Spent a bit of time playing a game called Golden Force this evening. I'd seen this pop up in Amazon recommendations a few times, then a few people I knew happened to mention it, so I thought I'd give it a shot — at under £25 for a cartridge copy on Switch I was more than happy to give it a chance.
For some reason I had it in my head that it was an open-structure 2D platformer in the Shantae mould, but it's actually a level-based platformer/beat 'em up type-thing that is seriously challenging, but rather rewarding — particularly once you get your head around some of its mechanics.
There are four playable characters; I haven't determined if there's much of a different between them yet, but each of them are able to attack with a combo, do a launcher attack, do a dash attack sideways or straight upwards (which can also be used to get around) and slide. They can also do a charged "crush" attack that will bash enemies off in a direction of your choice — assuming you don't kill them with the power of the blow, that is.
Each level has a number of hidden items, Super Mario style, and getting to these is a case of both exploring the level thoroughly and getting the hang of various mechanics. There's one in the second stage, for example, that requires you to launch an enemy into it to grab it, and another one that I couldn't figure out how to get without taking damage from falling into a pit — something to do with the upwards air-dash, I suspect.
These hidden items are used to upgrade the characters' combos and maximum health, and you also collect coins throughout the levels — with more coins exploding out of enemies the higher your combo count is. Coins can be used for temporary items such as power-ups that can be triggered at will, or an instant respawn to give you a second chance in a tricky stage.
I've only played three stages so far but they've been a lot of fun, and the boss fight you do in the intro sequence suggests there's going to be some fun boss encounters along the way, too. There's nothing much in the way of story, but given that the game is very much going for a sort of "32-bit era arcade" feel, that doesn't really matter too much; it's simply a fun game that I probably wouldn't have tried had a few people not mentioned it in passing to me recently, so thank you to those who did!
Doubtless I'll have more to say on that soon, but suffice to say for now that I'm glad I picked it up, and as an arcadey-style game it's something fun to have on the go when I'm in the mood for some action rather than having to think too hard. Always good to have something like that ready to go!
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