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Topics - Joseph Collins

Pages: 1
1
Fan Games / Mega Man Christmas Carol Remix
« on: December 28, 2012, 08:26:31 PM »
Oh, hey.  I forgot to mention this two days ago, but Mega Man Christmas Carol Remix has been released.

[spoiler=Mega Man Christmas Carol Remix promo][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjMmqGc37wc[/youtube][/spoiler]
 
For those unfamiliar with the original, imagine, if you will.  Megaman.  Vs. robotic versions of the Spirits of the Season (and Jacob Marley).  Yes, it's basically a "boss rush" game similar to Mega Man: The Power Battles, but with a sinister Dickens twist!
This version is a remake of the first game from two years ago with tons of added content, a mostly new soundtrack, new bosses and features, and it uses the Mega Man Christmas Carol 2 engine (which means it runs pretty darn smooth compared to even the old Flash game)!
 
It's 100% finished and only a tiny hair glitchy!  Check out this wild spin on an old classic if you haven't already!
 
And incidentally, I'm the musician/remixer for this game!  ^_^;

2
Off The Wall / Gobble Gobble Cluck (Happy Thanksgiving!)
« on: November 22, 2012, 10:12:58 PM »
Happy Thanksgiving, United States people and anyone else who celebrates it on this day!

I'm having ham.  Just to spite turkey sellers.  Take that, Butterball!

Also, more to the point of the holiday... I'm thankful for good friends who tolerate and never give up on me when I'm in a bad mood, enjoy my company when I'm in a good mood, and are always willing to give me an ear to talk into, a shoulder to cry on, and their support, physically and emotionally.

3
Original / Do You Want to Play Rockman & Forte WS in English?
« on: November 10, 2012, 05:59:41 AM »
http://www.rockmancorner.com/2012/11/do-you-want-to-play-challenger-from.html

Quote from: Protodude
With the Rockman EXE WS translation patch all wrapped up, it's time to look ahead to another possible translation: Rockman & Forte: Challenger from the Future.

An acquaintance of mine is considering giving this rather oddball platformer an English patch. However, interest must be gauged (yeah, we're pulling a Capcom). So if you want to play Challenger from the Future in English (it does have a plot!), simply drop a comment. Though it may not be the "best" Rockman game around, it's still mildly decent. At the very least you'll get a kick out the game's colorful cast of Robot Masters... like Dangan Man. He's literally a bullet.

That's the end of my spiel. Sound off in the comments!
I want I want I want I want I want!  >w<

4
Rockman Series / Android/Reploid/Robot Blood
« on: November 08, 2012, 05:11:45 AM »
I'm sure this has come up a million times before in the past and, in fact, I think there was a decent enough answer given at one point.  However, I have long since forgotten what the answer was, so I'm going to go ahead and ask here:

What do robots in the Rockman universe bleed?

Most people say they just bleed motor oil, but I seem to recall that there was a very specific fluid that flows through a robot's/android's/Reploid's "veins" much like blood flows through a lot of organic things.  What I can't remember, however, was what it was.  It's red like blood (sometimes a darker shade of red than normal blood), has the viscosity of blood, and apparently stains and sprays like blood, but it's not supposed to be blood.

So what is it?

5
Fan Games / megaman sprite game is HERE
« on: October 31, 2012, 06:23:43 PM »
Quote
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNpfPHGKr-U[/youtube]

it’s HERE

play the megaman sprite game right now!

Download
It's a game by Brotoad based on the best and only Megaman Sprite Comic (also by Brotoad)!  This game lets you play as Megaman and Zero as they go on wacky adventures together, beat up random people, interact with various non-player characters, and play B-Ball maybe!

Sound awesome?  You're darn right it is!

Oh, and it's an RPG or something, so be warned: You might need to be literate to enjoy this game.

6
Off The Wall / "What's Upsetting You Right Now?"
« on: October 21, 2012, 07:38:44 AM »
I've been putting this off for a little while because I've been in pretty high spirits lately.  But, I finally found something to turn my "rant mode" on.  But first, an introduction!
Had a bad day at work?  Toss it here.  Upset because you Chia Pet isn't growing like you thought it would?  Welcome!  Feel like crying because your baseball team got their asses kicked by the Detroit Tigers, of all teams, this year?  You've come to the right place!

Consider this thread the "negative" alternative to the "What Are You Currently Thinking?" thread!  While the aforementioned thread could be any kind of thoughts, this thread specializes in letting you let loose your darker side without fear of clouding up an otherwise emotionally random topic!  Need to yell?  Need to scream?  Need to be reassured you're not wrong?  Again, you've come to the right place!  And I welcome you to let it all hang out here (being mindful of the global and local rules, of course!  ;3) and what's bothering you and/or other people freely!  There is no such thing as "too much negativity" in ths thread.  :D
So, I said I had a something rant-worthy.  So what better way to start off the topic... than with something Sonic the Hedgehog related?


I don't know who drew this, but I find it amusing and accurate all the same.

So... this is apparently happening over at Archie Comics' "Sonic the Hedgehog" series.

On the left, the old, classic Princess Sally Acorn, vintage 1993ish. (?)
On the right, the new redesign after she's de-roboticized in the current storyline (I guess).

