Mega Man 3 quick review

Megaman 3 highlights

Overall, I think MM3 is a better game than MM2. MM2 is more irregular: it has some brighter moments, but it also has some very low points. MM3 is more cohesive from start to finish and I can´t remember a single instance of a challenge that felt cheap. One clear example of this is the spike falls in Shadow Man´s level (MM3) Vs the spike falls in MM2. In MM2 you had to anticipate them without previous knowledge, but in MM3 there is enough space to move and there are hints, like safe walls, that guide you through the safe path. Another great example is Bubble Man´s falling platforms at the beginning of his level in MM2: there´s no way to know how long they take to fall (there´s really no way to even tell what they do before jumping on one, though they do look a bit fishy). Falling means instant death as they´re located over a bottomless pit, so they are tremendously punishing. In MM3 however, similar platforms are presented first over a solid floor, so the player can (and will) fall if he takes to long, learning how they work without being punished. BTW, these same platforms are later used in another part of the stage in a beautiful evolving sequence.

That said, weapon and item balance is done better in MM2, even taking into acount the superiority of the Metal Blade. Top Spin is a useless weapon (except to instakill a few bosses), as is Needle Spike, Jet Rush renders Rush Coil trivial and can trivialize platform sections and Rush Marine is only useful in 2 challenges (though I really only used it in one). Puzzles requiring items are more common in MM2, it feels like items were an afterthought and some challenges were thrown in just to justify it´s existence.

There were many instances of evolving mechanics in MM3 (even through different levels, like the 4 Doc-Robot levels), all levels were very nicely structured and boss fights are awesome. The inclusion of the slide mechanic adds a lot of depth to the boss fights, even though it should´ve been used more in normal challenges. The returning bosses are a bit cheap and show the tremendous difference between the MM2 and MM3 bosses. For the first time I got that impression of dancing with the boss, letting him set the rythm for the battle until I was able to set it myself. For the first time in the franchise, they felt like proper Mega Man bosses, like those you could fight in the much more refined X series or even Dark Souls. The bosses had clear and understandable patterns, but these could easily be altered depending on the player´s actions. For example, shooting would make Gemini Man stop and shoot as well, which could mess your rythm and get you easily killed. Instead of begin constantly on the attack and shooting to get a lucky hit in, you had to plan precisely when to attack.

The bosses in this game are fantastic, it´s a must to come back to them to get ideas when designing Kitsune´s bosses.

Detailed walkthrough: http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Mega_Man_3_Walkthrough

Mega Man 2 quick review

Yesterday I got the opportunity to finally sit down and play MM2. After 2 hours I managed to beat the game, but it was thanks to the Legacy Collection´s ability to save and load states, without it it would surely had been an incrdibly frustrating experience and I would still be stuck at Flash man´s fake floors or Heat Man´s vanishing platforms. Instead fo doing a full review for a +20 year old game, I´ll just the best and worst moments, specially from a level design point of view:

The best

• All levels have a clear structure: each challenge is clearly separated by screen breaks, changes in direction, changes in the background/setting...This helps a lot to focus on the important task at hand.
• The platform on rails segment in Willy´s stage 4: This challenge is divided into 4 smaller ones, which follow a progression of introducing the challenge, introducing small variations, mixing them up and finally presenting a twist to the original challenge:
  1. Ride the platform while dealing with enemies spawning from easy to get places (the platform´s trayectory helps a lot with this). There´s no need to leave the platform at any moment, the main focus here in dealing with the enemies. It can be shortened a lot by jumping off the platform early.
  2. Getting on the platform is done exactly like in challenge 1, but it´s trickier. The player must also leave the platform at the middle of the way and later get back on it to reach the end. Enemies are removed from this challenge.
  3. 1&2 are mixed: Enemies are back and the player must leave the platform and get back on it in less time. Also, the platform´s route makes it harder to deal with enemies this time than in challenge 1.
  4. 2 Twists happen in this challenge: First of all the player doesn´t have to fall on the platform fro a ladder, but jump from a steady floor. Second: the player must jump off to a steady platform right after getting on the platform on rails, then wait for the platform to turn around and bounce off it quickly to reach the exit. This is the only instance where the player must use the platform "in the wrong direction", so staying on it would be detrimental.
• Item puzzles: Everywhere around the game and specially at the Willy stages, there are small puzzles that will require the player to figure out how to use the special items 1, 2 & 3 to solve them. These were very refreshing and a nice change of pace. Sometimes solving the puzzle will grant access to a 1-Up, an E-tank, a life capsule...or they will just allow the player to go on in the later stages. Awesome way to break monotony and the rewards always made them worthy and satisfying, so the player would try to solve one when he came across one of them. Due to the way MM2 structures it´s levels, they also add a reason for new replays.
• Thunder robots: These were another instance of a developed challenge. Robots throwing thunderbolts at you would appear riding in clouds: the player had to take them out and steal their cloud in growingly complicated setups. The paths of the clouds would change so they would give an advantageous position in the first minichallenge, but put you in more dificulties in the following ones, even to the point of adding foreground clouds to obscure parts of the screen. Even though it was a simple series of obstacles, it was very well though.

The worst

• There are many challenges that rely on trial and error and memorization. Heat Man´s vanishing platforms, Quick Man´s laser beams, Flash Man´s (not sure) fake floors...There´s no way to beat these challenges on the first try as they require knowledge not attainable by the player before going through them. What´s worse, they all are incredibly punishing, causing instant death to the player. These are not hard challenges as once the solution is known the execution is pretty simple and easy, but they will cost the player some lives getting to it. Also, the solutions are purely situational, so that nothing the player learns here will help him a different challenge using the same mechanics anywhere down the line. They just require memorization of sequences which is a knowledge that, once the corresponding challenge has been beaten, can be completely discarded. Even in these unfair challenges some structure is present and they follow a nice evolution, but the nature of the challenges themselves make them frustrating for the player.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

At first, it looks like a simple 2D platformer, with some fluff thanks to the camera transitions and the beautiful graphics. The detail of the backgrounds made it hard to identify some objects at first, the controls felt a bit clunky and I didn´t understand what was up with the flying bananas that sometimes will pop-up or the non-sense stuff to grab or hit with the stomp attack. I started playing it once and gave up on it pretty soon. After some time, I started playing it again and reached the 5th island, only to give up again. Not because of difficulty or anything (yeah, the game´s pretty hard), but because I wasn´t really enjoying it as much as I hoped and I wasn´t make sense of many things.

Some months later, I tried it again. And then it clicked.

