🏆 Trophy | XSX | Review | 7.5/10 | "If you like early Mega Man, here’s your Trophy" 🏆 @6502Collective #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

Originally programmed for the NES, Trophy has now made its way to modern consoles, and your take on gameplay firmly rooted in the past as well as your affinity for the Mega Man series of games will very much dictate how much Trophy appeals to you.

Following a wonderfully barmy story introduction involving the seemingly inevitable fusing of man and machine, Trophy gives you the selection of eight levels which can be completed in any order – another nod to the series from which it takes inspiration – and off you trot.

A 2D platformer with classic run ‘n gun gameplay, the vintage visuals and the bouncy chiptune soundtrack lull you into thinking that this might be a breeze of a game…until you realise that it is not shy in terms of challenge.

Resolutely sticking to how 8-bit NES games were programmed; it swiftly becomes apparent that you’ll need quick reflexes to get very far. You can move, jump and shoot – but learned player skills are your greatest weapon in Trophy.

Enemies respawn once they are off the screen (which is set to a 4:3 ratio), it’s not unheard of to walk into gunfire with barely any warning, enemy placement and patterns can get tricky pretty quickly, and you also need to memorise the path through each stage - lest you find yourself back-tracking through said respawning enemies and tricky leaps of faith.

Whilst the level of challenge is fairly high, the game does allow you to continue from occasional screen transitions as opposed to from the absolute start of each level and so it’s only a few minutes lost upon each death as opposed to an entire stage’s worth of progress. The end of level screen-filling bosses also have set attacks to be learned and mastered, in order for you to be successful in your quest.

The fact that this is a direct port of a game designed for NES means that it feels, looks and sounds like a pretty genuine experience. There’s a slowdown, flicker and all the quirks of the original console and that is what I can imagine would dictate the level of enjoyment that players would take from the game.