As a Mega Man copycat, it gets the job done. You get a new special ability after completing each stage, some of which are necessary to traverse certain obstacles and make some bosses easier (most of which are easy enough as is, though). You can also find heart containers to increase your hit points from 3 to a maximum of 5. The game overall is fairly easy until you get to Stage 7, and that's where you really start to notice the cracks in the level design and mechanics.
Stage 7 is straight up broken. A vertically scrolling level of platform jumping that seems longer than it actually is because of annoyingly difficult it is. Like with a lot of other platformers of this era, there is a knockback effect when you take damage, which basically requires you to get through this level without getting hit because that knockback will just knock you off the platform and out of bounds. Trying to hit enemies while making some of these jumps is way harder than it should be. To add insult to injury, they later add these rockets that come from below which explode and also damage you. If you somehow manage to make it to the top without save states, prepare to do it all over again, because the boss will probably destroy you on your first few attempts as you try to learn its attack patterns. There's a password system, but it only takes you to level 7, so good luck trying to beat this game legit. Losing to the final boss in Stage 9 just takes you back to the start of the level, which is probably the second hardest stage in the game. So yeah, fun... But what about lives?
This game has a very strange way of earning lives. Instead of having them placed in certain spots in each level like Mega Man, you have to win them in these mini games at the end of each stage. Sounds simple in concept, but you can only take a crack at these mini games if you have enough coins. These coins can only be earned from defeating enemies with a charged shot. You basically just gotta play each stage holding that fire button waiting for an enemy to pop up. And playing these mini games doesn't guarantee that you will win anything. It's just a gambling system and it sucks. I only ever managed to play any of these mini games three times. The first two times won me nothing. Then I got 6 lives on my third attempt. I would have had more coins to try more times, but I was too busy trying to survive by spamming my attack sometimes that I didn't want to risk trying to land charged shots on most enemies.
Also tangent, but why in the unholy mother of Alucard does touching any surface when in bat form cause you to revert back? I can't tell you how many times I died just trying to fly over some obstacles only to touch a wall and fall to my death because bat form controls like you're on invisible ice. Also, would have been nice to select abilities from a pause menu like Mega Man, because sometimes you want to switch in the middle of battle, and you'll take damage trying to scroll through it.
At least levels 1-6 are mostly fair. Some still have some annoying sections, but nothing too bad. I would say I enjoyed these levels. They're not great, but they're competent enough. But all the issues I had with its design, along with the rage factor that comes with the stages afterwards, downgrades this game from what would otherwise be a solid Mega Man clone to a mediocre platformer.
Stage 7 is straight up broken. A vertically scrolling level of platform jumping that seems longer than it actually is because of annoyingly difficult it is. Like with a lot of other platformers of this era, there is a knockback effect when you take damage, which basically requires you to get through this level without getting hit because that knockback will just knock you off the platform and out of bounds. Trying to hit enemies while making some of these jumps is way harder than it should be. To add insult to injury, they later add these rockets that come from below which explode and also damage you. If you somehow manage to make it to the top without save states, prepare to do it all over again, because the boss will probably destroy you on your first few attempts as you try to learn its attack patterns. There's a password system, but it only takes you to level 7, so good luck trying to beat this game legit. Losing to the final boss in Stage 9 just takes you back to the start of the level, which is probably the second hardest stage in the game. So yeah, fun... But what about lives?
This game has a very strange way of earning lives. Instead of having them placed in certain spots in each level like Mega Man, you have to win them in these mini games at the end of each stage. Sounds simple in concept, but you can only take a crack at these mini games if you have enough coins. These coins can only be earned from defeating enemies with a charged shot. You basically just gotta play each stage holding that fire button waiting for an enemy to pop up. And playing these mini games doesn't guarantee that you will win anything. It's just a gambling system and it sucks. I only ever managed to play any of these mini games three times. The first two times won me nothing. Then I got 6 lives on my third attempt. I would have had more coins to try more times, but I was too busy trying to survive by spamming my attack sometimes that I didn't want to risk trying to land charged shots on most enemies.
Also tangent, but why in the unholy mother of Alucard does touching any surface when in bat form cause you to revert back? I can't tell you how many times I died just trying to fly over some obstacles only to touch a wall and fall to my death because bat form controls like you're on invisible ice. Also, would have been nice to select abilities from a pause menu like Mega Man, because sometimes you want to switch in the middle of battle, and you'll take damage trying to scroll through it.
At least levels 1-6 are mostly fair. Some still have some annoying sections, but nothing too bad. I would say I enjoyed these levels. They're not great, but they're competent enough. But all the issues I had with its design, along with the rage factor that comes with the stages afterwards, downgrades this game from what would otherwise be a solid Mega Man clone to a mediocre platformer.