I had a bit of a rough start getting accustomed to the controls: I used to misplace the dash and grab buttons, tried to run in Mario Style instead of making short dashes, wasn´t accustomed to the more responsive height control when jumping...But I slowly started to get into the game and started understanding how everything worked. DKC: Tropical Freeze is one of the best platformers I´ve ever played. Maybe the best.

Level design is exceptional, each stage is designed around a small number of mechanics and insane care has been taken to make everything accomodate each level´s theme. Even common secondary objects often change their appearance, but at the same time are somehow immediately recognizable as what they truly are and their use. Where Mario usually keeps a consistent look for these kind of elements, TP uses any available chance to provide aesthetic variety. Even the last 3 hidden levels, which some players may never see, have their own assets that aren´t used anywhere else in the game. Thanks to this care, every level brims with personality and uniqueness, while at the same time helping the gameplay mechanics of each level to become recognizable. But this amazing attention to art is only the icing on the cake.

Where the game truly shines is in the gameplay department. To make things clearer, I´m going to divide this review in 3 sections:

• The player: All about the player´s abilities, movement, powerUps...
• Collectibles: The different type of collectibles in the game and how they help to elevate it to a whole different level.
• Level design: The amazing level design and how it encourages different styles of playing.
• Theming: How theming intertwines with gameplay and makes every level memorable.

The player

Controls may take a bit to get used to, specially for someone so accustomed to the classical Mario controls, but once you do they work amazingly. The game uses the DPad/control stick (somehow this is the first time playing a platformer where it felt strangely natural to use the control stick) and the following buttons:

• Jump: Hold to jump higher, tap for a short hop. It seems this game uses a similar approach to Super Meat Boy, where the jump is much more responsive to the player input as opposed to Mario games, where there is more inertia when going up. At the same time, it doesn´t feel as light as Meat Boy, in fact it feels even weightier than Mario games, but I think this is because of the slow horizontal accceleration, specially when turning around or jumping from a still position. Regarding jumping from a still position, it seems DK will also make a lower jump like Mario and not Meat Boy, who can always make a high jump regardless of horizontal speed. This, added to the low horizontal acceleration, makes getting speed before jumping something really  critical. Anyway, the jump feels great and once you learn to control it you´ll be surprised at the stunts you can pull off. The jump button is also used to bounce on things, be it enemies or any type of device, but unlike Mario games where it´s enough to keep it held, the jump button must be tapped right when DK is about to land on the target. This makes it harder to perform, but also keeps the player more involved and makes linking bounces much more satisfying. At the same time, due to this requirement, the slower horizontal acceleration and the linearity of most levels (more on that later), there aren´t many challenges where DK must change direction between bounces: usually bounce sections always push the player to press forward or at most make small adjustments, but always in the same direction. It is also very noticeable, specially when doing dash jumps, that there is quite a lot of safety time to make a jump after leaving a platform.
• Run: The run button works like a short dash forward. This dash can be used to attack enemies, break some obstacles, move faster or get a lot of extra jump distance by jumping during it. If there is a buddy available, the button can be tapped repeatedly to extend the dash as long as desired. However, to make this dash DK must first take a step forward: this caused me many deaths, some for lack of habit (I would just press forward+run at the same time) or because I didn´t walk enough. It was frustrating that in these situations where the dash didn´t come out DK didn´t perform the stomp attack and instead just walked forward to his doom. There is a stomp attack which is performed by pressing the Run button while standing still: this is used mostly to unlock secrets, destroy some objects, stun enemies (specially useful against those which can´t be attacked from the front or from above), make enemies fall from vines...I dind´t like much this mechanic, I felt it was a but underused and it would´ve been better to somehow link it to the grab mechanic. It´s a nice touch how enemies protect and attack themselves in different ways with horned helmets or spears and how the player must use every trick in his arsenal to deal with them. You can stomp the floor to make armed enemies drop their weapons or jump on them, you can dash through the simpler unarmed enemies or stun them...Felt a little underdeveloped, but this is a fast platform game after all and the focus needs to be on traversal more that in combat, which would slow down the pace. These variations were a nice tuch to keep enemies fresh, meaningful and give them some depth.
• Grab: Pressing this button will make DK grab some elements: vines, barrels, stunned enemies...I felt like it´s only real use was to complicate a bit more sections that use it and for some other circumstancial situations. As with the bounce mechanic, it felt great when it worked, specially in fast paced sections, but when it didn´t it was very frustrating. I really think it could´ve been automated to some extend and linked with the stomp action to simplify things and make both actions more important.

Apart from this universal mechanics, there are 3 PowerUps which grant additional abilities:

• Diddy: Allows to hover. Useless due to Dixie´s existance.
• Dixie: Allows to hover and gain some height. It´s superiority compared to the other 2 buddies is insulting. She´s even the best one underwater too, due to her propeller abbility.
• Cranky: Allows to bounce like in Duck Tales and safely attack any enemy (even spikes) from above. Not bad, but worse than Dixie and only really useful in specific situations designed around him to get a KONG letter or some other secret.

It´s funnny how sometimes, specially in the more trickier levels, it´s specially rewarding (and easier!) to just go with DK without using any hovering abilities from Dixie or Diddy. The level design is often tailored to this default state, so extending your air time can cause you to go out of sync with moving elements.

Summing up, controls and player mechanics feel like a middle point between Mario and Meat Boy, providing more control than Mario but not as much as Meat Boy. This makes some stunts incredibly satisfying to perform and feels better, but this precisely puts more reponsibility on the player´s hands and makes some challenges harder than they could be. Challenge complexity is scaled down, but the focus on execution may frustrate the less skilled players or those who don´t put in enough effort to get better...like I did at my first 2 attempts at the game.

Collectibles

There are 4 main types of collectibles in DKC:

• Bananas: This is the most common collectible in the game and in part because of this it has the least value. However sometimes it´s given more importance by using a specific set as a requirement to unlock puzzle pieces, so in the end a player after collectibles may end up going after all of them. Their most common use is to show the player the safe way forward, specially in fast paced sections.
• Coins: The second most common collectible. It´s something intermediate between bananas and KONG letters: they are usually placed in situations where they´re away from the easier path to take and might require some stunt, but never in such crazy places like where KONG letters like to spawn.
• Puzzle Pieces: There are between 5 and 9 of them and are very nicely hidden around the level. Sometimes they are even locked behind a minigame, being it in a secret room or in the main level (by forcing the player to collect moving bananas before they vanish). They give another dimension to gameplay, allowing satisfying exploration to take place and being able to change completely how a player going after them plays a level. Amazing use of collectibles to affect gameplay positively. The only bad thing about them is that once collected they can´t be lost, so suicide runs can be used to get them.
• KONG letters: There are 4 of them in every level. They are usually at plain sight and the player must perform a crazy stunt to collect them. They aren´t saved unless the player gets to a checkpoint, so suicide runs don´t work with them. They need to be recollected after every death if the player didn´t reach a checkpoint, but their location and way of collecting usually allows them to be collected using little time. Sometimes they´ll even teach the player a faster way around the level! Another masterful use of collectibles, trying to get all of them was what changed my view of the game and made me fall in love with it.

