Mega Man Powered Up

Plot

The robot creator Doctor Light created two human-like robots with advanced artificial intelligence named Mega and Roll. Following this, he created eight more robots intended for industrial use: Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Time Man, and Oil Man. He received a Nobel Prize for Physics, and his old colleague and rival Doctor Wily has grown bitter for not being acknowledged for his work on the project. Wily discovered a prototype robot made by Doctor Light before Mega and Roll called Proto Man, who is in danger of having his energy generator go critical. Wily gave him a nuclear energy supply to extend his life. He later steals and reprograms the eight industrial robots to attempt world domination. Mega volunteered to stop Wily and the robots and was converted into a fighting robot called Mega Man. After defeating all eight robots, Mega Man goes through Dr. Wily's fortress and challenges him. After beating Wily, he surrenders and asks Mega Man to spare him.

Gameplay

The game is a remake of the original NES Mega Man title and has similar gameplay and level designs. The game moves on a 2D plane and players are given control of the game's eponymous hero Mega Man. Unlike the original's 8-bit graphics, the game uses 3D character models with super deformed designs. Mega Man's primary abilities include jumping and shooting and he is given both a health meter and a life meter. Mega Man can lose health by touching enemies or their projectiles, while lives will be lost when Lives will be consumed if Mega Man touches certain spikes, or falls into a pit. Lives and health can be found either dropped by enemies or in fixed locations.

At the beginning of the game, players are given an introductory level and boss to overcome. Afterward, they are given access to eight different stages, each representing one of the above-mentioned Robot Masters. At the end of each stage, players must battle a Robot Master. When a Robot Master is destroyed, it will give Mega Man its respective weapon, which can be used against other Robot Masters or enemies but has limited ammunition. If Mega Man defeats the Robot Master using his primary weapon, the Robot Master will be captured and reprogrammed. This allows players to play through stages as one of the Robot Masters.

It features two styles of gameplay: "Old Style" is comparable to the NES version aside from the updated presentation, and "New Style" uses the PSP's entire widescreen and contains storyline cutscenes with voice acting, altered stage layouts, remixed music, and three difficulty modes for each stage. Additionally, the remake lets players unlock and play through the game as the eight Robot Masters, Roll, and Protoman. The New Style stages differ in structure from that of Old Style, with some pathways only accessible to specific Robot Masters. Mega Man Powered Up also features a Challenge Mode with 100 challenges to complete, a level editor for creating custom stages, and an option to distribute fan-made levels to the PlayStation Network online service.

Development

Mega Man Powered Up was developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation Portable handheld game console. It was produced by Keiji Inafune. Mega Man Powered Up was first seen on a list of games that would have demos at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show titled Rockman Rockman. It was later revealed to be a remake of the NES Mega Man. It was announced for a US release on November 8, 2005 under the title Mega Man Powered Up. A European release was also announced. It was bundled with Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X on UMD. It was slated to be released on the PSP's PlayStation Network service along with other Capcom PSP titles. While it was released for the Japanese PSN, a US release of Powered Up never occurred due to technical difficulties that neither Sony nor Capcom could resolve.

Inafune had originally planned to use this chibi-style in the original Mega Man, but could not due to the hardware constraints of the NES. Producer Tetsuya Kitabayashi stated that redesigning the character models was a result of the PSP's 16:9 widescreen ratio. The larger heads on the characters allowed the development team to create visible facial expressions. Character designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa explained the concept of the design was "toys" and be "Geared towards little kids ... the kinds of characters that you'd see hanging off of keychains and such". He added that the design team made sure proportions and movements were accurately reflected on the models. As the size of the remake's stages are not proportional to those of the original, the widescreen ratio also presented the developers with more space to fill. The Robot Master Oil Man originally had black skin and pink lips, which GamesRadar identified as a "1920's caricature." The design was changed for the US release to blue skin and yellow lips to avoid controversy.

Pre-release

Mega Man Powered Up received generally positive reception after it was revealed. It was perceived initially as a "straight port" of the NES game with graphical enhancements. IGN writer Nix felt that the graphical update as seen at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show was well-designed. He noted that its biggest hang-up was the fact that the original Mega Man was improved upon by its sequels and that the original lacked functions such as the charge shot, the slide, and Rush. Jeff Gerstmann felt the game was promising and praised its take on the original levels as well as its level editor. Juan Castro felt that it would appeal to Mega Man fans and those looking for an "oldschool platformer."

Post-release

Sales of Mega Man Powered Up in Japan were considered very poor, though it sold better in the US. Speculation existed for the low sales which included the possibility that it came out too early in the PSP's life and a "lack of overlap between Mega Man gamers and PSP owners." Fan lamentation also existed for the fact that it was not available for the Nintendo DS (which featured several other Mega Man titles). Inafune expressed an interest in making a Mega Man Powered Up 2, though he noted that it would take time to get to. Due to the poor sales of the game, further remakes have been put on hold.

Despite poor sales, it received generally positive reviews, currently holding aggregate scores of 83% on GameRankings and 82 out of 100 on Metacritic respectively. It received positive attention from the Mega Man fanbase. Game Revolution's Mike Reily praised the game' variety of challenges, playable bosses, level editor, and the gameplay variety but criticized its "trial and error" gameplay and graphical slowdown. Gamasutra writer Connor Cleary praised its improvements of the original Mega Man and noted that those who do not love the art style would be able to get over it after playing. David Oxford, from 1UP.com felt that it was the most notable remake of the original Mega Man. In his review, Jeremy Parish, also from 1UP.com, called it "one of the most addictive PSP games to date" and felt that it reminded players of Mega Man's greatness. He also praised its level editor, which he noted came before future Sony titles that featured a level editor such as LittleBigPlanet and Sound Shapes. He later included it in his list of games to play on a short flight due to its quick levels and auto-save feature. GameSpot's Alex Navarro called it the best remake of the original Mega Man due to a combination of the original game's quality and the quality of the additional features, while IGN's Juan Castro felt that the quality and polish of the game would appeal to veteran Mega Man fans and newcomers to the franchise. Detroit Free Press called it "a must-buy for fans of the long-running series, despite its super cute-ified new look." Matt Keller from PALGN called the original an "all-time classic" and felt that Powered Up was "the remake it deserves."

GameSpy placed Powered Up as the seventh best handheld game of 2006, as well as the fifth best PSP game. IGN ranked it the ninth best PSP game ever made. It was also nominated for "Best Action Game" for the "2006 1UP Awards", losing to another Capcom game Dead Rising.