Gunlord

Originally released in 2012 on the Neo-Geo AES, MVS, and Sega Dreamcast, and finally an upgraded version to the Nintendo Switch in 2019, Gunlord is German developer NG:Dev's third game and a direct sequel to their first game Last Hope. If you're not a Neo-Geo fan you may not have heard of this developer, which is understandable. For the last 15 years they have been the last bastion of developers that focus primarily on this antique piece gaming hardware. While the developer has become infamous for delays and a dearth of communication to their customers, they always deliver. Each new release by NG:Dev is met with a fair amount of enthusiasm from the Neo-Geo community who is starved for new experiences on their favorite gaming hardware. While not all of NG:Dev's releases over the years have been home runs, the majority of them are well-designed experiences that either pay homage to SNK games of the past, or provide new twists and experiences on old ideas that surprise and delight long-time Neo-Geo fans. 

Gunlord is a special game on the Neo-Geo because there really is nothing else like it on the hardware. The Neo-Geo is not known to be the hardware of choice for platforming game fans, so when Gunlord was released fans clambered to secure a limited release copy on either AES or MVS before supplies (quickly) dried up. Gunlord follows in the footsteps of Factor 5's classic platforming series called Turrican. These games have been lovingly dubbed "Euro Platformers" because they all carry similar tropes like stage driven design, large worlds to explore, an emphasis on exploration and scoring, and some sort of gun/weapon that can fire in multiple directions. Euro Platformers are kind of the middle ground between a traditional, linear platformer and a Metroidvania - with a bit of run-n-gun thrown in. Given the exploratory nature of these games, Gunlord is one of the very few home-centric games on the Neo-Geo as there is no way a game with this length and depth could have survived in the arcade. It's a shame, really, that SNK never created any exclusive AES/home games.

As a long-time Neo-Geo and platforming game fan, Gunlord has provided me with an experience I thought I'd never have on my favorite piece of gaming hardware. That said, despite the front half of the game providing some unique platforming fun, the back half of the game is slap-dash at best. Gunlord is at once a refreshing change of pace on hardware dominated by fighting games, but is also one of the most disappointing games I've played in recent memory because its potential fizzles out about half way through the adventure.

Gunlord's story picks up right where NG: Dev's first game, Last Hope, left off. You are Gordian, the newlywed husband of Vanessa, the protagonist of Last Hope. After the events of Last Hope, Vanessa went missing in action and a new alien menace has arisen to threaten human civilization across the galaxy. It is up to Gordian to defeat the new alien threat called The Master and find out what happened to Vanessa. This isn't the most engaging or original plotline in video games, but given the focus on arcade action and scoring, it's understandable. The dialog throughout the game is pretty great, though. For example, at one point in the intro sequence Gordian calls his captors "Bitches!" before he blows off their heads (in beautifully illustrated pixel art).

Gordian is a nimble fellow who dons a power suit that is not unlike Samus Aran's from Metroid; only, it's a bit more animalistic in its overall design. This suit provides augments to Gordian's physical prowess while also protecting him from danger. It also has the capability to adapt to the different weapon types Gordian discovers on his journey. As with any good platforming game, the player is able to control Gordian with little effort given how tight and responsive the controls are.

Gordian will always do what you want him to do, and any mistake you make is typically your fault. Jumps are variable depending on how long you hold down the jump button, and it is easy to control his jump arch to help reach seemingly impossible crevices hidden around each stage. Gordian moves at a decent pace that never feels slow, but also never too fast. It really is the perfect movement speed to navigate the maze-like levels throughout your journey. 

Pro-Tip: All NG:Dev games are shooters, so the main point of this game is constantly shoot - never stop shooting. The marketing line for the game is: "Jump. Shoot. Explore." for a reason. That's why the game has auto-fire as a default feature. Keep your thumb on the fire button, the game was designed with this mechanic in mind. 

Pro-Tip 2:  Gordian can also look above and below him at any time by holding up or down to see more vertical space in the level. This is quite handy and can often prevent you from making blind jumps or jumping into enemies hanging to the ceiling. There are still some tricky parts, but this will help in the majority of the levels.

Speaking of the maze-like levels, there are nine of them. That said, there is some variety in how the levels are set up. While stage 2 is the only really unique level that changes the genre to a horizontal shmup, there is plenty of variety overall. Stage 5, for example, is a long vertical stretch of obstacles that culminates in a tough boss battle at the bottom of the tunnel. And stage 6 auto-scrolls from the left. Some stages, like 2, 4, 6, and 7 are much shorter than the rest as to balance out the length of the first and third stages. Not all stages culminate in a boss battle, and in some stages the game just throws a few larger enemies for you to defeat at once instead of a unique boss encounter. Some of the levels are painfully short, though, and the lack of a variety of boss encounters makes the game feel rushed and incomplete the further you get.

