Mega Man 10

Overview

Mega Man 10 (known in Japan as Rockman 10: Uchuu kara no Kyoui!!, which loosely translates to "Rockman 10: Threat From Outer Space!!") is a side-scrolling action platformer developed by both Capcom and Inti Creates and published by Capcom for the Wii (via WiiWare on March 1, 2010), PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network on March 11, 2010), and Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade on March 31, 2010).

The tenth installment of the original Mega Man series (and the sequel to Mega Man 9), Mega Man 10 continues its predecessor's style of a deliberately-retro throwback to the original six games in the franchise (for the Nintendo Entertainment System). Simulating the behavior of NES hardware, the game features the classic graphical style (including sprites ripped straight from the original games and an option to enable graphical glitches due to too many sprites displayed), classic sounds and soundtrack (including a dedicated sound system that can alter the music based on sounds being played), and simple gameplay mechanics.

New features that were previously downloadable content in Mega Man 9 are included in the base game, including Proto Man as a playable character (who can block small attacks from the front, slide across the ground, and charge up his arm cannon, at the cost of less damage resistance) and a harder difficulty mode (unlocked by beating the game). The game also introduces an easier difficulty level to the franchise and a variety of mini-stages (Challenge Mode) included to test the player's abilities. The game also includes three new downloadable bonus stages (featuring a boss from the Game Boy games), a downloadable "Endless Attack" mode, and Mega Man's rival Bass as a unique playable character (who has a weaker rapid-fire arm cannon that can shoot in eight directions, and a dashing manuever to assist in long jumps).

Set in the year 20XX, the game takes place sometime after the events of Mega Man 9 (in which the humanoid robot hero Mega Man defeats the evil Dr. Wily for the ninth time). An outbreak of a mysterious virus is disabling robots worldwide and causing some robots to go berserk. After a month, Dr. Wily requests help from Dr. Light and Mega Man with claims that he was building a machine that develops an antidote to the disease, only for the machine to be stolen by the infected robots. With Roll succumbing to the outbreak, both Mega Man and his brother, Proto Man, must help Dr. Wily retrieve parts to his machine, which are guarded by several berserk Robot Masters.

Gameplay

Like in previous Mega Man games, players control Mega Man as he charges horizontally and vertically through levels, eliminating enemy robots and avoiding spikes and pitfalls, in order to reach boss battles against the Robot Masters. Upon defeating a Robot Master, Mega Man receives a new ability (by absorbing the boss's power), which aids him in progressing through the game.

Instead of Mega Man, players can also choose to control Proto Man (who was previously a DLC character in Mega Man 9) or Bass (via DLC). Proto Man has the ability to slide (previously used by Mega Man between Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 8: Anniversary Edition), charge his arm cannon (previously used by Mega Man between Mega Man 4 and Mega Man 8: Anniversary Edition), and use his shield while jumping (to absorb enemy projectiles). However, he takes twice as much damage from attacks and cannot fire more than two shots on the screen at one time. Bass has the ability to dash (similar to slide, only trading the decrease in height for a farther jump), fire his default blaster in any one of eight directions (at the cost of not being able to move while firing), and the ability to fly around the screen (in an ability that replaces Mega Man and Proto Man's "Rush Coil" ability).

Items and Pickups

Randomly throughout the stage (and by random enemy drops) are pickups that aid the player in progressing through the level. Each pickup varies in size (small and large) and utility (boost in health, boost in weapon energy). In rare occasions, players can find Extra Life powerups and special Yashichi powerups (which refills the players health and the weapon energy of all weapons, previously only seen in Mega Man). Players can also collect and manually use special refill tanks, including Energy Tanks (which completely refills the player's health), Mystery Tanks (which either completely refills the player's health and weapon energy for the player's current weapon or (if both are full) turns all the enemies on the screen into Extra Life powerups), and, introduced in Mega Man 10, Weapon Tanks (which completely refills the weapon energy for the player's current weapon).

Introduced in Mega Man 7, players can pick up scrap bolts either randomly throughout the stage or by random enemy drops, which serve as the game's currency. Players can buy extra lives, refill tanks, and special items. Special items include the "Shock Guard" (a one-use item which protects the player from one hit against objects that cause instant death (except pitfalls)), the "Energy Balancer" (in which players who pick up a Weapon Pellet, while equipping either the default cannon or a weapon that has full energy, has it's effect go into the weapon with the lowest amount of energy), the " Beat Call" (a one-use item that protects the player from one fall in pitfalls, known as " Treble Rescue" for Bass), the " Eddie Call" (Mega Man only, a one-use item that summons Eddie to give a random helpful item), the "Guard Power Up" (a one-use item that causes the player to receive only half the damage from enemy attacks for the remainder of the level). Mega Man can also buy an item that removes his helmet, which introduces the challenge of Mega Man taking twice as much damage from enemy attacks.

