How to play a whole game franchise on your Pandora


gruso

thunderbox
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A couple of months ago I was reading about the history of Metal Gear, a game franchise that for various reasons I've never played. It got me thinking about game franchises spanning platforms and even eras, that could be played in their entirety (or close enough to it) on the Pandora. So I thought I'd start a thread where we could share our favourite ones. Or you can do what I'm doing in this post, and detail one you've researched and are planning to play through.


If you have a series to share, link to the appropriate emulators, but not to ROMs or 'abandonware' sites (which are usually not legal). Offer up any tips you have on getting the games running nicely. If you post pics, re-host them at http://imgur.com/ so they're still here in a year. And feel free to waffle on as much as you like about the games you love. Oh, and I've got dibs on Road Rash, and we probably shouldn't touch Megaman either.


Let's kick things off...


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Metal Gear


Platforms: MSX2, NES, DOS, C64


Despite its availability on numerous platforms, the only recommended version is the original on MSX2. However it seems to have trouble running in zx-81's emu. If you're having trouble launching it, go into the emu settings and change mode to MSX2+. It is said that all the other ports are fairly garbage compared to the MSX2 original, so don't cheap out on the NES version!

  • Read the somewhat disjointed manual online or download as a zip.
  • Ensure keys B and X are mapped to joystick fire 1 and 2
  • Pandora-MSX currently lacks mapping for keys F1 to F10, which locks out some elements of gameplay. I'm hoping to hear back from zx-81 on this before too long. In the meantime you can dive in and check it out, but you'll be without radio, inventory etc.


Note: The MSX versions of these games are Japanese only, and need an English translation patch applied. There are a few fan sites dedicated to this procedure, or you could save yourself some time and look for the Metal Gear 8-bit Pack. I'll keep a light on for you.


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Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake


Platforms: MSX2


Just the one platform for this, MSX2.

  • There is a nice online manual here.
  • Ensure keys B and X are mapped to joystick fire 1 and 2
  • The same F1-F10 mapping issues as above are present here, stay tuned for a fix.


Once you've sampled the forerunners, you'll be ready for the big one...


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Metal Gear Solid


Platform: PSX


The legendary MGS. I'm told this is essentially a next-next-gen reboot of Metal Gear 2. This makes me even more keen to play through Metal Gear 2 first, so I can see the same story told in different eras of gaming technology. No spoilers, y'hear?


There are two other titles playable on the Pandora. Snake's Revenge was a NES-only sequel to the inferior NES version of Metal Gear. It was not sanctioned by creator Hideo Kojima, who instead made the far superior Metal Gear 2 for MSX2. Ghost Babel for GBC is yet another alternate sequel to Metal Gear. One for the GBC fans, but neither of these are what you would call core entries in the franchise.


Your turn.


[edit] Here's a BB code template you can fill in for nice formatting:

Code:
[IMG]franchise header image url[/IMG]



[IMG]game image url[/IMG]


[size="5"][b]game title[/b][/size]

Platform: [url=http://emu link]system name[/url]


Text................................
 
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Edit: Space reserved for something relevant.


Original post

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I'm guessing we're looking the other way on this one, then?
 
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Whilst you can't, now, play the entirety of the original series on the Pandora, since 9 and 10 are WiiWare titles, I'm still calling dibs on Mega Man, because you can certainly play *almost* all of them. It'll take me a while to write it up and get pictures, so I just wanted to post to mention I will get to it shortly. :p


Great thread idea, Gruso!
 
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Megaman was always reserved for you. :D

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I'm guessing we're looking the other way on this one, then?
I thought it would go without saying that we could only include entries up to PSX/N64. We'll consider it said now. ;)
Sorry. I read the thread title and thought maybe you hadn't heard of them. After posting, I realized how ridiculous that sounded. I'll edit it when I find something to post.
 
The Shining series, one of my fav, it was Sega's answer to all the great RPGs that Nintendo had on it's system. I don't have my Pandora right now but I'm playing through Shining in the Darkness through a Genesis emulator on the DS. I've only played through the second one, Shining Force II, on my Nomad and have tried to play through the others on my computer or TV but to me they are handheld games so I had to wait for a good portable to play them on. The DS is horrible to play them on, the picture is either distorted, text is not readable, or it plays really tiny. Yeah, DS is not for emulation, can't wait for my Pandora.


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Edit: They're kinda like 'The Monkeys', America's answer to the Beatles. Sega had them made to compete with Dragon Warrior and later Final Fantasy. I think that is one reason I like them.
 
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When I played Shining Wisdom, it felt like I was playing Legend of Zelda. But it had unique gameplay elements with the orbs and stuff, so kudos to that.
 
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i never played any turrican title, i was always a contra person, pandora will be a good place to start
 
Obviously another franchise that I'll have to review at some point is Doom (the third one doesn't count, much like StarWars 1-3). That and Quake. And Mario Kart. But, I'm only calling Doom.
 