While you're exploring the levels you'll find pink diamonds of all sizes to collect, which really is the crux of the game. Your goal through each stage is to collect as many score items as you can while shooting all the baddies along the way. Despite weapon and health drops, there are no power-up items or other macguffins to chase after as Gordian has everything he needs to traverse the environments from the outset of the adventure.

The variety in level design is varied and interesting. And even though there are numerous nooks and crannies to explore in each stage, you never feel lost. In order to help your navigation, as there is no map, NG:Dev put in little arrow indicators to show you the basic path you'll need to follow in order to make it to the end of the level. Even if you veer off the prescribed path (which you are encouraged to do), it's never too difficult and certainly never frustrating to find your way back. My only gripe here is that the developers tease you with an awesome horizontal shooter level in stage 2, but they don't revisit this concept throughout the rest of the game. I would have loved to see just one more level like this as I feel the unique ship and enemy designs in this stage are some of the best in the game. It would also help to break up some of the monotony you begin to feel by stage 6 or so. 

At the end of each stage you have a typical score screen that tallies your results. Your score is boosted by how much of the stage you've explored, how much of the overall game has been explored, as well as how many small and large diamonds you have collected. To give you an idea of just how large some of these levels are, my first time through the first stage took me about 15 minutes and I had only covered 35% of the map. Basically, it's going to take you quite some time to discover everything if that's your aim. That said, the game is large enough and engaging enough that even if you just want to beat the game and not focus on score there is plenty of enjoyment to be had for a few play throughs.

Throughout each stage you will discover a variety of interactive objects that will either open up new pathways or produce weapon drops or health buffs. Item generators are plentiful throughout your adventure, and produce an item for you when shot. These can vary from the few different types of weapons you can carry (detailed below), as well as an occasional health drop which will refill one segment of your 3-segment health bar. There are additional score bonus orbs these generators will either produce or will drop once it is destroyed as well. You can also use these generators as platforms to reach higher areas. Additionally, there are often hidden generators you can uncover which lead to secret areas with 1-ups, large diamonds, a timed shield, or a blue power-up that fills one stock of your powerful screen clearing attack. 

Each level also contains a variety of interactive traversal points like bricks you can destroy to uncover secret areas or sections of walls or the ceiling you can climb on. While climbing you are limited only to weapons that require the use of one hand, so your blue power shot (if equipped) will be down graded. 

Firepower is plentiful in Gunlord (hence the name), and all weapon types have unlimited ammo. Weapon drops are produced when you shoot item generators and each weapon type is denoted by a different color on the weapon drop icon. There are five weapon types you can pick up: a spread shot (standard weapon), the phoenix fire blaster, a bounce blaster that produces bouncing balls that ricochet off of walls, a power missile that explodes into large bouncing particles on impact that will kill surrounding foes, and a two-handed power shot that cannot be aimed but shoots a huge wave of energy in front of you while simultaneously shooting a stream of smaller shots at a 45 degree angle above you. All weapons are useful, and none feel undercooked. Phoenix is the weapon I keep equipped the most because it has the best spread to power ratio. 

Gunlord isn't only about guns, though. If you press down and jump Gordian will roll into a ball Samus Aran style and you can make him bounce and ricochet off walls and enemies alike. Even more like Samus, while in ball form you can lay bombs along the ground or hold the shot button while rolling to plant a series of bombs in a row. You are also safe from physical damage while in ball mode, but bullets can still hurt you. 

Gordian also has access to a long beam shot he can fire in a circle around him, much like the Turrican games. This attack does not do much damage to larger enemies, but can quickly clear out smaller enemy swarms that hover around you from time to time. If you get surrounded by an array of enemy types that your weapon or beam can't deal with, Gordian has a limited stock of a powerful screen clearing attack that shoots a huge blue wave in front of and behind him. Don't waste these, though, as refills are in hard-to-find nooks around each stage.

The difficulty of the game isn't too bad, considering the other games in the NG:Dev cannon are typically balls-to-the-wall hard. That is, until you get to stage eight and nine. While I wouldn't call the other stages a breeze, I didn't often run into enemies or obstacles that I felt were unfairly placed in order to pad the difficulty. That all changes in the final two stages. Even if you look up and down to try to see what emeries are ahead of you, there are always one or two off screen that have a clear line of attack to you that you can't account for. This leads to numerous cheap hits and deaths on your way to the final boss. It's a bit of a shame too, as there isn't a sense of accomplishment based on your growing skills here - just pure relief and frustration when it's all over. 

