Dr. K's Waiting Room

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January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history, “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 and Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000’s birthday on January 12. Accordingly, I’m dedicating January to celebrating sci-fi in an event I call “Sci-Fanuary”.

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Released: 22 July 2022
Originally Released: October 1995
Developer: Capcom
Also Available For: Arcade, GameCube, GameTap, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series S 

A Brief Background:
Created to be Capcom’s big debut in the home console market, Mega Man (Capcom, 1987) was a big hit despite its excessive difficulty and, by 1995, the Blue Bomber was a staple of Nintendo’s consoles, with no less than twelve different titles available. At the same time, the arcade scene was as popular as ever thanks, largely, to Capcom’s game-changing 2D tournament fighter, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991). Before long, fighting games swamped arcades as developers and publishers sought to have a piece of the action, though Capcom remained at the forefront of the genre. Unlike in later years, when Capcom seemed reluctant to make new Mega Man games, we got this relatively obscure fighting game in the mid-nineties, one that garnered largely positive reviews despite its simplistic gameplay. It was followed by a sequel the very next year and enjoyed a healthy post-arcade life as it was ported in numerous home console collections, most notably in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, which is the version I’m reviewing here.

The Review:
Mega Man: The Power Battle is a 2D, one-on-one tournament fighter in which players pick between the super fighting robot Mega Man, his mysterious “brother” Proto Man, and edgelord anti-hero Bass. Two players can choose to play simultaneously, teaming up against Doctor Albert Wily’s refurbished Robot Masters, and you can pick one of three different story paths to play through, with each one boasting different Robot Masters and therefore different obtainable Special Weapons. Regardless of which character you pick, they all play the same and have the same attacks, though they’re visually very different. Mega Man attacks with his patented Mega Buster, Proto Man carries a useless shield and has a flame effect to his shots, and Bass fires purple energy. As far as I can tell, there are no other differences between them (although Proto Man seemed like he was a touch slower). Your primary attack is unleashed with A; you can hold the button to charge a more powerful shot and fire mid-jump, but there’s no ducking or directional attacks here and you can’t string together combos. X offers a rapid-fire setting to your attacks, the speed of which you can customise from the main menu, while B lets you jump (with you jumping higher the longer the button is pressed) and wall jump off the sides of the arena to avoid damage. You can also press down and B to dash across the screen, and switch between your Special Weapons with Y. Special Weapons are obtained by defeating Robot Masters just like in the mainline games, and just like them they’re tied to an energy meter. If you’re defeated in battle, you can choose to continue (pressing in the right-stick as many times as you like) and even switch characters, returning where you left off with full health and weapon energy.

This version of the game offers quite a few options to the player, from adjusting the game’s difficulty (though it’s pretty easy, overall), changing the borders and filters, switching to the Japanese version, rewinding the action with the Right Bumper, creating save states, and even enabling an invincibility. However, Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium has nineteen Achievements to earn (which are further represented in the game as “Triumphs”) and these will be deactivated if you use the invincibility. Not that you really need it with infinite continues and the rewind, and with the game being so easy. Whichever route you pick, you’ll be taken to a world map and must select which stage and Robot Master to challenge on a roulette wheel. You then have as long as 99 in-game seconds to defeat your foe in a one-round match that basically amounts to an arcade remake of previous Robot Master boss battles. Any damage you take carries over to the next match and you’ll obtain your foe’s Special Weapon, as well as a score tally, upon victory. As in the mainline games, each Special Weapon is effective against a different Robot Master so it can be useful to time your button presses on the world map to make things easier on yourself. Depending on which route you pick (and, potentially, the game’s difficulty), you’ll face different Robot Masters and the stages will even change. The time of day will be different, elements in the background will have changed or, in Gyro Man’s case, you’ll be chasing your foe in a bit of sidescrolling action. There are no stage hazards or in-game power-ups to concern yourself with, with the exception of Magnet Man causing his arena to raise as you fight and the ability to score extra points for avoiding any damage, which will in turn put you higher on the high score table.

