We live in an era where we can find footage of new video games at the touch of a button. Not only that many games have betas open to nearly everyone. Back in the 80s that wasn’t the case. In fact most gaming magazines didn’t get there start until closer to 1990, years into the NES’s life. That meant for years legions of gamers bought games based on the back of the box. I don’t need to tell you how flawed that logic is and it resulted in many a ruined birthday. There was nothing worse than counting down the days until your birthday only to bring home Hydlide. It wasn’t always a disaster and every so often you would find a diamond in the rough. Low G Man was that game for me.
Low G Man has to one of the most pleasant surprises of my childhood. In 1990 I wasted my birthday money on Marvel’s X-Men, a truly dreadful game. The following year I was more cautious about my next purchase but still willing to give a totally unknown game a chance. I don’t know what it was about Low G Man that spoke to me but I’m glad I picked it up. This is a solid platformer with a unique hook and severely underrated.
The Low G Man uses an unorthodox attack method. Your EMP gun does not directly damage enemies but freezes them in place. You are armed with a spear that can only be used from above or below. It’s an interesting dynamic and far removed from the typical platformers of the time. Your offense isn’t limited to these two weapons: there are four subweapons to collect such as the boomerang, fireball, bombs, and wave beams. In addition to these items enemies also drop health, poison, and an extension for your spear and gun power-ups.
That’s not why you play the game though. The real star of the gameplay is your hero’s ridiculous leaping prowess. On his own you can bound almost the height of the screen. At full power you will eventually clear three screens high. It is incredibly fun to bounce around like an 8-bit Incredible Hulk and most levels accommodate this. The level design is mostly composed of wide open spaces full of nooks and crannies. There is plenty of reason to explore as there are citizens to rescue who will drop items. More importantly there are hidden levels that act as warp zones that allow you to skip entire levels.
Beyond the hero’s jumping ability what I appreciate the most about Low G Man is its variety. The level format changes constantly. Some are big open areas while others are a series of tight corridors. One level might be a straight path to the exit while the other is a decent towards its end level boss. In fact there are a few levels where the boss is the entire stage! Finding all of its secrets will require thorough exploration. Frozen enemies can be used as stepping stones but more importantly there are three enemy vehicles that can be commandeered. Not only do they offer a nice respite (you are invincible while their timer ticks down) but they are also crucial in reaching the more well-hidden areas.
Low G Man is comprised of fifteen levels and while most are short the game puts up a fight. Due to your main attack method it can be tricky to hit oddly placed enemies. That is part of the fun but there are situations where it seems unfair. Late in the game the difficulty ramps up significantly. Health potions drop less frequently and enemies begin removing single bars of health instead of slivers. Lingering to kill enemies for items isn’t really an option as there is a tight time limit in every stage. It will certainly take some doing to reach the end but I think it’s worth it.
Since the game takes place on a robot production planet it has a very industrialized look. There are lots of factories and waste plants and its uses a heavily gray and brown color tone. Low G Man makes excellent use of light and shadow in its backgrounds and becomes progressively darker. Many of the boss designs are downright bizarre; some are impressive while others are to strange for their own good. Much like Sunsoft and Natsume’s NES games had a distinct “look” all of developer KID’s titles share tilesets. You’ll recognize background patterns and a similar art style in their later games like Kick Master and G.I. Joe. They were a highly underrated developer on the system and Low G Man shows that.
In Closing
Low G Man is a great game and under appreciated in the NES library. Some of its mechanics can be frustrating but are still executed well and it offers something different from most platformers. I’m glad I took a chance on it decades ago and can say that it has held up well since then. For the few bucks it goes for the game is more than worth it in my opinion.
