Story: In the year 20XX, the mysterious Mr. X hosts the first Robot Tournament.
After he has the contestants narrowed down to 8 (what a convenient number to pick!) he "took control
of the robots and began taking over the world."
This is a rather weak description, but I think that Capcom (yes, they did produce the game:
look in the credits at the end) just wanted to get the NES series over with so that they could release
Rockman 7 on the SNES system.
At any rate, Mr. X announces that he has been "manipulating that fool, Dr. Wily since the beginning!"
This actually had me fooled for a few minutes. I thought, Hey, wow! A new character! A new
villian, for real!.
Rockman valiantly volunteers to save the world . . . again.
Thanks to Matt Hull for this one!
New Features: Although nothing can be seen of the Rush Coil adaptor or the Rush
Jet adaptor (at least, in its sled form), a few new surprises are in store. Available to Rockman
in his arsenal this time are the Jet Adaptor Armor and the Power Armor Adaptor, both of which are
cybernetic mergings of both Rockman and Rush. And once again, Beat is back, useful as ever. This time,
instead of finding the letters R O C K M A N V, Rockman must obtain the letters B E A T by defeating four
Robot Masters in "hidden" rooms.
Also, this game does not feature the Mega Tank (dang it!) for some reason. The Energy Balancer is introduced here as well--
a handy gadget which allows Rockman to power up his weapons energy without ponderously switching to the weapons select screen.
In addition, this is the first (and as far as I know, only) Rockman game to give the vital statistics of the Robot Masters, which will be
included (for the heck of it) in their descriptions.
Speaking of which . . .
Robot Masters: Here it is--Rockman's idiotic order. This time, Rockman doesn't attack the Robot Masters in order of their
designation numbers. In order to obtain the letters B E A T without repeating a stage, Rockman must first obtain the Jet Adaptor Suit (on Plant Man's stage)
and the Power Armor (on Flame Man's stage). So, his order is this:
And, just for the joy of it, here's the list of Robot Masters in order of their attacking power (least to most):
Tomahawk Man
Weapon: Silver Tomahawk
Power Source: Solar Energy
Height: 177 Weight: 87
Mobility: 149 Defense Power: 71
Attack Power: 157 Area: Restricted Area
Strategy: It's rather mean to make the player fight the second most powerful Robot Master so soon, but
actually, if you can make Rockman jump the spinning Tomahawks and the razor-bladed head-dress feathers, it should
be relatively little trouble to stand beside him with an activated Plant Barrier. If you take the low road (using
the Jet Adaptor Suit) you can find the "hidden" room and retrieve the B by defeating Tomahawk Man. If you take
the high road, you can acquire the Energy Balancer by using the Power Adaptor Suit to destroy the cracked block. Blues
will make a special appearance to give you the item, then disappear.
Yamato Man
Weapon: Yamato Spear
Power Source: Solar Energy
Height: 169 Weight: 149
Mobility: 31 Defense Power: 185
Attack Power: 191 Area: Impregnable Fortress
Strategy: Yamato Man's level isn't nearly as impregnable (invincible) as its name suggests.
If you have the Jet Adaptor Suit, you can take the high road and obtain the E letter. Once you reach
Yamato Man (a yamato is a kind of Japanese throwing spear, I think) slide away from his triple shots and jump over his
single shots while hitting him with the Silver Tomahawk, and you'll do fine.
Knight Man
Weapon: Knight Chain
Power Source: Solar Energy
Height: 158 Weight: 146
Mobility: 60 Defense Power: 204
Attack Power: 121 Area: Captial of Science
Strategy: To reach Knight Man's "hidden" room, you'll need the Power Armor. His level, for a "captial of
science" looks more like something out of an old Boris Karloff movie than a futuristic techno-castle. Besides the
abundance of spikes collapsing spiked celings, Knight Man's stage isn't too much to worry about. Knight Man himself is
also rather easy to defeat with the Yamato Spear. Leap the thrown mace (no chain, but it mysteriously returns) and if you've
found the alternate room, you will be rewarded not only with the Knight Chain, but with the A letter.
Centaur Man
Weapon: Centaur Flash
Power Source: Dry Battery
Height: 155 Weight: 172
Mobility: 205 Defense Power: 47
Attack Power: 35 Area: Ancient City
Strategy: Thanks to Rockman's incredible leaping abilities, defeating Centaur Man will be
easy. Once in a while, Centaur Man will stop time with his Centaur Flash and fire a large plasma burst,
which will subsequently burst into several different shots after reflecting off the wall. As long as Rockman stays
a healthy distance from Centaur Man while using the Knight Chain. Once you defeat Centaur Man, you will be
"rewarded" with the Centuar Flash, which is virtually useless except against Wind Man, and the final letter, T.
