Mega Man: Revenge of the Fallen

Mega Man: Revenge of the Fallen. I don't know what is the fallen, but this game will sure make you fall many times. I guess it is all of those robot masters that you defeated in the past coming back to life to get their revenge on you. Regardless, if you are a Mega Man fan, I highly recommend this game for you. Below contains major spoilers, readers beware.

This game is a big combination of just about every Mega Man game you have ever played. There is even a point system from the first game that grants you extra lives. I enjoyed all of the remixes of every stage. If you had to sum up this game in one sentence, this game is one giant love letter to the Mega Man series.

Intro Stage: Typical Mega Man games don't have an intro stage. It wasn't until Mega Man X that intro stages became a thing. Mega Man 7 and 8 did this, but I digress. There really isn't much to say about this stage, but I did like the yoku blocks. I actually didn't study the pattern on my first try and died. The boss is the only truly easy boss in this game. I appreciate the two alternative paths in this level. Even the intro stage gets some love.

After playing the intro stage, I notice it takes longer for Mega Man to fully charge his beam weapon compared to other Mega Man games. I also notice, while the physics felt true to Mega Man games, it does feel a little different.

Holy cow! Ten robot masters!?! Now this game is all ready going above and beyond your typical Mega Man fan game. Not only that, but each stage is at least 2 - 3 times larger than a typical Mega Man stage.There are many secrets to be found here. In some ways, this kind of reminds me of a metroidvania style game. While I won't go over this part in the review, each stage has a hidden easter egg with some sort of Mega Man character. Having the right weapon to destroy them will grant you some extra lives.

Pharaoh Man: This is the first stage I picked as Pharaoh Man is one of my all time favorite robot masters. Only Quick Man gets ranked above Pharaoh Man in my book. First of all, I noticed the enemies are strategically placed, and there where some items that kind of troll you. What I mean by that is: you will see an extra life by a cliff, you will get the extra life, but you can't get back without another item. If you don't have any tools at that point, getting that extra life will be pointless. The normal path is pretty easy to navigate through, but the alternative paths are quite challenging. I love the secret quick sand by the entrance of the level. It was a very well placed secret. My favorite part was racing the platform on the spikes. It was very intense. The other secret path had you do a lot of falling though spiked hallways. I advise having Tornado Man's weapon on this part. In terms of Pharaoh Man, my favorite part about that fight was when Pharaoh Man made a ghost of himself on the ceiling. I feel Pharaoh Man is one of the easier bosses to defeat with the mega buster only. Pharaoh Man is pathetic with his weakness. Pharaoh Man's weapon is one of the few weapons I didn't use very much.

Centaur Man: How about that, Centaur Man is my favorite robot master in Mega Man 6. This stage has some neat elements to it. You will also see elements of Dive Man's level here. If all you see is the normal rout, than I don't believe this stage would be any more memorable than going the hidden routs. If you don't have a good computer, the parts of this level can lag for you. This didn't bother me much. I love the hidden routs in this level, especially the one requiring Rush Marine. The other hidden rout with the body of water floating in between air was a cool idea. Centaur Man has a predictable patter when you memories it, but it is tricky to learn at first. Once you memories where to place yourself, this battle is relatively simple. Using Centaur Man's weakness doesn't make the battle much easier; knowing the pattern is what will help you succeed in this battle. Centaur Man's weapons is very good at clearing the screen and slowing down time.

Spark Man: This is a very platform heavy stage: lots of conveyor belts, cog wheals cliffs, and spikes. I felt this stage stayed loyal to its Mega Man 3 counterpart. Parts of this stage can lag, but only if your computer is not powerful. Obviously, my computer is weak. I loved how you made the electric water sections. That was very creative of you. At first, I though that touching the electric water would kill you. I actually think it should kill you, but it is probably for the best that it only hurts Mega Man. The only real part I don't like about this stage are Nuts and Bolts. I never liked them in Mega Man 3 and I don't like them much here as well. I feel they kill the momentum of the game. The alternate routs some cleaver traps. The battle with Spark Man can get intense fast. I enjoyed the idea of his homing sparks. His pattern in unpredictable, but manageable. I won't say Spark Man is a hard robot master, but he is no walk in the park. I didn't use Spark Man's weapon outside of boss weaknesses and finding secrets.

