NatureJay
SJA: Commander of Ruthless Abuse


2005 Mar 23 • 1871
574 ₧

So, I just found out about and subsequently beat Mega Man x Street Fighter. The story is that around the time of the Mega Man and Street Fighter 25th anniversaries, some programmer in Singapore hit up Capcom with the idea of a crossover game. Miraculously, instead of sending out a cease-and-desist as usually happens, Capcom said "hey that sounds like a sweet idea" and gave him a little help and ended up releasing it for free on their website.

What's weird about the game is how fucking good it is? The programmer knew the Mega Man series really well and his level design is among the best they had to offer. In addition, he brought his own little weird things to the table that were seen uncommonly if at all. Branching paths everywhere! Destructible projectiles and walls! Enemies using your own projectiles against you! Loops where you can see the place you're going to access but can't get there yet! TWO SHIELD WEAPONS WHICH ARE BOTH USEFUL! I don't even understand that fully but it's true and I typed it. Also the soundtrack consists of mash-ups of classic themes from both series. Also you test your weapons on Dan Hibiki. And the game is fucking hard (Vega/Balrog's level is sadistic at the start, until you fashion a plan. Vega/Balrog himself is worse).

It's a lot better than a game that seems to be solo-programmed (outside of music and backgrounds) should be. But it's not without its flaws. Unsurprisingly, controller support is shit and my initial attempts to play it resulted in a huge framerate slowdown when I tried to use one. This is aggravating because the controls used are the Mega Man 4 controls, meaning there's a lot of charging and running and sliding. It makes good use of the game's mechanics, but without a controller, well, we all know how keyboards are with multiple simultaneous inputs.

There are also a few conceptual decisions I wasn't so hot about. One is that, trying to appeal to the newer entrants in the series, they added Crimson Viper. I didn't know who the hell she was, but as I understand it, she was Capcom's attempt to make an SNK character. Not too enthused. The other is that the weapon you get from Blanka has more to do with rolling than electricity, in that it's basically the soccer ball from MM8. Not cool. Also, hadoken is basically higher level charged shots, functionality-wise.

But other than that, good game. Locate and play it. Share and enjoy.

NatureJay
SJA: Commander of Ruthless Abuse


2005 Mar 23 • 1871
574 ₧

Also, the boss fights are pretty great. With the exception of Dhalsim, who is stupid easy with his weakness, all the others still require strategies to defeat even if you have the right weapon. In particular, the Urien fight can be amazing when executed well.

SuperJer
Websiteman

2005 Mar 21 • 6673

aaronjer
*****'n Admin


2005 Mar 21 • 5105
1,227 ₧

I didn't like it. I played 5 of the levels, beat 3 of them, and noticed there was very little variance in enemy type, and that all of the enemies had irritating invincibility periods or other methods of completely avoiding damage. None of the weapons I obtained overcame these things. The game was a real chore to play.

NatureJay
SJA: Commander of Ruthless Abuse


2005 Mar 23 • 1871
574 ₧

The invincibility frames were definitely a drawback, but I don't feel like they were random as I was going through, they were things that you were capable of adjusting to. Enemy variety is a point against the game though.

NatureJay
SJA: Commander of Ruthless Abuse


2005 Mar 23 • 1871
574 ₧

Which levels did you play, out of curiosity? Because there are some that are solid and two that I can think of that were just straight left to right lines.

aaronjer
*****'n Admin


2005 Mar 21 • 5105
1,227 ₧

Ryu, then Chunlord, then Rolentax, then the purple woman, then Dhalsim. Dhalsim level was the worst, and made me stop playing. Every enemy was extremely irritating, and none of the weapons I acquired were any more useful than the megabuster.

SuperJer
Websiteman

2005 Mar 21 • 6673

NatureJay
SJA: Commander of Ruthless Abuse


2005 Mar 23 • 1871
574 ₧

Yep, that Dhalsim level has three levels with shields or the ability to reflect shit. Come to think of it... I'd say that more enemies can reflect or make shields than not, between the metools, the fire sword guys, the orb circle shield generators, those weird eyes inside sticks, the purple generators, the samurai bots (if they aren't attacking). I hadn't ever really considered it an issue though, since you can take them out in a single charge shot if you time it right. Not true for Rose (purple lady) and Ryu who can both reflect or just pass through some shots.

Urien-level was my favorite, then Blanka-level. Ryu, you probably shouldn't have been fighting without the proper weapon.

NatureJay
SJA: Commander of Ruthless Abuse


2005 Mar 23 • 1871
574 ₧

I think the art production was a little uneven. Chun-li and Crimson Viper have really boring levels visually. In a lot of cases it seems like if they just had a background of any kind (Rose, Chun-li, Blanka), the situation would be much improved. Urien's level is really interesting visually and the equivalent of all the Wily levels, they're all visually intricate (so when I wrote this up, I had just finished the most arty section of the game).

aaronjer
*****'n Admin


2005 Mar 21 • 5105
1,227 ₧

Ryu was my first level and he was really, really easy with just the buster. I get that you can time one shot well, but I don't want to play a megaman game where that is the only enemy type.