Travelling to different planets, the stretchy-armed Roddy and Cathy move left to right employing a variety of skills as they bash the bad guys. Available to tackle alone or co-operatively with a friend, Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy includes some neat features that add to the fun of the action across nine stages.
One such feature is that the action takes place on two planes, with you able to hop between background and foreground at the push of a button. This allows you to jump out of the way of a rolling bolder, sneak up on someone from behind or just take an alternate route should you feel like it. Enemies can also hop between planes, so you need to keep an eye on them to make sure you don’t get clobbered with a surprise attack.
There’s a cartoon-like look but with lots of detail in the visuals, and variety is provided by the planets visited. Much like a galaxy far, far away each planet has a single climate, with the four here being jungle, ice, fire and wind worlds. As well as visual differences the locales can have an effect on gameplay, for example with slippery ice and winds blowing you back. One good effect is the way the background plane is at some parts obscured by the path in the foreground. Potentially annoying, this nevertheless succeeds as it doesn't throw out enemies you can’t see, although you may find a partially glimpsed bonus or two.
Cathy and Roddy have a number of skills to get them through their adventure, the most obvious of which are their stretchy arms. Useful for punching enemies at a distance, they can also flick switches and pull cords to open doors or release bonuses. Sometimes switches and cords release bombs to dodge, and other times they will drop a heavy object, crushing anyone underneath.
Other offensive options are available too, including a throw, and you can pick up a dropped gun to just start shooting at people. Walking battle suits can be hopped into on occasion and these are satisfying to stomp around in - once it’s destroyed you can even pick up parts of the wreckage to throw at the bad guys. In addition to those options you can also perform special moves (using typical one-on-one brawler inputs) to dispatch attackers with the likes of rushing attacks, projectiles and jumping uppercuts.
There are moments of slowdown should a lot of activity be occurring onscreen, but it’s not too distracting and the varied action allowed by your different moves keeps events entertaining. There’s some good design too, as you make use of the two planes to move around obstacles. One memorable moment has you walk behind a large agitated monkey in a cage that watches as you pass.
Each world has two stages - with a boss at the end of each - and an occasional foe who is tougher to dispatch than the regular thugs. The first stage of each world ends with a fight against a cape-wearing pirate, whilst the second stage bosses pilot large metallic constructions. These fights entertain with plenty of hoping between planes as you avoid attacks and try to get in some shots of your own. After clearing the four worlds (which can be tackled in any order) there’s a final stage that ends with a tricky multi-phase boss battle.
Despite the many skills you have at your disposal, you can quickly find your energy depleted should you be attacked from multiple directions or be struggling to find opportunity to attack a boss when they’re vulnerable. Dive into the options and you can make things easier for yourself by increasing your number of lives or adjusting the difficulty. Or you could remember that as an ACA Neo Geo release, you can just add another credit with the tap of a button and continue from where you fell. This is a good way to get to the end of the game, but if you’d like a challenge the usual one credit Hi Score mode is present. The five-minute Caravan mode is also available and with a choice of four starting levels there’s some experimenting to be done as you seek to improve your placing on the online leaderboard.
Conclusion
Working through levels bashing bad guys and boss characters is an idea that often works well, and in Top Hunter it works very well thanks to the various ways you can dispatch your foes. The two plane setup also adds to the entertainment, being used to avoid dangers and providing some quick back-and-forth jumping as you and the thugs try to smack each other in the face. There's not a lot of immediate replay value from the arcade mode when cleared, but the usual Hi Score mode is a fun way to try and improve; whenever you do return to Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy, it should provide an enjoyable adventure.
Comments 29
This is a really fun action/platformer kinda game, it's honestly more of a beat-em-up IMO.
Wish I had money Hint: I’m accepting donations to the charity for SimpleyCinnamon53’s video game needs. Thank you.
Only took 2+ weeks for a review. If NintendoLife needs another reviewer, I’ll volunteer.
I get a LOT of vibes from its style. A lot of Mischief Makers vibes.
@justin233 Seriously, even I would be willing to write a review or two for these guys. I love these ACA games and I seem to pick up a of indie games. They could use the help.
Another great Neo Geo classic! I love the visuals in this game.
@justin233 Whilst I agree that the slow pace of reviews is frustrating, we should also keep in mind how many more games are releasing on Switch than there were in the WiiU days.
That being said I am also down to write a review or two.
A stellar game that has aged gracefully
Looks like metal slug
@JRJalapeno Yeah, it has kind of the same aesthetic/drawing style, but then again, so did almost all Neo Geo games with smaller sprites.
But the gameplay is completely different, in large part due to the dual plane playing field, and it is definitely a pretty entertaining game, so perhaps it is something you might find interesting.
Here's a video, to give you a better idea of what the game is about:
Will be getting this one at some point, looks fun and really easy on the eye.
@ThanosReXXX thanks for the video! It looks fantastic.... Definitely buying it.
@frogopus demon front looks killer. That would be awesome if they ported it to home consoles including switch.
@JRJalapeno No problem, man. You're welcome.
