izigame.me

Damn the early 90s were the arcade golden age! Powered Gear is an absolutely NUTS beat 'em up and I had a ton of fun with it. It's not the deepest or most strategic game, but it has exceptionally detailed pixel art, blazing music and a plethora of really, really cool ideas. For fans of mechas, it's the ultimate treat.
Powered Gear has a story and a surprising amount of dialogue, though since we played the Japanese version I didn't understand any of it. I can gather it's about the struggle between Earth and another planet and there's a dork in a black mech that acts as a recurring antagonist. Anyway, it's not a focus, as you'd expect. The focus is punching other mechs so hard they explode, and boy is the game great at that.
You can choose between four characters, each with their own mech with different stats (such as agility or ammo for your secondary weapon). The game supports up to 3 players in co-op and it's utter mayhem even with just 2 players so I can't fathom how chaotic it would get with more. You have an attack with your robot arm that can perform combos and a special long range attack, then you have a sub weapon with limited ammo. It's possible to perform a Giga Crush like in Final Fight to knock down surrounding enemies at the cost of some vitality, but also an Ultra Giga Crush for screen-wide damage (for an increased cost of course). Plus, you can jump and perform different attacks in mid air. So you have a decent array of moves, but the star of the game is in its title: the "Strategic Variant Armor Equipment". Basically, you can pick up different weapons from the ground: main weapons (each with their own full moveset), sub weapons and "legs" that dictate how you move and which attacks you can perform in midair. You can basically mix and match your robot with different gear and this gives the action a lot of variety. Plus, most weapons are just cool. You can get drills, laser blades, shield-guns, lock-on missiles, and move on treads that transforms into buzzsaws, spider legs that spin like blades and so on. There are many combinations and most are so fun and effective at tearing through enemy mechs.
Enemy variety is decent, there are different robots to fight who can wield the same weapons as you, so it's satisfying to pummel the opposition and pick up their arms to use against them. Each level also features a strong boss mech, and sometimes you get "shooting sections" to add a little extra dash of variety. Most of the time, the action is incredibly chaotic because you face a billion enemies at once, each shooting their weapons and brawling the hell out, so the action is really chaotic and not the embodiment of finesse, but it's never any less than fun. Especially when there are random badass ideas like a hidden item that, in coop, allows you to combine into an invincible super mech for a limited time against the end-of-level boss. The game follows the rule of cool for everything and it's glorious.
So there is a lot of fun to be had, but the presentation is the real secret sauce. Every level is PACKED with detail, excellent pixel art and smooth animations, mech design is not the most inspired but it's incredibly fun in how modular each robot is. Special effects abound and there are a lot of details that make everything extra fun: when you defeat an enemy with the laser blade, you cleave them cleanly in two; you can smash open cages and make human hostages escape, and so on. On top of this, the music ROCKS, it's catchy and high-energy and is a superb companion to the mayhem on screen.
Powered Gear may be still repetitive and not very deep for modern standards (as most beat 'em ups are), but it's varied, memorable and an unholy amount of fun. I think it's an hidden gem of Capcom' s arcade catalogue. I loved it.