RockMan

"The first in the classic Rockman series makes it's way to the Playstation in a very cool manner."

Whether you know him as Rockman (Japan) or MegaMan (North America/Europe), if you're into video games at all you've at least seen, and probably played, one of the Blue Bomber's games. From his humble beginnings in the early days of the Famicom/NES, Rockman was destined to become a classic. Now, twenty-some odd games later, his classic status is cemented with Capcom's re-release series "Rockman Perfect Works" for the Sony Playstation.

In a way, there's not much that can be said about this game: it's a time-tested classic. The graphics were top-notch in it's day, and still hold up pretty well in today's 32-bit, going on 128-bit, days. The songs in the game have become classics, as have some of the sound effects. And of course no one who's played the game can forget the wonderful characters of Dr. Light and Rockman (as this is a Japanese release, I will refer to the characters by their Japanese names - get used to it), and, of course, the evil Dr. Wily. Reviews upon reviews have been written about the Famicom Rockman, and the praises have been shouted over and over. And all of the classic elements that made Rockman what it was are here, preserved in all of their 8-bit glory. But there's more to the PSX Rockman than the game.

As expected, Capcom has added additional elements to the disc. First off, you'll notice that there is much needed memory card support. The original Rockman didn't even have a password system, so a saving system is greatly appreciated. Also, Capcom has added a version of the game called Navi(gation) Mode. Here, Dr. Light occasionally comes up to tell you some information - unfortunately, seeing as it is a Japanese game, it's all in Japanese, so the comments kind of went over my head. You do at least have a nicely re-designed pause/weapon screen. But the addition of this mode is a nice gesture, to say the least. You'll also find an art gallery/info page that you add to as you progress throughout the disc, containing both character bios and pics, as well as illustrations such as the original cover artwork. Add Dual Shock support to the above, and you have a disc that is worthy of being called "Complete Works".

In addition to all of the Playstation features, you also will find a pretty cool little Pocketstation game within the disc. While the Pocketstation is limited in the amount of things that it can do, Pokerock, as the Pocketstation game is called, succeeds in being one of the coolest Pocketstation games that I've played to date. Given, you do have the very common 'monster raising' aspects, as you get to raise not only your own Rockman, but also the six enemy robots: Fireman, Gutsman, Cutman, Iceman, Elecman, and Bomberman (no, not the Hudson Soft guy...). The way that you raise them is what makes this game fun. For Rockman, you get to play a 'hit the Hardhat as it comes out of the hole' game, which is very similar to a carnival Whack'em game (hitting the moles that pop out of the holes with a mallet). While this is pretty easy, and pretty basic, it's still quite fun - the game starts out slowly, but ends up going crazily-fast. Afterwards, you get to take some shot's at Wily's spaceship (although this part is maddeningly hard to pass - I have yet to down him...). When you're done, your in-game points turn into Experience Points for Rockman, helping him level up. As for the enemy robots, they have their own experience-gaining game as well. Their's is called JunKen de Battle, and is a version of JunKenPo! (which I've probably just spelled hideously wrong, but is better known in N.America as Rock, Scissors, Paper). Again, playing against a Hardhat, you choose one of your enemy robots (you start with just one, but gather more as you play on). The Hardhat will then do either Rock, Scissors, or Paper, and you have to press the key that will make your character do the one that beats whatever the Hardhat has done. It's basically like playing the JunKen while being a psychic and knowing what your opponent will do. While this sounds hideously easy, there is a catch - you have a set amount of time to press the right button, or you get hit. Get hit three times in the time allotment and you have to start over, getting just a minimal amount of Experience points. And of course, the further that you progress, the faster you have to react (and the more points you get as well). And again, once you're finished with the battle, your chosen robot gets Experience points. So what good is it to use these games to level up? Well, after you're doing playing the mini games, you can play the main 3-on-3 battle. In this section, you choose three robots, and you fight the computers selection of three robots. Of course, all of the things that you learned by playing the original version of Rockman apply here - certain robots are weak or strong against certain weapons. And while you don't actually do anything during the battle (it's all automatic), it's still quite fun to watch. Of course, if you win, you gain a bunch of Experience points, as well as having the chance of getting another robot. In the end, it's a rather satisfying little 13-block Pocketstation game that will have you whittling away the time commuting (or whenever you play) very nicely.

So in the end, is it all worth it? Absolutely. The game retails for a very reasonable 2800 Japanese yen (about US$24) and is still a blast to play after all of these years. And given the difficulty in finding the original Rockman in both Japan and the U.S., it's quite a bargain. And when you throw in the extras, including the nicely done and full color instruction manual, you end up with a really nice package. And whether you buy the updated Playstation version, or hunt used game shops for the original 8-bit release, Rockman is a game that is a must in any serious gamer's library.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99