This is Maximalist Mega Man. Everything is turned up to near-excess, including the difficulty. This romhack is appropriately hyped up in the community but I was caught off guard with how difficult it was. Each of the eight opening levels is as hard as the Wily Stages of other Mega Man games and at least 50% longer, usually with a couple extra mini-boss fights.
By the middle-late game I was getting used to the challenge but the final couple levels (including the Wily fights) were too much for me. I was playing with save states thinking that I could never beat this romhack legit, at least not anytime soon. Seriously, this romhack is harder than Mega Man 9.
That said, the game does give you a lot of safety nets (and there are plenty of assist features). There are a couple moments in the game where the game hands you a bunch of pickups (weapon energy, lives, E-tanks) to refill your stocks although it all feels very inelegant. If this romhack has any flaw is that it's inelegant. The game likes to pit you against a lot of different obstacles at once, usually pushing the NES hardware to its graphical limit. To compensate, you often find pickups waiting for you on common pathways. It's the ballistic solution to ballistic difficulty: give the player lots of health pickups to keep their health bar up.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but even a single early level can be a trial. The good news is that there are plenty of mechanics that even the odds for you and are considerate to the playing experience (for example, weapon energy refilling a bit each time you die). The weapons are great, if maybe overpowered. I found myself using the Dive Man weapon– with its 8-way shooting ability– more than any other. Getting the traversal items was a nail-biting challenge although the items are very powerful if obtained.
What makes this romhack special isn’t just the impressive technical aspect, like all sorts of enemies and gameplay types packed into the game, it’s the fact that the creators made something that is distinctly Mega Man but also has its own identity. There’s swaths of creativity in how levels unfold and the kind of gameplay detours that Minus Infinity takes. The creators made decisions with this romhack that hadn't been made before my Mega Man proper and they had their own spin on it.
This truly is one of the best romhacks.
By the middle-late game I was getting used to the challenge but the final couple levels (including the Wily fights) were too much for me. I was playing with save states thinking that I could never beat this romhack legit, at least not anytime soon. Seriously, this romhack is harder than Mega Man 9.
That said, the game does give you a lot of safety nets (and there are plenty of assist features). There are a couple moments in the game where the game hands you a bunch of pickups (weapon energy, lives, E-tanks) to refill your stocks although it all feels very inelegant. If this romhack has any flaw is that it's inelegant. The game likes to pit you against a lot of different obstacles at once, usually pushing the NES hardware to its graphical limit. To compensate, you often find pickups waiting for you on common pathways. It's the ballistic solution to ballistic difficulty: give the player lots of health pickups to keep their health bar up.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but even a single early level can be a trial. The good news is that there are plenty of mechanics that even the odds for you and are considerate to the playing experience (for example, weapon energy refilling a bit each time you die). The weapons are great, if maybe overpowered. I found myself using the Dive Man weapon– with its 8-way shooting ability– more than any other. Getting the traversal items was a nail-biting challenge although the items are very powerful if obtained.
What makes this romhack special isn’t just the impressive technical aspect, like all sorts of enemies and gameplay types packed into the game, it’s the fact that the creators made something that is distinctly Mega Man but also has its own identity. There’s swaths of creativity in how levels unfold and the kind of gameplay detours that Minus Infinity takes. The creators made decisions with this romhack that hadn't been made before my Mega Man proper and they had their own spin on it.
This truly is one of the best romhacks.
Reviewed on Nov 10, 2022