Mega Man: Revenge of the Fallen

Now there was one of two ways I could have gone about this, one was have energy tanks you acquire throughout the levels and you keep them as long as you had lives. You'd lose them all and have to get them again if you got a game over or quit and restarted later. Or I could go the mean route like Megaman and Bass and simply not have any energy tanks at all. So instead, I went the middle of the road.
You start off with no energy/weapon/master tanks in your possession. There are 12 e-tank parts scattered throughout the levels, 6 w-tank parts, and 3 m-tank parts. The e-tanks split up into 4 pieces which nets you 3 e-tanks total. The w-tank parts split up by 3's and get you 2 w-tanks total. The 3 m-tank parts comprise one single m-tank. Now using the password system to record your tank part collection, every time you restart the game OR get a game over and restart, you automatically get those tanks back in your possession until you use them again. Hope that made sense.
I'm also bringing back the old scoring system from the original Mega Man, but this time making some cool benefits for performing well.
10,000 point milestones - extra life
50,000 point milestones - extra e-tank
100,000 point milestones - extra w-tank
Dying - -1000 points
Game over - lose all points, but regain all milestones to be achieved again.
So it pays to get good at the game to get the benefits of high scores. Combined with the tank parts, you can make this game as easy or as hard as you want. Just another small gameplay mechanic that should add new dynamic to the staple MM formula.