If you want evidence that shows how retro charm can’t save a game that often dips above or below average – but never soars into classic status – look no further than Code Shifter. Developed by LAND HO! Co Ltd (yes, the caps are necessary), published by Arc System Works, and featured on this website a while ago, the game takes you on a 2D side-scrolling tour of some of ASW’s most beloved characters and theme tunes, as you effectively indulge in plenty of body-hopping and transform into the likes of Taokaka, Sol Badguy, Misako/Kyoko, Sol Badguy and many more familiar faces. The controls are stripped-down to the essentials – you can move, jump, attack, interact with objects in levels, and also switch between characters and call in assist characters. Whilst you can only play as a character when you find an interactible floor pad showing their sprite, you can hold characters in reserve and swap between them, so if you don’t want to lose one of your favourite heroes, you can switch to someone you won’t miss, then go to the floor pad.

Code Shifter – pleasingly tactical

It’s a nice way of giving the player a little bit of agency in their team selection, instead of railroading their choices completely. At first, the ability changing reminded me of Mega Man, but when I think about how you can only find an ability by getting to a floor pad, it might be more accurate to compare it to a Kirby game. You’re progressing through a level and stumbling across an ability that may help in the next sequence, and most of the time it works well. Often there are floor pads that offer various characters you can choose between before you move on, and there are even “assist” characters that work like a Marvel game – they drop in, throw out an attack, and leave – so there’s plenty of freedom for you to come up with your own tactics.

Those tactics will be used in standard platforming gauntlets, light puzzling (hitting a switch to open a gate, or using a character’s fire attack to melt an ice wall), attacking foes roaming the level and sometimes being locked into an arena. These arenas can be straightforward bosses or minibosses, or they can be tests of endurance where enemies keep coming and you have to defeat them all before you move on. It’s a unique approach to platforming combat, but unfortunately it reveals a few of the game’s holes. Chief among these is the fact that the enemies feel a bit like sponges – there aren’t really many strong hitstun animations and it often feels like everyone’s powering through your attacks. This is great in terms of the challenge offered, but it reduces the feeling of impact that any of the characters have. I’m not asking for unique hitstun animations based on every possible attack, but a generic recoil for each enemy character would be nice. In addition, the locked arenas can sometimes feel a bit stretched out – enemies have too much health and the respawning goes on for too long, killing any momentum that the platforming may have built up.

A large target

The game ends a little poorly, as well: the endgame boss-rush is fine (I appreciate the rooms before each boss where you have plenty of interactible floor pads that let you pick your character of choice before heading into battle), and the final boss is challenging in a fun way, but in amongst this is a long flying (well, hovering) sequence through spikes and laser traps where the only character at your disposal has a huge sprite – and hurtbox. You can’t not use him either, because he’s the only nearby character to transform into, and you need the flying ability that he has. Code Shifter in general is a game of peaks and valleys; strong and weak segments throughout each level. To have the game end with such a painful gauntlet is a little disappointing.

I “finished” the game in about six or seven hours – there are optional challenges and unlocks to go back to, but the base game doesn’t take up too much of your time. Furthermore, at the time of writing the game is £15.49 on Steam, and when I think about those six or seven hours and those occasional dips in quality, I find it a little hard to recommend. If the price was reduced a little, it could get away with being a fun distraction for a few evenings, but I feel like that entry fee could go towards a much more deserving game (or two.) I’ll definitely return to the better chapters for those theme tunes and the decent battle sequences, but Code Shifter feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Code Shifter and Colourful Fighters

I would end the coverage of Code Shifter there, but I feel like Colourful Fighters deserves a mention. This is a four-player battle mode where you can select one of the characters you’ve unlocked in the main game and fight other players or CPU controlled characters in an arena, and I feel like it’s a little more successful than the main game – probably because it’s not aiming to be anything more than a simple arena brawler. It’s probably not going to have the long-term appeal of something like Brawlhalla, but it is a thoughtful inclusion. It will be interesting to see if LAND HO! Co Ltd does anything more with Code Shifter or Colourful Fighters in terms of support – I’d enjoy an online fighting game in the style of Colourful Fighters, and the awesome theme tunes of the characters make me wish for a music player in the options. As for the main game itself… maybe consider spending your time with a better 2D side-scroller.

Code Shifter is available now for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.