Super Roboy Review

Super Robot is the passion project of solo developer Vincent Penning. Using his artistic talents as a tattoo artist and the programming skills he acquired with his late father, Penning decided to pay tribute to his ancestor by creating a video game he thought they would enjoy making together. This led to him taking his indie game to Kickstarter to help earn additional funds, testers, and feedback to create the final product that fans can now try out for themselves. All these elements together create Super Robotan animated Metroidvania adventure in which the titular android character makes his way through a desolate world in search of his lost memories and his father.

from the beginning Super Robot makes its home in several niches – as a Kickstarter-funded title, an indie game, a solo developer venture, a 2D drawing experience, and as a Metroidvania. These aspects of Penning's debut make it quite unique, and it impresses in some areas and leaves a lot to be desired in others. Super Robot delivers on its premise of inviting players into an experience where fans can explore and fight bad guys that would be in the pages of a comic book in a satisfying way. However, the growing pains of trying to offer an open world with its own skill system can make or break the fun Super Robot offers fans who will jump into the title without guides or previous game experience Super Metroid.

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Super Roboy excels at all the things that fans will pick up the game for

Metroidvanias may have grown to stand on their own outside of the platformer genre, but players still explore similar titles expecting tight controls, movement systems, and intense combat. From the outside it can be easy to mistake Super Robot for a cute introductory title to the subgenre, but it's made almost exclusively for those who love the genre and are looking for something new yet nostalgic. It starts off simplistically, of course, with an AI guardian named Virgil telling Robo that his memories have been erased and that they need to find his father. From there, Virgil serves to mark important points on Roboy's map, but other than that, it's completely up to the player to find their way and their upgrades.

Intelligence in v Super Robot starts like this, and it's easy enough to figure out as players jump and shoot platforms and enemies as expected, but soon enough they discover their first crystals and get a message that their first skills are available. Instead of offering bonuses scattered across the map as expected in games like Metroid, Super Robot replaces them with an enemy skill system that requires defeating a certain number of enemies and collectible crystals to unlock. This doesn't bother players much at first, as there are plenty of enemies, green crystals are (at least) not hard to find, and many of the early skills serve as optional upgrades.

Players are given enough time to learn and understand what Super Robot is around the very first area, which is only enhanced by how great the game feels to control. Jumping, shooting, sliding, and rolling are incredibly responsive, making these abilities a joy to use and their upgrades ultimately satisfying once they're discovered. This goes well with research and platform building Super Robot offers which is one of the most free and player-oriented adventures. But this is both a blessing and a curse in terms of the game as a whole. Once players finish the tutorial, it's unlikely to be clear what to do next, which can be confusing for them.

The innovation in Super Roboy can be more of a hindrance than a thrill

Arguably, the best video games walk the line between telling and showing. Metroidvanias in particular have always been known for letting players figure things out. However, Super Work ends up shooting itself in the foot with its enemy skill system. When it comes to unlocking stats and weaknesses for certain enemy types, the Enemy Skill system works great, but there is a problem with the required upgrades being locked into the same system. Moves like double jump, wall jump, and underwater abilities are locked to a certain number of enemies and bosses, and some requisite bad guys can only be found in one challenge room among four different areas. Just wanting to explore and skip one room out of an entire maze can easily prevent players from finding the one ability they need to progress, with only vague directions and no proper hints on how to get it.

To top it all off, the application of a more open Metroidvania has been done before, and it feels like this Super Robot still demonstrates that more work needs to be done to bring both features together. Four areas that are almost completely accessible from the start without proper indication of which enemy skill is a necessary upgrade or not can lead people to find secret moves too early. This issue may improve over time as fans get used to it, but the way all the skills are poorly organized and managed can lead to unnecessary frustration in searching for missing enemies to unlock missing skills on a map that only shows players half of what they have must be seen.

