Hello everyone, and thanks for playing! ^_^

Now that the massive Mega Man 4 update is out of the way it's been a little easier to add new content to the game. I can't promise going back to weekly updates, but at the very least monthly updates should be plausible with major changes/features and then small bug-fixes and tweaks throughout the weeks. The first of these slightly-smaller-but-still-awesome updates was uploaded last night and I'd like to tell you about it. :)

A basic overview of the features was posted here by Searinox after he discovered them himself, and there were also a few minor bugs with the update that I needed to iron out when I got home today, but everything should be good now and there's a lot of fun new stuff to play with. Let's get started!

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New Abilities

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Light Buster / Wily Buster / Cossack Buster

These three new abilities are actually slightly-less-powerful clones of the existing Mega Buster, Bass Buster, and Proto Buster. Why add them if they're just clones, you ask? Because they can be used by regular robot masters! Aside from Buster Shot and Energy Break, standard robot masters do not have access to any damaging Neutral Type moves. Well, now they have one more! MM1 robots can be equipped with the Light Buster, MM2 with the Wily Buster, and MM4 with the Cossack buster. These abilities function exactly like their counterparts, just with slightly less power.

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Rising Cutter

The Rising Cutter is a powerful new Cutter type ability that Cut Man learns at Level 5. This ability is tier-two and requires 8 weapon energy, but with perfect accuracy and high damage it's well worth the cost.

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Ice Breath

The Ice Breath is a unique new Freeze type ability that deals damage and prevents the opponent from switching for up to nine turns! The Ice Breath replaces the Ice Slasher as Ice Man's first level up ability and the effects of the attack can really interfere with one's battle strategy. The Ice Breath can only be removed if the user comes into contact with a Flame or Explode type ability, otherwise the user will have to wait the full nine turns (or be disabled).

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Danger Bomb

The Danger Bomb is very powerful Explode type ability that Bomb Man learns at Level 5. This ability's higher-than-usual attack has a drawback, however - the user takes recoil damage equal to 50% of the amount dealt to the target. If you have other robots on your team and you need to pull out a trump card, this ability can be extremely valuable - otherwise it may be too risky for most to even consider equipping. Use at your own risk.

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Thunder Strike

This new Electric type ability replaces the Thunder Beam as Elec Man's first level-up ability. The Thunder Strike is a straight-forward attack where the user summons a cloud above the opponent and drops a lightning bolt to inflict damage. This ability has 100% accuracy, making it an asset when equipped to one of your robots but a threat when used by the opponent.

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Time Slow

The Time Slow is a new Time type ability that Time Man learns at Level 5. The Time Slow takes one turn to charge, but when released it slows down the opponent's entire team and decreases their speed by 20%! What makes this ability potentially more useful than one like Speed Assault comes from its typing - when used by the right robot on the right field, this ability's effects can be multiplied to deal up to 60% speed damage to your opponent's entire team!

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Updated Abilities

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Super Throw / Super Arm

The Super Arm and Super Throw have both been updated and their order in Guts Man's level-up list have been reversed. The Super Throw is now Guts Man's first ability and functions as you would expect - the user throws the target to the bench to deal damage and force them to switch to another robot. The Super Arm on the other hand has changed slightly and it now takes on the type of the current field to becomes a (super cool) dual-type ability. Super Arm blockades can only be destroyed by Explode-type abilities, so keep that in mind when planning your attacks.

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Ice Slasher

The Ice Slasher has been upgraded to a dual-type Freeze and Cutter type ability and is now learned by Ice Man at Level 5 instead of Level 1. With this upgrade comes increased damage and the added type means better weakness coverage and many more robots can equip the ability.

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Fire Chaser

The Fire Chaser has been given a second type and is now Flame and Swift. The abilities effects and damage remain the same however - the ability deals double damage if the target is slower and half if its faster.

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Thunder Beam

The Thunder Beam has also been upgraded with a new type and increased damage, making it yet another dual type ability. The Thunder Beam is now an Electric and Laser type ability and is now learned by Elec Man at Level 5 instead of Level 1.

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Copy Shot

The Copy Shot has been given new artwork and had a few bugs fixed that allowed it to copy hidden system-related abilities. The power of the ability has also been increased and instead of being a level-up move for our heroes it has been converted into a player reward for 3750 points. With the new ability AI in this update the Copy Shot will prove to be very useful, and I hope everyone will try it out early.

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Other Updates

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In addition to new abilities and tweaks to the old ones, a few mechanics and campaign tweaks have been added.

First off, all charging abilities will no longer require twice the amount of weapon energy to use. Once you charge the ability, raise the blockade, power up the shield, etc. that ability's weapon energy cost will be dropped to zero. This lowered cost will stay in effect until your robot releases the ability of has it forcibly removed. This should gives abilities like the Mega Buster, Super Arm, and Leaf Shield the extra edge needed to compete with the other single-turn abilities and I'm glad I implemented it.

And secondly, the ability AI for robots in the single-player campaign has been upgraded. The exact abilities target robots use will now depend on their level and how many times you've defeated the mission. In addition to a robot's level-up and support abilities, special weapons from other robots and campaigns may appear if a core-match is found. This means the Cut Man mission in Light's campaign may occasionally use Needle Cannon or Ice Slasher at high enough levels, and you might even find a Guts Man using Oil Slider.

This may seem jarring at first, but I assure you these updates will make the final game much more fun. Having all these different abilities appearing in battle should make gameplay more thrilling and give greater purpose to the Copy Shot ability.

I hope you enjoy the new update. :)

Now that the big Mega Man 4 update is complete and all the key features and functionality have had their bugs ironed out (as far as I know), I would like to formally request a little help from the community in the form of videos - specifically Let's Plays. At the very least I guarantee a subscription to your channel and you can obviously advertise your link here in the comments.

If anyone is interested and knows how to make Let's Play videos, I would love any and all that you could possibly create. I've taken great pleasure watching the videos from Blade Wolfe as they help me see where mechanics are and are not working, where people are getting stuck, what clever tricks or strategies people come up with, what parts of the game are confusing, bugs that they may not notice or report, the list goes on and on.

