2017 continues to be a banner year for video games despite the fact that every major release
has already come and gone.
To the surprise of many, Capcom is finally bringing back Mega Man in something more than
just another compilation.
Mega Man 11 is on its way with a new artstyle that stays true to Mega Man's legacy without
being another NES throwback.
And we're more than a little excited by this prospect.
But we want to know even more.
So it's time to bring out the old Analysis Machine with some help from our own Mega Man
guru, Ash Paulsen, to see what secrets and hidden details we can find.
Let's begin by looking at Mega Man himself.
Right away we can see that the interface for Mega Man hasn't changed too much.
There's his life bar on the left while the pink bar next to it is his weapon energy.
Usually this bar is hidden until Mega Man accesses a Special Weapon, but as we see later,
the pink bar is actually for Rush as its energy decreases when using the Rush Coil.
This could mean that Rush's abilities are available anytime Mega Man is in his default
form, and there might never be a need to switch to Rush specifically.
However, we never see any other variations of Rush during the trailer so we don't know
yet if different Rush abilities all use the same weapon energy.
This would also indicate that a different button is used to summon Rush since, traditionally,
the shoot button is what would be pressed.
It could work like some of the later Mega Man games where a separate button was used
to fire the Mega Buster while equipped with a Special Weapon.
There are some new additions to the UI though, and they seem pretty significant.
There's a large, faded gear above two smaller gears colored red and blue.
The large gear seems to indicate when Mega Man can use a brand new ability as we do see
it lit up at certain points during the trailer, including against the boss at the end.
Unfortunately, the trailer never clearly reveals how that gear lights up.
Is it determined by getting damaged, defeating enemies, a new collectible, or something else
entirely?
We do know what it does though.
During that boss fight, Mega Man jumps over the spinning attack and then activates the
gears.
Flashing red and blue lights appear as Mega Man himself has a new bar appear above him
indicating how much longer he can use this power.
Unfortunately the game's logo pops up after that, preventing us from fully seeing what
this new power is capable of, but slowing it down shows us a bit more.
It appears that Mega Man can fire fully charged shots as fast as the normal Mega Buster.
We see him shoot one just before the title appears, which destroys the boss, while the
other two travel across the screen soon after the flash of light ends.
So it would appear that this power temporarily allows every shot Mega Man fires to be fully
charged.
But the Game Informer article throws a wrinkle into all of this.
There are two screenshots that also feature the Gears and Mega Man's new power.
One features a huge wall of fire while Mega Man stands on the right.
Interestingly, there are several after-images of Mega Man standing next to the real one
while only the Blue Gear is highlighted.
This could indicate that using only the Blue Gear will provide Mega Man a temporary speed
boost as that's what afterimages usually help denote.
The other image only has the Red Gear highlighted, and this is where things get a little crazy.
Mega Man is essentially in his Star Force outfit, right down to his Mega Buster looking
like Omega-Xis (Zis).
Blue lines surround him with multiple explosions going off so it seems to be an area attack.
But Star Force takes place in an alternate universe hundreds of years in the future.
It being here makes no sense unless some crazy crossover was happening which seems unlikely.
We think that both of these Game Informer images come from an earlier build of the game
as there's a border surrounding the Gears in these screenshots while the trailer doesn't
have that.
So maybe these other powers have been simplified to what we see in the trailer.
But if that's the case, why is there still a red and blue Gear?
Perhaps there still will be alternate powers, but we would be surprised if this Star Force
reference stays in the game, unless Mega Man can wear alternate costumes which admittedly
would be pretty cool.
We should also mention that the game has a subtitle in Japanese, The Gears of Fate, as
discovered by ProtoDude of Rockman Corner.
These gears might be what it's referencing.
And that's just the UI!
There's still quite a bit to cover here about the blue bomber.
For one, he has a slightly new animation for when he teleports into the level.
It's actually closer to what X does in Mega Man X4, X5, and X6 along with Marvel vs Capcom:
Infinite.
This could have to do with Capcom slightly redesigning Mega Man to be a little leaner
and cooler in Mega Man 11, but it's extremely unlikely that this has anything to do with
an actual connection between him and X.
In fact, Mega Man is looking pretty good.
