There’s something to be said for indie games that, at a glance, may feel like they’re taking shortcuts, but ultimately prove they’re merely employing smart design that they’re able to execute effectively. As you may have guessed I’d consider Super Mega Zero to be in that class, utilizing a variety of numbers and mathematical symbols as characters, power-ups, and other elements that you’ll need to work with in order to clear some clever and increasingly-challenging platforming levels. While, at first, your character turning into various numbers you move over may seem odd or arbitrary but once you understand that then represents the number of moves you have to work with like your jump or your directed dash everything becomes pretty clear. While early on there’s some wiggle room for not making the most of every move you have to work with it doesn’t take long before every mistake will cost you, but thankfully the wait before you get to start again is pretty well non-existent so you won’t lose any of your energy or momentum waiting on load screens. What I consider to truly be the icing on the cake are the periodic old-school shooter interludes that show off a bit, showing an ability to create just as compelling an arcade shooter experience as a classic platforming on. Carrying a budget price this is a smart and well-designed title well worth taking a moment to consider as you look past its somewhat simplistic overall visual design.