Take nostalgic 8-bit arcade fun, throw in lots of blood, some foul language and you’ve got Not A Hero: Super Snazzy Edition. The title may sound familiar and that’s because it was originally released back in 2015 by British indie developers, Roll7. It’s the latest previously released game to be given the Nintendo Switch treatment and a great title to be added to their constantly growing indie library.
Sticking with classic arcade style gaming, the story is kept pretty simple. BunnyLord needs to become mayor and only has 21 days to convince voters that he’s perfect for the job. He figures the one way to keep voters happy is to wipe the city of all crime, mainly targeting 3 crime overlords and their respective gangs. This is where you, his dream team of assassins come in. There are 9 characters, all with their own unique abilities and crude voice lines, who are unlocked at different percentages of overall voter approval. The only way to gain voter approval is, obviously, by kick crime butt through all 21 levels and completing the various objectives. Along with the main objective in each level there also 3 mini objectives, which aren’t a requirement to complete the level but they’re still important in boosting that voter approval. Some are easy to complete with others being more of a challenge and even with the ability to revisit previous levels, you can’t just focus on one objective then come back and complete another. Unfortunately, you must complete all 3 mini objectives in the same level run to achieve that total approval score. This is where the games challenge really comes into play. Switching characters can make a world of difference since each characters abilities differ, from how fast they can run to being able to reload on the go. I found myself revisiting levels just to get that extra 1% that I needed to unlock a new character in hopes that they would be a better fit to finish the next level I was stuck on.
The combat can be very fast paced and it’s not hard to find yourself in a sticky situation like running into a room full of enemies without reloading your gun. With this there’s a lot of thinking on your feet required in regards to ammo management, how you’re going to escape a pack of enemies and finding a safe spot to reload and recharge your health bar. There are a variety of special weapon ammo with high damage output that drop randomly from enemies as well as grenades, molotav cocktails, etc. scattered throughout every level at your disposal so you’re not just stuck with a stock standard weapon. Not A Hero sticks to a basic arcade-like level design as it doesn’t change much throughout. It keeps the same building design in every level, only changing the colour pallet with each of the three crime gangs you’re clearing out. It may be a little repetitive artistically but the layout is always changing how the player is moving around, from running up buildings through a maze of rooms connected via stairwells to jumping in and out of windows from building to building. A small change in strategy of how I traversed helped me achieve an objective wanting me to finish the level in less than 40 seconds.
Super Snazzy Edition also comes with a mini standalone campaign called “Me, Myself and BunnyLord” where you get to play as BunnyLord himself, changing present day events to prevent horrible things happening after receiving a visit from his future self. The move to the Nintendo Switch was a smart one as its arcade-like gameplay makes it another great pickup and play title to have on the go. The game allows you to control characters with either the left joystick or the D-Pad but this was the first Switch game I played exclusively with the latter as it felt more fluid. As for playing the game in handheld and docked, there was zero difference performance wise although depending on how big or small the TV is, the character size may put some strain on the eyes.
Not A Hero: Super Snazzy Edition is available now on Nintendo Switch as well as Playstation 4, XBox One, Android, PC and Mac.
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