#am i making megaman history???

[sun-citadel]

Y'all i just unearthed some lost Mega Man Zero media on accident and the source is currently being hunted for

Check here for source !

[thesolarsurfer]

Well, I once again tripped and fell into a prior hyperfixation. This time it was the often forgotten RPG, Megaman X: Command Mission. Mostly just about how neat the introductory cinematic is and also the bizarrely similar organization names in the English translation. And uhhhh whoops my hand slipped. Have a ficlet set just after the end of the tutorial area after that dramatic fall off a seaside cliff.

X awoke, silently and completely still, scanning the room and consolidating his fragmented memory cache up until the point of impact. Finding the room secure and occupied by a single non-combat reploid, he engaged his running lights and activity protocols, fans and gyros whirring to life as he sat up quickly and looked around as though for the first time. "Where am I? Who are you?"

The green and khaki reploid startled and swiveled its head around immediately, the rest of its body following suit in stages. He seemed harmless enough, with all of the indicators of a light-duty standard build and an updated transponder flagging him as maintenance staff. "Oh! You're awake. Welcome back, Mr. X. Well, I guess welcome for the first time to the Resistance HQ and welcome back to consciousness. You suffered some pretty serious damage there before we picked you up. I'm pretty sure I got you put back together correctly, though I must admit I've never worked on a system as old as yours. I sure am glad you include an instruction manual!"

X tightened his focus on the reploid's stance, assessing any signs of hostility or subtle signals to backup out of his own perception. There was nothing, no indication this was anything but a polite chat between allies. "The Resistance? Why would you-?" X started, servos in his wrist swiveling to shorten the delay between his fist clenching and converting to its buster configuration for a fight. The subroutine parsing the conversation for potential codewords and subterfuge flagged an inconsistency he had overlooked in his haste. "Right, no, Epsilon is the leader of the Rebellion. You said you're with the...?"

"The Resistance. We're resisting the occupation of Epsilon's forces after the coup he staged."

"Resistance, not Rebellion. Right. You all really could have picked a clearer name"

"We could be the Republicans? Since we support the world republic that Epsilon is trying to overthrow?"

"None of us are Irish enough to pull that off"

"...Sir?"

"Kids these days. Ancient history, don't mind me. Point is you aren't the ones building a super weapon to conquer the planet"

"Nope, no super weapons here. We're just an isolated island nation with minimal contact with the mainland. Which apparently makes this place a great location to buid a super weapon"

"Isolated is right. Getting here was certainly a hassle"

"Did they fly you out here in a bomber squadron? With reinforcements?"

"No, HQ used some low orbit platforms to deploy mobile teleporter platforms, which have since scuttled."

"So your ride here was one way only?"

"By design. We came here to put a stop to Epsilon's plans. Since we're dealing with a Maverick incident, this entire island is under quarantine. No one is leaving here without HQ's approval. We only get that after the Rebellion blockade is cleared and an investigation team confirms that there are no traces of the Maverick virus here."

"Wow, you all really take this stuff seriously. I thought so long as the mechaniloids and reploids working for Epsilon were taken down, everything would be fine."

"It's our job to be thorough. I've seen what happens when the Maverick virus escapes quarantine. Time and time and time and time and time and time again..."

"Hit your head a little harder than I thought, did you? You got stuck there, I think. That's a few too many times, isn't it?"

X stared, face pulled taut into an unreadable expression. It could be a grimace, if it weren't for every point of articulation being tensed into an uncanny imitation of neutrality. Small lights flickered in his head behind the lenses of his eyes, which were focused on a point some hundred meters behind the reploid speaking to him. The silence hung too long.

"...rrrrright. Um...I'm sure you're needed in the command room. Just follow the signs when you're ready, Mr. X."

[treepan0]

MMBN discussion

so a bit of history, I was introduced to Megaman/Rockman by my dad, but it was Bass/Forte and Protoman/Blues that really got me into it, this post is just me discussing my independent exploration into battle network and my possible predictions based off of my patterns for favorite characters. (side note I might explore X later, but it will be a while since I'm still catching up on classic and BN for now.)

so starting off I've had no choice but to watch gameplay footage, due to the platform limitations I face. (I'm stuck on an old mac with limited gaming budget for now, I'll probably by the legacy compilation when I can later.)

regardless here's some predictions I have so far:

I will likely fall in love with Bass.exe/Forte.exe since according to the wiki, most of what got me attached to mainline Bass is still there. (I have a soft spot for intimidating and/or grumpy characters, if they do cute things and/or have a heartbreaking backstory it's just bonus points. TLDR: Wolverine is pretty much the building blocks of my favorite character traits most of the time.)

If Chaud becomes less annoying, I may get attached to him and Protoman.exe/Blues.exe as well. (Seriously how does Chaud make Blue from pokemon seem so much less like a jerk?)

So far with the first game I love Roll.exe, as a have a soft spot for wholesomeness and Bunny inspired designs. (Bunny girl medic that is wholesome? I love her already!)

Lan is dense as a brick, but still charming in his own way.

Additionally I already like Hub Hikari/Megaman.exe/Rockman.exe he's just so wholesome, and determined and aaaaaaahhhhhhh.....

Iceman.exe looks like a combination of his cute artic design, combined with a new adorable almost night time like theming I love it so much.

Glide.exe and Elecman.exe are bees and I am obsessed with it, I love Bee designs hell my classic oc is inspired by carpenter bees.

and while I already made his BN redesign, Toccata.exe retains the odd traits he always had, so no one's toes are being stepped on thankfully.

(He also became a bit more of a wasp, but it works out in the end.)

Fireman.exe and Skullman.exe look so cool it's not fair.

Colorman.exe is a Clown and I already love Clownman so I love his fun design as well. I just love clown designs honestly, they're so fun, and can very so much.

I hope to get attached to Gutsman.exe, and many other characters this has been an enjoyable experience so far even if I can't play the game myself.

also it's a tactical rpg battle system, so when I have the ability to play for myself, I know I'm going to enjoy it and be fairly good at it as well. (Rpg and strategy games are more my pace, so the battle network system also excites me as well.)

TLDR: I found out at some point that Battle network was a thing, and I've been enjoying it while catching up.

[beefriender]

Today i went to a lego convention that was in town, but i lacked the foresight to actually sign up to display anything. So instead i will be posting photos i took at home of the stuff i brought there to display online

now this first one is perhaps my largest moc whom i built roughly exactly a year ago. i had been watching gundam with a couple friends and. really. really liked the guntank. his shoulders can open up and this thing is by no means complete, as evidenced by the haphazard color placement and awkward leg joints (he can transform, kinda.) i am mostly proud of his arms and especially his gun. he weighs like 5 pounds hes a really really big guy

next one and maybe my favorite is an old bionicle MOC i had created 2-3 years prior, in the spirit of halloween actually. can you tell that skullman is one of my favorite robot masters? i think its kinda obvious. im particularly fond of the shape i was able to make with his whole like spine ribcage thing going on, but it doesnt hold up spectacularly to time as i have to replace some of the parts frequently. such is the life of style

as for this one, this is my oldest moc, and what got me ultimately back full swing into lego again. he is (heavily) based on swordman from megaman 8 as i think he just has an awesome concept and design. this is especially apparent in the VERY unusual way his torso and hips connect, as to kindof mimic the weird magnet thing sword man has for his body and of course his giant sword arm. i dont really display it here but his hands are fun and can kinda articulate but they never make "natural" looking poses, but they make one hell of a fist shape and can hold objects. i mentioned this guy is my oldest but that is merely "the oldest moc i havent scrapped apart" and has a very long (relatively) history. i built him long ago in mid 2016 and he actually had most of the same looks as he does now. his legs for instance havent actually been changed once since i built them and the right arm shares the same fate. his torso used to be one big part but i completely rebuilt it with a bunch of smaller parts in 2019 and even though it looks basically the same im satisfied i was able to accomplish that look completely on my own. and of course his strange connection in the middle has always been there, though they used to not have those friction extensions, which made him hilariously floppy, but he still could stand on his own with good balancing. his sword arm used to be a regular arm and he just carried two very large swords, that sword arm i actually finally built much later in 2019 when i finally had the cash that let me buy a sword worthy of such an important build in my life. he likely will persist through my life and i will never be truly done but this is a great milestone to show off to others right now

coming off of that massive block of text for a time long gone, we have a silly little ride armor once again inspired by megaman that i quite enjoy. there isnt a whole lot to say but that gun can spin and i think that is the most important thing any toy could have and finally.

crab

[crossovershipstournament]

yeah i'll give in to my lack of impulse control to infodump/spread propaganda. megapit aka megaman/pit. super smash bros is only correctly enjoyed when you think of silly dynamics with the characters after all. and then go mad when you make it deep (i did this)

both child soldiers, both have some identity problems. a robot who was meant to just be a kid who had no choice but to be transformed and fight against others of his kind, an angel who is the only one of his kind with desperation to prove himself as a hero despite his inability to fly on his own

they're besties u have to believe me. pit is like nintendo's special little fourth-wall breaking boy. seemingly aware of other games- anyways he's a big fan of megaman. and with a history of being in the infamous cartoon captain n, they are often depicted as being friendz (morally correct. best friends to lovers. you know how it is)

the fluffier aspect has megaman being kind of terrible with romantic gestures in the sense that, being a robot, can sometimes not understand social norms. he embarrasses pit with shameless acts of very sappy cliche acts of romance. and pit is SO impulsive and kind of stupid but he makes megaman smile all the same. he brings a lot of joy!!!!

a ship with a robot comes free with angst. rock (which is megaman's name lol) has your classic robot in love predicaments. he was not built to feel at that level but does it anyway. which can cause glitches and spazzes and malfunctions and it scares him!!!!! woagh. and he thinks pit is just so wonderful and deserves a REAL person to be with. sigh

an angel- pure divine life- falling in love with a synthetic mimicry doing the impossible. do you Understand. Do You See

size difference too btw. megaman is tinie

Okay so not only is this great propaganda, but as a fellow enjoyer of my own robot kid character who just wanted to be a definitely real boy and was forced to fight/be a weapon (and who also has a best friends to lovers ship with him and his own best friend), I am slowly being won over myself 👀

Also heck yeah about the Smash Bros thing; it's part of why I'm such a big fan of CPU Kerfuffle myself. There's so much fun to be had with the dynamics of that game (whether it's with the canon characters or if you're just using them as avatars for your own OCs)

Anyway, great propaganda, great art 👍

[just-absolutely-super]

Since we are on the topic. Do you have any sibling headcanons about Lan and MegaMan?