Mega Man: The Power Battle sees you battle Robot Masters from the first seven Mega Man games and acquire their signature weapons. Each has a very similar attack pattern consisting largely of jumping, hopping, or stomping about and firing their weapon, though some also charge at you or suck you in. Considering your limited move pool, this means that your overall attack strategy will be to dodge their projectiles and pepper them with shots, either a charged one or a suitable Special Weapon, to make mincemeat of their health bar. Each Robot Master gets a signature intro, both before the stage and before the round starts (such as Cut Man literally cutting his way through the background and Wood Man dropping down in a log), and most are pretty simple. I had little issue powering through Ice Man’s Ice Slasher arrows or Guts Man’s Super Arm that sees him tossing boulders, though Heat Man represented a tougher challenge thanks to him being invulnerable when on fire and immolating you to cause continuous damage. Similarly, Wood Man and Magnet Man erect elemental shields and cause leaves and magnets to rain down, respectively. Gemini Man duplicates himself and fires a ricocheting shot, Plant Man spawns pellet-shooting minions and also has a shield, and Cloud Man summons lightning bolts to electrify the ground. As mentioned, Gyro Man was probably the most unique regular battle as the stage auto scrolls as you fight. Freeze Man peppers the ground with icicles that are all-but impossible to avoid, Turbo Man (not that one) charges as a racing car, and Slash Man is easily the most agile foe, dive-bombing you and slashing when you’re up close. Shade Man stays in the air firing ring blasts and sending out little smoke projectiles, Dust Man spits a cube of trash and draws you in with his cannon, and Crash Man tosses explosive Crash Bombs that can be tricky to dodge.

Once you’ve bested the six Robot Masters, you enter Dr. Wily’s fortress and fight either what seems like two versions of the Yellow Devil or this funky pumpkin robot. The Yellow Devil is a gigantic, slow foe who can only be damaged by shooting its eye. It’ll jump about, squash you with is hand, explode into fists or balls, or split itself into three smaller forms. Just target the eye or its exposed core, cycling through your Special Weapons, to cream it. Similarly, the pumpkin robot is invulnerable when closed up and fills the screen with projectiles when open, but it easily bested by pummelling its inner core. Dr. Wily battles you in a three-phase final boss at the end, with players receiving different endings for each character. In the first phase, his robotic fists will fly at you, flick you, or defend or deflect your projectiles. In the second, he floats up high and sends buzzsaws your way, and in the third you have ten seconds to finish him off as he teleports between pods. Successfully finish him and he’ll beg for mercy; but fail and he’ll escape, though you’re victorious nonetheless. Visually, the game looks great; there’s a short introduction that showcases the playable cast, and the different endings all boast big, cartoonish sprite art and ludicrous translation errors. The game’s music features remixes of classic Mega Man themes and character sprites change colour when you have Special Weapons equipped, as you’d expect. Although the stages are quite empty and small, they’re very detailed and change depending on which path you pick. You’ll see a big robot whale coming up through ice, robotic crows, Dr. Wily’s take on Jurassic Park, and even battle in the clouds. The time alters depending on your path and you’ll also be placed at different points: you fight Guts Man on a busy highway of a futuristic city and can see cars racing by in the foreground, but you’re right in the middle of the road when you come back here to fight Turbo Man, and Dr. Wily’s background can either be a rushing tunnel or a weird psychedelic vortex.

The Summary:
There really isn’t a whole lot to Mega Man: The Power Battle, hence the short review. The game looks great, with sprites being big and colourful arcade-style renditions of their 16-bit counterparts and the stages, though simple, changing up depending on which path you take was a nice touch. I also liked that the final bosses slightly changed with each path, though I didn’t notice the difficulty of the Robot Masters altering all that much. The game is very easy overall, to be honest, but I’m not really that bothered by this as sometimes it’s fun to sit down and have a quick gaming session with a fun title. However, those expecting a Street Fighter II-level experience will be disappointed. Gameplay is ridiculously simple, with no combos, counters, or blocking involved. Instead, you’re simply dropped into an arena and face off against a refurbished Robot Master, essentially giving you an arcade rendition of the early games’ boss battles and not much else. It’s cool that you can play as the different characters and team up with a friend, but I barely noticed any differences between them, which was a shame. It’s also weird to me that this wasn’t ported to home consoles at the time as it might’ve been found a home there, especially on the Super Nintendo. Ultimately, while Mega Man: The Power Battle is a fun-but-brief experience, there’s not much else happening here and, oddly, the Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium doesn’t even include Achievements specific to this game, meaning you can plough through it in about an hour and be done.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Have you ever played Mega Man: The Power Battle out in the wild? Which story path was your favourite to take? Were you disappointed that there wasn’t much distinction between the playable characters? Which of the Robot Masters do you think got the best glow up? Do you think the game suffered by not being a more competitive experience? How are you celebrating the science-fiction genre this month? Whatever you think to Mega Man: The Power Battle, share your thoughts below and check out my other Mega Man reviews across the site!