Your name is Luna.

You’re a French-speaking alien cutie engaged to a cyborg T-Rex.

Your job is…jumping around the galaxy destroying planets.
For a secret government agency.

Welcome to WayForward’s bizarre second entry in the “Mighty series”: Mighty Milky Way, one of my best friends in this 3DS barren summer.
Since my first contact with Contra 4, my respect for these Californian guys has grown exponentially with each title they’ve released.
A Boy and his Blob, Shantae’s Risky Revenge, Mighty Flip Champs! - little gems that any gamer should really not have missed.
It’s a waste that several of these have suffered the obscurantism of Nintendo’s incapability to support publishers on their unfortunate digital delivery services.
Both DSiWare and WiiWare are populated by a very large number of great games (Mighty Switch Force seems to hint that the 3DS will follow the same trend, quality wise) that no one gave enough of a shit about: it’s undeniable that Nintendo has done a very poor job with its digital delivery platforms.

Mighty Milky Way, just like its predecessor (I just learned that Mighty Flip Champs! has been also been released as a PSP Mini!), is a very simple game that fuses puzzle and platform elements, and is prone to weird experimentations that take full advantage of the DS pair of screens and its touch properties.

The objective of the levels is simply to make sure that Luna safely travels through zero-gravity environments dotted with planets of various size.
A setup blessed by a strong Arcade flavor, perfect for short sessions, but at the same time so addictive it might capture the player with its magnetic charm for hours.

Luna automatically walks clockwise on any planet she lands on; pressing the d-pad makes her speed up or slow down, touching a planet makes her bump it and consequently bounce on it. Tap most planets twice and they will explode, projecting Luna in a straight line towards the depths of space until she eventually lands on another globe or meets her death by touching the edge of the stage.

Basically the game consists on aiming and choosing the right planets for Luna to land on in order to reach some exit warps. Of course there will be plenty of obstacles and enemies to deal with, and Luna herself will be able to pick up some special candies that, if used, will create a new planet in any free space of the level, provided there is enough room to do so.
And don’t forget to take into account gravity: each celestial body, depending on its size, has a different gravity field that will affect the french alien’s flight trajectory. As the game progresses, new types of planets and enemies - that will noticeably spice things up - will be introduced.
Every last level of each “world” consists in a bossfight which is basically a time attack. These boss battles are easily the best thing in the entire game - both in terms of sheer gameplay and general absurdity.

Mighty Milky Way is inspired, good looking, has a great soundtrack and is a lot of fun. It plays unlike anything you might have played before and it’s a nice distraction while waiting for 3DS to finally (hopefully?) pick up the pace.
If you have a 3DS collecting dust somewhere in your room, I strongly suggest that you stop complaining about how much the console sucks and give this game a try. And while you’re at it, give the whole DSiWare a chance. There’s plenty of websites with great reviews of there often forgotten titles which, in some cases, rival with the traditional DS library.
Trust me, there is still a lot to be discovered in there!

PS: of course if you have a DSi, you already got this game. RIGHT?!