DO I

Lan and Mega were inseparable since the beginning since Yuichiro would take Lan to SciLab occasionally to bond with the still WIP Mega

Navis are generally programmed to be caretakers of their NetOps, but Mega has a stronger sense of protection toward Lan because he’s his brother and he doesn’t want anything to happen to him

Lan will usually call Mega Hub during moments of stress, whenever Lan is sad, or just when they’re chilling at home because there’s something comforting about using his brother’s real name

The “together forever” line starts after Mega officially becomes Lan’s Navi. Lan asked him if they’d always be together and Mega replied, “Together forever,” and it soon became their thing

It takes a lot of coaxing on Lan’s part but sometimes he’s able to convince Mega to let him stay up late so they can hang out a little longer

Also without Mega’s consent Lan will wake up in the middle of the night and just ask the most BATSHIT INSANE questions

“Do pigeons have feelings?”

“Lan it is 3 am”

Lan has major separation anxiety after Mega’s sacrifice post BN3–he tries to play it off and indicate that he’s okay really, but Mega knows it’s a facade and often reassures Lan he isn’t going anywhere

Mega also has separation anxiety but he’s better at hiding it than his brother; and his desire to be with Lan gets overpowered by his desire to keep Lan safe so that’s why he’s always trying to self-sacrifice

Lan holds all of Mega’s attempts at self-sacrifice over his head and uses it as leverage whenever Mega tries to do something reckless. Mega is not amused because Lan has NO RIGHT to talk about being reckless

Sometimes Mega wishes he was human so he can grow old with Lan and it’s during these moments that Lan becomes the one that comforts his brother

As a prank Mega will change the settings of the PET just to mess with Lan. This includes something simple as changing the ringtone, to putting a Mr. Prog in his place to convince Lan a glitch caused him to change forms, to him sending fake emails saying Lan won a special NetBattler’s award

Lan gets revenge by “practicing” his program abilities on Mega which leads to hilarious (but reversible) modifications

Mega has Lan’s medical health profile practically memorized. It’s normal for Navis to know their NetOp’s medical history, but it means more to Mega because he has a small fear that Lan will get sick like he once did when he was human

When Mega gets the copybot the two play together to make up for all that time they couldn’t as small children

They also wrestle and fight each other as brothers do

They break so…many…things because they’re rowdy BOYS

Haruka grounds them after breaking one of her favorite vases. Lan by confining him to his room and taking away his internet privileges. Mega by locking the copybot away

Mega teases Lan about his crush on Mayl all the time. He loves embarrassing his bro ajsdfsf

Lan tries to turn the tables and tease Mega about Roll but Mega is a lot more gracious about his crush and he’s just like, “Well, yeah of course I think she’s pretty,” which ticks Lan off because he wants to one up his brother by embarrassing him SO BAD

Instead he’ll ruthlessly tease Mega about his fear of ghosts

They hug every chance they get when Mega is in the copybot NO IT’S NOT SAPPY IT’S SWEET THEY’VE BEEN WANTING TO DO THIS FOR YEARS LET THEM HUG DAMMIT

[darckcarnival]

Get To Know The Mun!

> BASICS! ♡

NAME: Spoop, Splat, D, Darck (peeps usually call my my main muses names except Spoop, I am the spoopiest.)

PRONOUNS: Any! I merely exist.

ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius/Capricorn

TAKEN OR SINGLE: Single but married to food.

> THREE FACTS! ♡

Have been writing since the 90's when I was a wee child. Did silly little roleplaying on mIRC, on some forums, and deviant art back in the day there after. Then became a fanfic writer for a while, followed by poems which I was quite good at back in the day. Then began making lyrics- figured nah, not for me. And flipped full circle back into roleplaying once more with some drabbles and maybe a one shot fic here and there. Have been writing ever since! So I have a LOT of history under my belt. And many of my muses have the same type of dedication and time behind them. Gotta put as much love into your character and writing, as if they were your own family. Make them feel alive.

Most art I do is either writing, 3D model modification items, or just with a mouse and keyboard art. I have been practicing more with a gifted tablet and pen, which has allowed me to do more detailed and serious mod work, such as mods for RE4 classic! But I am much better at texture, 3D, or coloring and shading. But heres the fun fact: i learned all my 3D and texture work skills through Second Life before anything else. And it's actually, funny enough, helped me bring muses to life as well as follow up on how to mod other games and go hog wild.

Been struck by lightning twice, fell down two different cliffs, hit by a semi truck, shot with a carbon arrow in the chest, stabbed, shot by bullet, and so on- and yet here I stand. Most of these events were completely accidental as well, and I walked away from. Honestly? I'm just a walking glitch in the matrix of the world, considering I also glitch every single god damn game I touch. THIS IS NOT A JOKE, NO MATTER HOW NEW IT IS, I BREAK IT.

> EXPERIENCE! ♡

PLATFORMS USED: AIM, Yahoo Messenger, DA chat, so many FORUM's back in the day. Skype, Discord, Tumblr.

PLOTTING / WINGING IT / MEMES: Geez, I can roll with just about anything. Plotting? Hell yeah count me in! Plots may not always follow the idea one hundred percent, but it absolutely makes for longer events and threads easily. Winging it? I do that all the damn time and can create so many unexpected events, as well as sudden character development. Twists and turns that just wing a rough idea into something wild. As for Memes and asks? Oh those can still form some really good interactions, character developments or knowledge acquiring moments. Sometimes these are one offs or long drabbles- but they can form into something longer and more serious. However, while I am down for all of the above-- I also have bad ADHD and writing can be hard, so it could take a while.

> MUSE PREFERENCE! ♡

GENDER: I can write just about any gender character, manage things in between or none. However I am more comfortable with female centric style muses. And yet, you put large men in my hands, and watch them go hog fucking wild. And don't even get be started on Robots or Monsters.

MULTI OR SINGLE: I have done both, but usually prefer single muse blogs. And yet I absolutely love my megaman multimuse to death! All my robot children and heathens there, so much work in my own verse there. So many thoughts. But multimuse blogs can still be difficult to keep organized with so much going on in the braincell, and with life being as it is, need to take breaks from it.

LEAST FAVOURITE FACECLAIM(S): Not sure what this means for least favorite here, does it mean people, or genre? I really don't mind one way or another. Especially when it comes to OC's, it's hard to find anyone who fits just right for people. And honestly I do not mind one way or another for people. If it fits someones muse, that's fine by me.

> FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡

FLUFF: THE GOOD SHIT HELL YEAH. I'm down for fluff so long as it isn't like... Hollow and forced. Fluff can be used as a great comfort option,. be it platonic, familial, friendly, or even romantic. Fluff can be used in so very many ways, and it's always an option withy me. But this can also turn into angst easily with my cursed hands, you have been warned. As well as comedic timing, since Darck needs to make a laugh to make herself comfortable. Darck has... problems.

ANGST: My bread and butter this one, much to the dismay of many of my friends who write with me. The muse on this blog is made of angst and pain and terrible events that have formed her into who she is. Angst can become violence, woe, heavy conversation, as well as venting- it's such a key part of development. There is a saying I quite enjoy: Muses are like geodes. Shiny, pretty, and in order to see what they are really made of, you must break them. I do admit however that I have a limit of how far I can go to a degree, with real life being a thing, but honestly? It takes a whole fucking lot to get there. And also maybe write angst too much and tragedy. Give this muse some better days.

SMUT: As much as I have enjoyed smut in the past, I haven't written such in a very long time, and am very careful of whom I write such with. Turns out I really good at smut according to others. And hey fun fact: People used to straight up pay me to write them smut of their characters and others of their choice. Haven't had that going in years but, it was a thing. However these days, writing smut with my muses needs to be more than just the event. It can be an opening for vulnerability, letting someone get close enough and trust them enough, that no one else really gets. Quiet and heavy conversations, the emotions involved. But if I ever do write it again, both my self and my partner need to be comfortable with writing such a thing. However if I ever did smut in a private drabble or fanfic, then all bets are off, because that's different. But far more rare.

Tagged by: @valour-bound

Tagging: You see this? IM TAGGING YOU. Do it.

