In the game, players can choose between three playable characters: Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass. The game offers three "stories", which determine which Robot Masters the player will battle against. Each story features six Robot Masters from previous Mega Man games: one features opponents from Mega Man 1–2, one from Mega Man 3–6, and one from Mega Man 7. During the story, the game selects the players' next opponent using a roulette system. Once all six Robot Masters have been defeated, players are transported to Wily's Fortress for a battle against a story-specific sub-boss, followed by a final battle against Doctor Wily. Each character has their own unique ending.
The game controls similarly to the main Mega Man games — the player uses one button to jump, and one to fire the character's arm-mounted energy weapon. Holding the fire button charges the weapon in order to release a stronger blast. Holding down while pressing the jump button makes the character perform a dash, the appearance of which varies between characters. Unlike the mainstream Mega Man games, instead of going through an entire stage and fighting the Robot Master as a boss at the end, the player faces the Robot Master immediately, in a fight reminiscent of Capcom's Street Fighter series. Defeating a Robot Master earns the player their weapon, which can be switched to by pressing a button. Like in most Mega Man games, each Robot Master is weak to another one's weapon, so the player can fight through them in a "rock-paper-scissors"-style. The game supports cooperative multiplayer for up to two players.
Release
Mega Man: The Power Battle was released in arcades in 1995, with its sequel, The Power Fighters, releasing the following year.[3] An adaptation of both games, Rockman Battle & Fighters, was released in 2000 for the Neo Geo Pocket Color.[4] The arcade versions of both games would receive their first home console release in 2004 as part of two separate compilations. In North America, they were included as one of the ten games featured in Mega Man Anniversary Collection for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox.[5] In Japan, the two games were given a standalone compilation release for PlayStation 2, titled Rockman Power Battle Fighters (ロックマン パワーバトルファイターズ).[6] Both games were later re-released as part of the Retro Station dedicated console in 2020,[7] and the Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium compilation in 2022.[8]The Power Battle is also playable in the Street Fighter 6 Game Center.[9]
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2021)
Neil Foster of Hardcore Gaming 101 praised The Power Battle for its graphics and two-player support but criticized its lack of depth and difficulty, noting that "once the correct fighting order has been figured out, the game becomes rather easy to clear with one or two credits."[10] Alex Navarro of GameSpot, in his review of Mega Man Anniversary Collection, felt that The Power Battle and The Power Fighters were both worth playing despite their simplistic gameplay and lack of replay value.[5]
Four reviewers for the Japanese publication Weekly Famitsu scored the PlayStation 2 compilation of the two arcade games a total of 22 out of 40.[11]
References
↑ known in Japan as Rockman: The Power Battle (ロックマン・ザ・パワーバトル)
↑ Famitsu staff (August 13, 2004). クロスレビュー[Cross Review]. Famitsu (in Japanese). No.817. Enterbrain. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
