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Messages - spd12

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1
Fan Games / Re: Any Mega Man classic series fan games left to beat?
« on: February 05, 2014, 08:58:12 PM »
You've tapped me out then! But yeah, SMM and SMM2 are both pretty weak but you can definitely feel that the creator is progressively getting better as time goes on (and 3 is very playable, yeah). Their next game isn't a Mega Man one, but given what they've learned over the years I'm sure it'll be something good.

Now that I think about it, there might be some on Newgrounds, I remember playing a really low-rent one years ago that I may have to dig up again.

2
Fan Games / Re: Any Mega Man classic series fan games left to beat?
« on: February 05, 2014, 05:52:01 PM »
Would Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Return be one of the ones you've already beaten? It's no longer able to be found on the internet, but I have a copy of it if you'd like it. It's pretty decent aside from a few issues here and there (Energy Man has an unavoidable flashing attack, most of the weapons are straight fire, the weakness loop is not properly closed so two of them are weak to one another).

EDIT: There's also Super Mega Man 1 and Super Mega Man 2, but you may find them not terribly entertaining to play.

3
Fan Games / Re: Does anyone have these Rockman fan games?
« on: January 02, 2014, 09:14:10 AM »
Hey there. Can't help you with the Russian one, but the other one can be found here: http://megamanrevolution.com/download/

The original fifthindependent site closed a while back, but the project has its own site there.

4
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man 42 - Released!
« on: November 16, 2013, 03:55:10 PM »
v1.1 was recently released a few days ago. Sure, this game may not be everyone's favorite, but I'm passing the message along. Quite a few bugfixes and it sounds like some of the more disliked jumps have been adjusted according to the alteration in the jump physics.

Here's a link to where you can grab it, if you are so inclined: http://servadacsgamedev.blogspot.com/2013/11/mm42-v11.html

5
Fan Games / Re: Super Megaman 3 (Released)
« on: October 31, 2013, 07:48:14 AM »
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

I think the game is okay, certainly not a masterwork but okay. The regular stages show some neat ideas in places (I think the switch puzzle bit in Aero Man's level and the location of the hidden letter in Diamond Man are really clever) although it drops off in quality big time come the fortress stages (of which I assume the maker was excited and just wanted to hurry up and be done).

Some of the bosses are actually decently designed according to their weakness chain and felt natural in places (in others, not so much).

Most of all, I think what stands out most about the game is just how many side rooms and hidden routes there are, and aside from a few that are hidden in a way that you can not possibly know about unless told (or see someone else find them, as my case was), this feels like that's what sets it apart from some others released this year.

More interestingly, I found a LP posted last year of the previous game and the maker of this game sounded very, very young. Even for its flaws, SMM3 is actually a really big step up from SMM2 (look that one up yourself if you'd like, though it is buggy and kind of poorly put together in terms of how death is handled). I think if he keeps making big strides in improvement like the jump in quality between SMM2 and SMM3, and assuming he's up for doing another anyway, I think he could end up making something special.

I'd just hope he puts a bit more thought into the weapon balance and work some more of his enthusiasm into the final levels to really make them stand out more.

6
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man 42
« on: October 23, 2013, 04:05:11 PM »
Nice to hear that things are still on track for getting an original soundtrack in there, and now I realize that as I posted this I forgot to get back to you on something - really sorry about that, I got occupied with some other things that I ended up forgetting about it.

Can't wait to get to hear the rest of the soundtrack, that last theme in the trailer sounded pretty catchy.

7
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man: Rock Force
« on: October 18, 2013, 01:20:37 AM »
I'll run this over to Goldwater, thanks for the heads up.

8
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Unlimited
« on: October 06, 2013, 05:45:52 AM »
Regardless of any logistics about its inclusion anywhere, if nothing else, Unlimited really goes out of its way to milk each and every stage gimmick it has for what it's worth (and for what it isn't worth, sometimes). I'm impressed by at least one use of the whirlpools with the blade fish things, at least, so despite my largely lukewarm reception to the game I'm kind of curious to see if Phil's level design approach has been adjusted any since MMU's initial reception.

9
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man: Rock Force
« on: October 01, 2013, 09:42:19 PM »
Once again, a new version's out! Once again, also beating Goldwater to posting about it here. Technically a few super minor spoilers, so censoring.

