Unofficial Official Mega Man Thread

Bass Footage.

Personally, I don't like the fact his sprites look similar to Mega Man himself, I know he can shoot up, diagonally, and down, but, he looks too similar to Mega Man, I know his gameplay has differences, and Bass is a knockoff of Mega Man, but his sprites could be at least a different pose altogether, and not just a copy of Mega Man's.

Sorry, my complaints are a bit stupid, but it bugs me that Bass looks too similar to Mega Man, in my opinion, I know that his official sprites were hinted to look like that in 9, but... Honestly. Don't mind me, though, I'm just nitpicking.

He wouldn't look that similar if he had a proper palette. Color him black, white, and yellow and he looks like Bass again. But Capcom just had to go for NES authenticity there, choosing gray and white so Bass would show up well against black backgrounds, leaving no room for yellow on his body except as an alternate color for the gray parts when he uses a special weapon.

And yet they went over the color limit in Mega Man 9, Splash Woman's portrait.

But what do I know?

Remember the Retraux cover for Mega Man 9?

This takes it up to eleven.

edited 7th Mar '10 9:06:09 AM by Inkblot

Looking forward to the release of the fangame called Mega Man Unlimited.

Michael JJ: Actually, now that I think about it, the later EXE games might really qualify as Nintendo Hard. I suppose the only reason why I don't consider it to be such is because I'm already quite experienced with the battle system. I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to be able to defeat the final boss of 3, 4 and 5 within their first three or so tries (although many would suggest that you don't play EXE 4 in the first place), or clear the postgame very easily.

I remember the first EXE game that I played through (EXE 3). It took me two months and 40+ hours of gameplay to clear the main story. 10-15 of those hours must have been spent going back and collecting battlechips to figure out new strategies with them, just to defeat the final boss.

Now, it only takes me about 10 hours and no deaths at all. Then again, I do consider EXE 3 to be the hardest. 5 has about the same level of difficulty too, but I think it's more of the Fake Difficulty kind.

I'll just say this: The EXE games rely on reaction speed and strategizing on the fly. As you go further into the series, enemy attack patterns become more and more elaborate. You'll be forced to dance all over the field by the time you get to 6 if you don't want to die.

Also, EXE 4 introduces a new mechanic that allows you to inflict counterattacks on your enemies, to interrupt their attacks, paralyze them for a few seconds, and sends you into "Full Synchro" status where the power of your next battlechip is doubled (if you don't get hit and therefore lose the status before attacking again).

This just stresses the reaction part even more, because the chance to inflict a counterattack usually lasts for the fraction of a second it takes for your enemies to prepare their attack.

edited 7th Mar '10 6:12:10 PM by Alilatias

Oh dear. I already thought the final areas of EXE 2 were getting too cheap to be fun. I'm to expect that the minor enemies gain attack patterns much more elaborate than "dodder around for a few seconds, try to line up with Mega Man, fire" in successive games?

A few of them do. It varies. There's snake enemies who roam around both sides of the field like they own the place and noise enemies that bounce around at random for three hops and then leap over to your side to jump onto whatever panel you're standing on one or more times (it gets up to 4 I think) in quick succession, but there's also still turrets and mets and quakers and such. And then five and six contain the ultimate in lazy enemies, the Champy series of viruses (who DO NOT MOVE until you enter their row, then teleport to your side and punch the panel you were standing on. Then teleport back to the exact panel they came from for a breather, then if you're still in their row teleport to punch your panel again. At no point do they ever actually move, no matter which leveled-up version you fight, so you could if you felt like it run a self imposed challenge to beat the entire game without ever letting one attack, if you didn't mind missing out on easy counterattacks. And then they give you a chip that's basically an instant hit homing attack with a three row maximum range and can hit an entire column at once, just for irony's sake). I haven't played one and two, mind you, but I can't say the later games ever produce something more complicated than the Eleball virus from 3.

I already noticed one cheap trick that Snapper and Proto Man pull in 2: Try to launch an attack chip while they're just standing around, and they'll INSTANTLY teleport out of range to attack you. It's like, you gotta make the range of your attack also hit the place they'll suddenly attack from, or something.

I highly suggest that you at least try EXE 3, Bag of Magic Food. Compared to 1 and 2, many of the bosses in 3 will make you cry for mercy.

I dare you to defeat Beastman, Bubbleman, Drillman, the final boss, and Serenade on your first try. Or hell, your first three tries. Without reading any guides for Serenade, to boot. Not to say that they're the only tough bosses in the game, as the rest are all pretty tough too.

