MegaMan: Powered Up

[Double]

Gameplay: There several different modes in this game, so I shall break the Gameplay section up this time as a I see fit. Just try and stop me.

Old Style: Old Style functions as the old NES game MegaMan, but with updated graphics. Another note of concern is that they did not let MegaMan shoot through walls in this version, which technically makes it not an accurate translation. It still does a fairly decent job however.

New Style: Where the bulk of the game is, New Style has features in addition to Old Style. First and foremost is the addition of playable Robot Masters, more on that later. However, the plot was changed slightly and now there are 8 Robot Masters, like all the other MegaMan games. The order of bosses in the Fortress and their difficulty was also changed (CWU-01P being an actual challenge?! ZOMG!). As with the MHX review the full details of changes can be found in Retcon.

Multiple Playable Characters in a Classic Series game? ZOMG: After beating a Robot Master using only your MegaBuster (nice continuity error there as he shouldn't have it till 4, FYI in the original 3 it was called the P Cannon), you can use them in New Style and beat bosses as them too, and use them in Construction and Challenge Modes. Each can only use their signature weapon and also can do special things that enable them to access places others cannot, so you can unlock shit. However, it should be noted that your weakness is still there, and you will probably lose to the Robot Master strong against you, especially if you're OilMan. Anyways, let us talk about the Robot Masters (and other characters) for a bit.

CutMan: You can jump off walls, not too bad. GutsMan may kick your ass if you're sloppy (use the wall jump you idiot!). You can also perform a Samus Aran wall jump provided it is not an ice covered wall.

GutsMan: A tad sluggish, gimmicky, and difficult to use in small areas. Despite this, he does play like one would EXPECT him to play as, so I don't think Capcom really had a choice here. He can also break certain types of dirt and lift blocks below him. If you suck, I mean REALLY suck you might squash yourself with your own blocks. TimeMan will probably own your ass.

TimeMan: His Time Slow, is a tad gimmicky, and is generally just MegaMan with permanent Time Slow and the ability to use a Twin Slasher rip-off. You can use the blocks in ElecMan's room the first time you fight him to kill him relatively easily, he might be difficult the second time. He can destroy certain types of purple blocks that MegaMan cannot.

ElecMan: Can use Thunder Beam to move certain blocks... and that's really it. Not much else here that redeems him; I suppose I should mention his Thunder Beam is a tad larger than MegaMan's. OilMan may prove difficult if you're careless.

OilMan: I would like to know if Capcom was high when designing OilMan. In addition to having a crappy design, he is even more gimmicky than TimeMan. Your main method of attack is ramming at enemies with an Oil Surfboard, and jumping off at the last second. If you miss, you can only fire one shot at a time, so too bad. FireMan will burn your ass in the name of justice.

FireMan: FireMan pretty much owns EVERYONE but CWU-01P, even IceMan. The trade off is he loses his ability to shoot projectiles if he touches water, and then essentially is reduced to a Melee fighter (which is why he has problems with CWU-01P). If you come into contact with Fire again though you regain your projectile awesomeness. However, he also melts certain types of Ice Blocks in this form, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

IceMan: Your attack absolutely sucks, but you can freeze enemies and attack repeatedly and jump on them and what not. You can't move while freezing enemies. With skill you can kill BombMan pretty easily.

BombMan: You can use Hyper Bombs at various angles (don't worry they now explode on contact with an enemy). And can also use them to activate a special switch blatantly stole from Zelda III that triggers red and blue platforms being solid or not. CutMan can destroy your bombs, on any difficulty, so he will rape you.

And now the other characters you can unlock...
Roll: Downloaded from the MMWeb, Roll is the closest thing you have to a Zero character and attacks using various blunt objects depending on which outfit she is wearing. Her attack can go through certain types of shields, such as Sniper Joes and Picket Men, but not a Mets.

MegaMan S: MegaMan circa MegaMan 3, beat all the stages on easy and you can unlock the ability to slide, ZOMG.

MegaMan C: MegaMan circa MegaMan 4, you get the Charge Shot, which is absurdly over powered given the enemies were originally designed without one existing. Beat all stages on Normal for this.

Rock: The game referrers to him as Mega, but some of the older games called him Rock, so I will because I am an obstinate bastard. Anyways, this is unarmored MegaMan, you take more damage and can only use a kick to hit enemies. Unlocked via beating all the stage on Hard.

ProtoMan: Technically speaking ProtoMan WAS active during the events of MegaMan 1, but it's still a tad on the cliché side throwing him in as an unlockable. His attack is a like MegaMan C's full charge, but he takes Double Damage, and as such you'll need to be using that Proto Shield to block damage, but you can lose it if you are not careful. Unlock him by clearing every stage in Challenge Mode, good luck.