Many of Super RobotThe changes to the formula seem to work great on paper, but not so well in practice. Important skills almost require regular unlocking instead of being hidden behind basic enemies, and making important Floater collectibles invisible on the map without a skill while locking the rarest crystals behind them feels more like an annoyance than a reward. Some of the floats required for yellow crystals are even locked behind optional side quests, making hunting for yellow crystals a hassle in the long run. Even with required skills being locked behind unpredictable requirements and collectibles sometimes being held close at hand, the movement system and how great the basics are Super Robot the feeling will make players move just to jump around the world and see what's around them. I've been able to find solutions to puzzles that have hindered my progress just by testing a guess or two to see what sticks, but that shouldn't be the answer to every obstacle in Super Robot. Especially when players are left to figure out key information, such as the bounce skill that allows players to jump on top of deadly bombs, which isn't directly explained.

A few useful changes could have avoided unnecessary rambling, such as marking the boss rooms on the map, but also more substantial conversations with Virgil and Roboy would have worked great to provide more guidance than just a few notes scattered around the map. In terms of history, it is certainly not one of the attractive places Super Robotas the characters hardly ever get a chance to interact throughout the adventure. While Super Robot tries to create a world that seeks to emulate Hollow knightThrough letters and diary entries, it fails to convey the same intrigue and charm.

Super Roboy is a Metroidvania purely for the love of the genre

It's not bad at all Super Robot however, increases the scale of its exploration, movement, and combat mechanics. In fact, these aspects are where this indie game shines. Even aimless exploration rewards players for defeating repeated enemies with Essence, which helps level up Roboy to take on bosses and later enemies with ease. The skill system even manages to impress with the inclusion of four elemental upgrades and status ailments that add depth to what could otherwise be a basic combat system. Super Robot even takes notes from a number of RPGs to add a bestiary of enemies where players can see an enemy's weaknesses in a simple but disorganized menu.

Elemental weapons and status ailments end up being incredibly noticeable against Super Robots bosses where the right combination can make quick work of difficult bosses with pleasure. Fighting Mutant King Minas was great at first, but once I used a few extra crystals to boost my bio resistance and poison him, and remember his attack pattern, he didn't put in much of an effort. These skills will definitely make a difference on higher difficulty, however, as hard mode makes health particles scarce and increases health stat significantly compared to the other two settings. The penultimate part of the game – once players reach the power plant – takes no punches and certainly challenges players to their limits by making Super Robot surprisingly difficult to see to the end.

There's no need to break the mold to make Super Roboy a worthy Metroidvania

Video game design is similar to many other mediums in that during the journey it takes to create something, usually one core value must stand out as a message and purpose. When it comes to Super Robotits main goal was to be a hand-drawn Metroidvania experience, and it certainly achieves that goal in that regard. The movement system makes exploration incredibly fun even at times when the objective can be unclear, the bosses are complex with patterns that require detailed observation to master, and almost every area has collectibles that can be visited with unlocked upgrades. This is only enhanced by the magical and enchanting art style that is carried throughout Super Robotwith sprite animations and some well-crafted backgrounds that hold many surprises. Super Robot may have its flaws, but it also shows impressive potential for other 2D animated games from the same developer.

Super Robot it's a nice, straightforward Metroidvania for the genre's target audience of fanatics, even if it's hard to recommend to newcomers to the platformer subgenre. Those who have already gone through Hallownest or even gone through a Mega man games will easily find yourself at home during the short but challenging play time. Super Robot delivers on its promise in a way that is unique to itself, and that makes it worth exploring.

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Review on PC

Released

January 20, 2025

Developer(s)

Vincent Penning

Publisher(s)

Games VP

Pluses

  • Well drawn 2D illustrations
  • Fun movement and extensive exploration
  • Challenging boss battles
  • Elemental weapons, status effects add depth
Cons

  • Sometimes absurd
  • Side quests are a chore
  • Roboy's story takes a backseat to the action

Super Robot now available for PC. Game Rant received the PC code for this review.

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