Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider pulls of its Sega-era 16-bit nostalgia well

Joymasher’s new retro action game Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider feels ripped from the Big Sprite era of video games, back when Sega boasted that its 16-bit Genesis did what Nintendon’t. It’s built on the early-’90s promise that bigger was better, where the bad guys you fought were more interesting because their rich, pixelated vastness couldn’t be contained on an old tube television screen.

More precisely, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is an homage to side-scrolling character-action games of the era; think Sega’s Shinobi3: Return of the Ninja Master or Capcom’s Strider —Games with platforms and rails that you can hang from. There’s homage layered upon homage here, for just as the 16-bit arcade games (And their home port equivalents) blatantly ripped off ’80s Hollywood action cinema like RoboCop and Running Man, so too does Joymasher’s new throwback.

As with many 16-bit Genesis classic games, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider’s story is paper-thin. The game’s robotic protagonist, Moonrider, rebels against its programming as a forcible peacekeeper amid a rebel uprising. Moonrider is an evil robot, awakening to the oppression that he has contributed to and on the lookout for the robot guardians who are supposed be able silence him.

Joymasher/The Arcade Crew.

Moonrider’s mission — and the structure of Vengeful Guardian— is similar to that of Mega Man games. The other guardians can be found in any order by players picking places and using a variety of tactics. Robot masterGuardian to defeat from a retro, simple map. Moonrider will get their special ability by defeating another guardian like Mega Man. Hydroshurikens can be used to summon deadly tentacles through dark portals. Moonrider can also discover upgrade chips that grant extra armor, a double jump, or a “bloodlust” that restores HP for every kill. Chips range from the hardcore — the Glass Cannon chip makes Moonrider stronger but he dies from one hit — to the cosmetic — the Chameleon chip lets you edit Moonrider’s color scheme.

It is reminiscent of the 16-bit video games that it refers to. Vengeful Guardian: MoonriderThe movements are fluid and simple. Moonrider’s attacks are limited to sword slashes and dive kicks, and he can jump — and wall jump — platform to platform. Moonrider’s speed is aided by the sprint button, which allows him to transform from a stiff robot into a fast ninja-machine. He can slash through almost all enemy grunts in one hit. You can avoid spike pits, bottomless pits, and electrified walls, but these hazards don’t cause instant death like they were in earlier games. Vengeful Guardian: MoonriderIt is surprising how modern and forgiving it looks, given its influence.

Joymasher/The Arcade Crew.

It’s a shame, then, that Joymasher hasn’t modernized Vengeful Guardian: MoonriderThere are many frustrating aspects to the game. For one, the game’s interface is clunky; picking the upgrade chips for a particular mission is confusingly designed, and revisiting levels to grab any remaining power-ups is a frustrating guessing game. Rather than displaying leftover power-ups in missions you’ve beaten, Vengeful Guardian merely denotes your mission ranking.

It also feels outdated and simple to score. Your ranking on a stage appears to be based primarily on score — seemingly the number of enemies you’ve killed — and how long it took to complete a stage. The lack of any obvious combos or scores streaks makes the idea of trying to S rank each level less attractive.

That’s where Vengeful Guardian: MoonriderIt evokes the original inspiration. After beating the game, there’s little left to do but challenge yourself to do it again, faster and better. Like some of the Sega Genesis classics it aims to recreate, it’s an enjoyable escape for a weekend, but not much longer.

On Jan. 13, Vengeful Guardian Moonrider for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 will be available on PlayStation 5 as well as Windows PC. The Arcade Crew gave a code to the PS5 for a preview download. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. Although these partnerships do not impact editorial content, Vox Media could earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.