Mighty Gunvolt

Mighty Gunvolt (or Gal Gunvolt as it is called on PS4 and Vita), is a spinoff of Azure Striker Gunvolt. It is a crossover of Gunvolt, Gal Gun, and at the time, the upcoming Mighty No. 9, leaning towards more of the Gunvolt side. It came out on August 20th, and was included with Azure Striker Gunvolt for three months until it was available for purchase standalone. People who purchased the game on Steam within one month of release got it for free as well.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It is an adaptation of Azure Striker Gunvolt, and it replicates it very well. Every single stage from the first Gunvolt game is represented, outside of the final level.
 * 2) 3 playable characters are present - Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt, Ekoro from GalGun, and Beck from Mighty No. 9. They all have good playstyles and control well. With the exception of Ekoro, they are very faithful to their original games.
 * 3) * Gunvolt has a double jump, and a charge shot.
 * 4) * Beck has a dash, although it is inconvenient to use.
 * 5) * Ekoro can float and trick enemies into fighting for her. The enemies die in one hit, though.
 * 6) Good level design. Even though the game replicates an old NES game, it's lacking the standard NES bullcrap like unfair deaths and cheap shots. The level design also caters to all 3 characters, so a run on Gunvolt's version of the stage will be different than Ekoro's, for example. There's also no "true" character pick, unlike Mega Man & Bass.
 * 7) Catchy 8-bit arrangement of the Azure Striker Gunvolt soundtrack.
 * 8) The portal levels add some much needed difficulty.
 * 9) Very detailed pixel art.
 * 10) The game successfully mimics an NES game without making the game worse as a whole, unlike Mighty No. 9 where it was faithful, but it also took the worst parts from the classics.
 * 11) The 2.0.0 update fixed some issues.
 * 12) * Gunvolt's Charge time was reduced.
 * 13) * Ekoro got the best buffs. Now she could have 4 bullets on screen, some enemy enurance was tweaked, and she can convert some new enemies.
 * 14) * DLC was added.
 * 15) * There are new animations.
 * 16) * Pressing B on the Stage Select screen now goes back to the title screen.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game is incredibly short. Not factoring DLC, you can complete it to 100% in 90 minutes, and if that.
 * 2) * This is also worse considering the game is 5 bucks, and it's even worse on the 3DS version where you have to buy all the DLC.
 * 3) The game is very easy, outside of the bosses.
 * 4) A majority of the bosses aren't very good. Many of them are bad because their attacks are annoying to avoid with the deafult run speed. Also, nearly all of them are button mashing fests. Considering this was a handheld exclusive originally, that last fact makes it extra annoying.
 * 5) The DLC feels like it should have been included in the base game. Thankfully, every rerelase after the 3DS version includes these levels.
 * 6) Outside of the 3 playable characters, there's little replay value.
 * 7) Mighty No. 9 and Gal Gun didn't get as much love in this game, even with the DLC. It made sense for Gal Gun since that game is more grounded in locations, but Mighty No. 9 had a lot to work with.
 * 8) Some bad design choices.
 * 9) * You can't quit midstage. It was even worse in the original release where you had to beat the game to quit, or get a game over. This is somewhat excusable considering the game's length, but there are save files. Why not use them?
 * 10) * You can't switch characters between stages, you need to create a new save file. This is a stinker because some secrets are exclusive to certain characters. Thankfully, there are 3 save files to compensate for this.
 * 11) ** Somehow, the 2.0.0 update made this issue worse because more secrets were added.
 * 12) * The border on HD platforms can get annoying.
 * 13) * Like the Sonic Adventure games (namely 1, 2, and Heroes), the game suffers from a lack of buttons. Gunvolt's charge shot is fine, but Beck can only use his dash if you hold down the attack button. This makes it downright inconvenient for general use.

Reception
Mighty Gunvolt holds a score of 72 on Metacritic, indicating mixed or average reviews. Critics enjoyed the stages, but criticized the game for it's incredibly short story and lack of difficulty. It has a 79% on Steam and a 3.5/5 on GameFAQS.

Tips

 * Use Gunvolt's charge shot as much as you can. It's extremely broken. Unless you need to, stay away from the others.

Trivia

 * Zonda's boss battle returned in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2.
 * The game has intentional spelling errors, which are reminiscent of games from the NES era.
 * The title may be a refrence to Mighty Final Fight, a NES "de-make" of Final Fight.
 * The website says "The first wave of downloadable content is here!", but only one DLC pack was released. This may have been a hint that there was more DLC planned, but it was scrapped eventually.