Venture Kid - A Noteworthy Mega Man-like

 

Initially released in 2016, Venture Kid from developer Snikkabo AS on mobile platforms before jumping to proper gaming platforms in 2018 on Steam and then a year later in 2019 on the Switch. And while its mobile origins are very much apparent in how Venture Kid actually moves and jumps--which honestly could be more or less due to the dev wanting to differentiate it from Mega Man--the game still feels perfectly at home with an actual controller, save for one small little hitch.

In Venture Kid, you play as Andy in his fight against the evil Doctor Teklov. You can choose to go through the eight stages in any order via Classic Mode, or you can hit them in sequential order in Adventure Mode. The choice is yours.

Along the way, you'll perform the usual actions expected from a Mega Man-like. Shooting sets of 3 lemons from your blaster, dodging and destroying enemies and bosses, then repeating it in the next stage using the new weapon you gained.

Special weapons aren't earned from the bosses themselves but rather are given to Andy by your Uncle upon defeating the stage boss. And they're all pretty useful, too, except for the rocket that fires off at an angle. 

Stage designs are really well done and offer a bunch of run, gun, and platforming action to satisfy anyone looking for that Mega Man kick that Capcom is refusing to give us. Many of the stages branch off to seemingly dead ends that oftentimes require the use of a specific weapon or through hitting a switch elsewhere in the stage. These would often lead to one of the eight hidden golden treasures that would be needed to fight the final boss and see the true ending.

Boss battles were fairly simplistic and typically lasted less than a minute each, but they were fun and never felt too difficult or poorly designed, at least in how you fought them. Design-wise, there's very little, if any, explanation as to why you're fighting these random miners or a bobcat with no noteworthy design features. That aspect of the game felt oddly random compared to how tight everything else felt.

My only major gripe with the game would be that Andy simply jumps too high. The controls are tight, but man, you can tell from the moment you heat the apex of a full jump that this game was designed initially for mobile platforms.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the game. It's nothing spectacular, but if you want a well-built, snappy 8-bit Mega Man-like, then you can absolutely do much worse.