Mega Man VII (SNES) - Part 1

I reckon Capcom are great at Action game such as Final Fight, Mercs, Devil May Cry, and Monster Hunter. Also Mega Man. To be honest i'm not huge fans of the blue bomber because the main feature of using correct weapon on specific robot masters seems tedious or frustrating rather than interesting. But hey! I can change. We're still in new year nuance afterall. So i dare myself to do something entirely new: playing Mega Man VII (1995) on SNES. 

I know it's staple that Title Logo on Mega Man is lying like that but i immediately think about another Capcom's game: Captain Commando that also has "sleeping" title logo. If you think that i'm entirely new to Mega Man that's fairly incorrect. as i played Mega Man 1 to 3...on Mega Man - The Wily Wars which is remake of those Mega Man games on Sega Genesis/Megadrive. :p   

Finally, Dr. Wily is taken into custody. He's handcuffed with chained handcuff held by none other than Mega Man himself. Dr. Wily obviously doesn't like being dragged like common Japanese thief and also he hates flashes from reporter's camera. His eyes are highly photosensitive.      

 

But Dr. Wily has backup plan! Knowing that he will fail (from his experience 6 times), He had 4 robot masters hidden. 6 month later after his capture, they're activated automatically and set off to rescue their evil creator. Thus Mega Man VII happens.  

 

Here's the Mega Man that we know and love, wearing his usual construction hard hat. Of course not, the stupid Auto (who drives the car) gives him wrong helmet and Mega Man's response is awkward silence. He's very patient man for not suddenly bursts in anger. Because the terrain is bad, Mega Man continues his journey on foot.

 

Naturally, the evil doctor with similarity to Albert Einstein breaks out of his prison. If this what's the best they can do to contain Dr. Wily then this city has some serious security problem. As per usual Dr. Wily wiggles his eyebrows mocking us.

 

The control is simple: D-pad to move around. "B" button to jump. "Y" button to shoot. Sadly, there's no option to change this controller setting if you don't feel comfortable with this scheme. It's quite a shame that "A" and "X" button are unused. I like my control scheme to be in horizontal line like in most Sega Genesis game rather than vertical line.

 

Then i encounter Mad Dozer that trampled some Mets. This dude doesn't have sympathy program toward his fellow Dr. Wily's robot, apparently. I have hard time to dodge his spike hair because it moves fast. If i streamed my playthrough instead wrote it like now, you would be laughing at my performance in real time, right now.

 

Bass and his wolf pet Treble are here too. He claims that he's on his way to stop Dr. Wily while Mega Man is gone presumably resting luxury cottage that he deserves for all that heroic service. Either's Bass did awful job for letting Dr. Wily gets away or he's lying because -you know- he's one of Dr. Wily's creation.    

 

After the prologue level, i'm whisked to usual Robot Master's level selection. There's 4 of them like told in prologue but this doesn't feel right because normally there's at least 6 Robot Masters in every Mega Man. No, the DOS game doesn't count! I like that Robot Master with small battlement as his head so i choose him first. His name is Burst Man.  

 

Chemical flask on the background! Because i dislike chemistry lesson, i regret my decision to play in this level. There's the bombs that will begin to countdown if i step or nudge their switch. They're unusual platforming element, i reckon.

I find my first energy tank! It's near bomb but thankfully the explosion is small enough that i can dodge it within this narrow space. Energy tank is portable item that can fully heal Mega Man. It's activated in pause menu.

 

There's scorpion robot as sub-boss. The real danger comes from spike above and because Mega Man is under water, his jump become floatier and he may accidentally jump into the instant death spike while dodging the sun-boss' attack. Check out this charged Mega Buster! It looks like Hadou Ken. Ryu must feel proud of Mega Man. Mega buster can be charged by holding down "Y" button. But i feel like it's not worth the effort because it has relatively low ratio of charged shoot damage/charging time. Or maybe because i'm too impatient for this mechanism. 

 

Because this is Mega Man game, there would be "memory block platform". You know the staple of the series. A series of block that will appear and disappear within limited time and you have to memorize them well in order to get pass this hazardous terrain.

