109. RoboCop 2 (Painting By Numbers, Famicom 1991)

RoboCop 2 is the sequel to our previous game, #108 RoboCop. I would expect a 1991 Famicom game to feel a bit better than a 1989 Famicom game, and thankfully that is the case for RoboCop 2. Coming from a different developer, it looks and feels like a totally different game.

Gone are RoboCop's multiple guns, ability to break through walls, and inability to jump. RoboCop 2 plays more like a standard platformer, with you jumping and shooting around linear stages. RoboCop (the character) feels very heavy and is interesting to control. He starts off moving slowly, but quickly builds up speed, so it feels pretty cool to run through the levels, or at least the first level. The second level quickly ramps up the difficulty with tons of bottomless pits and one-hit kill obstacles. The game at least offers unlimited continues, but I stopped having fun after about 20 attempts, even though I was having a good time controlling RoboCop.

Between levels, the game has a first person shooting gallery minigame like its predecessor, though while that one was a decent distraction, here it feels much better, with your crosshair possessing a nice acceleration. A shooting gallery-style game is never going to feel great on an NES controller, but it's at least better here than I've seen it before.

4/5, a nice weighty platformer, I just wish it wasn't so punishing