Rockman: Minus Infinity Minimalist Challenge - Ring Man

Rockman: Minus Infinity copyright PureSabe, who's well on his way to finishing what may become the finest Mega Man romhack ever made. As it stands in its current form, it's already close.

A link to the hosted patch: http://www4.atpages.jp/borokobo/zip/Rock4mi_110514.zip

A link to the patched ROM, for convenience: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QEO1ZQ05

A link to an informative fansite for the uninitiated: https://sites.google.com/site/rockman4mi/

***

Welcome to the Rockman: Minus Infinity Minimalist Challenge. Odds are high you've never heard of that title, and outside of my immense appreciation for it, that's exactly why this challenge was done; to showcase something entirely different from what you're used to seeing. Despite being four stages away from completion, this is the most ambitious, impressive romhack I've personally come across, and it uses its canvas to craft an entirely fresh and transformed experience pertaining to the Mega Man name. If you've ever looked at a peculiarly sparse mechanic, wondered why another has been so absent, or imagined the marrying of concepts from across the series, Minus Infinity uses it, crafts it, or combines it, and pushes past the expected and into accomplishments beyond the scope of an NES engine. Its technical wonders are serviced by its level design and outright dizzying bosses. If you've any love for the spirit of romhacking or what true creativity can breed when applied through the ambitions of that spirit, you owe it to yourself to watch what Minus Infinity has to show you.

As with Rockman 2000, I'm going to employ a minimalistic approach to expose the baseline makeup of this hack from the fluidity of its gimmicks to the consideration in its layout, and leave it to your scrutiny whether its myriad ideas overshoot its quality. During this, I'll attempt to convey at length my own reasons for selling Minus Infinity so highly, while acknowledging the moments it shoots too high. Whether you come away from this viewing appreciative or condemning of the hack itself, I can guarantee you'll at least come away surprised.

***

Because I feel Minus Infinity is worth more words than YouTube allows, I've written the commentary for these levels elsewhere, so I might link them here. Click the following links for my usual ruminating.

- Overview -

http://pastebin.com/68qSfva2

- Ring Man -

http://pastebin.com/5HkvRR9N

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Mega_Man_4
• Minus_Infinity
• PureSabe
• romhack
• Minimalist_Run
• Mega_Buster
• No_Damage
• Ring_Man

[MeatWisdom]

Mike Dawson would shit his pants if he saw this.

[HideofBeast]

I'd like to think there's some empathy between Mike Dawson and Ring Man.

[ZeroVersionTwo]

Actually, nevermind. It does indeed make use of the MMC5 expansion chip.

[HideofBeast]

This would explain a lot. It's still mighty impressive, though.

[RandomVideoDump]

Commentary again one day?

[Paratroopa1]

@HideofBeast Given that Ring Man misses every ring in this video, maybe Ring Man IS Mike Dawson.

[Batmaaaan23]

if you touch those colored beams of light, do you automatically die, or is it just a damaging hit?

also, pretty sick play through! no damage taken? =P

[AStandsForFrench]

@Sneaky1711 he clearly evolved into Missingno

[ZeroVersionTwo]

@HideofBeast I would be impressed if this saw some kind of physical cartridge release, though I'm not so sure how much a board with MMC5 would cost to produce.

[ZeroVersionTwo]

There has to be an expansion chip driver included in this ROM. I'm listening as closely as I can and it seems to me like there are parts where the square channel leads of the music aren't interrupted by the charge sound effect. Mister Hide, do you have any idea if this is true?