Shield Knight and Shovel Knight are on a journey together that leads to the Tower of Fate. While inside the tower, a cursed amulet attaches to Shield Knight possessing her and throwing Shovel Knight outside the Tower. Having lost his love, Shovel Knight leaves to go into hiding all while an evil force called The Enchantress gains power and takes over the land slowly. Shovel Knight decides to forgo his depression and heads back towards the Tower of Fate to get his loved one back. However, blocking his path is the group known as The Order of No Quarter. Shovel Knight alongside his trusty shovel will have to do battle if he wishes to save Shield Knight.

Shovel Knight and Mega Man may look like small heroes but their journeys are both large. In Shovel Knight players control the little knight as they run around on a 2D platforming experience, similar to Mega Man’s gameplay. Graphically both Shovel Knight and Mega Man share a theme using 8-bit graphics to have a very retro feel. Shovel Knight harkens back to the older days very similarly to Mega Man’s release time and that will be a great experience for those who love the classic games of yesterday. We here at Honey’s Anime know you’ll dig Shovel Knight if you have any love of the Mega Man franchise.

The time is far off in the future where exploring spaces isn’t an impossible task. A distress signal goes off while you’re exploring space. You decide to investigate but your ship collapses upon reaching the planet. This planet seems unfamiliar to you as you look around and begin to explore. Your goals are simple, explore this unknown planet for clues to its history and to find what happened to those that seemed to have once populated this land. Be prepared though, strange creations seem hostile and will not make your journey an easy one.

Beyond Humanity is an early Alpha Stage game that developers Gamesfab directly stated wanting it to be like Mega Man in many ways. The goal of players is to shoot and platform around on several levels all while reaching a boss to defeat at the end. Players are also allowed to undertake any area of the game’s over world in any order. If you’re a fan of Mega Man, you know this is essentially the exact same stylings as Mega Man but Beyond Humanity still has its own sole. You can clearly tell Gamesfab didn’t want to simply rip off the Mega Man series but go towards paying homage towards it and we fully agree. We highly recommend checking out Beyond Humanity to hopefully allow Gamesfab to release what we feel will be a great addition to games like Mega Man.

The Wild West gets mechanized in Gunman Clive. Playing as either the main hero Clive or Ms. Johnson, players will embark on helping a mayor save his daughter from evil forces. However, the task won’t be easy for either hero as the pathway to saving her is fraught with enemies. With such a daunting feat can the two heroes complete their mission? Arm yourself and head into the dangerous 2D world of Gunman Clive.

In older video games, simplicity was the way of the 2D platforming genre. Gunman Cliver echoes the beauty of such an old way thanks to clever gameplay and graphics. Similar to Mega Man, players must reach the far end of the level fighting small enemies and then eventually taking down a big boss. Graphically Gunman Clive is very unique muting all colors except for a tan and brown tone to create a truly western like theme. Gunman Clive is a simple game but like the Mega Man series, that simplicity hides a lot of depth in challenging players to be on point with their jumps and to learn the best way to handle enemies. Old school meets the west in Gunman Clive and that is defiantly enough of a reason to have it on our list.

Jason and his girlfriend Claire are enjoying a nice hike the Olympic Mountain region. Claire along the way discovers a bunch of caverns and goes into to explore them. However, after a few minutes despite several calls from Jason, Claire doesn’t respond, leading Jason to follow her inside. Jason is surprised to see that the cavern leads to a hidden underground facility filled with machinery and soldiers. Jason doesn’t yet realize but his hiking trip will become a world saving experience as he must now find Claire and somehow stop this unknown group who seems to have big plans for the world.

Shadow Complex Remastered is an awesome game--Let’s begin with saying that right off the bat. A story that follows a novel written by famous author Orson Scott Card, some amazing modern day graphics thanks to Epic Games and awesome gameplay leads Shadow Complex Remastered to be easily one of the coolest 2D platformers you can play. Players will gain new powers thanks to the facilities hidden technology allowing the player to gain new abilities and weapons to face tougher challenges along the way. If you’re a fan of the mechanics and concepts that make Mega Man so much fun, then look no further Shadow Complex Remastered has answered your wish.

The Gunstars, a family of space heroes, had fought against an evil threat known as Golden Silver and came out victorious stopping his plan to destroy the moon’s civilization. Resting after a hard battle, Golden Silver has become a worshiped being. Golden Silver’s ideal have been taken by General Gray who wishes to lead his “Empire” to resurrecting the evil Golden Silver. Professor Brown while on an expedition overhears this plot and rushes to awaken the Gunstar family to hopefully save the galaxy once again. Red and Blue, the brothers of the Gunstar lineage, now embark to stop General Grey and prevent his plan from coming to fruition.

Gunstar Heroes is what we consider what Mega Man would be if sped up. Players run around on a 2D plane shooting and jumping to fight against various enemies. Gunstar has several stages that can be chosen in any order the player desires and in similar fashion of the Mega Man games, the goal is to run from the beginning of the stage to the end to face a stage boss. Fast and frantic, in many ways Gunstar Heroes tries to really show it’s unlike the blue bomber and it shows. If you’ve always loved the concepts of Mega Man but wanted a game that isn’t so slow in nature, we direct you to check out Gunstar Heroes.

In a far off future several people who are dubbed adepts, have gained powers such as flight and the ability to control elements. The Sumeragi Group who lead these powered humans seem to be what the world needed as peace reigns over the world. However, secretly the Sumeragi Group is using those with powers and testing them in cruel experiments. Enter QUILL a side organization with plans to stop the group using their own warriors such as Gunvolt. Though our story begins when Gunvolt defects from QUILL, he decides to save her life instead while on a mission to kill an adept. Gunvolt thinks he’s finally free from QUILL and the Sumeragi Group, but that all changes when one missions leads back into the middle of the fray.

Azure Striker Gunvolt is what Mega Man would look like if made in the modern age. All the elements of Mega Man are here, stage select, various bosses, the ability to gain new powers and so forth making Azure Striker Gunvolt the literal enhanced version of the Mega Man formula. Boasting amazing graphics, multiple endings for replayability and awesome gameplay, we literally saved the best for last for our list. We here at Honey’s Anime recommend strongly playing Azure Striker Gunvolt, you can thank us later.