His jump animation is just like it was in previous games and unlike Mega Man 9 and 10,
he actually has the charge shot and slide back in his arsenal.
The game is not just trying to recapture the feel of Mega Man 2, but Mega Man across the
years.
And this also means that he can switch between his Special Weapons with the press of a button.
This also changes the color of his weapon energy bar, providing another quick way of
knowing which weapon you're using.
And the Special Weapon he switches to has the same design as the mystery artwork from
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2.
It was indeed a hint of things to come.
That design includes an enhancement to Mega Man's physical body rather than just a change
of colors.
This power allows him to summon 4 blocks in the air just above him to fall on whatever
lies ahead.
In this case, it takes out both the Picket Man, or Pickelman as Ash insists is the official
name, and the electrical hazard.
It appears to be a really potent Special Weapon and one of the best stone-based powers Mega
Man has ever had.
Even more intriguing is the fact that the Game Informer article claims that the attack
can be charged to increase the blocks' size and make them even more deadly.
While at first this seems to indicate that all Special Weapons can be charged, it may
be just this one weapon that can do it.
That's how it worked in Mega Man 2 with the Atomic Fire, Mega Man 7 and the Noise
Crush, and the Magma Bazooka in Mega Man 9.
In fact, we see that using the attack only takes one unit of weapon energy so it's
very likely that charging it also affects how much energy it uses.
And the evidence that only it can be charged seems to be further confirmed thanks to a
description of another Special Weapon that wasn't shown in the trailer.
This weapon transforms Mega Man's fist into a jackhammer spike, which is both powerful
and allows for a mid-air dash.
It ties into the design concept that they want each Special Weapon to have multiple
uses in the game.
So that's what Mega Man can do, but there's still quite a bit to see when it comes to
what he can pick up.
Items are scattered everywhere and the enemies can drop quite a bit.
In fact the first enemy, a returning Lyric from Mega Man 5, drops a Mega Man head for
an extra life, meaning that a lives system is indeed back.
Not only that, but the 1-Up design is new.
No longer is it the static 8-bit or 16-bit Mega Man face from all but Mega Man 8, which
itself only had an empty helmet, but a fully revolving 3D Mega Man head.
But the second Lyric drops an item too.
We can see a large weapon energy refill just before Mega Man grabs it.
And later, we see the small variation of the weapon energy pickup when Mega Man is fighting
the Pickelman.
Like the 1-Up, they rotate in place.
However, the life energy pickups, which follow the design from the NES Mega Man games from
2 forward, don't rotate but have the light flicker on and off.
Later we see that the small Life Energy pickup heals two bars of health, but never in the
trailer do we see the large variation.
Although the best healing item, E-Tanks, do put in an appearance.
There's no indication of how many E-Tanks Mega Man can hold.
Throughout the series it's usually either 4 or 9 so we'd suspect it'd be one of
those options here.
The final item we spotted is a bolt.
It's in small crevice next to a bed of spikes, which are sure to cause instant death if Mega
Man touches them.
This could indicate that Auto is indeed in the game along with his item shop.
However, this isn't a guarantee since some Mega Man games have had a shop with no connection
to Auto.
Either way, we can likely use these to purchase upgrades to Mega Man's abilities, E-Tanks,
extra lives, and perhaps other enhancements or power-ups.
Maybe this is how you get new Rush abilities or the Gear Abilities we saw in Game Informer
or, if that Star Force outfit is indeed a costume, where you can buy new costumes.
And it won't be like Mega Man 8 where there were limited bolts as the destroyed wheel
enemy also drops one.
It's just a matter of gathering enough.
Now we said that was the final item, but we're not sure if that's actually the case.
At one point in the trailer, we see this gear-like object.
It could be an enemy or perhaps a hazard that activates when Mega Man gets close.
But that never happens so we can't say for sure.
And it's even possible that this is a new power-up.
It never moves and the center just glows like the life energy pickups.
It's possible that it's a pickup related to the new Gear icon.
And that icon is blank at the moment despite Mega Man taking damage, which could have been
a way of lighting it up.
Perhaps this is what's used to access that power we saw.
Speaking of enemies, we see quite a few during the course of the trailer.