A lot of thought and refinement has gone in designing these collectibles: each one of them serves for one distinct positive purpose from a gameplay perspective. All of them are worth collecting or can be safely ignored, depending on how the player wants to play the game. I didn´t use items so coins didn´t feel worth grabbing to me, which made me discard them quickly in most situations where the risk was too big, but I appreciate their what the developers were trying to do with them. The rest, are just perfect. I think that their success is that, more than them being designed on a good idea, they were implemented really well and seem to have been taken into account when designing the levels.

Level design

This is the big one. This is what truly makes this game stand out as one of the greatest platformers of all time (I´m not exagerating). The main level structure follows a layout of presenting the main mechanic, then gradually evolving it and throwing more variables into the mix. Most levels feature secondary mechanics that take over for whole sections of the level before the main mechanic takes over again for the grand finale. Minigames when looking for puzzle pieces can interrupt at any moment, providing a change of pace, a moment of fun, a release of tension or just a paletter cleanser from the main mechanic. This structure is nothing revolutionary (though I intend to analyze in detail some levels in the near future) as is certainly not what makes the game shine, but it is an important part of it.

What truly makes this game great is how everything is placed in the exact place, how every moving element is synchronized to the milisecond with the rest, how every single part of the level works in perfect unison. This includes platforms, enemies and obstacles, but also collectibles, special effects or background alterations...even the music! When you are very concentrated playing a game you can sometimes get in the zone, a magical state of mind where you don´t think, just act and everything seems so easy and to have so much sense. This may happen once in a long gaming session, never happen in weeks or months...it´s not a common occurrence. This game makes it astonishingly easy to repeteadly get in the zone. When you start navigating a new level at full speed, bouncing around, making the right choices at every turn, grabbing all the KONG letters you know this game is something else. This doesn´t mean you just have to press forward and jump at the right moment: sometimes maybe a dash  or a low jump are better. Sometimes it´s better not to bounce on an enemy. Sometimes it´s better to wait for half a second before making a jump to a new platform. Even when going full speed it´s not just rushing, you are constantly making decissions and reacting on the spot to what the level throws at you. KONG letters will give you glimpses of this style of play and the game even features a time attack mode, so it´s clear that this is not just a happy accident: the devs really put a lot of care into this aspect. The game´s high difficulty encourages this: you´ll die often, and a lot of times at the same spot, so it´s natural that you´ll try to find faster ways to that place. This takes away frustration, as usually in a few seconds you´ll find your way back to that critical spot. It´s important to highlight how there´s almost no down time at all; it´s true that the game makes you wait a few seconds after dying while the death and respawn animations play, but once in control you can push forward and everything will be in the right place for you to continue without having to wait for a moving platform to get in position or a path to open forward. What´s more, the slight pause when dying gives you a moment to think about what caused you to die, though it´s true that the slow respawn animation was a bit tedious and something faster and shorter would´ve been much better.

At the same time, the game will reward you with secrets and puzzle pieces if you take your time and explore every inch the levels. The layout is extremely linear, even though the game tries to spice things up with camera changes or mixing some vertical or underwater sections, but there are so many secrets that force you to get slightly out of the way or into secret rooms that it helps make the levels feel bigger than they really are. This is a very important aspect of the game which made me start to consider it at the level of masterpieces such as SMW: the exploration is very rewarding and it adds a lot of depth to every level and to the gameplay in general. There are however 2 things I didn´t like much: first of all it´s how puzzle pieces can be collected in suicide runs, often making the challenge they´ve set up totally avoidable. The second is how there´s no way how to tell which levels have secret exits. It´s true that often the map hints at it, but there are situations in which this isn´t enough, so looking for a secret exit in all levels can be a bit tedious...but at the same time, isn´t that what exploration is all about?

It´s necessary to remark how the challenge design is rather simple: there aren´t any complex contraptions that become a level´s main mechanic. Instead, most challenges are fairly simple: moving platforms with a set rythm or in an easily identifiable path, simple enemy interactions...The complexity is placed more on the player´s execution, rather than on understanding how the mechanics work. This is the same approach Meat Boy or SMB3 take and it works really well!

Finally, a few words on bossfights. I´ve seen many people complain about them being too long and complex, I think they are superb and make a good case for how great boss fights are possible using platforming mechanics. I liked a lot how they escalate and evolve their attack patterns through the fight, though I can understand them being frustrating to someone if they die and have to repeat the intial phases over and over again...Funny thing is that, as I approached the end of the game, boss fights started feeling shorter everytime. I think it may be a consequence of me getting better and replacing tension for pure fun!

Theming

I was focusing mainly on gameplay in this analysis, but something has lately come to my attention. All levels in the game tell a story, have a nice theme that is used for both story and gameplay and the story also follows the Kishotenketsu formula. Some examples of this:

• Fruit Factory: In this level DK visits a factory where fruit is chopped, squeezed, carried around...The gameplay mechanics include avoiding knifes, walking on threadmills, jumping on temporary platforms consisting of the pieces of fruit that fly away from the squeezer...In the end, DK misses the exit barrel and has to get through a frantic climbing sequence by using the pieces of fruit being thrown by a giant squeezer as the juice level rises, signifying death.
• Sawmill thrill: A minecart level inside a wood factory, where saws will turn the minecart into a raft and back into a minecart, act as obstacles to be avoided or even shape the path forward by cutting through wood. The twist comes at the end of the level when a giant saw gets loose and chases the player destroying everything in it´s way, while at the same time propelling wood platforms that the player must jump on to survive.

These levels follow the Kishotenketsu formula in their story: we first get introduced to the factory and the saws, then we get through a couple of them, then the giant saw gets loose and wreaks havoc and finally we escape the factory and reach the level exit. it could also be interpreted as a three-act narrative structure with exposition, rising action and resolution. It´s not as important to identify this as to understand that an underlying narrative stucture exists that ties gameplay, theme and story together.