 

In this watery part, i find "R" icon which i have no clue what's this for because there's no description about it in the game. I'm very new to this game so i have right to consult to internet. According to megaman.retropixel.net. If i collect R, U, S, and H plates, i will get Super Adapt which is new spiffy armor for Mega Man. Medic_mvm_loot_rare02.wav

 

Here's the Burst Man himself. He likes bubbles and by Jove he will utilizes them against me. Maybe Burst Man is used to be humble bubble blower merchant but no kids ever interested in bubble toy in age of robots so he choose to fight for Dr. Wily. His bubbles don't hurt Mega Man but the explosive ball within them that do the hurting once they burst. He also has bubbles that can trap Mega Man and make him float toward instant kill spikes above but you can burst the bubbles with your mega buster.   

 

As the tradition of Mega Man, he will get the weapon from the defeated Robot Master. So he gets "Danger Warp" from Burst Man. Why it's not called "Bubble Wrap" that seems more appropriate? Because people may mistook it as that protective layers on your delivery goods. If you are childish / iseng like me, you will pop them right after unpacking the good. Yeah, that fun stuff. :p

 

I should pick someone who is weak to "Danger Wrap" weapon. Because i play the game blindly, i rely on probability instead. There's 33.333% between these 3 Robot Masters that dislikes "Danger Wrap". Maybe Junk Man? Bubble is often identical to cleanliness and i reckon Junk Man is dirty bastard who hates cleanliness in any form.

There's roach robots complete with the mound of garbage as their spawning base. I immediately think of Gauntlet Legends.

 

I was about to say this section is mandatory elevator in Side-Scrolling Brawler game but this is Mega Man game! So Mets with propeller in their helmet fly from random part above and they shoot bullets diagonally left and right. I got to say that they're quite adorable.

 

Here's the Junk Man himself. He's tall robot who like to pull junks using his magnetic power and throw them at me. Bad news to me is: he's not weak to Bubble Wrap so i have to settle with the standard weapon: Mega Buster. In one of his routine he pulls a big pile of junk and shoot it forward. I find this attack is hard to dodge thanks to how big the junk pile is. The only way that i can think how to dodge it is by summoning Rush the helpful robot dog and use him to jump higher because he can be temporary spring. This is called Rush Coil.

 

My reward for defeating the Junk Man is Junk Shield. Thank you, i guess? I believe whatever Robot Master i choose, there's 100% possibility that they're weak with what weapon that i have stolen from their deceased friends: Bubble Wrap or Junk Shield. On to Cloud Man's stage which immediately reminds me of Air Man's stage what's with stage above the cloud and wind turbines. This Teru Teru Bōzu robot turns upside down when i shoot it and the weather becomes rainy. Demoman_sf12_badmagic11.wav

 

There's ladder that too high for my standard jump so i use Rush Coil and i arrive at this room where i meet Protoman that gives me hint that some weapon application can reveal secret area. Scout_thanks02.wav     

 

I want to befriend this fans robot. No. More like i need to. Because my official dorm has terrible room temperature. It's stiflingly hot and there's so much what second hand old air conditioner that we have, can do. I'm sure this big guy can solve that problem. I wonder what he need to sustain his energy. More than 100 kWatt electricity, perhaps? But sadly, he's my enemy and like other Dr. Wily's creation, he's destined to die by my cannon.  

 

It's Cloud Man's turn. Through simple trial and error, i found that he's weak to Burst Man's weapon. There's explosive inside the bubble but that's not what hurts Cloud Man. The bubble trap him and after flying high enough it burst and he falls then he gets hefty damage. If he had legs, he wouldn't fall so hard like metal weight in Looney Tunes cartoon. Dummy!

 

Next opponent is Freeze Man. I can't tell he's narcissist because he's looking at us while stroke his chin, thinking he's too handsome to die. We will see about that.

 

As you expect from Freeze Man's name, his level is ice themed. Hey, i find Rush Search which is power up that summon Rush and he proceed to search item on landing spot. Also i found the "H" plate in previous hidden section.

 

Eventually, i encounter Freeze Man. He likes to move around while making ice stalactites that will fall on me. Because he moves like monkey with their on fire, Junk Shield that rotate around me seems conducive in this case. Surprisingly, he's weak from getting hit with junk that i summon. Maybe because he's narcissistic thus he feels immense pain and deep embarrassment from getting hit by junks especially when he intentionally run over me who's covered with them.  

 

Once i cleared those 4 Robot Masters, Dr. Wily stage an attack on the robot museum and steal the famous Guts Man! You probably think that defeated Robot Masters on previous game are in terrible fate like ends up in junkyard but no. They're nicely displayed on robot museum. That sounds nice but that facilitate Dr. Wily to retrieve some of them whenever he feels need to.  

