The Hidden Palace community recently shared several Xbox 360 prototypes of Mega Man 10. These early versions were sourced from PartnerNET, a testing environment for authorized developers. While the prototypes exhibit few discernible differences from the final release, they do reveal a significant omission: Co-Op multiplayer.
Each prototype build includes demonstration videos featuring the "Assist Co-Op Mode" and a set of "How to Play" instruction screens. From the footage and instructions, it appears that players had the option to assume the role of either Mega Man or Proto Man to tackle stages together and face obstacles not seen in the final game.
For example, in Commando Man and Pump Man's stage, as well as the first screen following the Weapons Archive fight in Wily stage 1, players encounter a blockade that impedes their progress. To dismantle it, both players must "Sync Up" to unleash a powerful Buster Shot. Players enter a "sync" state when they are in close proximity to each other, marked by a sparkling effect.
Assist Co-Op also featured a mechanic known as "Pick Up Standby," which allowed players to stop falling objects using Mega Man or Proto Man's raised hands. This provided an opportunity to rescue a teammate or collaborate in navigating through confined spaces (heck, you could even pick up, carry and throw each other!). Notably, "Pick Up Standby" is functional in single-player mode, and proves useful in carrying the Keeper's Fists in Strike Man's stage and the Crushers in Dr. Wily stage 2.
Here's the full rundown on Assist Co-Op:
Currently, Assist Co-Op Mode is not available in a playable state. It's possible that the flags to access it are hidden in the code, but further investigation is needed.
But, wait! There's a little more! A scrapped "Greeting Card" feature allowed players to customize and exchange identity cards with others online. You could pick from a range of sprites, including Mega Man, Proto Man, Robot Masters, and enemies, to use as stamps and design a one-of-a-kind card. Unlike Co-Op, the Greeting Card feature is fully functional in the prototypes. You can access it from the main menu screen.
And that's all for now. We'll keep you posted if any developments arise. In the meantime, you can download the prototypes from Hidden Palace and try them out.
Many thanks to MiniMacroSound, Colgate and Roxanne Royer for the find and capture footage!
-------
UPDATE: OtherScott managed to enable debug features and discovered that Bass is fully playable. The latter was possible by injecting a save file from the retail version into the prototype builds. Check it out from the playlist below.
"Attempts to access these features from the menu only play video demonstrations."
ReplyDeleteI think that's because they didn't change the license_mask option in Xenia to 1. Doing that will allow you to access the full game. Although, you still can't access them (since it's online multiplayer).
Yet.
Oh my , couch co-op would have been both the most fun and frustrating experience in Megaman 10 , I can tell . I can just picture me and my cousin playing and shouting at each other for not making it through a pixel perfect jump or an unpredictable enemy placement .
ReplyDeleteTheres also debug features enabled. For example by holding RT and pressing B lets you move around the screen freely, and also kills enemies (sometimes)
ReplyDeleteAn official co-op Megaman experience is all I've ever wanted.
ReplyDeleteWow this would've been a complete game changer
ReplyDeleteWhy did they scrap this?! Argh! It couldn't've been that hard to get this working on a peer-to-peer basis, even in the X360 days, could it?
ReplyDeleteProtodude and ShadowRock.EXE have said on Twitter that its because IntiCreates promised Capcom they could get it running, and told Capcom they would do it alone only for them to fumble the ball completely, a move which pissed Capcom off.
DeleteI wonder if that's what put an end to their partnership and why they chose to work on Mighty Number 9/Gunvolt with Inafune instead.
Inafune didn't hold animosity toward Capcom. He straight up said Mighty No. 9 would feature Mega Man instead of Beck if Capcom made him a good deal for it..
DeleteObviously IntiCreates can't do this, the same thing happened in Mighty No. 9 that they did not complete the promised Co-Op Mode. I think this is a gameplay issue rather than a technical issue.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete@Capstalker
DeleteTrue, but Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 and have proven that Inti Creates is more than capable of doing co-op, at least nowadays.
@Krazy Monkey
DeleteYes, they now had a good solution. I'm not sure though if this only applies to Castlevania-like, since the Mega Man-like has a faster-paced gameplay, which may make Co-Op difficult.
In addition to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, I also meant to mention Grim Guardians: Demon Purge.
DeleteGood finding. This prototypes is for xbox 360 only right ?
ReplyDeleteThat would’ve been so fucking dope
ReplyDeleteI wonder if these features could be modded into the pc version on Legacy Collection 2 at some point? Kind of sucks that such a cool idea was scrapped.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering too
DeleteI wonder if this was cut because they wanted to save co-op as a special new thing in mega Man universe
ReplyDeleteAt the time this game was announced fourteen years ago, I remember coming to the conclusion that the co-op mode was nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor, but to my surprise, it turned out to be true after all.
ReplyDeleteIt's anyone's guess as to why this was removed, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something as simple as time constraints. If that was the case, then they could have simply delayed the game for a bit.