While I’ll readily admit they’ve never been my speed, there’s no doubt that both the Mega Man and Gunvolt series have had plenty of success and quite a fan following. With a style of platforming and action that are just different from the norm, and often quite a bit more flashy, I’ve always gotten the impression they’re the sorts of games you’re either really into or perhaps not that enamored with. I just happen to be on the less sold side of the fence, though I’ve come to at least enjoy elements of their gameplay.

Berserk Boy absolutely seems to be channeling that same style of stage design and intense excitement, though much more on the melee-oriented end of the spectrum, with you jumping around and generally attacking from any and all sides… and that’s just when you’re getting started. As you make your way through each of the game’s 15-ish stages and defeat bosses you’ll continue to accrue new orbs which will power you up in a variety of ways and a very Mega Man-esque style. As you’ll need to leverage a variety of these powers to get at everything hidden in the stages you can thus expect a fair bit of backtracking though.

I’d definitely say that’s one of the things I’m less thrilled with here, that especially as you juice yourself up over time, the situations where you’ll often continue to encounter the same tired more mob-like enemies can get tedious. Like when mopping the floor with enemies in the situations where you’ll need to defend your base. Another area where perhaps this is more of a problem for me than most, is that some of the controls just didn’t click well for me in terms of how they were executed. Using many forms and powers ended up feeling like second nature but there were just some attacks and combinations you’ll need to use that didn’t feel as sensible. Last, while there’s no doubt that the colorful visuals and effects look pretty good, since some Gunvolt comparisons seem fair I didn’t feel like Berserk Boy got to quite the same level of epic visuals overall.

In the end, I have no doubt that fans who love the Mega Man series, or simply get excited by solid action games that look pretty amazing, will be thrilled with it. It’s obvious that the team behind the game are well on their way to making great content, and the asking price seems more than reasonable as well. If you’re feeling the itch for some colorful value-added 16-bit excitement, it could be a real treat.