The Mega Man series has a very long history, and perhaps an even longer list of games. My favourite above all others is the original series, so that's what I'll be covering here - I've put them in per-system order, but have tried to remain as close to continuity order as this method allows. I'm leaving out a couple of side-games that are either not very accessible, or not really worth the time, though (as well as some ultra-super-obscure things that were released for Microsoft Windows or mobile telephones only, which most people really don't care about all that much, outside of them being interesting curiousities; The two Tiger Electronics games also don't appear here for obvious reasons). However, I am leaving one side-game in, because it actually does have a place in continuity, and because it's really rather good. :p


Mega Man


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Rock Light, a robot with a strong sense of justice, asked to be converted into a battle robot in order to foil the plans of a mad genius, and a legend began.


This is the game started the Mega Man series (which is known as Rockman in Japan, Korea, and China, and was apparently formerly known as "Mecha Man" in Korea), and is, truth be told, a bit of an acquired taste. Its controls feel a bit heavy and take some getting used to, there is no password system like the later games have, and it's also incredibly unforgiving.


What you must do is pick a level - any level you like - from six, each one representing a Robot Master who was stolen from Dr. Light and reprogrammed to do Dr. Wily's bidding. Each level has a unique theme, and its own tune, representing the boss who resides within. When you defeat a Robot Master, you take their weapon to use as your own - the other Robot Masters are weak to their brothers' weapons, in "Rock, Paper, Scissors" style.


In spite of its minor flaws, it's still a fun game, and it sold enough to spawn a sequel, which is what really put the series on the map.


Check it out if you like a challenge, and/or want to see how Mega Man's fight against Dr. Wily began.


Mega Man 2


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After his defeat at the hands of Mega Man last time, Dr. Wily has a new plan. Instead of stealing Dr. Light's six Robot Masters, he creates eight of his own, and tries to take over the world again!


Mega Man 2 improves upon the original game greatly - the play-control has been refined and feels just right (it's no longer heavy, and feels smoother - this game also introduced the series' famous water physics, where you can jump very high when underwater), a password option to save your progress is now available, and, in the Western release, an option to lower the difficulty is present. Two options, "Normal" and "Difficult" are present on the title screen - however, "Difficult" is actually the difficulty level of the original Japanese release. "Normal" is actually "Easy". Before Mega Man 10 for WiiWare, this was the only game in the main series that featured a difficulty-level selection.


You are also granted three items throughout the game - Item 1, Item 2, and Item 3 - which give you some extra options in exploring levels. Item 1 will let you create up to three flying platforms, which rise up into the air, on-screen at once - these are downright essential in places, so don't waste this item's energy. Item 3 will let you make a small platform that crawls up and down walls, sort of like a makeshift elevator. And Item 2? Item 2 is by far the most popular, because it's a jet-board.


As well as its improvements in the controls and presentation, the game's soundtrack is absolutely unforgettable, as are the boss' weapons - anyone who's familiar with the game on "Normal" difficulty will know that one Robot Master in particular is weak to his own weapon, and will die from being hit by it just once.


Mega Man 3


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Mega Man 3 picks up where Mega Man 2 left off. Dr. Wily has built eight more Robot Masters, along with some robots which duplicate the bosses from the previous game, giving you sixteen bosses to fight, in all.


Like Mega Man 2, the soundtrack here is excellent, too, as are the weapons. There isn't a boss who's allergic to his own power in this one, though! You do get to meet Mega Man's brother, though - the enigmatic Proto Man appears a few times in this game to duel you in order to test your strength. But what is he up to?


This game also introduces Mega Man's ability to slide under obstacles (which can also be useful for quickly dodging attacks, as well), and his faithful dog, Rush, who fulfils the same tasks that Item 1, Item 2, and Item 3 did in Mega Man 2, but with more personality.


There has been a debate raging on ever since Mega Man 3's release as to whether it or Mega Man 2 is the better of those two games. To this day, I don't know myself - they're both legendary, and if you play them both, you'll see why it's so difficult to decide the answer to this seemingly simple question.


Mega Man 4


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Another mad scientist is trying to take over the world, and it's not Dr. Wily!


This is the game that introduced the ability to charge your Mega Buster shots in order to deliver more damage to large enemies at the cost of a few seconds to charge up some power, as well as, apparently, a new antagonist (Dr. Mikhail Sergeivich Cossack), but all is not as it seems. The game also goes over Mega Man's history in a bit more detail, as whilst the manual for the first game covered this, the first game barely did. This makes Mega Man 4 a decent jumping-on point if you're not familiar with the three games that came before it.


As you can see in the screenshot, this game also shows us that Mega Man takes a cool approach to public transportation, by standing on top of trains to get to places.


Mega Man 5


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Proto Man has kidnapped Dr. Light! Oh no! Mega Man, of course, sets out to rescue his creator, and ends up fighting eight new Robot Master bosses along the way. Is Proto Man really behind this, or is this someone else's plot?


You know the deal by now, I'm sure. There are more bosses (some of them quite unusual), some really great music, and more fighting with a certain crazy roboticist to be had, here.


This is actually one of my favourites, due to the unusual bosses, and some interesting weapons, as well as the soundtrack.


