More SSR3 Updates! Will It Ever Cease?

I can't get over how much SSR3 news has been spewing out for the past two weeks. Guess we won't see an end until November-ish. Anyway, a crap load of updates today, all from various sources. Let's get to it:

-The Wave Station updated the System section with info about Wifi gameplay. Like previous entries, Wifi is used to connect with your "Brothers" (aptly renamed to "Team Members") and participate in online Wave Battles. In SSR3, Wifi play can be utilized to recieve "Rival Noise" cards from opponents you face online. Like Brother Cards, they will roulette through the rival's four White Cards or merge their equipped Noise Change with yours for "more power." With Wifi battling, you can fight with Brothers--err-Team Members or completely random strangers.

-Possably the best feature of random Wifi Wave Battles is the new "filter" option. Here, you can filter through a list of what kind of opponents you'd like to face. For instance, you can filter out all opponents utilizing Noise Modifaction Cards, thus making battles more "friendly" and less "cheap." Also, you can view your opponents' records and mugshots.

-Outside of battles, you can hold voice chat conversations with Team Members and random strangers.

-In Wifi battles, damage delt to decrease in Noise is toggled to make things "flow."

-The SSR3 mobile site also updated with tons of new character art, specifically art for the new Wizards such as Pedia, Clark, Gardner, Laplace and Mode

-Finally, the wallpaper section updated with a new Burai wallpaper, who is weilding a fine looking sword.

SSR2 "Side View" Hack Footage

Marvel at it!

Shooting Star Rockman 3 Demo Now On Japanese Wiis

The SSR3 demo hit Japanese Wiis today via the convenient "Everybody's Nintendo Channel" service. "Nigoli" of The Undersquare was fortunate enough to sit down and play the demo. Here's what he had to say:

-It shows the Controls on the Bottom Screen like the News Post prior. No BGM for Title Screen though.

-The Tutorials as usual, you can now do Camera Side as an option instead of turning the Camera On / Off. There's new Sound Effects as well. The Wave Virus Battle Theme is also pretty catchy.

-The game looks like it has potential, even though the Demo seemed a little repetitive like the previous games. It also stinks that there's no Noise Change System to try in this particular Demo, hence why there's no Noise Gauge in any of my Camera Shots.

Got a Japanese Wii? Do yourself a favor and give SSR3 a try!

What Exactly Is the "Rockman X3 Buster Battler?"

Every so often, a mysterious Rockman item pops up on ebay known as the "Rockman X3 Buster Battler", a seemingly over sized LCD handheld game.

For the longest time, myself and a few buddies have pondered what the device does. Is it actually a full fledge game in vain of the Tiger handhelds? Some sort of precursor to the Leapfrogs? Thankfully, the winner of the most recent Buster Battler auction has generously shared some details about the item in question:

Courtesy of MKVarana:

"The game has 2 different carts:

The first one is the game cassette (cart). You choose between regular X, full-armored X, and Zero, then you insert several parts into them (it doesn't tell you what they do on their own, at least not ingame that I saw). It scans them when you're done and gives your character stats based on them. Then it lets you choose 2 busters. You draw the busters yourself and it scans them to determine their stats (there are buster stamps if you want a base to work with). You can have up to 4 different busters saved. They you get to choose to fight against a boss, such as Vava (Vile). You choose one of four directions to attack (3 attacks) and you essentially hope that the boss moves in the direction you picked. You can also do things like charge your buster for a wider, more powerful shot, and power up your buster to increase it's attack. I haven't spent enough time with the game yet, so there may be more to the battles than I've figured out so far, and there were other game modes I haven't tried yet, too. Plus, I think you can connect 2 of them together to play a versus mode, or something like that.

The other one is the manga cassette. Basically, it has a few blank pages that you draw your own flip-book story of sorts. You can draw it all by hand, or you can use X3 related stamps and backgrounds to make your own little story. You can also make your own 3 X 3 slide puzzle game.

Also, you can open the cap on the game cassette and plug the manga cassette into it (I assume this is not limited to just the X3 cassette, so you can pick up other games for this thing and mix them together). When they are connected, you can access the stamps from the manga cassette for use in the game cassette. I used the stamp for armored X from the manga cassette as my buster, for example, and it's stats were significantly greater than any of the ones I drew...lol."

Wow. How did something like this go unnoticed for so long?

If the item pops back up on ebay (it frequently does), I'll be sure to give you guys a heads up.

Capcom Teases An Undiscovered Rockman 9 Secret

According to this topic over at Capcom-Unity, there is an undiscovered Rockman 9 secret which may in fact be a secret weapon.

Taking a gander at the Rockman 9 tile set, Tornado Man noticed a peculiar "throwing" animation for both Rockman and Blues (pictured). This animation is not in the game, which has led many to believe it belongs to a secret weapon of sorts.

Actually, if you'll notice, the pause screen contains a vacant spot for a potential twelfth weapon. Hmm....

We'll see how this one plays out. Stay tuned!

Ariga Hard At Work on "Rockman Maniax", More Megamix *UPDATED*

Thanks to all who sent this one in:

Hot off the heels of the Inti Creates event, Hitoshi Ariga announced plans for a new Rockman publication: "Rockman Maniax."

Ariga was very hush hush on what exactly Maniax is, but he assured the crowd that future details will appear on his official blog, on December 17th, 2008 (Rockman's 21st birthday).

Ariga also announced plans to re-release the previous Rockman Megamix volumes and assured fans that the Rockman 9 Megamix adaption (Megamix 4) is progressing smoothly.

Wow. Talk about nerdgasm.

*UPDATE*
A little more information about Maniax has surfaced.

