Mega Man & Bass

Overview

Mega Man & Bass (RockMan & Forte in Japan) is a video game by Capcom released for the Super Famicom in 1998 - making it one of the latest games to be released on the system. The game takes place in between Mega Man 8 and Mega Man 9, during the development it was known as "RockMan 8.5." Years later the game released outside of Japan for the Game Boy Advance.

Story

One year after the events of Mega Man 8, a robot museum gets attack by a robot named King. He steals data of eight robots to form his army to rebel against the humans; King believes that robots are far superior than humans and no longer should serve under them. (Depending on who you're playing as) Mega Man or Bass head to the museum to stop King. Proto Man arrives first and tries to end King's objective, but fails as he is cut in half by King's axe. King gets away by unleashing Green Devil on Mega Man or Bass, they manage to destroy it, but they fail to stop King stealing the data of several Robot Masters.

King sends the eight Robot Masters, Burner Man, Dynamo Man, Cold Man, Ground Man, Pirate Man, Magic Man, and two of Dr. Wily's robots from Mega Man 8, Tengu Man & Astro Man, in eight different locations. Mega Man or Bass destroys all eight robots and heads for King's fortress. They finally get to King but their attacks are no use due to King's ability to deflect every attack with his shield, but a repaired Proto Man appears to seek payback from King. Proto Man fires at King but his shield deflects Proto Man's attack; but then he charges up his most powerful attack and gives it all he's got to King. Proto Man manages to destroy King's shield but King is left unharmed. Proto Man faints from the attack and left passed out on the ground.

Mega Man or Bass do battle against King and manages defeat him. King then ask why Mega Man or Bass fight for the humans, they both give their individual answers, Mega Man replies by saying humans and robots are not superior or inferior. Bass's answer is that humans created their kind. King sends Proto Man to be healed and demands for Mega Man or Bass to destroy him. Then Dr. Wily makes a surprising appearances and reveals that he's the mastering behind the whole situation, and sends a machine on King to heal and transforms him. King flees to another room were he jumps into a giant tank known as Jet King Robo. But that wasn't enough to stop Mega Man or Bass and they destroy Jet King Robo and he and the entire fortress get destroyed.

After wards, Mega Man or Bass pursue Dr. Wily. After going through Dr. Wily's castle and doing battle against the eight Robot Masters, and they finally reach Dr. Wily. They do battle against Dr. Wily and defeat him.

Mega Man's Ending

Mega Man reunites with Dr. Light, Beat, Rush, Auto, and Roll. Mega Man feels guilty for not saving King, but Roll gives a letter to Mega Man and reveals that King is okay.

Bass's Ending

Bass confronts Dr. Wily and is angered that he was betrayed by him. Dr. Wily explains that it was all a test for King to fight Bass to see if he was strong enough. Proto Man arrives and find plans for a "King II," then destroys whatever plans Dr. Wily had. Dr. Wily commands Bass to destroy Proto Man but he ignores Dr. Wily's orders, and then Proto Man explains the distinction between Mega Man and Bass. Then Proto Man leaves the premises.

Gameplay

Mega Man & Bass follows the same routine as the previous games. The level select screen is set up like a grind. Three Robot Masters are available from the start and can open up more levels once they are defeated.  

Like Mega Man X4, this game allows the player to pick one of two characters to play through the entire game with. For the first time for the series, Bass is a playable character. Bass differs from Mega Man in several ways, Bass has a double jump, can perform the dash by double tapping forward, can shoot multiple pellets automatically, and can aim his buster at multiple angles.  

New to the series are "Data CDs," which are CDs that contain info about most of the characters of the Mega Man series. The CDs are hidden throughout the levels of the game; some CDs can only be found with Mega Man and others with Bass. The player can make two separate save files for each character to find all the CDs - When the player finishes a game, all of the CDs that were found can be carried over to another save file as a different character, and vice-versa with the first save file. The CD and its data are displayed in the CD Database that's hosted by Dr. Light.

Returning from Mega Man 7 & Mega Man 8, is the item shop with Auto returning as the shop keeper. The items can be purchase with blots that are dropped by every enemy from the levels of the game. Some items are exclusive to Mega Man and others for Bass. The items of the game are the following:

• Spare Body - Mega Man/Bass

Gives one more life.

• Energy Balancer - Mega Man/Bass

Distributes weapon energy equally between all weapons at pick-up.

• Exit Part - Mega Man/Bass

Can leave the stage when it is cleared.

• Shock Guard - Mega Man/Bass

Protects you once from deadly spikes.

• Transceiver - Mega Man/Bass

Roll tells you advices. Works also with the Enemy Analyzer and CD Counter.

• Item Presenter - Mega Man/Bass

A balloon containing an Energy Capsule will wait for you at each continue point. For one stage only.

• Enemy Analyzer - Mega Man/Bass

Analysis the weaknesses of a Robot Master. Works only with the Transceiver.

• Super Recover - Mega Man/Bass

Makes you recover more energy when you collect an energy power-up.

• Counter Attacker - Mega Man/Bass

Increases your shots power when you are low on life energy.

• Energy Saver - Mega Man/Bass

Makes you use less Weapon Energy when you fire a Master Weapon.