Mega Man 6


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The wealthy and mysterious sponsor of the First Annual Robot Tournament, Mr. X, has stolen all of the fighting robots who were entered into the competition! ... Hey, wait a minute! That's Dr. Wily wearing a cape and a fake beard, with a red dot on his head!


That's a disguise that managed to fool the whole world, people. Remember, if you're trying to take over the world, nobody will recognise you after your previous failed attempts if you get a disguise like that.


Mega Man 6 introduces some interesting concepts, and like Mega Man 5 it's one of my favourites in the series. In this game, you'll find alternate paths, some of which can lead you to a decoy boss - sure, beating it will grant you the boss' power, the same as beating the real one will, but the real ones are guarding some hidden items that you really need to beat the game, so don't let yourself get fooled.


There are also two adapters that you can collect, which allow Mega Man to use Rush as a suit of armour which grants him extra powers, at the cost of being able to slide under obstacles. The Power Mega Man adapter gives Mega Man hilariously giant fists, which, when you fire a charged shot, enable you to punch through some bits of scenery in some stages, granting you access to hidden items. Coolest by far, though, is the Jet Mega Man adapter, which is just plain fun to use, and grants Mega Man temporary flight when holding down the jump button - a power meter at the side of the screen, the same as the one which shows how much weapon-energy you have for boss weapons, shows how much flight-time you have when you do this. This is refilled automatically as soon as you land.


The game is well-presented, as usual, and some levels also change in looks depending on whether you chose to defeat other bosses first or not.


Mega Man 6 is the only game in the series to end with a "To be continued..." at the end of it, which signalled that it was the last NES title in the series. Also worthy of note is the fact that this game was never released in PAL regions - just Japan and North America (I had to import this one).


For all of the above games, the GINGE-wrapped GPFCE-GP2X is the best way to play them on the Pandora.


Mega Man - Dr. Wily's Revenge


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In the first of the Game Boy Mega Man games (and one of only two Western Mega Man releases to have a subtitle, although this isn't reflected on the game's title screen), Dr. Wily has rebuilt eight bosses - four each from Mega Man and Mega Man 2 - in an attempt at getting revenge for his past defeats.


According to the book, Mega Man: Official Complete Works, this game was actually contracted out to another company, and was headed up by a fellow who apparently really loved the Mega Man games. The result is a well-miniaturised entry in the series, which plays just like the NES games, although Mega Man's health bar has less units on it here - 19 instead of 28 - which can make things more challenging.


This game also introduces Enker, the first of the Mega Man Killers. He's a gloomy and cold-hearted robot, who seeks only to do what he was created to do, and destroy Mega Man. He's a boss that you face later in the game. (Bizarre Fact: According to the CD Database entry for Enker in the SNES game Rockman & Forte, he dislikes Americans. This was changed to something forgettable in the localised English-language version of the game.)


Mega Man II


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In the second of the Game Boy games, Dr. Wily decides to continue with his previous plan, and brings back another eight Robot Masters - this time four each from Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 - who Mega Man has to battle once again. However, this time he has also stolen the Time Skimmer machine from the Chronos Institute, and travelled through time in an attempt to change the future!


The result of Dr. Wily's time-travelling is the boss robot Quint, who is actually Mega Man himself, who has been kidnapped from the future and turned evil! As with Enker in Mega Man - Dr. Wily's Revenge, you have to fight Quint later in the game.


This game was not made by the same team as Mega Man - Dr. Wily's Revenge - it was made by a different company whose staff were unfamiliar with the series, and it handles differently to the previous Game Boy game. It's not well-regarded by most people, but it still has some interesting points, such as the aforementioned Quint, and some levels influenced by the time-travel element, such as one with some seriously melted clocks.


Mega Man III


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Dr. Wily is out at sea drilling for oil and other resources in this game (hey, an evil genius has to get their world-taking-over resources from somewhere!), and has sent out eight more past robots (four each from Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 4) to prevent Mega Man from stopping him.


This game hands control of the Game Boy titles back to the team who made Mega Man - Dr. Wily's Revenge again, and it remained with them for the rest of the Game Boy "series". It's very well-presented - much more so than the previous two - and begins to really show what the Game Boy can do, graphically, too.


You can get the Rush Coil and Rush Jet items from Mega Man 3 in this game, and it introduces the second of the Mega Man Killers, too - the very dangerous and rather frightening-looking Punk.


(Continued in next post...)
 
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Mega Man IV


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In this game, Dr. Wily remotely reprograms some of the past Robot Masters, who are on display in glass cases at an exhibition (once again, there are eight of them - this time four each from Mega Man 4 and Mega Man 5). Mega Man happens to be close by to the exhibition, and so it falls to him to stop Dr. Wily's latest evil scheme - as usual. Dr. Wily has a space-fortress this time around, so Mega Man has to get there to put an end to this.


Following on from the good presentation of Mega Man III, Mega Man IV turns it up another notch, to being downright slickly presented. It features such niceties as a rotary boss select screen with really rather neat-looking sprite-scaling and level portraits, amongst other things - in some ways, it's even better-presented than the NES titles are, in fact. Of course, it plays just as well as the first and third games do, too, and that's what really counts.