I obviously cannot pay anyone, but it would be greatly appreciated if anyone is interested and would help a lot with both bug testing, new features, and of course a bit of advertisement. :P I do not care what your level of talent or experience is either, all are welcome and all will be watched - you can even be mean and critical in the video because it's all helpful in the long run!

Thank you to anyone who is interested and I look forward to any submissions or even just questions / comments. ^_^

EDIT: It's important that I mention Let's Play videos should be of new game files. If you have to create a secondary account and do not want to reset that is okay, but I'd prefer people to see the proper mission order and progression and those of us who have been here for a while have slightly messed up unlock order because our early access. That being said, if you still want to do a video but don't want to reset your game that's okay - just please specify in the description or something that your account was created during the alpha phases and the experience may change for new players. Thank you!!!! :D

The update should be ready within the next few hours, and when I'm uploading the changes to the website (you'll know it from the maintenance message) nobody will be able to access their game or log in for a few hours. Because of this I ask that nobody access their accounts again until I say they word else you might lose progress in your game file. I will update this post once the update is actually live and everyone can use it to comment, but until then please be patient. So excited and thank you all for waiting! :D

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The update is now live and appears to be working without too many bugs or issues. There were a few abilities that didn't make it in time and there are many robot quotes/classes that I've yet to copy over, but for all intents and purposes the Meganificent Update is finally complete and ready for everyone to enjoy. I will write up a lengthy post of all the new features at a later date, but right now I just need some sleep. >_>

Please play around with the new features, missions, and characters and let me/us know in the comments about all the stuff you find like/dislike/etc. I want to see how much you guys can figure out on your own - changes and/or new features - before I give you the answers and tell you how to unlock everyone. :P I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think!

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Now that I've had a week to recover from the long, grueling process that was this update I can finally post about all the new features and fix any bugs reported over the week. I'm pretty sure I've fixed all the ones reported so far (and I'll respond to the appropriate threads later) but if you notice anymore please post here or in the Bugs forum. :) Other than that, please let me give you a list of the new additions and feature to keep you eye out for in this update:

Mega Man 4 Update : Key Features & Additions

1. Bass has been completed and added to the main game under Dr. Wily's control
2. Dr. Cossack is now unlockable and Proto Man has been transferred to him from Dr. Wily
3. Rhythm, a new support robot, has been completed an added to the game under Dr. Cossack's control
4. Roll is now unlockable in Dr. Light's game after experiencing 1 failure
5. Disco is now unlockable in Dr. Wily's game after experiencing 2 failures
6. Rhythm is now unlockable in Dr. Cossack's game after experiencing 3 failures
7. All Mega Man 4 robot masters have been completed and make up Dr. Cossack's campaign, thanks to Sean Adamson
8. The structure of campaigns for all three doctors has been changed and all mission progress had to be reset
9. The main campaigns of each player have been shorted, and all story-related dialogue has been removed for the sake of brevity
10. Players and their missions are now unlocked in rotating order to make progression more interesting
11. Each player's mission start off at different levels, meaning Dr. Light's game is easiest and Cossack's hardest
12. The Bonus Field mission is now dynamic and the level of appearing robots is based on your current lineup's
13. All three hero robots have been given two more level-up abilities with varying usefulness and power levels
14. Robot masters can now only be unlocked by defeating them on their home field with only neutral abilities
15. Item drops now occur immediately after disabling a target and not just at the end of battle
16. The items a target may drop is dependant on the stage it is fought on with tougher stages yielding better items
17. Defeating a target in one hit will double the chance of that target dropping an item
18. Items can be used immediately after they are collected in battle allowing for more strategy
19. If a target is defeated with more power than required, you will earn overkill which increases experience points
20. Each of the three support robots now specialize in a different ability type, and the field boosters have been given to the doctors instead
21. Roll now specializes in Boost and Support abilities, and when she uses them she can aim them at any of her teammates
22. Disco now specializes in Break and Assault abilities, and when she uses them she can aim them at any of her opponents
23. Rhythm now specializes in Swap and Shuffle abilities, and when she uses them she can aim them at any of her opponents
24. All robot master fields now have their own unique type of mecha that appears in the background - no more Mets!
25. Mechas from the background can now appear in battle and each have exactly one ability they'll use against their target
26. The mechas that will appear in a stage are not shown on the main menu anymore and are more like "random encounters"
27. Mecha abilities cannot be copied using the Copy Shot, but a special ability called "Mecha Support" allows you to summon your own
28. All robot master field mechas come in three varieties called "generations" which appear in different colours with different power levels
29. The generation of mechas that appear in battle are randomized based on how many times the mission has been completed, getting more powerful
30. Fusion fields, naturally, will have mechas from both base fields appearing in battle, allowing them to appear together randomly
31. When using Mecha Support, the type, generation, and level of the summoned mecha are randomized and based on the current field conditions
32. The three Mega Man Killers have been added to the final stages of the game, one for each doctor, but do not have unique abilities yet (sorry)
33. The final battle that contains an 8vs8 now has the robot master order shuffled to keep it interesting
34. Mission victory and failure results are now tracked in detail and records can be seen by hoving over the mission in the main menu
35. Robots in Attack/Defense/Speed break will now recover at 1 unit per turn when on the bench
36. Robots in the active position automatically recover 1 unit of weapon energy per turn, but robots on the bench recover 2 units
37. Robot mugshots have been removed from the leaderboard and pages have been separated for website loading speed :|
38. All field multipliers have been revised to be more interesting, thanks to Brorman
39. Completing the intro field more than 8 times in any campaign will no longer unlock Met, but something else...
40. Robots and players that appear on the field not have shadows! Hopefully this isn't too resource intensive...
41. Robots now "rotate" backwards when hit by an attack based on kickback values for more (cartoon) realism
42. Benched robots now take reduced damage when by hit an attack based on their distance from the attacker - the farther away the target is the less damage the attack will do


Aaaaaand that's all I can think of at the moment. I'll update this post if I can think of anymore changes, and thank you all for playing!