(General rule of thumb regarding many of the bosses in 3: If you're not constantly moving, you're pretty much dead. Beastman especially - his attack speed is so obnoxious to the point where he doesn't NEED a defense and still makes Quickman look like a joke.)

A few more examples of more complicated enemies in the later games:

—-

Like Brickman said, the Eleball viruses. They hover over to your side of the field, and then send out two rotating electric orbs that attack all panels around them two or three times. Make sure you are in the front row when they try to move over into your field, so they will stop in front of you and you can simply step backwards to avoid the orbs.

Otherwise, they'll go to your middle panel, and you'd better have some quick melee battlechips to get rid of them or try to keep up with their orbs if you don't want to get hit. The last version ONLY appears in battles with the entire field already being made of ICE, so you had better watch out. (Man, I loved their battlechip. Shame they're only in 3.)

—-

In 4, there is a Spider virus called Webby, which is quite possibly the most annoying virus in the history of the EXE games. It had gathered so much hate from the fanbase that there was once some sort of Anti-Webby movement that was set up in a few forums.

You had better kill it IMMEDIATELY, or else it will move into your side of the field and hunt you down for the rest of the battle. If that wasn't horrible enough, you'll still have to worry about the SPIDER WEBS that it occasionally sets up on your field.

—-

The Submarine viruses of 5 send out bubbles that slowly move forward in a zigzag pattern. Shoot the bubbles, and the anchors inside them will fly straight at you. It's not their attack that is the annoying part though, it's that they submerge underwater when they move into Water panels, making the vast majority of the attacks in that game have no effect on them as long as they remain there.

My general rule of thumb regarding 5 is that enemy defenses tend to be more annoying than their attack patterns, which is made even more annoying in Liberation missions.

(Liberation Missions are a SRPG-like mode in 5. You only have 3 turns to defeat enemies in combat and 'liberate' the target dark panel(s) in this mode. Considering how underpowered many of the battlechips are in 5 compared to the huge amount of HP that later viruses get, and that some of their defenses appear to have been deliberately designed to stall and waste your time, they become more and more like a Luck-Based Mission.)

—-

The Air Raid viruses in 6 are basically slower versions of Fishy viruses, but instead fly forward regardless of where you are. After they fly twice, they stop and shoot up your entire field. Not as bad as it sounds though, as they shoot panels in your field in a sideways S pattern, meaning that you can dodge it with timing.

—-

The Sword Mech viruses of 6 is probably one of the most feared viruses in the entire series, somewhere up there with the Webby mentioned earlier. They send a weak fast-moving orb of electricity that moves horizontally, then will move vertically an attempt to strike you if you aren't in front of them. The orb is meant to paralyze you... If you are hit, the viruses then teleport in front of you and slash for huge amounts of damage. I think the last version of the virus attacks for somewhere in the 200-350 damage range.

edited 8th Mar '10 6:05:37 PM by Alilatias

I forgot about the swordmech thing. To be fair, though, I'm pretty sure it only appears in the endgame and the secret content.

The spider is actually named Spidey, I think. Luckily he doesn't have too much health, but still, he's a pain. Mostly he's a pain because there's only a handful of attacks that are practical to hit him with once he is on your side of the field.

I totally forgot the submarines, because I only got far enough in 5 to see them in one level.

The airplanes wasn't too memorable. I don't think they did very much damage and they were predictable. I mostly remember them for having an absolutely garbage battlechip.

Oh, and *raises fist and shouts to the heavens* BUBBLE MAN!

Oh yeah, I read some strategy about Serenade once, how you have to trap him so he can't do his up 'n' down move thing.

What's worse about Bubbleman is that you MUST fight his V3 form at critical health. He won't appear otherwise.

FREAKING CHEAP BASTARD describes him pretty well.

I seem to recall finding a trick to screw up the bubbles though. I think I stuck a rook in front of me in the middle panel, and so the bubbles just got stuck against it rather than go around. Course, you still have to hit him somehow and now you can't leave the middle row.

Still, Bubbleman is the most unfair boss in the series. Yes, more unfair than any version of Forte. At least for most bosses you can slot in an invis chip and go wild on them for the rest of the turn, but good luck hitting Bubbleman with any but a handful of chips with nontrivial damage even when invincible. And when not invisible, good luck even surviving ten seconds without getting hit, or not getting hit as soon as invincibility wears off.

