A Robot Named Fight! Might Be The Perfect Substitute For Metroid Prime 4

A Robot Named Fight

A Robot Named Fight! isn’t a game that’s going to immediately hook you. Death comes fast and without much fanfare, and its visuals arguably lean too heavily on its inspirations; its Turbografx-16 inspired aesthetic may leave some baulking. But when you allow it to make an impression on you, especially when the transformations kick in, A Robot Named Fight might take you back to gaming’s simpler days in all the best ways.

You play as, funnily enough, Fight: a robot whose sole mission is to take on the Megabeast. It’s the battle of the synthetic versus the monstrously organic, the Megabeast consisting of what looks like foul offcuts of meat and strange parts of the anatomy that just don’t belong. A Robot Named Fight doesn’t hold back on the viscera, which would be pretty difficult to do so considering the majority of its enemies are shambling columns of meat.

The Nintendo Switch is slowly becoming the ideal home for indies and A Robot Named Fight certainly fits that bill. Largely the work of one man, Matt Bitner, ARNF has Metroidvania elements instersperesed with lashings of roguelite. It isn’t a million miles away from Dead Cells in that regards, just rather more grotesque. It also owes a pretty heavy debt of inspiration to the Metroid series, as so many games do.

The wait is likely to be a long one for Metroid Prime 4 with no screenshots or really any indications of what it will actually be like, so ARNF could be the perfect choice to tide you over for at least a little while. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve with Fight’s character design immediately being reminiscent of the iconic Samus, as well as the way he controls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5GEC9RhWEQ

There’s an element of “floatiness” to Fight’s movement, which is admittedly a little hard to get to grips with on the Switch. The Joy-Cons don’t feel precise enough with even the slightest of movements sending Fight flying when you just wanted to jump slightly — with the introduction of many environmental hazards, it’s a flaw (or feature?) that you will have to adopt to. Likewise, player aiming feels somewhat restrictive, which means that you will have to “game” the game before you really get the hang of it.

The Metroid inspirations don’t just end there with there being plenty of cause for backtracking and even finding secret areas in its procedurally-generated labyrinth, which isn’t always that inviting, in truth. There were a couple of spots where seemingly my only option was to die and hope the dice roll would be more forgiving. That’s part of ARNF’s charm, though: it’s an uncompromising old-school side-scroller where your best possible tutor is death. When said death results in you having to start all over again, you learn pretty quickly to not be a dumbass.

Like all great Metroidvanias/roguelites, the longevity of ARNF comes from just how much the player wants to put in. While some runs can feel less fair than others — weapon selections being one such algorithmic killer or saviour — it’s all attainable. Backed by a soundtrack that grows with the player in terms of intensity and complexity as well as offering hearty helpings of retro carnage, A Robot Named Fight could be the perfect way to beat some meat while you’re sat on the toilet.

Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.

Editor-in-Chief