Like the previous thread on Robot Classes, I also need help filling in the quotes for the remaining robot masters. You can come up with quotes for anyone in the game that isn't an end-boss or obviously story-related, and if I like it I'll update the database. All robot masters are fair game, but I'd prefer we prioritize the robots listed on this chart:


Each robot requires four quotes (start, taunt, victory, defeat) and you can provided as many or as few as you want so long as you provide the robot master's name and which type of quote it's for. I would like them to follow the same style as the existing quotes but you shouldn't be scared to have a little fun. The classic series is very lighthearted and kid-friendly - let's keep it that way. Also, if you can work in a pun of some kind go for it - the cheesier the better. :P Just post your ideas in the comments and let's see what happens!

I think I'm going to start a series of these "devroom" posts when I need your opinions on things - I really like when the community gets involved as you guys have given me such great feedback already. Suggestions, bug reports, sprites, stats, everything has just come together so well and I'm so thankful. :)

Adrian Edit : This thread is no longer necessary and is being locked, but I'll re-open it again if the need ever arises. Thank you to everyone who submit quotes!

As you may have noticed when browsing the Robot Database, many robots have been given a "class" similar to the species classifications in Pokémon. Just like Pikachu is the "Electric Mouse Pokémon", Proto Man is the "Renegade Prototype Robot". They are strictly flavour text and have no effect in-game, but they're fun and I like them. :)

You may have also noticed that many do not have one yet, and that's simply because I haven't had the time. As a result I would like to ask the community for help with coming up with the rest of them. Review existing robots to get a feel for the style I've used thus far, and try to mimic it for the other robots from MM3+ that do not yet have one. They must all be three words, including the word "Robot" at the end. The first and second words can be hyphenated combinations (like "Speedy Oil-Slick Robot") if it makes sense, but try to avoid it if possible. Also avoid re-using words from other robots if possible - we want them all to be fairly unique.

If you have any suggestions for existing robots that do not yet have one (from ANY game), simply post them below and if I like it I'll update the database. Thank you SOOOOO much for any help you guys can provide. :D

  

As I'm sure many of you were expecting me to implement one day, I have finally implemented Weapon Energy into the game and it completely changes the strategy and flow of battle. I have wanted to add this particular mechanic for a while, mainly for balancing reasons, but I wanted to make sure I had it just right before added it to the game. Well, I think I've finally reached that point! :D

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From now on every robot's "Energy" will be split into two parts and both will be shown beside the robot's mugshot during battle - their Life Energy (appears in green) represents their life force or "HP" in other games while their Weapon Energy (appears in blue) represents their weapon ammo or "MP" in other games.

The mechanics of Life Energy remain unchanged, but Weapon Energy is now consumed every time you use an ability. All robots have exactly 10 units of weapon energy and different abilities require different amounts of energy to use. When a robot has run out of weapon energy, it should switch out for another robot. In the event that robot cannot switch, it's only option is to wait for weapon energy to recharge. Weapons recharge at a rate of exactly 1 unit for each turn that passes, even if the robot is on the bench unless that robot is on the bench in which case it recovers at a rate of 2 units.



Every ability has a present amount of Weapon Energy required to use it, but that amount can be reduced under certain conditions. If the robot using the ability shares its Core Type with one of the two Ability Types, that robot can use the ability with only half the normal Weapon Energy. Additionally, if a robot naturally learns the ability by Level Up then the required Weapon Energy will be cut in half again. This ensures that robots are "better" at their signature abilities than other robots and if they can equip them by means of a Core Match and once again gives the robot masters a slight edge over Copy Core robots like Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass.

If your robot has insufficient for an ability, that ability will appear greyed out in the battle menu. These abilities cannot be used until Weapon Energy has recovered, either naturally or by some future item. If your robot is ever in a situation where it cannot use any of it's abilities and it cannot switch out either, simply click the faded ability buttons and you'll automatically "pass" your turn to wait it out.

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I've also done some small updates to others parts of the website and game. The Ability Database was updated with the new Weapon Energy amounts and a few small balance tweaks to second-tier abilities, the Community was updated with "New Discussion" buttons on the main page so they're easier to find, and all mouse-overs in battle have been revised to include more information and be more readable with better formatting.

I know a restriction like adding finite weapon energy doesn't sound very exciting, but I had a lot of fun adding it and it will undoubtedly open the doors for cooler and more powerful abilities in the future. Please try it out in all kinds of situations and let me know your thoughts - I spent a lot of time making sure it was still possible to win in a battle, it's just a little more challenging now. ;)

For this week's update the Player Battles bonus chapter has been updated with several new features and tweaks to the way they work. I've been wanting to revise the Player Battle system for a while and I'm glad I finally did! :D


More Mission Options, Three Different Flavours

The first change you'll notice is that there are now six available player battles at a time instead of the previous limit of four and that they come in three different varieties. The first (bottom) row consists of player battles where the target uses only two of their strongest robots (vs 2). The next row up consists of player battles where the target uses four of their strongest (vs 4), and the final row consists of players using a full team of their eight strongest robots (vs 8). Previously all player battles were 8 vs 8 and while they were fun they were also a huge time commitment - these new options should make it easier to jump in to at least one player battle during your session even if your time with the game is limited.


More Battle Points, But Fewer Turns

The global battle point multiplier for missions is doubled for all Player Battles, meaning those trying to climb the leaderboards will have a much easier time with these missions than the standard story-based ones. This increased point yield does have one catch, however - the goal amount of turns for Player Battles is half what it is for normal missions. This balances the greater reward with a greater challenge, and ensures expert players have the opportunity to shine more brightly.


Battle Points for All Involved

Perhaps the biggest change (and the one I'm most excited about) is that ALL players who take part in a Player Battle earn points, not just the victor. From now on any and all player battles will have their results recorded in the database and both players will receive appropriate rewards for their participation. If you challenge a player and win, they receive a nominal amount of points for each turn they survived. If you challenge a player and loose, they receive a boosted amount of experience points using the same base calculations as any normal battle. These points are stored in pending status and the next time the target player loads their main menu they will be greeted with a popup overview of the results - whether their robots won or lost and how many points they gained as a result. It even shows the number of turns the battle lasted and the team of robots that each player used in battle - it's pretty awesome!