[ash-stacy]

Ash Stacy Nerd Hour!

Issue #01-Super Metroid

Welcome to The Ash Stacy Video Game Hour, something new that I'll be trying out.! So what is this even? Well to no ones suprise i am a huge nerd. And this little collum which i will also post on my website once i make it will be me talking about... whatever! As long as its nerd stuff! Could be a movie i watched, a video game i beat or any topic that interests me. Sometimes multiple per issue!

On tonights episode we'll start off small talking about a video game i beat 5 minutes ago as of writing this paragraph!

Super Metroid is a game that most of you have probably already heard a bit about. Possibly due to the announcement of prime 4 or due to its massive fanbase and speedrunning community. It's the third mainline game in the Metroid saga and stars Samus Aran after the events of Metroid 2, or Metroid Samus Returns, they both ckcer the same events so take your pick. After giving the baby metroid to the space fedaration it is kidnapped by Ridley! Samus must track it down and find it. That's all i'll say about the story for now. If you haven't played the game, go play it and then come back. Or don't. I'm not a cop.

"But Ash! What did YOU think of the game" Well im getting to it be patient. I found the game to be a delight, although i had to use a walkthrough for the end game it was a great experience, sprite work was beautiful and the gameplay was fun yada yada we all know this game is great. 9 john metroids out of 10.

Anyways time for the hate because it is fresh.

Mother Brain is the worst boss fight in history*

*exaggerated for comical effect, I played the orignal Megaman i've fought worse.

The boss starts the moment you enter a hallway and get attacked by yellow... circles... Hey i knew that megaman refrence was relevant! But you can destroy the circles so not that bad right? Wrong. Most thing you can destroy in this game drop hp or missiles. Not theese things. No. That would be kind. And Nintendo R&D1 is not kind. Theese balls drop nothing, spawn constantly and prevent you from breaking the barriers which require missiles to destroy. If you run out of missiles in that room then too bad. Perish. And then after you get pass that you get to Mother brain, who's glass can only be hurt by missiles.

After doing that tedious process of being kicked into lava and trying to not miss you go to phase 2 were she can be hurt by charge beams, because you will most likely be out of missiles. Then you have a actually fun time dodging the boss and retaliating until the rainbow beam. If you have 299 hp left you will not win the boss fight. You will automatically die. Of course this clever game desing the more energy tanks you collected the easier the boss is so i wont harp on it to much but i died so many times to that so i get to be comically angry. And then Big Boy Metroid saves you and Samus keeps up the record of blowing up every planet she steps foot on. You also save some cute animals.

Aside from that great game, the physics were a bit wonky and i have no idea how to time the space jump and i hsed a walkthrough for the latter half but great game will replay it one day!

See you... next time i think something up!

[madhogthymaster]

Down The Cabbit Hole: The Weird World of Klonoa Literature - An Archive (Part 1)

It was the Summer of 2022: the HD collection of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil was released unto this world, and into my life. My reaction in seeing these videogames briefly in the forefront of (semi)popular culture was one of insurmountable elation. To bask into the vicarious feelings of people discovering The Fluffy Boy and his bittersweet adventures for the first time was an indescribable experience, almost as much as it was to re-immerse myself into it all. For a short time in human history, there was a proper, tangible Zeitgeist, a palpable excitement, surrounding one of my favourite things of all time, ever. Naturally, as a long time fan, an educated Klonoa scholar, I have provided several important contributions to the fandom... and I have bothered many Twitch streamers, in the process.

Exhibit A:

At this time, one of my biggest endeavours was the creation of a fan-page on the old deceased bird website, celebrating the existence of these games as well as the weird history of the series. That account's activity has all but gone the way of said avian critter but there is still a rich archive worth of material that I *needed* to conserve for posterity. I wouldn't want anyone on the Internet to be deprived of my immaculately composed memes, after all!

Here's a small selection, presented without context:

By far, the biggest body of work on that fan-page was my deep dive into the extremely lopsided plain of Klonoa comics, the mere presence of which left me scared and confused for reasons that shall become all too clear in a few moments. With the premise out of the way, I am going to share with you my various posts on the subject of Fluffy Boy Literature, mostly raw and unaltered, for your eye-balling pleasure. These salvaged tweets contain my thoughts, musings, honest reactions and critiques over the (surprisingly) multi-faceted girth of comics available to us, in one form or the other, as well as several panels to contextualize said reactions. Join me down the Cabbit hole, won't you?

We begin this journey with the Bandai Namco officially licensed webcomic, Klonoa: Dream Traveller of Noctis Sol.

---

18 July 2022

-

Perhaps against my better judgment, I have made the decision to read the ill-fated Klonoa webcomic series written between 2012 and 2014. It is an odd curio of officially published media that was released in an unconventional manner. Stay tuned as I report on my findings.

-

The publisher was a website called ShiftyLook which seemingly hosted a whole plethora of comics based off several Namco's franchises: titles such as Wonder Momo and, of course, this non-canonical Klonoa adventure.

-

It was drawn by Hitoshi Ariga, whose claim to fame comes from illustrating a respectable amount of Megaman manga and Pok��mon trading cards, as well as volumes of The Big O adaptation. Jim Zub is credited as the writer which is a big deal - according to Wikipedia.

-

I am cautiously excited about reading this story even as I am fully aware of its untimely demise. More over, the fact it's been forcibly removed from whatever passes as The Canon means I won't have to be too pedantic about its interpretation of the *grander* Klonoa narrative.

-

Which is good because I inherently disagree with any and all attempts to expand on the inner-mechanics of "Dream Travelling" when the lack of an explanation leaves the door opened for much more interesting discourse and analysis. Not knowing is what makes Klonoa interesting.

-

I HATE THIS IMMEDIATELY!!!

-

Oh no, you didn't!

-

I can just picture the conversation in my head. "You have OTHER friends, Klonoa?" "No. I have BETTER friends, Huepow." Hey, if you have to completely ruin the endings of two of the best games ever made, you might as well GO THERE!

-

On the other hand, this is a primo villain design.

-

There was a rather jarring change in art style for this page. The new illustrator is Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz, another prolific comic maker.

-

Ah, of course! Guntzland! Guntz's place! The place of Guntz! The place made specifically for Guntz! ... That Guntzland? I feel like I'm going insane.

-

Ariga has thankfully returned to illustrate this comic. His quality work is in the only highlight in this otherwise abysmal experience.

-

A black and white dream world is a rather cheeky way to justify saving money on colouring.

-

"I FOUND YOU, FAKER!"

-

You know, I had hoped, perhaps naively, that Klonoa could have spared me the evil doppelganger routine. This comic is a constant cavalcade of nonsense advancing at the speed of thought whilst ironically bereft of any.

-

The gang is all here. Waaaaaahoooooooo....

-

This is the last page. This is the note in which the comic ends. It's probably for the best, really.

-

Overall, this was a toothless, dull approximation of a *Big Crossover Event* the likes of which could not possibly appeal to anyone. It was too entrenched in the games' (unneeded) continuity to attract new fans and it was too much of a travesty to please old fans. It was just bad.

-

The choice to undercut the emotional, narrative and thematic impact from both Door to Phantomile and Lunatea's Veil for the sake of cheap fan-service makes this *OFFICIALLY LICENSED* material exceptionally vapid even by corporate standards. Read fanfiction, instead.

---

Appropriately enough, the next piece of literature under the proverbial lens would be an unofficial continuation to the cancelled webcomic. So, yes, I followed my own suggestion there.

However, as I find myself encumbered by arbitrary image limits on this blog, I will continue my archival sharing in the next instalment of this now multi-part series. Stay tuned, fellow Phantomilians, for the story is about to get much more interesting.

[PART 2]

[raguna-blade]

Capcom Has Once Again disappointed me by not giving me, specifically what I want.

How dare they release highly anticipated new games and sequels and rerelease old games in a friendly playable manner free of the ds (for better and ill that that contains)

How Dare they Refuse to Give me Breath of Fire 6 and A New Megaman Game, and A new Onimusha.

DON'T LISTEN TO THEM CAPCOM. THEY'RE ONLY AFTER YOU FOR YOUR NEW HOT QUALITY RELEASES. WE HAVE HISTORY!

WE HAVE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111!!!!11!111!!!!

This is how it happens. You just keep hoping and hoping and then the devil get's on your shoulder and says

"You know, if they won't make it, surely you could. How hard could it be?"

And I know it's hard as shit because I am currently running a forum game with admittedly not the most hardcore mechanics and all that but even my fumbling efforts tell me that making a whole ass rpg with anything close to what I want in this regard (or a platformer) would be a struggle the likes of which which would end me fractally.

