Spoiler: The canine dies in Battle Princess Madelyn. Fortunately the pooch returns moments later, ghostly, supercharged and able to avenge its personal demise. That’s the sort of prompt gratification you’d count on from a game co-designed by a seven-year-old woman. Released in the present day and developed by Casual Bit Games, it’s an arcade platformer closely impressed by Ghouls & Ghosts, however constructed to the specs of the lead dev’s child. She needed her personal model of the SNES and arcade traditional, however with a princess. I’ve performed a little bit of it, and it’s an odd beast. A trailer and ideas lie under.
Probably my largest shock with Battle Princess Madelyn is one thing the shop web page barely mentions – it’s virtually two games for the worth of 1. The Story mode is a semi-open-world platform journey. Not fairly a metroidvania, however you will have some key skills and kit upgrades to enter some locked-off areas. Each story stage is a big hub branching off into a number of smaller problem areas, bosses and so forth. Arcade mode, however, is pure Ghouls ‘n Ghosts model, with its personal linear set of ranges, and much more enemies thrown at you from the beginning.
I’m solely an hour and a bit into Battle Princess Madelyn, so haven’t made an excessive amount of of a dent in both of its sides, however to date it feels looser and woolier than any Capcom G ‘n G game. Mercifully, you might have full air management of your jumps, so navigation is a bit simpler, however enemy assaults have monstrous knockback (busting poor Madelyn out of her armour and right down to comfortable pajamas and slippers), and hitboxes really feel a bit imprecise at instances. At least the lives system is merciful, providing you with a number of near-instant respawns earlier than being busted again to the final checkpoint.
There’s one thing a tiny bit off concerning the artwork, too. Most of the pixel artwork is gorgeous, if not amazingly animated, however perhaps there’s one thing off with the pixel ratios – it feels just a little unusual in movement. Credit the place due, the lighting results are good, even when they’re a contemporary concession. There is one factor that the game completely nails the retro model of – the soundtrack. Composed by Gryzor87 (Maldita Castilla, Hydorah, and so on), there’s choices for each pure retro FM/PCM synths, or extra fashionable instrumentation, however even the latter has a pleasant retro arcade sound to it.
It’s too early for me to formulate opinions on this one. There’s some stuff I’m wanting ahead to, together with (if the Kickstarter web page remains to be correct) a complete world’s price of crossover with Maldita Castilla, courtesy of Locomalito. There’s some stuff I’m just a little cautious of, too, together with scavenger hunt quests in story mode, and a pair story mode bosses to date that felt a bit underdeveloped, and simply baited into repeating a single, simply countered assault. There’s a carefree ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ really feel to the design, paying homage to the developer’s earlier, raucous Insanity’s Blade.
All that mentioned, I’m curious, and undoubtedly taking part in extra of this one tonight – Battle Princess Madelyn is out now on Steam for £15.49/€16.79/$19.99. It’s printed by Hound Picked Games.
