an hour ago but the last level was absolutely fucked hard. the entire game is pretty challenging tbh. they do give you infinite continues, but the level design is on par with a normal NES mega man if not a bit harder, and the bosses are as brutal as listening to slayer while getting satan tattooed on your forehad
i died 40 times on the last level, and there were like 9 checkpoints. if i had to do it all with only three lives, it probably would've taken me several weeks, and even then i can't guarantee i would've done it.

you can kinda bullshit some of the difficulty by collecting upgrades. the BULLET CUSTOMIZER also lets you equip other shit, like knockback prevention, double jumps and special moves. gunzapman gets his ASTRASPHERE and shit from his original game, which is nice to see. usually you expect to see a character's signature special move when they show up in a cross-over, but it took them until the sequel to remember that. by the end he was loaded up with all of that and a quadruple jump, and there was still a bunch of shit i didn't unlock because i was too dumb to realize that you can pick which upgrade you want when you beat a level. fuck.


there's actually a ton of optional shit in this game. new abilities, BULLET CUSTOMIZER upgrades, stickers, challenges, high scores, other shit. idk if i'm ready to throw myself into the meat grinder again but there's enough content to last a good while. again, a big improvement over the last game that ran out of content before it even finished.

there's also apparently tons of DLC for this game in the form of new characters. idk what any of them are like but i know one of them is Copen, and Copen is the best character in any mega man game ever, so if you're going to shell out money for some mini transactions, get him.


fuck yeah

anyways this game is good. it's on 3ds and switch and there's also apparently a PS4 version except that one is entitled GAL*GUNVOLT BURST because i guess they didn't feel like making any money. i award this game the prestigious happy skeleton award for managing to turn the mangled corpse of mighty number 9 into something actually worth playing

huh, that's pretty good then. it's nice when sequels to absolute shit games actually bother to fix up everything and make something worthwhile

thx for the review i might Check This Out sometime

I was enjoying your review until I got jumpscared by a skeleton.