[spoiler]
Change log:

    Mega Man can return to the buster by pressing A and S (both weapon swap keys) simultaneously.
    Changed spike appearance in Plague Man’s stage.
    Option and Save screens now transition much more quickly.
    Mega Man can now use Etanks by pressing start in pause menu. Jump still works too.
    You can now save after the Intro Level.
    Vsync mode added to options. (Requires game to be reset after exiting options to take effect.)
    Entire dialogue text will appear before advancing when jump is pressed.
    Metools attack much more quickly.
    Beat will fly off if Mega Man is destroyed.
    Mega Man can hold charge when game is paused.
    Added Menu option to stage select screen. Allows for access to password/save and title screen.
    Added Menu option to pause menu. Allows player to exit level or return to title screen.
    Enemy invincibility from buster shots has been shortened.
    Mega Man will not overlap a ceiling when falling from a slide position.
    Options menu has been changed around slightly.
    Edited respawn points of some enemies.
    Some cutscene artwork has been touched up.
    Mega Man will not jump cancel a slide if down is held.

Bugs:

    Fixed missing blocks in certain stages.
    All Mega Man objects can refill health when lives beyond 9 are collected.
    Charade Clone shouldn’t damage Mega Man when it connects with spikes set to less than instant kill.
    Circuit Man’s block shouldn’t get stuck in the wall.
    Weapon Switch plate disappears when killed.
    Mega Man can’t switch weapons while teleporting.
    Mega Man can’t charge while teleporting.
    Collecting a large energy from Eddie in the boss rematch room will not reset the room.
    Cannot continue sliding once large energy is collected in rematch room.
    Dropped Eddie items will eventually disappear in rematch chamber hub.
    Mega Man will detect all blocks when going down a ladder (including barriers during pulse man mid boss).
    Fixed Mega Fart glitch.
    Hitting Virus Man’s flukes with anything more powerful than a buster shot will not make them invincible.
    Mega Man no longer turns green when he hits the ground while firing Phantom Fuse.
    Healing sound no longer overlaps.
    You can now see the bar fill when Mega Man has recovered health or weapon energy.
    Shock rails are no longer affected by enemy weapons.
    Shooting off a Phantom Fuse before a screen transition will not softlock the game.
    Charged shots do correct amount of damage to Joes when shield is up.
    When mapping keys, keys retain their identities even after being mapped to other keys.
    The cane in Charade Man’s stage now shouldn’t pull or push you into walls.
[/spoiler]

Go play it if you haven't already! Or go play it again.

10
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man: Rock Force
« on: August 29, 2013, 04:22:34 PM »
A new version was recently released (the download was taken for a while earlier but it's back now)! Here's a copy of the changelist from his site's forums:

Changes:

    Knockback has been reduced and can be adjusted.
    The player can slide cancel when direction is changed.
    The time to charge up a shot has been reduced.
    The player can choose how spikes will damage Mega Man.
    A new save file system has been implemented.
    The new save system allows for saving between the final stages.
    The number of checkpoints can be changed by the player.
    The default controls have been changed.
    The stage select cursor now begins on Mega Man’s portrait.
    Less enemies will explode upon defeat.
    Mega Man no longer gets stuck when damaged in slide paths.
    Mega Man recovers 10 bars from large energies rather than 8.
    Pausing will place the cursor on the weapon Mega Man was last using.
    The intro scene will replay once the title screen music has finished and no player input is detected.
    Mega Man can detach from ladders more quickly.
    Minor alterations have been made to the ending dialogue.
    Informational screens and most cutscenes can be skipped.
    Mega Man can now fire more rapidly.
    Deflected shots will clear the screen more quickly.
    Mega Man’s hit box has been modified.
    Most enemy and obstacle hit boxes have also been modified.
    Mega Man detaches from ladders much lower than before.
    He can also grab ladders further above his head.
    The charge shot will not continue to charge while sliding.
    Some levels have had minor alterations.
    The strength of Mega Man’s slide ability can be adjusted.
    The duration of Mega Man’s recovery period can be adjusted.

