Rockman Battle & Fighters review by Jeurja

Perhaps one of the most exciting news stories back in the day was that Capcom was developing a Rockman game for the NGPC. I remember SNK USA's homepage had a picture of Rockman on their site and mentioned that a game was indeed in development on their FAQ page. NGPC gamers salivated at the idea of a Rockman game on their NGPCs...the Gameboy had seen some nice Megaman games and with the added power of the NGPC, the possibilities for a fantastic game were high.

After much wait what did gamers get? A Rockman fighting game. Not even a new fighting game, but a compilation of 2 previously-released arcade games... with a higher price tag than most other NGPC games. Needless to say, many NGPC gamers were more than disappointed. However, I ordered it anyway... ...and I like it. I have not played the original arcade games, but I am pretty darn impressed by this game. From the moment I powered on and heard my NGPC yell "ROCK-AH-MAN! BATTLE AND-AH FIGHTAHS-UH!" I was happy. This game comiples two Rockman arcade games: Rockman Power Battle and Rockman the Power Fighters. Both are pretty similar to each other (there are than some changes in the backgrounds and enemies you fight, but nothing drastic).

Gameplay
Solid stuff, in my opinion. Even though this game is simply a series of boss battles, they're *fun* boss battles, damn it! NGPC is a fighting game system, and this is another quality addition to the fighting game library. You choose your fighter (the first game has 3, the second game has 4 to select from), choose your set of bosses to fight (selections are along the lines of Rockman 1-3, 4-6, and 7) choose a level, and go at it. After beating the initial set of bosses, you go on to fight some harder bosses. Yeah, that's right. Gotta fight 'em all! ;) Anyway, the most important thing is that this game *feels* like a Rockman game. The control is dead on. It felt like I was playing Megaman on my NES. I had no trouble whatsoever. One button shoots, one button jumps. And once you beat a bosses, you can use their weapons.

Graphics
The sprites suffer from the infamous "couple o' colors" NGPC syndrome...yeah yeah. Whine, complain. However, they animate well and look pretty good nevertheless. The backgrounds are pretty damn sweet. While on the whole the background animations are nowhere near MotM or even Gals Fighters, there's some cool stuff going on. There are also a few "interactive" environments, but nothing that really stands out. It's a 2D fighter, it looks good solid, it animates well... what more do you want from it graphically?

Sound
Ah, having never heard the original arcade music and sound effects, I can't comment on what's missing. It pretty much sounds like an NES game, more or less. But the tunes are pretty catchy (although some cats tell me that Capcom left out a ridiculous amount of tunes from the original game) and are recognizable if you're a Rockman/Megaman fan. Sound effects get the job done, but won't excite you too much.

Overall
I enjoy this game. I've had it for a long time now and still throw it on from time to time for some fun. It's not the best NGPC fighter (that honor is still held by MotM, with Gals Fighters and Last Blade both being a close second) and it's especially not what NGPC fans were hoping for, but it's a worthy purchase all the same.