Mega Man fans have had a bit of a rollercoaster in recent decades. The series tried a reboot with modest success in Mega Man 11, whereas Mighty Number 9 was one of Kickstarter’s first non-success stories. Developer Adam Kareem decided to try his hand at his interpretation of the blue bomber, as Protodroid DeLTA successfully raised $60k for a solo effort that was picked up by Humble Games. So, is this take on a classic worth picking up for fans and newcomers alike?

Where Mega Man is typically a 2D affair save for the Legends titles, Protodroid DeLTA takes it into the third dimension while still retaining the DNA of a game of this persuasion. You take the reigns of DeLTA, a super spiffed-up android that can jump and shoot with the best of them. After a tutorial, you can pick and choose what bosses to progress to just like the Mega Man series. Expect a lot of banter between these baddies and yourself up until you square off with them, as you mow down tons of robot enemies and precision-platform nonstop along the way.

Combat in Protodroid DeLTA varies between enemies that will shoot projectiles or bombs at you, as well as ones that need you to work around their shields and careful timing. It’s a lot of mashing the left and right mouse buttons until they’re destroyed, something that gets monotonous after 30 minutes or so. The game is at its best when they mix the combat with the platforming to keep you on your toes. However, these sections also serve to frustrate you if the knockback is too great for DeLTA to handle.

That’s the greatest travesty in Protodroid DeLTA, falling off a ledge sets you back several seconds every time. On its own, this isn’t too bad, but when it’s the third time and you’ve wasted a minute in a 10-second section, it’s a painful point. Thankfully, all of these falls were due to user error. Adam did a great job programming the jumping and especially the dash jumping to feel fantastic, so it’s a skill issue that I was able to work through the more I played Protodroid DeLTA.

There are a lot of things working wonders in Protodroid DeLTA, a small miracle for a project completed by one developer. I encountered a whopping zero bugs during my gameplay, and no visual glitches, either – everything worked as intended. It’s evident that Adam was an intense fan of the source material, as several of the outfits you can unlock pay homage to many different Mega Men and bosses. Growing up on these games let his creativity flow into his inspiration, and the end product is more than satisfactory.

It isn’t the most original game in the world, but as a deeply-inspired action platformer, Protodroid DeLTA gets an easy recommendation for any Mega Man fan, casual to diehard. I certainly had more fun navigating the levels than fighting enemies, but luckily, I had the option of speeding from puzzle to puzzle at a fast pace to get past the part I wasn’t fond of, so that nitpick is irrelevant to most. Adam Kareem should be proud of what he’s put together, as it was no small task.

A PC Review Copy of Protodroid DeLTA was provided by Humble Games for this review.

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Protodroid DeLTA

24.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Strong Artstyle
• Amazing Polish For A Solo Dev
• Great Puzzle Platforming

Cons

• Leans Too Heavily Into Megaman
• Combat Gets Tiresome