There are only four real bosses in the game, and the first three are absolute pushovers that anyone who has played a bit of pattern based games will be able to surmount in a life or two on your first go. The final boss, though, is another lesson in frustration. Up to this point in the game you haven't faced anything remotely as challenging as this. The Master attacks in four different waves, and for each quarter of life you knock off of him he adds more large enemies to the screen who's shots interplay with his. For example, toward the end of the battle you have The Master hovering above you (taking up a huge horizontal section of screen space) that prevents you from jumping, but you also have two large green robots flanking you which simultaneously shoot green lasers that travel along the bottom of the floor. There are also suicide bullets (first time these appear in the game) that are homing in on you as well. If you jump over the ground lasers you get hit by The Master's huge hit-box. If you dodge the large enemies on the screen, you get hit. Basically, to my knowledge, there is no way out of this scenario other than to take a hit. To add insult to injury, the devs thought they were throwing you a bone by placing two respawning item generators on platforms on each side of the screen. These rarely produce health drops, and when they do you often take another hit from gunfire or from The Master's hands that hover around directly next to the generators. 

Listen, final boss encounters are supposed to be hard, but this just feels like NG:Dev sticks a big middle finger at you and yells "FUCK YOU FOR PLAYING OUR GAME" rather than "thank you for playing our game." Much like getting through stages eight and nine, you're just glad when it's all over rather than feeling any sense of accomplishment.

That said, Gunlord is less about brutal, arcade, quarter-munching difficulty (until the endgame), and more about taking your time to explore and rack up a high score. Like many NG:Dev games, the focus on scoring is front and center to this release. When you beat the game or use up all of your credits, the game will generate a random number you can input on their international leader boards to post your score - a manual caravan mode, if you will. The downside to this is that even if you have a Unibios equipped in your Neo-Geo, the game disables all use of it. Speaking of cheats, Gunlord has a level select cheat code you can enter on the pause screen that is a god-send for players that don't have a memory card. That said, use of this code disables the code generator as the leaderboard score only counts if you start the game from the beginning and play through each level. 

While the level design and gameplay of Gunlord is solid but uneven, the game is an absolutely amazing work of pixel art. Every rock, every tree, every gun blast, every enemy is filled with an insane amount of detail. Backgrounds are also detailed and colorful with a wonderful use of lighting that creates a rich atmosphere and mood in each stage. Animation is also top notch with Gordian and all enemies moving with a fluidity that matches and at times out paces some of the best animated 2D games from the 90's arcade era. Boss designs are a little weak, if I had to nit-pick, borrowing a little too heavily from older games on the Neo-Geo and other arcade platforms. Overall, though, this game truly looks like a AAA title from the mid-90's and is full of fun details to uncover in every level.

If the graphics on display are top notch, the music is even a step above that. These downbeat electronic grooves remind me most of the Brinstar theme in Super Metroid, but with more instrumentation and high quality samples. Each of the stage themes have a great beat that keeps you moving, but is down-tempo enough to encourage exploration rather than a mad rush to end of each level. It's also a chill enough soundtrack that it makes for awesome background music when working or studying. Seriously, give the soundtrack a listen on YouTube. You won't be disappointed! 

Overall, Gunlord is a mixed bag. Sometimes it feels like a love letter to gamers like me that always wanted a cozy platformer on their favorite gaming hardware, while other times it feels like the developer hates you for trying to play their game. The endgame stages and final boss are poorly designed with unfair elements that create frustrating difficulty rather than the type of difficulty that leaves you feeling accomplished after you've overcome the challenges. Gunlord is the most disappointing game I've played in over a decade - the front half of the game is so strong, but once you get to the endgame your enjoyment fizzles out and it turns into constant frustration. 

If you want to play this game on hardware, you're going to have to pony up quite a bit of cash. Even after two production runs, an AES copy will run you no less than $1000 in 2022, and the MVS version just as much. You can get the same game ported to the Dreamcast for much less, though. NG:Dev also included special chips with code that make their games extremely hard to reproduce, so you won't find any reproductions or roms of any of their games either (save the vanilla release of Last Hope). 

Thankfully, Gunlord is no longer locked to antique hardware. An enhanced port called Gunlord X released for the Nintendo Switch  and Playstation platforms in 2019 that includes a litany of updates like more stages and music, updated color pallet, rebalanced difficulty curve, autosave features, and more. If you do decide to try this game out, get the Switch release (I can't believe I'm saying that...).