Thoughts on Street Fighter x Mega Man

Street Fighter x Mega Man was released a few hours ago in celebration of Mega Man's otherwise sparse 25th Anniversary. This game was originally a fangame which would have been released at some point anyway, but it got picked up by Capcom at some point and became an 'official' freeware release. Having just played it to completion, I figured I may as well hop on the Internet bandwagon and give some of my thoughts on what I believe it did right and what it did wrong.

What it did right:

The Boss Fights - In a game called Street Fighter X Mega Man the crossover boss fights are bound to be one of the biggest drawing points and this game certainly does not disappoint. Every boss has quite a large arsenal of signature attacks at his or her disposal and the result is some of the most frantic boss fights in any Mega Man game. Bosses even have power meters which fill up as they give and receive damage which they can in turn utilize to perform special attacks. It's certainly a nice change of pace from the standard Mega Man bosses who may be challenging, but who usually only have one or two actual attacks and a predictable movement pattern.

The Weapons - A somewhat more debatable strength would be the weapons in this game. There are a few ones which range from terribly to rarely useful, perhaps most notably Chun-Li's kick as it barely deals any damage and has horrible range, but for the most part I found myself utilizing the majority of the weapons frequently. In addition, the weapons are not only useful, but also very fun to use and no single weapon takes center stage. Lastly, many of the weapons can actually be on the screen at the same time, allowing players to combine abilities in creative ways to overcome various obstacles.

The Enemies - Normal enemies in this game are surprisingly brutal and are often very entertaining to fight. Just about every stage has one or two normal enemy types which can easily take away a big chunk of Mega Man's health if they're underestimated. This strength also ties back into the strength of the weapons as players will frequently find themselves switches between weapons to deal with most enemies instead of just relying purely on the mega buster. Enemies also often work together well to create some very chaotic moments and have a nice amount of variety.

What it did wrong:

Level Design - This is easily the weakest part of the game and it's rather a shame since this is where the series usually shines. While the enemies are fun to fight, levels tend to either be astoundingly short or tediously long and rarely hit a length which feels 'just right'. Level gimmicks are also not used to their full advantage and usually will appear a little bit at the beginning of a level only to completely disappear in favor of very linear corridors filled with enemies. Spikes and instant death pits are both surprisingly rare and enemies are generally only challenging because of their own abilities, not because they are placed particularly well nor because they work well alongside environmental hazards. Mini/midbosses have also been an expected part of the series nearly since the beginning and range anywhere from fire-spewing lions to miniature castles, but are completely absent here and, when paired up with the focus being more on combat than upon level gimmicks, this absence greatly contributes to the levels often feeling very bland despite the fun normal enemies.

The 'Fortress Stages' - While I have already listed level design as one of this game's faults, it's worth drawing particular attention to the fortress stages as these are simply disappointing. Aside from the final boss and the obligatory boss refight stage, there are a mere two fortress stages. Furthermore, one of these two stages consists entirely of a gimmicky boss fight which involves little more than rapidly sliding to the right, meaning there is a grand total of one full-length 'stage' in the fortress. As for this stage itself, it starts off fairly strong by tossing various enemies at the player which can best be overcome by utilizing multiple weapons, but the second half is completely forgettable. The fortress stages are normally where players need to utilize all their skills simply to survive and progress, where the mega buster just doesn't cut it if players want to make it to the boss with as little damage as possible, so the severe lack of fortress content is more than a little disappointing.

 The Music - Now, let me start this off by saying that the music in the game is technically rather nice, but runs into two issues. First, it doesn't seem to quite be balanced right with the sound effects as just about any attack by either Mega Man or an enemy will drown it out to the point where I often decided not to bother charging the mega buster just so that I could hear the music at all. Secondly, the music is catchy, but doesn't seem to be altogether 'new'; Many of the songs in the game are either remixes of or borrow heavily from songs from previous games in the series to the point, which isn't necessarily bad, especially considering the fact that this game is meant to celebrate Mega Man's 'anniversary', but it is an odd choice all the same. Overall, the music is nice, but doesn't live up to the high standard set by many other entries in the series.


In the end, I would say Street Fighter x Mega Man is certainly an enjoyable game, but also a disappointing one. The boss fights are fantastic and highly enjoyable, many of the weapons are both useful and fun to use, and many normal enemies put up a good fight. However, the strength of the original series has always been in its level design and its interesting gimmicks, from Quick Man's lasers to Tornado Man's spinning platforms, and this entry simply falls flat on its face in this regard; levels aren't designed poorly, this isn't another X6 by any stretch of the imagination, but they are painfully bland and mechanics are not even remotely used to their fullest potential here. Combine the bland level design with the nearly nonexistent fortress stages and music which ranges from 'ok' to 'good' and you definitely have quite the mixed bag in this game. Despite its flaws, it's hard not to recommend this unusual game to any fans of the Mega Man series and Capcom certainly could have done far worse for Mega Man's 25th Anniversary.


The original announcement trailer can be found here.
The official download can be found here.
If the above link does not work, a reliable backup download can be found on this OCRemix thread here.