 

But that's not all of them. Dr. Wily sends this joker robot against me. I mean he has fashion of clown and he's totally a joke! He's very easy to defeat. I shoot his head off then he jumps around and occasionally pick his head then i shoot his head off again. Rinse and Repeat. Shoot his head enough time and he will be destroyed.

 

Now i have more 4 Robot Masters! The real Mega Man begins...on next part.

2021 Review

Happy New Year 2022, reader! Sorry i'm late to write this 2021 review because right before new year, i broke my keyboard's laptop. I'm so ashamed and furious to myself. I also get new job which is boon but also curse because i'm surrounded with bastard with bad vibe and it takes dozens of my time which is why i write less article often from April. But 2021 isn't total flop. I get some earning and i buy myself Monster Hunter Rise for my own birthday present. Looking up to the view counts, i see that there's spike view counts on some article as opposed to evenly distributed view count like in previous year. So there's no multiple most-viewed article with same view count. Thus i can assume that i get more readers besides the regular for year 2021 and that's make me pretty happy. So, without further ado here's the usual 12 Most Valuable Pictures and Top articles.

I) MVP (Most Valuable Pictures)

1-3. Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded-(PC)

Basically, i'm cheating here because the review is in 2020 but in my defense i manage to finish the game on a year after that. And my reward is Rinnosuke Morichika's reference to his own genitalia. If i were still controlling Reimu Hakure, i would kick Rinnosuke's crotch immediately for saying indecent thing to renowned Shrine Maiden.

 

On the other hand, there's this gorgeous victory screen. I can see Reimu says "I'm fabulous!" there. She has right to be smug like that because we manage to defeat that bloody boss. The key to succeed is simple: leveling up our equipment more! Nuff said.

 

The next chapter feels like New Game + to me because the main problem is sealed within the ball but that doesn't mean it's over yet. The Kourin Tower now have underground level so this time we descend to (literal) dungeon Diablo style instead of ascend the tower. Also the culprit is Utsuho Reiuji now, i mean she's get possessed by the demon or whatever foul entity is that. The situation become worse because she's more dangerous compared to Rinnosuke Morichika because she has nuclear power while Rinnosuke is just pacifist shopkeeper and item appraiser. But i get new partner now: Satori Komeiji who's the master of underground palace and she's willing to help me to find one of her pet who is none other than Utsuho.

Anyway, i have quick travel feature now from Hakurei Shrine and i can see good look of terraformed Gensokyo. Not going to lie, Kourin tower looks pretty amazing there.

4. Mass Destruction (PSX)

Obviously the cover of Mass Destruction is MVP. I'm in love with it when i saw this brutal yet beautiful cover art. They said "Don't judge the book by its cover" but Mass Destruction gameplay also as wonderful as this cover art. I'm very glad that i eventually play it.

5. Day of The Zombie (PC)

As i get my hand on metal pipe, i feel Mayor Mike Haggar's power course through my veins and my courage renewed. I no longer fear of zombies instead they have right to fear as you can see her trembles before me. Heavy_specialcompleted05.wav.

6. Nekketsu Oyako (PSX)

Final boss has final form is not surprising. But when he turns into Super Hero-like, my mind is blown big time! Demoman_sf12_badmagic10.wav.

7 . Guardians / Denjin Makai II (Arcade)

Then there's these enemy cannon fodders that make pose of Sentai style. This game precedes God hand by 11 years. Medic_positivevocalization02.wav

8. Command & Conquers Generals (PC)

I fancy this parade of Battlemaster tanks. Too bad that the scale of the tanks are questionable if compared to those civilians. Also huge explosions happens that destroys them all. Talking about rain on someone's parade. But it's not rain of water, it's freaking nuclear blast!

9. Call of Juarez (PC)

You can find hidden wanted posters of the developer staff and they're quite amusing to read. It seems this guy like to be sniper in Multiplayer FPS. I can't judge harshly this person because i like being sniper too. :p 

10. Curse of The Dead Gods (PC)

 

I sink deeper into this hardcore roguelite and i really like it. At some point i unlocked and bought Gusting Glaive which is sword with charged attack that can unleashes wind slash projectile Anime style. Spy_positivevocalization03.wav

Do you notice that there's controller's button symbol above the weapon slot? That's because i'm playing the game with controller. The gameplay become significantly different than using keyboard and mouse. By using controller, manual aiming is not accurate but switching weapon is more intuitive and fast. Plus there's auto-lock feature activated by pressing right analog joystick.   