...

Where's that table flip graphic I keep handy?

It's not that I don't like the new design.  It's just... why fix what isn't broken?  ... oh, right.  Because Sega/Archie.

7
Off The Wall / Hughesnet's Idea of Customer Service
« on: October 09, 2012, 08:55:39 PM »
Yes, a topic, rather than a post.  Because sometimes... you just need more than a post.

As some of you might be aware, I'm on satellite Internet.  Specifically, I'm with Hughesnet. (Before anyone says anything, we have absolutely no alternative ISPs where we live.  Trust me.  We've been checking rather religiously over the last four years.  It's either Hughesnet, WildBlue (which is somehow worse), or dial-up.)  Hughesnet has a real record of hit-and-miss service, but lately, it's been exceptionally spotty.  Usually, I'm alright with the little hitches here and there.  When I started encountering an error with Tumblr a few months ago, I found a solution to the problem and kept with it.  However, the problem came back, so I not only used the same solution to fix it, but decided it was time to talk to Hughesnet themselves about it.

So, about a month ago, I posted a thread on the official Hughesnet forums titled "Tumblr and TurboPage Function" which detailed a problem I'd been having with Tumblr when my TurboPage Function was enabled.  Long story short, with TurboPage on, Tumblr would log me out when I tried to ask a blog a question.  The response I got back, as you can see, was not exactly satisfactory.

After a month of on-and-off responses, they basically tell me "You should probably upgrade!"  My question?  Why?  Why should I upgrade when my current service, up until the last year or so, has been acceptable?  Why should I upgrade to something that may be superior performance-wise, but vastly inferior in the long run?  Why should I upgrade?  So your engineers won't have to deal with my problem?

As I said there, I realize that Katie is just "doing her job" and trying to push the new hardware to people, but you know, not everyone is going to want to upgrade.  And as I also said, not everyone can upgrade.  I know I certainly can't.  Do they know that?  Probably not.  But telling me the simple solution to my problem is to upgrade certainly is not going to instill me with confidence in my company of choice.

Conversation from Start to Finish (in case the thread gets nuked)
[spoiler]The initial post.
A response from the next day.
My response a few days later.
Four days later, still no response.
Six days later
My less-than-professional response on the same day detailing the exact steps for the problem.
Fifteen days later, no response...
Two days more and a brief response.
The response I got today.
And my response to that.
Katie sends her regards.
And I finally just give up.[/spoiler]

8
Gaming / PETA's Pokémon: Black & Blue
« on: October 08, 2012, 11:05:44 PM »
So...

I, among other people, has gotten to a point where we realize that Pokémon is little more than a glorified cockfight for little kids.  Now, I say this with all humor.  It's just a video game, after all.  Right?

Well, PETA is taking things more seriously.  X3

9
Gaming / World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
« on: October 05, 2012, 04:25:46 AM »
So...  I bought Mists of Pandaria today.  I'm going to have to use the downloader to get my game, however, because this laptop does not have a fully-functional DVD drive.  *facepalm*  I did notice something rather odd, though...

In the box for the game, there was a pair of World of Warcraft Guest Passes.

For those who don't know, World of Warcraft Guest Passes used to let people play the game until Level 20 for so-many days. (I think 15?)  However, when Cataclysm rolled out, the game allowed people to play for free until Level 20, guest pass or not, forever.  So my question...

Dude.  What's up with the guest passes?  :B

That aside, haven't started yet and probably won't start playing a panda until the roleplaying community I'm off-and-on a part of decides when to start their paced event.  But I bet I'll see a bajillion pandas running around until then and well beyond.  XD

Pandas!  8D

10
Entertainment / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012
« on: September 29, 2012, 07:04:33 PM »
So...  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The new one on Nick.  It looked stupid, sounded even more stupid (rap theme song?  Really?), but I watched it anyway.  Did I like what I saw?  Short answer: Yes.  It has my interest.  Long answer?  Well, I've composed a list of likes, neutrals, and dislikes about the show.  It contains spoilers, so you have been warned.

Likes
[spoiler]- I like the new hobo-style costumes -- especially the leg pieces.
- Donnie is a geek. :3 Mikey is a dork. X3
- Rob Paulsen as Donatello? That's kind of cool.
- The random comic-style scenes are kind of interesting.
- Leo likes Star Trek "Space Heroes"? That's an interesting trait.
- Sickle! Mikey has a chain-sickle!! O_O
- Kilroy! :D
- The turtles' naivety on the surface is pretty funny.
- The turtles have very unique designs and distinct eye colors. That's kind of neat.
- I'm glad they kept the Leo/Raph rivalry.
- Okay, I admit the jokes are funny. Heh heh.
- Is that a Scramble machine? :D
- ... Raph has a pet turtle? Ha ha hah! That is so awesome! XD
- Ooh. They kept the Oroko Saki/Splinter rivalry. Neat! Too bad Splinter lost everything in that fight...
- April is really cute.  X3[/spoiler]