AND YET

[liamthemarowak]

Art contest for ptparmentoons on Deviantart

It was a nice fine day at the Shopping mall, and Liam and Jack are getting more jackets if their old ones are worn out. "Ok Jack, we have to get more Jackets just in case our old ones get worn out." Liam said. "Of course, because our Jackets are our main clothing for everyday!" Jack said as they get the blue Jackets and the green Jackets. "Ok, I think that is enough Jackets that we got, now we need to take them to the casher and pay them." Liam said. But then, Jack has seen PT's hoodie, and he wants to know the origins of the hoodie. "Hey Liam, I have found one of PT's hoodies, but I really want to know on how it was made." Jack said. "Sure, let us pay for our Jacket first and see about the origins of that hoodie of his." Liam said as they went to the casher to pay their Jackets. "Ok, we have brought our new Jackets, now we need to find that leaflet of that museum about the origins of the Character clothing." Liam said. Jack has saw one of those leaflets and decided to pick one up for him and Jack. "Hey, I just found a leaflet that they could find PT's hoodie in it. "Liam, I have found something that we could see PT's Jacket. The Museum is called: Origin clothings. We should go there and check it out." Jack said. "Sure, lets take our clothes back home first and then we will visit that museum that you suggested Jack." Liam said. "Ok, so let's get into our Karts and drive to our home and the museum!" Jack said as they went into their Karts and drove back home to put their new Jackets away. "There we Go, our new Jackets are all set and ready to wear soon, now let's head on to the clothing museum and see the origin of PT's hoodie!" Liam said as they went back to their karts and drove to the Origin clothings museums. When they have arrived at the museum, it was like an old fashioned castle from the roman years. "Seems this building reminds me the time when I did my history lessons." Jack said. Liam was curious about Jack on what he said. "Wait, you did your history lessons? Since when you did that?" Liam asked. Jack explained Liam about the learnt about history. "Well, one time since I was in the library, I was reading loads of history books, these Books are very interesting to me because I want to be smart about history." Jack said. "That is very interesting what you said there Jack, but let's go inside that museum and try to find PT's hoodie." Liam said as they went inside the museum. Inside, they could see loads of pictures of clothing, including the fictional characters such as Mario, megaman and even Link. "Wow, they also have fictional characters as well? Now that's the museum that I want to go!" Liam said. "Same here, but we need to find PT's hoodie and see the origins of it." Jack said as they try to find PT's hoodie. Liam has found PT's hoodie right away. "Hey, I can see PT's hoodie over there, let's go and Check it out!" Liam said as they went to see PT hoodie. Once they saw PT's hoodie, they saw some pictures and they could figure out the clues of the origin of PT's hoodie. "Hmmm, these pictures on the wall, do you know any idea of that they could relate this?" Liam asked. "Ok, there was a cartoon tiger character named tigery, he lives in a rainforest with his buddies. It's basically a kids cartoon show with cute and goofy scenes. The creators of Tigery the tiger took a picture of him and take it to the clothing factory. The designers agreed with him and they did a design on this new hoodie that they are creating. It contains some cute eyes on top on the hoodie to make it look cuter. Lastly, It has some colour variations such as blue, green and also pink. And that is the story of PT's hoodie." Jack said. "That's very interesting, and I am very amazed that they have so many colours of those hoodies! Let's go and try one on!" Liam said as they went to the clothes shop and took one of PT's hoodies in blue and green. They tried them on, looked at the mirror, and they look so amazing! "Wow, it feels like we are having a cosplay party!" Jack said. "Or should you say, a fancy dress party!" Liam said as Liam and Jack laughed. They put back on their original Jacket and payed for the Jackets. Back Home, they put away their New special Jackets for something special. "Ok, now they are put away for something special, let's make some food because I am so hungry!" Liam said. "Sure, We should make some fresh salad, that will make us strong!" Jack said as they go to make their salad.

Liam The Marowak and Jack The Cubone belongs to :iconkingofphotos200: (Me)

Pt's Jacket belongs to ptparmentoons on Deviantart

Pokemon Belongs to Nintendo and Game Freak

[pipegauge]

Why did the anime damage Kirby's image?

I'm glad you asked! Because to a lot of casual fans, some of the hate the anime gets can be a bit jarring, and I'd be happy to clear that up by talking in depth about how the anime sort of warps peoples opinion of Kirby.

So first of all, the anime itself isn't actually bad, and is at it's worst mediocre. I'd say it's far better then a lot of the other tv shows video games got, like Captain N and the super Mario bros super show. What it has in common with those shows though is bizarre characterisations, because nobody really had an established character at the time they were made. Examples include Megaman working 'mega' into a lot of his sentences, and Mario and Luigis Brooklyn accents... kind of like Dedede's infamous texan voice in the dub.

But here's where the distinction is. Everyone acknowledges that the differences in other older shows are ridiculous.. except for the Kirby anime. It's constantly in peoples minds when it comes to the series, and so all the weird characterization flaws are also fresh in peoples minds. When you see me get annoyed that Dedede's castle is shaped like the anime in one portrayal, or that it makes people think that Kirby can't speak, I'm not directly hating on the anime as much as I am that it's reinforcing peoples belief that the anime canon and the games canon are one.

And the biggest problem is that Kirby is already a vastly misunderstood franchise, which is where the actual 'Kirby image harming' comes from. People think Kirby is a pink literal baby who kills gods because he's hungry, or that Dedede is a bad guy because the most represented Kirby game is super star, which was early in his development. The anime reinforces these popular misconceptions with its selfish, abusive Dedede and baby Kirby.

So to sum up your question, the anime isn't so much directly harming Kirby's image.. rather it supports harmful misinterpretations of the series characters. Thanks to the new Kirby games and Dedede's portrayal in forgotten land though, I'm confident that these misinterpretations will soon come to an end. Then the anime references in the games and the show itself will simply become an interesting part of Kirby history.

[narsh-poptarts]

if this isnt relevant to you then feel free to ignore it but this is the first time ive literally ever seen someone make Megaman fanart so: 1) where can i find more of this community? and 2) have you ever listened to The Protomen? they're my favourite band and their original music is a (currently 2 and a bit act long) rock opera loosely based on the Megaman world!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EXCITED YOU HAVE MADE ME!!!!!!!!!

meeting another megaman fan!!!! out in the wild!!!!! aaaaa!!!!! you have no idea how exciting this is!!!!!!! OMGGG

ok first of all!!! the megaman community is incredibly small alsdfjhasdlf especially in comparison to l/o/z or even L/U but!!!!

i can point you in the direction of @willows-arts and @theletterwsartflap and both of their wonderful arts!!! they very much make more megaman fanart than i do and just have WONDERFUL styles that i absolutely adore!!!!! they're wonderful people as well, I adore them.

also check out @/ rustedmonkeyking-blog (tumblr) amazing amazing art over there

honestly there's a lot of stuff that is over on twt more than tumblr but there's also whitmoon (twt) / whitmoon (tumblr)

please please please go ask @willows-arts for more, she is already in the know, i've been gushing to her, please go ask her for more people in the community cuz i am just not confident in my knowledge >//////<

There's also a pretty active Megaman rp community as well!!! that may not be your thing but I love being a part of it!!!

willow has a couple blogs, @magnetiix being one, and then there's people like @machinesandman (WONDERFUL world building and lore) and i've got one over at @red-made-the-choice and honestly you reach out to one, you can very easily get yourself to the others, so so so many wonderful people there

really sorry for the @ spam and the fact that this is getting long so i'll put the rest of my gushing under a cut

to answer your second question: YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they have been part of my brainrot since I was in middle school and that was YEARS ago!!!!! over the past couple days I have been listening to them on loop cuz it's just SO SO GOOD!!!!!!! It's??? honestly really rare to meet someone who also is deep into it like I am but I have so many theories!!!!! so much brainrot!!!!!! so so so much love for the characters and the setting and the style and the music and AAAA GOD EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to see them live so bad and they're pretty much finishing tour now and i'm SO SAD i didn't get to see them!!!!!! i can't wait until i can someday aaaaa ;-;

yes i really really love them please feel free to come into my DMs to talk about it with me cuz it's just SO AMAZING!!! i will LITERALLY talk your ears off. please tell me you have done the thing where you read the lyrics with the song just cuz!!!!! there's other shit in there!!! flavor text!!! there's lore and story and character movements like a whole book!!!!!!! it's awesome!!!!!

If you haven't already, please listen to The Megas, they've got a similar concept to The Protomen (as in, they're a band based off the megaman games) with a very wonderful interpretation that I have spent literal hours dissecting and analyzing and making my own world and lore for, bouncing off of the foundation they put down (that's what my rp blog is, it's a Protoman based off The Megas) and I can and will talk your ear off about it!! it has music for mm2 and mm3 and teeeechnically mm1? that one doesn't have all the robot masters tho. it's a collab of Entertainment System and the Megas :0

Megas has other stuff as well, but when i talk about their megaman music I am talking about their albums Get Equipped (and by extent, Get Acoustic), and History Repeating: Red and Blue

so so much to get from there, honestly wonderful music, sometimes i just listen to Red and Blue straight through cuz!!!! story!!!!! characters!!!!! wonderful world building!!!!!

Megas really does a great job of capturing the feeling of how?? sad MegaMan the game is supposed to be. It's a child sent into war fighting for a people that,, don't care for his existence. it's brutal and SO wonderful and soooooo amazing and I'm beginning to sound like a broken record

if you haven't already, please check out the Megaman Megamix/Gigamix manga made by Hitoshi Ariga because THAT is awesome, then there's also archie comics Megaman and many many more interpretations to be found everywhere, but archie and ariga are the biggest ones (in terms of comics)

and.

also.

did you know there's a cartoon? A Ruby Spears Cartoon? that is so bad it's amazing? oh my god that too

(there's also another cartoon that i have not watched, Megaman Fully Charged i think, i cannot give a review on that but that too!!!)

gosh this is getting very long but yeah!!!! yes i love megaman and yes i love the protomen and yes i love the megas and yes i love love love everything about megaman

again, please go to the inbox of willows-arts and ask her for getting more into the community, she knows much more than I and also is more confident in giving out that information about who to find

i love you and thank you for giving me this chance to ramble, please please please if you ever want to talk about megas or protomen or what have you, please do not feel afraid to come into my DMs

[beevean]

Y'know it's kind of unfair how Silver is often considered as one of the worst bosses in gaming history while petty much every boss in X7 is worse. Speaking of which care to talk about your trauma regarding a certain hyena? :P

Well, alright, Silver isn't exactly a shining boss either. Funnily enough, the fights against him and some of the fights in X7 have the same problem: the camera refuses to cooperate and losing sight of the target spells doom lol.