P.S.
We must be spiritual twins:
Both 47 and both gaming since '75...
Looks fun, I definitely want to pick this up sometime.
Just another Neo Geo game added to the collection. I enjoyed so much when I had it on Wii VC. I’m currently playing Pulstar now.
I played this back on Wii and LOVED it. Best Neo Geo game I ever played.
@ThanosReXXX
"We must be spiritual twins:
Both 47 and both gaming since '75"
Lol we definitely are....good to see I'm not alone 😜
"These fights entertain with plenty of hoping between planes"
So...what are you hoping for? Or maybe you meant hopping?
I'm seriously fed up with how every single review on this site as of late is full of mistakes auch as this.
@JRJalapeno Right back at'cha.
Also good to read a genuinely enthusiastic comment about the looks of a retro game, every once in a while.
Certainly a pleasant break from all the "meh, it isn't even 1080p, 60fps with HDR" whining...
@ThanosReXXX when you spend your formidable years playing an 8 bit system.... You learn at an early age looks aren't everything. I'm glad my wife thought this way too 😜
I'm a huge vector fan as well. I still have a Vectrex with over 80 games.
I remember reading about this game in magazines. Being a huge fan of beat'em up type games, I had this on my radar for ages.
Then I finally played it and was seriously underwhelmed by the gameplay. It didn't click with me at all despite me wanting to like it.
I wonder if I should give it another chance... I only played a few levels and lost interest. Maybe it gets better?
@JRJalapeno Ah, that's a cool system as well. My cousin used to have one back in the day. I, or rather my parents, couldn't afford to buy me one. Or they thought it was nonsense, one or the other...
I started out with a Pong console on a black & white portable TV, and after that it was an Atari2600 for a couple of years, before I finally got acquainted with a NES, Mario and Duck Hunt, courtesy of the same spoiled cousin that also had the Vectrex.
And after that, he had the SNES, with a copy box...
I myself was more into home computers during that time, first starting with an MSX, then moving on to the Amiga line of computers, that I still own to this day. (not the MSX, but the Amiga's)
The N64 was my first self-bought console, and I've stayed with Nintendo ever since, other than a couple of small side steps with a Sega Dreamcast and an Xbox 360.
And to get back on topic: always dreamed of having a Neo Geo, but they were so ridiculously expensive. I only knew of one kid from my class back in the day, who's father was an international business man, and he often traveled to the States and Japan, and brought back all kinds of stuff, including the most expensive Walkmans and indeed also a Neo Geo.
I did play many of the games, though. And when I finally owned a decent enough PC, I started to use emulators to play Neo Geo games, by means of MAME and NeoRAGEx, although the latter is always thought to be inferior to other emulators, according to the wonderful online community of haters, but I rather like its interface, the way it emulates CRT screens and the ease of use.
And Top Hunter happens to be one of my favorites. It's a nice alternative to the two predominant genres on the system, namely shooters and fighters. There's only a handful of platformers on the Neo Geo, and this is definitely one of the better ones.
@GC-161 I think it's a great arcade game for $8. It has the appeal of beat-em-ups and action-platformers, simple to pick up, pretty basic gameplay, but it's got exploration and different ways to go about it which I think makes it a little better for replaying than most beat-em-ups.
Might look into getting this game.
Got Last Blade recently which is a very technical game.
Let it be known that the Neo Geo has some incredible games, Blazing Star, KOF’98 and Neo Turf Masters are well worth getting.
@ThanosReXXX I was a huge C64 fan...and my all time favorite home systems are the Jaguar and Sega Saturn. For the Saturn I still play DATONA! all the time and I love me some Panzer Dragoon Saga every once in a while.
My favorite game of all time is tempest... And I actually have a ball bearing spinner controller for the Jaguar. OMG is unbelievable 😱.
@JRJalapeno Happy New Year!
And yeah, the C64 was also a great system, but I already had the MSX back then, so my parents thought that was more than enough.
Just out of curiosity: if you like Daytona so much, then why don't you have a Dreamcast?
P.S.
How are you liking Top Hunter so far, or haven't you bought it yet?
@ThanosReXXX Happy new year!!! I also have a Dreamcast....I still love power stone on it after all these years... For some reason I have a big soft spot for systems that failed...3DO...saturn...jag...etc. I was the fool that preordered all of em. I remember playing road rash on the 3do nonstop for weeks 😝. I didn't buy top hunter yet but its next up on the list. I'm in the process of moving so I've been swamped. Exciting but stressful. 😊
@JRJalapeno Ah, I can imagine. Sometimes life takes over and hobbies will understandably have to take a backseat for the time being.
And I wouldn't call you, and much less myself, a fool for having bought the Dreamcast. It's still one of the greatest consoles ever made, and that's not just my opinion, but also that of a heck of a lot of critics and media.
How Soul Calibur looks and plays still impresses me to this day, especially considering the age of the system. And Power Stone is also a favorite of mine (as is the sequel), along with Daytona, Hydro Thunder and quite a few others.
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