Neutrals
[spoiler]- So, when the turtles get serious, their eyes disappear? Okay...
- Oh god. Are they going to show this stupid "I'm a turtle and here's my weapon" montage before the turtles go topside? Or just whenver they need filler?
- April is a little girl? And Donnie has a crush on her? Donnie has a crush on her? Not sure what to make of it. Can't figure if this is good or bad.
- The turtles are really, really bad at fighting as a team... No team coordination whatsoever.
- Utroms? Already? o_o
- ... "Boo-yah-kah-sha"? Whatever happened to "cowabunga"? Too "old school" for this series? :P
- Donnie has a pencil neck.
- Oh, would you look at that. Spike mutated into some kind of plant-mantis thing. Does that mean he was a flourist of some kind? Or did they completely ditch the "last thing you touched" mutation thing?[/spoiler]

Dislikes
[spoiler]- Raphael isn't hard-ass enough.
- Splinter is ugly as sin.
- Leo isn't much of a leader at this point...
- Too much [tornado fang]ing anime influence. Sweatdrops, emotes, [parasitic bomb] like that. It does not work with 3D animation.
- That theme song? No, no, and no. Also, no.
- So... the mutagen was just found in an alley? And everyone just mutated instantly? Really?
- The... "Krang"? God damn it. Seriously? Utroms. Utroms!
- The "Krangs" certainly are... lacking in emotion. The Utrom from the last series were much more interesting. These guys are just annoying.
- I think the turtles overreacted to Raph yanking that robot's arm off and locking the doors with it. It's just a robot, after all.[/spoiler]

As I said, I expected... well... a train wreck.  But it turned out to be loads of fun!  Some things need a little work here and there, and there's of course a few things I don't like, but all and all, I think it was a fun thing to watch and I look forward to more episodes.  :3

11
Fan Games / Tarbo-san's Roll-Chan Project
« on: September 25, 2012, 05:40:52 AM »
Protodude recently posted this up.  I think it's mighty fine!  Has some balance issues and is kind of dull, but he did succeed in making the Dimension Numbers a bit more interesting, I have to admit.
[spoiler][youtube]9ZGNx39bBkU[/youtube]
Quote from: Tarbo-san
自作ゲーム「ROLLちゃん」のボスバトルモードです。
ボイスはオプションでON/OFF変更できるようにしてあります。
コムソウマンの分身が見えなくなってるのは動画のフレームレートのせいです。(実際は点滅してます)
http://tarbosan.blog66.fc2.com/blog-category-24.html
----------
It is a Boss Battle mode for Roll's own game.
You can turn the voices ON / OFF.
Doppleman's duplicates are not going on is not visible because of the frame rate of the video. (They're actually flashing)
[/spoiler]If you look at the list very briefly shown at 4:45, you may also notice the names of some other interesting bosses.  Or should I say... planets?

I'm kind of very interested in this project.  It looks to be quite expansive.  Kind of a "Rockman 11"-style project, really.

Edit: Copy Roll?  Copy Rockman?  You betcha!
[spoiler][youtube]EKpHltsz788[/youtube]
Quote
自作ゲーム「ROLLちゃん」内のボスバトルモードのコピーロボット戦です。
----------
Copy robots in the boss battle mode of "Roll-Chan" homebrew game.
[/spoiler]

12
Off The Wall / The Food Topic
« on: September 20, 2012, 05:10:20 AM »
Not to be confused with the "Fast Food" topic or the "Kraft Easy Mac" topic.

So...  Food.  All kinds of food.  Fast food, slow food, moderately-paced food that makes you honk your horn in the middle of the freeway because it's not quite going the same speed as all the other food...  Good food, bad food, acceptable food...  Food!  Food is a wonderful thing.  And that's why I decided to open this topic.  That, and I didn't think my eating habits belonged in the "What Are You Thinking?" topic since it's neither a thought (per se) nor intended to be a game.

So!  To start the topic, every once in a while, I just gotta have an omelet.  And so, me and my microwave omelet maker made one.  Here's what I put in it:

Pre-cooking (all ingredients shaken vigorously in a mixing container)
- Two jumbo eggs
- A shot of whole milk
- Chili powder
- Wasabi powder
- Garlic salt

Post-cooking cycle
- Sliced deli pepperoni
- Sliced Swiss cheese

Post-cheese-melting heating cycle
- Salt
- Pepper

I have to say, this was a smelly omelet, but a damn fine one.  It was quite good.  It had kind of a smooth flavor despite all the volatile ingredients.  Heh heh.

13
Rockman Series / [News] No New Game for 25th Anniversary (Probably)
« on: September 15, 2012, 11:48:59 PM »
Rockman Corner - Don't Count On a New Game for the 25th Anniversary

Long story short, Capcom USA's CO pretty much said, "There's no plans for a new game for the 25th anniversary."

I'm not surprised.  I'm not even disappointed.  This is pretty much what I've come to expect from Capcom, after all.

That aside, if I really need a Rockman fix, there's always fan games and old games.  For example, I should really give that Rockman EXE for WonderSwan a whirl, now that it's been translated...

14
Fan Creations / Joseph's Hullabaloo -- Last Updated: Nov. 28th, 2012
« on: September 15, 2012, 10:23:58 AM »
I honestly don't know how often I'll actually use this topic, but here goes...

