Rockman 2000 copyright Kuwata, someone I hope to see more projects by someday. He's made a keeper with this one.
A link to the hosted patch:
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/98/
A link to the the patched ROM, for convenience:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q8BIM2H7
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This is a rather odd series from me and isn't going to represent a trend. Romhacks already saturate YouTube. The reason I'm showcasing this one is because it's the ubiquitous example of what I consider the point of romhacking to be: taking an existing game and improving/expanding upon its shortcomings and its under-explored elements. It's to create something fresh out of the familiar. This philosophy extends over into professional design as it pertains to a series, and is something Capcom themselves seem to forget time and time again during their uglier moments.
Rockman 2000 is a mark of serious ambition and mostly ballparks what it sets out to do, which is present Mega Man 1, in my opinion an important but dated experience, as it might have been with a full exploration of its concepts. As with any ambitious project, sometimes that ambition clouds quality control, and there are a few black eyes to what's otherwise a knockout piece of game design. Regardless, and especially considering the fact that it emerged during the early stages of romhacking itself, this is a beautiful success and stands on its own with some of the better official entries into the franchise. It expresses rather poignantly how integral an earnest effort and measured vision are to the value of a product, irrespective of the money and manpower thrown its way. There are some companies out there who'd do well to appreciate a truth like that during all their over-budgeted rehashing.
This isn't an LP proper: rather, it's a continuation of my usual approach (which is to say, I use only the Mega Buster outside of necessary weaponry and take no damage), mostly because I feel that kind of methodical playstyle better exposes the consistency (or lack thereof) of a level's composition, of enemy placement, of boss patterns, and otherwise. The simplicity (not ease) with which I was able to pursue a blight-free path through most every obstacle in this game while still feeling the difficulty and tension its situations presented speaks volumes about the thought that went into it as a cohesive whole.
As is almost a guarantee when so many inventive takes on existent mechanics are present, exceptions to that consistency do occasionally emerge, in ways that transcend the natural frustrations of how I'm playing and extend to misfires by anyone's standards. Still, expecting a completely perfect execution is unfair, and frankly, is something non-existent in the best of Capcom's own entries. Like the best of them, though, the overall impression one takes away from Rockman 2000 after a thorough play through is one of imagination crossed with prudence. It's quite the triumph for a single designer working with the skeletal engine of what was to be refined into one of the most timeless series in gaming.
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Let it be said that putting primarily vertical stages in platformers without the mobility to navigate them fluidly is one of the stupidest ideas to ever become popular. There's nothing overtly wrong with a vertically oriented experience. Rather, it can offer level designers entirely new venues of construction for an otherwise restrictive engine. But that engine needs to support such an effort, not hinder it. Otherwise, as with the dull treks presented in Elec Man and Crash Man's respective stages, all you're offering is a lazy handicap to a player's control. The second option, as is demonstrated rather affably here, is to incorporate the engine you've been handed into the plotting of your design and as a basis for your ideas, rather than building in spite of it.
A good deal of Fire Man's Rockman 2000 stage deals with MM1's obtrusive ladder mechanics by giving you glorified freedom over your entire screen. The forest of ladders disguised as a lattice are at times helpful against and at times augmentative towards the threat of the enemies littering the stage. Hell, at one point it's even employed in a clever death-trap that uses MM1's slow screen-scrolling to give adequate warning. These and the other stages' level-specific strengths combine well with what will become a general accomplishment of the hack, more in tune with MM3 than MM1: using its roster of foes in clever, cruel conjunction with each other and the terrain without overstepping into tedium or unfairness. Well, usually.
Fire Man himself demonstrates Rockman 2000's typical approach to altering its bosses: a small change to AI behavior, terrain or a boost in attributes that goes to much greater effect than it might suggest. Some bosses retain their very abusable exploits, usually just in modified fashion. Others leave you entirely at the mercy of their new tricks. Fire Man, as you can tell, is of the former company.
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Mega Man Ultra Music 14 - Metal Man - Fire Man and Guts Man remixby superkeenenbell1,295 views
How did you trap Fireman in the corner like that? Does he always fire whenever you jump or something like that?
adejobi1000 8 months ago
He fires when you do.
HideofBeast 8 months ago