Someone from the community actually alerted me to this while I was watching ACE Spark and his friend play
Kirby's Fun Pak. I was in no condition to actually play it yesterday, so I put it off until today. And today, I also beat and analyzed it.
Show of hands, who among you is surprised?
(Major spoilers within.)
8/13 Edit: Forgot some stuff about the buster.
8/15 Edit: Dat music glitch~ (Forgot all about it until now.) Also, repetitive sound complaint.
8/16 Edit: Custom sprites get! (Cutscene stuff.) Also removed all empty Spoilers (unless it contains an actual game spoiler).
8/18 Edit: The mystery of Beat revealed!
9/7 Edit: Weird speed issue has been resolved. O_o
[spoiler=General/Global Stuff]
Bugs- The game doesn't save your customize control scheme, despite the fact it saves your resolution setting.
- If you pause the game before a stage's music loop starts playing, once the intro part plays, there will be no music until you unpause.
- *Intentional?* If you enter the menu while a weapon is selected, it automatically goes back to the Mega Buster.
- *Intentional?* The cursor starts on the upper-left on the Stage Select screen rather than the middle.
- On occasion, the game just randomly dumps Beat on you, even if you don't meet or exceed the requirements to get him. (Pointed out to me by someone.)
Complaints- Why can't you skip the opening information screens?
- Why doesn't the title screen replay the introduction story after the music runs out?
- In other games, Megaman starts with 2 lives. The default here is 3. Why?
- The default keys are really a bad idea. A lot of people don't know how to disable Sticky Keys and on top of that, the function keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt) tend to react poorly to JoyToKey. This can be circumvented by customizing your controls, but still. It's always better to have the defaults be in the region of Z and X.
- Why do the menu transitions take so long to scroll? Seriously, you should be able to skip that.
- A password system...? You implemented a password system into your game...?! While I have to give you points for going really retro, there is simply no reason not to have a save system in place.
- You start the game with Rush, Eddie, and Tango? And the Energy Balancer?! Why?!!
- ... are you using music from other fan games? A couple of songs I've heard sound extremely familiar. It might just be because they're Kevvviiinnn's work, which he posts on YouTube a lot, though...
- Leaving the Save/Load State keys enabled, whether a conscious decision or an afterthought, was a silly idea. But that's just my opinion.
- The checkpoint rooms for each stage are pretty obvious. Why not disguise them or doctor them up a little?
- Why does everything that shoots use the exact same Mega Man 4-6 shooting noise? Elecns, for example, should have their unique "zap!" noise. There's several other enemies that use the default "bewp" shooting noise, but I can't remember which at the moment.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=*Updated* Game Engine Stuff]
Bugs- Active objects don't sink into the floor 1 pixel like they do in the commercial games.
- *Intentional?* Megaman can't fire as fast as you can hit the Shoot button, ala Mega Man: The Wily Wars.
- While on a ladder, if you press the Shoot button faster than Megaman can fire, after the three shots are fired, Megaman refuses to fire anymore until you slow down your button presses.
- There's an odd delay before you can charge the Mega Buster.
- You cannot charge the Mega Buster while sliding, but if you're already charging when you slide, the charge counter continues to rise.
- The charge for the Mega Buster is longer than it was in even Mega Man & Bass (122 frames/2.03~ seconds).
- Megaman jumps 3 pixels higher than he should -- he jumps 51 pixels high here whereas he should jump 48.
- Megaman's jump feels oddly floaty in this game... His physics when falling straight off a platform seem a little off, too.
- *Intentional?* Megaman slides 28 pixels farther than he should -- he slides 94 (!) pixels here whereas he should slide 66.
- Going the opposite direction is supposed to stop Megaman from sliding, not turn him around...
- Deflected shots sometimes play the "dink" noise twice.
- After being hit, Megaman is invincible for about 33% longer than he should be.
- The knockback on Megaman is a little faster (and by extension, farther) than it should be.
- *Intentional?* Spikes instantly kill you regardless of whether you have hit immunity or not ala Mega Man 1.
- Small Energy Capsules give 3 units instead of 2.
- Large Energy Capsules give 8 units instead of 10.
- *Intentional?* Your weapon/life energy meter doesn't refill unit-by-unit when you pick up an energy capsule. Yet boss energy meters do.
- The energy refill noise overlaps considerably while playing.
- There is a notable delay before you can hop off a ladder once you've gotten on one.
- It takes a lot longer than usual amount of time for deflected shots to clear the screen.
- The hit boxes on enemies, sprites, and Megaman himself are noticeably wonky, making things harder to dodge than they should be.
- Tango is utterly, utterly useless. I dare say he was more useful in Mega Man 5 GB. He's just so slow and sticks to the ground/walls/roof here... like those enemies from Mega Man 5, in fact.
- In certain conditions, the game treats Caution Clone as the actual Megaman, thus causing the player damage and not destroying the clone. (1)
- If the weapon before Rush Coil is full (Phantom Fuse, in the case of a full set of Master weapons), quick swapping from it to Rush Coil will cause Rush Coin to be completely refilled
Complaints- *Updated*
The game runs at 50% speed during most levels on my machine. (Dual Core 1.2 GHz CPU, 3.6 GB RAM, 400 MB VRAM) I don't know why, but both v1 and v2 run at full speed on my laptop now. I'm definitely not going to complain, but I wonder what I did or didn't do before that made this game run so slowly... - The speed dipped considerably during some other levels, however. (Shockman, Fuseman, one of the fortress stages...)