(and, to be 100% fair, no boss in X7, or any Megaman game, can get you stuck in an infinite loop)

I do not care to acknowledge that asshole feliform. But if you insist... :P

BURBURNBURNTOTHEGROUND is the least of its problems. Let's talk about everything wrong with that battle:

it's at the end of the most painful level in the game (and boy does it have some competition) - sure, as long as you never go to the stage select the checkpoint will spare you, it's just... the mental fatigue, man;

you have to stop that random... cow thing from circling the arena by shooting/slashing at its legs (who am I kidding, shoot at the thing, Zero is pathetic). Meanwhile, the BURNBURNBURNTOTHE clones will attack you like nobody's business, and god help you if you don't know that neither of them is the real deal;

even if you completely stop the cow thing, it will eventually get up again, and it will start to walk again. This means that, once you're on it, you're going to slowly but surely slide towards the back because physics;

if you're on the neck, Hyenard will spam shit at you including missiles, and if you get hit, the knockback combines with the wonky physics will likely make you fall into the lava. Remember how I-frames don't matter in the lava? Yeah :^)

if you're on the back, Hyenard and his clones will start running circles around you, with no indication of who's the real Hyenard. If you leave the circle (or, more likely, you slide off), they will hit you. Meanwhile, they shoot flames at you nonstop. Oh, and don't forget the missiles!

if you decide to stay safe on the back, good luck hitting a moving Hyenard - the Splash Laser has pitiful range, and the Suiretsusen has a long wind-up animation (the latter still manages to be slightly more reliable than the former). Even just shooting at hit with your pea shooter doesn't work, Hyenard is faster than your bullets!

as it's the case for every foe in this game, he takes an eternity and a half to die, even with his weakness;

now you add BURNBURNBURNTOTHEGROUND to the whole mix so that you can watch your braincells commit suicide one by one!

So yeah, Silver is atrocious, but he's easier to speedrun I guess, and his IT'S NO USE is almost endearing now. (also when you play as him you get to enjoy the sheer power you have over Sonic and Shadow :D)

[tigertaurus22]

Megaman ZX Ghosts AU

Based on the tv show Ghosts from CBS/BBC

Vent and Ashe are newlyweds who move into a recently inherited historical manor.

One of them almost dies and is suddenly able to see and talk to the ghosts that died on the property. Each of them have a unique ghost power/ability to make themselves known to Livings.

The Ghosts:

X- original (reluctant) Master of the Manor, inherited it from his father. X can interact with the radio to talk to people.

Died in the 1880s, committed suicide

Copy X is his (illegitimate) son and successor. Vent is descended from X’s actual child who rightfully inherited the manor after the fake ‘vanished’.

Marino- 1980s gang biker, motorcycle accident. Her buddies threw her body in the lake. Can actually touch things.

Cinnamon- WW2 nurse, pneumonia. Gives people a runny nose when she passes through them.

Zero- 1860s knight, stabbed. Sunlight can reflect off his armor and sword.

Befriended X when he was little since small children can sometimes see ghosts and mistake them for imaginary friends.

Axl- 1890s Irish chimney sweep, died of suffocation. Makes people smell soot when he passes through them

Harpuia- 1990s business exec, fell from the balcony. Can float up off the ground.

Leviathan- 1920s singer, poisoned. Can make her singing voice heard.

Fefnir- WW1 soldier, house fire after returning from the war. Can turn the heat up.

Phantom- X’s butler (1880s), fell through the floor and broke his spine. Can make shadows move.

Omega- 1960s mafia member, shot to death. Can make his footsteps heard.

Rush- X’s beloved pet who wanted to stay by his master’s side after death. His paw prints can appear briefly.

Adion- Zero’s horse, died of a broken leg. His whinnying can be heard outside sometimes.

Iris- lives outside in the shed with her brother. Her reflection appears in mirrors. She died during the first winter she and Zero spent together after eloping

I am only able to watch the CBS version even though I want to see full episodes of the BBC version. It has a lot of the same actors as Horrible Histories and I like that show. However, the CBS version changes a lot of things from the original and is actually a good show.

[unproductive-software-blog]

I Just Played Every Mega Man Game on the NES and Have Reviewed them All For You, Free of Charge.

TLDRFAQS:

Q: Are these games even any good?

A: For the most part, yes. Even without a fetishistic sense of “duty to the series history”, they are alright. Megaman 6, an oft overlooked entry in the series for being an NES game released well into the SNES lifespan, is easily more enjoyable than the majority of directionless open-world action games released today. They are mostly visually striking, making the most of the NES’s limited color palette, and the later games even feature a few animations more reminiscent of modern “old-school” indie games than most of the NES library. The music alone is iconic for a reason, and if you need to be sold on the series, just listen to this and decide for yourself:

Additionally, I shed tears during the ending sequences of games 2 and 3, and after shedding said tears, rested on the end-screens of both games for a few heart-mending, contemplative minutes. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

Q: Where do I start?

A: If you’re sincerely wondering, I recommend you play Mega Man 2, and don’t hesitate to save-state before the Wily stage bosses (this can be achieved through the legacy collection’s “save” feature). This is heresy to the series “hardcore” fans, but anyone interested in appeasing said fanatics wouldn’t ask where to start in the first place. If that strikes you as too archaic, try playing Mega Man 6, the game in which the developers actually fixed most of the series hair-tearingly obvious design flaws. My personal favorite is Mega Man 3, when played with heavy use of save states, as that game’s potential far surpasses it’s designers’ willingness to make any accommodations for the player, leading to a frustrating mess that left me crying like a child the first time I completed it.

Q: How can I access these games?

A: The Mega Man Legacy Collection by Digital Eclipse (available on switch, ps4, and whatever you guys are calling Microsoft’s current generation game console), is the best legal option. It allows for a single save state per game, decent CRT filter options, and the ability to replicate the NES’s lag (or not). It also features a “turbo-button” which removes the need to mash for anyone worried about carpal tunnel or some similar injury. Those unconcerned with the possibility of such an injury should at least try to play the games without the use of said button at first, as it does change their general feeling. I increasingly used it as I proceeded through the series, given its usefulness in “just getting through” the sections I’ve successfully proven to myself that I am above having to clear without taking damage yet again. I may be a gamer, but I am also a flesh and blood human with limited time. I do not recommend the playstation 2 anniversary collection. The emulation quality is simply off, and modifications seem to have been made (to the sound effects most notably) which, in my opinion, completely spits in the face of the concept of a classic games collection.

Realeased as Rockman on December 17, 1987 for the nintendo family computer in Japan, and just 12 days later in North America for the nintendo entertainment system, Mega Man is a game where you play as a robot who walks, jumps, and shoots other robots in screen-based, sidescrolling 2D. Anyone interested in similar details of objective quality should check out the Wikipedia article on the game. I’m not even kidding, it contains some pretty neat information in the “development” section, like how the bosses’ weaknesses were literally inspired by rock-paper-scissors, or that the American title was invented because “Capcom's then-Senior Vice President Joseph Morici… did not like the original name”.

This, 6, and rockboard were the only games I played without the use of save states, though I did abuse a glitch to beat the “yellow devil” boss. For anyone seeking a similarly “pure” yet “not quite maddening” experience with the game, if you use elecman’s weapon and pause the game without opening the menu (select) repeatedly as it passes an enemy, it can damage that evemy multiple times in one shot, once per pause. The pause seemingly cancels the breif invincibility granted to bosses upon taking damage, and the weapon in question is just big and indestructible enough to still be overlapping them when you unpause. Programming “quirks” like this are part of the fun, and frustration of the original Mega Man.

More on point, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this game. For all it’s fidgety awkwardness, largely blank backgrounds, and brutal level design, I found the process of mastering each stage to be incredibly rage-conqueringly satisfying. Though limited life systems are often lambasted for punishing players by making them replay content in order to win, I find that the experience of working up to not only beating a checkpoint’s-worth of stage, but the whole thing as one well-practiced run (with good performance early on leading to more opportunity to learn the boss, and poor performance early on increasing tension toward the end, punctuated with righteous fist-pumping moments of 1-up collection), lends the game a distinct sense of pacing that many modern “hardcore” platformers in the vein of Super Meat Boy trade for a constant flow. While those games have an addictive sense of instant-feedback and game feel, so does any well-crafted digital slot machine, the majority of which fail to tell any story worth experiencing firsthand.