Let Me Play!

Just like before, beating the entirety of the single-player campaign will unlock the player battles automatically so anyone who has done so will already have access to them. For everyone else, you can use the password phrase below to unlock the mode early - just enter it into either player's hidden password prompt:

Chapter Get : Player Battles!

I hope everyone will take advantage of these updates and use the Player Battles more than they used to as I think they are incredibly fun and rewarding for everyone involved. :) Also note that the total number of wins and losses will now be displayed on each player's leaderboard profile page, so there's even more reason to check 'em out. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback, and see you all in-game! :D


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EDIT : I've just updated the player battles again so that currently online players are more likely to appear in battle. That means if Brorman, Avocadora, and myself are currently signed-in to our games at the same time you are (for example) we will probably show up in your player battle options a lot more frequently than if we were not. This has no effect on the actual battle but it ensures more-active players get to benefit from the feature more than those who never sign in. Yay! :D

I'd like to spread the word about the MMRPG a little more but I'm not sure where I should go. I used to spend quite a bit of time on The Mega Man Network's forums, but they have been closed down for quite some time. I also like to spend time on the Mega Man Legends Station forums and the Rockman Perfect Memories forums, though I read more than I post as I don't know many people. Where do all of you hang out?

Also, let me know if you can think of any more places to spread the word about the MMRPG - the more players and testers we have the quicker the game will be completed, obviously, and the more stable and bug-free it will be. BladeWolfe's Let's Play videos have brought a lot of traffic lately and so has the Facebook page, so let me know if you guys have any other ideas. :)

Now that all three are finally complete, I'd like to post the members of the Mega Man Killer series for all to see! I'm so excited to finally share these with everyone as I think they look really great! :D They have not yet been added to the single-player campaign nor do they have any ability sprites, but this is the first major step and adding new characters and they're well on their way to getting there so let's enjoy them.



MKN-001 Enker

First up we have Enker! Created by MetalMarioX100 / EliteP1 this little guy looks great and I can't wait to add him to story mode! I did some colour edits, but the base sprite is completely MMX100's work and I think he did a fantastic job. :D (Now to figure out that Mirror Buster...)


MKN-002 Punk

The next Mega Man Killer I'd like to post is none other than Punk! This sprite had minor colour edits by myself, but was otherwise designed and created by our very own Sean Adamson / MetalMan! I can't wait to add this guy to the single-player campaign as well - really great work Sean! :D


MKN-003 Ballade


The last but certainly not least of the Mega Man Killers is Ballade, and I'm glad to finally be able to show off Sean's amazing work. Ballade has not one, but two distinct sprite sheets for his two formes forms and Sean did a fantastic job making it work. As per usual I did the assembly and some minor edits, but overall this was Sean's robot. Thank you so much, again, and look forward to him tearing up the battlefield soon!



I want to add these guys to the game NOW, but because they're story related I'm waiting it out until Cossack is complete. Once Cossack and his team of MM4 robots are completely done (including fields and abilities), then I can start putting together some of the new story-based mission structure and event characters like the killers here. Oh man, it's gonna be so great when I do... I have so many ideas for the full game it's killing me to watch people play so much filler! Hold tight everyone, we'll get there soon...

EDIT : Sorry, "formes" is not the correct spelling. Pokémon has ruined me. >_>

Adrian Edit : Plot is great! Narrative is great! But what we're doing here isn't driven by plot and it isn't something we can really mold this type of game around. A lot of these ideas are great and some of them will be used in the theoretical "final" story, but as of right now they're just fun concept ideas. As such I'm locking this thread until the day it is needed again. Thanks to everyone who responded in the comments!

As I've stated many times, the current "plot" in the prototype is filler and is not intended to be final. Most of the scenarios don't make sense, the writing is poor, and there is a lot of repeat-content. In the next major version of the game the plot and progression will be vastly different and anything that happens now in the story will not matter.

While I'm still developing the plot and changing details of it every day, I have a basic outline that I'm working with. I was hesitant to make it public lest people rip it apart before it's done, but you guys have been so great over the last few months that I think it might be fun to post what I have so far.

Please note that I will be constantly changing things and I will always have the final say, but feel free to make comments or suggestions on anything you want. :)



The Story So Far

- Many years since the events of MM10, the world appears to be peaceful once again. Dr. Wily goes into retirement it seems and is not seen for many, many years. Most assume he has died or is otherwise incapable of harming humanity any further and the future looks bright for planet earth.

- Dr. Light and Dr. Cossack decide to create a new prototype AI for future generations of robots. They want to create robots that will think and make their own decisions without blindly following orders. This prototype project will be the base for which all future robots will be built, and the world over is both excited and terrified about Light Labs' new endeavor.

- The two decide to program this AI with all the knowledge and data on past robots, abilities, locals, and history to ensure it is well equipped to make informed decisions and handle ethical dilemmas. Detailed attack patterns, battle weaknesses, and even data on minor enemies is documented and programmed into the prototype. New generations need to be prepared for whatever evil may come, so learning from the past is essential.

- Much research is carried out by both doctors, and eventually the two begin create the prototype's code starting with the test environments for their experiments. The test environments should mimic real-world locations that the robot might have to navigate and are thus modeled after past stages. Having these fully fleshed out environments will allow the doctors to create a sort of virtual reality to experiment with different battle strategies and encounters.

- Fully functioning copies of all existing robots are created in the prototype database and their basic battle logic is programmed in as well. Special weapons have also been converted to digital format, compressed, and added to the prototype. Environments are given special properties and basic mission data is created for training exercises. The time for testing the robots born of this new AI is close at hand.

- With most of the footwork has been laid for the environment, the doctors decide to start testing out the battle capabilities and realism of their prototype. The two build a way to digitally integrate real-world robots into the program and use existing, patented technology for connect humans to machines to hook themselves into the program for greater immersion. Specially made bed with tubes and wires and straps to keep them safely in position are created.

