Heavy Nova

Heavy Nova is an action game that combines platform elements with a one-on-one fighting game, originally released for Sega CD exclusively in Japan in December 1991. The following year it came to Genesis only in the North American market, and despite the notable difference in storage between the CD and the cartridge, there are almost no differences. The only noticeable change is the absence of vocals in the song at the beginning of the game, maybe the instruments sound a little “flatter” on the cartridge, or maybe it's just my imagination. Otherwise, they are identical, both the sound effects and the graphics, which more than a merit when it comes to converting a game from CD to cartridge, we could say that the Compact Disc format was too big for it.

The Micronet company was in charge of publishing the title while the development was carried out by the Holocronet studio, which had no prior experience, at least as far as is known. Bignet U.S.A., Inc. took over distribution in the American market. The game begins with a visually well-done cinematic accompanied by a good quality song, which includes a female voice (only available in the CD version). And this is without a doubt the highest point of the game, from here on everything will get worse, outside the opening scene the soundtrack is well executed, although the best song is played at the beginning.

Mechanics

The game mechanics could be divided into two parts, on the one hand the levels are developed like a platform game, with obstacles, traps and some minor enemies, all of which are destroyed in a single blow. On the other hand, there are the boss battles, these are developed adopting the one-on-one combat formula. Clearly influenced by the resounding success of the launch of Street Fighter II at the beginning of the same year, although due to its poor execution it is much closer to the original Street Fighter. And with this I don't mean that they are at the same level, although Capcom's fighting game was quite crude, it had 6 different types of basic attacks and special moves.

In the case of Heavy Nova, there is only one kick button and one punch button, and special moves are almost non-existent or impossible to execute. When controlling our robot, in addition to the 2 basic attacks, we can “jump” which activates jetpacks that allow us to control the height and direction while we are in the air. We can also run by pressing forward twice in a row, although it does not always work, probably due to the delay between pressing a button and the action being executed. Curiously, we have the possibility of walking backwards doing the Moon walker like Michael Jackson, if we hold down after the first steps we turn around. This walking backwards option can be disabled from the menu making it easier to change direction, in fact, I recommend leaving the option disabled for better control. The main problem that the game presents to us is the latency in the controls, after pressing any key there is a time interval until the action is executed. This, added to the unintelligibility of its controls, leads us to put aside any combat strategy and just mash buttons as quickly as possible. The animations are crude and with few frames, which increases the sensation of slow response of the controls and makes it difficult to execute precise movements. The collision box is a real disaster, there are times when we have clearly connected an attack and nothing happens, this is much more noticeable at close range. Sticking to the enemy, we can spend a good time launching attacks and dancing step by step, step by step, until one of us receives damage. If we combine the lag in the controls, the clumsy animations and the almost non-existent collision boxes, the result is real rubbish, without a doubt one of the worst fighting games I have ever played.

Dynamic

Heavy Nova has some interesting ideas, although the platform scenarios manage to break the monotony of the game a bit, they don't add much to the overall experience. Although they help us level up our robot, which allows us to unlock skills, the problem is that although we are informed each time we unlock a new movement, it is not explained how it is executed. Which generates greater confusion for us, including the setback of doing tests at the beginning of the battle with the boss, with the risks that this entails. This concept of progression between levels is really something very innovative for the time considering that it is a fighting game. Unfortunately, although the theory is good, they did not know how to put it into practice and it ends up contributing little or nothing to the experience. In fact, it limits more than it contributes since at the beginning of the game we will not have all the available techniques. This has probably been used more to level the game, we will have fewer techniques against weaker enemies and we will have more options against stronger ones.

Another curious aspect, although not so new, is the double bar, one for life and the other for energy. The first determines the amount of damage we can resist, if it reaches zero we lose. The second is drained as we receive damage, if it reaches or falls below two units we will be temporarily paralyzed. Although the energy is recovered over time, it is necessary to reach three to be able to move, so it is very likely that the AI will abuse this and continually generate damage so that we are perpetually immobilized. In order to attack again we have to have a minimum of four, which means that on many occasions we have to dedicate ourselves only to dodging the time necessary to be able to return to combat.

The progression is completely linear, the levels always begin with their respective platform section and we advance to the corresponding boss fight. The first is obviously the easiest, it has very few movements only with fists and is unable to jump. As we progress, the platform sections become more difficult, as do the bosses, who acquire a humanoid shape, their number of abilities increases and they have the possibility of using jetpacks like us. Halfway through the game, the fights with these robots become extremely difficult. Between the poor controls and the failures in the collision boxes, being able to land a few hits on them is a daunting task. What's worse, if they manage to knock us down we are lost, the enemy will begin to grab us which will greatly lower our energy bar and leave us on the ground again. This causes us to enter an infinite loop from which we will not be able to get out since before recovering the third bar they will apply this technique again and we will return to the ground with the meter at zero. Like this until I die.

If we manage to advance to the end, which I haven't achieved and I don't care either, we will face a robot just like ours but golden and with the same abilities. If we defeat this last enemy, a cinematic that is much less entertaining than the beginning will appear, and we will be awarded the “Heavy Nova” medal.

For the less patient, there is the possibility of selecting each level or boss from the game menu itself, which is appreciated as it allows us to try them all without the frustration of having to endure such horrendous gameplay. One of the most positive aspects of the game is the possibility of fighting against a friend, if we are able to find someone who despises their free time enough to deal with this garbage game. Furthermore, there is not much to choose from, just 4 robots since the other 4 are the same but of a different color to be able to differentiate them better. But hey, at least it's enough for us to discover how the robots we face alone are handled.

Esthetic

There's not much to highlight here, the general aesthetic is futuristic science fiction with a traditional mecha anime style of the time. The graphics aspect is quite mediocre, it may not be the worst but it is not really good either, even considering that it is a title from the first batch of the console. The scenarios are very generic and repetitive, the level bosses are fine without standing out, but the minor enemies are quite uninspired. The animations are crude and seem choppy due to the small number of sprites they have. In this aspect, the most notable thing is his music, which without being excellent is simply good and with that it is enough to stand out among so much mediocrity. Of course, the sound effects are rather bad, they may not be the worst on the system but they could hardly be considered acceptable.

Conclusion

The game has very little (almost nothing) to offer, its greatest virtue is trying to incorporate innovative mechanics into a fighting game. However, it fails to satisfy anyone, whether playing alone or in multiplayer, the title is visually ugly, boring and its mechanics do not work correctly. As an experience it is frustrating and the few who remember it agree that it is a promise that could not be.