Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Rockman 8 NES-Remake Demo Released

After the success of the fan-made NES/Famicom Rockman 7 port, the denizens of 2ch saw fit to give Rockman 8 the very same treatment and recreate the PlayStation/Sega Saturn original down to the NES format. A year has passed since development began, and although the project isn't quite done yet, the game is far along enough in development to yield a playable demo, which you can download right here.

I haven't played it myself yet, but having compared footage between the "demake" and the original RM8, the game seems like a pretty solid and faithful recreation.




Look forward to the full game's release later this year. Thanks, Henk-Jan.

30 comments:

  1. I downloaded this not too long ago. I have to admit, I didn't think MegaMan 8 could be accurately done in 8-Bit, but they managed to pull it off extremely well. Some of the best fan game makers out there. Can't wait for the final build. :)

    Also, does anyone know of any ways to convert exe files into nes files? There are ways to port roms to NES cartridges. SivakDrac did so for his fan game "Battle Kid" with the help of RetroUSB.com. I think it would be neat to have physical version of RM7 and RM8 to play on the good ol Nintendo. :P

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  2. It doesnt plas as well as RM7 FC did

    Thunder Claw looks absolutely rubbish and some sprites were recycled from RM7 FC.

    Other than that the game play pretty well.

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  3. meh its ok but il probably not play it to be honest 8-bit is awesome but to me there milking it too much tho these those not apply to this game oh well.. but i kinda wish the megaman 11 or 12 were with new 2d/3d graphics

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  4. I couldn't even play it :(. It keeps crashing my computer for some reason.

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  5. Most exciting MM release after MM10 is this 8-bit MM 8 "Rockman 8 FC" by Mend.

    Mend is THE BEST MM fan game maker out there.

    Beyond excited.

    Hoping and praying Rockman & Forte is next.

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  6. Are the Tenu Man bubble segments still horrible to control? They were in an earlier build.

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  7. @Anonymous #5: I've never played any earlier build, but I can say that it controls pretty badly.

    Anyways, the game has a lot to fix up, but it's still really fun and the effort so far has paid off well.

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  8. 1) Ok, I just played the game a few minutes ago, and the cpu just randomly shut off. The same thing happened when I played it last night. Coincidence? I doubt it. I think I should hold off on the demo until they find a way to fix it.

    2) Also, the game's not quite as faithful as MM7 FC. You can't swim in Aqua Man's stages (you jump higher like in previous Mega Man games instead) and the first part of Sword Man's stage has some minor changes since you can now go into his stage without obtaining the Ice Wave, Thunder Beam, Flash Bomb, or Tornado Hold.

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  9. The last build I played was pretty well-made (no rhyme intended), but it's pretty hard. A lot harder than the original, in fact. I was barely able to get through Frost Man's and Tengu Man's stage, and I couldn't get through Clown Man's.

    Anyway, though, I'll be sure to try this out as soon as I can. Hmm, now that we're on the subject of these 8-bit remakes of theirs, I wonder how far along the Powered Up and Rockman & Forte remakes are?

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  10. @ Megamac

    I'm not sure this would be possible, unless it was made specifically to run on NES hardware. Remember that the NES only has so much onboard memory, so things like multiple exploding bombs (as in the Grenademan video) would cause massive slowdown on native hardware. The music would also be a problem, as it was not composed on software that was compatible for the NES.

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  11. I think MM7 and MM8 can be done in 8-bit, easily.

    But this Grenade Man stage has got 2 nitpicks:
    1. The girders as platforms, you can't tell if they're foreground or background, or pit or platform
    2. Uh, we've got lots of cannon designs, and cannonball designs, and they make THAT? Think of the hitbox; stick to a previous design.

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  12. Some of the weapons aren't accurate to the original game. Using weaknesses against bosses are almost useless as they don't do much more damage than your charged buster. On top of that some of the ammo count is wrong.

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  13. @Anonymous #4: This game is made by an entirely different team from Mend's, hence the long time of development since they're making it from scratch.

    If Mend were to make this he would easily make modifications from his RM7FC.

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  14. @MegaMac: The game would have to be completely re-worked in order to run on NES hardware. As it is right now, it is simply made in order to have an NES look-and-feel about it (like MM9 and MM10 are), but it does things that an NES would not really be able to fully handle, and the code isn't designed to run on real hardware (it's programmed for Windows systems).

    I agree with the other comments here though: the game runs very well and is impressive for what it is. I do almost enjoy it slightly more than the real MM8, though I do feel as if this one is much harder. Certain aspects of the stages were adjusted in order to account for the fact that all 8 Robot Masters are selectable from the start (so stages cannot require Thunder Claw to complete them, for example), and for the most part that seems to have worked out for them.