- Using an already proven and tested robot against the new prototype copies will also allow them to record the results more accurately and first hand, so they choose to use one of their own in the first test. Mega Man is the first to volunteer for the project and Dr. Light jacks him into the prototype Battle Network style. Dr. Light connects himself into one of the three available human integration beds and then he and Mega Man go through a series of training exercises to test the AI of the prototype.

- Our heroes make countless adjustments over the next several months as they perfect the battle routines of their copies. Meanwhile Dr. Cossack keeps the media at bay and publicises their findings to the best of his abilities without giving too much away. The project appears to be going very well though no images or first-hand video are shown.

- Dr. Wily watches from an undisclosed location with Bass in the background. He decides to keep a close eye on the project.

- With the project in full swing and the new AIs are functioning exceptionally well without operators or command from humans. The doctors decide to publish a live demonstration to the public soon, with Mega Man and Dr. Light taking on a series of missions to show the battle prowess of the new copies thus far. The doctors realize that the work is incomplete and the robots will be relatively weak, but it's an incredible first step in a future of autonomous robots able to make better decisions without human interference.

- Proto Man is made aware of the project over the radio waves, and decides to keep a close eye from afar as well.

- The night before the demonstration NAZA detects strange temporal and spatial anomalies occurring close to earth, but they disappear before a good reading can be made. They decide to look into it but not alarm the public until there's more data.

- Dr. Wily notices this same occurrence in space and decides to leave with Bass, headed towards an undisclosed location.

- The day of the event Dr. Light and Mega Man prepare to be integrated. Dr. Cossack is close by and will be operating the prototype from the real world while Dr. Light and Mega Man go through a selection of eight missions for the audience to observe. The world is watching and the two heroes jack into the Prototype.

- Dr. Wily appears in the crowd, disguised in a fedora and trench coat to prevent suspicion. Bass enters separately with a brown, tattered cloak, ala Battle Network (again). The two watch quietly from the back of the conference room.

- The first mission is completed and then suddenly the two are attacked by a robot that was not programmed into the simulation. Mega Man attempts to dispose of the small alien-looking program, but the robot escapes before there is a chance. Dr. Cossack is unable to figure out where the robot came from and the system stops responding to his input. Dr. Light and Mega Man attempt to jack out of it and return to the real world but a powerful interference prevents them.

- Dr. Wily and Bass appear to have expected something like this and begin to move toward the stage.

- Proto Man is made aware of the drama and quickly takes action, rushing toward the city on his Proto Shield.

- At this point it is made clear to Dr. Cossack that the prototype is no longer under his control and he begins to lose contact with Dr. Light inside the program. They try to analyse the data and find the source of the interference but are ultimately unable. Right before the monitors go out and Dr. Light's communication with the outside world is severed, a set of giant, glowing, comet-like objects reveal themselves from the sky and begin orbiting the earth. Each with unique markings on their surfaces and differently coloured trails of light flowing behind.

- Dr. Light's body remains in a kind of suspended animation on stage and Cossack rushes over in an attempt to unhook him. Mega Man remains connected, eyes glowing with debug data streaming over them like screens.

- A sudden, bright flash of light is followed by a powerful wave over the planet, and robots all over the world begin to enter a state of paralysis, falling to the ground before quickly entering a non-responsive, offline state.

- Bass falls to the ground and Wily is left frozen in his tracks, unsure of what just happened or what to do next. Proto Man can be seen in the background collapsing just shy of the conference area and unable to get close enough to help. Humans are helpless and begin entering a frenzied panic as every electronic device on the planet is buffeted by comet waves and shuts down until all that remains online are the prototype computers.

- Suddenly all the prototype monitors and screens show a mysterious figure, alien in nature though more intimidating than the last. Primary green and almost feminine, the entity identifies itself as "Slur" and tells of its master casting judgement upon the humans of the earth.

- The master has seen our past, our present, and even our future and can see that we will never learn from our mistakes, repeating them ad nauseum and passing them onto future generations until they eventually spread outward into space and corrupt the delicate balance of the universe. Slur explains that the end of this race is forthcoming, and that the planet needs to be purified of the evil energy we have amassed.

- Without hesitation Slur teleports into the real world in front of a terrified audience and locks eyes with Wily, much to his terror. In an almost psychic-like display of power Slur raises Wily off his feet and pulls toward the stage. Dr. Wily is forced into one of the integration beds and connected to the computer. Cossack, attempting to make an escape, is stopped dead in his tracks and picked up in the same manner as Wily. Cossack is looked over briefly before being forced into the last remaining bed and connected against his will to the computer.

- The lifeless bodies of Bass and Proto Man are raised from the ground and brought toward the stage, being connected to the computer in the same manner as Mega Man. The two robots eyes light up and their data is transported into the prototype. Wily and Cossack struggle, but are powerless in the face of Slur and quickly lose consciousness.

- Slur remains on-stage and watches as the rest of the population scrambles to get away. Several shots are fired at Slur by law enforcement and vigilante civilians, but they are all deflected without effort and ultimately ineffective. A second robot teleports down from one of the comets, smaller than Slur and with a different colour scheme though similar in appearance otherwise. This is the same robot that attacked Mega Man and Light moments before. The robot makes its way over to the control panel on the prototype and begins interfacing with the device.

- Slur looks to the sky and pauses, then says "yes master" as the screen fades...

Hello everyone, I know this is a little late but I'm creating a topic was answers to questions and clarification on the process of submitting sprites. I would everyone who plans to submit sprites and maybe even those who already have to read these points. Thank you!

SPRITE SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED
We do not need any more sprite artists. Please see latest comment for details.

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How can I sign up for a making a sprite?

First and foremost, check for the appropriate thread in this forum with the game that robot is from. Check to make sure no one else has claimed it. If it is free, you can post a comment in the thread requesting the sprite. If you have made sprites before, I will automatically update the thread and "give" you the sprite. If you have not made any sprites for the game before, I would require some example of your work before I grant the request. Most help will be accepted, but some may not. I apologize ahead of time for any hurt feelings, but in the end I need to do what is best for the game and be fair to everyone involved. Please understand.


Once I have been assigned a sprite, how long do I have to complete it?