Hello, I make sprites.  And music.  And other things.  Sometimes, when I make these things, these things somehow end up being related to Rockman.  Other times, not so much.  I'll be posting either/or in this topic whenever I feel like it.

Let's start off slow.  I recently decided it was high time I redid my personal character's Rockman 7-style 16-bit sprites.

Edit: Updated on September 16th.

The background color is intentionally there.
Progressive Versions:
[spoiler]

First version:
- Almost completely new head.
  (The bangs are the only carry-over.)
- Adjusted shirt.
- Changed "dark black" to "deep brown" on hands and ears.

Second:
- Glasses changed from silver to deep brown.
  (So they would actually be visible.)
- "Neck" added.
- Better shading on the head.
- Ears lowered by row of pixels.

Third:
- "Neck" adjusted.

Final:
- Tail adjustment.
- Feet shrunken.
- Pant legs adjusted.
- Shirt hem shifted a bit.
- Secondary shading added to hands and ear tips.
- Cheek fluff made fluffier.

Final v2:
- Lolwut.
- Head nudged forward and shading shifted.
- Bangs bunched up higher and
  whites shoftened slightly.
- Shading altered more.
[/spoiler]

As I said, this was a long-overdue thing.  The sprite on the left is actually an "in-between" sprite I made for when I was starting to redesign the sprites, but I never got around to doing much otherwise.  In fact, in what few sprite comics I put him in (read: all of one comic), I was still using the old, shorter sprites with the sweater around his waist, (I was being so lazy...)
I've been putting it off since... oh... the mid 00's or so.  It's nice to have finally revamped something other than his height or his shading, for once.  I think it's a vast improvement, honestly; it looks much, much better now.

15
X / [X2] Broken Teleporter Mystery
« on: September 12, 2012, 03:53:13 AM »
Alright, I've got one for you guys...

In the Counter-Hunter 4 stage, after the long, vertical shaft in the beginning of the level, there's a pair of teleporters.  One leads to the copy Irregulars.  The other one... is broken.


It's the only broken teleporter in the entire game, despite the fact you'd think the teleporters in the next room would break when you defeat the bosses.

So, my question...  ... where does it lead, or did it lead?  Or alternately, where would you have teleported in from to get there?  Any theories?

16
Gaming / One Hour of Dinosaur Planet Gameplay
« on: September 11, 2012, 08:13:51 AM »
Hey.  Remember that little-known Star Fox game, "Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet?"  Well, it's back.

[youtube]cOVBRJToVDY[/youtube]

In prototype form.

17
Original / Rock-Research - From R1 to R&F **WARNING: Long Read**
« on: September 10, 2012, 09:00:12 AM »
So... last month, I was inspired by a post at Protodude's Rockman Corner.  I think it was about the on-going debate about whether or not Rockman 2 was actually worthy of all the praise, references, and references it gets. (In my opinion, it's really, really not.)  Anyway, that post inspired me to to play all of the in-house Capcom Rockman games one after another, comparing the games, taking note of what's different, what's the same, improvements, stuff that needs improvement, and so-forth.  It might be a little subjective, since I also give my input on stuff I like, dislike, and what weapons and items I found overpowered and underpowered.
Some of what I found was also pretty interesting, such as how the Rock Buster's charge time kept getting longer and longer with each game (minus Rockman 5), or how they kept screwing with Rush.  Hopefully, you'll find this as interesting to read as it was to compile!

For your convenience, I've chopped up each of the game sections with spoilers.  Because of the extreme length, I've also had to chop this into two posts.  Sorry about that!

Rockman[spoiler]Gameplay Changes from the Last Game
Other Notes
- No previous game.  It's the birth of a legend; Rockman's very first game!

Likes
- The ability to revisit beaten levels is a good feature to help you perfect your game without having to start over.  Not to mention, it's fun (and sometimes profitable) to revisit certain levels with certain boss weapons.
- The score system gives you incentive to challenge your friends or beat your own score records.
- The graphics are all very clean and distinct from one another.  It's extremely hard to find a sprite that blends into a background in this game.
- The music is very catchy and the sound effects seem perfectly suited for where they're played.
- The Magnet Beam, unlike some later gizmos, is actually fairly useful in totally optional ways!

Neutral Points
- Enemies respawn if you leave their spawn area.  This can be annoying, but doesn't seem terribly hindering.
- Some of the weapons do an absurd amount of damage to bosses.  But these bosses can do absurd amounts of damage to you (Elecman, Iceman...), so that's fairly balanced.
- Don't touch instant-kill tiles (spikes, lava) while you're blinking after being hit.  You'll still die.