    I've seen sprites and music themes up on their website that indicate that an 8-bit version of Powered-Up and make even MM&B may one day be in the works.

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  15. @ Anon #7:

    Ok, didn't know this wasn't Mend. I guess I'm confused as to who has been making what.

    But, this Rockman 8 FC is second most anticipated MM game for me for 2010.

    I can't criticize the game in any way because it's such a gift to the fans. Never thought I'd see the day that MM 7 and 8 would see such wonderful adaptations to 8-bit.

    I love that this Rockman 8 FC is actually a little harder than MM 8. I thought MM 8 was too easy.

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  16. Really I don't like this port. Without the voice work the bosses lose all their charm.
    Megaman 8s big draw wasn't its level design or gameplay so much as its presentation and the voice work/graphics were part of that. I don't think this could be pulled off well without a more stylized approach and importing the voice files from the psx game.

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  17. If you start off fighting all 8 robot masters at once, does this mean there is no middle stage where duo escapes? Do the first four you beat drop the evil energy?

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  18. As far as I know, there is no intro or mid-stage for the game. The intro stage's events are condensed down into the game's introduction sequence. I have yet to beat all 8 bosses to see if there is some kind of sequence that takes place before going to Wily Tower, so maybe they mention Duo more there. Like Rockman 7 FC, certain parts of the game were condensed down to make it play more like MM1-6, and the story might suffer a bit, but then again, it's a game mostly done for the gameplay differences.

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  19. @piotyrHolbion: I dunno about you, but other than Dr. Wily & Tengu Man, the voices were pretty bad.

    Also, turns out that the computer turning off both times WAS a coincidence; I had my foot on the power cord. >_>

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  20. @james:

    Yeah, most likely. They did the same thing in the Rockman 7 remake; they decided to remove the intro stage, along with the Robot Museum. Strangely enough, though, they actually composed 8-bit versions of those two stage songs, hinting that they were originally intended.

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  21. Well this beta version a good one, I like the port but a lot is miss in this game, we have to wait the other versions or the better expiriece of the 8-bit port.

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  22. This Megaman NES Version is needed more fixin is like they did a rushing on this 8bit version.....

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  23. Yay Yay
    This is good wait for the upcoming other Megaman games, I could play this one......

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  24. "Strangely enough, though, they actually composed 8-bit versions of those two stage songs, hinting that they were originally intended."
    Really, I wasn't aware of this when I downloaded the soundtrack to this game. Could you perhaps direct me to where I could find these 2 tunes,Krazy Monkey?

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  25. I've been poking around through the data files a little and I happened to find some random weirdness in the music files. Some of the (as far as I can tell, unused) weirdness I happened to find there-in is as follows:
    - An alternate "all stage clear" theme.
    - The mid-boss theme.
    - The Rockman Rockman boss theme. (?!)
    - Saturn Cutman and Woodman themes.
    - Duo's theme.
    - Full versions of both "Electrical Communication" and the US opening theme.
    - Both opening stage themes.
    - A different password theme (based on the Labo theme rather than Electrical Communication).
    - And finally, a Rockman 8-styled victory theme (which is much cooler than the usual fanfare).

    These files have no place in the current build, but some may be used at some point later on (such as Cutman or Woodman). Both the Saturn and Playstation Tenguman themes are there as well, but both are used in the beta. (If you die, it switches from one to the other.)

    Interesting stuff so far! Could use some work in a lot of places and really does scream "BETA", but this is really, really nifty stuff. :D

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  26. @Joseph Collins: Don't hope too much on Woodman & Cutman though. They seem to be planning to give the secret boss spots to Oilman & Timeman (hence the RR boss theme)

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  27. @Anonymous
    Oh really?! O_O That's actually more exciting to me! That'd be neat as Hell! ^_^

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  28. By the way! If anyone was curious, this BETA is complete all the way up to Wily Tower 3! (Only the first room of Wily Tower 3 is finished.) No intro stage, no middle stage, no cutscenes. No Cutman, no Woodman. All and all, it seems like the Playstation version so far, but that could easily change down the road.

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  29. There's actually an update on this.

    Sifting through the message boards, I came across the latest beta version. Aside from the color changes to some of the minor bosses, this version expands further than the 3rd Wily Stage, and you can now battle Bass/Forte and the Green Devil. =)

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  30. Pretty good game, and if you guys like classic remakes, you should check you Super Kid Icarus, an enhanced flash game remake of Kid Icarus developed by Flip Industries.

    Super Kid Icarus
    http://home.comcast.net/~superkidicarus/

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