• Damage Absorber - Mega Man/Bass

Recharges some weapon energy when you take damage.

• Super Armor - Mega Man/Bass

Makes you loose less energy when you are hit.

• CD Counter - Mega Man/Bass

Scans the stage for CDs. Works only with the Transceiver.

• Auto Charge - Mega Man

Charges automatically your Rock Buster.

• Eddie - Mega Man

Eddie flies by and drops some power-ups.

• Rush Search - Mega Man

Rush searches the ground for power-ups and CDs.

• Auto Recover - Mega Man

Refills slowly your Life Energy if you do not move.

• Hi-Speed Charge - Mega Man

Makes your Mega Buster charge faster.

• Beat - Mega Man

Beat drops a shield on you and it protects you from all damage.

• CD Finder - Mega Man

Makes the ground flash a few seconds when a CD is buried close.

• Hi-Speed Dash - Bass

Makes you dash faster.

• Step Booster - Bass

Makes you climb ladders faster.

• Treble Boost - Bass

Treble fuses with you to make you fly freely.

• Super Buster - Bass

Makes Bass's buster twice stronger.

• Hyper Buster - Bass

Bass's buster can fire through obstacles.

Robot Masters

Name: Cold Man
Weapon: Ice Wall - A frozen pillar of ice that can slide across the ground and bounce off the wall for a short time.
Weakness - Lighting Blot.
Bio - His ability is that he can generate ice walls by spraying out ice cold mist. He can trap his opponents by freezing them to the ground so they can be open for a attack. His other ability is he can summon out Cold Mist, a common enemy of the game, as a distraction for the player. Cold Mist is a little robotic sphere that's surrounded by a mist that forms a cloud.

 

Name: Burner Man
Weapon: Wave Burner - A flame thrower, that can also be use as a blower underwater to moves spiked balls and burst bubbles.
Weakness: Ice Wall.
Bio - Burner Man was created by King to destroy the environment. King manipulate Burner Man by telling if he doesn't destroy the forest daily, he will self-destruct.

He has several methods of attack, one being is he can drive down to the ground erupting flames around him, he can shoot out multiple bombs, and set traps on the ground.

 

Name: Pirate Man
Weapon: Remote Mine - Exploding mines that the player can control the direction when the mine is shout out.
Weakness: Wave Burner.
Bio: Pirate Man was created by King to attack cargo vessels. He also enemies with Dive Man from Mega Man 4.

His attacks are little mines that explode and have the impact of the explosion remain for a few second. His main attack is were he encase himself in a giant bubble and bounce off the walls in hopes of hitting his target.

Name: Ground Man
Weapon: Spread Drill - a giant drill that can convert into multiple tiny drills in mid-air.
Weakness: Remote Mine.
Bio: He was created by King so he can excavate ruins. He also likes collecting treasure that he finds in the ruins.

Ground Man has the ability to drive into the ground and jump out as a surprise attack. He can transform into a combat vehicle with a drill on the front. His most powerful attack is digging into the ceiling and popping out as a giant drill.

Name: Tengu Man
Weapon: Tengu Blade - a blade that flashes out of thin air, and can be use while dashing.
Weakness: Spread Drill.
Bio: Originally from Mega Man 8, Tengu Man was brought back by King. Tengu Man returns to get his revenge from Mega Man from their last fight in Mega Man 8.

Tengu Man uses the same attack moves that he used in from Mega Man 8. He throw the Tornado Hold weapon that traps the player and throwing the player off a platform.

 

Name: Magic Man
Weapon: Magic Card - Razor sharp cards that can be use to grab items from hard to reach places.
Weakness: Tengu Blade.
Bio: Magic Man attacks is he can throw out playing cards and steal health away from the player.

 
 
 

Name: Astro Man
Weapon: Copy Vision - the ability to summon out a copy of the player's character and fire pellets automatically.
Weakness: Magic Cards.
Bio: Also returning from Mega Man 8, Astro Man is a robot who can use hypnosis and confusion.

Astro Man can create gaping holes on the ground and have Shururun jump out and attack the player. He can also make copies of himself and fire away at the player.

Name: Dynamo Man
Weapon: Lightning Blot - lightning summon from the sky and destroy everything in site.
Weakness: Copy Vision.
Bio: Used as a tour guide to give children a tour around power plant on school field trips. King gave him an internal power generator that can generate limitless amounts of energy. As if became powerful, he decided to join King's army.

Dynamo Man can launch walls of electricity and summons electric orbs around the player and launched towards him. He can also heal himself back when enough damage has been done to him.
 

Game Boy Advance Version

The game was released years later for the Game Boy Advance. Mega Man & Bass was nearly identical to the original Super Famicom version. The differences is the perspective was more zoomed in - making the sprites more larger due to the size of the Game Boy Advance screen.  And the music was redone to fit the Game Boy Advance's sound quality. The dialogue was redone too, in the Super Famicom version, Bass was betrayed more cold-blooded; while in the Game Boy Advance game,  he was more sympathetic. The Japanese version is known to have a very hard version of King, the final boss, in his second form. You need lightning power to attack him, but most people would use it on his first form and be out. The difficulty has been fixed.