There are some levels where this structure is twisted even further, like in Irate Eight, an underwater level where DK gets chased by a giant octopus:

• We are first introduced to the setting and some hazards like underwater mines and spikes, then a chase sequence happens properly introducing the octopus.
• The next section is similar to the first one, but this time the octopus will also try to get DK from the background using it´s arms.
• Finally, another chase sequence triggers before we reach the end of the level, where we must break some chains to throw some mines on the octopus (nice idea making the player use one of the level´s hazards against the octopus!).

This is even more similar to a 3 act structure, with a lengthy exposition that ends up in an incident that changes what was established of the level (the first chase sequence). The next act, the rising action, evolves the first part of the level while building up to a confrontation with the octopus. The final chase sequence is the climax of the level. Now, we can consider the final challenge of throwing the mines to the octopus as part of the 3rd act in a 3-act structure, or as the 4th act in a Kishotenketsu structure Being as it may, the important thing to notice is that there are 2 critical moments in this level, signified by the octopus chase sequences and that the first one helps change the level mechanically and advance the story. It´s these crysis that provide the level with an identity and that will make it stand out and perdure in the player´s mind.

There are some lessons to be learned here:

• A level can have more than one crysis, but both of them must be centered around the same concept, thematically and mechanically. Having different elements take the focus during the crysis would dissolve the theme and make the whole level less memorable and focused.
• The whole level must be built around these crysis. Once that´s defined (which includes defining the main mechanic of the level) the rest of the level and story can be shaped around it, to establish the setting to be turned upside down by the crysis and to build up for this crysis.

Lessons learned

These are the most important concepts learned from Tropical Freeze:

• Camera: The camera has a predetermined behaviour, usually there´s not much vertical movement as everything is framed at every moment (DK is even allowed to leave the screen from the top). Camera may zoom out in set behaviours for some challenges.
• Tap jump to bounce: This is a cool mechanic, makes bouncing on enemies and obstacles very satisfying, but limits the complexity of this type of challenges.
• Controls: The game is  a middle point between Mario and Meat Boy control-wise and this translates to the rest of the game.
• Puzzle pieces: Awesome idea to add exploration to the game, but suicide runs should be discouraged.
• KONG Letters: Awesome way to provide more challenge and to teach the player about high-level play.
• No down time: Everything is set at any moment for the player to push forward without having to wait.
• Everything is synchronized: Platform, obstacle, collectible and enemy distances, placement and movement patterns are where they need to be.
• Hint at secret exits in the map: Secret exits may need to be better hinted at from the map.
• Bossfights: Bossfights are complex and engaging, but they may be too long and can become frustrating to some players. A solution could be to make the initial sequences shorter in repeated attempts?
• Every level tells a story: Every level has a clear theme and tells a nice little story.
• The level story also follows the Kishotenketsu structure, though some levels alter the formula to stand out more.
• Gameplay and theme are masterfully mixed: The story progression mimics the gameplay mechanics progression and vice versa.

Demo level redesign

This entry will be organized in the following sections:

• General design considerations: Details the level objectives and some conclusions to take into account.
• Macro structure: Defines the main parts in which the level will be divided and the immediate objective of each one of them.
• Micro structure: Details each challenge of every section of the level.

General design considerations

The general layout for the demo level was well received, but there are some flaws that must be addressed:

• The relation between speed and jump height doesn´t seem to be very evident. I should redo the very first part of the level so there are more simple parts and the player learns that building speed before a jump helps getting higher. I could also put the variable jump height tutorial in this part, it also serves as a nice introduction for semisolid platforms.
• The entry points for the secret paths must be made harder to find and beat, so players don´t get into them thinking it´s the normal path like happened to Pehesse.
• Keep the count of the Dragon Coins used, this should be more like a training for myself so I keep the count low and more importance is given to each of them (5 per level). There shouldn´t be any Dragon Coin in the normal path.

It may be a good idea to divide the level into smaller ones and focus the first one just on teaching the basics.

Macro structure

The level will be divided in 4 thematic groups:

• Jump button: Teaches the player all the different jumping techniques.
• Run button: Teaches all the uses of the Run button.
• Up & Down directions: Teaches all the uses of UP & DOWn directions.
• Final test: Throws everything together in a series of small challenges.

The first 3 sections will define different challenges to teach the basic skills and the last one will be a real challenge mixing everything:

1. Basic jumping skills (Jump button)
   1. Jump
   2. Speed and distance relation
   3. Speed and height relation
   4. Bouncing on enemies
2. Running (Run Button)
   1. Run
   2. Running jump
   3. Variable jump
3. Vertical actions (Up & Down directions)
   1. Crouch
   2. Slide
   3. Look up
   4. Look down
   5. Stomp
4. Final test (put everything together)

This makes, at least, 10 challenges, which is a pretty big number and could be a level itself. Note that we have left out skills like breaking blocks as with the new PUP system the player won´t be able to do so and we won´t be using any PUPs in this level.

The layout of the level will be very linear as there won´t be any hidden paths in this level. However, we will be using verticality and forcing the player to go left in between some challenges to spice it up a little, but without givng him the chance to get lost or backtrack too far; in fact the player will mos times be locked in the current challenge with no chance to go anywhere else.

Micro structure

These section will detail the specific challenges in the order in which they are found.

1 Basic jumping skills (Jump button)

1.1 Jump

The first thing to do is to teach the player how to jump (well, the first thing in fact would be to teach him to walk, but that is too simple). We´ll start with a flat floor with some coins leading the player to the right until he faces a wall with an explanation right before it that tells the player to use the Jump key. One simple jump (even steady) will allow the player to get over the wall.

1.2 Speed and distance relation

The horizontal speed is related to the jump distance, so we must explain this to the player and force him to learn this concept by heart, as it will be a required skill everywhere throughout the game.

We can do this with 2 simple challenges:

• A simple jump straight ahead from a standing position, so the player fails the jump.
• The same jump with a little space to build up speed, so the player can complete the jump.

It is important that the player misses the jump so he can see the different outcomes. Coins will help to guide the jump and highlight even more the difference. We can set the challenge so that the player falls straight vertically onto a 1 block ledge. The left part is blocked by a barrier and the right part requires the jump to cross through. The floor is not visible and coins will describe an arc, so the player will be enticed to take the jump and fail. When he falls to the bottom, a tip box will show 2 drawings: one of the player failing the jump from a standing position and other completing it with built-up speed. The player will make his way back through some low platforms and through a semisolid platform, hitting a button along the way to remove the barrier. As this is the first button in the game, it needs to be visible and not missable, so the player has no choice but to activate it. We can place another barrier next to the button so the player sees how it dissapears, just in case the original barrier was too high and goes off camera. Both of these barriers will stay off once the player presses the buttons, even if he later dies and has to come back through this part.

