Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Mega Man Goes 3D (But Not In The Way You Think)

We've often heard some say that classic Mega Man should make the jump into 3D, something similiar to Super Mario 64 (and onwards). While Capcom has yet to develop such a game, one fan took it upon himself to do just that.




Mega Man 3D, a fan-game designed by Lierinwait, places the Blue Bomber in a wide-open, fully explorable world, powered by an impressive 3D engine that grafts traditional 8-bit sprites onto a three-dimensional plane. The result is something akin to the famed Mega Man 2.5D or 8-bit Deathmatch. Your standard gameplay is all there, too; there's enough bottomless pits and tricky foes to even make the most experienced players yelp in frustration.

Mega Man 3D is actually part of a trilogy, all created by Lierinwait. Prior to Mega Man 3D, there was the traditional 2D-inspired "Mega Man in Mega City" and the sequel to MM3D, "Mega Man 3D 2: The Siege of Mega City!"

Over the last few days, my good friend Allahweh has written an extensive review of each game in the trilogy over at her blog, Allahweh's Domain. A small sampling of her MM3D review is below, but if you'd like to read up on the rest, bounce on over to her blog:

"Like most 3D games of this type, the game is fun to play, but it suffers from clunky controls at times.  In fact, the nature of the controls reminds me of the Nintendo 64 entries into the Castlevania series, which, while good games, suffered from bad controls (trying to make a simple jump might result in one’s death).  As Mega Man games have always been about precision, and this fan-game is no exception, there are times when making simple jumps becomes a very frustrating affair."

Despite these shortcomings however, the game does make for a pretty nice substitute for an official 3D title; more so, its sequel due to a vastly improved world and gameplay.

If you've got some time to kill, give these games a whirl! You can download Mega Man 3D and its successors via YoYo Games. 

Thanks, Allahweh!

32 comments:

  1. Hey great, this game looks cool.
    Oh look, the website wants to install a "plugin" and it's promising me it's ok.
    I'm just gonna walk away slowly.

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    1. nice faith in society you have there

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  2. I think there should be a day where you advertise Megaman fan games.

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  3. Now that is a good idea. I'll look into it; feel free to send me stuff.

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  4. Ah man, there are so many Megaman fan games. You should make it a regular thing, like once every couple months or something. I'd never be able to remember all of them in time for one post.

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  5. That looks really cool.

    But what really caught my attention was the idea of classic Megaman in 3D. Not 8-bit Megaman in 3D. Just imagine Megaman 3D with 3D models.

    Man, Capcom needs new teams on Megaman stuff.

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  7. Terrible. Bad camera angles, terrible controls, irritating MIDI music you can't shut off (and this coming from someone who works exclusively with MIDIs, mind you), and of course, my anal retention about the fact certain enemies (Springers) aren't working like they should be. The fact it's not a downloadable game but a "plugin" game certainly doesn't help, either.

    On the other hand, I'm not exactly making Rockman fan games. So, he's got two up on me there. :B

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  8. The room with the fans reminds me of this one level from Bomberman Hero... Good times...

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  10. @Jessica: What's wrong with a little advertising on Protodude's? Since "Mega Man Fan Game Network" is underused, why not use here? This is also coming from a game maker, I'm not a really talented one, but I know there is a lot of dedication required for each fan game, especially pretty big games like this. There are many top notch fan games that I've seen, but they do not get the recognition they deserve. It may seem like I am arguing against you, but I am with you. I think fan games are underlooked, and deserve recognition.

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  11. @Jessica:

    Correction:

    There WAS a Mega Man Fan Game Network. I was an active member of it. The site exploded due to lack of maintenance/server issues. So did the forums. All that is left now is this: http://mmff.b1.jcink.com/index.php

    And you are right, it was WAY underused. Probably because most indie developers are freelancers and have their own website/they post their works on more popular MM websites.

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  12. @Jessica:
    Thanks.

    PS: No to a plugin, but an executable is ok. Does my hypocrisy know no bounds?

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  14. This would be something I'd be willing to support (and advertise, per se).

    A central hub, a collective of all fan-related games desperately needs to be spotlighted -- not only to ensure current projects receive attention, but garner interest in new projects.

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  15. Remember Strider's Megaman Domain fan game website? Ah, nostalgia.

    I've seen him hanging around other game creating sites. He's working on a fan game actually.

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  16. Guys!I found an awesome Mega man fan game network game!!It's way better in progress than the other you mentioned.OMIGOD ITS LIKE CAPCOM MADE IT!!!!!

    http://mmbnchronox.22web.net/index.php

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  17. You guys need to look at the fan game "Mega Man Battle Network Chrono X" because MaxRock has made the most amazing and most progress in a BN fan game.
    http://mmbnchronox.22web.net/index.php

    If you haven't seen it, you're really missing out.

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  18. Maybe use the Mega Man Fanon Wiki? There are only a few active users there.

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  19. Why aren't my comments getting through? :(

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  20. ^ There's a glitch in Blogger's comment moderation system today. Comments approved are not showing up. I'm looking into it.

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  21. i think it's a great idea to have a day where you post mega man fan games, but it may be a good idea to weed out some of the worse ones. and if i were you, i wouldn't post anything mugen related. they're either unfinished, or glitchy.

    oh, and if you're going to post anything from yoyo games again, it may be worth noting that there are download links for all the games, and using the plugin isn't required.

    also, while i'm at it, i'll go ahead and suggest these: megaman rocks, megaman paradise, and megaman 21XX. oh, and the hard hat series.

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  22. Thanks Protodude.

    Though I recall this happening before (rarely) as well!

    Is there ANY live repository of MM fan games now? Seems like they all died out and the scattered fan projects don't have anywhere to garner support!

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  23. oh yeah, i just remembered. the 8 bit version of mega man 8 is now playable from begining to end, but is a bit buggy from what i read.

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  24. Chrono X? I didn't think you would need to advertise it, because it is already well known.(Maybe because I'm active in Exe-communities)

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  25. Anon11:"Chrono X? I didn't think you would need to advertise it, because it is already well known."
    Hmm, Chrono X... is that the one that was originally started off as "Battle Network 7"?

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  26. (I'm the last anon)No, that was hosted by the Undersqaure(which is now gone) and it has ended. This is Chrono X, a new game created by a new set of designers with the same purpose, to bring back the EXE series. They have made tremendous progress, and have a very committed team, we can expect to see a full game completed by them eventually.

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  27. To many rock man sites die off everyday. What people said about fangames being brought out into the spotlight sounds good to me. As for these games I think I'll try them out.

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  28. @ alex: yeah, the fan sites die off too fast in most cases. only a select few fan sites for games as a whole still stand today. i say few, because out of the several hudnred that used to be arround, the hundred or so we now have are still here. but one thing you have to admit, the ones that are still standing, do have alot to offer. maybe it'd be a good idea for people to keep copies of things like art, music, and demos/source code/full releases, so that should the original site ever fall, the files can be archived on the bigger sites. they did that with 21XX, only improved and finished it.

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  29. ( But Yes In The Way You Think)

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  30. I have a similar interest this is my page read everything carefully and let me know what you think. Design consultancy

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  31. Add character to your kitchen design with a wide range of kitchen cabinet doors and drawer fronts.

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