Maniax will act as a compilation of Ariga's Rockman fan art; stuff that predates his work on Rockman Megamix and Rockman Remix. Ariga previously shared these works in reprinted editions of the Megamix, but has never been conveniently collected into a single book until now.

News Credit: Tim, Jimb0, Action Hank, marshmellowman

RM9 Arrange Album Launch Party

To honor the release of the Rockman 9 Arrange Album, Inti Creates threw a little bash in downtown Akihabara on October 25th.

Inti's own sound team "III" wooed the crowd with a live show dedicated to Rockman 9, while Tsutiya Miki sung her rendition of "Bright Tomorrow" from the arranged album.

The event also had a fairly good amount of special guests, primarily various Rockman artists such as the famed Hitoshi Ariga (Rockman MegaMix) and Yoshiro Iwamoto (Rockman X manga adaptions). On stage, the artists presented new peices of work all themed after Rockman 9. Isn't that nice?

Head over to Gpara for full event coverage and pics.

Hello Side View, We Missed You

While we eagerly await to see more of SSR3's side view in action, will have to make do with this SSR2 awesome hack.

Mega Rock.exe, a renowned hacker, has created a series of codes that alters the battle camera's position in Shooting Star Rockman 2.

As you can clearly see, we have ourselves a lovely side view, bringing back memories of the ol' EXE days. So, how does it fare?

The original code is a bit glitchy, but Mega Rock.exe has carefully gone back and fixed up to the best of his knowledge. The result; a fairly nice experience, but one that doesn't really compare to the style or action of EXE battles from the days of yore.

To view the code and some other zanny camera angles, head on down here.

Paper Rockman Gives Paper Mario A Run For His Money

Honestly, words can't begin to describe how awesome this is. I can't even begin to imagine how much time and energy went into crafting this:

RUMOR: "Mega Man Scramble Battle" Once Existed, Shelved.

I get a lot of screwy rumors in my mailbox. Some I don't even post because they sound utterly ridiculous. For example, someone claimed they found "an advertisement for a Rockman/Naruto crossover game for the PS3." C'mon, that just screams BS.

Often, I'm shot a really great rumor, one that sounds decent but never comes true (with the exception of Mega Man 9). Tonight, I bring one of those really great rumors (which may or may not be true), concerning a topic shrouded in deep mystery: the existence of the Wii's Mega Man Scramble Battle.

For the uninformed, "Mega Man Scramble Battle" refers to an unreleased game that appeared on a alleged European retail list back in 2007. The list featured a slew of upcoming Capcom titles, including some that were previously unannounced.

The retailer list indicated Scramble Battle as an "action/RPG" title for the Nintendo Wii slated for a release in late 2008-early 2009 time frame.

News of Scramble Battle spread like wild fire, but sites hosting the list were quickly forced to take them down, henceforth cementing the notion the list was legitimate.

Months later, Sven of Capcom-Unity confirmed that the title never existed, nor have they ever heard of it before. However, an anonymous source from the company begs to differ.

Two days ago, I was contacted by a self proclaimed "former" Capcom USA employee who offered to share information about Scramble Battle out of respect for Mega Man fans. The individual believed it would be a topic of great interest. As requested, he shall be referred to as "Joe."

The gist of the information:

-Scramble Battle once existed but was eventually "shelved." The title was in pre-production back in the Spring of 2007.

-Planned as a Wii game from the get-go.

-It was originally produced by series veteran, Hironobu Takeshita and directed by Eiichiro Sasaki.

-Scramble Battle went though three conceptual phases, each one experimented on a different game engine and concept:

• The first phase acted as a "bland" tech demo used to test the Wii's motion capabilities. Users would point the Wii remote at the screen to shoot on screen targets in a first person view.

• The second phase was described as a "party game." Players would take on the role of numerous characters from the MegaMan universe and participate in several "unique" mini games, all of which utilized the Wii remote's accelerometer. This idea was scrapped for unspecified reasons. Apparently, the engine from this concept was later adapted into Capcom's other Wii title, "Zack and Wiki."

• The final phase was an action-RPG hybrid. Players assumed the role of Mega Man  and a "side kick" who are forced to fight their way through slews of enemies in "classic RPG" fashion. Apparently, attacks were gestured base; players would swing the Wii remote a certain way to perform various actions. This concept was green lit and began production in the Summer of 2007 with a release slated in 2008.

-The project went on hiatus for two big reasons:

• One: Testers were disappointed in the game's lack of quality. Testers noted an immense amount of bugs and glitches that affected the overall gameplay. (Could this be the game SurferGirl referred to as "shovelware?")

• Two: Takeshita and his team were shuffled around to other projects, focusing their attention on other titles "further along in development" at that time.

As a result, Scramble Battle ceased production and was "shelved." Shortly afterwards, "Joe" left the company. "Joe" mentioned he has no knowledge of the game's current status. However, he did note that shelved projects usually return to development at a later time. It all depends on a company's priorities.

I'm a bit perplexed as to where I stand on this. It all sounds good, but I can't exactly vouch for the legitimacy of the source. Make of it what you will.

Now You Too Can Own Subaru's Recalled Pendant!

A very rare Rockman item is currently on ebay; a promotional replica of Subaru's "shooting star" pendant from the Shooting Star series.

A promotional pendant? Whoopty doo. What's so rare about that? Well, it's deadly. Seriously.

In 2006, Capcom of Japan announced a recall on the item due to its potentially dangerous design. The pendant, as you can see, has several sharp edges. If one were to trip and fall while wearing it..ouch.

Collectors should definitely consider picking this up, just be sure not to wear it to bed.

Sprite Hacking RMZ3: Playing As Model X, Vent and More

Been meaning to share this for a while:


Model X


Copy X


Vent (a bit screwy)


Pure black Zero



Simply awesome.