i think one of my favorite things about the gamecube is just how many weird and creative ideas we got with its library. look at games like pikmin, luigi's mansion, pokemon colosseum, metroid prime, super mario sunshine, animal crossing... you see nintendo, as a publisher, branching out and trying a lot of different approaches to established gameplay formulas. obviously, this game wasn't published by nintendo, but it fits very snugly into that trend of taking something tried-and-true and adding a new twist to it.
i feel as though it might be heresy to say this, it really might be, but this game is more enjoyable to me than the vast majority of classic MM games. the OST is superb and easily one of the strongest parts of the entire game. the presentation is great, and while a few textures look a little questionable (iceman's model looks very bad when viewed from the front), the areas have little details and backgrounds that give life to something as simple as exploring the internet. i think one of my favorite backgrounds was global area 3, which just makes the background a microchip. it doesn't even standout until you take a second to look at it, which makes it brilliant. it fits in perfectly while also being something that adds to the game upon closer inspection. i love that. and i generally love seeing 3D versions of the MMBN series staples such as spikeys and mushys. i've always felt that MMBN has some of the best enemy design of any video game series, and network transmission capitalizes on that by giving each virus good models that accentuate their features without making them look garish.
but the gameplay is probably the most interesting part of this game. you combine the idea of a card based RPG with a platformer and... you honestly get something very interesting. maybe not something very polished or fine-tuned like we'd come to expect with the MMBN series, but interesting. i find something unique like this fascinating because, while the execution is off in some ways, it's unlike any other game i've played. you can't just ride off of classic MM or MMBN knowledge/skill. you have an entirely new beast here; tactics and techniques that would work in either of the mashed up series independently don't work here. sure, you do lose a bit of what makes both, independently, great, but you combine it into something messy, blended, and interesting.
i will say that, in regards to gameplay mechanics, it does add some features that i would have loved to see in the MMBN series, such as the ability to refight navis from a simple menu rather than having to random encounter hunt for them. i also really love a lot of the navi designs unique to this game. i know it's simple, but god damn, needleman is one of my favorite designs in the series, and his little gait adds so much personality to him that you'd look in sprites. every navi has interesting behavior, whether it be gutsman having a little waddle, brightman being mostly a counterbait boss, or quickman requiring an understanding of his openings to damage that seemingly inspired his MMBN2 behavior. there's care put into the bosses of this game, and with this game having so many to fight, that's a pretty impressive feat.
i would estimate this game's length being a lean 10 hours, maybe less if you don't fuck around with grinding like i did. at the same time, this game is a monster in earlygame. fireman hits extremely hard, and you lack many decent ways to grind for money or chips early on. i consider myself fairly good at video games on the whole, and while my skill varies depending on the genre, even i found myself having to grind for money to buy bubblers from higsby just to beat fireman. the biggest complaint i have with this game is just how integral grinding feels to a playthrough. you absolutely want powerups and health upgrades, because otherwise your damage output will be minimal and you'll be reduced to a pile of gore and teeth by most bosses. plus, you can grind for navi chips and boss weapons by refighting bosses. this game basically incentivizes grinding for a casual playthrough, and while that's not a death knell, there's a better way this could've been done. maybe scale back boss damage output/HP totals? up the damage of chips? increase the starting HP total? something else better than this had to be possible.
another major complaint i have is that, on a platformer basis, this game is brutal at times. this game taught me to appreciate good cameras in a 2D game, because the one here leaves a lot to be desired. mega man is glued to the center of the screen and has a very small box that he can move in before the camera starts shifting. this means that, at any given moment, your screen always has mega man in the middle. this becomes a problem when you're walking forward and you're given about half a screen less to react to an incoming enemy or, in the case of one level, microseconds before you can see where an instant kill laser beam came from and how to avoid it next time. it's just such a bummer, because classic MM had perfected something as simple as letting you focus on the entirety of a screen without the view changing at all. my knee-jerk reaction is to go "they should've just made the camera the same as classic MM", but the more practical solution would've been to just zoom the view out a bit and give the player more to work with. if mega man has to be bolted to the center of the screen, at least give the player more to work with.
maybe this game doesn't hit every note, but this is an interesting experience and it compels me in some unknown way. to the classic MM fans: you're getting a lengthy experience here, this game has the equivalent of 8 robot masters and 7 wily stages, with two bonus bosses. to the MMBN fans: this game rewards your ability to use the right tool for the right situation and gives you a lot of freedom in how to structure your folder (arguably too much). there is something here for both parties and i heavily encourage anyone who hasn't played this to try it, and for anyone who disliked it to give it a second chance. i truly wish we saw more games do something risky and weird like this.
