Whereas other games of this genre include power-ups as a staple, the only power-ups to be found in the game are minor upgrades to the very small gun carried by the The Kid, such as one extra bullet on the screen at a time, or a slightly increased range. He can move left and right, turn in midair without horizontal momentum, jump (and double-jump), and shoot. The Kid controls like a standard twitch shooter-platformer. The player is The Kid, who is on a quest to kill and become "The Guy." Gameplay The opening credits themselves parody the opening credits from The Legend of Zelda, and the opening menu is reminiscent of Mega Man 2.
The game's plot is told through cryptic and poorly written text during the games opening credits, satirizing the often clumsy translations from early 8-bit games. Some games from which I Wanna Be the Guy has appropriated assets from include: An example of enemies taken from the Mario series. Most of the games levels, characters, music, and sound effects are taken directly from other games, and the difficulty and storyline of the game are reminiscent cariactures of the era. The whole game is notorious for its difficulty, and walks the line between parody and homage to popular games from the 8-bit era.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that his skeleton tries to Tiger Uppercut you as you leave the level.I Wanna Be the Guy is a free indie platformer game created and designed by Michael "Kayin" O'Reilly.