Challenge Mode: Challenge Mode is what it says, challenging, it consists of 100 stages where you test your skill with MegaMan and the 8 Robot Masters 10 stages each. The final 10 stages consist of Boss Rushes, which can also be a tad challenging. Overall this mode is likely to give you a few headaches for a good time.

Construction/Infrastructure: And yes, Construction Mode. In this mode you can create your own diabolical stages. Want a stage consisting of nothing but 104 screens of disappearing/reappearing block mayhem? This mode is quite fun, but it's also a tad limited. You can only use the eight Robot Masters as bosses (not even MegaMan?), and your pack selection at the start of the game is a tad limited. As you progress through the game and download content off the MMWeb you acquire more packs to use. Then you can share your own diabolical stages online, and download other peoples stages and rate them on difficulty, uniqueness, and size upon completing them. This is a huge plus to the game as it essentially adds infinite replay value. One note of concern though, is as with all online communities people will go out of their way to design stages you simply cannot complete; this isn't Capcom's fault though. Another interesting note; is the war between people who make nothing but their own stages and people who blatantly rip off designs from other games, such as Super Mario Bros, other MegaMan games, and even Zelda II. Hell your precious admin is guilty of this as he made a version of StoneMan's stage from MegaMan 5, that bastard. I do find some interesting parallels though, an engine created for the attempt of having new ideas and new creations, that ends up instead having other ideas converted for it... that sounds vaguely familiar for some reason. Oh, by the way, Capcom is still releasing things for this too, including new costumes for a certain character every month, and supposedly has a few top secret Stage Packs in their possession... Sadly, there are no Wily Stage packs it would seem, nor can you add Teleport Rooms or Fortress Bosses and usage of water is limited to certain packs, but its still pretty f'ing awesome.

Now that I have rated every aspect of gameplay in here, I would like to say this:
Twenty

Music: The entire NES soundtrack can be heard in Old Style, or if you create a stage using one of the "Old" packs, in which case the boss music also changes. As with MHX a few remixes are questionable, such as CutMan's, but most of the other ones are fairly decent. They also have multiple arrangements of the Wily Boss fight, to give Wily his own final boss music finally. TimeMan and OilMans stage themes are a tad bland. It's not perfect but it does a good job I guess.
13 out of 15

Translation: A few of the Voice Actors are questionable, notably for FireMan, who was his tradition calm self in the Japanese version suddenly became a crazed Texan Kim wannabe in the English version. Most of the rest are just corny, especially BombMan:

You should have come the day before yesterday I had some big boom booms then!

IceMan now also has multiple personality disorders... which makes that scene in Battle and Chase even MORE disturbing.
9 out of 10

Length: CONSTRUCTION MODE.
15 out of 15

Rehash Factor: Being a remake of the first MegaMan game ever this isn't applicable right...? Well it is, as this game rehash ideas from it's sequels, which is just all kinds of crazy.
MegaMan 2: Conveyer Belts, Tackle Fire Makers, Shotmans, Bobbles, Bubble Bats.
MegaMan 4: Shield Attackers.
MegaMan 6: Those Cannon enemies that can shield, Countdown Bombs.
MegaMan 8: Walking Countdown Bombs.
Even weirder it's limited to the even numbered games o_O. Anyways, most of this isn't that bad I guess... but it still needed to be mentioned.
14 out of 15

Plot: Ah yes, MegaMan 1... I believe I gave its plot a seven did I not saying it was a tad cliché? Well, it really doesn't matter how many bells and whistles you throw on it, it's still the same plot, you might change a few things and use the other characters modes to answer questions about them, but it's still the same plot, just with two more robots. Thus, the original assessment stands.
7 out of 10

Difficulty: In addition to having a difficulty setting, you can also search on the MMWeb for stages of your preferred difficulty level and play them, so it's pretty good in this respect.
15 out of 15

Retcon: Not nearly as bad as MHX's, this games only major plot change was the addition of two new Robot Masters. In addition to screwing with the existing Robot Master numbering system (which wasn't that good anyways as they had conflicting data for MM4), it also must mean Dr. Light is drinking again as those Robots weren't in MegaMan and Bass's database. Those are minor compared to say offing a major character though. New Style has new stage designs and more playable characters, but as with Vile Mode in MHX they are probably non-canonical anyways so the point is moot. There is one character in this game which appears a few games before he should... but it doesn't really make a difference for the same reasons mentioned with New Styles multiple characters. Overall this one doesn't go out of it's way to break continuity unlike some OTHER games...
10 out of 10

103/110 = 93.636363636363636363636363636364 %

Wait that number looks vaguely familiar...

Positive: Construction Mode still f'ing pwns.

Negative: I dislike having to use OilMan, it's just painful for me really.

[UHMEEEEBA]

This is relevent to this thread, there is now a thread where you can post level links on the MMWeb of stages you designed.

Here