SAR Info
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| For PSX / Saturn | 3 CDs | 1998 |
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NOTE: This page of information is based on the original
Japanese game (there is NO English version). Since I can't
read much in that language, some parts might be inacurate.
Information & Story
SuperAdventure Rockman is not a regular Mega Man game. In fact, some people don't even call it a "game". It's more an interactive story: you have to make instant choices and boss battles. Besides that, you'll watch movies, nothing else. Released in 1998, it was declared by some Japanese magazines to be the "worst game of the year". The problem on those ratings is that SuperAdventure Rockman (SAR) was judged as a game, not as an interactive story. Personally, I really enjoyed that title.
The game opens showing a little video where you can see helicopters crashing. Shortly after, you see Dr. Light is in lab. He notices on one of his computers a strange cloud formation in Southern America. Roll enters the room, then falls on the floor! Worried, Mega Man and Dr. Light put her under a special capsule. While Light is trying to know what's going on, guess who appears on all screens of Light's lab? Of course, it's Dr. Wily.
He does his show: BWAAHAHA I'm the bad guy, then explains that he is behind Roll's disease. Wily managed to get a hold of a special device located in that special place in Southern America. The device, coming from an ancient civilisation, creates microwave interference at a low degree. Wily increased it's power, so it's now affecting electronics worldwide. This creates robots and all other electronics to stop functionning, which explains the helicopters incident.
The mission: go over to those ancient ruins, get a hold of Dr. Wily and stop everything. Mega Man has only 48 hours to do so, as after that all electronics will become permanently useless, thus causing Roll's death. In order to help Mega Man, Dr. Light calls his 6 robot masters (Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Elec Man and Fire Man). Also, to avoid any more damage, Light treats all 7 robots with an anti-jamming solution. Then, Mega Man departs accompanied by Rush and Beat. It's the beginning of a new adventure!
The picture at the left gives you an idea of the size of the movies compared to the whole screen. You might think that this is small, but you get used to it really fast, and you'll not notice it after a while. At the left, you have your energy bar, which is always showing during dialogs or battles. The blue zone at the bottom is there so you can make your choices, like: Go right or Go left. If you have an instant choice to make, you'll see orange arrows around the video. Press a key quick enough to dodge an attack!
Now, at the right you can see a normal battle screen. It's in full screen, so you see better what you do. Notice that it's a kind-of first person shooter, when YOU are Mega Man. At the left, you still have your energy bar, while at the right, you see the enemy(ies) total energy. You can see at the bottom left a small indicator. This is the charging level or your MegaBuster. Hold on the fire button to charge! It's more efficient to charge, but you'll most probably find yourself hitting the fire button like crazy during a hard battle.
Of course, expect the regular Mega Man stuff in that game: Protoman will show up from time to time to help you, you'll find E-Tanks, etc. To summarize the game, it's a big movie, with little interactive parts (dodge a shot!) and various boss battles. You'll encounter all of your old enemies from Mega Man 2 & 3 in SAR, so be on your guard!
Preview
| File | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SAR Introduction 1 | 4.56 MB | To give you a better idea of the game, I recorded the first introduction of the game and uploaded it here. This movie is made of differents parts of the story seen on the first CD. Of course, I had to put the quality down, since the original filesize was 23.1 MB. The sound and picture quality isn't as good as the original movie, but I kept the same screen size. Enjoy! |
Guide
Superadventure Rockman Walkthough: MegaBoy wrote this comprehensive walkthrough to give detailed information about the events, fights and items. It's a great asset if you are stuck in the game, or want to find all secrets possible.
Ratings
Graphics: 8/10
The video quality is great, and I really like the way the characters were drawn. I prefer this drawing style to the one used in Mega Man 8. Dr. Wily is looking so good! I like it! Also, you get to view the robot masters from several angles, so it makes a change from the other games. On the other side, the sprites used during battle, while well rendered, have very limited animations. I mean here that they don't have a lot of frames for their animations. Capcom could have done much better here.
Music: 9/10
Excellent, simply excellent. The music is very well fiting the current events in the game, in a very similar way to TV shows. However, you will not notice the music sometimes, because it's not playing out loud: it's there, but not overhelming. Personally I would have prefered the music to be louder. A little bit more and I would have shed a tear when Dr. Light talks to you, late in the game, if you happen to be defeated. Understand me: it's not only Dr. Light talk that's the cause, but the background music which sets the whole atmosphere.
Sounds: 5/10
Those sounds! Arrgh! During a battle you'll hear 4 sounds effects: the enemy firing, you firing, the sound when you hurt the enemy and the sound when YOU are hurt. Let me tell you: those effects are really getting on your nerves after a while. During the movie sequences however, the sounds are just appropriate.
Voice acting: 9/10
What can I say here? Even if I don't understand what they are saying, the voices are appropriates for all the characters, especially Dr. Wily. The voice of each character was up to what I was expecting. It's not like somes games *glances at Mega Man 8*, where the acting was poorly done. Here's everything is fine, of course, since it's the original Japanese acting!
Plot: 8/10
Yeah, right, I'm rating a plot that I can't even understand completely... I based this rating on what I could understand, by watching the movies. There's a very interesting turn of events later in the game. Also, it's great that if you loose some battles, you'll not just get a Game Over screen, or always the same ending video: some of the enemies will have a very personal way of killing you, or one of your friends will save you at the very last second from a certain death. This allows you to resume the fight almost immediately, after healing.
Overall: 7/10
I had to put down the note of SAR by a few points, to take into consideration the opinion of a lot of people, who don't think it's good at all. Personally, I really had a good time playing SuperAdventure Rockman. There's something you must remember: this is not an action game, it's an interactive story. You know how I see SAR? It could have been a really good TV show: just remove the instant choices and decisions, and do the boss battles automatic, and you have an excellent 3 Episodes show to put on the air! In fact, such an option is available from the Options screen once you get through a CD.