Mega Man is the story of a blue guy who struggles tirelessly to assasinate one of his 6 evil brothers, before consuming that brother’s essence, empowering him to steamroll all the others by exploiting their weaknesses to one another’s power. Told wordlessly, this story matches exactly with that of a typical adult’s experience going back to the game they loved as a child looking for that “spark” (such an adult could, using more colorful language, be described as a “blue guy”) and subsequently realizing that said game is Mega Man, and that any meaning to be found within Mega Man lies guarded below layers upon layers of icefields, gun turrets, and even subterranean passages under icefields. WOW!

Yeah, what story was here got kind of mangled by the localization team. They tried too hard to turn something with the cute-yet cool appeal of the yet-to-revolutionize-marketing Pokémon into some GI Joe manliness measurement software (as though the title alone wasn’t “for boys” enough already). Mega Man is basically a tool for preparing children for adulthood, however. Within it’s “dated” and “backwards” game design are meaninful life lessons. The initial 6 stages go from hard to easy as you accumulate weapons. Similarly, one of the hardest parts of pursuing neaely any real-life goal is summoning the willpower to go from “doing nothing” to “gaining experience” to “actually making progress”. In physics this is called “inertia”. As my father would say “a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”. He would also sometimes say “ancient Chinese proverb” in a voice I assume he learned from television, so I never quite trusted him. I did, however, love playing Mega Man 9 with him (watching). He was a great coach despite not having played the game, I assume, because being good at Mega Man requires so many skills expected of a businessman (patience, willpower, and most importantly, keeping your cool under immense pressure). He also made sure to yell at me whenever my health neared 25%, so I would remember to use my E-Tanks. I was 12 years old.

Upon beating Mega Man on the nintendo wii’s virtual console (look it up, children of today, and despair at how good we had it, and when you’re finished despairing, cancel your nintendo switch online plan (unless you’re on someone else’s family plan, ideally a strangers’)), I was treated to a beautiful, humanizing cutscene, showing our hero’s armorless (he still has a t-shirt and pants underneath) return journey. Something about witnessing this robot child I’d, attempt after attempt, watched slowly transform into a perfect killing machine, go “home” with their hair flowing freely in the wind, struck me as inexplicably moving. I will attempt to explain it. As one grows older and faces the hardships of life, they accumulate layers of defense mechanisms, habits, emotional callouses, and other useful tools in the name of strength and productivity. Sometimes these tools are gigantic, snaking lightningbolts you painstakingly grind, frame by frame, through the presumed invincibility of the people you call your enemies. Sometimes they’re just a helmet your father made for you to wear so you won’t get hurt, possibly with the added benefit of hiding your messy hair, which, as your mother incessantly reminds you, makes you look like a homeless person. To “save the day” our impressionable child brains are shown, wordlessly, is to earn the right to let your hair down at the end of the day, to remove one’s armor as an unquestionably deserving member of the human race, with feelings that, finally, you can let flow beautifully out.

This is the game most people like best. It takes the aesthetic elements of the original game (rock music and shounen anime-style action) to a more extreme level, with striking color palettes, giant midbosses, 2 more bosses (a total of 8 new robot masters to fight), an overpowered rotating saw you can throw in like 7 directions that makes the most aggressive sound effect on the NES other than Dr.Wily’s ear-destroying alarm which hideously heralds in every one of his castles in every game. It also features what I once heard called the “most remixed song in gaming history” (a title which almost certainly no longer holds true), a timeless anthem made perfect with the lyrical cover Okkusenman, a cover which has itself been covered many times. No cover, no vocal performance, musical or orherwise, will ever match the level of sincerity that the pained screams of the original Okkusenman convinced me of when I first heard it as an 11 year old on my family’s iMac computer.

The game also features an iconic opening cutscene which employs text to summarize the previous game’s events as the “camera” pans up the side of a skyscraper in the year we’ve just been told is 200X, a year so baffling we can’t even discern whether it’s intended to be in base-34, or if the game is set 200 times some unknown variable years AD. At the top of this tower gazing down at the black void of the city he returns to after believing to have saved, is none other than our hero just as we left him, glorious black hair vibrating in the breeze.

Dr.Wily has created his own set of 8 robot masters, each designed via a fan character contest (which is an awesome idea you’d expect from a kickstarter game, not a capcom game), for the sole purpose of assassinating Mega Man back. Our hero must don the helmet once again!

Then you press start and play it. It’s pretty good. Much easier than its predecessor in the early phases. Lots of new level design elements are tested, some of which, like Quickman’s… deadly accordion tubes, were too “hardcore” to ever be attempted in any game since. Either that or they’re a tad rough. One strategy I employed repeatedly in this game is to simply run forward, unconcerned with whatever harm it may bring to my character. This would get you annihilated in the original, but works perfectly well for massive chunks of this game thanks to the level design and invincibility frames. I won’t pretend to know whether this was “intended” or not, but it works and feels oddly fitting for the Mega Man aesthetic to push straight through the pain (a bull charges into the storm, etc.).

The Wily stages are mostly gross, aside from music of course. There’s no Yellow Devil, but there are puzzles requiring specific weapons that have limited ammo, ammo that is often not provided by the level itself, and some of these puzzles require your ammo supply be nearly full, meaning, unless you get a series of very lucky drops, you often must get a game over to continue. Forgive my overuse of boldface, but I feel the need to stress the point as this issue will not be resolved until the main series’ sixth entry. This is why I not only condone, but highly recommend the use of save states for this game as well as the next several. The stages aren’t even particularly hard with the exception of these puzzles and the bosses (several of which operate as ammo puzzles themselves, including the final boss, whose stage is very short, but features no items or checkpoints).

The final stage is actually excellent. It begins with a straight drop down three screens; there’s no floor to speak of on the first screen. For those who haven’t played one, you fall very quickly in these games, and several stages feature segments where falling from the wrong horizontal position between screens can get you instantly killed, making this the level design equivalent of a jump scare. It’s also the only level to feature no music. The fact that, in actuality, nothing is even capable of hurting you during your fall, gives a feeling of unease, like you clearly should have died there right? So you’re basically living on borrowed time and surely something up ahead must rectify that soon. It doesn’t though, instead you slowly pass through a tight corridor where admittedly heavily damaging but easy to dodge blood drips from the ceiling. Blood? In a game about robots? You find yourself before the boss gate, and rather than take you to the usual pre-boss safe room, it spits you out into the black void of space, where a floating dr.Wily grotesquely transforms into an alien that, for some reason, is only vulnerable to bubbleman’s bubble-shooting weapon (forgive me, I forget the name, and am on an airplane, unable to look it up). Defeat him and get ready for more aural blood-letting; a horrid siren blares and the scene strobes out of existence, revealing the whole thing as some sort of hologram with the real Wily as the helpless man behind the curtain.

Then this happens:

I find it thematically similar to the ending of the original which I already expounded upon. That said, I like how he changes with the seasons, it has a coming of age feeling to it. I also love how Mega Man fights his battles in the techno hellscape city, but lives in a peaceful village on the countryside. It’s… wholesome.

Hopefully nobody is saying these games “don’t have” or “aren’t about” a story at this point. Forget anything I’ve said here, that cutscene alone proves “text” is not what makes a “story”.

I really hate what the American localization team did with this one. In their quest to make Mega Man as dark and hardboiled as childishly possible, they paint the enemies as (violent) labor rights activists and Mega Man as some kind of pinkerton come to stop the proletariat from rising up. It really grinds my gears. It’s like they played these games and tried to extrapolate as much as possible from the little details, without addressing the obvious emotional appeal at the series’ core.

That said, Mega Man 3 is still, undoubtedly, the dark one. Maybe the creepy alien stage in 2 was popular, I don’t know, but Mega Man 3 takes the neon greens, blues, and pinks of its predecessor, and smears all over it with hard, black, pixelated textures, and stark white steel platforms. Snakeman’s and hardman’s stages are pretty whimsical, but many of the other stages take place at night, in dark subterranean lairs, and not even ones under ice fields this time. Magnetman’s stage features unnaturally colored smog, geminiman’s stage has you blasting your way through what seems like a nest of fertilized alien eggs, and shadowman’s stage features intermittent segments where the lights go down and your dodging suicide-bombing grenade-shaped robots in pitch darkness. The music, in my opinion, is easily on par with the iconic Mega Man 2’s, if a bit less “epic” in tone. Mega Man 3 has plenty of rocking tracks, themes are more varied. Gemini and needleman’s stages feel downright perilous, and the game’s opening theme (the first song linked in this post) is like the grand, brooding 8-bit equivalent of The Beatles’ and George Harrison’s “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”.

Unfortunately this game is also the beginning of the end for a lot of people. Put bluntly, this game is the most padded in the series. Mega Man gets a dog in this one, and he is basically a “cute” streamlining of the platforming items in 2. Unfortunately the designers are way to proud of him, and so the accursed item puzzles from 2 are back stronger than ever, this time with at least a tad more ammo than you need. It still sucks to be deep into a long segment of riding your dog around, only to find that the run was doomed from the start because no, they weren’t going to give you the little boost you needed that time. You fight the mysterious “Break Man” in several stages, a midboss that feels like he’s preventing the game from having actual cool midbosses like the last game, even though he isn’t. He just kills you until you learn his pattern and then he never hurts you again. The fight still lasts too long. You also repeat half the original 4 stages. They have some new sections, and reused bosses from 2. It sucks, because the bosses in 2 are mostly beaten by spamming their weaknesses while they galivant around the arena wailing on you, only you don’t know which of the new weapons they’re weak to, so you have to die a few times testing weapons. Unfortunately the item puzzles turn each death into a game over because for some reason, they left out the checkpoint before the boss of needleman 2!! Sorry, but I will never get over this; it’s the reason I gave up on this one as a teenager, which is a shame because I would’ve loved the ending even more then.