Once the player reaches the top, coins will guide him to the right so he can get through the part that the barrier was originally blocking. A simple walking jump should be enough to cross the gap and beat the challenge.

We´ll end the challenge with a series of simple challenges on 2 and 1 block wide platforms where the player needs to use the recently learnt technique.

1.3 Speed and height relation  

One thing that players without much experience in Mario games have difficulty grasping is how the horizontal speed before a jump affects the jump´s height. We must think of a way to make players deduce this by themselves, so the concept becomes firmly ingrained in their minds.

A nice way to do this could be to present the player with a situation where he´s forced to jump from a still position, then repeat the same situation but allowing him to walk before jumping. A collectible just of reach could help to highlight the difference in height reached. Visual effects could also enforce the feeling that the walking jump is higher than the standing one.

We just designed a challenge really similar to what we need to demonstrate the speed and jump distance relation , so maybe we could just repeat the layout, but this time raising the target platform´s height. This approach has the advantage that players will immediately recognize it and some may find the solution to the challenge without failing first. By allowing this, we are risking that some players can´t identify the real purpose behind the challenge so it becomes useless. On the other hand, advanced players will feel bored with all this, so we need to change something to make it interesting for them too.

Instead of putting the barrier vertically we´ll place it horizontally and away from the block where the player lands on. The left part of the block will be filled with spikes so the player can´t fall through this side and must jump to the right following the coins, which will take him to the next tip. This way the barrier will block the way upwards when the player falls, so he has to step on the button to make it move to the right. The barrier will then allow the player to pass through and will also act as a barrier against the spikes on the floor, providing ample space to build up speed and make the jump. The barrier will stay off once the player deactivates it, even if the player dies later and has to come back through this part again.

A small section upwards will follow with the following jumps that require what´s just been explained:

1. Jump to 3w platform.
2. 3w platform to 1w platform directly above.
3. 1w platform to 1w platform directly above.

1.4 Bouncing on enemies

This challenge will have 4 parts:

1. Isolated enemy: The player lands on an isolated enemy and kills him. We can just force the player to fall vertically on a trapped enemy.
2. Bounce to reach higher: The player must bounce on an enemy to reach a higher platform. We can repeat the layout of the demo, it explains everything pretty well.
3. Link bounces: The player must bounce on 2 enemies to cross a spiked pit. We need to use red armored enemies for this, so they don´t die upon jumping on them, stay on a block and can be easily jumped on. The jump will be really easy to achieve by just holding the jump button and right direction.
4. Moving targets: The player will need to bounce on a steady enemy, then on a moving enemy to get to a higher platform. The floor will be covered with spikes and the enemies won´t respawn, so we´ll use a red armored enemy for the static one and normal armored enemy for the moving one.

This concludes the section of basic jumping techniques for now. Next, the player will learn the running techniques.

2 Running (Run button)

2.1 Run

We can repeat the layout of the demo, dividing the challenge in 2 parts:

1. Approach: A series of gaps will make the player fall when trying to walk over them. An initial part will use a resizable platform with an unused style so the player can later recognize it. We´ll also use a different coin pattern to enforce this.
2. Running over gaps: A tip at the bottom of the tip will teach the player the command to run. The player can now climb back to where he fell from and run through the series of gaps to the other side.

2.2 Running jump

This will be a pretty straightforward challenge. Using the resizabe platform style and coin pattern we just used for the running training, we will lay out a long platform leading to a long pit, so the player has to make a running jump to cross it. If the player fails we may put a tip box in the bottom of the pit.

2.3 Variable jump

Up until this point all jumps have required the player to use the maximum jump height by holding down the jump button during the jump´s duration. This time, we´ll force the player to use a running medium jump. For this challenge we´ll use the same setup as in the demo: running resizable platform and coin pattern over a small gap, with a wall and a normal resizable platform to trap the player if he jumps too high.

We can end this section with a series (2 or 3 will do) of short, simple jumps with a resizable platform above to force the player to jump carefully. A sakilled player will be able to breeze through this part running and making short hops.

3 Vertical actions (Up & Down directions) 

3.1 Crouch

A tip will teach the player that he can press the Down direction to crouch. This is a very basic action, so the challenge will be really simple: an horizontally moving platform passing over one wall, in a way that if the player doesn´t crouch he´ll fall from the platform.

3.2 Slide

By running and then crouching the player can slide and get under low ceilings. We´ll use the resizable platform and coin pattern we used in the running challenges to layout a flat floor for the player to build speed and slide under a 1 block wide ceiling. There´s no fail state here, so we´ll have to trap the player so that he doesn´t start running around looking for ways to bypass the challenge.

Checkpoint

There is certain risk of the playing dying in the next challenge until he discovers the look mechanic, so we´ll be usign checkpoint here.

3.3 Look up

Even though continuing with the down direction mechanics seems like the most natural thing to do, it maybe too hard to introduce the look mechanic without using a tip box for it or overcomplicating the layout. Using the Look Up mechanic justifies the use of a tip box to let the player know of the new input and also allows us to vary the layout a bit more, without making it too complex.

The player will be facing a spike pit with no way to go. There will be some hidden platforms with coins over them and describing the jump arcs between them. The tip box will tel him to look up, which will spawn the platforms. From this platform, there will be another one to the left. This one must be located more to the left than the place where the player uses the look mechanic to spawn the first platforms, so it doesn´t get triggered by that first look (we may need another intermediate platform for this). We do it this way so the player may start finding a relation between the direction he´s facing and the area of effect of the look mechanic. We may add some kind of visual effect to highlight the area under the effect, but we must make it subtle, so when the look mechanic is used in action environments where the player has to keep track things outside of it, it also works.

Finally we put another platform to the right (again, we may need an intermediate platform so it stays out of the area of influence of the look mechanic before now). When the player looks up, the platform will spawn, but the wall to it´s right will despawn too (or maybe the ceiling, depending on what works better for the layout), opening the way forward. 

3.4 Look down

The player will be now again trapped, but a single row of blocks will hint with a line of coins at the path going downwards. The player has to crouch to make the blocks disappear and unlock the path forward. In the previous demo KooopaKid complained that this mechanic wasn´t very clear, as it also depends on which way Kitsune is facing. For example, the player could sit on top of the disappearing block and look downwards, so nothing would happen. To avoid this, we´ll fill the floor with spikes, so the player can´t stand on the blocks that can disappear. We´ll make these blocks and spikes vanishable, so when the player looks down everything goes away. Better yet, we´ll use a row of hidden blocks right above the spikes, so the player can recognize them.

