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The Lowdown
Pros: Two decent arcade games with a new versus mode sold for one low price.
Cons: Both of these simple games come prepackaged in Mega Man
Anniversary Collection.
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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Rockman aka Mega Man has been in his share of games. He stars in the
famous platform series, a cyber RPG series, even in an action RPG. Mega
Man even went on some genre crossing games, like a board game and the
unique Mega Man Soccer. It was only a matter of time until Mega Man got
his own fighting game. Capcom made two fighting games that featured
characters from the Mega Man universe known as "Rockman the Power
Fighters" 1 and 2. Both of these games were released in the arcades
during the reign of the PsOne. It wasn't until the PS2 that both of the
arcade classics could be played without owning the machine.The
concept of both Rockman power battle games are really simple. Imagine
the gameplay of a standard Mega Man title Then take out the tricky
jumps, instant death spikes and all of the enemies. What do you have
left? Boss battles. That's what Rockman the Power Battle games are all
about. The first game allows you to pick from classic characters Rockman,
Blues (Protoman) and Forte (Bass). Each of these characters have a basic
shooting attack, a charge attack and dash move. These can be used to
battle off classic robot masters like Cutman, Gutsman, Airman, Snakeman
and all of the robot masters from Mega Man 7. The limited number of
moves grows when you defeat an enemy. You'll gain access to their special weapon and just like in standard
Mega Man games you can use the weapon against other robot bosses. After
you beat all of the robot masters in a story set you'll head to Wily's
castle. At Wily's castle you'll be in store for another boss fight and
then a final fight with Dr. Wily.
The second game adds a little more to the picture than by including
Duo, a character from Mega Man 8 and a new mission mode. The mission
mode allows you to pick a story line to follow such as hunting Wily down
or saving Roll. Once you pick a mission to beat you'll do the same thing
you did in the first game, battle robot boss monsters. The fights are a
little easier this time around because the bosses drop health power ups.
There are also a few extra boss monsters in Rockman the Power Fighters 2
like Pharaohman and Centuarman.
Since the game did debut in the arcades over five years ago the
graphics look basic. Even when the game had its initial release the
graphics didn't look spectacular. You have some standard Super NES
quality sprite graphics and bare minimum animation. Many of the robot
masters got a redesign just for this game. Some of the later bosses from
Mega Man 7 got their sprites copied straight into the game. Some of the
backgrounds have a nice touch, but in quality they don't look that
great. The music in the game is cool if you're a fan of the Mega Man
games. You get some classic tracks, rearranged into new songs.
This isn't the first release of Mega Man the Power Fighters. Both
games are actually packaged and hidden within the US release of Mega Man
Anniversary Collection. To make up for the lack of the other titles this
game has a new feature. What is new to both of the original games is a
two player versus mode so you can finally decide which character Mega
Man or Protoman is stronger. The versus mode is a nice addition to the
two player cooperative gameplay. But the versus mode doesn't fare too
well. While it is fun to wail out charge shots at the computer, there
just aren't enough moves to use against another player. The two player
mode feels rush and added as an afterthought. Capcom also priced this
game at a reasonable price point of $25. At the price range this game
still seems overpriced, since you can be all of the story modes in a
single sitting. Only the most die hard fans of the series or people who
love the arcade games should pick this up.
It is an easy to learn game with just three buttons to use. Some of the story
text is in Japanese, but most of the important menus are in English.
US Bound?
Technically both games are already released in the US within the
Mega Man Anniversary Collection package.
Overall
As a stand alone game there simply just isn't enough for
gamers to be entertained for too long.
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