Bug Fixes: *Spoilers*[spoiler]
    The pause screen glitch preventing input from the player has been fixed.
    Terror Man can only summon a finite number of buggers.
    Terror Man cannot be defeated off screen.
    The electrified water will destroy Mega Man’s clone rather than damage Mega Man.
    A similar modification has been made to the shock tiles.
    The electrified water will not send Mega Man into the ceiling.
    Rash blocks (snake platforms) will not send Mega Man into the wall.
    Mega Man’s clone will lower on the coffin with the player.
    Spikes will squash the player to death in Death Man’s stage.
    Volcanoid and Chilbert no longer react to player weapons.
    The player can no longer pause during transport.
    The music won’t stop when the game is paused.
    The charge shot no longer stops invincibility frame flashing.
    Rush Coil no longer refills when the weapon swap is used.
    Deflected shots will not make multiple *ding* sounds.
    Mega Man cannot detach from ladders while climbing.
    Items no longer pass through spikes and other platforms.
    Mega Man will not stop firing on a ladder if the fire button is pressed too rapidly.
    Utilities should not spawn in walls.
    Pit Pods will not explode when regenerating in a pit.
    Tube Tank barriers will not glitch the player into a wall.
    Mega Man reliably attaches to ladders he is closest to.
    Mega Man will not turn invisible if his recovery period ends while sliding.
    Robot Masters will align to the proper Y-coordinate when Mega Man enters the boss chamber.
[/spoiler]

11
Fan Games / Re: A Mega Man NES style Fan Game
« on: August 24, 2013, 02:49:24 PM »
Hey guys, been a little silent on this front - it's been decided that we'll be addressing one of the biggest complaints with the game. That is, to say, the stage length.

I say "we" since there's been a handful of people who expressed interest in helping refine the game a bit more as fifthindependent works on a few other things on the side.

In any case, we're going to be trimming them down in length and generally compacting the level design. We'll be having less empty corridors and other dead screens - and maybe even make a few of those corridors that are still to hang around a bit more interesting.

Other things will have to change with it (some rebalancing for store prices and stuff like Wild Sprint), but anyway if you have any thoughts or suggestions about individual stages beyond those already posted, feel free to share away!

We'll be starting with the RM stages first (currently we're poking at Blast Man and Sand Man as of writing) and slowly progressing onwards from there.

The game's tile art is slowly getting updated and prettied up too, though there's nothing fully presentable yet.

Thanks again for everyone who's given the game a go!

12
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man: Rock Force
« on: August 10, 2013, 03:19:29 PM »
I got an advance copy of this some weeks back and I really fell in love with it almost entirely from the get go. I know you guys are kind of touchy about the whole 'fangame advertisement' thing, but this game is actually done! Complete! Ready to be played! None of that whole 'advertising for help and then disappearing' business that seem to set some of you off.

For those that really did not like Revolution's or Unlimited's stage lengths, you will like this as stages are more of a moderated length in general. The weapon set is on the whole pretty fun with some genuinely interesting new ideas here and there, too. I can't recommend it enough, and I definitely encourage people who might seem put off by the initial story to give it a chance all the same.

I'm most amazed Goldwater kept quiet about all this to begin with, as I feel it's a real gem and worth any classic Mega Man series fan's time several times over.

13
Original / Re: Wily's Skull Castles: Best Skull Flair
« on: August 09, 2013, 05:59:35 PM »
I'm a fan of all of them, though 10's is definitely the funniest for that final stage 'path' gag.

Since 3 was the first game I had ever completed, though, I'm gonna go with that one.

14
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Unlimited
« on: July 26, 2013, 04:00:54 AM »
My thought is that every time he's calling Rush, Rush is going to the severed arm and thus he can't really reach Mega Man at the moment.

Could he run after him? Sure, but when's the last time you saw him do that in game?

15
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Eternal
« on: July 24, 2013, 07:49:51 PM »
Yeah, in the end I think we should all just be excellent to one another. We're all Mega Man fans here, in whatever form it may take.

16
Fan Games / Re: A Mega Man NES style Fan Game
« on: July 22, 2013, 08:56:33 PM »
I got stuck in a part of Haste Man's stage after running out of rush jet power and dying. That sucked. There weren't really any farmable enemies; just one stop-light kind of guy and I didn't feel up to walking back and forth to kill him over and over until I got a weapon energy capsule.

Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure the drop rate for those and extra lives were switched - I've got 9 spare lives often as not, but don't really get to use any special weapons because energy is so sparse.

Echoing what Zan just asked, it does sound like you decided to Rush Coil up to the high route meant for Bass instead of sliding into the low route as Mega Man - this has been a problem for a while but it hasn't been addressed yet.

17
Rockman Series / Re: The First Boss
« on: July 22, 2013, 03:13:41 AM »
Odd as it may sound, I often feel like a boss that has a pleasant/easygoing stage theme is subtly being called toward as being a first pick by developers (Magnet Man, Stone Man, Cold Man, and Splash Woman are prime examples). It's more of a feeling to me than anything I could really put a science towards. Basically if I close my eyes and can envision the song being something you'd hear as a "Stage 1" theme, it usually feels like to me that this boss is actually meant to be an early knockout.

18
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Eternal
« on: July 22, 2013, 02:26:41 AM »
Speaking as a new poster who did indeed register to check out the fan games subforum (as I am on a big kick with MM fangames as it is, as well as the lack of many venues in which to see them all gathered together and discussed), that large ranting post has indeed turned me off quite a lot towards exploring the rest of the site - nobody likes being talked down to like that. The attitude speaks to me of a very insular and unpleasant community as a first impression.

That said, as a Mega Man fan without much to talk about on an official release front, is it really any wonder this subforum is the initial draw for some?

19
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Unlimited
« on: July 21, 2013, 07:45:46 PM »
I'm of the thought that shields made of stupid/nonsensical things is very true to the source material. How they're suspended around Mega Man, who knows or cares, the point is, it's a shield of nails and it is pretty awesome by any standard of nails or shields.

I don't think weapons have to make real scientific/physical sense, they just have to be fun to use - and that's the question here. Are the weapons in this game fun to use? I think most of them work out pretty well.

20
Fan Games / Re: Megaman: An Uncertain Future (Completed)
« on: July 19, 2013, 01:23:04 PM »
Yeah, checking some videos it does seem like this game is a hack/rip of Hard Hat 4 with maybe one or two changes. Compare the first stage of the second video (the underwater one) to this one:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDNTyrVLvmk[/youtube]

21
Fan Games / Re: Megaman: An Uncertain Future (Completed)
« on: July 19, 2013, 12:47:49 AM »
Actually, looking at this I'm pretty sure this is a bizarre reskin/hack of Hard Hat 4, which had a similar 'hover' mechanic and the triple shot was the default 'special' shot. I wouldn't call HH4 particularly good either (but definitely playable despite a few very, very evil jumps).

It's been long enough since I last played it that I'm not a hundred percent sure, but at least ninety percent sure given that the selected stages go to the exact same environments I remember them being located on the screen (up left being aquatic, etc).

22
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Unlimited
« on: July 18, 2013, 03:11:20 AM »
I have to say, watching this game on Vixy's stream earlier, everything looked a lot slower than I remembered it being (watching them buster duel Glue Man successfully was really something, he felt too fast when I played but when watching her his speed didn't seem as bad somehow).

I guess a lot of things look/come off as a lot easier when you aren't the one actually playing, ha ha, but their relative mastery of the game within days of release is showing that most of it is still surmountable with some consistency once you know what that exact consistency, er, consists of (like moving a certain way, etc, etc). I'm still not entirely sure I understand the exact way you have to move to lure phase of the final boss in order to avoid a specific attack, even after watching, since I'm pretty sure I did the exact same thing but still got struck for it.

Rainbow Man's stage remains crazyville in terms of learning curve, but I think it's more overall a problem with just the very concept of Quick Man lasers where they're only doable once you know how (after who knows how many tries), but attempting to slow them down so that they take less tries to come to grips with kind of makes them lose meaning as a credible threat (as seen in a select few places of that stage where you can easily leave a screen and never see or hear a laser that is there), which is something I already went over.

I imagine Phil and company are stressed as all get out with all the scrutiny levied at them following years, so I'm hoping they don't take any of it too personally.

23
Fan Games / Re: A Mega Man NES style Fan Game
« on: July 15, 2013, 08:04:18 PM »
Hey, I just want to stop by here and say for all those who have, thanks for playing this game.