To try to somehow explain the horizontal functions of the look mechanic, we´ll spawn the player at the center of the spike filled pit. If he looks down to the right, only the blocks from that side will apeear. If he looks to the left the blocks from that side will appear instead. There will be a row of coins above the hidden blocks and only one block in each side can disappear, marked with a column of coins below it, so the player can despawn the spikes, get the coins and jump through the gap from the block that disappeared.

3.5 Stomp

A tip will teach the player the command to trigger the stomp. There will be a column of flying armored enemies so if the player jumps on the top-most one he will just bounce in place. When using the stomp attack, the player will destroy all enemies in the column. There´s another use of the stomp attack, which is to activate PUP blocks from above, but as we´ve removed the simple PUP and the other 2 won´t be in the demo, we´ll leave it out for now.

4 Final test (put everything together)

The final test will be a small level around a simple obstacle that forces the player to use the recently learnt techniques. This mechanic will be vanishing platforms with intercepts:

• Vanishing platforms (VP): When the player lands on them a small timer starts counting. Once it reaches 0 the block disappears and starts another timer. When this second timer is finished, the block will reappear.
• Intercepts (I): We´ll use flying armored enemies. As they´ve already been introduced in the Stomp tutorial, they won´t need a presentation challenge.

Other elements used in this section are:

• Static platform (SP)
• Hidden platforms (HP)

This minilevel will be divided in 4 sections:

1. Presentation: Simple jump to a VP and to a static one from there. No penalty if failing. The second jump requires running.
2. Development:
1. D1:Jump with 1 I to another VP (2 or 3x1). Another jump with I1 positioned in such a way that it forces the player to stop and use up all the time of the VP to relocate himself before jumping . Bouncing on I1 allows the player to reach DC1. End on static platform.
2. D2: 1 block tall gap on a VP, jump with 1I, running jump to another VP. The last jump will have a resizable platform above, so if the player uses a full jump he will be sent to the higher path. If he manages to make the low jump he´ll get DC2.
3. Twist:
1. Critical path: Let the timer go out to fall to a lower platform. VP1 with a column of flying armored Is (I1) surrounded by walls that doesn´t allow to jump to the right. DC3 is located inbetween the walls amongst the individual enemies that form I1. The player must wait until VP1 falls, ride it downwards a bit then jump to VP2 on the right. Then another jump with I2 to VP3, then jump to safety.
2. Optional path: There is an alternate route: before starting the challenge the player has to look up to spawn HP3A and down to spawn HP5A. Then, after landing on VP2, the player can bounce on I2 to reach HP3A. From HP3A the player can jump to VP4A (check if it´s really necessary to gain height) and jump above I1. Using a stomp in this location will get the player through I1, get DC3 and make him land in HP5A, from where he can jump again to VP2 and continue through the critical path. Players who look down before attempting the challenge will unlock HP2 that will negate the challenge, but this can be a way to reward exploration.
4. Conclusion: Jump with I1 to VP1, followed by a jump with I2. The player must wait for the right moment to jump on VP1, then wait for the right moment to bounce on I2 and reach the goal. Failing the jump will make him fall down and end the level without the completion token. It´s important to synchronize I1 and I2 correctly, so when I1 allows passage I2 is blocking the last jump, forcing the player to wait a bit on VP1 before attempting the last jump.

Dueling system

We face an important problem when thinking aboutt he duels against the other virtues: the player´s attack methods are very limited (jump and stomp) and the ones provided by the powerUps may be too powerful and break the fights (Astral Palm and Ninja Star). With jumping, we risk having to make the enemies invulnerable through most parts of the fight, which may not be a good decission. We must think of a system to make the fights more engaging, limiting enemy invulnerability to the minimum so players feel the game´s not cheating and they have freedom to try different tactics instead of following a rigid instruction set.("attack now", "defend now").

Megaman games do this really well. Usually you can attack the boss at any moment, but you risk getting hit in return if you choose poorly. This allows for players to develop their own strategy and even have fun refighting bosses to try new things. Megaman bosses (and Megaman himself) have a life bar, so this style of many-hits to win fits the game nicely. Kitsune doesn´t use that and instead will utilize a reduced number of hit-points, with 3 differentiated phases in each fight. This way, bosses will be able to sustain 9 or 10 hits and every hit is more important than individual shots in Megaman games (specially in old ones where there was no charged shot).

One solution is to use charged attacks. These force the player to evade the enemy attacks for some time until the charge is complete, so there´s no need to force enemy invulnerability. We can make enemies require charged attacks of one PUP or the other (or make them required in the mechanic used to deal damage in the fight) so the player can choose the moment to dish out damage.

The powerless state doesn´t have a charged attack, so if the player looses all PUPs he´ll need a way to get them back. We should insert in every sequence of the boss patterns a opportunity to get a PUP from one of the boss attacks. Some general ideas:

• For bosses using projectiles, some projectile can be colored differently. Instead of evading it, if the player jumps on it it will spawn a PUP.
• The boss may spawn some blocks to alter the level´s layout, we can hide PUPs inside of them, so if the player jumps to the correct one he´ll spawn one.
• Look dispenser: Have a dispenser that will spawn a PUP when the player looks at it. It takes some time so the player must find the correct place and moment to stand still and look at the dispenser long enough without getting hit.

This way we can lock the duel in different phases and force the player to get flawlessly through each sequence of them, or risk it all by going kamikaze style and having to get new PUPs constantly, with the added tension of being vulnerable almost all the time.

New PowerUp system

Replaying The Wonderful 101 and basking in the glorious light of it´s fantastic game systems has made me rethink the PowerUp system for Kitsune. The initial idea was to just use a standard Mario PowerUp system: the player can only use one PowerUp and must find it in the stage he currently is, with the possibility of adding a secondary PowerUp to switch to at will through a slow process. But what if we relinquish this and instead allow the player to have all PowerUps available at any time and allow him to switch between them quickly with the press of a button?