The Wily stages in this game are the best so far. Yes they have item puzzles, but you know what, flying around on the rush jet is pretty fun. More importantly the bosses are difficult without being Yellow Devil or Dragon levels of hopelessness-inducing pain. On top of that, the visuals gradually get darker, more serious, and more muted, while the music does the same, eventually culminating in this excellent suspense building track:

The final boss proceeds without error and ends in Wily’s castle collapsing. The debris crushes Mega Man and Wily. We see Mega Man lying down, wounded, in a sprite the appears nowhere else in the series, and he is saved by breakman, who, after what is for this series a massive dialogue heavy cutscene, is revealed to be protoman. Upon hearing this, Mega Man immediately storms out of the lab and roams the countryside, searching in vain for the brother he, one can only assume, has always longed to know (especially after destroying all his others in the first game). His reasons for leaving the family are yet unknown, but as Mega Man gazes at the empty sky, one thing is clear, Protoman is out there; he might even be watching us right now.

I wept, like a child, at the saddest song ever written in 8-bits:

Just a quick aside, I did play the first of the gameboy Mega Man games. It was decent. The bosses are mostly reused, but the stages are unique. With there being so many games in the series, I don’t see a real reason to play this game today. The NES games are simply better from an aesthetic and narrative perspective. The selling point here is portability, but a difficult action game like this doesn’t work that well portably without a sleep mode or save file, it simply demands too much of your attention. Future spinoff games would reformulate the formula to work well on gameboy advance and nintendo ds.

It at least ends in space, which is always cool.

This game returns the series tone back to “squeaky clean Mega Man”. No sections reminiscent of the pre-boss areas in Killer 7, just “4 Megs” of “metal-mashing” action (yeah, they actually used to advertise the ROM’s file size). The major exception being dustman’s stage, with a song that starts out haunting and becomes a relatively average Mega Man 3 song (read: excellent). The stage is a massive waste treatment facility wherein you mostly climb around scrapmetal. The whole stage is black and grey with a few pixels of random color here and there representing random debris. It’s crazy to think there are the parts of the real world that look like this, and it’s a whole different kind of crazy to think that Megaman himself is a robot and will probably himself end up here when/if he dies. He’s basically climbing on corpses, which you more literally do in skullman’s bone-platform stage. I like the extreme color contrast of the bones with the blood-red sky, but the whole thing is so unrealistic that it mostly just feels funny and cool, not really spooky.

Anyway, my point is, other than dustman’s stage, this game is basically as bright, colorful, and pop as you can get. There’s even a brightman, whose stage has you running across rainbows through a sky blue… sky. Foreground and background elements change color, the backgrounds are more detailed, and nearly all the weird technical issues of yore have been smoothed over. It’s essentially Capcom using SNES-era technology to make an NES game that clearly outshines most of the system’s library in sheer style and playability. The next two numbered entries in the series will proceed to 1-up themselves using this same method to the point of absurdity.

When I say this is the “pop” entry in the series, I’m also referencing how easy the game is compared to its predecessors. It’s actually possible for a normal human, having played some ammount of the series up to this point, to beat stages on their first try, a feat that would have been nearly unthinkable in the original game. I personally love this. The original Mega Man is the biggest challenge to surmount, and every other game is intentionally and meaningfully different. Would the average diehard fan seriously call 2, the breakout hit of the series, a lesser experience because of its decreased challenge? Of course not. As with 3, some people consider this game to be the beginning of the end (I promise those are the only games I will attribute that secondhand title to in this retrospective), however that has more to do with the story than anything.

In short: Dr.Cossack is not Dr.Wily, but is doing more or less the same thing (causing urban mayhem with robots, particularly involving perfectly circular explosions on the sides of buildings that somehow don’t seem to do any visually apparent damage). Fly through his wonderfully Kremlin themed hideout (the easiest “castle” levels thusfar, featuring less item puzzles as well), and eventually get to my favorite level in the entire series, to which I have dedicated a much shorter twitter-tier post to.

Then you fight Dr.Cossack’s capsule machine and reveal that Wily had kidnapped Cossack’s daughter, Kalinka, and forced him to commit crimes.

This scene is surprising the first time you see it, not for any plot reasons, but because it transitions immediately from boss battle to dialogue cutscene without any kind of screen transition (eat your heart out, Final Fantasy VII). Then you do 4 trollishly frustrating Wily stages, some of which deprive you of pre-boss checkpoints. It’s as though Cossack represents the game’s more friendly sense of challenge, and Wily, the true evil, goes back to the worst of Mega Man difficulty. In execution, however, it feels more regressive than clever.

The game ends with a scene of Mega Man riding home atop a train. It’s pretty beautiful, and the music is somber and good. At the end he returns to his home in the country with Dr.Right and Roll (his creator and sister) there to welcome him. It’s a pretty sweet reinforcement of the Mega Man as salaryman parallel, seeing him ride the train home. It gives the impression that after saving the world 4 times, the game’s events feel like business as usual to our hero, and the end cutscene is, once again, his return commute from a long day at the mechanical skull-shaped office.

Overall this game falls a tad short of its full potential because though the graphics and mechanics are more refined, the twist isn’t very meaningful. Cossack never gets much characterization so it doesn’t really feel important whether it was him or Wily truly behind it all, and the ending also fails to surprise. It’s the first game in the series to feel like “another one of these”, and the sense of Capcom playing it safe is amplified in the eyes of many fans, perhaps unfairly, as an NES game released soon after the SNES.

That said, the game’s opening cutscene is excellent. It basically establishes Mega Man’s origin story as Rock, a lab assistant who asked to be converted into a killing machine in order to fight for justice. I really love this. It’s inspiring that Mega Man wasn’t born a hero; he chose to become one. It also makes all those past hair flowing scenes feel more meaningful, emphasizing the true discrepancy between his public and private faces.

I’m writing this section a few days after having finished the last section. The truth is, Mega Man 5 is the most functional game so far. It’s smooth like butter and sweet like milk. The easiest game in the series thusfar, Mega Man 5’s level design often feels generic. I beat several stages on my first try, loudly declaring to my friend in attendance “this game is fucking trivial!” upon annihilating my sixth robot master within what couldn’t have been even two hours.

A handful of stages make up for this by being drastically more difficult and unique than the others: Starman’s stage uses floaty space physics, waveman’s stage sees Mega Man riding the waves in an auto-runner style segment that controls unlike anything else in the series, and gravityman’s stage has points where the direction of gravity changes for Mega Man and his enemies a la Super Mario Galaxy, or Metal Storm, from which it likely draws inspiration. These stages alone nearly justify the game’s existence, but if you’re going to focus on new, innovative mechanics, why not do so using the power of the snes to create something on yet another level? This doesn’t mean much today, with both the consoles and these games being “outdated” and all the more charming for it, but I can empathize with a fan’s desire to see this series “make the transition already”. On the other hand, the game is really fun, and hey, isn’t a developer making their games available for people without the latest and most expensive hardware a good thing (Cyberpunk 2077)?

The story of this game is the weakest, even moreso than the original game’s. Protoman is acting like Dr. Wily. Treat him the exact same and get treated with a cutscene at the end of his castle wherein Mega Man refuses to fight his brother and nearly dies, before being saved by the real Protoman. The fake one was, of course, made by Wily, who must be stopped in his castle. The castle levels are extremely tolerable in this game, but lack the major stage gimmicks discussed above, and thus, like much of this game, feel a bit generic. The castle bosses especially feel generic, with “Protoman”’s being variations on the same normal-sized robot. The fights are effortlessly easy and forgettable. The game ends with Mega Man saving the day and being saved by the real Protoman again. Protoman then sinks off the screen, in a move that is legitimately starting to feel like pure shyness at this point. I mean come on, we know Protoman’s our friend by this point, why can’t he just, I don’t know, actually say hello for a change? Frankly this whole game’s plot is built on the unbelievable lie that Protoman was shockingly behind it all this time, but it’s just a more groan-worthy version of the last game’s twist with Dr.Cossack. The games in this series haven’t been 13 stages in length (as the back of this game’s North American box wrongly claimed it was), since the second installment. If they’re going to pad the game like this, they should make those extra stages fit the story, instead of writing a weak story to justify the added game length (especially when the added stages ignore the game’s most interesting new mechanics). It’s reminiscent, or perhaps a harbinger of, the worst modern day open world game plot-points (i.e. spiderman hiding 50 backpacks from himself over the course of years before one day deciding he needs them all back, etc.).

Actually, speaking of game-padding chores, Mega Man 5 is the first to offer a hidden power unlocked by collecting the letters in MEGAMANV throughout the first batch of 8 stages. Most are easy to find, but slightly difficult to get, offering a reward for taking on extra challenge beyond e-tanks and 1-ups, even though those items encourage you to take on the challenge more often, not being one-of-a-kind items. Also, the phrase MEGAMANV contains 2 letters repeated 2 times, which makes finding those letters occasionally confusing if you’re not paying much attention to the treasure hunt. I also think the exploration needed to find a letter you missed in a cleared stage is tedious and mostly aimless. It’s not super hard or anything, but Mega Man just isn’t the kind of game where I want to replay stages after beating their respective bosses; it saps the experience of it’s deadly tension and uncertainty, not to mention most of the fun in these games is in proving to yourself that you can, in fact, do it. Once “it” has been “done” the whole thing begins to feel a little toothless.

