Xardion (SNES)

I'll be shocked if this isn't a sci-fi space shoot 'em up.

These three are heroic pilots sent out to win a war against alien invaders by going to their planet and blowing up their power source.

They manage to get Panthera back from Arms and then combine their fighters to form...

A giant robot? This is a platformer?

It seems I can aim up and forwards, but not diagonally, which means I have to mess around getting into position to shoot things. And I really do want to shoot things because the sound effect for the enemy's energy beam attack is terrible so I need to kill them before they use it.

I can't duck to get down here, but apparently I can send Panthera. So I should probably figure out how to do that.

Aha, a handy blue menu. Hey, we get level ups in this! Only Triton has got any xp though, it seems I have to level each character separately.

Cool, you don't send Panthera off, you transform into Panthera's form. Which I guess is a robot panther... that can't shoot up.

Arms, you bastard. We meet again. And this time we will destroy you for good!

I need to rethink my strategy.

What, I'm going all the way back to the map screen?

Dammit, I have to replay the entire stage to get back up to the boss! And I bet I didn't keep my levels either.

Oh wait, I did!


LATER.

Arms, you bastard. We meet again. And this time I've gotten some level ups and I'm gonna whoop your ass.

Arms switches between three attacks. He can wave his arms at you, forcing you to hide in the corner, he can fire a three way shot at you, so you have to keep your head down, and he's got a spinning ball attack which you have to get to the middle platformer to avoid. It's not particularly hard to get out of the way of any of these attacks.

So it's even more annoying that I keep losing to this damn boss.


LATER.

Aha, I'm using my Alcedes form now. This guy seems to have more forward facing firepower which is exactly what I need to hit Arms' weak point, his eye.

Yeah, I admit I'm terrible at boss fights.

But I seem to have infinite lives so I can keep coming back over and over and over, replaying the whole level, getting all the extra experience... until I'm good enough to make this bastard explodes.

Like that. HAH.

Wow, level two's pretty boring. What an anticlimax.


Next game.