Fantasy Explorer Nitroid... one of the first Touhou games I ever purchased a real copy of! This game by Desunoya, starring Nitori Kawashiro, is what one might call a puzzle platformer metroidvania... generously. Unfortunately, despite the name, it's far more puzzle platformer than metroidvania, with the most of the latter being to get a couple optional pickups once you have new tools. However, on the puzzle platformer part, it's quite solid!
So let's look at it in some more detail
![[Image: aWRW8wo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/aWRW8wo.png)
Nitroid is a game that relies largely on the tools you get and how to use them for the puzzles around you - sure, there's plenty of different gimmicks added in as you go, but it really all boils down t o figuring out the tools. Whether it's a drill that can get horizontal distance, shoes that make you run really fast, or a jet to fly around with, you'll find that the tools are all a lot more versatile than they might seem at first glance. Use the drill to survive a long fall that'd dump you onto spikes, or use the bombs to solve a puzzle about dropping enemies into the right spot for platforming - these are very clearly the core of Nitroid.
![[Image: gaYzRcd.png]](https://i.imgur.com/gaYzRcd.png)
The world does a good job of adding gimmicks as you go, though! Starting with simple material like timed switches and switch blocks in the first world, by the fourth world it's escalated to adding blocks that only break if you dash at them, looping jets of fire, moving platform blocks... it gets pretty chaotic. Surprisingly, the extra world doesn't really add anything new in the way of puzzle components! Instead it just continues to use the ones it already has, again in new and confusing ways. It's one thing to move a single platform with a switch, it's another to move an entire maze around your protagonist!
![[Image: y31J5ay.png]](https://i.imgur.com/y31J5ay.png)
The bosses, as well, tend towards puzzle bosses rather than raw fights. The first two bosses are entirely puzzles, where they each have a unique defeat condition and it's on you to solve just what that is. The third boss is a survival boss, and while both the fourth and fifth bosses include fighting elements and a life bar, they're still primarily about solving puzzles to either move from phase to phase or even to damage the boss. This game is puzzle through and through, and really, that's for the best!
![[Image: PtnfKXT.png]](https://i.imgur.com/PtnfKXT.png)
Despite what the name being a portmanteau of Nitori and Metroid may imply... the game's weakness, in my view, is that it doesn't have much in the way of exploration and nonlinearity. All of the worlds (with two exceptions) are about progression rather than exploration, and each world is pretty self-contained. Once you've gotten a world cleared, all you need to go back for is bonus items that just unlock extra tidbits and the extra world, rather than having to go back to make huge leaps in where you're going. Because of this, the game loses some of that sense of opening up, rather just always sending you forward. I wouldn't really judge it for this if it wasn't right in the title!
![[Image: 1FbcFTn.png]](https://i.imgur.com/1FbcFTn.png)
Nitroid's one of those games where I wish Desunoya did more games that reused the mechanics they have - usually all their games are one and done in that way. Unfortunately, it's been seven years, and no sign of a Nitroid 2 yet.
THE VERDICT
A solid experience, with a few flaws that are less difficulty related and more just... there's potential there that doesn't really get used, in the idea of a Metroidvania puzzle platformer. Rather than running into simple barriers that can't be passed yet, imagine running into puzzles you can't solve yet, letting you put your brain to work both to figure out what you need and how you need it! But the linearity of the game takes away from that. Still, though, Nitroid's a very fun game and worth all the effort put in to reach the end. I give it 4 and a half Reimus out of 5.
So let's look at it in some more detail
Nitroid is a game that relies largely on the tools you get and how to use them for the puzzles around you - sure, there's plenty of different gimmicks added in as you go, but it really all boils down t o figuring out the tools. Whether it's a drill that can get horizontal distance, shoes that make you run really fast, or a jet to fly around with, you'll find that the tools are all a lot more versatile than they might seem at first glance. Use the drill to survive a long fall that'd dump you onto spikes, or use the bombs to solve a puzzle about dropping enemies into the right spot for platforming - these are very clearly the core of Nitroid.
The world does a good job of adding gimmicks as you go, though! Starting with simple material like timed switches and switch blocks in the first world, by the fourth world it's escalated to adding blocks that only break if you dash at them, looping jets of fire, moving platform blocks... it gets pretty chaotic. Surprisingly, the extra world doesn't really add anything new in the way of puzzle components! Instead it just continues to use the ones it already has, again in new and confusing ways. It's one thing to move a single platform with a switch, it's another to move an entire maze around your protagonist!
The bosses, as well, tend towards puzzle bosses rather than raw fights. The first two bosses are entirely puzzles, where they each have a unique defeat condition and it's on you to solve just what that is. The third boss is a survival boss, and while both the fourth and fifth bosses include fighting elements and a life bar, they're still primarily about solving puzzles to either move from phase to phase or even to damage the boss. This game is puzzle through and through, and really, that's for the best!
Despite what the name being a portmanteau of Nitori and Metroid may imply... the game's weakness, in my view, is that it doesn't have much in the way of exploration and nonlinearity. All of the worlds (with two exceptions) are about progression rather than exploration, and each world is pretty self-contained. Once you've gotten a world cleared, all you need to go back for is bonus items that just unlock extra tidbits and the extra world, rather than having to go back to make huge leaps in where you're going. Because of this, the game loses some of that sense of opening up, rather just always sending you forward. I wouldn't really judge it for this if it wasn't right in the title!
Nitroid's one of those games where I wish Desunoya did more games that reused the mechanics they have - usually all their games are one and done in that way. Unfortunately, it's been seven years, and no sign of a Nitroid 2 yet.
THE VERDICT
A solid experience, with a few flaws that are less difficulty related and more just... there's potential there that doesn't really get used, in the idea of a Metroidvania puzzle platformer. Rather than running into simple barriers that can't be passed yet, imagine running into puzzles you can't solve yet, letting you put your brain to work both to figure out what you need and how you need it! But the linearity of the game takes away from that. Still, though, Nitroid's a very fun game and worth all the effort put in to reach the end. I give it 4 and a half Reimus out of 5.
![[Image: NZRK1uk.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/NZRK1uk.gif)