Overall I had a good time playing this one because of how quickly I could play through all of the new content, but I just as quickly moved on from the experience and forgot its details. What you see on the poorly-localized box is essentially what you get with this one, “secret” Wily stages or no.

Even so, this is pretty bold.

This is the entry most readers will likely be unfamiliar with, so I implore the crazed Rockboard-addicted otaku to please bear with me as I explain to 100% of this post’s audience (rounded up to account for the fact that the total views of my posts do not exceed 100) how it works.

It’s actually kinda cool. You have a functional monopoly-like 8-bit board game complete with options to trade, auction (egregiously the feature requiring use of the second controller port on the NES; I un- and then re- plugged my single controller for those breif sections), and offer properties to other players. It actually feels quite impressive, given the console’s limitations. Additionally, one character may build property (labs) on another character’s land by paying the landlord, causing them to share profits. It’s a clever system, with many levels of development, and the strategic considerations of which plots you do or do not need to completely own (merely owning a lab or plot neighboring another of yours will raise the value of each).

The game also features many playable characters, none of which, insultingly, are Mega Man or his cool brother with the sunglasses. As the Mario and Luigi of this series, it makes no sense not to include them. The explanation I came up with to allow myself to enjoy the game in a state other than pure, blind, unrelenting, confused rage is that this game is about what the series’s other characters get up to while the boys are off saving the world. Each character has their own unique dialogue upon witnessing or participating in certain in-game events. You see them constantly, but the game’s “fast” text option more than lives up to its label. I’ll break down each character and who I imagine they were designed for below:

Dr.Right - Trying to bring peace to the world with his inventions and occasionally giving gifts to players who land on his spaces. This one’s for dad. Helping the other players fits his character and therefore is a really sly way of applying a handicap your children can look up to, instead of feeling coddled by. He’s so polite and adorable. I felt bad when beating him.

Roll - My character of choice. Her goal is to build hospitals, and her lines really emphasize that she’s doing this solely for those less fortunate than herself. This is the best choice for mom, even though she’s a robot child (there are NO adult women (man or machine) in the series up to this point. Her property effects are neutral.

A quick aside: I like that the above two characters play what is nearly modern day monopoly with altruistic intentions. Like, yes, they might financially ruin the Kalinkas, Cossacks, and Wilys of the world, but hey, in this world real positive change takes money. It’s not politically perfect or anything, but it’s better than whatever you can ethically surmise from Mario Party.

Dr.Cossack - Basically playing normal monopoly. Essentially a self-interested character who still gives you a chance to roll again when you land on his space. He wants your money, but he’ll help you out in other ways because in his mind he’s still a good guy. I can’t really imagine anyone wanting to play Cossack unless they wanted to play a boy and the others were taken, or Right was taken and they don’t want to play a villain. Maybe your atheistic teenage brother who actually wants to be a scientist would choose him.

Kalinka - Not even advancing a career, just amassing money and building castles to feel like a princess. I guess this is my house-flipping mom? Can’t really see anyone wanting to play her other than maybe a young girl or series fan who was fascinated with her inclusion as such a minor character. I do like that she’s here, and she adds a little chaos into the mix by transforming other players into robot masters that have special powers, but no ability to buy property they land on.

Dr.Wily - Taking over the world as in any Mega Man game. He’s the only one literally trying to establish a monopoly, and his spaces can drain an extra 300 zenny from you. I kind of like how playing the easy character also makes you the game’s villain, but I imagine the kind of player that chooses Wily would suck to play with anyway. Probably an obnoxious brat with something ever-so-slightly wrong with them. The kind of kid your parents make you hang out with because they just can’t accept your 11-year-old brain’s earnest revelation that other people just aren’t worth the time of day. You wish you could just play as Rockman in this Rockman game and kick his ass like an awesome hero already.

I didn’t get the chance to play this multiplayer, but I will give my opinions regardless. The beginning of the game is too slow and makes you feel like the game will last forever, but because the game ends when a player earns enough money (an appreciated change to the formula) and the rate of money-earning increases exponentially, the proceedings will end in a manner that feels sudden to the winning player (“things were just getting interesting!”). The other players will probably be pretty out of it at that point, as their doesn’t seem to be much opportunity to make a major comeback, but it’s hard to tell, since I only played against the game’s less than incredible CPU players. I also really dislike how many items and transformations in the game take down the other players, rather than giving the user a boost. That and the way the new character Reggae laughs at the last-place character after the winner is announced gives the game a mean-spirited edge that is the opposite of what anyone should want from a party game.

That’s basically the game. It’ll probably make everyone slightly less bitter than monopoly or Mario Party, but also feel the need to discuss why you keep insisting on playing as Kalinka or why your little brother would rather play as a hideous supervillain without an ounce of coolness than the only iconic playable robot character in this Rockman game who just so happens to wear a dress.

The final installment of the series on famicom/NES, Mega Man 6 mechanically perfects the formula while essentially disregarding the series breif history of hard-hitting cutscenes. I encoutered no bugs and only once experienced what I would call an “oddity” of programming. I joyously annihilated the game without the use of any save states, and still found the overall level of challenge greater and more consistent than the previous game’s. The new Rush-Adapter powers change your platforming and combat abilities without consuming ammo, allowing the game to actually vary the platforming by requiring their use without being infuriating. There are also many optional paths through this game’s stages which make use of the adapters. That and the indication of which stages contain collectibles on the menu solve Mega Man 5’s aimless search problem, and make finding the secrets quite fun. The animation and sound gives the common enemies more character than previous entries, and the internationally-themed stages provide a sense of aesthetic diversity beyond its predecessors. Flameman sounds like a rehash, but his stage is Saudi oil tycoon themed. Centaurman is insane. He teleports, disappears, stuns you, and shoots what look like fireworks just over your head. His stage takes place in the city of Atlantis, begining above the water, diving into it, and ending in the city itself, with the water (and its physics) above you. It’s a great twist on the usual water stage, and had me laughing and smiling quite a bit.

The story is the same-old Cossack twist for the third time, with Mr.X, who claims to have been manipulating Wily all along, revealing himself to actually just be Wily. This is the worst iteration of the trope because it actually lowers the stakes for the final castle. At best it makes you more annoyed with Wily, and want to put a stop to him for good just so he’ll stop preventing these games from being more interesting. You sort of maybe do that because the epilogue shows a newspaper declaring he’s in prison now. It’s sort of a bland ending except for the hilarious scene wherein Mega Man chases the helpless doctor to some comically frantic and breif music.

And then it has a sequence showing tihe game’s robot masters which goes on way too long. The last few games had similar sequences, but they were more appropriate in length. Either way, I’d much prefer seeing the series recurring characters, even if it’s just in a tiny slice of life scene. It would bring back the sense of releif games 1-4 so righteously bestowed on players in their endings.

IN CONCLUSION:

The Mega Man series had 7 installments on nintendo’s first video game home console. The intellectual property rights to all these games belong to Capcom. The people who made these games claimed to have worked their hardest to outdo themselves. Their efforts were rewarded with funding for sequel after sequel.

I enjoyed these games enough to write this article in part because I have a nostalgic connection to the series which helps me appreciate its best qualities. I played all of these games because as a middle school kid, I discovered the Mega Man guitar cover scene on Youtube and decided that classic Mega Man was the epitome of hardcore and something of intense, head-banging, tear-jerking, childhood-defining importance, despite my only experience with the games at that time being a laggy port of Mega Man 2 on my flip phone. I vowed to someday play them, and now I have. It was not the best use of my time, and the sleep I lost staying up all night to finish games 2 and 3 caused me to feel depressed during work, and my performance suffered. At the same time, my respect for Mega Man’s tireless effort in the service of the greater good in those early games despite the difficulty of the road ahead, and the fanmade album embelishing and re-telling the series’s story The Protomen inspired me to quit that soul-sucking job and pursue the more socially-just career I had imagined when I first became interested in the series. They’re not perfect games, and they make you experience a real kind of loss when you lose, the loss of real world time, wasted. However, that wasting of time is a tool used to drive home the game’s emotional and thematic experience! It makes you realize just how much you value your limited time on this Earth. However, you only get that out of Mega Man if you really take it in and think about it, as opposed to enjoying it as a superficial distraction until you get frustrated or “bored” and go play something you can turn your brain off and either “excitingly” overstimulate or “relaxingly” understimulate yourself with.

The people who love Mega Man love it so much because we are the kind of people who get deeply invested in our entertainment. We get deeply invested in our entertainment because we find it fun to play with our brains on full blast, as the original game’s difficulty demands of us. We enjoy difficult video games because we want to be in the habit of pushing our limits, but still feel we occasionally deserve a break from the harshness of reality and from the work required to make it better. The most zealous of us might even say that pretending to be heroes who overcome great adversity and oppose evil at every turn makes us more likely to try our best to do good in the real world by aligning our minds with the mindset of the character before bed each night. I am myself the most zealous of said fans.

Being the change you want to see in the world begins with acknowledging the desire to see said change, and the best art helps draw out the best in us.

All else is distraction.

~suoly