Street Fighter X Mega Man is a fan project brought to life and with this fan project came a much a needed revival to the Mega Man franchise. The game accomplishes successfully closing out the anniversary of Street Fighter and starting the Mega Man one with a bang. You can see why the name is what it is based on everything just said. The game mostly succeeds and is a great things too see. The future of Mega Man may be safe yet, but what is a fun game is simply over way too quickly.
You are treated to eight new master robots or excuse me, “World Warriors”, that Mega Man has to of course defeat and take shier powers. If you have played any Mega Man game before, you know exactly what to expect here. What makes this experience different is that you see this version of classic Mega Man with brand new music that changes between 8-bit themes of the Street Fighters themselves, or clever mixes of other classic Mega Man tunes mixed with such 8-bit Street Fighter themes. The music is a strong point for the game, and was fan-made as well. Fans of both franchises will be treated to great level design and somewhat of a challenge. This Mega Man game in particular will have you doing things you did not in any other classic game such as Dhalsim’s level that offers somewhat of a maze experience, climbing ladders not just straight up or down, and bosses that chase you the whole level. Real treats await past the initial eight bosses. As far as the bosses go, they may seem a bit frantic and complex at first. Once you get past the fact that each boss will from time to time throw a super move at you and you have the proper boss order, as mentioned before, you will get through this pretty quickly.
I’ve mentioned the length of the game now twice. It is rather short for two reasons. For one, it’s about the length of the original Mega Man or Mega Man 2 as opposed to the later games that would have a castle, then another castle leading up to Dr. Wily. Because of this, the decision would be made to not have a save system, nor a password system. The other problem is that the game was toned down in difficulty in comparison to Mega Man 9 or even Mega Man 10 that had it’s moments. When the novelty wears off, it will be easy to dismiss this game as a tease for what it to come for the Mega Man franchise. With all that being said however, this game is worth trying out if for no other reason than because it’s free.
You gain the ability to slide and charge shots again, which were missing in 9 and 10 respectively, and they are very welcome additions considering how crazy some of the stages and bosses are upon first playthrough. I have no doubt that fans will enjoy this game, but at the end, a feeling of being underwhelmed and wanting more are a very likely possibility. The only real incentives to go back are to try and unlock the “Secret Boss” or to play each level with a special code that enables you to listen to a cleverly named track called “Goes With Everything”. Luckily, it seems that Mega Man is indeed back and hopefully this is the start of good things to come throughout the Blue Bomber’s 25th Anniversary.
Have you played Sonic Mania? It’s a neat little game that captures the joy of what it was like to play a console game that wasn’t Mario. It’s truly a love letter to a decent game made by people that really love that game.
Kevin of Paranerds writes : "You know what we love? Crossovers. Either in movies, TV Shows or comics it doesn’t matter, as long as we see a characters that’s not supposed to be in a universe make a cameo or appearance we get all giddy inside. I think that’s why we loved The Avengers, knowing all those characters from different movies share the same universe is awesome. The Simpsons will crossover with Family Guy this coming Sunday and that’s the first time in a long time I’m looking forward to a new Family Guy episode. Video games are no strangers to this either as there have been a number of crossover titles. Characters showing up in other games or even just easter eggs or cameos, it’s fun to see them let alone have a game based on the concept of a crossover. There have been a lot of these games. Some we’ve never heard of. But regardless here are the Top Ten Video Game Crossovers."
This week on Indie Arcade you’ll see a familiar blue bomber fighting a street fighter (or 8), a spaceship sim, and more!
"Classic Mega Man returns. Is it worth it?"
It was free. So yes, I think it was a good purchase.
Indeed. That being said, I'd likely pay for this on PSN or XBLA as well. Now especially with it being updated to V2.