edit as of 1/2/2022: adding half a star to make it 4.0/5.0 because it's been half a year and i'm still obsessed with this game's OST. that has to count for something.
i feel as though it might be heresy to say this, it really might be, but this game is more enjoyable to me than the vast majority of classic MM games. the OST is superb and easily one of the strongest parts of the entire game. the presentation is great, and while a few textures look a little questionable (iceman's model looks very bad when viewed from the front), the areas have little details and backgrounds that give life to something as simple as exploring the internet. i think one of my favorite backgrounds was global area 3, which just makes the background a microchip. it doesn't even standout until you take a second to look at it, which makes it brilliant. it fits in perfectly while also being something that adds to the game upon closer inspection. i love that. and i generally love seeing 3D versions of the MMBN series staples such as spikeys and mushys. i've always felt that MMBN has some of the best enemy design of any video game series, and network transmission capitalizes on that by giving each virus good models that accentuate their features without making them look garish.
but the gameplay is probably the most interesting part of this game. you combine the idea of a card based RPG with a platformer and... you honestly get something very interesting. maybe not something very polished or fine-tuned like we'd come to expect with the MMBN series, but interesting. i find something unique like this fascinating because, while the execution is off in some ways, it's unlike any other game i've played. you can't just ride off of classic MM or MMBN knowledge/skill. you have an entirely new beast here; tactics and techniques that would work in either of the mashed up series independently don't work here. sure, you do lose a bit of what makes both, independently, great, but you combine it into something messy, blended, and interesting.
i will say that, in regards to gameplay mechanics, it does add some features that i would have loved to see in the MMBN series, such as the ability to refight navis from a simple menu rather than having to random encounter hunt for them. i also really love a lot of the navi designs unique to this game. i know it's simple, but god damn, needleman is one of my favorite designs in the series, and his little gait adds so much personality to him that you'd look in sprites. every navi has interesting behavior, whether it be gutsman having a little waddle, brightman being mostly a counterbait boss, or quickman requiring an understanding of his openings to damage that seemingly inspired his MMBN2 behavior. there's care put into the bosses of this game, and with this game having so many to fight, that's a pretty impressive feat.
i would estimate this game's length being a lean 10 hours, maybe less if you don't fuck around with grinding like i did. at the same time, this game is a monster in earlygame. fireman hits extremely hard, and you lack many decent ways to grind for money or chips early on. i consider myself fairly good at video games on the whole, and while my skill varies depending on the genre, even i found myself having to grind for money to buy bubblers from higsby just to beat fireman. the biggest complaint i have with this game is just how integral grinding feels to a playthrough. you absolutely want powerups and health upgrades, because otherwise your damage output will be minimal and you'll be reduced to a pile of gore and teeth by most bosses. plus, you can grind for navi chips and boss weapons by refighting bosses. this game basically incentivizes grinding for a casual playthrough, and while that's not a death knell, there's a better way this could've been done. maybe scale back boss damage output/HP totals? up the damage of chips? increase the starting HP total? something else better than this had to be possible.
another major complaint i have is that, on a platformer basis, this game is brutal at times. this game taught me to appreciate good cameras in a 2D game, because the one here leaves a lot to be desired. mega man is glued to the center of the screen and has a very small box that he can move in before the camera starts shifting. this means that, at any given moment, your screen always has mega man in the middle. this becomes a problem when you're walking forward and you're given about half a screen less to react to an incoming enemy or, in the case of one level, microseconds before you can see where an instant kill laser beam came from and how to avoid it next time. it's just such a bummer, because classic MM had perfected something as simple as letting you focus on the entirety of a screen without the view changing at all. my knee-jerk reaction is to go "they should've just made the camera the same as classic MM", but the more practical solution would've been to just zoom the view out a bit and give the player more to work with. if mega man has to be bolted to the center of the screen, at least give the player more to work with.
maybe this game doesn't hit every note, but this is an interesting experience and it compels me in some unknown way. to the classic MM fans: you're getting a lengthy experience here, this game has the equivalent of 8 robot masters and 7 wily stages, with two bonus bosses. to the MMBN fans: this game rewards your ability to use the right tool for the right situation and gives you a lot of freedom in how to structure your folder (arguably too much). there is something here for both parties and i heavily encourage anyone who hasn't played this to try it, and for anyone who disliked it to give it a second chance. i truly wish we saw more games do something risky and weird like this.
edit as of 1/2/2022: adding half a star to make it 4.0/5.0 because it's been half a year and i'm still obsessed with this game's OST. that has to count for something.