Magnet Man: The gimmick of this stage is one of my favorites in the whole game. Really, Mega Man 3 did not use this gimmick to its fullest potential. You DFW, did use the magnet enemies to their fullest potential. Playing this stage makes me ask the question, "Where the robot masters decided first, or where the stages decided first?" Everything about this stage not only stayed true to its Mega Man 3 counterpart, but evolved everything to the next level. I'll admit, I didn't care for the yoku blocks too much, however, one of the alternate paths allows you to bypass the first set of yoku blocks entirely. Riding on magnets is way more fun for me. I managed to find Knight Man's stage on this level first. Finding the secrets to Knight Man reminded me of finding secrets for Super Mario World. I also find it interesting how you had to use Spark Man's weapon to move the machine out of your way to get rush jet. For the boss battle, I like how you added extra magnets on the stage to interfere with the battle. For the most part, Magnet Man only has one difficult attack to avoid. That is when he shoots six magnets at you before doing something else. Overall, Magnet Man is one of the easier bosses. Magnet Man's weapon is very useful for fighting normal enemies.

Stone Man: This stage is almost one giant cliff. Lots of platforming, but none of it was very difficult as well. I feel this is one of the easier levels in this game. There are some tactical enemy placements that could get you killed, but they are not too difficult to manage with some prior planning. This is especially true if you have some weapons to back you up. The second half of the level is very platform heavy. The flipping platforms are tricky to navigate, but good timing will negate this issue. Beware of the enemies on this section as it takes good accuracy to successfully avoid them. If you fee that your accuracy is poor, using some of the other robot master weapons will help a lot. This level has one of the best secret items in the game, the spike guard. To get it, however, requires you to go through a very long and very unforgiving alternate pathway in order to get it. That alternate path even branches off into other paths, so you will find yourself exploring this path way multiple times. Having all of your tools here is highly recommended. If you haven't played Mega Man 5 before, Stone Man can be tricky to fight. Every time he lands, he will crumble into the ground avoiding your shots. You must wait until he reforms before you can hurt him. Overall, the battle isn't hard, but it is very punishing. Stone Man does a lot of damage to you. I didn't use Stone Man's weapon outside of finding secrets.

Star Man: Overall, I really love how the gimmick of this level is utilized. It stays true to its Mega Man counterpart as most of the level has light gravity. This is actually one of my favorite levels. This level really forces you to control your jumps. More so than any other level in the game; there are strategically placed spikes everywhere. I love tricky platforming. My favorite parts of this level where the parts where it switched from low to normal gravity. I can't think of many games that attempt to mess with your gaming senses like this level does. Apache Joe is quite annoying to deal with, but taking your time to kill him is a must. The alternate paths utilize this level's gimmick to the fullest. Fighting Star Man requires a lot of patients. You can't just blindly throw charged shots as he likes to use his super attack on you as a counter. It is possible to hit him with your charged shots with out the counter attack, but it requires precise timing and patience. His attacks, for the most part, are easy to avoid except for one. If you can't fight in endurance based battles, I would suggest using Star Man's weakness here. Star Man's weapon is one of the best sub weapons for platforming.

Toad Man: I really don't have too much to say about this level, but this is still a good level never the less. The first half of this level is a combination of Toad Man's and Gemini Man's levels. The second half of this level is more interesting. I love the underwater section where you have to control your jump height. It reminds me of a beefed up Bubble Man's stage. I also liked how you combined the rain physics with the indoor physics when you reach outside. The secret at the end of the level is also similar to Dive Man's stage in Mega Man 4. All of the mini bosses here uses an interesting environmental gimmick that I enjoyed navigating. Finding Knight Man's stage here is very easy to miss. I would suggest looking for the other two entrances first. Fighting Toad Man himself is very interesting. In Mega Man 4, Toad Man was a joke. Not here, you must use a charged shot to stop toad man from doing his rain dance. I loved it when he hides behind the waterfall. Having the cliffs on the sides makes him more interesting as well. Toad Man's weapon is a good weapon for clearing the screen.

Yamato Man: Yamato Man is my second favorite robot master in Mega Man 6. I am beginning to wonder if we have similar tastes in robot masters? This level takes elements from Bright Man's stage with the grasshoppers. Nothing too exciting here, but there where some interesting scenarios used with the grasshoppers. This level makes good use of conveyor belt platforming in some parts. I love your use of Benks in this level. Forcing the player to slide under their shots really made fighting them more fun. More yuko blocks here. They really are not difficult, but they do require some more observation than in other levels. Over all the yuko blocks here where more interesting than in the other stages. Fighting Yamato Man is a cake walk once you figure out you can manipulate which attack he will throw at you. I choose to jump causing him to do his ground attack pattern. Yamato Man's weapon is a good weapon that can create platforms on the walls.