Wind Man
Weapon: Wind Storm
Power Source: Wind Energy
Height: 169 Weight: 173
Mobility: 51 Defense Power: 129
Attack Power: 66 Area: Mechanical Tower
Strategy: For a mechanical tower, this stage sure doesn't have many moving parts.
Still, it's worth respect with its multiple drops and falls. Once you reach Wind Man (a
duplicate of Air Man, except with different graphics) use the Centaur Flash--but not too quickly.
Wait a few seconds between shots or you'll waste your weapons energy.
Flame Blast
Weapon: Flame Blast
Power Source: Thermal Energy
Height: 155 Weight: 98
Mobility: 83 Defense Power: 93
Attack Power: 84 Area: Oil Field
Strategy: Aside from avoiding the exploding Flame Blasts on the floor, Flame Man
doesn't present much of a challenge. Keep hitting him with the Wind Storm, and he'll be history,
leaving you both the Flame Blast and the Power Armor.
Blizzard Man
Weapon:
Power Source: Solar Energy
Height: 113 Weight: 167
Mobility: 113 Defense Power: 42
Attack Power: 88 Area: Frozen Island
Strategy: Blizzard Man will present little problem. Stay in the corner and use the Flame Blast on him, leaping
when he curls into a ball and launches himself at Rockman. If you time the jumps right, Rockman should sustain no damage!
If you defeat him, you'll obtain the Blizzard Attack and be on your way to Rockman's confrontation with the "mysterious"
Mr. X.
Mr. X's manor looks suspiciously like Skull Castle from Rockman 5, except without the skull and an added "X" on top if it. Seeing
as Skull Castle collapsed at the end of Rockman 5, I'm guessing that the programers assigned to design a new fortress decided they
were tired of making new graphics, and thought nobody would notice if they recycled the old ones . . .
Like I said, they must have been in a rush to complete this game so they could get busy on continuing the "X" series. Oh well . . .
First Guardian
Dual Track Offense: Use the Flame Blast or charged Mega Buster to take out these
speedy mechs one at a time. If you use the Flame Blast, remember to hit the center of the box-like mecha or the fire will bounce right off.
Second Guardian
Wall-Crawler: Use the Silver Tomahawk to dispense of this robotic pain. Avoid the falling
rocks and be careful not to waste your weapons energy on too many misfired shots.
Third Guardian
Metool Tank: Blizzard Attack works the best on this guy--just remember to jump when you fire it, or the
shots will bounce right off of the armor-plated exterior.
First Guardian
Dino Mech:
Cool as it looks, this mechanized dinosaur is little to get worried over. Leap on the moving platforms and
fire a few Yamato Spears at its eyes or the focus crystal on top of its head, and this massive guardian is
headed for extinction.
Second Guardian
Tricycle Tank:
Well, that's what it reminded me of (even though it only has 2 wheels). Knight Chain or Wind Storm work best on this
robot. It's a real pain to defeat because it never stops moving--it just keeps going and going and going . . . maybe
it should have been an annoying pink rabbit with a bass drum.
Yamato Man. . . . . .Blizzard Man
Plant Man. . . . . .Flame Man
Knight Man. Centaur Man. Wind Man. .Tomahawk Man
Dr. Wily
Second Form: Once the skull-shaped armor is blown off of the giant mech, use the Knight Crush for best results. Keep out from under the leaping machine, and remember to save your Silver Tomahawk.
Third Form: Yes, it's this attack pattern again. For a preported genius, Dr. Wily actually has a very limited imagnination when deciding on new attack patterns. Don't be afraid to use energy tanks (what are you going to do--save them for later?) and keep hitting Wily with the Silver Tomahawk.
Of course, Dr. Wily is required by Rockman Law #703 to jump out of the flaming wreckage of his destroyed mecha
and do his amazing "bow down and beg for mercy" trick. It works every time, too (or does it)! Rockman arrests Dr. Wily (what a novel idea)
and escorts him in front of several photographers with a rope (how very technological).
For those of you who don't think that Capcom had anything to do with this game, read the name of the paper which is shown next:
The Capcom Times report that Dr. Wily has been at last brought to justice. "Sentenced to prison for his evil deeds," the paper proclaims (I
guess in the 21st century, they've done away with capital punishment) "Dr. Wily now rules over a prison cell."
This ending is unique in that it displays each Robot Master doing his thing at the end. It also doesn't pretend that it's the last in the series:
the end credits clearly proclaim "To be continued . . ."
Overall Ratings:
Graphics: 6
Game Play: 7
Ending: 5
Difficulty: 5
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