Zenith Hunter is a very odd game. I'd say it's foolish to deny it's not very high-value or polished, but it doesn't need to in order to be fun or interesting -- and regardless, it's free!
I've now beaten this entire game, getting all secrets and collectibles, on the NG+ gamemode where you are permanently locked at 1HP. I may be the only person to ever do this besides the author -- so I hold some authority here.


Enjoying this game is counterintuitive to what you might expect. It's frustrating and extremely difficult -- if you play it, your goal is to find ways to overcome challenges that seem nearly impossible by developing consistent strategies for each of them. With mechanics like weapons being strong but disappearing if you get hit and enemies only spawning/moving/attacking while on-screen, doing so is both reliable and rewarding.
That being said, it is still frustrating and extremely difficult. Playing it requires an almost meta perspective, because in many ways, you are actively fighting against the game's controls and levels. If you don't have the tolerance for that, this probably isn't for you (then again, little point in not trying it, since it's completely free and only takes up 8MB).

Zenith Hunter is certainly true to the retro gaming experience of being nearly unfair and far more difficult than it has any right to be. But, in the words of its creator, the toughest climbs are often the most rewarding.


While Zenith Hunter certainly falls short in some areas (like graphics), these are not active detriments to the game. However, there are a few such detriments:

• There's no way to go back to previous stages without resetting your save file, so if you missed a secret, you'll have to go all the way back. Because you'll end up mastering levels by the time you beat them more often than not, and the game is fairly short, this isn't usually a setback of more than 30 minutes -- but with the New Game Plus mode, if you have to reset, you'll have to do the normal game AND New Game Plus to get back to where you were.
  
• A lot of the secrets are difficult to find or obtaining them is only explained after the fact. The mechanic that lets you get the secret treasure in world 1 is taught in world 2, for example. Additionally, two of these secrets give an extra health point, without which the late game becomes extremely difficult on your first playthrough. The mechanic to get the first one is explained 2 worlds after you are able to get it, and the mechanic for the second isn't used anywhere else in the entire game. As such, it's common that you have to reset.
  
• Bosses are extremely difficult, but the first and last ones are easily cheesed by simply getting in one hit without taking damage and then abusing invincibility frames to tank through the rest of the fight, since their invincibility frames are as long as yours. Seeing as the last boss is very difficult (and, in my opinion, fun) and is also, y'know, the final boss, that strategy is disproportionately rewarding and difficult compared to the intended solution.
  
• There's a frog at the start of one of the levels in world 4 that blocks a chest if you take too long to get it and it greatly annoys me on a personal level.