Magma Man: Great level! I love the usage of the Renbakuns here. You kepped the spirit of Mega Man 9 here. Your usage of the magma beams was intense. The drop out platforming and conveyor belt parts where breath taking. I also really enjoyed the Quick Man parts of this level. Using Toad Man's weapon to access secrets here where fun as well. Timing the rain to come down at just the right times was a little tricky. This stage is short but intense. Fighting Magma Man was really interesting. I love how you added those two magma beams in his stage and I also liked the fire shooting from Magma Man's head. The fight here is way more dynamic than the Mega Man 9 version. Magma Man's weapon is a powerful blast that will also help you find some secret areas.

Tornado Man: This level lagged in one part for me, but that is my fault for not upgrading my computer in forever. Lucky for me, I chose this level last. That means I had 9 robot master weapons at my disposal here. This level is where Star Man's weapon truly shines. I'll admit, I didn't even attempt to do it without using that weapon, so I cut down the difficulty significantly. You thought Stone Man's level was a giant cliff, think again. This level takes place up in the sky. There are some very tricky platform sections here. I loved the usage of the wind generators in this stage. The rain section actually borrows an element from Ninja Gaiden 2. Actually, this level borrow elements from many levels: Tornado Man's, Wind Man's, and Storm Eagle's stages come to mind. This level requires a lot of patience. The secrets make really good usage of rush jet. Finding Knight Man's stage in this level is very easy to pass, but is the preferred level to find his stage in.I had the most difficulty with Tornado Man. Even more difficulty than Bass. The only part that is hard for me was when Tornado Man decides to use his cloud attack that slows you down. I'll admit, I fought him with nothing but the Mega Buster and using Spark Man's weapon makes him much easier. What I don't like is how you can't destroy the clouds and Tornado Man can do this move over and over and over again. It makes it so doing a no damage run is just about impossible. I feel that move is unfair. Tornado Man's weapon is a very versatile weapon. This weapon clears the enemies on the screen, heightens Mega Man's jump, and it temporary stops your fall. Holy cow, three weapons that clear the screen. Mega Man is over powered in this game.

Knight Man: If I was to take a wild guess, I would say Knight Man is your favorite robot master of all time. Am I right? I honestly don't have much to say about this level, but this is the most difficult of all the non Wiley stages in the game. There are two main pathways you can take here. I prefer taking the upper path, but that one requires a lot of equipment. The bottom path seems more difficult to me. I do like the spiked roof raising up and down. Fighting Knight Man was actually easy. He hits hard, but his attacks are not difficult to avoid. Fighting Knight Man is very unique due to his shield. I also really enjoyed how you made gave Knight Man attacks that seemed to really look like he wields a morning star. Don't get a game over here or else you will have to start at the robot master screen again. This is why it is recommended to go to Tornado Man's stage when challenging this level. Knight Man's weapon hits hard. If you can't find somebodies weakness, use Knight Man's weapon.

Punk, Enker, and Ballade: These bosses are very intense and fun to fight. I also loved the refights of these bosses. Adding that extra attack really changes the dynamic of a battle. The difference between the fights and refights reminds me of Mega Man 10's normal and hard difficulty. These fights where obviously inspired by Mega Man X2 and X3. My favorite fight was with Ballade. I just love the pacing of this battle. I feel Punk's stomping attack was unfair. I played the game a second time just so I can kill these hunters the first time with their weaknesses.

Wiley Stages: I'm just going to go ahead and bunch all eight of these levels into one. Every time I saw the Wiley map, my reaction was, "Holy cow, look at all of those pathways". First of all, all of these levels have many different path ways you can choose from. Depending on if you found any secret areas or not will determine if you get to explore some of these alternate pathways or not. Going the alternate pathways will reward you with some extra goodies, so I suggest exploring them. Depending on what alternate path you choose, you will either get an energy tank part or a weapon tank part. Some of the later stages will have better rewards for exploration. I enjoyed them all. I love all of the bosses from every one of these stages and I don't have a favorite. Well, I would pick the Yellow Devil as my most favorite Wiley boss.

Final Boss: I love this boss. This boss is just one giant tribute to Mega Man bosses. I mean there is a little bit of every Mega Man game mixed in this one boss. How many robot masters did you use DFW? Anyways, it will take a while to memories all of these attacks.

Bass: I love this boss! How many attacks does this guy have? 30? And his super attack. It lasts for about 12 - 15 seconds. This guy required me to repeat Knight Man's stage a couple of times. I would highly suggest stocking up on lives before attempting this boss. I feel that most of this attacks are fare, but there are some attacks that are very unfair. Because of the vast amount of attacks this guy has, every battle with Bass will be very different. There is no memorizing here, or at least it will be hard to set yourself up to avoid every possible scenario here.

If you haven't all ready noticed, I love this game. Why else would I write this detailed review on my thoughts on every stage in the while game. Great job DFW for an excellent game. Your quality is top notch.