I spent a lot of time helping fifthindependent with testing and the like. It does seem I somehow managed to miss quite a few things despite dozens upon dozens of playthroughs, but I'm also going through all the feedback I've been able to find in hopes of helping improve the game further once FI over there is good to continue working on it! (It's ultimately his game, make no mistakes here, I'm just a helper.)

I very much enjoyed going through it many times, even through some of the rougher patches, and I hope whatever I was able to contribute helped make it that much better.

24
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Eternal
« on: July 15, 2013, 07:59:47 PM »
Hey there! I've seen the videos and I think this will be a good romp when it's done and ready for play. I really like a fair number of the boss fight videos you've shown (and have commented to that effect there before). Really, my only complaint is that I would love to see what more of the weapons even do! I've seen (early, possibly outdated) footage of Frigid Man's and I think that's about it.

Still, keep at it! This year is proving to be really, really good for fangames so far.

25
Fan Games / Re: Mega Man Unlimited
« on: July 15, 2013, 07:50:24 PM »
Hey there! I was the lead tester of Mega Man Revolution, recently beat the game without use of refill tanks and wanted to weigh in. (I was also the guy on facebook who said I would punch Yoku Man in the face, and I totally did - no e-tanks or Rush abuse or weakness weapon but I admit I had to look up where the U was, so if you are reading this, Yoku Man creator person, consider their face punched like twice already unless you want to count the U letter lookup against that, so instead I slapped their face with like four fingers or something in that case.)

I'm going to stream of consciousness this, because I'm still on a high from getting through the game. It may not be terribly succinct, maybe slightly less objective, but paradoxically, probably more honest. I apologize for the long walls of text, and also very minor spoilers. I tried to be as discreet as I could in this and only said what I felt needed to be said to communicate what I mean. (I'll edit this with proper spoiler tags once I figure out how, though I don't think they may be that necessary here.)

Some backstory, the day this came out I decided not to sleep the night as to reset my sleeping schedule. This probably proved to be a mistake, as it made the early goings fairly frustrating with my compromised reflexes and judgment. I went to bed after being on Wily 1 for a long while, thinking that trying to beat the game after 24 hours of no sleep was probably a really bad call (it was, as I kept misunderstanding what the boss was doing in my sleeplessness but coming at it fresh I picked up on what needed to be done). Then I started fresh when I woke up after 6 hours of sleep, with the weakness loop starting at Tank Man. If I had to take a guess I think it did take me 16 hours-ish total of playtime to really make it through.

I'll skip mention of the NES limitations issue since better informed people on the subject have already weighed in. I feel the tilework is generally really cool if sometimes a little inconsistent in details, but it could be the times CHR limits are stretched/disregarded might color my opinions a bit - still, I should say I like it. Some of the enemy designs really made me have a great laugh, I like them despite the obvious palette limit breaks. The guy with the suitcases is probably my runaway favorite.

As for music, it's all good to me aside from the somewhat jarring change in 'feel' between tracks that were primarily Phil and those done by the rest. Phil is an adequate composer, the others are genuinely amazing. I will make a significant disclaimer here in that I pressed fifthindependent to keep Pyre Man's music the way it was in Mega Man Revolution because its (to general consensus post-release) annoying chorus really truly grew on me as I played the game over and over in testing, so my taste may genuinely be in serious question (also, I'm really sorry if that stage theme really did make you cringe, I can't envision the stage without that chorus playing now). That said, there were no tracks I hated or disliked, plenty that I loved, and others I would still like to listen to from time to time.

In terms of control, my keys sometimes stick so I don't want to fault those incidents on this game, but it does sometimes feel that hitting ledges is inconsistent (you hear the landing sound but Mega Man falls off anyway) and depending on the velocities of what you're jumping off of, you can get caught up on stuff moving upward (a huge deal for one later boss). Sometimes I also appeared to jump instead of slide, which did kill me in some places - some have said that the game has some trouble reading diagonal directions and this may be what's going on as I'm holding down and forward when I slide. Not quite as tight as it could be, perhaps, but ultimately I got through the whole game so there's no super dealbreakers here.