I make it a habit of doing time-sensitive characters myself, like the heroes, main bosses, and ability animations. All other characters in the game (especially future expansions) may take weeks or even months to be assembled and integrated into the actual game. As a result I'm very, very relaxed about timelines and if life gets in the way and you can't do the sprite for several weeks or months I totally understand. We all have lots of work to do on this project and I don't want to burn anyone out. That being said, if it's been several months and I need the sprite but you're too busy to finish it I might take on the job myself. No hard feelings. :)


What size should the sprites be?

All robot master sprites have a base size of 40px by 40px per frame. This means that the entire sprite has to fit into the 40x40 space without any pixels sticking out. I understand that some robots are extra large and it would be impossible to fit them into a 40x40 grid, so there is also an 80px by 80px size you can use. The 80x80 sprites are larger in filesize and slightly more difficult to work with, so if the robot is small enough that you CAN make the sprite in 40x40 please do.


Do I have to use the official colours?

I will like the character to remain as faithful to their official counterparts as possible but I am willing to make exceptions. We should all try to use the official colours as a base, and only make tweaks if they in-game sprites really don't do the character justice. Changing the base colours should be something to avoid, but if you do have please keep these rules in mind:


A - Only use official NES colours or ones that you can find in this game already. I like to use the eyedropper on the Mega Man 1 - 2 robots over and over to make sure I stick to the same pallet in future designs, and you should to.

B - Many of the old sprites use white in place of other colours for memory reasons but we don't have to. Bubble Man, for example, has several colours in his official art but only green in his official sprite even though those parts of his body were visible. In this case it felt right giving him more colour.

C - Try not to do any excess shading. Some robots already have little highlights in the official sprites and those are fine, but do not add too much of you own - filtered are applied right before putting them in the game that adds bevel-like shading so it's not necessary for you to do it.


What frames or poses should I make?

Each robot should have a total of eleven (11) frames plus the mugshot sprite. In the image below you can see the mugshots on the far left and only 10 sprites to the right - this is because at the time of creating the image an 11th pose wasn't thought of but it is now a requirement in submissions. Let's look at the image: Please focus your attention to the first row starting from the left. I only require that you make one sprite sheet per character - you do not have to create multiple directions and sizes. That being said, if a robot would not look right simply mirrored and their left and right sprites should be different, I'm okay with you submitting two directions. An example of this is Wood Man, who's helmet is asymmetrical with a twig sticking out of only one side.

You only create what is in the first row with all poses facing left. Note that there are no special effects on these sprites - they are 8bit and stay true to the NES colour pallet, without any JPG fuzziness or drop shadows or other fluff. Let me describe each frame here and tell you about the 11th one (I will update this reference at some point with the 11th pose):


00. Mugshot
Official mugshot from the games if available, otherwise custom but same sizing. Should be the same size as all the other mugshots in the game. Small horns, spikes, or other helmet adornments can poke out of the top, right, and left, but not the bottom and only if they're small.

01. Base
This is the main standing sprite for the robot that will be used whenever the robot isn't attacking. The robot will always go back to this sprite in animations, so make sure it's as neutral as possible.

02. Taunt
This sprite is used when the robot randomly taunts the target and when they earn certain items. Make it funny, aggressive, cool, or anything you want. Just make sure it fits the robot's personality.

03. Victory
This is show when the robot claims victory in battle and sometimes for certain items. Some robots look back at the user, breaking the fourth wall - while others simple strike a pose or cheer. It's up to you, but if the robot has a "signature" pose from the games, this might be a good place to use it.

04. Defeat
This sprite shows the robot in a disabled state, unable to continue battling (do not darken the sprite, as that is done with a filter later on!). You may choose to show them partially damaged or in a surrendering pose, but their "eyes" should be closed or at least squinting.

05. Shoot
This sprite should show the robot using a generic buster that theoretically any type of projectile could come out of. If the robot already has a buster in their sprite then use that, otherwise try to mimic Mega Man's or think of something suitable to that robot.

06. Throw
This sprite will be used whenever the robot uses a throwing attack at the target. Pretty self explanatory.

07. Summon
This is the robot's catch-all "hands-free" attack sprite, whether their summoning an attack, using a recovery ability, or being granted some kind of bonus, these sprites are used to represent that moment and should generally show the robot's arm or arms raised in some way - as if using remote control power on something.

08. Slide
This sprite is called the "slide" but is can be either a slide or a dash, depending on what is appropriate for the robot. Theoretically, every robot may eventually learn an ability that requires sliding, dashing, or otherwise quick movement so we have to make a sprite for it. I'm flexible on this one so have fun.

09. Defend
This sprite should show the robot blocking or defending in some way. If they have shields they should raise them and if not maybe take a defensive stance and block with their arms. If the robot has innate shielding abilities maybe create a barrier. Just remember that this frame is used randomly in idle animations and whenever a robot is targeted by the opponent so don't make it too crazy.

10. Damage
The damage sprite is used any time the robot is damaged by an opponent and should generally show them in a staggered position slightly raised off the ground. The only times a robot's feet should stay planted on the ground during damage is if they are particularly heavy. I generally give robots a hurt expression, but it's up to you and might be fun to play with different faces.

11. Base2
This sprite is not yet used in the game but will eventually be use in the game's idle animations. Whenever a robot is not randomly taunting or defending on the field, they will alternate between the Base and Base2 sprites over and over again. This will allow me add 2-frame idle animations to game which will make it a lot more fun to look at.


What format should I submit the sprites?

I would like all sprite submissions to be in GIF or PNG format with absolutely no JPGs or BMPs, preferably transparent or on a background that's easy to remove without any artifacts or fuzziness. You should have the sprites in the same order as described above and in their respective 40x40 or 80x80 containers. You are free to add notes to or with the sheet, or give me multiple options to choose from in the same column but it is up to you. Sprites should be emailed directly to me at adrian.marceau@gmail.com as attachments, as uploading them to other hosting services often degrades their quality.