11. Garou - Mark of The Wolves (NeoGeo)

It's another SNK fighting game but it's the friendly one what's with simple special command and sensible boss fight. Also there's Bear in Karate Gi sparring with Khusnood Butt and this gif captures that stupendous moment.

12. Metal Slug Defense (PC)

Lastly, i pick the epilogue screen of Metal Slug Defense where the four protagonists throw their handgun into open sea. Peace forever!

 

II) The Top 12 List

12. Action 52 (Genesis) - Part 2

The popularity of this collection of jank games, is pretty high thanks to Angry Video Game Nerds. So it goes naturally that this article become fairly popular. The game that i like the most in this part is probably Apple Seed where i take control of old farmer who's pretty athletic given he has to run left and right to catch falling apples. Plus, he can jump as high as three times his height. He must be former Olympic Athlete.     

11. Rats - Time Is Running Out (PC)

The game is about thieving rat that steals riches to give them to the poor and some for his own upgrade. Even with simple control of direction only, the game is fun and sophisticated. The puzzle on every map is well made with interesting combination of features. Also the difficulty curve is pretty shallow and friendly. This game get my recommendation.

10. Thunder Force III (Genesis)

This bastard plane is the bane of my interest on this game. The boss itself is not so difficult, the difficulty lies within the way to the boss which is overlong and unnaturally difficult. Even so, i'm glad that i met Thunder Force 3 when i was kid. I really do. It's famous horizontal shoot em up made by Techno Soft. I like the simple yet valuable feature of firing backward and selecting ship's speed. It's quite beautiful moment when i finished the game even with virtue of savestate. :p    

9. My Top 100 Sega Genesis/MegadriveGames - Part 1          

 

I said that i will write about "Top 100 Games" article in 2021. I'm man with my word and i did it...only 1 article though :p

I hope you have big patience, because i didn't know that making this kind of article is much harder and more time consuming than the usual article of 1 game playthrough. The big reason of that because my inconsistency toward the list itself. Nevertheless, i will eventually finish the list and i will make other with different console. Please wait patiently. I mean very patiently.

So the most top on the article #91 is Jurassic Park, it's platformer game with shooty action. If you take account of ammunition management, the game can turn into Survival Horror kind of. The main enemies in this game are Velociraptors that can get back into chasing you if you defeat them unless killed with rocket and Tyrannosaurs that instantly kill you if his jaw make a slight contact with you. Even with intense difficulty this game fun. Moreover how can you resist this idiotic Triceratops that can do nothing to make me get off his back other than moving back and forth.      

8. Mass Destruction (PSX)

 

Golden era of Sony Playstation 1 is swarmed with 3rd Perspective Action game either starring human with gun or any vehicle. Then Mass Destruction does its best with angled top-down perspective and it's so freaking magnificent. It proves that a game doesn't need to follow trend to be awesome. Maybe MD can become 3rd Perspective shooting game but it's fine as it current state. It's simple yet terrific game to play!  

7. Gauntlet Legends (PSX) - Part 1

I'm certainly outdated to know Gauntlet Legends only recently. People who knew it from long time come around to this blogger and feel the nostalgic renew within them. Good for them. I also having fun playing this first "modernized" Gauntlet game. Really having fun on it. So much win for everyone!

6. Streets of Rage 4 Characters Tier List (PC)

Streets of Rage 4 still going strong especially with recent DLC so no wonder many people like to see this Tierlist of mine. But unfortunately, it is outdated because it lacks of new character. Therefore i revise it now.

Shiva, has air combo and able to knock enemy into the air better. He's certainly better than his Streets of Rage 3 counterpart. Thus i put him in A tier right after Streets of Rage 2's Skate and before Streets of Rage 1's Axel. He still refuse to use weapon, i mean he doesn't want to grab it and later swing it. He now swiftly punt it forward. One doesn't have to swing metal pipe by Mike Haggar's teaching, immediately throw it as impromptu projectile is fine in my opinion.      

Max, has faster attack speed than his Streets of Rage 2 counterpart albeit with less attacking power. But i can survive better as him. I think his movement speed also improved. He now has big slam that can conjure thunder strike, executed by grabbing his enemy from behind and press forward + attack button. His heavy attack and blitz attack can hit enemies that lie on the ground. Because how much improvement he get, he's on A tier too. I prefer him over Axel and Blaze from Streets of Rage 4.

