Over the past month, I've gotten a chance to play Mega Man: Dual Override twice. Both times, the demo room was punctuated by random swearing (not all mine). Classic Mega Man is back and in a good way.

Aesthetically, Dual Override looks like an evolved version of the Mega Man X series on the Super Nintendo, just ramped up to 11. Character sprites are colorful and detailed, with liberal use of sparks, subtle glows, and other lighting effects. It's a lush visual language that belies the challenging difficulty within.

Classic Mega Man was built on a punishing, yet fair, style of gameplay. Players with fast reflexes and good memory were rewarded, while those who tried to blindly rush into danger usually didn't fare well. The same is true in Dual Override, which is all about precision in movement and shooting. That's where the aforementioned swearing comes in.

Compared to other adventure games, the individual levels in Dual Override are somewhat short. Watching an expert player run through them would likely make it look like a relatively simple game. As soon as you pick up the controller, though, reality hits you. If your timing is off even a bit, you're going to miss your shot (or your landing) and pay the price.

There may even be a bit of player trolling on the part of the devs. In one of the playable demo levels, you enter a section with glowing balls that can be jumped on. The catch is that they explode after a second or two. This means that if you try to jump on them immediately, there's not nearly enough time to reach the next platform. You have to wait for them to cycle at least once before moving forward. Learning patterns like this is step one to mastering Mega Man.

All that said, the Dual Override developers aren't total sadists. The custom chip feature is designed to give players an edge when they need it most. Before starting a level, you can choose one of three support chips. The Survival chip creates a temporary barrier around Mega Man that protects you from incoming fire. It absorbs a single shot before it has to recharge. After it recharges, you can reactivate the shield. The Fire Power chip boosts the Mega Buster's offensive capability. It auto-charges and allows you to fire a double charge shot. That can be helpful for quickly taking down certain enemies. The Rush chip doesn't boost Mega Man directly. Instead, it adds the ability to call Rush for when you need a brief vertical boost. This is the classic Mega Man style of play.

New to the game is the Override feature, which turns Mega Man into a powered-up version of himself, ready to chew bubblegum and kick some ass. Override is time limited, so you should use it judiciously, but the extra firepower can be quite handy. Override slowly recharges as you take out enemies, which helps encourage its use. This isn't a power-up that you want to keep tucked away.

In addition to Mega Man, I also got a chance to play as Proto Man. The levels may have been the same, but the experience was notably different.

Proto Man is more maneuverable than Mega Man and plays more aggressively, but his attack range feels more limited. When playing as Mega Man, I always wanted to hang back a bit and shoot. When playing as Proto Man, I felt like I needed to rush in and take on my opponent in close quarters.

Proto Man uses his shield to bash enemies, with a forward smash and a shield uppercut being my two go-to attacks. The shield bash would take out most low-level opponents in one hit, while the uppercut was great for attacking opponents from below. This allowed for attacks that I wouldn't have been able to accomplish as Mega Man. Proto Man also has a swiping attack, where the shield is used like a large sword.

The shield bash isn't limited to just attacking. It also serves a dual purpose for movement. Because you can use the shield bash at any time, Proto Man can dart forward at any moment, including while in mid-air. This allowed me to get to an out-of-the-way ladder quickly when playing as Proto Man. The same ladder took quite a bit of effort to reach when playing as Mega Man. Proto Man also has access to the Override power, giving him a nice boost when you most need it.

Mega Man: Dual Override isn't coming out until 2027, but it already feels like a must-play. No, it's not the easiest game out there, but it wouldn't be a Mega Man game if it didn't demand precision. Platforming fans should have this title on their wish lists.