Mighty Gunvolt Burst, originally only available on the Nintendo 3DS system, made its way over to the big brother of handheld consoles — the Nintendo Switch, and finally picked up a few much-needed updates this year. Not only is it available for purchase, but anyone can download the demo and earn a few bonuses. Not only will you get to save your progress and transfer your file over to the main game from the demo, you’ll also unlock a paid DLC character for free.
The character in question? It’s Ekoro — heroine from the Gal Gun, a series of ridiculous light gun games, and later made the jump to Azure Striker Gunvolt, the predecessor to Mighty Gunvolt Burst. These games have a long history as indie cross-over machines, and if you didn’t already realize; Mighty Gunvolt Burst is actually a cross-over with Mighty No. 9. The original game was considered — politely — less than stellar, but this iteration is a fantastically fun true iteration to the Mega Man lineage. It’s nice that Mighty No. 9 can avoid being the butt of every internet joke for a little while, at least.
Ekoro retails for $1.99 normally, along with a series of additional DLC characters. All of them are set at the same price, so if you miss the free give-away period, you’re not out too much. The other characters are Call, Joule, RAY, Copen, and Kurona. Call is another Mighty No. 9 alumni.
The game is a blisteringly-fast 16-bit platformer, with deep character customization and a variety of playable heroes you can pick. Like Mega Man, you’ll have a series of bosses you can face, each with their own level, all that you can choose to complete in any order. Each character even has their own unique gimmick — Beck can change the type of bullet he fires, while Gunvolt unleashes special moves that use his SP meter. They even have different movement styles and progression.