Estel, is interesting. Her heel drop kick can hit enemies that lie on the ground and i like to exploit that more and more. Her grapple is very different than everyone has. Instead of vaulting over her opponent. When i press jump button while Estel grab her opponents, she swiftly switch her side and if i press it one more time she throws them far by using centrifugal force. Much like Shiva, Estel has great ability to chain her moves. Her offensive special is she charge forward and when hit enemies, she mounts them and give them punching barrage UFC style. An you can chain it to enemies that bounce mid-air. Due to unusual grapple mechanism, Estel is in lowest priority at A tier. But she's still in A tier, mind you.

Roo, has similar grapple system with (any) Skate minus throwing while in the middle of vaulting. He's not as fun as Skate simply because he's less agile. His blitz attack is weird where he brakes from his running by skidding with his own head and he hits anyone with his entire upside down body. The blitz attack doesn't knock enemy away upon hit which makes it pointless. The only good thing on Roo besides the fact that he may or may not related to Roger from Tekken 2, is his back attack which is stabbing backward with his tail. It's the second most fun back attack before Skate's backward somersault. Also his star move is he summons his evil handler: a killer clown with whip. I'm more than happy to spam that star move. For that, he's on higher priority of Floyd at C Tier.

5. Soul Nomad & The World Eaters (PS2)

I think Nippon Ichi are famous for their RPG and the fact that many people read Soul Nomad & The World Eaters article may proves it right. It's unique Tactical RPG but it's way too complicated for me. Although the premise is interesting where a boy with sword possessed by badblood demon has to take on 4 Juggernauts that can destroy anything with their laser cannon (not related to Captain America and The Avengers). That's rather unusual JRPG story, i must say. Also the boy has cute and bit imbecile childhood friend that happens to be moe anthromoph of cow what's with her small horns and cow bell necklace.

4. Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Arcade)

 

Maybe these peoples like to me suffer through this hardcore platformer game. No way they want to see some trick or tips on playing this game. I'm not that skillful, you know?  

3. Guardians / Denjin Makai II(Arcade)

It's pretty usual that lots of people want to see the special anniversary article. Guardians / Denjin Makai II is the best non-Capcom made Sidescrolling Brawler game in my mental list. It has unusually big replayability for arcade game. It consists of 5 stages and 3 out of them are branching into 2 selection. 8 Characters to choose from. Vast moveset. They all what makes the game has high replayability and wonderful.     

2. Nekketsu Oyako (PSX)

 

Apparently lots of people like to read about a game where a family on their quest to rescue the housewife who's also (not so mad/crazy) professor. Or maybe they get interested in this game because it's made by Techno Soft that's more famous on making shoot 'em up rather than sidescrolling brawler. It's fairly good sidescrolling brawler but unfortunately it has limited continue. If you like ex-wrestler, pick Rando the father. If you like guy with lightsaber, pick Toratarou. If you like to bounce between enemies with big middle finger, pick Rio.    

1. Ghosts 'N Goblins Resurrection (PC) - Part 1

 

Maybe these peoples like to me suffer through this hardcore platformer game. No way they want to see some trick or tips on playing this game. I'm not that skillful, you know?

Wait a second! Did i say that before? But this game is also Ghosts 'N Goblin game. So the main problem is similar. It's 2D platfomer game with cruel design but there's no flaw on basic mechanism, for example: hit detection.

Funny thing is the second/final part of this article is nowhere in top list. It seems i'm naturally bad at making sequel of an article. See also Gauntlet Legends. Another funny thing is it's another Capcom game that get to read the most besides Street Fighter in previous year.

Anyway, i can't recommend people to buy this game because it's not worth it. Believe me. Maybe there's someone who cancel to buy this game because of this article. Then i'm glad to help them to not spend money on very tedious game. Even with new weapon and magic, it's still not fun game.

 

So what can i say for the epilogue of this article? Again, i apologize for the late writing and publishing the articles. I hope i can do it more frequently for year 2022. I said that i want to write article about PSP or NDS games in 2021 but it didn't happen. Sorry. But at least i write several PS 1 games and i finished Ghosts 'N Goblin Resurrection. That's certainly worth something. Maybe i can make amend about PSP or NDS game article in this year. Who know? God knows.

Lastly i like to congratulate you to survive up to this date in the middle of bloody pandemic. I remember a warrior with Leopard head name Guin from Guin Saga, said that "Keep your hope up because that's what human do" or something like that. So do that in this long trying time that's all my advice. Thank you and good bye for now! :)