There's the returning Lyric from Mega Man 5 that we already mentioned along with a new
skull hammer enemy.
It appears that the charge shot that strikes the hammer damages it, but it's not enough
to be destroyed.
This enemy can also form a platform though when it brings the hammer down, allowing access
to higher areas.
The skull motif also points to the return of Dr. Wily, whose concept art we did see
during the 30th anniversary livestream.
It could indicate though that Wily isn't trying to hide his intentions this time and
is instead returning to a more direct path to world domination.
Continuing on, there's also the Pickelman from the original Mega Man that we mentioned
a few times already.
But this is a good time to point out that the Game Informer article does mention the
fact that while there are returning enemies, 70% of them are brand new.
And we see this reflected with the new rolling enemies.
While the Pickelman is destroyed by the falling stones, these rollers are barely affected.
And that might be because they need to be shot through the small gap in the wheel.
And we see this in action earlier in the trailer when a charge shot hits it within that space,
destroying it instantly.
Finally, there's the cone enemy, which could be based on the Baccone from Mega Man 7, although
their behaviors are quite different.
This cone attacks by firing missiles from its head that Mega Man can shoot down.
This enemy, along with the Pickelman, actually ties into the mini-boss of the construction
stage that we saw before, during Mega Man's powered-up attack.
A construction vehicle is driven by a Pickelman while one of the cone enemies hangs out on
top shooting missiles.
Mega Man can destroy the cone, but another just drops down to take its place.
To defeat this boss, he has to aim for the cockpit, and there's a blink and you'll
miss it moment once you do destroy it.
You can actually see the burnt outline of the Pickelman just as the machine explodes.
It's an amusing little detail.
The other mini-boss we see splits into 4 segments that must dodged before shooting its face
portion as much as possible.
It's a little similar to Blocky from Mega Man 2 and the Big Pets boss from Mega Man
5.
In other words, it seems the development team is digging deep for their inspiration before
adding a small twist.
These two mini-bosses also help confirm that these are two entirely different levels that
we see in the trailer, something further confirmed by the Game Informer article.
The first one's setting looks to be some kind of Aztec temple with the top of it possessing
eyes keeping with the robotic aesthetic.
Interestingly, while this could have been a way to have some kind of pyramid-themed
Robot Master like Pharaoh Man in Mega Man 4, this stage's Robot Master is actually
the one who gives the stone block weapon.
While we don't know this Robot Master's name yet, we do know an early version of his
name was Brick Man, but it has since been changed according to Game Informer.
In fact, an image was shown during the Japanese stream that showed off the title screen of
the game.
In it, we can see this Robot Master along with the other 7.
It's difficult to make out their themes based solely on their outlines, but we do
see the multiple difficulties Game Informer mentioned.
Plus we also know that none of the Robot Masters are female either based on that same article.
Returning to the levels, the gameplay doesn't stay outside of the temple for long.
Soon we see the interior with breakable blocks, falling blocks, and a blue aesthetic.
And it's definitely the same level as the contraptions on the front of the platforms
are the same as the ones outside.
All of this matches the look of what we'll call Brick Man and his power extremely well.
The other stage is more construction based yet digs into the earth making it feel a little
similar to Brick Man's level.
There are new hazards to watch out for though.
Along with its construction aesthetic, there are moving platforms that Mega Man has to
navigate.
But the stage also hints at the possibility of multiple routes.
There's a hole in the wall where the platforms travel through in this scene.
From what we can tell, Mega Man can fit in there as well.
Would it be blocked off, leading to him getting crushed?
Or is this a different path or at least a secret room?
Unfortunately, we have no way to determine that.
Okay, we're almost done here, but there's still one thing we wanted to point out.
There's a lighting engine on display.
In this scene, we can see Mega Man's shadow move along the wall and even be segmented
thanks to a larger shadow.
It shows the level of detail that's already being attempted and with a year of development
left, the game will likely look better and better.
And we can't wait.
What we've seen so far has left us extremely excited as it pulls from across the entire
series.
We'll be here every step of the way to see what Mega Man 11 has to offer us hungry fans.
Of course, if we missed anything, let us know in the comments.
Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe to GameXplain for more on Mega Man and other
things gaming.
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