The last of the Mega Man Killers is introduced here, too - his name is Ballade, and he is powerful and dangerous, but, as you will see, he is also noble.


You can collect small items called "P-Chips" in this game in order to purchase power-ups and other useful items. Also worthy of note is that this is the only game in the series in which firing charged buster shots subjects you to recoil, so be careful!


Mega Man V


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Out of all of the Game Boy Mega Man titles, this one is the most unique. A group of robots known as the Stardroids attempts to invade Earth, and even beat up Mega Man in the process of doing so! Because normal weapons cannot hurt them, the Stardroids are quite successful in their attempt to dominate the planet at first - at least until Dr. Light upgrades Mega Man's buster so that it doesn't shoot large bullets when charged, but his entire fist! Also, for once, Dr. Wily doesn't really have anything to do with what's going on, although he does try to leverage the situation later on.


There is no new Mega Man Killer robot to introduce in this game, although Enker, Quint, Punk, and Ballade, from the previous four games, all show up for rematches later on. The game does introduce Tango, Mega Man's robotic cat, though, as well as - of course - the Stardroids.


The shooting-fist mechanic changes things up a bit in this game, because it damages enemies both when it's travelling towards them, and whilst it's returning to your arm, too. It can also grab power-ups, as well. As you can imagine, both of these things are quite useful.


This game is the most slickly-presented of all of the Game Boy games, and it plays fantastically. It's very clear that a lot of love and care went into crafting it.


All of the Game Boy Mega Man games can be played on the Pandora using either VisualBoy Advance or GnuBoy.


Mega Man for MS-DOS


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Dr. Wily has built three new Robot Masters - Dyna Man, Sonic Man, and Volt Man - and intends for them to keep Mega Man at bay while he tries to take over the world using a supercomputer he created, Crorq.


Capcom licensed a two-man outfit called Rozner Labs to bring the Mega Man series to MS-DOS, and this game was the result. Though it is called "Mega Man", it is of no relation to either the NES or Game Boy games by that name - it's a unique title, and not a port. It has some issues with its play-control, and it has some mildly ugly graphics, but overall it's an interesting curiousity, and worth checking out if you happen to like that sort of thing.


Mega Man 3 for MS-DOS


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This was Rozner Labs' second MS-DOS Mega Man game. Yes, second. You'll notice that there is no Mega Man 2. It is speculated that they called this one Mega Man 3 in order to take advantage of the still-ongoing popularity of Mega Man 3 for the NES at the time. Dr. Wily is back again, this time with six new Robot Masters this time, along with a rebuilt Crorq.


Mega Man 3 for MS-DOS plays much like the first one does (and still retains some of its problems). It's notable for being the game that introduced Mega Man's ability to swim, which would not be seen again until Mega Man 8, and also for some of its Robot Masters being the first to use names that Capcom themselves later used in games that were developed by them. (Specifically, the Wave Man, Blade Man, and Oil Man in this game were the first to bear those names. A "SharkMan.EXE" also later appeared in the MegaMan Battle Network series, and FireMan.EXE from the Battle Network series was renamed to "TorchMan.EXE" in the dubbed anime tie-in, MegaMan NT Warrior, in some sort of attempt not to offend people by using the word "fireman".)


The two MS-DOS Mega Man games can be emulated perfectly on the Pandora using DOSBox.


Mega Man 7


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After the events of Mega Man 6, Dr. Wily was arrested and sent to jail. However, he always knew that this might happen, and he had a backup plan waiting in the wings just in case... Mega Man 7 begins in the middle of a city that's being attacked by robots belonging to Dr. Wily, and it soon turns out that he's escaped from prison. Mega Man heads out to investigate, with his faithful robodog Rush in tow once again.


This game introduces Mega Man's rival, Bass, and Rush's rival, the wolfbot, Treble. Bass claims that they are friendly, and are trying to stop Dr. Wily's onslaught, at first, but of course, all is not what it seems to be - they were actually built by Dr. Wily! There's a reason that the Japanese subtitle for this game roughly translates as "The Fated Showndown!".


As usual, Dr. Wily is trying to take over the world using themed Robot Masters. This time, however, instead of getting to pick from eight of them on a "Brady Bunch"-style level select screen, you can only pick from four to begin with. There's a short mid-game level with a mini-boss before the other four Robot Masters become available to fight against, too. This lends a different flow to the game, and there are some secrets around depending on which order you tackle the stages in, and whether or not you revisit some of them later on. In order to get one secret item, there is a specific order in which you must visit the stages, because in some of them, you'll get to speak to Proto Man, who is there to help you out.


The Rush Adapters from Mega Man 6 that enable flight and punching scenery have been rolled into one this time - the Super Adapter. You'll need to find the letters, "R", "U", "S", and "H" as you progress through the game to earn it. And you WILL need it, so don't slack on this front.


All of the hidden secrets and neat touches make this game well worth your time. I highly recommend it.


