Gunman Clive arrived at a budget price on the 3DS eShop just before Christmas and early in the New Year, depending on your region, and served up a slice of enjoyable retro-infused action. It's popped up in our news category courtesy of an update to resolve a few issues, but most notably for developer Bertil Hörberg's revelations that the eShop release is out-performing the iOS equivalent.
We've spoken to Hörberg since, to learn more about his development studio and Gunman Clive itself. One question we posed was related to the source of inspiration for the title, with plenty of gamers linking its style to various retro franchises. The answer we received wasn't necessarily surprising.
Yes I'm borrowing heavily from a lot of games. The core gameplay is heavily based on Mega Man, then there's features copied directly from a whole bunch of games, from Castlevania to Mario and Zelda 2. It's quite fun reading reviews and comments where people speculate on my influences; sometimes they identify some of the most minor references and sometimes they list games I haven't even played, but I guess some of the things I've borrowed are in quite a lot of different games already.
There are certainly plenty of nods and winks to classic titles in Gunman Clive, though now we at least know which are prominent courtesy of the developer. Keep an eye out for our full interview later today.
What references or influences do you think feature the most in this title?
Comments 22
With all of this talk about how good this game is, I think I'll go plop down my cash for this title.
The first thing I said about this game is it reminded me of Mega Man!
For its price tag, there's no reason not to get this game! It's quite enjoyable
@Tech101 I wanted to point out (in the article) that the tagline I used for the review was "Mega Clive", but that would have seemed tacky. Well, now I've been a bit tacky in the comments. Oh well
In other news, water is wet
But, seriously, where did they get duck mode from? Best part of the game, but extremely bizarre.
Amazing game. Short, but amazing.
I've been a huge Fan of This Title. Just an Excellent Old school feel to it and Beautiful Graphics in my oppinion. Excellent art style and Music. I hope we see more of Gunman Clive or Similar from this developer. The Length of the game doesn't bother me at all I used to beat strider on Sega Genesis on a routine basis in like 15 minutes and loved it. This game is way longer than that used to be.
@justinj42 He could have said, "it's funny, I never played the Mega Man games, so it wasn't actually an influence".
It doesnt really remind me of Mega man for some reason.
@ngamer155 I feel the same way. I think Gunman Clive is its own beast. It does have a run, jump and shoot feel similar to megaman but also feels like strider a bit and Castlevania. Gunman Clive is ripe for an expansion I think just a simple addon would make gamers who like this game very happy
Mega Man, Contra, and Super Mario Bros. 2 (female floating ability) were the three biggest influences I noticed on my first playthrough.
People please buy this game, its amazing and cheap!
I wonder if we could get DLC for this game later? I felt some gameplay mechanics weren't flushed out as much as they could be, also I bet there are loads more of game mechanics that could be introduced.
It reminds me a lot of Sunset Riders, but it wouldn't surprise me if he hasn't played that. "Whoa! Western town with crates to climb!" may make me think SR, but it's fairly logical for a western game. Also, fighting animals near a train screams Express Raider to me, but I again wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't even heard of it.
Mario 2 [float ability], Duck Hunt, & DKC [with the cart track level] and kinda Super Mario Land [specifically worlds 2 & 3].
I still have to pick this game up.
I'd love for this guy to make some 2D sprite-based action games.
Obvious, of course!
I'm with @WindWakerLink, the cart level reminded me of DKC. Shame it was one level. Plus Mega Man. Didn't even click with me that Ms. J's floating is like that of Princess Peach in SMB2. Slow, eh!?
The only Mega Man I felt was in the bosses. The ducking abilities and overall pacing of the enemies reminded me more of Bionic Commando then anything. But since you can't jump in that game, I'll go with Contra.
I commented on my backloggery that it feels like a cross between Mega Man and Donkey Kong Country, what with the swinging platforms in the second area and the mine cart level. The rocket level reminded me of DKCReturns. I can definitely see Mario being an influence, and I have a feeling Duck Mode was inspired by Duck Hunt, only you're supposed to DODGE the shooter instead of playing as the shooter.
What a great little game.
Yeah, it instantly reminded me of Mega Man when I played it on iOS, though I couldn't quite say why. Just this feeling, you know. =)
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