Dislikes
- Lag seems to be rampant in several parts of the game, be it input lag or graphic overload lag.
- The scoring system is broken.  Provided you don't lose all your lives, you can just perfect one stage and keep running through it, raising your score infinitely.
- Grabbing any energy item, regardless of if it recharges your energy bars, will completely kill your horizontal and vertical movement or, on rarer occasion, make you continue walking forward for a step.  Either can be very irritating, but the latter can be rather fatal.
- Placed items in stages respawn if you walk off-screen.  This includes 1ups.  A notorious example is a fairly easy to reach 1up in Bombman's stage. (Amusingly, I found myself not complaining when I ran out of Magnet Beam energy in Wily Castle 1 and had to grab the infinitely respawning Small Weapon Energy capsules in the room right below where I needed to use the Magnet Beam.)
- I'm not sure why Rockman seems to lag when you jump into the water in Iceman's stage, since the "water" doesn't seem to do anything, but he does.
- Walking off an "active sprite" platform (Magnet Beam, Foot Holders, or the lifts in Gutsman's stage) will cause Rockman to fall at maximum velocity.  This can be rather jarring and sometimes fatal.
- The aforementioned Magnet Beam is a "mandatory optional tool."  Sure, you can skip it... but then you can't leave the right side of the tower in Elecman's stage nor ascend Wily Castle 1, thus can't continue your game.  Period.
- On that same subject, nothing in-game indicates you can even get the Magnet Beam, much less tells you how you can get it.  But I guess trial-and-error with the weapons works.
- The checkpoint in Elecman's stage is a little unforgiving, considering the mostly vertical nature of the level.
- Big Eyes -- the giant, one-eyed things with way too much health and way too much speed.  They're nearly impossible to avoid without the Magnet Beam or Ice Slasher and drain a little over 1/3 of your health on impact.  And... they're almost always situated directly outside boss hallways which, if you don't get to the boss shutter, means you have to replay roughly half the level again.  And in some cases (like the one above), that can be downright annoying.
- The boss hallways are frustrating when you're low on health -- particularly Elecman's vertical hallway with the broken conduits.
- There exists an oversight in the game where if you shoot a weapon that doesn't disappear after hitting an enemy and pause the using the Select button, then unpause after the hit graphic finishes flashing, it will score an extra hit.  This can be done nigh-indefinitely, thus rendering even the strongest bosses extremely easy, to a player who's fact on the pause button.
- Two of the six weapons available can't be used effectively against most bosses, due to how they work.  That doesn't make them useless in and of themselves, but does limit the amount of play time they'll see.
- There's an infinite number of continues... but no way to pick up where you left off if you turn off the game or hit the Reset button.
- Accessing the weapon screen pauses the game while on the menu, but the action resumes immediately once you exit.  This wouldn't be of note, but Rockman does a feign warp when you do this.  You can't control him during this animation.  This can be annoying and fatal, particularly if hanging from a ladder.
- There's no reference you've gotten a boss weapon until you check your menu again.  In the next stage.

Most Overpowered Weapon: Thunder Beam (Elecman's weapon)
1 energy unit (28 uses total) for 2 vertical and 1 horizontal shot that kills every small enemy it touches and keeps going?  Granted, you can't use it if any of the beams are on-screen.

Most Useless Weapon: Super Arm (Gutsman's weapon)
The Super Arm is a gimmicky weapon in that you can only grab specific 2x2 blocks with it.  The large blocks also split into 4 1x1 blocks if the big block hits either an enemy or any solid object.  Sounds pretty great, right?  Well unfortunately, due to how it works, you're only able to use it against bosses, where you need it, in about four boss fights -- only two of which being bosses which are actually weak against thrown blocks. (Amusingly, Copy Rockman becomes completely defenseless if you use either this, or Magnet Beam.  Unfortunately, so you do.  And unfortunately, he can still do collision damage to you.)

Most Useless Utility: Magnet Beam
This "make a platform anywhere" item is extremely handy to have in Gutsman's and Iceman's stage or Wily Castle 4, if you're really bad at the lifts or in a hurry.  It's also literally mandatory for Wily Castle 1.  Otherwise?  It's pretty useless. (Aside from exploiting phasing-glitches, if you're into that sort of thing.)[/spoiler]

Rockman 2[spoiler]Gameplay Changes from the Last Game
- *USA Only* A difficulty selection has been added! "Difficult" mode is the same as the Japanese game in terms of damage tables, but "Normal" mode makes your weapons twice as effective and makes you take half damage.
- A "Password" mode has been added, making it possible to pick up right where you left off between gaming sessions!  The Password screen continued to thrive in future titles.
- The score and score tally from the previous game has been completely removed.  In exchange, you now get a "Weapon Get" screen, informing you you've earned a boss weapon.
- Underwater physics have been added!  Rockman now jumps much higher underwater as well as falling a bit slower. (At first, anyway.)
- Placed items in stages no longer respawn if you leave their spawn area.  In fact, they don't come back at all until you continue. (Enemies, on the other hand, will still respawn if they're dead when you scroll their spawn spot off-screen.)
- Rockman no longer randomly forfeits control while picking up energy power-ups.  He does still stop walking on certain levels, however.
- The "pause" feature has been removed -- Select doesn't do anything now.  Start still opens the weapons menu.
- Attempts to reduce graphical lag have been made.  This results in a bit more "sprite flicker" throughout most stages.
- You can no longer revisit beaten stages.
- Rockman still feign warps after changing weapons, but the action doesn't resume until he's finished blinking.
- Deflected shots no longer simply disappear, but fly off screen.  Deflected shots still count toward your "total on-screen shots" which can prevent you from shooting any more.
- You can now land on instant-kill tiles while invincible and continue to live.