This new approach open up some amazing possibilities:

• Levels can be more varied, as the player may be explicitly required to switch playstyles on the go.
• It may open a new world of possibilities for skilled players, like jumping with the Shadow Edge to kill an intercept with the Screw Attack, then switching mid-air to Astral Palm to perform a Double Jump, then switching back to Shadow Edge to break a wall and fall at a secret platform.
• It allows us to make powerUps, enemies and obstacles more distinct and situational, adding a layer of depth not seen in Mario games. We can divide enemies into physical and spiritual and use a duality system.
• It grants more hitpoints to the player, so more complex bossfights can be made, with each hit taking away one PowerUp.
• It will solve any problem with the PowerUp blocks: just make them spawn the PowerUp the player is missing.
• It will help differentiatet the game from Mario World more.

On the other hand, it presents some problems:

• Level design will be more complex. The player will have always access to the double jump PowerUp, which can make some challenges too easy. In these situations, we will have to add enemies or obstacles that encourage the usage of the Shadow Edge, but that at the same time allow the player to go through without it, to account for situations where the player has taken a hit and has lost it. Shadow Edge can easily be discouraged from use by placing spiked walls so the wall jump can´t be abused to bypass challenges.
• The game is immediately made more complex. We are adding another button, so we must train the player really well in the earlier levels to make him able to identify situations in which a PowerUp is required and switch at will.
• At the same time, levels relying on damage-inducing mechanics will immediately be made much easier, as the player will be able to sustain more hits. This can be mitigated by gating the level with PowerUp-based obstacles, forcing the player to repeat the challenges flawlessly or sending him trhough a different path.

The new PowerUp system

Kitsune will have 4 states:

• PowerLess: Can´t break blocks, dies with one hit. Useful to make tense levels.
• PoweredUp: Can break blocks and sustain 1 hit. We can remove it as it really doesn´t add anything to gameplay.
• Shadow Edge
• Astral Palm

The style button will only really be useful when Kitsune has both PowerUps active. This is not a nice thing, as it´s a bit weird to use one button and not have it active all the time. We may add some funny animations where Kitsune tries to activate a PowerUp but fails. This action could affect enemies, making them flinch for a moment so the action has some minimal use... 

The "Yoshi/Kyuubi" style PowerUp will be removed and instead we will give more utilities to the other 2 PowerUps::

• Shadow Edge:
• Physical power.
• Can bounce on spiked enemies or armored enemies.
• Destroy walls.
• Wall jump: When hitting the wall we must accomodate a few frames for the player to stick before starting to slide down, it´ll make wall jumping much more user-friendly.
• Activate devices which require rotation.
• Screw jump.
• Tap Down in the air to make a stomp attack, turning Kitsune into a ball with spikes.
• Vulnerable to spiritual enemies and attacks.
• Sprint to activate the rolling saw and break hard walls.
• Walk into shadows to become invisible.
• Doesn´t make noise when landing or running, so is good for stealth levels.
• Tap Run to throw a small Star. The Star will travel 3/4 of the view and disappear in a puff of smoke if it doesn´t hit anything.
• Stars can be used to hit distant switches or activate small rotating devices.
• If the star hits a wall that can be destroyed it will get stuck on it. If the wall can´t be destroyed the star will bounce back, fall and disappear.
• Charge to release a bigger Star that can travel all the screen and can´t be repelled.
• Sprint + Crouch to charge the Spark Dash. Tap Run to unleash the invincible dash in any direction.
• Astral Palm:
• Spiritual power.
• Can bounce on spiritual enemies.
• Destroy or pass through barriers.
• Double jump.
• Activate devices which require spiritual energy or attacks.
• Push objects from a distance.
• Tap Y to attack with short range (only works against spiritual enemies). Tap Y + a direction to attack in that direction (can attack downwards in the air, but can´t use the stomp attack).
• Tap Y repeteadly while still to activate Thousand Astral Palms.
• Sprint allows to run over physical hazards (spikes) or liquids (water, lava...).
• Charge to release a bigger palm.
• Can walk on spiritual lines (Shadow Edge will fall through them).
• Sprint + Jump to fly.
• Astral Stomp: Tap down while flying to fall quickly to the ground and create an earthquake that will deal 1HP to all enemies standing on the ground, even to armored and spiked enemies.
• Can see invisible enemies, by sensing their spiritual energy.

Enemies

Enemies can have powerUps themselves, each type of powerUp will change how they interact with the player:

• Powerless: Can be jumped on and killed in any situation.
• Armored: First jump will take away their armor (which can be grabbed and thrown), second jump kills them. Jumping on them with Shadow Edge will kill them in one hit.
• FiredUp (3 levels): Player must first use the Astral Palm to push the fire away, the enemy then becomes powerless for a while. There are 3 levels, each one requires one more additional hit to take away the fire: green (1 hit), blue (2 hits), purple (3 hits). The ranged attack of the Shadow Edge damages them, but each flame needs 3 hits to be put off. For example a purple flamed enemy will need 3 hits to become blue flamed, 3 to become green and 1 to be killed. But the player must do it in a very short time, or the enemy will powerUp again to the max level.
• Spiked (2 levels): Spiked enemies can only be jumped on with the Shadow Edge. If the enemy has wood spikes, the Shadow Edge will remove the spikes and the enemy can be jumped on and killed with any powerUp. If the enemy has metal spikes, the Shadow Edge can bounce on them, but not harm them. They are invulnerable to the Astral Palm but the wooden ones can be cut with the Shadow Edge´s ranged attack. However, it will bounce off metal spiked enemies.
• Electrified: Invulnerable to everything, can´t even be jumped on without sufferng damage.

Instead of using spikes and Grinders for the most common obstacles we must think of something else, as those kind of obstacles would allow bouncing with the Shadow Edge. Some ideas:

• Lava, acid, soul pool, laser barrier: For floors and walls (sideways lava an acid could be cool).
• Laser borders: On any physical obstacle.

Action overload

One thing that makes the system of TW101 great is that every action can be used in more than one situation. We will now detail every action of the player in all states and try to define more than one use for each of them.

PowerLess

• Jump: Can be used to jump over obstacles, bounce on enemies, kill normal enemies, activate switches by hitting them from below or landing on them, hit blocks from below to kill enemies standing on them.
• Run: Move faster to avoid obstacles, jump further, sprint.
• Sprint: Move even faster, jump further and higher, automatically get under obstacles.
• Crouch: Avoid obstacles, slide under obstacles when running, hold to LookDown when still.
• LookUp & LookDown: Activate invisible blocks, discover invisible enemies, despawn false walls, damage specific enemies.
• Stomp: Another air mobility option (hang time+fall faster), hit blocks from above, kill enemies walking below blocks from above.

