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| Mega Man: The Power Battle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Capcom |
| Publisher | Capcom |
| Designer | Koji Ohkohara |
| Composers | Setsuo Yamamoto Hideki Okugawa |
| Series | Mega Man |
| Platform | Arcade |
| Release | Arcade GameTap |
| Genre | Fighting |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
| Arcade system | CP System,CP System II |
Mega Man: The Power Battle[a] is a 1995fighting game developed and published byCapcom forarcades. Aspin-off title for theMega Man series, it featuresMega Man and his allies fightingDoctor Wily and his rebuiltRobot Masters in a series ofboss battles. The game was followed by a sequel,Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, in 1996. Both games have since received home releases through variousvideo game compilations.
In the game, players can choose between threeplayable characters:Mega Man,Proto Man, orBass. The game offers three "stories", which determine which Robot Masters the player will battle against. Each story features six Robot Masters from previousMega Man games: one features opponents fromMega Man 1–2, one fromMega Man 3–6, and one fromMega Man 7. During the story, the game selects the players' next opponent using aroulette system. Once all six Robot Masters have been defeated, players are transported to Wily's Fortress for a battle against a story-specificsub-boss, followed by a final battle against Doctor Wily. Each character has their own unique ending.
The game controls similarly to the mainMega Man games — the player uses one button to jump, and one to fire the character's arm-mounted energy weapon. Holding the fire button charges the weapon in order to release a stronger blast. Holding down while pressing the jump button makes the character perform a dash, the appearance of which varies between characters. Unlike the mainstreamMega Man games, instead of going through an entire stage and fighting the Robot Master as aboss at the end, the player faces the Robot Master immediately, in a fight reminiscent of Capcom'sStreet Fighter series. Defeating a Robot Master earns the player their weapon, which can be switched to by pressing a button. Like in mostMega Man games, each Robot Master is weak to another one's weapon, so the player can fight through them in a "rock-paper-scissors"-style. The game supports cooperative multiplayer for up to two players.
Mega Man: The Power Battle was released in arcades in 1995, with its sequel,The Power Fighters, releasing the following year.[3] An adaptation of both games,Rockman Battle & Fighters, was released in 2000 for theNeo Geo Pocket Color.[4] The arcade versions of both games would receive their first home console release in 2004 as part of two separate compilations. In North America, they were included as one of the ten games featured inMega Man Anniversary Collection forPlayStation 2,GameCube, andXbox.[5] In Japan, the two games were given a standalone compilation release for PlayStation 2, titledRockman Power Battle Fighters (ロックマン パワーバトルファイターズ).[6] Both games were later re-released as part of the Retro Stationdedicated console in 2020,[7] and theCapcom Arcade 2nd Stadium compilation in 2022.[8]The Power Battle is also playable in theStreet Fighter 6 Game Center.[9]
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Neil Foster ofHardcore Gaming 101 praisedThe Power Battle for its graphics and two-player support but criticized its lack of depth and difficulty, noting that "once the correct fighting order has been figured out, the game becomes rather easy to clear with one or two credits."[10] Alex Navarro ofGameSpot, in his review ofMega Man Anniversary Collection, felt thatThe Power Battle andThe Power Fighters were both worth playing despite their simplistic gameplay and lack of replay value.[5]
Four reviewers for the Japanese publicationWeekly Famitsu scored the PlayStation 2 compilation of the two arcade games a total of 22 out of 40.[11]