Game Modes

The standard release of the game includes multiple difficulty settings, previously as downloadable content on Mega Man 9. Along with a harder difficulty, the game also introduces a new easier difficulty, which aids players over most of the game's deadly jumps, replaces certain enemies with weaker variations, restricts certain enemy and Robot Master abilities, and restricts the amount of damage the player can receive. The new easier difficulty also adds new save points towards the end of the game (in which players in other difficulty modes must progress through a long set of levels without entering shops or saving). However, playing the game on this difficulty setting does not earn players ranking on the online leaderboards.

Mega Man 10 also introduces a new "Challenge Mode", in which players must complete and master 88 specific challenges ranging from progressing through a special level to defeating a boss. In addition to these goals, there are also special goals for most of the challenge, which requires the player to complete the challenge without taking damage. Some of these challenges, such as fighting bosses, must be unlocked by reaching that specific boss in certain difficulty settings. Players are given a ranking on the screen listing the challenges, which is determined by how far the player progressed through the list of challenges.

Robot Masters

Like traditional Mega Man games, eight Robot Masters must be defeated before the player can progress to the main boss levels. Defeating each Robot Master gains the player a special ability that consumes its own ammo counter. Mega Man 10 includes three extra Robot Masters (the "Mega Man Killers") from previous Game Boy games for it's Special Stages. Defeating them grants only Mega Man access to their weapons in all game modes.

Blade Man (DWN-073) Blade Man was the guide to an ancient castle before the Roboenza incident. The castle's lord had a fascination with swords, which inspired the robot's design. Blade man has an encyclopedic knowledge about weapons and swords, and can speak on the subject at length and in great detail. Weakness: Commando Bomb (shockwave only) Weapon: Triple Blade With the Triple Blade, the player fires three blades at an upward angle (while standing) or a downward angle (while jumping).

Pump Man (DWN-074) Pump Man worked at a wastewater treatment plant, purifying the water that came through. He also volunteered his time to wash graffiti off of walls in the neighborhood. Pump Man has also been described as a "neat freak." Weakness: Thunder Wool (thunder only) Weapon: Water Shield Activating the Water Shield, droplets of water begin to surround the player. Droplets that collide with the enemy damage them (protecting the player). Pressing the fire button a second time sends all remaining droplets out in different directions.

Commando Man (DWN-075) A mine-sweeper robot. He was responsible for removing land-mines by remote detonation of small explosives. He is busy fielding requests for his services from countries worldwide, but he does enjoy being able to taste oil from all over the world Weakness: Wheel Cutter Weapon: Commando Bomb With the Commando Bomb, the player fires a fast-moving missile forward, which can make up to two 90-degree turns (by pressing the D-pad) before hitting an object. Hitting a wall, ceiling, or floor causes a powerful short-range shockwave.

Chill Man (DWN-076) Arctic natural observation robot. His primary job is to stop glacial melting caused by global warming. His hobby is photography. He takes pictures of the magnificent natural wonders and posts them on the internet to make people aware of the importance of nature. Weakness: Solar Blaze (direct impact only) Weapon: Chill Spike With the Chill Spike, the player fires a snowball forward (that can freeze most enemies upon impact), which turns into a bed of spikes when hitting the floor or a wall of spikes when hitting a wall.

Sheep Man (DWN-077) Originally a sheep herding robot, he left that job to work in the static resistance test division of a circuit board manufacturer after one day noticing static build-up on his wool. But, being one that easily gets bored, it seems he was thinking about changing jobs again but he became infected with Roboenza Weakness: Rebound Striker Weapon: Thunder Wool Equipping the Thunder Wool, the player fires a weak puffy white cloud that, if it manages to reach its apex without hitting anything, shoots a powerful bolt of lightning down.

Strike Man (DWN-078) A stadium batting practice robot. He can throw just about any kind of pitch, but gets in a bad mood when he gives up too many hits. he was almost sent back to the factory for maintenance when he hit a batter he didn't like with a pitch and put the batter in the hospital. Weakness: Triple Blade Weapon: Rebound Striker With the Rebound Striker, the player fires a bouncing ball in one of three forward directions, which ricochets off of walls, floors, ceilings, and shielded objects.

