I never quite understood why people refer to The Power Battle as a fighting game. Not only is that how it's often referred to in casual conversation, but it's the way it's categorized on sites like Wikipedia and even here on Backloggd. But considering how mechanically similar it is to the core Mega Man series, it feels like a hell of a stretch.

Video game genres are very silly, and the nature of the medium sometimes makes it very difficult to define a game on such narrow terms. That's why you get a lot of hyphenated genres or crap like "Metroidvania" that attempt to describe one game through direct comparison to another. It's all a mess. Ask me and I'd tell you that The Power Battle is a "boss rush" game, a sort of "best of" compilation of Robot Masters from across the first seven entries in the Mega Man series and nothing more involved than that.

In true Mega Man fashion, you shoot your lemons and use your charge shot to take out Robot Masters, stealing their power to add to your arsenal as you slowly work your way towards Wily's Tower. Bosses have weaknesses to specific weapons, but levels are played randomly, which makes a certain amount of sense. I doubt Capcom would want people blowing through this thing on 1CC because they know the proper order to take out Robot Masters. To really make sure they get a few quarters out of you, the health of Robot Masters increases over time, and your own health bar can only recover a single pip between matches. I think all this further pushes The Power Battle into "boss rush" territory, as carry-over HP isn't exactly a fighting game staple.

Perhaps I'm so hung up on this because I want it to be more of a fighting game. I've dicked around in M.U.G.E.N. enough to know the potential Mega Man's vast roster of Robot Masters have as fighting game characters, and of course there's stuff like the Marvel vs. Capcom games that already dip into the Mega Man series. I do like how quaint The Power Battle is, but I am also somewhat underwhelmed by it. It's also pitifully easy, though I suspect it was toned down for the Anniversary Collection. I can't imagine it being a very profitable cabinet otherwise. At least being able to burn through the three main routes is fun enough to make this a perfectly enjoyable Sunday morning game, but I wouldn't expect this to pull you in like a fighting game should.

Um boss rush de Mega Man divertido e muito bonito! Mega Man e cia se movimentam do jeitinho que estamos acostumados e os chefes, apesar de significativamente mais fáceis de derrotar que nos jogos originais, ainda são divertidos de lutar. Se qualquer coisa, o desafio mais moderado é um ponto forte, já que te motiva a rejogar de novo com os outros personagens e tentar fazer um 1cc ou até uma perfect run. E foi justamente o que eu fiz, 1cc'ing os três níveis de dificuldade com o Mega Man e rejogando tudo de novo com Protoman e Bass só para ver como era com eles.

O destaque mesmo fica para a estética visual. Esse é sem exageros um dos games mais bonitos de toda a série, pegando o estilo de MM7 e elevando ele ao seu verdadeiro potencial graças ao hardware dedicado do arcade. Ver alguns estágios antigos e chefes de jogos anteriores nesse estilo visual até me deixou com vontade de ver os MM clássicos sendo refeitos nele.

played all 3 routes, 1-2 as mega 3-6 as bass 7 as proto. the main, and only real difference between them is their dashes. mega man has the slide, proto has a shield bash (that doesnt do damage or protect him) and bass has an air dash. what this means is that mega is the best character and bass is the worst.
this game is fun. tad easy, even on difficulty 4 but i definitely enjoyed it. boss weaknesses were fun to learn, and even without them the buster works perfectly fine. i swear napalm mans design changes every appearance, which is weird but hes my favorite either way. id say it was worth 4 bucks, if i had a friend irl that also liked mega man id definitely want to play this with him.

Mega Man: The Power Battle is a cool little novelty, taking the formula of Mega Man and converting it into a fighting game taking down the Robot Masters from their respective games as either Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass. For what it is it's kind of fun, though if you have played most of the classic series, you'll have no problem playing this game. This has got to be the easiest fighting game I've played not because I'm familiar with the core gameplay (I mean I am), but with the continue system. Every time you die and put in another credit, you resume the gameplay with the opponent's health remaining unchanged after taking some damage. I experienced everything in like half an hour, and there was no incentive for me to keep playing. I recommend it to those who love to explore the weird world of Mega Man spinoffs, but don't expect much from this one.

Played the Rockman: Power Battle Fighters re-release for PS2! This was a surprisingly neat and brisk little boss rush game. Feels a good bit better than it has any right to—a lot better than Mega Man 7, which it borrows some of the sprites and backgrounds from. Unfortunately, the graphics (very, very cool to see a lot of the classic Robot Masters rendered in the MM7 style) and feel are about where The Power Battle’s appeal ends. Randomizing the Robot Masters and providing no method to heal between battles suggests that this was transparently intended to be a Mega Man themed coin inhaler back in the arcade. Of course, I avoided that coin munching by playing the PS2 version, but the game still seems to have been designed with money in mind. Still, The Power Battle is not bad at all, though it probably isn’t worth playing unless you’re going for series completion.