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For Love of the Game: Rockman 7 FC

Posted by Peter Smith

Most people agree that the Mega Man series went downhill around Mega Man IV. I'm with 'em. But Mega Man IV, V, and VI are pretty great all the same, which is more than you can say for Mega Man 7. Boy, do I hate Mega Man 7. Some people say Mega Man 7 is good, but they are charlatans with no taste. Everything got cutesy all of a sudden, the music sucks, and the feel is completely off, probably because the character sprites are so big that there's no room to maneuver.

Luckily, some enterprising soul in Japan put his programming (and art and music) skills to the test, and came up with Rockman 7 FC, the greatest thing I've seen all week.



My God. It is beautiful. It takes the raw material of Mega Man 7 and makes it, you know, good. This is pretty much the definition of "for the love of the game" — you can just feel the love here. I can just imagine this guy, overcome by love for classic Mega Man, properly disgusted by Mega Man 7, desperate to see things right. Just like me, except a dedicated craftsman instead of a bitter old crank. Look at the dedication and care that went into these perfectly-styled 8-bit graphics. (My sole complaint: this is actually a Windows-based game, not an actual NES rom hack... but that would be a lot to ask.) And if you want more evidence of the love on display, note that the Shade Man easter egg, which played the music from Ghouls N' Ghosts, is intact — 'cept this time it plays the music from the NES port of Ghosts N' Goblins. I'm almost crying over here. The best part of it? Apparently this same guy is working on an equivalent reverse-port of the equally loathsome Mega Man 8. If you're excited about the retro-styled Mega Man 9, you owe it to yourself to check this out. It's like a classic Mega Man game just dropping out of the blue.

Previous For Love of the Games:
Outcast 2
Street Fighter One
Metroid II Remakes

Related:
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 1
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 2
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 3
Mega Man 9 Goes Back To Your Roots. Way Back.
New Mega Man 9 Trailer: I'm Drowning in My Childhood
Don’t Call It Retro: Mega Man 9 and Design Resurrection


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Scypher said:

This is delicious. All of this retro-revival is making me a very, very happy Mega Man fan.

July 20, 2008 11:15 PM

random_dude said:

This is an awesome retro 8-bit version of MM7, but what's wrong with liking the original, Peter Smith? Since YOU don't like it, that means that others are at fault for thinking it's a good game? Give me a break. You make it sound like MM7 was as horrible as "E.T." for the Atari 2600 and "Superman" for the N64.

All in all, it sounds like the typical drivel of a "hardcore" fanboy that thinks that a MM game is only great if it only has 8-bit graphics.

August 3, 2008 11:33 PM

Peter Smith said:

Hey, go ahead and like it! Just know that I'll be spending my day thinking, "That guy random_dude? From the internet? Man, does he have shitty taste."

But for the record, the 8-bit graphics aren't really the point--it's all about the control and space on the screen. (Mega Man X has 16-bit graphics, and it mops the floor with MM7--and 4-6, really.) Take a look at this screenshot comparison:

hooksexup.com/.../mm7comparison.JPG

The MM7 FC screen "breathes"--it has room to move and a sense of open space. The MM7 SNES screen just feels cramped.

August 4, 2008 12:39 PM

random_dude said:

So, as long as there is enough resolution, the game will automatically win in your book? It's as if all those things you said about SNES MM7's "cutesy" appearance (like the series was never meant to look like that in the first place) and music were thrown out the window... right. Guess it doesn't take much to know why you also hate MM8, minus the resolution.

August 4, 2008 5:35 PM

John Constantine said:

random_dude, don't listen to Peter Smith. The guy thinks every single game made after 1992 is bad.

Any game that lets you use Protoman's shield rules.

August 4, 2008 5:56 PM

Peter Smith said:

Hey random--can I call you random?--why would those other complaints go out the window? I stand by those too. And the "meant to look like that in the first place" argument is irrelevant. Just because George Lucas turned out to be a no-necked dweeboid with godawful taste who would've made Star Wars a ridiculous CGI circus back in '77 if he'd had the chance, doesn't mean that Star Wars as it originally came out was bad. Once the work's out in the world, it exists apart from the creator's intent.

August 4, 2008 5:56 PM

random_dude said:

@ John Constantine

I couldn't agree more. There are many fanboys like that out there. First, they hate a MM game with a passion and when an 8-bit NES-style version of it is created, it rules? Give me a break. All I hear is them complaining about the resolution and music. What about the gameplay? In the long run, gameplay is the only thing that matters.

Many of these so-called "hardcore fanboys" believe that the music sucks in the original MM7 game, but now that it's in chiptune format, it's legendary. They eat it up. Completely bias.

The "cutesy" appearance... that's a very stupid reason to hate MM7. You might as well hate the Classic series as a whole, because overall, it is a very cutesy series intended for young children. Keep in mind, anyone can enjoy it, but this series is cute no matter how much graphics the games are in.

August 5, 2008 1:52 AM

Peter Smith said:

No no, the graphics have a direct effect on the gameplay--because when the sprites are as big as they are in MM7, it changes the sense of space in the screen. You have way less room to move around in the SNES MM7 than you do in this fan remake. And in a series that's all about obstacle-course-style platforming, that makes a really substantial difference.

As far as cuteness, Capcom might have "intended" the early games to be very cutesy, but there's just not that much cutesiness the NES can deliver. Again, you can argue about what they intended, but it's really beside the point. (Things only got worse come Mega Man 8, when our hero was given the yelping voice of a small Japanese girl... but maybe that's another story.)

As far as the music, obviously the composition of the MM7 tunes doesn't change in bringing them over to NES format, but I do think the change in instrumentation makes them slightly less cloying. (Though they're still no favorites of mine--Freeze Man's theme sounds like the mall at Christmas.)

August 5, 2008 11:13 AM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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