Biomotor Unitron is a surprisingly robust RPG from the days of the NEO GEO Pocket Color. It has a great style, varied gameplay, and great pixel art. It’s a bit front-loaded with mechanics to learn, but it’s a great time for mecha and RPG fans.
Biomotor Unitron
Developer: SNK
Price: $8
Platform: Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
MonsterVine was provided a Switch code for review
I just learned last week that SNK made an RPG about mechs, specifically when the pitch to review this game arrived in my email. I was instantly down to review it, because both SNK and mecha anime rule. I was even more excited when I discovered that Biometer Unitron is pretty awesome all-around, and one of the best classics SNK has rereleased on the Switch, alongside SNK VS. Capcom: Card Fighters’ Clash and SNK Vs Capcom: Match Of The Millennium.
You play as a young pilot who explores dungeons in their humanoid robot and competes in the Unitron tournaments that are going on in the city. Despite a lengthy crawl full of lore at the beginning, there’s not a ton of story. There are small bits of narrative sprinkled throughout the NPC dialogues, which are charming enough. You don’t need much of a story beyond fighting in tournaments and plundering dungeons though, so it all works out.
Your time in Biomotor Unitron is primarily split between battles and dungeon crawling. Dungeon crawling is pretty straightforward. You go down a dungeon floor-by-floor while dealing with random encounters and opening treasures. Dungeons are randomly generated after you leave them, which lets you continually grind early floors in the early game. The turn-based combat is a lot of fun, and I found myself getting lost in the flow of upgrading, battling, dungeon crawling, and repeating.
“There’s a distinct art style to the sprites and environments that evokes memories of classic 90s anime.“
Combat is turn-based, with your robot having a couple of attacks, the ability to charge energy (used for attacks), and the ability to use restorative items. You can upgrade your robot with pieces you buy, using money from tournaments and dungeons. Battling levels you up, while upgrading equipment levels up your engineer. There are a lot of systems thrown at you right at the beginning, which can be a bit confusing and slow down the pace a bit.
I love the look of Biomotor Unitron, as it gets a lot of character out of the limitations of the NEO GEO Pocket Color. There’s a distinct art style to the sprites and environments that evokes memories of classic 90s anime. The music is exciting as well, and perfectly sets up the tone of an energetic adventure.
Since this is a NEO GEO Pocket Color Classics rerelease, you have the usual handy features like rewinding, a visual filter, different frames, and so on. They’re awesome features that make the game easier for newcomers and more stylish for those looking to play a classic with some new bells and whistles.
The Final Word
Biomotor Unitron is a slick and fun dungeon crawler that holds up pretty well. It could use a bit of a smoother tutorial, but once you get into the swing of things, you’ll have a blast plundering dungeons and battling other robots.
MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
