| System: Super Nintendo | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Capcom | Sound: |
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| Year: 1998* | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Action-platformer | Rating: |
9/10 |
(*) If I’m not mistaken, this title was initially released only in Japan. It was later adapted for the Game Boy Advance in an international version, in 2002 (Japan) and 2003 (United States, Europe), under the title Mega Man & Bass.
King, Wily’s latest creation, has gone rogue. He’s stolen the blueprints of former robot masters to raise an army and conquer the world.
Determined to prove to his creator that no robot is stronger than him, Bass temporarily puts aside his rivalry with Mega Man to take down King…
For a long time, Rockman and Forte was considered the 9th entry in the series, until the release of Mega Man 9 in 2008. You could think of it as a very loose adaptation of Mega Man 8 for the Super Nintendo. Most of the enemies and gameplay mechanics are directly imported from that title.
As the name suggests, we now have two playable characters: Mega Man or Bass (chosen at the start, with no option to switch mid-game). Each has unique, complementary abilities: Mega Man can slide and charge his weapon, while Bass can jump twice as high and shoot in all directions.
The bolt system returns, allowing you to trade them for pieces of equipment. Unlike Mega Man 8, bolts are not limited in number.
And there’s a new challenge to extend the game’s lifespan even further: finding 100 hidden CDs. Each CD reveals a profile of a character from the series.
They somehow managed to ensure the classic series features exactly 100 characters. This might explain why we only get six new robot masters here, with the remaining two borrowed from Mega Man 8 (Tengu Man and Astro Man).
I remember finding the CD hunt original and entertaining back in the day. Now (in 2018), this obsessive need to cram games full of achievements or collectibles makes me sick…
Note that you won’t be able to collect all the CDs with the same character. This is a way to encourage you to replay the game multiple times. Of course, the CDs you’ve gathered are saved between playthroughs.
This title is considered one of the most difficult and frustrating in the series, particularly due to the sadistic placement of enemies (right after a jump over a pit, for example). That said, as in all Mega Man games, it’s easy to stockpile extra lives galore.
Suggested order:
Cold Man > Burner Man > Pirate Man > Ground Man > Tengu Man > Magic Man > Astro Man > Dynamo Man