New Video Series Starting

I am starting up a new video series on YouTube about boss fights. This series will feature a single boss fight from various freeware games across multiple genres. In each case, a boss fight will be picked which I think shows off the strengths of its respective game. These videos will serve both as guides and as a way of showing off interesting fights which may in turn help to introduce people to various games which they may have previously been unaware of. Unlike the Lazy Brain Games videos, this is going to be a more long-term series with only one or two videos per week to form what will hopefully eventually become a respectable collection of dozens of fights from various games.

For the first video, I chose one of the harder fights from Shukumei Star 2,  a multi-part boss consisting of an Eye and a Lens which requires players to constantly be on the defensive in order to counter a barrage of devastating spells while also launching their own attacks whenever possible.

This inaugural video for the series can be found here.
My YouTube page upon which this and other videos are uploaded at is here.

Game Alert - Shukumei Star Series

It's been quite a while since I last did a Game Alert for an RPG, so let me make up for it a bit by recommending two at the same time.

Shukumei Star is a series which currently consists of two games made using RPG Maker 2003. Both games are very similar aside from one major difference which I'll get around to later so I'll mainly be talking about the series as a whole rather than focusing too much on each game individually. These games certainly won't appeal to all RPG fans, but those who enjoy them will easily get 15+ hours out of each entry. Well, that's enough of an introduction, so let's get started!

And let me start by noting that these are by no means games which should be played for the plot and this will almost certainly be the main dividing factor.  Character motivations are often vague, nonexistent, or confusing to the point that protagonists and antagonists alike seem unsure as to why they are doing things. The first game basically boils down to 'an evil person wants to take over the world and you have to stop him' while the second game is the same except with various plot points from the Final Fantasy series such as four elemental crystals and the presence of a big 'evil corporation' trying to rule the world. Just about every plot point has been done many times before and done better.

On the opposite side of the quality spectrum is the sense of exploration and discovery these games have to offer. While there is a linear plot which requires you to go to certain places in a certain order, the Shukumei Star series is brimming with secrets just waiting to be found. Doing a thorough search of any given village will not only lead to finding some handy items hidden away in various objects like in most RPG's, but it may also lead to a sidequest, a hidden boss fight, or even a secret character. Both games also take a Chrono Trigger approach to optional content by really opening up the world right before the grand finale and allowing players to access many new areas which previously could not be reached. Dungeons themselves often have various optional puzzles, hidden treasures, and secret items which can only be found upon revisiting a dungeon later in the game. Even after many hours of hunting for secrets it is unlikely that a person will discover everything hidden within these games and it's not an exaggeration to say that searching for and completing optional and hidden content will just about double the length of either entry.

Random encounters like this one are surprisingly common in both games.

Combat is another high point of the series. While it does nothing particularly new and the ATB system moves at an overly slow pace at low levels, the combat in Shukumei Star games is, overall, very enjoyable for several reasons. First, there is actually a large focus upon support skills in these games as a failure to keep up buffs on the party, debuff the enemy, and counter any status ailments or self-buffs enemies may toss out can easily lead to a Game Over even during normal random encounters. Secondly, skill costs are appropriately balanced as skills which can deal large amounts of damage or which can fully heal the entire party both exist, but are so costly that they tend to only be viable for emergency situations, allowing lower-tier skills to still be entirely viable even by the end of the game. A final high point of the combat system comes from the encounters themselves as you'll see the standard groups of 2-4 or so enemies during random encounters, but every area in both entries also has one or two miniboss-esque random encounters against a particularly nasty single enemy and such encounters ensure that exploring a dungeon never feels tedious as they keep the tension high.

Speaking of dungeons, this brings me to the final major strength of the series - dungeon design. Dungeons throughout both games vary wildly in size from short caves which will only take about fifteen minutes to get through to massive multi-floor labyrinths filled with multiple bosses which can take hours to complete. I already mentioned how dungeons are filled with hidden areas and treasure, but nearly every dungeon also has a special gimmick which makes it unique. These gimmicks can vary wildly and are often very creative, taking on the form of anything from needing to use a dungeon-specific item to detect hidden traps to a dungeon with rotating floors which causes doors to lead to different places over time. These gimmicks help to ensure that each dungeon is thematically consistent with its aesthetic and prevent the games from feeling repetitive as you'll have to constantly learn to navigate around the various tricks and traps unique to each dungeon.

Lastly, I mentioned at the start of the article that there was a single notable difference between the two games, so it's about time that I covered just what that difference is. The first game has an 'abacus system' and players can search around the world for fifty stars which, in addition to granting stat boosts, play into the abacus system. There is no easy way to explain this system, though it is simpler than it may sound. Basically, each character starts the bottom row of a column in the abacus and each column represents a certain type of magic, such as summoning or wind. Every seven stars collected moves the characters up one row in the abacus and teaches them the skill they landed on in addition to one other skill. However, players can set the path each character will take in advance by choosing if the next movement will simply be up the same column, over one column to the left, or over right column to the right; players can also set the 'pointer', which points either left and right and upon advancement a character will learn both the skill moved onto as well as the respective skill from the column the pointer is aimed at. It's an interesting and unique system to say the least, but it is also rather counter-productive as there is no way to reset choices and players will need to either actively avoid collecting stars until the end of the game to prevent advancement up the abacus or have characters acquired later on become firmly locked into a default skill path.

