Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider review

A thoroughly enjoyable homage to ‘90s-era platforming action.

The Genesis/Mega Drive had an eight-year lifespan across the United States, Japan, and Europe. But thanks to import taxes designed to favor domestic distributors, a licensed version of Sega’s 16-bit console enjoyed over thirty years of dominance in Brazil (alongside the equally popular Master System). This kind of enduring dedication to retro hardware undoubtedly influenced Curitiba-based developer JoyMasher. Their body of work, which includes titles like Oniken, Odallus, and Blazing Chrome, are all reminiscent of classic Mega Drive titles.

Unsurprisingly, that’s also the case with Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider. JoyMasher’s latest effort has players assuming the role of a potent bioweapon that looks like a cross between a robot and a heavily armored samurai. Engineered by a tyrannical state, Moonrider rejects safeguarding authoritarian rule and turns against the forces who made him. The result is an experience that references everything from The Revenge of Shinobi, Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, E-Swat, to Contra: Hard Corps while adding a handful of modern amenities.

Much like the Shinobi series’ Joe Musashi, Moonrider is well-equipped to confront nine stages of non-stop hostility. He begins the game with a trio of offensive tools: a sword that allows for a three-hit combo as well as a special attack with a longer reach that’s constrained by an energy meter. The last part of Moonrider’s basic arsenal is a drop kick that can rain down hurt on unfortunate foes.

Vengeful Guardian’s biomechanical protagonist is also quite agile. Beyond being able to run to jump across wide gaps, he can wall-kick his way up vertical impasses. Attacking while sprinting also intensifies your sword attack, laying the foundations for a speed run. Pleasingly, the game’s tutorial explains all of Moonrider’s essential abilities while the game’s first level serves as an assessment of basic mastery.

Like Mega Man, you can approach stages in an order of your choosing after overcoming the preliminary level. Similarly, you’ll pick up different supportive abilities along the way. But unlike Capcom’s Blue Bomber, these perks aren’t only acquired by beating bosses. You’ll want to reconnoiter each stage, inspecting suspicious alcoves to earn some of the other assists. Vengeful Guardian lets you equip any two and choosing between truly beneficial capabilities like double-jumping, a damage reduction, or the regeneration of health by defeating enemies is a tough decision.

Stages evoke many of the masterworks of yesteryear, whether it’s the irksome robo-snipers in watchtowers that recall Contra and Metal Slug or the enemies with elongated mouths that elicit memories of days spent playing Decap Attack. Undoubtedly, you’ll need to approach Vengeful Guardian the same way, methodically memorizing the position of every danger and dispensing with a proper countermeasure. I fell into the age-old pattern of rapidly shifting between attacking and evading just like once did with Contra. But since competition time and scoring are used to calculate stage scoring, it’s probably not the best method to approach Moonrider. But hey, I relish annihilating every last threat. It’s what a rogue bioweapon would do.

Expectedly, the boss battles that conclude each stage are Vengeful Guardian’s best moments. Huge, intimidating Giger-esque monstrosities attempt to overwhelm with different attacks. And just like the 16-bit era, each assault is accompanied by some kind of foreshadowing, turning what initially seems impossible into an achievable feat.

Fortunately, Moonrider provides mid-level checkpointing, removing some of the sting from a humiliating defeat by one of the title’s bosses. Just like the old days, when you finally slaughter a hard-hitting end-of-stage foe after a series of thrashings, a sense of gratification inevitably emerges. Vengeful Guardian isn’t particularly gory but does reward you with some decapitations and executions right out of samurai manga. Delightfully, that’s not the only Eastern influence, with a bit of koto instrumentation meshed into the head-bobbing darkwave soundtrack.

Oddly, Vengeful Guardian succumbs to the same kind of faults as the games that inspired it. A Mode 7-style motorcycle chase adds visual novelty, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the action across two-dimensional sequences. While practice will eventually get you through the game’s succession of stages, you’ll probably encounter a fragment of frustration. Most of this came from Moonrider’s tendency to bounce around when hitting a dangerous object, occasionally launching the character into the abyss. But otherwise, if you have any fondness for ‘90s-era side-scrolling action, Vengeful Guardian will hit the mark.

Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.