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Thank you to everyone involved for all the work you've done so far and I look forward to all the awesome new stuff you're going to work on in the future. Thank you thank you thank you! :D

I'm going to use this thread as a means to show you guys what new features, bug fixes, sprites, or other updates I have in queue and/or plan to do at some point in the future. I will periodically update this thread and cross-off items once they are completed, and once they're all done I'll move on to the next set of requests and add them below.

Sometimes it's easier and/or faster to fix a bug or add a new feature than it is to write about it, so at the very least you guys will know when things have been worked on or fixed even if I haven't written an official update yet. Thank you all for your patience, and please do not hate me for taking so long to finish this thing. >_<

Prototype To-Do List 2013/07/23
  Adrian Edit 2017/02/18 : While these are good ideas and most will eventually be implemented, having a community thread about that has not worked out too well. It's difficult to keep it updated and prioritized, plus I much prefer to do development at my own pace based on what feels right at the time. As such I'm locking this topic and removing its sticky status. Apologies for the inconvenience.

I'm very excited to announce a total overhaul of the game's (admittedly basic) musical score. Prior to this update, any and all sounds present in the prototype were taken directly from the 8bit games (via the official OSTs) and while they were faithful to the source material I felt they were a bit too loud and/or high-pitched and tingy at times. It was because of this (as well as requests from several players) that I went on a mission to find a better soundtrack for the game.

It was around this time that I came across musical genius and YouTube user TheLegendOfRenegade, an incredibly talented artists who has remixed every* single musical track from Mega Man 1 - 9 + Mega Man & Bass in a catchy, high-quality Sega Genesis style. Because the prototype is done in 8bit it seemed natural to go with a purely 8bit soundtrack, but now that the graphics have a lot more shading and depth and the mechanics are more fleshed out I think a more refined soundtrack from better hardware is appropriate. I contacted TheLegendOfRenegade for permission to use the tracks, and then I waited.

In the meantime, I created a post in the community forums asking if anyone was willing to help out with this part of the project. I was optimistic about TheLegendOfRenegade's tracks, but I needed a fallback in case the partnership didn't pan out. Luckily, he replied in good time and we now have official permission to use them in the game, so that is no longer necessary (thank you to those who offered!). :D

All tracks in the prototype have been revised and now come from his massive, multiple-game-spanning Sega Genesis / MD Remix project and I promise they are really, really incredible. All field music thus far has come from his Mega Man 1 & 2 collection with various menu and special battle themes coming from the Rockman & Forte and Mega Man 7 collections in addition to the former. The level of quality and polish these remixes bring to the game is beyond words, and I am so grateful that we're able to showcase them in our prototype. TheLegendOfRenegade has done some truly great work, and I think I speak for everyone on the team when I say "thank you". ^_^

* Because TheLegendOfRenegade has not created remixes for Time Man and Oil Man's stages in Powered Up, the R&F themes for Astro Man and Tengu Man are currently being used in their place. The game will be updated if/when he ever creates them, but please enjoy the current selection until then. :)

Alright everyone, this game definitely needs it's own FAQ for new players, but I'm finding it quite hard to pin-down what should be included. So, I'm just going to leave this thread here and if any of you notice things that are not clear or might be confusing to a new player, post them here and I'll use them to (someday) construct a full-page list of anything a newcomer would need to know. This exercise might also help me discover weaknesses in the website and/or prototype's design, so I encourage everyone to participate and let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thank you!

Please be aware that some of this information could be outdated. See the Official Question and Answer thread or post below if you have any questions.-MBM

I know this is a bit late, but Mega Man was recently revealed to be included in the new Super Smash Bros. games and I wanted to know what everyone thought about the news?



I personally have wanted Mega Man in there since the first game on the N64 but never thought Nintendo would actually allow 3rd party characters, but then after they did for Brawl and Mega Man wasn't included I was devastated. But seeing him revealed for the newest installments, and looking so awesome...? It makes me shed a very happy, manly tear. :')

His weapon selection is incredible too! The Metal Blade looks super cool (especially in the trailer and fun to use and I love how many other special weapons they managed to give him, from several different games too!

So what do you guys think about the news? Do any of you even play Smash Bros or am I alone? XD

The next update I'd like to discuss (and it's another Flame themed one!) has to do with Fire Storm, Atomic Fire, and the new Fire Chaser.


Fire Storm
The first ability that was updated is the Fire Storm, and it has gone through the most changes. Fire Storm now functions just like Atomic Fire, but with some slight tweaks - instead of starting at 10 base damage and raising Attack by 10% on each turn, Fire Storm starts at 12 base damage and raises Defense by 8% on each turn. This parallels and complements the differences between Fire Man and Heat Man's stats, which I think balances the two characters more fairly. Naturally this meant the ability required entirely new graphics, so I decided to use the official special weapon sprite as the base (with three different levels of charge) and have little orbs circle him after each use.


Fire Chaser
Not wanting to waste a perfectly good mechanic and ability, I converted the old Fire Storm into the new Fire Chaser ability and inverted its effects. This ability has a base damage of 14 (which is fairly decent) but that power is either halved or doubled based on the target's speed relative to your own. If the target is faster than the user, the flame will have a hard time catching up to them and only do a moderate 7 base damage. If the target is slower, however, the flame chases them and deals a much higher 28 base damage. The sprites are relatively unchanged, but I altered the pallet to match the changes described later.


Atomic Fire
The Atomic Fire has remained mostly unchanged, except for a complete visual overhaul. Instead of throwing a random orb of fire at the target (where did that sprite even come from?) it now throws a barrage of small flares, growing larger on each use. You may notice that of all three abilities in this post, Atomic Fire is the only one that uses the "old" colour scheme for the fire itself. There's a reason for this. After reviewing sprite sheets for all the fire-type robot masters in the series, I've noticed that several of them appear to produce differently-coloured flames. Perhaps it's the fuel their using? Either way I think it makes them look more unique when fighting so for the prototype I'm giving Fire Man, Heat Man, and Pharaoh Man distinctly different colours for their ability lines. As you can see, Heat Man's will use the darker mauve-type flame instead of the orange flame in the Fire Man line above.



