Super Ledgehop Double Laser is a Twin-Stick Shooter that has us play as Chizuru is a colorblind girl that can only see the world in four colors. One day she hears that her brother which she never met is in trouble, so she takes out her gun and blasts away thugs that are part of some shady government conspiracy. The entire plot and premise is off the rails, though it never takes itself seriously, containing its tongue planted firmly in cheek all throughout. Nearly every character is a goofball with little worries about solving anything.
On the start of her journey, Chizuru only has her trusty handgun, forcing you to get used to dodging incoming projectiles and accurately firing back at your foes. It doesn’t take long before it introduces the title’s most unique mechanic which allows you to not only reflect bullets but also absorb them. Absorbing them takes up much more of your SH meter, yet it also allows you to store those projectiles for later use. So say you absorb an incoming shotgun blast, you can then later shoot it back whenever you so choose, like in an enclosed area with a ton of enemies. There are various types of projectiles to collect, each having their own uses and adding some strategy to every encounter.
SH recharges quickly, making it easy to refill your collected projectiles should you start to get low. If you are saving up for a boss fight, then know that reflecting their shots back at their own faces works just as well. Using these powers does not come without its own risks, however. You need to time it just right, or you will get struck by the projectile for your efforts. They are very powerful abilities, but you can not rely on them solely as the Bullet Hell levels of projectiles flying around at any given time will overwhelm you. Chizuru can take quite a few hits before going down, so one doesn’t have to be overly familiar with that genre to be a competent player in this.
Trash cans containing healing items and mana are carefully placed around the map to keep you going. Whenever there is a difficult encounter, you can bet there will be some good old trash can sandwiches to refill your health meter. Mana is used to activate your powerful special attack which will make short work of most enemies. There is usually more than enough health to recklessly play through the levels. The biggest danger comes from facing the bosses themselves. They contain considerable firepower and multi-layer health bars that far exceed your own. You will need to give them your full attention to defeat and are easily the best parts of the game.
Losing to a boss will set you right back at the start of the fight, which may seem like an inconsequential thing if it wasn’t for the fact that whatever projectiles you’ve previously used battling it are permanently gone. That will make facing them again more difficult as you may be down to only your basic shots, though it is easy enough to absorb the bosses own projectiles making it still fair. Bosses are the sections where I most lamented the fact that we can not rebind buttons. With the amount of times you need to press the fire button to take them down, having to use the right analog trigger is hardly the most comfortable thing ever.
One thing I’ve yet to mention is the interesting rhythm aspects of Super Ledgehop. When you fire just as a music beat drops, your attack will be much more potent as a result. It is a neat way to keep one from setting an auto-fire macro and calling it a day, as well as adds another thing to juggle while the going gets heavy with boss fights. The levels themselves are mostly linear, though at times will ask something of you, such as cheekily asking you to collect a green key despite not being able to see that color. They have an excellent progression curve to them. At first, your foes will be firing off a paltry amount of bullets, but by the late game, a single of their attacks will fill the screen with incoming projectiles.
As threatening as it is having countless bullets whir right by you, your main threat comes from lasers. These can not be blocked and can nail you from the other side of the screen, even if you can’t see who is firing yet. Taking them down will become your first priority, and the tension of dispatching the rest of the enemies so you can get sight of them is fantastic. It suddenly has you feeling like Neo from The Matrix as you frantically weave through bullets to unleash your own firepower on him.
There are five stages in total, and if you are not interested in the story, you can turn off cut-scenes beforehand through the main menu. I would say that playing it in that matter, at least your first time around is a mistake. While humor is as subjective a thing there ever was, the characters are all rather loveable nonetheless. From the deadbeat looking uncle to some Galaga loving girl you find in a cave for some reason, having context to the ensuing fight adds a lot. Chizuru herself is no slouch either, her talent for making enemies and habit of pointing her gun at people’s faces is at least worthy of a grin.
After you finish the main campaign, you will unlock an arena mode called Thug Wars. It tasks you with slaying 100 foes, and then you are faced with the game’s most challenging boss. Luckily, after likely being curb-stomped by him, you do not need to defeat every enemy again. You start right from that boss fight and can keep at it until you emerge victorious. The reward for your efforts is a room filled with concept art, character bios, some added story from after the campaign, and a ton of memes. So many memes. In order to enter that room again, you will need to complete the entire arena which is kind of a shame, so make sure you see everything you want to before exiting.
The length of the game will range depending on one’s skill level. According to the achievements, it is possible to beat it in 15 minutes which is the amount of time it took me just to complete the much smaller Thug Wars mode. With the responsive controls, fun gameplay, and sheer uniqueness, it isn’t a stretch that many would want to replay it again regardless. For those people, there is also the far more obtainable achievement of going through it without losing a single life to strive for. Super Ledgehop is such a massive improvement over the developer ‘LAME Dimension’ prior title and still only costs a single dollar. That is a steal for this hidden gem of a game.
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