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.