Rockman & Forte


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A mysterious robot called King has broken into the Robot Museum, and is stealing the data on all of the world's battle robots, which is stored there. He plans to create an invincible robot army with which to take over the Earth and put the humans in their place, and it's down to Rockman (Mega Man) and his rival Forte (Bass) to stop him. They must face eight Robot Masters - six new ones, and two fan-favourites from Mega Man 8 who are back for more.


This was the final Mega Man game released for the SNES, and according to its header (try opening it in a text-editor), it is officially "Rockman 8.5". It follows on from Mega Man 8, and even re-uses some of its graphics (the animation is eye-popping the first time you see it), as well as following on from the arcade game, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, which is set after Mega Man 8.


Generally, the game plays much like a cross between Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8 and some of the earlier NES games, although there aren't really any hidden items to find this time as there were in 7 and 8 - you have to buy new items and power-ups at Auto's shop. They're all either very useful, or great fun to use, or sometimes both. Rockman has his usual abilities, and Forte has rapid-fire, can shoot in eight directions (but can't run while doing so), can double-jump, and can use a dash move to get around more quickly. It is easier to traverse levels with the latter, but bosses take more damage from the former.


This is actually probably my favourite game in the entire series (it's very challenging, it's got a soundtrack that I really like, and it's full of personality), and it was the first game I played on my Pandora. There is an English translation patch by AGTP, which is available here, although personally I prefer playing it in its original language, because the translation changed a handful of things, and I personally didn't like that. :p


The game was officially-translated in 2003, and released on the Game Boy Advance as Mega Man & Bass.


The two SNES games can be played using Snes9x4P, and they run perfectly at the 600MHz that this PND requests.





The official translation of Rockman & Forte, Mega Man & Bass, is a Game Boy Advance game, and can be played on the Pandora using
VisualBoy Advance or the GINGE-wrapped Wiz version of gpSP.


Mega Man: The Power Battle


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(Sorry about the tearing, here. I couldn't get a good screenshot.)


Dr. Wily has reconstructed (or in some cases, re-stolen) the Robot Masters that he's pitched against Mega Man in the past, and sent them out to fight again.


This game for Capcom's CPS1 arcade hardware is a boss-rush title that's great for score-attacking and time-attacking - you get to play as Mega Man, Bass, or Proto Man, and it plays somewhat like a Mega Man game with the actual levels taken out. High scores are recorded whether you complete the game or not, and best times are recorded if you manage a one-credit-clear.


It has a quasi-co-operative two-player mode in which two players can help each other to defeat the bosses, but only the one who landed the death-blow gets the weapon.


MAME4All runs this game perfectly on the Pandora, with no overclocking required.


Mega Man 8


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(Pardon the tearing, please - I couldn't get a great screenshot of this.)


Two robots from space crash down to Earth, one of them carrying a highly dangerous power known as Evil Energy, which can cause the evil in a person's mind to multiply until they go crazy, unless action is taken to eradicate it from them quickly. Dr. Wily hopes to leverage this energy in his latest evil scheme, and once again, Mega Man has to stop him. A new character by the name of Duo, who is one of the aforementioned robots from space, is introduced in this game - his mission in life is to eliminate the Evil Energy from the entire universe.


This 1996 game was the last numbered Mega Man installment until Mega Man 9 was released for WiiWare in 2008! Thankfully it's a very good one, so it kept us all going for a long time. The game plays as you might expect - the bosses each have weaknesses to the weapons of the other bosses, Dr. Wily has some ever more ludicrous mini-bosses to throw at you, and a vengeful Bass (who is now something of an underdog, due to being demoted to being less important than a snot monster, instead of being Dr. Wily's right-hand robot) is back for a rematch after his defeat in Mega Man 7. The soundtrack is quite different to other installments in the series, and you'll either love it or you'll hate it. It's my sort of thing, so I love it. :p


This game features an item shop, where you can purchase some useful items, along with some quite powerful upgrades to the Mega Buster which haven't been seen since, such as the ability to shoot a beam or arrows instead of Solar Bullets from the buster, and an upgrade for climbing ladders much faster.


Some new abilities for faithful robodog, Rush, appear as well, including the Rush Bomber (where he can be summoned to drop items from overhead - this can be very useful in desperate boss battles), and the Rush Cycle (where he acts as a motorcycle, which is great fun), amongst others.


There are also some stages which feature flight segments (using the Rush Jet, which you can no longer summon yourself) or jet-board segments which require very fast reflexes, and there are a few traditionally-animated scenes dotted throughout the game to let the player know what's going on.


One thing that Mega Man 8 is famous for is for having bad voice-acting. Whilst it's not as horrendous, in my view, as dubbing done by the same handful of voice-actors who use exactly the same generic voices in every single video game and television show that they provide voices for, it's not exactly top-notch (though it is entertaining). Accordingly, you may want to play the Japanese version, Rockman 8 - Metal Heroes, instead.


PCSX ReARMed runs this game perfectly on the Pandora, if you overclock a bit.


(Continued in next post...)
 
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Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters


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(Pardon the tearing, here. I couldn't seem to get a good screenshot from this game.)


Dr. Wily has once again sent out past bosses in an effort to take over the world. Only Mega Man, Bass, Proto Man, and Duo (from Mega Man 8, though rendered here in the style of Mega Man 7) can stop him. This one is set after Mega Man 8.


Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters is a CPS2 game that plays rather similarly to its CPS1 predecessor, Mega Man: The Power Battle. It looks similar too, but closer inspection reveals that the graphics are more polished, and there is more going on on-screen. The principle is the same - it's a boss-rush title, and it records high scores and best times in the same way as the first one - but the co-operative game is much improved. Instead of the person who landed the death-blow winning the boss' weapon, both players must race to grab the weapon capsule that flies out of the boss' body as they explode. There are also a ton of different endings, depending on which characters the two players picked. (One of the single-player mode endings is quite important to the series as a whole, too, as it reveals that Dr. Wily is working on a dangerous robot named Zero, who fans of the Mega Man X series will know as one of that series' protagonists, and it shows one of the catalysts for Bass eventually peeling off from Dr. Wily's schemes to live his own life instead.)


This game can be played on the Pandora using MAME 0.106, with a bit of an overclock.


Mega Man Battle & Chase


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A side-game in the Mega Man series, which covers one year's occurrence of the Battle & Chase racing tournament. Mega Man Battle & Chase was originally only released in Japan and Europe, and would not see a North American release until the much more recent Mega Man X Collection.


You might expect that Mega Man Battle & Chase plays like Mario Kart or other mascot-based racing titles, but it actually doesn't - its handling is a bit less crazy and cartoony, and you're expected to be mindful of not accelerating into corners but accelerating out of them, and also of the attributes of your car and of the parts that you've fitted to your car.


It's that latter part that makes the game so much fun - when you win against other drivers, you get to take parts of their car. It's a cool way of implementing the series' weapon-stealing mechanic in a racing game. As the game goes on, you can customise your vehicle (and you even get to give it a custom name when you first start playing), which tends to lead to a unique experience for each player.


Typically for the Mega Man series, the game can get quite challenging later on, but it's pretty compelling, and I think that it's a shame that it's not better known.


This game runs perfectly on the Pandora using PCSX ReARMed and a bit of an overclock.


There are a few more games that need mentioning. One of them is a relatively major (albeit obscure) installment which is currently not emulatable on the Pandora, and the other two are well-known titles that actually suck, but which can be emulated on the Pandora. :p


Rockman & Forte - Mirai Kara no Chousen Sha


With a subtitle that roughly translates as "Challenger from the Future", this BanDai WonderSwan follow-up to Rockman & Forte covers what happens when an alternate version of Quint (from Mega Man II on the Game Boy) from another alternate timeline decides to try to get his revenge, using the pseudonym "Rockman Shadow". If Rockman & Forte is "Rockman 8.5", then this game would have to be "Rockman 8.75".


This game features six Robot Masters unique to this title (and some of them would have presented a difficult task to a localisation team, too, had the WonderSwan been available outside of Japan), along with an 8-bit version of the Rockman & Forte soundtrack, which is pretty interesting to listen to. It makes quite good use of the WonderSwan hardware, featuring some stage-sections that require you to turn the console onto one side and play them vertically. It also contains several unique ideas which have never been seen elsewhere in the series - it's quite imaginative.


Unfortunately, this game cannot be emulated on the Pandora, as no WonderSwan emulator is currently available. Unfortunately, ws4all for the Wiz is not suitable for this game, because it doesn't emulate it anywhere near close to properly, and it turns the audio into something earsplitting. I hope that this situation changes at some point in the future, although until then, this game is the entire reason I own a WonderSwan. :p


Mega Man: The Wily Wars


This Mega Drive game contained reprogrammed versions of the first three NES Mega Man games on one cartridge, along with a new game called Wily Tower which could be unlocked after completing those three games. It wasn't developed by Capcom, and according to the book Mega Man: Official Complete Works, it was an even buggier mess during development than it was when they sent it to retail! (Apparently they felt sorry for the fellow in charge of this game's development due to how much of a mess it was, and later altered their internal QC processes to ensure that the problems encountered with this title would never be repeated.)


This game has a lot of hype to its name, due to the fact that it never received a North American release outside of a brief run on the Sega Channel. However, what those who constantly gripe about this don't seem to realise is that they're lucky, because it isn't very well-made. It has some appalling problems that aren't present in any of the other games in the series, and certainly not in the three NES games that this compilation contains - it should NEVER take one or two entire seconds to get a response when changing which direction you're running, and the fact that this is how this abomination controls ruins the games contained therein, because it flies in the face of using your reflexes in a fast-paced action game. The music is also nothing short of earsplitting, and it doesn't do the originals justice.


Its sole interesting point is the Wily Tower game, which features three bosses based on the classic tale, Journey to the West, and allows you to pick a set of weapons of your choice from Mega Man, Mega Man 2, and Mega Man 3 with which to play through it.


This game fetches ridiculous sums on eBay, and even fan-made replicas of it do, too! I have no idea why, because it simply isn't fun - I got the chance to play it some years ago, and it put me off of even giving it a second glance, never mind forking over that sort of money for it.


Nevertheless, if you happen to be insane and own this game, you can probably play it on the Pandora using PicoDrive.


