It's essentially one step forward and one step back from the Genesis original. You no longer have to switch between free-shot or fixed since holding the shoulder button allows you to shoot and fire in the same direction which is a huge improvement. The visuals once again show that Treasure knew how to push sprite-based games to their absolute limit with the amount of scaling and rotation going on.
That being said, they decided to throw in one of the worst vehicle sections I have ever seen in the form of stage 2's helicopter. Thank god it is easy to exploit by simply staying to the right hand side of the screen because I didn't want to deal with the clanky, janky controls. They could have just recycled the shm'up bit from the original game (which was totally fine) and it would have been better. I also personally think Black's stage in this game is significantly more annoying as there are several sections in which it is very easy to get knocked into pits and get yeeted back to the lower half of the board. Not as bad as the helicopter section, but still pretty stupid.
Some here have said they didn't like the Flicky throwback section in the first proper stage. I actually quite enjoyed it and kinda wish there would have been more classic IP throwbacks sprinkled in.
The game is arguably shorter than the Genesis predecessor, which is to be expected. It is also, gripes about the infamous helicopter section and Black's casino aside, far easier. The final boss was kind of a joke- you can easily just use the fireball weapon and shoot up while tanking hits on normal and still win. It was also a lot of fun exploiting Orange on the second bout with him- you can literally just slide into him over and over and boom he's gone.
While I had a good time with the game, I wouldn't say it's as fully realized or polished as the original. Had they just focused on the run and gun gameplay with the improved controls, this could have been a masterpiece. A real case of missed potential here.
That being said, they decided to throw in one of the worst vehicle sections I have ever seen in the form of stage 2's helicopter. Thank god it is easy to exploit by simply staying to the right hand side of the screen because I didn't want to deal with the clanky, janky controls. They could have just recycled the shm'up bit from the original game (which was totally fine) and it would have been better. I also personally think Black's stage in this game is significantly more annoying as there are several sections in which it is very easy to get knocked into pits and get yeeted back to the lower half of the board. Not as bad as the helicopter section, but still pretty stupid.
Some here have said they didn't like the Flicky throwback section in the first proper stage. I actually quite enjoyed it and kinda wish there would have been more classic IP throwbacks sprinkled in.
The game is arguably shorter than the Genesis predecessor, which is to be expected. It is also, gripes about the infamous helicopter section and Black's casino aside, far easier. The final boss was kind of a joke- you can easily just use the fireball weapon and shoot up while tanking hits on normal and still win. It was also a lot of fun exploiting Orange on the second bout with him- you can literally just slide into him over and over and boom he's gone.
While I had a good time with the game, I wouldn't say it's as fully realized or polished as the original. Had they just focused on the run and gun gameplay with the improved controls, this could have been a masterpiece. A real case of missed potential here.