Mega Man: Revenge of the Fallen

Mega Man: Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) is a fan game made by Darkflamewolf (DFW) and Jman2050 (Jman). 5 years in the making how does this love letter to the 8 bit games of yore hold up? Read on to find out!

Game play - The game plays exactly like you think it would. All aspects that made Mega Man what he was have been carefully replicated here. Jumping, shooting, sliding, Rush adaptors, classic enemies, platforming goodness, it's all here. While the ratio isn't a perfect 1:1, nor should it be, everything will be immediately familiar to players of the older games in the series. Controls are tight and responsive and I never had an issue with them. Nor did I run into any bugs.

Of course the main draw of the game play is its subtitle ROTF. What DFW has done here is she hand picked robot masters from previous games in the series and has made her own all star roster. Starting with MM3 she picked two robot masters from each game up to 6 and then picked the final 2 from MM9. Of course what good is digging up old foes if you don't give them a few new tricks? Their patterns and methods of attack have been modified to make them more difficult. Each of the bosses is familiar yet not at the same time but these additions and changes to them are such a natural progression that you'd almost think they've always been like this. The same level of care was given to the Wily stage bosses as well who were also hand picked from games 3-6. Each of them behaves as expected with a few twists. Even the Mega Man hunters from the GB series have had minor updates made to them. Classic enemies remain mostly the same but a few have had alterations made to them most notably the floating Magnet enemies from Magnet Man's stage and a few others.

In addition to the changes to the bosses themselves the weapons Mega Man obtains from them have also received added functionality. For example Centaur Man's weapon seems to have been combined together with Gravity Man's weapon so it's not just a simple time stop ability any longer. Yamato Man's weapon now acts as a projectile and behaves similarly to the Super Arrow from MM5. Toad Man's Rain Flush can actually be used to cool hot surfaces now. It's all a very refreshing take on familiar material.

Along with the weapons Rush adaptors and sub items like the Energy Balancer make a return but rather than being purchasable from the lab these items have to be found in the robot master stages themselves. Most of these items are fairly well hidden and difficult to find. Spending the effort to seek out these power ups is VERY worth it though.

Graphical Design - Not much to say here. From the palette to the level graphics themselves the entire experience is what you would expect from an 8-bit MM game. Tiles are used as they should be and everything looks crisp and sharp. No complaints from me.

Sound Design - All the classic sounds are here with a remixed soundtrack pulled from VGmusic.com. Each of the stage BGMs were played on a different computer and then recorded into WAV format. So while each of them were originally MIDI files they all sound different and make for quite the varied soundtrack. Music to the ears of any fan of the series if you ask me.

Difficulty - Ah yes the big one. From what I can gather from the commentary balancing the game was one of the toughest things DFW and Jman had to do. DFW is known for the high level of difficulty in her works so how does ROTF compare to some of the other MM fan games out there and the original series itself? On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being "Push start to win." and 10 being "Welcome to die!" I'd say ROTF is a 6.8. Now this might be bias talking since I grew up playing games like this but I personally felt the game wasn't as hard as some folk made it out to be. I mean yes it has its tough spots but it's nothing impossible. My general rule of thumb when I play games like these is if I get stuck at a particular point I try something else for a while and come back with better or more varied equipment. Rush Jet, Rush Coil, and Tornado Blow are invaluable in this regard. These items coupled with the Energy Saver/Balancer make the tougher platforming sections a fair bit easier. Smart use of your weapons also helps so don't be afraid to blast everything on screen if you feel the need.

I personally had trouble with Star Man's stage (Gravity and LOTS of spikes), Yamato Man's stage (Long platforming sections), and Tornado man's stage (Weather effects and lots of other stuff going on). These 3 I felt were the hardest of the bunch with Stone Man's level trailing in a distant 4th place. The rest of the stages sans the Wily levels are a lot more straight forward and all they need is a clear head and a bit of trial and error to complete. For further comparison here's how I think some of the other well known fan games/original games rate when put up against ROTF. Bear in mind these are my personal thoughts and you're more than welcome to disagree with me.

MM1 - 6.2
MM2 - 5.0
MM3 - 5.0
MM4 - 5.0
MM5 - 3.0
MM6 - 2.5
MM7 - 7.0
MM8 - 6.7
MM9 - 7.5
MM10 - 6.3

MM Revolution - 4.0
MM Unlimited - 5.3
MM Rock Force - 4.8

Overall - This is a solid fan game from start to finish. The amount of love and care put into this 5 year long project shows through. If you're a fan of old school MM you owe it to yourself to check this game out. Time well spent I'd say.

~ Brocknoth