Other Notes
- The game gives you a bit of backstory before you hit the title screen.
- The Stage Select screen has been revamped, adding two more Robot Masters as well as a center panel (which is where the cursor starts now.)
- A wider variety of enemies, as well as mini-boss type enemies, have been added.
- Rockman now has access to more utility "weapons" as well as E-Tanks, which refill your health completely.
- Energy power-ups have been redesigned, for some reason.  They still give 2 and 10 units for small and big power-up respectively, though.
- Wily also has a brand new UFO, a new castle, new bosses, and an actual castle map!
- Boss hallways are now one screen and never have enemies.  Also, most major threats to Rockman are not found just outside of boss hallways.
- Speaking of bosses, the Robot Masters are now fought via teleportation hub in one of the final levels of the game, rather than spread throughout the final levels.
- The Yashiichi, one of Capcom's random logos, is no longer in the game. (In Rockman 1, it completely refilled your Life and Weapons Energy.)

Likes
- The music has gotten a bit more intense as of this game and makes much more frequent use of the Noise channel and Triangle channel (when not already occupied) for drum effects.
- Item-2.  I know it's just a "jet sled" and all, but dang it, I love it.  It gets me where I want to go fast!
- There are considerably less "useless" weapons this time around.  Every weapon can be used.  Usefulness, however, still varies.

Neutral Points
- I can't say that I'm fond of the fact there's no real "circle of weaknesses" in this game.  But that could be a good thing, too.  Many bosses are weak to many things, so that lets players explore possibilities.
- Your E-Tanks are removed if you hit the Continue screen.  I think I know why they did it this way, but it can be very irritating to lose up to 4 E-Tanks because of one little mistake.
- Some of the weaknesses from this game onward are a little outside the realm of logic.  For example, how does a "leaf shield" hurt Airman as badly as it does?  Or why is Quickman so weak to Atomic Fire?  And of course, Metalman being extremely vulnerable to Metal Blade, while extremely amusing, technically makes no sense.  Unless, of course, you read the extended lore of the series.  Which was completely unavailable when this game originally came out.

Dislikes
- Once again, access to Wily Castle is only permitted via expert use of utility weapons -- in this case, Item-1. (Item-3 can also be used to scale the first part, but Item-1 is necessary for one part in particular.)
- This game has not one, but two bosses which require specific weapons to kill them, being completely invincible to the Rock Buster and everything else.  One boss has enemies you can grind for energy, but the other boss does not.  If you don't have enough weapon energy, you're forced to suicide and continue... which can be very annoying if you have a stockpile of lives for some reason. (Or value your E-Tanks.)

Most Overpowered Weapon: Metal Blade (Metalman's weapon)
112 uses, 8 directions, 3 shots on-screen at a time, most enemies take damage from it, and it's particularly useful against at least three bosses.  Need I say more?

Most Useless Weapon: Bubble Lead (Bubbleman's weapon)
I sincerely hate to admit this, but Bubble Lead really is a craptastic weapon.  Do you know how many enemies are actually vulnerable to Bubble Lead?  Six!  Do you know how many different enemies there are in the game?  Not counting invincible ones, 25!  Three bosses are also weak to it, but it bounces right off everything else.  It's less and weapon and more a utility, really, since it's great for checking for pass-through floors.  In one and only one level.

Runner-Up Most Useless Weapon: Atomic Fire (Heatman's weapon)
It's not so much that this weapon is useless... as much as you get two huge shots before it petters out.  There's also a noticeable delay before you can fire even "uncharged" shots.  Basically, you may use this once or twice, or against bosses, then go back to the Rock Buster.[/spoiler]

Rockman 3[spoiler]Gameplay Changes from the Last Game
- The entire game seems a lot faster, thanks in-part to the new way slowdown is handled.
- Rockman moves a bit faster now.  He climbs ladders as fast as his running speed.  Which has also been increased slightly.
- Oddly enough, screen scrolls (going up/down ladders, entering boss doors, etc.) are slightly slower now.
- On that same note, Rockman now takes nine frames (0.15 seconds) to turn the other way while running.
- The blue bomber no longer comes to a complete stop when picking up an energy power-up of any kind.
- Inversely, Rockman does come to a complete stop when you release the left/right button while on the ground. (He slid slightly in the first two games.)
- The controls are now much tighter and more responsive.
- Rockman can perform a "home run" slide now.  This reduces his height to half and gives him a light speed boost for a short while.
- Rockman starts the game with a utility weapon.  In this case, it's Rush Coil, which boosts him to great heights.
- The weapons menu has been redesigned to rise from the bottom of the screen.
- The action once again resumes before Rockman phases back into tangibility after poking around the weapons menu.

Other Notes
- Gone is the introduction from the last game.  However, this game is the first to have non-gameplay actual cutscenes!
- Both Rockman and boss characters explode in a slight different way now, using large, white, "poofy" explosion particles.
- In addition to a "Get Weapon" screen, you now see Rockman absorb weapons from defeated bosses and watch the weapon appear on your menu.
- The maximum number of E-Tanks you can carry is 9. (Up from 4.)  You also don't lose them when continuing now.
- The sound effects for 1ups and E-Tanks has been slowed slightly.
- Mini-bosses are now much more obvious, always having their own room.
- Yoku (Vanishing) Blocks now appear rhythmically instead of randomly -- they'll always appear in the same pattern no matter what.
- The game introduces the concept of extra stages between the eight bosses and before Wily Castle.
- Wily's UFO once again gets a redesign, though this one is a bit more subtle.
- The Robot Master re-fight teleporter hub stage has no boss.  You just move on to the next stage after you defeat the last one!