And that wraps up all the ability and mechanic updates for this week. Next up, new sprites! Let me know what you all think in the comments. :D

As some of you may have noticed by now, several new Flame Type abilities have been added to the database and one existing one has been revised to make it more consistent with the other new ones. These new abilities function as elemental Boost / Break moves for Flame Core robots and while they may be slightly less powerful than their Neutral Type counterparts, they have much more potential in battle.


The first of these abilities are the "boost" types - Attack Blaze, Defense Blaze, and Speed Blaze. These abilities allow a robot to boost it's own Attack, Defense, or Speed by 10%. Because these moves are Flame Type they get to benefit from Core Boosts and Field Multipliers, meaning a robot like Fire Man would get a 15% boost instead of 10% by default and - if used on the right field - that boost could be doubled to 30%!

Attack Blaze


Defense Blaze


Speed Blaze



The second set of abilities are the "break" types and function as you might expect - the user breaks down the target's systems lowering Attack, Defense, or Speed by 10%. The ability names are Attack Burn, Defense Burn, and Speed Burn. Like the boost moves above these benefit from Core Boosts and Field Multipliers, but because they're being used against the opponent they also benefit from Weaknesses, Resistances, etc. This means under the right circumstances (Fire Man versus Wood Man on the Preserved Forest Base field, for example), an ability like Attack Burn can deal up to 60% damage! Needless to say these abilities can be incredibly useful.

Attack Burn


Defense Burn


Speed Burn



Three of the existing robots masters have had their Level Up abilities altered to include these new abilities - Fire Man, Heat Man, and Pharaoh Man. Fire Man learns two of the attack moves, Heat Man learns two of the defense moves, and Pharaoh Man learns two of the speed moves. Because Fire Man and Heat Man are available through normal play, obtaining their moves should be pretty easy, but because Pharaoh is currently not unlockable the only way to get his moves are with the Copy Shot.

I'm really excited to have finally added these abilities, and look forward to many more like them for the other 18 types! Let me know what you all think, and thanks again for playing! :D

This update is a little more important as it has to do with the actual game mechanics and have their been revised/rebalanced. There are a lot of changes in this update that might alter existing strategies, so please read.

Mission Turn Goals

The first update is in regards to how many turns it [should] take to complete a mission. Previously the game allowed 5 turns per robot that appeared in battle, and that number multiplied for higher level enemies (meaning some battles allowed up to 144 turns to defeat the opposing team!). While this made it very easy to score battle points, I felt that this was "broken" and have updated the script to allow fewer turns for each robot in a battle, regardless of level.

Now, each robot is assumed to take no more than 3 turns to defeat with each additional robot adding only 3 more turns to the overall goal. A battle with only 4 robots should now have a "Goal" of 12 turns - coming in under that goal awards more points than the predefined "reward" for that stage and coming in over that goal awards fewer points. This might make Battle Points harder to obtain at first, but as your robots get stronger these goals will be easier to achieve.

Ability Secondary Effects

As most of you are well aware, many abilities have secondary effects. Some abilities allow you to boost your own stats directly (Attack Boost, Defense Boost, etc.) and some allow you to break your opponent's stats directly (Attack Break, Defense Break, etc.) - these abilities will remain unchanged. There are other abilities, however, where stat alternations are not the primary function and are relegated to a side-effect, such as the attack boost that sometimes occurs when using Thunder Beam.

Previously, these secondary effects were hard-coded as specific percentages and were unaffected by field multipliers, core boosts, weaknesses, or any other modifiers that would apply to regular damage and/or recovery. This meant that an ability like Thunder Beam would only ever raise the user's attack by 5%, even if the user's core matched the ability's type (x1.5 boost) and even if the field itself had an appropriately typed multiplier (x2.0 boost). The ability's damage would be affected, but not the secondary effect.

Well, this has finally been changed! All effects - either primary or secondary - are now affected by multipliers. That 5% attack boost would be multiplied by 1.5 (for the core boost) and then again by 2.0 (for the field multiplier) - giving the user an attack boost of 15%! These secondary effects will always appear in the ability's description text, and are also dynamically modified with the conditions of battle. This change allows the various abilities to function much more dynamically and should give rise to many more strategies in the future, especially now that secondary effects of moves like Time Arrow can be further boosted by a target's weakness (33% speed decrease x 1.5 core boost x 2.0 weakness = ~100% speed reduction!).

Ability Rebalancing

As a result of the above change, all abilities have been revisited and rebalanced based on the multipliers available to it. Some abilities have had their effects boosted, some have had them lowered, and some of them have been revised in more ways than one. The aforementioned Thunder Beam, for example, now has a 10% attack boost instead of 5%, though it only happens 50% of the time instead of 75% of the time. Other abilities like the Leaf Shield and Super Arm have also been been "nerfed" a bit, but when used by the right robot on the right field it more than makes up for it. When used by Mega Man, for example, the Leaf Shield will only give a 20% defense boost, but when used by a Nature Core robot it will boost defense by 30% instead. Either way, active players should check the database for these changes and let me know if you have any questions.

As always, these changes could be AMAZING and make the game 100x better or they could be horrible and create a thousand bugs. Please let me know what you think either way, and I'll do whatever I can to fix any issues in a timely manner. Thank you for playing!

Another small update has to do with the Demo Mode battles. Previously these were just for fun and clearing all of them did not have any effect or benefit. Users who liked the Demo Mode and decide to create an account after beating all four missions are not rewarded for their time and while the main game is still fun, it feels like a waste to defeat all the robots in the demo and then start from scratch.

As such, there is now a hidden password in the "Demo Mode Complete!" message that appears at the top of the screen, and if you enter that hidden password into a new game file (before completing any missions!) you will be awarded with..... something special. :)

I wont reveal what the bonus is, but for everyone that already has an account and has already played through at least a few stages I can promise it's nothing you don't already have. You just unlock certain abilities a little earlier than normal and get a Battle Point bonus moderate enough as to not make a dent in the leaderboards but still big enough to be a fun extra for new players. Veterans who attempt to use this Demo Mode password on an existing game file will be disappointed to learn it will not work, so don't even bother trying. :P