Co-op
To play co-op, players must visit the Co-op Setup station in either mode’s hub area. There, either a couch co-op player or an online player can join the host’s game. In co-op, one player controls Nina and the other plays as Ace, for better or worse. It makes sense from a balance standpoint, but you might have situations in which neither player really wants to be the melee guy, for instance. Still, the original Mega Man X games never supported co-op, so it’s definitely cool to have the ranged and melee heroes finally getting to team up here.
In co-op games, both players have their own health and energy supplies, and those types of pick-ups don’t get shared between partners. When playing online, both players can split up and spread out, only being required to join up when reaching the door to a new area. In local co-op, however, the two players have to stay on the same screen, necessitating a greater focus on teamwork. Each player gets a unique weapon upon defeating zone bosses, too. If one player dies, the other player can keep going. Reaching a resurrection station will bring the downed player back to life with a small supply of health. Thus, co-op is more forgiving than playing solo.
30XX has lot going for it, from the gorgeous pixel art (improved over the first game) to the catchy music and sound effects. Whereas 20XX’s level design relied heavily on modular-looking floating platforms, the levels in 30XX feel more hand-crafted and genuine, even when their elements are randomized. Each of the eight zones here is genuinely distinct, with several featuring memorable set pieces like a snake robot that chases the players across a horizontal stretch of landscape, and an area with switches that flip pools of water from the floor to the ceiling. The bosses all look like they could’ve come from a real Mega Man X game, with distinctive character designs and creative, unique attack patterns. All the fun you’d get from the Mega Man series, you’d get here, and then some.
The only downside to 30XX is that it carried over one of the Mega Man X’s bad habits. Back in the 32-bit era, I owned Mega Man X4, and I enjoyed every bit of it until the final boss(es). I never could beat that sequence of bosses which essentially grinded my love for the game to a halt. 30XX, unfortunately, is the same way. The final level pits players against a sequence of at least FOUR bosses with zero checkpoints and only a paltry amount of health restored between a couple of them. Mega Mode lets you try the level over and over again, sure, but you’re still thrown up against a challenge that was obnoxious by 1990s standards, let alone those of this decade. The final boss rush is by no means impossible, but it will likely be insurmountable for many of us.
It's great that Batterystaple has managed to keep the look and feel of the Mega Man games alive in 30XX and its predecessor. 30XX is superior to those original games in many ways, with excellent co-op options, plenty of refinements, and community-made levels that we haven’t even touched upon in this review. People who really love Mega Man will undoubtedly love this game too. The addition of a non-roguelike mode is also a good step towards accessibility. It’s just a shame that the overall difficulty level remains so high. The very best Roguelikes such as Rogue Legacy and Dead Cells have such refined metagame systems that an average player can eventually beat them. One thing they don’t make you do is fight four bosses with no checkpoints, because that is lame. 30XX is still receiving updates, and we expect Xbox and PlayStation versions to arrive in the future. Perhaps the last part of the game will get slightly easier by then. Even if not, this one is a lot of fun before it grows too big for its britches.
30XX sells for $19.99 on Switch and Steam. The Steam version is fully Steam Deck compatible.
Steam download codes were provided by the developer for this review.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Team up with a friend online or on your couch to battle your way through procedurally generated levels and massive bosses
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.