"The Best of" Mega Man


This was a Game Gear Mega Man game published by U.S. Gold (famed tatmongers, who would later become Eidos), and developed by a little-known developer called Freestyle Games. It combines a few bosses and bits and pieces from several of the NES Mega Man titles. Its actual title is just "Mega Man" (making it the third unrelated and unique game in this list to bear that same title), but it is often referred to by fans by the nickname "The Best of Mega Man".


It is not as bad as Mega Man: The Wily Wars, but it does have some problems - for example, unlike all other games in the original series, Mega Man can only have two shots on-screen at one time, instead of three, which drastically changes how you must play the game. It also takes a different approach to the series than the Game Boy titles did; Instead of making environments designed around a lower-resolution display, the developers recycled bits of stages from some of the NES games, and added vertical scrolling which follows Mega Man's every movement to try and counter it - this does not work well at all, as you can't really see what's around you. Moreover, in emulators where the "Game Gear mask" can be turned off, I'm told that this game is not helped by it, because everything is gibberish until it is displayed in the visible area of the screen.


Like The Wily Wars, this game also sometimes goes for stupidly high sums of money, although I have no clue why.


If you are crazy enough to own it, I would imagine that it can be played on the Pandora using Dega.


This concludes my run-down of playing the original Mega Man series on the Pandora (for the curious, I started taking snapshots, gathering emulator links, and writing it at 6:37am - it took me that long, and I blame you guys :p ). I hope you all enjoyed it. I will probably follow up with a much shorter one about the Bucky O'Hare video games when the incredibly bargainous £15 JAMMA board I bought arrives with me and I see how it runs on the Pandora.
 
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Ok, here's mine, including all the links to the games' tape images (romz to you younger folk) themselves and images of the code sheets so you can breeze right past the copy protection!


So to Start off...


mm.jpg



Manic Miner!


Whilst prospecting down Surbiton way, Willy has discovered a network of caverns filled with treasure... if he can only reach the final cavern. A fiendishly difficult, but unbelievably playable game for the Sinclair Spectrum. It was released for inferior platforms such as the C64, but it plays best on the Speccy. Controls are simple - just left/right and jump, using Kempston or Q/W/Space (or in fact any two adjacent keys on the top row and any key on the bottom row to jump - and that holds for all the games in this series).


You can download Manic Miner here.


The sequel was Jet Set Willy!


jsw.jpg



Having made his fortune and bought a mansion, Willy has thrown a party for all his friends - and they've made a right mess. Your task is to guide willy around 80+ rooms of his new house, gathering up discarded glasses and other debris before his housekeeper Maria will let him finally get to bed. Some say that this is the best of the series, I just say that it's the second game. Same controls as for Manic Miner, only this time you can move around from room to room freely.


Get it here! (The bugfixed version - removed the Attic Bug).


Oh yes, you'll also need the code sheet:


JetSetWilly_CodeSheet.jpg



In order to play the game!


And then finally, the last game in the series....


Jet Set Willy II - The Final Frontier


jsw2.jpg



Not so much a direct sequel as an expansion and improvement of the original game, but still a very worthy platformer. This one is huge as it's got more than 100 rooms, including a trip into space! Same objective as before, just gather all the crap up. Absolutely Brilliant! Yes, I know that's more the codies, but it applies.


This was actually a port from the Amstrad CPC version, which was quite the shocker as that platform generally was passed by when decent games came out.


Get the game here!


And of course, you'll be wanting to defeat the copy protection by using this image here:


JetSetWillyII_CodeSheet.png



Next up, I'll do another classic series from the king of the 8 Bit computers, our beloved Speccy.


D.
 
There is also that odd Jetset Willy mini game which was included on a cover tape, also written by Matt Smith (allegedly) I think it's about the Kitchen room with the food chasing you.


I also remember it being written in Basic, maybe Matt had a hangover and just wanted to meet the contract conditions!
 
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There is also that odd Jetset Willy mini game which was included on a cover tape, also written by Matt Smith (allegedly) I think it's about the Kitchen room with the food chasing you.


I also remember it being written in Basic, maybe Matt had a hangover and just wanted to meet the contract conditions!

Andre's Night Off!


andre.png



"Miner Willy has been spending the cash he made down the mine and has purchased a vast mansion - complete with a housekeeper and a cook. Maria, the housekeeper, gives Willy a hard time about the mess his guests leave behind after a mammothparty in Jet Set Willy.


In our game, Andre the cook has waltzed off for the evening without leaving so much as a boiled egg for Willy to munch on! Anyway, our hero marches down to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich and comes face to face with the amazing technicolour man-eating pizzas! GASP!


Can you survive the onslaught of these nasty little doughy monsters? Dare you open Willys' kitchen door?"


Get it here!


And so it goes. It is indeed part of the series, Craig!


D.
 
When I played Shining Wisdom, it felt like I was playing Legend of Zelda. But it had unique gameplay elements with the orbs and stuff, so kudos to that.
Legend of Zelda had much better controls. Shining Wisdom had a really annoying thing where you had to press the button repeatedly to run faster. I got annoyed with it rather quickly.


