Awesome game that should've got outside Japan too!
This game is part of the Mega Man series, and was released only a few months after the Japanese version of Mega Man 6 (Called Rockman 6 in Japan). Originally, this game was supposed to be released in the U.S. after the Japanese version like all of the Mega Man games, however Nintendo of America did not allow it to happen (Even if it is a Mega Man game) because the game involves gambling. NOA has allowed games with gambling for quite a while now, but when they did it was way to late for this game to be released...for the NES. This game is a bit Monopoly and Mario Party, but also has it's own unique features to make it it's own game.
Onto the review
THE CONTROLS: Very easy. After the number of spaces you move is determined, you move your character that many spaces using the control pad. It's extremely simple.
ANIMATION: Not as good quality as other Mega Man games. The sprites have less frames of animation than before. Actually, the sprites are different here and look weird compared to the other games, though everyone is still recognizable. The boards hardly have anything animated, except for the water that surrounds them. Many robot masters like Gutsman for example are really small and lack a bit of color. All the characters actually look like moving paper unlike the other Mega Man games even though those were 2-D. Still, the animation is decent.
THE GRAPHICS: Like the animation, the graphics lack some of the quality the regular Mega Man games contain. The boards have some good color and all, but everything you see is noticeably paper flat and cartoony. The NES can do better than this, so can Capcom.
THE SOUND: Fortunately, the music is pretty darn good IMO. Some music in this game is really catchy. Most of the board music fits really well and there are other tunes that work well with battle situations, like when using a card (More info on these below) that allows a robot master to appear and use their abilities on other players. Some classic Mega Man music from the regular games is here also. Overall, the music is pretty good. Alot of the sound effects are new, and don't sound as good as the other games IMO. But, there are some classic Mega Man sounds which adds an extra point to the rating.
THE GAMEPLAY: Well, the game is completely in Japanese (First game in the series to actually have complete Japanese text BTW), so things are hard to figure out the first time you play. However, after you try the games' options out a few times, you begin to get used to things and figure out what you need to do. On certain spaces, you can pick a card. By using a card, Mega Man, Protoman or many of the robot masters from the regular games will appear and use their abilities on your opponent (Or on you if an opponent uses a card). It's not just the Japanese language that keeps the Gameplay from getting a perfect 10, it's also because you CAN'T play as Mega Man. Mega Man is in this game, but he's actually the host and he also appears when you use a card of his to help you out while playing (His abilities are very useful BTW). You can play as Dr. Light, Roll, Dr. Cossack, Kalinka, and even Dr. Wily.
RE-PLAYABLE: If you manage to find this game, you'll want to keep coming back for more and more. All five characters have unique endings which are worth checking out at least once, and there are quite a few things you can do that make this an excellent party game. Keep in mind that you can actually set how many players and computer players play, so you don't have to sit around for over an hour waiting for your turn like in Mario Party.
OVERALL: It was great to take a break from the other Mega Man games and do something different for a change. But of course, this is one of the many things that you only get in Japan. If you can find this game, it's worth the purchase though don't be surprised if you're gonna have to pay over 100 bucks for it. It's one of the rarest games (It's even rarer than Pac-Mania for NES!), and it's definitely the rarest Mega Man game. This game was released in Japan only, so the best place to look is probably eBay, or some other place you know of that sells Japanese games.
No comments:
Post a Comment