[Beyond PlayStation] Mighty Gunvolt Burst Review

Mighty Gunvolt Burst from Inti Creates is a sequel to Mighty Gunvolt, a demake companion game released alongside Azure Striker Gunvolt on the 3DS which takes inspiration from the beloved Mega Man series. Read our Mighty Gunvolt Burst review to learn more about this fun game!

Mighty Gunvolt was a short but fun 2D action platformer that paid homage to old-school Mega Man releases while also doing its own thing. It eventually got some DLC extra stages with bonus bosses from Mighty No 9 before that game released, as well as a boss from Gal Gun and one from Azure Striker Gunvolt. This sequel once again brings us some solid 2D gameplay and the option to control either Beck from Mighty Number 9 or Gunvolt from the Azure Striker Gunvolt series.

Right from the start, something you’ll notice is that the graphics have been completely revamped for this new entry, taking the game to something that looks as if it was set between what the NES and the SNES could do. For comparison, here is a screen from Mighty Gunvolt on the Nintendo 3DS.

What is different in Mighty Gunvolt Burst aside from the graphics? For this new release, Inti Creates decided to spice things up with the Burst Combo, which rewards you for destroying enemies (and bosses!) from close range. You’ll know you’ve made a Burst attack properly since your enemies will explode and the word “Burst!!” will appear on the screen. If you can make another Burst attack after that, you’ll be able to start a Burst Chain that will greatly increase your overall score. At the end of a stage you’ll be graded on your score, so the longer your Burst Chain, the better the odds of getting the best grade possible.

Beck will gain access to different bullet types as you progress in the game, from Fire and Drill to Gyro and Spark, to name a few. You will also be able to find a special module that will allow Beck to air dash to quickly traverse each stage – or to reach solid ground before he falls to his death! Gunvolt, on the other hand, feels a bit more like how he plays in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, with abilities that cost SP which will charge automatically over time. These abilities include Astrasphere, Luxcalibur, Voltaic Chains and Crashbolt.

After completing a stage, you’ll get a chance to obtain an item as a reward for your effort. Each stage has more than one item up for grabs, so if you want to get them all you’ll have to beat the stage again… and again. These items are definitely worth the effort since you’ll be able to use them to deeply customize your character’s attacks. The more Cost Points (CP) you have, the more you can adjust a shot’s trajectory, angle, size, effect after hitting an enemy, and more! You’ll also gain extra CP as one of the reward items when completing a stage, so replaying a stage a couple of times is definitely advised.

As mentioned above, the customization system uses CP to equip more items without exceeding your total available CP. Things start out simple, but the more you progress in the game and the more items you obtain at the end of each stage or find hidden within a stage, the more variety you’ll have to be able to find the perfect combination for your playing style. CP can also be used to increase your attack and defense stats, or to unlock diagonal shooting or powerful charge shots.

If you’re the kind of gamer who wants to collect everything in a game, you’ll be spending some extra time with Mighty Gunvolt Burst to find all the Pixel Stickers in the game! These are 8-Bit squared representations of characters in the Mighty Gunvolt style and are available either as rare drops after defeating enemies or as hidden items.

As you play, you will find food either just sitting there for you to grab it or hidden inside breakable boxes. You can use said food to recover some of your health, something you should certainly take advantage of right before you get to fight a boss. But if you save the food you collect until you beat a stage, each piece will be converted into bonus point which will be added to your total score tally.

Mighty Gunvolt Burst also uses the Nintendo Switch’s HD Rumble to let you know when you’re getting closer to one of the hidden items or areas in the game, so be sure to pay attention to that as you explore each level! If this seems to be too good to be true, you’d be correct, since to be able to use this HD Rumble feature you’ll first need to use your CP to activate the Dowsing ability. But fear not as it only cost 100 CP, so you’ll certainly have enough CP left to customize your character.

The game also includes a list of Challenges to complete. These range from finishing the first stage or defeating all the Mighty Numbers to clearing the game in less than an hour, clearing a stage without taking any damage or getting an S rank on a stage. To clear the game in an hour, you’ll need to avoid most enemies and items, so that you can get to the end of a stage in a couple of minutes. Each stage will usually take you a handful of minutes to complete, but searching for hidden items increases that by a minute or two.

Overall, I had a blast with Mighty Gunvolt Burst. It’s a very polished 2D action platformer with some fun level designs and mighty bosses to battle. I hope Inti Creates releases some extra stages and bosses by way of DLC because I can’t wait to play more of Mighty Gunvolt Burst!

Disclaimer
This Mighty Gunvolt Burst review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Inti Creates.