So far I have played Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Minish Cap on my Pandora.
 
Whilst I don't know the series all that well I would suggest the Shinobi games, from Mame to all the home computer conversions, to the NES and Megadrive with Shinobi II and III and Shadow Dancer which I believe is connected.


Also the Thunderforce series which spans from systems we don't have emulated yet the SharpX1 and NEC PC8801mkII to the Megadrive/Snes to the Saturn and PSX version of Thunderforce V, leaving VI out as its on the PS2.
 
My next series is a again from the Grandfather of all gaming systems (ignoring, for the moment, the rather pathetic Ataris that came before it), the ZX Spectrum.


Back in the mists of time, before RARE got into producing shovelware for Nintendo and Microsoft, they were a bunch of very talented young coders who called themselves "Ultimate", with the tagline "Play the game". And what games they were! Colourful, loud, with fast action and addictive gameplay they took the 8bit world by storm. Although they are now but a pale imitation of their once greatness, RARE are still around and as such I cannot give away links to these games - their distribution has been put a stop to. But anyway, on with the show!


The first of the series is of course, possibly the finest game ever written, Sabre Wulf.


Sabre.png



THY PATH IS LONG SO TREAD WITH CARE


BEWARE THE WULF AND PASS HIS LAIR


DANGER THREATENS ALL AROUND


SO TAKE YE FROM THIS HIDDEN MOUND


TO FREE THEE FROM THIS SUNKEN GATE


BY WAY OF CAVE OR MEET THY FATE


AN AMULET TO SEEK THY WILL


'TWAS SPLIT BY QUAD AND HIDDEN STILL


PASS THE KEEPER WROUGHT WITH HATE


TO GAIN AN ENTRANCE TO THE GATE


THE PIECES LOST MUST THEE AMAS


FOR IF NO CHARM THEN NON SHALL PASS


In this colourful game, you are Sabre Man and you find yourself fallen into a deep jungle maze (map available here), with the only way out blocked by the Guardian who requires you find the four pieces of the ACG Amulet before he'll let you pass. 256 screens await you with power-enhancing orchids, myriad nasties and of course Natives who chirp when they're aligned with the amulate pieces and the Wulf - an indestructible bad guy who inhabits the lower edge of the maze near the mountains.


With only your trusty sword for protection you set forth to slash your way through the jungle and finally end up...


In the UnderWurlde!


underwurlde.png



In Underwurlde, you find yourself in a vast castle, with caverns beneath. Your task is to find a way throught the 597(!) screens, to confront the demon himself. You can swing from ropes, ride volcanic bubbles and use weapons against the huge amount of baddies present in both the castle and caverns. A seriously hard game, with a cryptic poetry session to get you started, as with it's predecessor:


ALL YOU NEED IS THERE TO TAKE


LOCATE THE WEAPONS, THEN TO MAKE


A JOURNEY ON IF YOU WOULD DARE


TO FIND THE DEVIL IN HIS LAIR


THE LONG DARK PALACE, SEEK YOU WILL


THE GEMS YOUR POCKETS WILL NOT FILL


THO' ENERGY THEY'LL MAKE YOU FAST


AND GARGOYLES THEN YOU WILL GET PAST


UP AND DOWN, THE JOURNEY'S SLOW


SO DOWN IS FIRST THE WAY TO GO.


Having defeated the Demon (or just given up and loaded the next game in the series) you end up with the Seminal Knight Lore.


knighlore.png



This game was the one that started it all - every three dimensional game from this point onwards was basically a rip-off. A massive game, it had depth and atmosphere galore, and spawned a huge following of tributes such as the awesome Head Over Heels and Batman. Sabre Man finds himself in the Wizard's Castle again, but this time he's cursed - every night he turns into a Werewulf. Your task is to collect the items needed to find the cure, and drop them into the Wizard's cauldron.


A fantastic game, and probably a better game than it's successor, Pentagram.


pentagram.png



Very little about this game was praised, and it was hailed as mostly just a re-working of the predecessor, Knight Lore. Still a large game, with plenty to see and do, though. Sabre Man is now disguised as a Wizard, and must re-unite the parts of the Pentagram, in a game very much like Sabre Wulf, but in the 3D isometric of Knight Lore.


Ultimate (Now, sadly, RARE) did many other great games for the Speccy, and you would be well advised to check them out.


D.
 
Back in the mists of time, before RARE got into producing shovelware for Nintendo and Microsoft, they were a bunch of very talented young coders who called themselves "Ultimate", with the tagline "Play the game". And what games they were! Colourful, loud, with fast action and addictive gameplay they took the 8bit world by storm.
Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day - I highly object to the term "shovelware", good sir :D (well, those are all less-innovative jump'n'runs, but great games nonetheless).


Okay there probably were a bunch of lousy games in between and also they have not produced anything good since their marriage to Microsoft... oh well, sad days for me, too.


I might have to check out the older games though, have not heard of those (mostly because they were before my time), so thanks for mentioning them :)


foxblock out


(PS: I call dibs on WarioLand, coming later that day)
 
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