Review: Berserk Boy is the vicious Mega Man that 2024 needs, as long as you have the thumbs for it

I’m a big fan of nostalgia games that scratch that 1990s or early 2000s itch, even when the genre isn’t necessarily my usual cup of tea. Berserk Boy is, without a doubt, a love letter to the Mega Man Zero franchise, for better or for worse, and achieves the same level of familiarity that booting up your old Game Boy Advance would do.

I’m not one to normally try to make heavy comparisons to other games when reviewing a game, but Berserk Boy wears its inspiration on both of its sleeves. It’s hard not to talk about it without Mega Man. I’m pretty sure that’s the point of this game, honestly.

Gameplay and Story of Berserk Boy

With that said, it’s important to understand Mega Man before I talk about Berserk Boy. Mega Man, as a franchise, is a side-scrolling series where you’re tasked with slowly earning new abilities by defeating bosses and taking their skills from them. The Mega Man X spinoffs told a more advanced story and introduced a character named Zero (who is basically Mega Man’s Knuckles). While X is slower, Zero is incredibly fast-paced. It’s basically a jolt of Sonic the Hedgehog into the formula.

Berserk Boy looked at those games and said “Gotta go even faster.” The developers took all the love and care of the classic retro franchise and pumped it all up to maximum radicalness, not unlike the Mega Man ZX games for the Nintendo DS.

Within Berserk Boy, you’re tasked with helping take down the evil Genos. Genos’ lackeys each possess Berserk Orbs, which give them special powers when in their possession. Luckily, at the start of the game, you got your hands on the Lightning Berserk Orb.

The abilities that you obtain from Berserk Orbs are used for different tasks. Sometimes, you need a specific ability equipped in order to traverse a specific large gap or sometimes you need to utilize certain skills to take down a boss easier. 

Each level has three main stages, each having four checkpoints and a boss battle of some sort. The last boss of the level is one of Genos’ crew. When you defeat them, you earn their Berserk Orb, such as Fire or Ice. As mentioned, if you’re familiar with the Mega Man games, you know the drill.

If you’re into Metroidvania games, you’re going to love this.

One thing that works really well in Berserk Boy is the Metroidvania genre injected directly into it. At times, you’ll get to a blocked gate or obstacle. You may have to come back to another time, or in a different playthrough of that stage altogether, once you get the right prerequisites or abilities.

As the good guy, you’re also trying to help save people. That plays into the collectability and finding random civilians or military personnel in stages. Once you collect them, they join the base and can be found hanging out. Finding enough of them can also unlock hidden areas on each level. 

The base works as an overly elaborate, Metroidvania-esque menu. If you want upgrades, you need to head to the scientist who handles that after you climb up a ladder. Do you want to go to the next stage? Head to the General and select where you want to go. 

But, the base works into the story as well. After you obtain the third orb, the baddies try to get into the base. You’ve likely traversed various parts of the facility at that point and can go take them out.

Art and Music

I can’t gush enough about the art in this game or the music. While the games pay heavy homage to the Mega Man series as a whole, the graphics would look right at home on a Game Boy Advance. I have no words other than to give props to the Berserk Boy pixel artists who handled the wonderful visuals.

The same goes for the music. The music was handled by Sonic Mania composer Tee Lopes. He’s also been involved with the recent-but-also-awesome TMNT: Shredders Revenge, as well as Streets of Rage 4 and Metal Slug Tactics. Basically, he’s the guy you call if you want your music to sound like it’s right out of the 90s or 2000s. And he does it beautifully.

Berserk Boy Coziness and Cons

This game, sadly, is not cozy for me. But, I’m okay with that. I know plenty of people who thrive on fast-paced chaos and that’s why I can’t fault it for being what it is. But, if you’re grabbing this because we’re reviewing it, just know that fact. As always, the coziness score won’t affect the actual review score, though.

However, I will mention that since my hands aren’t as dexterous as they were in 2002 during the release of Mega Man Zero, the game can sometimes be a tad frustrating. I find myself repeating the same sections over and over due to missing a specific jump or missing my mark with a specific ability. 

Due to that, Berserk Boy takes a very specific kind of gamer to really enjoy. Berserk Boy wants to take things back a couple of decades to an era of “everything must be hard”. I feel like it missed the mark by not offering various difficulty levels at the least. Or, potentially offering ways to push past parts that just aren’t easy for people with, let’s say, carpal tunnel (like me). 

I also need to mention that ability sound effects repeat when used over and over. It can be grating with certain abilities. I hate to turn off all of the sound and music, but when it happens, it isn’t great. One that comes to mind is the tornado-like ability of the Fire Berserk Orb, which repeats over and over if you have to keep tapping the button.

Aside from those, Berserk Boy is dedicated to making a game for lovers of this specific genre. I can’t hold it against them for that too much, even if it isn’t really forgiving for newcomers or more casual players.

Final Verdict

Berserk Boy, for what it’s worth, is incredibly fun and nostalgic. I love when games try to invoke a bygone era and Berserk Boy did it fabulously. 

Just because it’s difficult doesn’t make it a bad game at all. But, if you plan to play this game, know that it’s fast-paced, requires at least a working knowledge of Metroidvania titles, and needs your fingers to be quicker than your brain sometimes.

Aside from that, the music and art are exquisite. When I first booted up Berserk Boy, I was suddenly 13 again, soaking up all of the amazing pixel graphics and fighting the forces of Dr. Wily (I mean, Geno) for their abilities.

All in all, I recommend Berserk Boy, despite my qualms. It’ll be out on March 6th on Steam PC and Nintendo Switch for $20, a fantastic price for such a well-made, robust game. 

Until it comes out, we won’t know if it’ll be Steam Deck Verified, but it likely will because it works great on the Switch and is inspired by games from the portable Game Boy Advance. If you’re into retro-inspired, fast-paced games that aren’t necessarily “cozy” in the traditional sense, you should check out my review for Postal: Brain Damaged.