Level design-wise, it really does feel like there is an effort to make every room and space meaningful, that there's something in there to do/deal with/find. It can get overwhelming, as others have mentioned - some sequences do feel incredibly saturated with elements, but I only felt at a complete loss occasionally. When mistakes were made, most of the time I knew it was me or a keyboard arrow sticking and not the controls (which I guess also means 'me'). I feel a decent majority of ideas are well communicated as to what they do, and it feels like there was an effort to use those ideas to the fullest extent that they could. I think I liked it a bit more than some of the others here have said, and eventually overcame most of the difficult parts with familiarity and can appreciate a many of the decisions, if not all of them.

The biggest issue I have is Rainbow Man's stage. It is extremely trial-and-error, and I think it highlights a problem with the Quick Man lasers in general. When you know what you are doing, it might be a bit exhillirating to get through a space frame-perfect (you basically have to), but knowing what to do takes a lot of tries, and there isn't much time to reflect on what you did wrong or what needs to be done when you mess up. The problem is, if you slow the lasers down at all, they lose any meaning as a threat (as they more or less did in one part of the stage) - it's an element that only 'works' going that fast, and when you already know what to do, which first-time players won't - especially if they picked that stage first as I presume a lot of your fans on Facebook did. I feel it's an exercise that proves that Quick Man instant-death lasers are not fun to learn or deal with, and something we can probably safely leave in the past from here on out. (Also Ripurakons suck and are the most annoying thing in the quantities you see them in that stage, but they take a backseat to the lasers.) I have no idea how I managed to clear this when I played this sleepless, because holy crap.

I'd also really like to divorce the need to use Rush Jet towards the final stretch of Wily Stage 1, as if you die at a certain point and run out of energy, all you have to farm back energy with is with a Red Guardian. If not this, consider adding one of those shield telly spawn things around there to help with getting some energy back - there's a few in small platforms areas some ways after that which is good, but there needs to be one there too. There runs the risk of making the platform stretch too easy to cross with unused Rush Jet energy, but it's still incredibly annoying and time-consuming to have to build back up energy from that checkpoint if you run out entirely.

There was one jump in Jet Man's stage that pissed me off where if you are going at a decent clip through that part, you will inevitably be hit by the blue bomber jet thing that passes by. It was not clear to me that they came in a timed interval rather than a locational one. If possible, some audio cue or even a flashing arrow might be kind of cool for more of an 'organized airport' feel and might make it more clear that they are coming in a certain rhythm. Also I sometimes had trouble jumping off corners of the tread platforms for whatever reason, not sure if I can blame that on the game or me.

As for Trinitro Man's level, sleepless me flipped the bird to one part of it and went the other way. The more awake and alert me hasn't attempted that part with all the nitro platforms arranged in a precarious way to the center ladder with the 1-Up to the right since. I keep going that other way. I'll have to try it again soon, but I'm really comfortable with that other route now.

What is even the point of the other route in Glue Man's stage? If there's nothing interesting or cool there other than that one difficult stretch for the sake of stretching out that particular element of its level design, I say seal it up or replace it.

To speak of an example of good design, Yoku Man's stage is one of the really good ones. The platforming is difficult, but not unfair. If you pay attention, you will see what's going on ahead, and that is very important. I never felt the rug was truly pulled out from under me in an unfair way, and the parts that required guesswork only cost time instead of health or lives. I watched what was going on, I dealt with it with confident jumps, and I got through just fine - there were a handful of deaths from a few bad judgment calls or going a bit too slow, but I never felt overwhelmed in the least. I think the only mark against it is at the very end, where it seems to me (for now) that damage is unavoidable unless you use something like C. Dash to get to another ladder and then climb up quickly (which I didn't think to try until I wrote this), but beyond this, this is probably the very best stage in the game in terms of challenge. It just felt completely right, and earns its distinction as a great bonus stage.

I think I really liked Wily Stage 3 too. Without going into too much detail, I feel it makes use of the gimmick in such a way that I am now totally satisfied with its use and that its fullest potential may have been explored. I did get stuck and frustrated on all the Wily Stages for a while for various reasons, but now that I know how to navigate them somewhat reliably I think this one was my favorite of the lot, though it isn't quite to Yoku Man's level of communicating and executing ideas. There are a few blind moments that set this back a bit, but this and Yoku Man's stages probably make up my legitimate favorites in terms of designs and ideas.

