Xexyz is an interesting game for fans of hybrid action-RPG titles, or just historical Atlus games before they became known for publishing niche RPGs and later for pandering to fame-chasing narcissists with no morals and zero knowledge or curiosity for the social issues they allegedly care so strongly about. Xexyz is a bit of Zelda II, a bit of Rygar and a bit of sidescrolling shmup all rolled into one package. Taking place a sidescrolling perspective, you begin on foot (with somewhat stiff movement and jumping) and travel about an overworld of sorts, entering every door you come across to see what they do. Some let you gamble for prize money, some let you fight a miniboss to get some quick cash, and others contain NPCs that may give you clues (sometimes for a price) or health or weapon upgrades. Many of these are of dubious value though, like a ball that you throw downward at a 45 degree angle which bounces; I generally just stuck to the standard forward-shot (also aimable upward) that you begin the game with. Separate from that are simple upgrades for your current weapon that give them more range or more simultaneous shots, and for 20 Balls (the game's currency) these are almost always worth getting. Other doors give mobility powerups like "Foot Wing" that let you slow jump higher your descent after a jump. Taking too many hits will take these away though, forcing you to buy or find them again.
The other half of the game consists of scrolling shoot-em-up segments where your character hops into a mecha or ship or slimply a floating platform and blasts their way through enemies and ultimately the stage boss. These are somewhat tedious to play though owing to the awkward setup. Each is broken up into several segments ending with one of two doors to go through; choose the right one and you move on to the next one, choose the wrong one and the current section repeats. Not really sure why they did this, as it effectively just wastes your time rather than adding any extra challenge. Per NES standards you also fire only one bullet per press of the button and can't hold it to continuously fire, so I would suggest bringing an autofire controller unless you really like to mash continuously.
The game has no password system or save feature, instead giving you three lives and unlimited continues. Continuing just puts you back at the start of the current section you're in, so with a little practice you can basically brute-force your way through the game.
Xexyz is a relatively ambitious game for its time for its blend of gameplay styles, but ultimately is still steeped in dated and annoying early NES game tropes. Thankfully the puzzles and stages never get overly frustrating or cryptic, but they're still pretty mindless to make your way through. Overall not a bad way to spend a retro gaming afternoon, but if you want a more fun 'vania-shmup Hybrid on the NES that still holds up exceptionally well, I'd say check out The Guardian Legend.
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Released: 1989
Platform: NES