Shadow Edge

• Jump: Same as powerless + can bounce on spiked enemies or armored enemies in any angle, can hit enemies from anywhere not just by landing on them, destroy walls, floors and ceilings.
• Wall slide: Enables wall jump, fall slower, can make certain blocks disappear.
• Wall jump: Jump from walls, push movable blocks that the player jumps from.
• Stomp attack: Same as powerless + Destroy hard blocks, instantly kill enemies with HP<=2, bounce higher on bounceable stuff.
• Run: Same as powerless + activate devices that require rotation.
• Shadow Edge (Sprint): Move faster, jump higher and further, break hard walls (jumps will also break hard walls and ceilings), enables Spark Dash, activate devices that require fast rotation.
• Star: Hit enemies dealing 0.5 HP damage (doesn´t affect spiked enemies), activate switches & small rotating devices, activate trap sensors, locate hidden & destroyable walls, shoot through electricity to turn on electric devices.
• Charged Star: Same as Star but dealing 1 HP damage + will destroy walls (not hard ones).
• Charged state: 1 HP armor, but will loose the charged state.
• Spark Dash: Destroy hard walls, fly around (tap Y to change direction), invulnerable to everything, but somethings will make it bounce ending the dash.

Astral Palm

• Jump: Same as powerless + can bounce on and destroy spiritual enemies and pass through barriers.
• Double jump: Same as Jump + Jump higher, more air mobility, useful for devices which react to player´s jumping (like the on/off pairs of blocks). 
• Astral Palm: Activate devices which require spiritual energy or attacks, deal 2HP to astral enemies, push objects from a distance, can attack in any direction even in the air, destroy barriers, repel astral projectiles.
• Thousand Astral Palms: Same as Astral Palm + Can break Spiritual armor, deal a lot of damage in shor time to astral enemies.
• Astral Fist: Biiger Palm, longer range, push objects very far with strength allowing them to go over gaps, deal more damage to astral enemies.
• Run: Same as powerless + pass through barriers.
• Sprint: Move faster, jump higher, run over physical hazards (spikes) or liquids (water, lava...), enable Astral Jump, run through & kill Astral Enemies without spikes.
• Astral Jump: Rise 1 screen and a half with 1 hit armor (if hit will loose the vertical push but maintain vertical and horizontal momentum and gliding capabilities until the player touches ground), enables Astral Wings.
• Astral Wings: Rise with tapping B, glide automatically, Astral Palm becomes Astral Fist, enables Astral Stomp.
• Astral Stomp: Deal 1HP damage to all enemies, make big enemies dizzy, destroy floors.

Conclusions

With these changes we can add a lot of depth to the levels, including more advanced challenges that require mixing both PowerUps or using specific obstacles and enemies to make the player use one PowerUp or the other. Shadow Edge will be very good to deal with physical intercepts, enemies in general and for stealth levels. Astral Palm allows more mobility and changes the playstyle by relying more on the Y attack, allowing more crazy stuff but making it more complex to perform. Both PowerUps can be used to explore freely by flying, but Shadow Edge is better when paths are blocked by enemies and walls, while Astral Palm is better for navigating carefully and even allows almost pure shoot´em up challenges.

The Wonderful 101

I owed this game some more time, so yesterday I started playing it again. I started a new playthrough from scratch, as it´s been more than a year since I last played and I have to relearn many of the game systems. And that is precisely why I decided to write this post: the game systems in TW101 are FANTASTIC.

The system has many controls and situations to keep track of, so it´s not very user-friendly at first and takes some time to get used to it. The aspect that shines specially is how every system can be used in many different ways and has a lot of specific properties that become really useful in some situations. The game utilizes a lot of specific obstacles in the shape of spiked enemies, enraged ones, lasers, missiles...but also gives the player various ways to deal with every situation:

• Y button: This is usually labelled as the "Dash" command, but I think a better name for it would be the "Group" command. When you press it all the characters get in a tight cluster near the leader and follow him around. This can be used to get the team out of harm´s way, to dispel Unite Forms and call back units...When the group is tight it moves faster, but it´s also more vulnerable. Just with a single shallow action as "run" the game has implemented many uses for it.
• X button: Team attack. It can be tapped to attack repeteadly or held down to charge a more powerful attack up to 3 levels once the corresponding skill is unlocked. This attack makes Wonderful ones cling to bigger enemies and potentially stun them, allowing you to unleash combos and specially, to use the more damaging techniques such as throws or launchers. It also acts as a lock-on command, so the player can instantly teleport to the enemy´s location (awesome skill for resetting jumps in air combos without allowing the enemy to touch the ground) or direct team unites. By using the X button when activating a glyph instead of the A button, the glyph will be activated by other team members, allowing the player to keep doing his stuff. It can also be mixed with skills, so the player can draw the glyph for the sword, then press B, X to activate a sword launcher performed by the team members while the team leader keeps doing his own thing.
• Unite Hand: This is the medium attack (average speed, average-strong power). It can also be used to grab things like shields, protect against fire (which will also allow the hand to shoot fireballs!), activate devices...
• Unite Sword: A fast attack, with lower power but increased range. It can also be used to reflect lasers. The weapon will supercharge and use electricity with a long combo (or when reflecting lasers), which will help to inflict stun on the enemies. This effect is common for all weapons, for example making the hand catch fire with a long combo.
• Unite Gun: Ranged attack. Can cath projectiles and varied stuff and throw it at the enemies. When shooting the bullets are in fact made by Wonderful ones, and hitting an enemy with them will have the same effect as using the X attack, with the Wonderfuls clinging to the enemy and attacking it.

These are just some examples of all the multipurposes each action, button or skill has in the game, but there are many more. Unite Hammer can be used to block attacks from above, to destroy armored enemies or to turn around big enemies. Unite Whip can remove spikes from enemies or grab enemies from the tail. Unite Claw can be used to freeze enemies, climb walls or remove armor pieces. But even things like the Wonder Liner have many uses apart of selecting Unite Morphs. The Wonder Liner can be used to capture enemies or recruit citizens, to recover stunned Wonderful ones, to unlock secrets, to create bridges or stairs... Every action in the game has many uses, which when combined with the rest of the systems at the player´s hands and the many different enemies, hazards and situations, give the game a lot of depth. The best way to sum this up quickly is not a single button or action in the game does only one single thing and that all the different options are useful under the right situation.

Even though we are not aiming for such a complex system for Kitsune and much of the focus of the mechanics will be in the obstacle mechanics rather than on the player himself, it´s a very nice idea to reevaluate all the planned mechanics and search for more uses to each of them. This has also made us rethink the powerUp system, so if we finally allow the player to change the active powerUp quickly at will, more integration with the level mechanics can be possible.