Likes
- This.  Entire.  Game.  It may not be the first one I've played, but it's damn sure my favorite game.
- Once again, music quality has improved dramatically.
- It's nice that, while they added a new moves (sliding and high-jump via Rush), they didn't beat you over the head with them.  In a lot of cases, sliding or high-jumping is optional.
- Also, Doc Robots.  Dokurobotos.  Skullbots.  Whatever you want to call them, they're just plain awesome.

Neutral Points
- After fighting the first boss in Geminiman's revisited stage, there's a place where, if you somehow manage to get there with no Rush Coil or Rush Jet energy, you are forced to reset the game.  However, I simply can't envision a scenario where that would possibly be, unless you were trying to get there with no Rush energy.  Still, if you did that by accident, you'd have to... um... enter a password to get back there.  ... yeaaah, minor inconvenience at worst.
- Not game-breaking, but given that this game came out about a year after the second one, you'd think they could have made the Doc Robot battles a little more... authentic... to the Rockman 2 Robot Masters.  Some were slowed down, some were strengthened, others weakened...  And poor Doc Robot Crashman's Crash Bombs were just sad, hollow shells of their former selves.  :(

Dislikes
- ... I've got nothing.  Absolutely, positively nothing.  I genuinely cannot find one thing wrong with this game that would happen to the average person.  And believe me, I am trying.
- Okay, ACE Spark reminded me of something I failed to mention.  Somehow.  The new weapons menu?  It's absolute crap.  If you have gaps in your weapon inventory, you will more than likely miss the weapon you're going for, or even worse, end up using an E-Tank by mistake.  This also caused the infamous "Phantom Rush Marine/Jet" glitch which let you get Rush Marine/Jet before you were supposed to.  Which is pretty hilarious.

Most Overpowered Weapon: Top Spin (Topman's weapon) or Shadow Blade (Shadowman's weapon)
Yep.  Two overpowered weapons.  I couldn't decide which was more deserving of the title.
- As far as the first goes, I know what you're thinking.  "You're full of crap!" and/or "You're biased."  Well... I admit I'm a bit biased on this, but I'm most certainly not full of crap.  Think about this for a minute.  Top Spin destroys anything it can -- which is pretty much any small enemy in the game (and one or two larger ones) -- in one hit for one weapon energy unit.  Now stop to consider that most enemies will drop a small Weapon Energy power-up when destroyed.  Tell me that's not overpowered.  Ah, but it does have a little kick-back... not to mention you have to run into enemies with it in use...
- As for Shadow Blade?  What Top Spin can't destroy, Shadow Blade seems to excel at destroying.  Hammer Joes, Giant Snakeys and Petit Snakeys...  And it makes this awesome buzz saw sound while it does it, too!  Unfortunately, it has only 1/4 the range of Metal Blade from the last game as well as the inability to shoot in any downward direction.  You also only get 48 of them instead of 112, which is what's stopping me from dubbing this the single-most overpowered weapon in the game.

Most Useless Weapon: Spark Shock (Sparkman's weapon)
While it's very useful to be able to lock an enemy in place no matter where they are or what they're doing, Spark Shock nullifies this usefulness with the fact that you can't switch weapons while an enemy is shocked.  You either have to wait for the shock to wear off, scroll the enemy off-screen, or avoid it entirely.  Speaking from personal experience, the only real use this weapon gets is as a boss weakness.

Most Useless Utility: Rush Marine
I'm not sure this was intentional, but anywhere you can use Rush Marine, you can use Rush Jet.  The biggest difference between the two is where the bullets come from, really. (Rush Marine fires from the mouth while Rockman fires while riding Rush Jet.)[/spoiler]

Rockman 4[spoiler]Gameplay Changes from the Last Game
- As stated in the intro, Rockman is now equipped with the New Rock Buster, an upgraded default weapon which allows his charge energy into his shots.  These charged shots do three times the damage of a normal shot. (Fun fact: Rockman takes takes 97 frames (1.62~ seconds) to charge his weapon.)
- The weapons menu has been vastly redesigned again, now being on its own separate screen.  It's also a lot easier to navigate!
- You can now open the weapons menu while a weapon is still on-screen. (With the exception of Flash Stopper.  Doing so with other weapons will delete any projectiles you've fired.)
- The turn-around-while-moving delay is back to its normal 3-frames (0.05 seconds) from the second game.  However, this delay still causes a lot of misdirected charged shots in more dexterous gamers.
- Rockman no longer feign-warps after selecting a weapon, but he'll still let go of ladders when you get back to the gameplay.
- Screen scroll transitions are much slower now, as is the speed which boss energy meters fill before boss fights and the invincibility time on bosses after they've been injured.
- Returning from the first game is the ability to play through the levels of bosses you've defeated!  The bosses themselves will not reappear, however.
- Rush Coil now uses 2 Weapon Energy units instead of 3.
- Rush Jet has been crippled somewhat.  Instead of being a "fly anywhere" item, it now works similar to a slow-moving version of Item-2 from Rockman 2, except you can move up or down slightly while moving forward.

