This game really blew me away by how immediately charming and fun it was. I just wish I knew what the hell anyone was saying.

It's a bit on the easy side, but it's just fun. You have your basic combos, a sweep kick, a chargeable projectile and a special move which varies between the two characters. Higher scores reward you with level-ups, which give you an extra hit point, and mayyyybe increase damage, I'm not sure. It's basic arcade fun, and I think the increased HP was more interesting than just giving the player an extra life or something.

What really kept me glued to this game wasn't its complexity, but just how fun it was to beat shit up; you were in no way limited to stopping in front of an enemy to finish it off, you could always just knock them into something else, keep them stuck to a corner while you wail on them, shove them into a stage hazard, or drop them into a pit. What this game lacks in complexity, it makes up for in combat freedom. And god, does it feel good. Co-op really tops it off, and the secret super moves that Co-op gives you are an EXTREMELY welcome addition!

This is actually one of my new favorite Super Nintendo games. You don't get to Shoryuken stuff in just any platformer.



Oh, and you can totally cheese half the game by just crouching before finishing your jab combo. It'll reset the chain and put you back on the first jab, so you'll never do the uppercut to knock them down. You just keep punching until the enemy in front of you dies. I'm not sure anyone played the game enough to know that, but... hey, it's a thing you can do! Reminds me of the exploits in Final Fight and Streets of Rage.

Jump attacks also are infinitely cancellable into themselves, so if you're next to an airborne opponent then the damage you can deal is directly proportionate to how fast you can mash. Crazy stuff.

So far, enjoying this one a lot more than I thought I would. Started it based on a friend's recommendation, spent most of my time with it figuring out how the hell I was supposed to comfortably map this game's controls.

I respect the hell out of what this game was going for, and found the dialogue to be surprisingly charming in its snark... but, man, this is one of the hardest to handle games I've ever played.

It doesn't feel so much like it's badly implemented, and more that I just... don't get it, yet. And that's fine! With a little practice, I'm sure it'll feel intuitive, genius, and like some kind of hidden holy grail of a game that I wish more games would control like. I know I'm not usually one for the conventions of FPS games, so this was a nice change of pace in movement that I do honestly wish more developers would strive for.

But right now, getting shot from the sides makes me freak out, fail miserably, and take a minute to consider jumping off of the nearest bridge.

I like that, though. It just makes me want to learn it even more.

So, I came back to this one more recently to commit to Hard Mode. I enjoyed my first playthrough, but I didn't really "get" the new mechanics and the balance of them- while I definitely had the initial highs of more surface-level stuff like, say;
"Holy shit I have a chainsaw gun!"
"Holy shit, you can shoulder check the bosses too???"
"Oh my god I got a MOTHER FUCKING GATLING GUN"

I knew I wasn't good at the game, and I wasn't sure how much of it was really an improvement over the previous games. Most people weren't happy with the changes from the previous games, because 1 airdash as opposed to 3 is, well, limiting. And I can see how that'd be frustrating if the new mechanics to replace it don't offer much depth to make up for it.

Now that I've gotten a few X ranks though, I dunno. I'm singing a different tune. Copen doesn't feel nerfed at all.

I think.... he's simply just been rebalanced into a character whose strengths have to be earned. They realized that the airdash mechanic was a little bit excessive, and they wanted to encourage more aggressive play.
GV2 and IX1 Copen have a very passive playstyle where you can kinda just bounce your way around the arena and float just out of harm's way. You were always locked on to the opponent, and always capable of stacking on extra layers of damage with your EX weapons. Stellar Spark gave you that reliably from the start, but bosses granted you even more ridiculous shit like the twin sabers in GV2 or... well, literally anything in IX1, really.

IX2 sidesteps that in favor of the Razor Wheel. Racking up points requires that you get in an enemy's face and slash them up. Whether that's through your triple slash combo, bashing them out of their attack animations, or locking on for safer homing shots; you HAVE to find a safe angle to approach, and you need to find a way to focus your damage before an enemy can hit you. Damage output is high, and you're rewarded for your efficiency- every quick kill nets you 30 points, so if anything, you're scoring HIGHER than in previous games as long as you're just careful about spacing.

It's when you finally get 1000 and go into Overdrive that the game opens up. While Copen starts with 1 airdash, once he enters Overdrive.... he has a meter that grants him infinite airdashes for a set amount of time. The amount of flexibility he has in Overdrive is absolutely NUTS, and when paired with the significantly higher damage output of both your Razor Wheel and this game's EX weapons... it's really a treat to breeze through levels ripping through enemies like nothing. Infinite Anchor Nexus + Whirling Chopper covers so much ground that it doesn't even feel fair anymore. But with the way the levels are designed and how much more capable some enemies are, you still have that routing aspect, so nothing's really been lost.

I get that it kind of sucks that you have to earn it now, but I feel like the game gave you all of the tools necessary to succeed. You just have to apply them.

This is my favorite of Inti's new games. The plotline is absolute nonsense and I don't... really think I care about Gunvolt lore anymore? But the gameplay, the graphics, the music and the stage / boss design all feel top notch, better than anything that they've offered in previous games... or even in GV3.

Really looking forward to an eventual IX3. I HOPE they build on the Razor Wheel, but I'm not sure if they'll go in that direction after the reception they got...

One of the surprisingly common occurrences of a Konami game being better on NES than in the arcades.

Found this out in the wild while on vacation, tried it out, and was sorely disappointed that it didn't have super shots. Or boss fights. What the hell? Like, half of the cool things the game had going for it were new to the NES version. Managing your super shots and knowing when to fire them to pierce through armors and melt whatever is in front of you felt so... natural to the game's essence that I honestly couldn't believe it wasn't there from the start.

I guess it's impressive that it's a 1983 entry though.
Oh well. Love this game, still haven't actually gotten around to finishing it.

I genuinely think that this is one of the best fighting games ever made.

The PC / Switch ports having local multiplayer is a godsend. I had so much fun playing this even in singleplayer sessions, but I can finally play it locally and show people why I love this game so much. Three fighting styles, three options for team composition, and every character has a mesh of some of the best moves they've ever had spanning their series' history. Very difficult game NOT to love, with just how flexible and immediately gratifying its gameplay is.

Unlocking things in the original version of the game was wack, though.