Developer: Gradual Games
Publisher: 8 Bit Legit, The 6502 Collective
Platform: Switch, NES
Tested on: Switch
Trophy – Review
Making games in homage to times long gone is something we have seen before in Cosmos Bit, Roar of Revenge, Ion Fury, and Haunted Halloween ’86. This time from the minds of Gradual Games we get Trophy, a title that closely resembles the classic Mega Man titles. Originally created to fit on the NES cartridge, publisher 8 Bit Legit decided to port it over to the Switch. In Trophy we go on an adventure to stop an ex-coworker who’s trying to take over the entire universe.
Story
The story starts when two spacefaring scientists stumble on planet Gearus 9. Upon landing, they are immediately greeted by the peaceful robot inhabitants. This comes as a surprise because back on Earth sentient robots were banned when the great A.I. wars broke out. Showing interest in these creatures, dr Sword and dr Xela Quina decide to stay for many years and develop a fruitful relationship with these robots. After a long while, dr Sword takes a sample of his trusty robot friend Beeper’s DNA in hopes to create a peaceful A.I. themselves. Dr. Sword returns to Earth to show the people their findings while dr Xela Quina stays behind on Gearus 9 to continue his research. Because he is now alone, dr Xela Quina slips into madness due to isolation and when he finds the robot-genetic sequence that prevents violent actions in the robots, he replaces it with his own sequence and turns the machines into his own savage robotic minions.
This was only the start of things, as dr Xela Quina finds the secret behind Gearus 9 which could grant him unlimited power. The Plank Energy generator is so powerful that it allows the holders to rule the universe. Upon catching wind of this, dr Sword returns to Gearus 9 with Beeper and their newest machine as they embark on a journey to track down this madman and take him out once and for all.
The game starts with an interesting story but it will only conclude at the end. As you are free to do the levels in any order there really isn’t any story present until the end of the game.
Graphics
Visually the game looks right at home in the 8-bit era. It has some pretty simple assets and very basic animations, to ensure that the game would fit on original NES hardware. In the game, you traverse through nine different biomes and each location has a different color palette, but you will see many map tiles and enemies reused. To stay in the retro-vibe, the screen is also limited to a square shape and you get the option to change the different background templates to make it look like you are playing it on an old TV or arcade cabinet.
Sound
Trophy keeps it old school with its usage of retro sound effects and synthwave music. Each location has its own music, like the carnival being overly joyful and the jungle having tropical instruments playing. It even sounds authentic, as if the game was originally released for the NES, and thus you won’t hear a difference between playing it on the NES or the Switch. Just like the music, the sound effects find themselves in the same retro-vibe. There are some simple sound effects like jumping and shooting which will always sound the same but just fit the overall vibe.
Gameplay
Trophy is an action-platformer game that takes a close resemblance to the old Mega Man games. You play as Trophy who is a robot that has been built by dr Sword and Beeper to take on the rampaging robot army of dr Xela Quina. To bring peace back to Gearus 9, you must defeat the eight henchmen of the evil dr Xela so you can face the final boss for a final showdown. Each henchman can be found at the end of a level, of which there are nine in total, eight for the regular bosses and one for the end boss. Just like in the Mega Man games, you are free to select what level to play first, but this hasn’t got any real influence as you won’t be getting any upgrades after defeating a boss. While in the older Mega Man games you only get one chance to complete a run, Trophy allows you to continue endlessly and pick up where you left off by using a password. This also means that you can share passwords with friends if someone gets stuck.
The main setup is simple, you choose one of eight levels and try to shoot and jump your way through it. Trophy is equipped with a blaster, which is your only means of defense. Enemies can be quite violent as some will shoot or rush you. Luckily some defeated robots will drop trophies and these will regenerate your health. After making your way through the level, which only has a few checkpoints, you get to the boss fight. These can get really tricky as there is no explanation on how to defeat these. After some trial and error, you will find their weak spot and read their patterns to make these fights doable.
Controlling your character is just like any other NES title, as you only need your directional keys with a jump and a fire button. The platforming action feels smooth and even more hectic fights play out great, just make sure not to accidentally fall into a pit. To keep the gameplay as authentic as possible, it is noticeable that the framerate sometimes has a small slowdown. Just like on the older hardware, once you have too many things going on at the same time or are switching rooms it slows down. As this is purposely programmed, you will notice that it doesn’t hinder the actual gameplay at all.
Conclusion
Trophy brings back the classic Mega Man action-platformer vibes on the Switch. This game looks and plays like a classic NES title and because of its retro graphics, midi sounds, and simplistic gameplay, it really gives it that nostalgic vibe. The story kicks you off on your adventure through nine different locations to take down your former coworker with the freedom to pick what level to play, while being able to save your progress with old-school passwords. If you enjoyed the many titles on the NES, and especially those that resemble games like Mega Man, then Trophy might be a good new title to enjoy on a Saturday morning.
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[…] looks like 8 Bit Legit is on a roll by publishing great NES games on the Switch, first with Trophy and this time with Ronius’s Tale. Last year we first had our hands on the original NES release and […]