Nitro Man (DWN-079) A stunt robot who has worked on numerous movies and tv shows. If the director says to do something, there's not a stunt he won't do, no matter how dangerous. In motorcycle mode, his technique is pure genius. He is also the president of a robot stunt club of which there are 60 members. Weakness: Chill Spike (spikes only) Weapon: Wheel Cutter Shooting a Wheel Cutter will cause a bladed wheel to fall from the player's hand, which rushes forward while climbing up walls. Holding down the fire button causes the player to hold the wheel in front of him (which serves as both a frontal shield and a close-range attack), which can allow the player to climb up walls by running into them.

Solar Man (DWN-080) An artificial sunlight research facility robot. He has the ability to create ultra-high temperature artificial sunlight. Since he and his coworkers spend so much time cooped up in the lab, he developed his on "Solar Workout" plan which is slowly gaining recognition. Weakness: Water Shield Weapon: Solar Blaze With the Solar Blaze, the player fires a flaming orb. After about a second (or when it hits an obstacle), the orb explodes, and powerful flame crescents fire in both horizontal directions.

Enker (only fightable on Special Stage 1) The first of the Mega Man Killer robots created by Dr. Wiley. His only purpose is to destroy Mega Man. The Mirror Buster allows him to absorb shots and send them back at his opponents. His spear he carries is called the Barried Spear. Weapon: Mirror Buster With the Mirror Buster, Mega Man holds his arm cannon out, producing a shield that absorbs projectiles (retaliating with a powerful blast).

Punk (only fightable on Special Stage 2) The second of the Mega Man Killer robots created by Dr. Wily to destroy Mega Man. He attacks using his Screw Crusher or turning into a giant spiked ball. Weapon: Screw Crusher Equipping the Screw Crusher allows Mega Man to fire large bullets in an arc. The bullets are not very powerful, but they are efficient on ammo and can go through walls and floors.

Ballade (only fightable on Special Stage 3) Ballade is the third and last Mega Man Killer robot built by Dr. Wily. He is very prideful and believes he is the strongest robot. He attacks with a powerful explosive called the Ballade Cracker, and has a second form that increases his strength. Weapon: Ballade Cracker With the Ballade Cracker, Mega Man throws a powerful floating bomb in any direction (except down).

Downloadable Content

Like Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10 includes paid on-disc downloadable content in the form of bonus playable characters, special stages, and endless attack. However, there are no difficulty DLC.

Bass Mode

Released during the week of April 5, 2010 for $2 (200 Wii Points, 160 msp), Bass Mode allows the player to go through the main campaign as Mega Man's former nemesis, Bass. Like Proto Man, Bass cannot be used in Time Attack, Endless Attack, and Challenge modes and does not count towards the leaderboards.

Bass' arm canon shoots very rapidly, but he cannot run while shooting it. He can also fire it in multiple directions, including diagonally. He can also dash forward by pressing down and jump simaltaneously.

While Mega Man and Protoman both have a coil for jumping and a jet, Bass has different abilities. He calls his robotic dog friend Treble to aid him. He uses "Treble Boost" which makes him stronger, and able to fly. Treble also replaces Beat and Eddie as items. In the store, Bass can purchase fewer items. Roll is replaced by Reggae.

Bass mode also features a slightly different storyline, which revolves around Bass trying to prove he is the strongest robot in the world.

Special Stage 1

Released during the week of April 5, 2010 for $1 (100 Wii Points, 80 msp), this stage is only accessible through Time Attack. The boss of this stage is Enker from Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge, and beating him allows Mega Man to use the Mirror Buster in all modes.

Special Stage 2

Released during the week of April 26, 2010 for $1 (100 Wii Points, 80 msp), this stage is only accessible through Time Attack. The boss of this stage is Punk from Mega Man III, and beating him allows Mega Man to use the Screw Crusher in all modes.

Special Stage 3

Released during the week of April 26, 2010 for $1 (100 Wii Points, 80 msp), this stage is only accessible through Time Attack. The boss of this stage is Ballade from Mega Man IV, and beating him allows Mega Man to use the Ballade Cracker in all modes.

Endless Attack

Released during the week of April 26, 2010 for $3 (300 Wii Points, 240 msp), this game mode gives allows players to play a randomized "endless" stage designed to give players a score-building challenge. Endless Attack Mode includes a separate leaderboard, which tracks how many "screens" were progressed without dying. Every 30 screens, the player faces a Robot Master.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack release for the game was also announced by IntiCreates. Released on March 23, 2010, the album contains 46 tracks and encompass the entire soundtrack along with sound effects. Composers from past Mega Man games, such as Manami Matsumae and Akari Kaida, contributed to the soundtrack.

A special bonus CD was given to those who preordered the album through Capcom's e-store. This CD contains exclusive remixed music from past Mega Man games and Mega Man 10, arranged by the series' composers. It will remain an exclusive through Capcom's e-store preorders.