Weapon-wise, now that I've beaten the game and know what happens where, I will likely find uses for a lot of them in a future given playthrough - in theory they feel all decent on paper (except for one) but I admit I was conservative for the most part in using them as I am generally like that. Yoku Attack really stood out to me in the latter parts of the game, C. Dash helped with some tricky jumps and green stompy enemy placements (the energy cost here is truly justified to me), N. Shield is one of the better shields but doesn't have any easy indication that it's about to expire. J. Missile did help nail a few small enemies I was afraid of approaching. Unfortunately, I feel the Yo-Yo weapon all but outshines Tank Man's weapon simply for its ability to be aimed, where Tank Man's felt unreliable for hitting stuff below you (which feels counter to its function of throwing projectiles everywhere). The rest I don't have much of a strong opinion on, though I'm surprised I didn't use Glue Man's weapon so much, there's probably some interesting shortcuts I could take with it if I looked hard enough.

Boss-wise it's all over the place. Some bosses feel way too fast to be really fair to fight without their weakness weapon (Glue Man), others feel just right if kind of easy once you understand what to do (Tank Man, Yoku Man, and Trinitro Man who is my favorite to fight because there is always risk), and yet others are tough/grueling but not horrible (Jet Man's superfast missiles, the scant little amount of time you have to harm Nail Man outside of weapons). The Wily Stage bosses are a special kind of nasty in ways I'm not sure I like, the first only because any single mistake will kill you despite having a very fair pattern otherwise, the second because it can be tough to properly time/space the way to avoid its kill attack without yourself getting stuck to it even as you are moving away, the third because it is difficult to read the pattern without split-second recognition. The second phase of the final boss is the worst of the bunch by far: there is one attack where it is not clear at all as to how to consistently avoid it - you either have no time to really get out from underneath it, or there's no easy way to guide it so you have an opening, and the way it moves in the phase after that is completely obnoxious to read and deal with, where avoiding damage requires the use of the C. Dash (especially if it jumps at a weird angle) and actually getting a clean hit is almost luck based. It also forces you to use special weapons to hit them at all, it feels like, which is something I'm not sure I agree with. I'm sure as I play the game again down the line I'll 'get' the bosses and be much more comfortable with buster dueling them in general as well as better appreciate the hows and whys, but on the onset there is a lot of hit and miss in terms of fairness in the patterns, and the speed of which they throw things at you.

In terms of weakness order, I disagree with OBJECTION MAN and feel that fighting style-wise most of it feels about right, if not so much 'elements' (and so that does mean to a first-time player there is some real random guesswork to be had but things click as you fight them). Glue Man's weakness makes complete sense in regards to his AI, Nail Man's was ambiguous between a few on the onset but the one that does do bonus damage feels correct. Comet Woman's is one of the ones that feel a little random, Yo-Yo Man's becomes obvious once he does one of his specific attacks. Those are just some examples without spilling exact details.

All in all, well, I did get very frustrated (especially when I thought it was a great idea to first play it on no sleep). I can agree that this is very difficult from how compact everything is put together, and in some cases probably way way too thick. I would have probably finished sooner if I used tanks, or spike shocks, or Beat whistles, or any of that, but I was particularly stubborn as a matter of pride and ultimately felt good at getting through, if embarrassed at how long it took. Sometimes it takes too many tries or too long to really understand all of what's going on in a scenario, if there is anything to truly be understood. This is going to - and has - turned off less patient players. When I step back and see how everything was put together, though, I can understand many of the decisions made even if I do not ultimately agree with all of them.

For what it's worth, I don't regret my time spent, only regret how long it took for me to get through it the first time! It will probably be a while before I want to play it again, though, because it really is that intense - especially in the final stretches where you really can't stop and take a breather at all. It is a memory hog and leaving it going in the background is probably a bad idea, so it's a hell of a commitment that I'm not sure I'll be ready to make again for a while.

Despite whatever disagreements I might have with design choices for some of the levels and bosses, I thank you for taking the time to provide all this. More Mega Man is always good, and every fan game has something to offer no matter its production values. This one is no exception.

For those who scroll to the bottom: don't play this game on sleep deprivation.

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