- That deflected shot gimmick is kind of dumb... But at least it works correctly.
Notes(1) One such example of this is while running Caution Clone through the water of Shockman's stage, if the clone is in the water when the water is electrified, the player will take damage instead of detonating the clone. This is especially humorous if the clone dies while the original is still on-screen.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Enemy Stuff]
Note: Bugs and complaints regarding stage-specific mini-bosses bosses are found in their stage section.Bugs- *Intentional?* Mini-boss explosions hurt the player.
- *Intentional?* Two enemies can be attacked, but can't be killed: The volcano enemies, and the freezing cloud enemies. When they run out of Life Energy, they keep going about their business, but can't be attacked anymore.
Complaints- Why do rock-throwing zombies and grave robbers explode violently when killed? That doesn't make any sense.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Intro Stage]
Bugs- The background ends abruptly at one point in the stage. (Noted by Grand Trine.)
ComplaintsI did not find anything to complain about in this stage.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Cryptman Stage]
BugsI did not find any bugs in this stage.Complaints- Explain to me why the grabby hands are instant-death. Justify that. Seriously. They're not spiked and they're not lasers.
- Why does everything explode in this stage?!
[/spoiler]
Charademan StageI did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.Virusman StageI did not find any bugs (the irony is not lost on me here) or anything to complain about in this stage.[spoiler=Shockman Stage]
BugsI did not find any bugs in this stage.Complaints- Didn't we already kill Shockman once this game?
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Pulseman Stage]
BugsI did not find any bugs in this stage.Complaints- Isn't Pulseman red? And smaller? And cuter?
![Tongue :P](http://forum.rockmanpm.com/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
[/spoiler]
Charademan StageI did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.Fuseman StageI did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.Photonman StageI did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.Cryptman Stage RevisitedI did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.Charademan Stage RevisitedI did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.[spoiler=Virusman Stage Revisited]
Bugs- Because I'm silly, I slid into the alcove one of those snake platforms came out of. When it went back in, it pushed me into the wall and I got stuck, having to reset the game.
Complaints- Plagueman is an incredibly boring Robot Master... I was hoping he'd do something. Anything. But nope. His arms just fall off.
[/spoiler]
Shockman Stage RevisitedI did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.[spoiler=Cryptman Stage Revisited 2]
BugsI did not find any bugs in this stage.ComplaintsI did not find anything to complain about in this stage. Yes, seriously. Despite the fact the entire stage is one long spike trap, I found it to be very unique and a lot of fun to play through.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Fortress Stage 1]
BugsI did not find any bugs in this stage.Complaints- Geeze, a lot of those underwater section jumps are tight...
[/spoiler]
Fortress Stage 2I did not find any bugs or anything to complain about in this stage.[spoiler=Fortress Stage 3]
Bugs- *Intentional?* The "Ready" animation plays every time you enter the teleporter station, regardless of whether or not you died.
Complaints- At first, I was going to complain about the fact the entire stage is just chunks of the main eight's stages. Then I thought, "This is actually kind of cool..." And then I thought, "Nah, this is lazy." And that's my verdict on this stage. Lazy.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Cutscene, Epilogue, and Post-Game Stuff]
- Some of the cutscene art is pretty poor.
- ... seriously? You made Ryu a newscaster? You didn't even bother to disguise him or anything? Chun-Li (Mega Man 9) at least made sense and was dressed appropriately...
- So... Shockman gave Justiceman complete free will? This sounds all too familiar. (See also the 1986 classic movie, "Short Circuit".)
- You know, you could have easily made the "walking home" sprites from either The Wily Wars or Mega Man 7 8-bit (1) instead of using those super-deformed ones from Mega Man 2. Your choice, though.
- Why would Roll react so strongly to Justiceman's demise? It's not like Rock hasn't had to smash up people she knows before...
- For that matter, why would Megaman? For the same reason. Just because it wasn't Wily?
- And what was up with all this "father/son" crap? When has Rock ever called him that or Dr. Light called Rock his son? (Not saying it isn't technically true. Just saying, seems... stupid.)
- And lastly, where the hell was Wily during all of this? Sitting on his ass? He would have taken advantage of the confusion to pull another scheme for world domination.
Notes(1)
*New*
![](http://i.imgur.com/dViqDFp.gif)
[/spoiler]
Ya know, this game reminds me of a few different entries in the series. The game engine, feels like a modified
Rockman Mega World engine... which is not good at all. The game itself reminds me of
Rockman & Forte: Challenger from the Future. In quite a few ways, in fact. Kind of weird parallels at some points... The
Rockman 3 vibe going on here is also pretty clear. Despite that, I don't think I'll be playing this game again. It annoyed me too hard, between some of the shoddy (or lazy) level designs and the various quirks with the game engine. Not a bad game overall, though.