Other Notes
- The introduction scenes return!  This persists through all future titles.
- This is the first game with a villain other than Dr. Wily taking the lead. (Sort of.)  This concept is used again in all but two of the remaining titles in the series.
- In dire need of a power-up part-way through a stage?  Fear not!  Eddie, Dr. Light's robotic suitcase with legs, will meet you once per-stage and toss you a Weapon Energy Capsule!  I mean Weapon Energy Capsule.  No, I mean Weapon Energy -- dang it, Eddie!
- You no longer see your newly acquired weapon appear on your weapons menu after beating a boss.
- Unlike the last two games, there is a definite weapon weakness pattern to Robot Masters again. (But as with the last two games, they're not always obvious.)
- If you're clever, you can find optional weapons hidden away in certain levels!
- This game takes the "extra stages" idea from the last game and turns it into a "first castle;" a linear series of stages between the Robot Masters and the final stages.
- Yoku Blocks now take a bit longer to disappear, giving players more time to react.
- Yoku Blocks have also been demoted to being a final levels-only stage gimmick.
- Dr. Wily went back to his Rockman 2 Wily UFO design.
- First appearance of the Wily Capsule!

Likes
- I like the fact that, even though you now have a triple-damaging shot, the game doesn't have but one enemy that requires you to use a charged shot to kill it.

Neutral Points
- I miss the old Rush Jet...

Dislikes
- I don't like the fact the charging noise overrides the music.  That's why I generally don't use charged shots during the level, in fact. (That, and normal shots are just as effective against small fry enemies.)
- The mini-bosses in Ringman's stage.  Why are there four of them?  And why are two of them back-to-back?  They're not terribly hard, but they are annoying.
- If you're like me and love to play with the underwater physics, you'll probably run smack into that instant death spike that's just before a screen transition in Diveman's stage.  Just like I have.  Repeatedly.
- Toadman's combat AI.  If you shoot at him, he leaps.  If you don't, he starts dancing.  If you shoot him while he's dancing, he stops dancing.  You can wait until he starts dancing again and shoot him again over and over and over again until he's dead.  Seriously!
- Overall, it doesn't seem like they did much at all to improve the game engine.  Kind of like going from Rockman 1 to 2.
- Capcom also seemed to both learn from their mistaken with Rockman 2 and repeat them here...  The Wily Capsule is completely immune to the Rock Buster.  Thankfully, the one weapon that does any real damage to him is Pharaoh Shot, but if you used it all up beforehand, you're going to have to die and kill Iworms for Weapon Energy...

Most Overpowered Weapons: Pharoah Shot (Pharaohman's weapon) or Ring Boomerang (Ringman's weapon) and Dust Crusher (Dustman's weapon)
Yes, that's right.  There's three weapons in this game that totally clean house when it comes to usefulness.
- According to the energy meter, Pharaoh Shot has 14 uses, but really, it's more like nigh-infinite.  It's a bit like Atomic Fire done right, but simultaneously gone horribly wrong.  What it does is when you charge it, it creates a giant ball of fire over your head which will defeat pretty much any unarmored enemy in one hit.  If an enemy touches the ball after it's fully charged, the ball will remain over your head.  In addition, if an enemy does make that ball disappear, you can still throw a fully charged shot for 2 energy units in one of six directions (not straight up or straight down)!
- On the other hand, Ring Boomerang and Dust Crusher do a lot of little damage over a short period of time.  Ring Boomerang pierces enemy armor and does fairly rapid damage and has 28 uses, plus a number of bosses are weak against it.  Dust Crusher explodes into fragments which can kill most enemies in two hits, if not substantially weaken them.  It also has 28 uses.
None of these weapons can be thrown rapidly, but you really shouldn't need to, given the damage output of any of them.

Most Useless Weapon: Drill Bomb (Drillman's weapon)
Despite the fact it explodes on-contact (or on remote detonation), the explosive does little more damage than a Rock Buster shot on most enemies.  Sure, it can crack open those breakable walls in the castle stages, but its damage output is just pitiful.  Plus, it can't go through regular walls.  Ultimately, it's only good for getting rid of bosses, walls, and Jumbigs.

Most Useless Utilities: Rush Marine or Balloon Adapter and Wire Adapter
There were a lot of useless items in this game...
- As mentioned in Rockman 3, anywhere Rush Marine can go, Rush Jet can go... except that it's extremely counter-productive to do so, since you now need to summon it from dry land and it moves along at its own pace.  On top of that, it's really not worth it to bother with Rush Marine in the two levels where it would be useful.  Since it's so much wider than Rockman, there's a greater chance of running into the cleverly-placed spikes in both underwater levels.
- It's no coincidence the optional utility weapons suck.  Balloon works exactly like Item-1 from Rockman 2 did, but is easily overshadowed by either Rush Coil or Rush Jet.  Wire works like a grappling hook that only shoots straight up, but can only be fired from the ground while holding Up.  Again, easily replaced by Rush Coil.[/spoiler]

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