Wild Dogs

I am glad i played biolab wars and savage halloween before this one. Because it is nice to see how the creator improved after those. Previous games suffered a lot from bad level design with randomly placed enemies,repetetive design,bosses that does exact same thing over and over etc. However this game solves these issues... Mostly. There is still some repetetive design present with longer than necessary sections.
This game mostly gave up on the platformer side unlike the previous games. Game usually doesn't let you stand still and shoot stuff because the constantly spawning enemies doesn't let you do that. You can also end up in situation that require good dodging and analyzing the screen which is nice. However especially on early stages, you can just keep running and shooting and by doing that you can just skip lots of enemies which make them useless. You wouldn't want to constantly stop in a action game of course but at least let those enemies do something. But the game make you wait mindlessly at the sections with flame throwers and crushers. You just stand still and wait until your path is clear and that's boring. If there was some enemy you were supposed to deal with while waiting your path to be open that would have been much better.
The first mech section wasn't that gun to be honest. It is mostly because what you are supposed to do is keep moving and destroy everything on your path. You are not supposed to do some dodging due to huge size of your character. The obstacles on your path just make you wait or get destroyed before they can do anything. If there is a projectile you are supposed to move back and wait until it is gone then keep moving. The later mech section was better though. Unlike first one you don't just move and shoot. You need to analyze the screen better and you may have to jump or do something different than just moving back unlike the first mech section.
I don't think weapon are that balanced. I always use homing missile and spread shot. Others are just worse. Spread shot can hit everything and a great weapon to destroy bosses. Homing missile chases enemies and does decent damage. Boomerang weapon is just not comfortable to use i can't tell how it moves well, flame thrower does decent damage but it's short range make it hard to use, spread shot does much better job than that.
I find it weird that the creator removed inertia from run and gun sections but kept it in shoot em up and riding sections. It just make controlling the player harder. Especially at the vertical shoot em up section. It was fine until the mini boss where you are supposed to dodge through small gaps. Which shouldn't be a problem in a shoot em up game but the inertia make the player move harder and not to mention that the whole sprite is your hitbox so simple challenges like that actually become precise. The inertia also becomes a problem at the second bicycle section. Even if i see the obstacle the inertia doesn't let me move immediately and result in a hit. Similiar section exists in Savage Halloween but that one didn't have inertia so it was more comfortable. Inertia isn't always a bad thing, it usually works with platformers. However if you are making an action game that you need to pay attention to good amount of stuff, it usually makes it less comfortable to play.
The gameboy colors make it hard to see the projectiles sometimes. Since everything have same color, the bullets can blend with background and make it hard to see them sometimes. There is a reason where games like Metal Slug use flashing projectiles. So you can see them clearly.
This game has tons of boss fights and they are much better than previous games. They are not super predictable and usually work around player's position rather than repeating exact same patterns over and over again. You also fight them in a lot of different situations which is great. However i find the difficulty curve with them unbalanced. Some of them are easier some of them are harder. Especially the final boss was lame in that regard. It was quite a disappointing one for a final boss.
I also like how you end up in a different situation each stage which make the game more engaging. I also loved the ending which i obviously won't spoil.
So yeah, this was a good game unlike previous 2ndboss games and i can recommend it for sure. I still think that the level design can be improved with more thoughtfull enemy placement and not making player wait mindlessly. But overall it was a good game and if 2ndboss makes a new game i will probably check it out!

Really great game, Run n Gun style with alot of variety, if you love Contra with less punishment, this game is for you!

This game is really cool. Love the gameboy aesthetic, love when the dog helps, love the color swapping. Got it on sale, expected very little, and was happy with it. Simple fun game, simple fun review.

If you like Contra - this is the best adaptation there is, vehicle sections and overall gameplay diversity is awesome, especially the dog parts . Thanks to developer comments. I also recommend the Biolab Wars as a follow up. Waiting for the third game!

My rating: 3/5 (OK)
PROS:
Bad-ass introduction
Tight, responsive controls
Catchy music
Nice enemy/boss designs
Varied gameplay
CONS:
Way too much repetition in enemy patterns
Shmup sections are just plain boring
Some boss battles are over way too quick
Endgame is underwhelming
I got it on sale and wasn't disappointed, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay full price.

pretty ok run and gunner, some enemies patterns were kinda bad but nothing that made the game frustrating.

Spot on difficulty.