Beat on a Nintendo 3DS; fully completed on a Windows PC. An 8-bit 2D platformer based on a phenomenal Mega Man Zero-inspired series, a mediocre Mega Man clone, and a porn game series?!?! What could possibly go wrong?!?!
It's... okay. It's pretty short but what's here is good enough for a coffee break. The levels are fun, I like most of the characters, and the soundtrack is really, really good. My main issue is the length and the bosses. You can 100% the game in 3 HOURS, which (at least in my opinion), is not enough for a $5 game. Hell, if you don't care about doing everything (a relatively simple process by modern game standards), you can beat the game in 30 MINUTES, which is absurd. And once again it's $5. Sure, it was originally bundled with a $15 eShop game (Azure Striker Gunvolt), but still! And while there's DLC (the warp zone), those will add about 30 minutes I'd say. Once I beat the game, I just wanted more. Oh, and before I forget, the bosses really suck. Most of them are button-mashing tests, and they can be brain-numbingly easy, or rage-inducing. Especially the DLC bosses.

Beat it on a Windows PC via Steam; did Hard Mode, too. I'm pretty mixed on iX2. On one hand, it's probably the most interesting score system in the series. You can take as many hits as you want. But if you die or use the infinite heal skill, it resets. Get over 1000 points and you get an infinite dash. This is probably the most fun the game gets. However, what if you don't care about kudos and want to get through the game easily? Literally just spam the infinite heal and you'll experience the easiest platformer ever. There could've been a cooldown or something, but NO. Furthermore, the movement is generally unfun at the start. For example: The dash-tag from GV2 no longer works; now it's a shop upgrade. This completely threw off the flow of the gameplay and made it annoying to control. This sounds cool until HARD MODE. Hard Mode takes the shop away, and your kudos now disappear in one hit. Inti Creates made it easier in a patch, giving you infinite heals, but either way, Hard Mode SUCKS. And you need to do it for the "true" ending. Hard Mode isn't even that much harder; Gunvolt 1 nailed Hard Mode. It didn't limit the player's mobility. But because iX2 has movement upgrades in the shop, it's completely unfun to control. I can't recommend this game. While the platforming is solid, the bosses are amazing, and it looks great, but of the mentioned issues, I can't recommend iX2. Play iX1 instead if you want a better version of this game.

Completed on a New 3DS. The fact that I had to cheat in order to even beat the game, lest I grind hours just to beat it speaks volumes about this game. (and yes, in 2017 i beat this game without spending a single cent, but it took about 30 hours iirc) Sure, pre-2023, you could buy gem apples, but now that the eShop is down you can't do that. Basically your only option is to save edit now. Even then the game is pretty mid after that. It's the same shit over and over again. It's fun for an hour but quickly becomes boring as you can easily buy the best gear and whoop ass. Not recommended.

Dropped on New 3DS. Yes, you’re about to read an unironic review on this version. I don’t think I’ll be the only one to say that this is absolutely the worst version of Minecraft. But first, what does the New 3DS Edition bring to the table?
Mario Mashup Pack - Already available on Switch and Wii U, and runs like hot ASS at that. It has a 30fps cap, but manages to run even worse than that; usually 20fps at the best. Sure, it’s a handheld console from 2014, but still.

2016x2016 world size - This is a legitimate knock against the old-school console editions. Consoles had a limit of 1024x1024; at least every console edition minus Gen 8. The New 3DS edition features a unique size of 2016x2016; bigger than the old-gen console editions.

Bottom screen - Similar to Terraria, New 3DS Edition uses the touchscreen for inventory, maps are displayed on the bottom screen, and the menus are… different. Not in a bad way; it just looks oddly interesting to me.

Updates all the way to 2019 - Not much to say here.

That’s it. There were literally no bonuses other than that, based on my experience with the game (and also checking the wiki). Now let’s talk about the negatives; a majority of this review.

The performance is a NIGHTMARE. The game has a 60fps cap in regular gameplay and 30fps in the mashup packs. However, it rarely manages to even GRACE 50fps, let alone 40fps. This isn’t necessarily bad, but this is a “death by a thoushand papercuts” deal.

The controls aren’t that great. The face buttons work fine but the C Stick is not suited for this game. This is a criticism of the New 3DS as a whole, but it’s not good for camera controls. This ultimately kills this game as you can barely aim your shots.

You know the main aspect of the 3DS? The 3D slider? It’s not present here, basically making this port entirely WORTHLESS. Why was this port even made?

Minecraft on 3DS is bad. It’s not a good port and it’s controls are frustrating. Don’t even bother with it as a joke. It’s an annoying experience.

Shelved on PC via Steam. I beat Hero Story but from what I played, Dark Story seems more of the same. Didn't like it much. Here's what I liked:
- Speed stages
- Soundtrack
- Rail grinding
That's it. Those are the only things that I thought were unambiguously good (for the most part). Everything else ranges from mediocre to bad.
- The level design. Most of it was bland and frustrating, minus the speed stages of course, but even then they get their share of BS. I found enemies would literally drop down from the sky and it felt quite annoying, especially for A-ranks.
- Treause hunting. Minus the first two stages with Knuckles, and the first stage with Rouge, all of the levels are garbage. They're way too big and confusing to be fun. Oh, and not to mention the nerfed radar that no one asked for.
- Mech stages. The challenges in these stages are to not fall asleep.
- Bosses. They all suck and aren't fun to fight.
- Nerfed spindash. Why.
- The collision is quite iffy, especially in the mech stages.
- The audio mixing is AWFUL. I genuinely had to turn my headphones off which sucks because I really enjoyed the soundtrack.
I genuinely have no clue as to why this game is considered so good. My experience was quite frustrating and not something I can recommend. I liked SA1 a lot more than this one. Overall, it's pretty mid.