Red Earth is a really weird experiment from Capcom. Basically it's a PvE-focused 2D fighter with some RPG elements. You fight bosses (or other players), get EXP, level up and get new moves and gear. You can kinda save your progress with passwords you get at game over screens but this is a pretty clunky system. There's also a little of branching paths and different endings. The roster is small but cool, only four characters.

The artstyle and graphics are absolutely killer. Everything else? I don't know what to think. It plays like a Capcom 2D fighter with six attack button controls and all but the bosses are pretty annoying to beat. Might be a skill issue but I got wrecked a lot. After you die and use a continue, the bosses only heal a little of HP so winning doesn't feel that cathartic since you can spam coins to whittle away the health of the boss. Levelling up would help with beating the bosses but I never wrote down a password since I have unlimited coins (in Capcom Fighting Collection). After I beat the game, I don't get a password anymore so the progress goes to waste. This means I should always die in the final boss, take the password there and then beat it. Silly, I say. Moreover, you level up pretty slowly. For me, going through the whole game got me to level 8 or 9 out of the max level of 32. This means you'd have to play the game with one character and with passwords quite a bit to see all the level up rewards.

I think I'll still give the game another chance at some point since it looks so stunning and controls like a Capcom fighter. For now, I'm a bit disappointed though. This could have been so good. And a console port of this would have made so much sense for the level up system.