The first game's abacus system is interesting, but flawed.

The second game takes a somewhat more traditional, but far more functional, approach to skills. Within the second game you can acquire over twenty characters and, aside from one or two particularly odd exceptions, each character comes with two things. First, every character has a set of magic which that character can learn by buying spells at a shop; spells are divided into three tiers and not every character can learn the highest tier spells, though some can learn every single low-tier spell. Secondly, every character has either a character-specific set of spells or skills which are gained through leveling up or a single 'gimmick' skill. For example, one character can learn every single 'white magic' spell in the game and has the 'Double' skill, which allows her to cast the same spell twice in a single turn at the cost of a temporary stat reduction, while another character can only learn the first two tiers of white magic, but has exclusive access to the Holy set of spells which are learned as he levels up and which deal light-elemental damage to enemies. Furthermore, the second game has two protagonists and consistently requires players to split characters into two teams of four so that a good amount of the large cast actually gets used.

Shukumei Star is an interesting series not only because its games serve as examples of RPG's which are enjoyable despite having poor stories, but also because it revitalizes the sense of exploration at a time when many RPG's are becoming increasingly linear and formulaic. While by no means perfect, these games are certain to be excellent additions to the library of anyone looking for good dungeon crawlers and they excel in all the areas they focus upon.

The first game in the series can be found here.
The sequel can be found here.

Game Alert - Desperate Gods

If you've been living under a rock lately (or just don't visit sites related to indie gaming or are reading this several months/years in the future, those work too), you've probably never heard of Desperate Gods. Otherwise, you've likely have at least heard the name and, hopefully, have played it. Regardless of if you have or have not in fact heard of this game, let's take a look at it and why it works:

Desperate Gods is a board game simulator for up to four players either locally or online and it was made in about a week for a game jam. The goal is to move around the board between four sections, each section has a unique deck filled almost entirely with monsters, and the goal is to defeat every monster in the game. Combat is simply a matter of rolling equal to or higher than a number on a monster's card and each monster is worth some money for buying items and victory points; once all the monsters have been defeated the players tally up the victory points of the monsters they have defeated and the player with the most wins. Many spaces do something other than letting the player draw a card and there's a bit more to it than that, but it's simple enough.

A typical game of Desperate Gods

Now, as a game in the traditional sense, Desperate Gods is not all that good. It can take over half the duration of a game to clear the hardest of the four decks, the decks for the larger, easier areas have barely any cards, items are unbalanced, and much of the wording in the game is horribly vague. Absolutely none of this matters though as the key word in the paragraph above is 'simulation'.

Desperate Gods is very clever in that, other than limiting room capacity to four players, it makes use of none of the 'additional restrictions/features' video game versions of boardgames usually have. Players don't simply click on dice to roll them, they must be picked up and shaken. Likewise, cards must be physically picked up from a deck, flipped over, and rotated and decks themselves can be combined and tossed around. There is no message which pops up to inform a player that it is their turn because there is no system in place to prevent players from doing stuff when it is not their turn and players themselves must decide when their turn begins and when it ends. Nothing pops up to say the game is over once the monsters are all defeated and players must manually count their victory points. You can accidentally move another player's piece, miscount spaces moved, forget to drag some silver coins over to your inventory card when you've defeated a monster and, in short, do just about anything other than move the board itself and throw stuff off the table. The game gives you a board and all its pieces along with a brief set of rules in a separate Read-Me file and then lets you interact with it however you want.

Another typical game of Desperate Gods

And that's all there is to it. It's a painfully, brilliantly simply concept, a virtual board game where players are able to freely interact with it, but all the bells and whistles which usually come with video game boardgames are things which I think many of us have simply taken to be natural and mandatory in video game adaptations and I really can't think of any game which does something even remotely similar to this (and I bet you'll have trouble thinking of such a game too, though feel free to note one in the comments section if one comes to mind). Even the vague wording on many spaces and cards works in favor of Desperate Gods as it encourages discussion and debate between players on how to interpret it, something which would never occur in other video game board games as the game would inevitably automatically do whatever it's trying to tell you it does. If you're looking for a masterpiece of game design and balance, this isn't it, but Desperate Gods brings some great innovation to the genre which I hope we'll see more of in the future and it's extremely fun to play with friends, especially with voice chat.

Of course, if all this still isn't enough reason to go try out this game-simulation-thing, I should mention that not only is it still being worked on and updated, but that it is also fully open source. At the time of this writing, there are already mods to expand the amount of players to 6, to make  the game fully mouse controlled, and a few other things along with many mods in the works to add in new cards or even to easily let players make their own cards. So, go give Desperate Gods a try - at the very least you're likely to have fun throwing cards and coins all over the place.

The game and a video can be found here: http://www.wolfire.com/desperate-gods