Players in 2020 are spoiled for choice when it comes to returning to the types of games that graced earlier generations of game devices. Many of these games strip away some of the more annoying parts of retro gaming, like lives and limited checkpoints. Panzer Paladin from Tribute Games takes an opposite approach, presenting this formative era's gameplay fundamentals in a shiny new package. What starts off as a promising side-scrolling action game quickly devolves once a player dies and realizes how much ground they have to retread.
Panzer Paladin is an impressive pixel-art showpiece. The entire experience starts out with a 2D anime opening that adeptly captures the feeling of loading up a random import and finding an impressive gem. That continues between levels with brief dialogue snippets that hint at a Toonami show about weapons coming to life and terrorizing cities. Once the gameplay starts, players take control of Flame, an android who pilots Grit, a giant mech with a penchant for swinging swords, clubs, and hockey sticks.
Continually finding new weapons with different stats and power-up abilities drives players forward, but the actual combat isn't much to write home about. Movement is slow and clunky, which would logically fit a giant robot, but doesn't help in the action department. Grit can attack in any direction, including a DuckTales pogo and an upward thrust that can help clear longer gaps. That's about as exciting as it gets. Nothing is actively bad about the system, but it's also pretty straightforward and instantly repetitive. This leads directly to this game's biggest flaw.
At every turn, Panzer Paladin seems to be putting up roadblocks to impede its players. Weapons are limited by a durability system, which sometimes leads to situations where players run out of options and have to rely on a short-range punch or Flame's tiny whip. There are few checkpoints in each stage, and they require Grit to deposit a weapon to activate them. There are bottomless pits and offscreen traps, sometimes right before said checkpoints. Enemies attack in such a way that it's hard to avoid damage, meaning that players have to tank their way forward with limited healing options. On top of everything, Flame goes into a level with five lives, leading to the possibility of a game over and the loss of any small progress the player did eke out.
This type of ultra-hard memorization does work when done correctly, but Panzer Paladin's levels just don't suit that style. Some environments have long autoscrolling sections, and all of them have at least one portion where Flame jumps out of the mech and avoids huge enemies to progress. Even when in the mech, slow movement and basic swordplay turns any backtracking into a torturous undertaking. There's nothing to master and nothing to gain the second time through - just more deathtraps and cheap ways to make players start over. Saving the game is never a thrill, but rather a relief that one more part of the stage is now safely in the past.
This repetition doesn't even go away when players crank down the difficulty, making one wonder why there's a selection at all. Playing on Hard just leads to more of the same issue unless someone makes it their life's goal to master this otherwise unspectacular 2D action game. Those folks will get a set of rather fun boss encounters, a New Game+ with remixed levels, and a reason to play with Panzer Paladin's deep weapon creation system. Unfortunately, for most of the gaming public, those perks are all in service of a game that doesn't warrant the extra work.
What worked in the good old days doesn't always work in the here and now, and video games are no different. Things like limited lives and restrictive checkpoints were fine for extending out games designed to munch quarters in an arcade. In 2020, even with nostalgia goggles on, it's hard to see them as anything but time wasters. Outside of those who've mastered every masochistic NES classic, it's just not clear who Panzer Paladin is going to appeal to - and as a result, only hardcore fans of the genre should even attempt to give this one a spin.
Panzer Paladin is available on Nintendo Switch and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a Nintendo Switch key for the purposes of this review.