Inticreates, the developer of every 2D Mega Man action game since Mega Man Zero and the upcoming Mighty No. 9 recently released two 3DS action games in a similar vein: Azure Striker Gunvolt and Mighty Gunvolt. The latter is an 8-bit demake of the former and is free with purchase of the former until 11/28.

Anyway, I picked up both of them and am very impressed. Mighty Gunvolt, the 8-bit demake, is an easy, short, fun, romp with three playable characters and tight gameplay. Azure Striker Gunvolt, the main event, has a unique gameplay mechanic where you tag enemies with metal bolts and then electrocute them. The more bolts you tag enemies with, the higher the damage you do, but you get more combo points if you tag multiple enemies and fry them all at once. Add in a gear crafting system, optional challenges, hidden items, a snappy story appropriate to the genre, tight gameplay, great graphics, and excellent music, and you've got one sweet ass action platformer. I've beat a few stages so far and am greatly enjoying it.

I haven't had a chance to purchase this yet but observed a friend's copy and it's scratching me right where I itch. Everything is beautifully done. It looks like it has lots of MMZ sensibilities but is less punishing. Not only do I generally prefer the aesthetics and pacing of this game over Mighty No. 9, I also appreciate that it's not as brazenly a pastiche of Megaman (although "Azure Striker" does sound a lot like "Blue Bomber").

Finished both games already, and although I thought Mighty Gunvolt wasn't anything to write home about, Azure Striker was great!

I agree with pretty much everything XLord said, except for the music, which is incredibly bland and the story, which is generic anime schlock. Those are minor grievances in an otherwise excellent and tight little platforming experience with a very strong MMZ vibe to it.

Will absolutely buy a sequel if they make one.

Don't want to be a stick in the mud... but you lost me right there...

Can Inti do the Mega Man formula? Yes, in the simplest sense of the idea. Can they make a Mega Man formula game that is actually inviting? Errr....

Inti's involvement with the Mega Man Zero series has never impressed me unless you look at the music. Then Mega Man ZX came out and I don't know what happened.

I can see why you might not like those games, but I for one LOVED the Zero series, so I always pay keen attention to what Inticreates is up to. I never got into the ZX series cause I felt it really needed a better map system, but maybe I'll go back to it one day.

Haha, that's kind of what I meant when I said the story was appropriate to the genre.

I'm on board with both of you on this one.

It's generic anime schlock anyway you slice it...

...but that's kind of what everyone should/would be expecting from this one.

Well, to be honest it might not completely be Inti's fault.

I may have been more interested in the Zero series if the X series had concluded in 2001 with X5 as planned. The fact that the X series was running parallel with the Zero games up until 2004 probably had me picking and choosing which to follow.

Also, another key component is MMZ's story isn't so much about Zero himself as it is about the events surrounding his battle with Neo Arcadia. Since Zero's back story was already developed in MMX (and I was more interested in the "character" and not the "world") it kind of makes since why MMZ's narrative failed to entice me... although MMZ2's story did a ton to damage my overall opinion of it.

However, I guess I should concede that most people don't care about the narrative in these kinds of games like I do. I probably do over think it... but I kind of hate when someone throws out the old "you play Mega Man games for story, hahaha..." thing out to dismiss people's thoughts and feelings - not that you're doing that.

Haha, okay that makes sense then.
It's just that the word "snappy" seemed out of place to me

I guess I meant that in reference to the style of localization they used with all of the colloquialisms.