Serenade's just a gimmick boss though. Not even a very fun one once you know his weakness, since he just has one attack he keeps repeating.

@Brickman: Man, I hear ya. It's hard enough beating Bubble Man Version 3 by himself; it's nearly impossible to get his V3 and V4 chips as well. And his Omega form... The only one I had a harder time with was Bass. Though special mention must go to Flame Man, who has one of the highest HP of any Boss Navi in the game and can regenerate his HP, give himself an unbreakable aura... or both. Very hard to S-rank.

So all I have left to do in Battle Network 3 is get every PA. Does anyone know if there's a way that you can screw yourself by accidentally giving away a chip you need for one of them?

edited 9th Mar '10 2:51:04 PM by jtmmachine

Rule of thumb in Battle Network games: Make sure you keep at least one copy of every battlechip. Including chip codes.

I'm going to assume that you mentioned this because you tossed a battlechip that you needed for a Program Advance/NPC Chip Trading Chain into one of the Chip Traders. Which one(s) was it?

(Chances are rather high that if you needed a battlechip for a Program Advance and tossed it into the Chip Trader beforehand, it's a battlechip that you can buy at a shop or find in a virus battle/mystery data somewhere.

There are very few Program Advance-related battlechips in the series that don't fit into those two categories. If you did toss one of these battlechips though, good luck in having the trader spit it back out in the exact same code.)

Oh yeah, ToadMan can be cheap too!

So, as I've posted, I've beaten several Mega Man games using the arm cannon, and no energy tanks.

Mega Man 5? Dominated. Mega Man 6? Crushed.

Mega Man 7? Took a few tries to get the trick for some of the robot masters, and Slash Man is still more a war of attrition than a delicate dodging game...

Got to the Wily Machine. Took a few tries, but now I can beat him with only the arm cannon without losing a life. Hell, even his "Weaknesses" aren't really much more effective than the arm cannon.

Then there's the Mega Man 7 Wily Capsule.

...

AAARRRGGHHHLLLBBAARGGLLLGGGAHHHBBGLLLEE!!!

Damn it! Even when I gave up and used his weapon weakness and energy tanks, he's STILL kicking my ass all over the place! With four energy tanks, I can't win a war of attrition!

And I noticed that I only get one shot at him anyways, and that a charged Mega Buster does just as much damage as any of his weaknesses. So screw using a weapon, I have to figure out how to DODGE those damn energy spheres!

If I remember right, the best trick is to jump at the edge of the screen BEFORE the orbs make their final flight at you, so then most of them will fly right over your head as they'll be aiming at where you were jumping, and then you should easily slide back under the rest.

Ugh, Toadman. His V3 form frustrated me so much to the point where I went, "Screw it" and decided to spam Invis 3 *, Full Cust *, rowlocked him with two Area Grabs, and unloaded all of my swords on him.

Hm... Bag, want a preview of Bubbleman?

HE WILL MAKE YOU CRY AND TEAR YOUR HAIR OUT. (Oh, and this guy was prepared and had a planned-out folder. And he still had this much trouble.)

edited 9th Mar '10 5:36:20 PM by Alilatias

Alilatias: Wow...yeah, looks like I've got my work cut out for me. I don't know when I'm going to get to those games though, right now I'm focusing on Classic and X.

Trigger Loaded: Don't get my started on Wily in 7. While he's always been hard, this is the first time since 1 he's been that frustrating. The best thing to do is use Thunder Wrap (I think that's what it's called) on him after you hit him with a charge shot. If you're quick enough it'll stop him from using the orbs.

@Alilitas: It's weird, because I always do what you said—always keep one of each code of each chip—but now I'm lacking in Spreaders and Sword L chips...

But then, this was a file I started when I was in 6th grade... I was probably stupid enough then to place an irretrievable chip code in the trader. Luckily, I have MMBN3: White as well, so I can just trade chips from there if necessary.

edited 9th Mar '10 5:45:14 PM by jtmmachine

Spreaders and Sword L?

Actually... Do you have some extra copies of them in your second folder? Assuming you've never changed it ever since you recieved it?

Either way, I'm pretty sure the Green Mystery Data in ACDC Area 1 spit out Sword L, and I'm pretty sure you can find some Spreaders from the shopkeepers or the GMD in ACDC Square/ACDC Area 2 or 3. Not too sure though. I might have games mixed up.

Is it some kind of tradition for the water bosses to throw way too much junk at you?

...Actually, I never quite noticed that before. I think Aquaman's the only one who doesn't do that in the EXE games.