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Mega Man 1 - Speed Bomber

Levels: Excellent

Graphics: Good

Music: Good

Enemies: Okay

Bosses: Good

Weapons: Good

Castle: Good

Difficulty: EASY-MEDIUM

Comments: StalkerMaestro has yet to release a custom level speed hack of Mega Man 1, but don't worry—Timaeus is more than capable of filling that role. Similar to Burst Chaser and its numerous cousins, stages and enemies have been edited to put up as little friction as possible, while simultaneously ensuring the hack isn't a pushover to play. Bosses in particular are really fun to try and defeat with only the mega buster, and Speed Bomber's Yellow Devil is one of my favorite renditions of the goliath yet. I really can't think of any gripes for this hack; despite rating most of its aspects as "Good", Speed Bomber is more than the sum of its parts, earning an exceptional Excellent grade from me.

The goal in mind while developing this hack was very clear: a very fast-paced and simple adventure to kill some time with. Going with that, I think the job was done pretty well.

The levels are fun to go through, with platforming that feels good to do and shooting that does the same. My main problem with the levels is that they feel *too* easy; the amount of damage enemies do is pathetic and they die very quickly as well. Most enemies can really be dealt with just by spamming the shoot button, though I must admit I enjoyed doing this so I can't complain too much.

The special weapons compliment the level design by being very general use; you can turn one on and keep using it until it runs out with little drawback. On one hand, this does result in all of the weapons feeling pretty unneeded throughout the game (except for maybe Ice Man's) but I think any more specialized weapons would risk either them being even more useless or having to slow down the pace of the game for constant switching.

The bosses I felt were very hit or miss. They all have pretty much one loop they do, which while sometimes being very enjoyable can also result in fights that feel not very dynamic or interesting. That being said though, the only fights I didn't really like were Bomb Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, and CWU-01P. The rest were, I think, enjoyable and well designed.

Overall, a good hack to play if you don't want to try too hard and just want to enjoy yourself for a while.

This hack is amazing!!!

The new weapons are really fun to use! I think each weapon is well designed and has it's own general use, instead of being only situationally useful.

The new boss AI is challenging but also fun. I like having to keep on my toes even when I have their weaknesses, and that makes the first boss you fight, not having their weakness, even more satisfying.

The level remixes are really cool, the color palette changes, tile and level design changes, and the music is all solid. I was so surprised when I recognized Ice Man's stage theme.

I game over'd several times, so I'd say it's pretty hard, but it didn't seem so unfair as to deter me from playing it.

Really great stuff here! Mega Man as a speed game works really well here. The gameplay is fun and each stage feels unique. Definitely one of my favorites.

A pretty fun experience, with some excellent weapons and bosses, and some interesting changes to the way Mega Man plays, though I found it a bit lacking in the level design department. Here's my more detailed thoughts:

GAMEPLAY: The speed and rhythm of the game is pumped up quite a bit, which makes moving Mega Man very fun. That said, it does make the hack feel quite short, but I feel that's the point.

MUSIC: Some very good tunes, no complaints here.

GRAPHICS: Very good overall, though the level tiles do sort of blend together in my mind, they're all pretty similar and don't look very distinctive. The enemies change colour depending on the level and I quite like that, except for the blue Picket Men, not a very good choice there.

LEVEL DESIGN: The bosses and weapons are the highlights of this hack, and it feels like the levels themselves are just preludes to these things. You can just tear through these stages super quickly with even the regular Mega Buster, and most weapons kill everything in 1 hit. Granted, this might be the point of the stages, but there aren't any super memorable set pieces or interesting areas, most of the rooms are just basic platforming with some enemies to kill. The only standout moments I can remember is the section where you jump on the Foot Holders in Fire Man(?)'s stage and the area just before the teleporter to the final boss rematches.

WEAPONS: Some of the best I've seen in a Mega Man game. They're all much stronger in general and kill most things in 1 hit. Though, there don't seem to be any boss weaknesses to my knowledge, and most weapons deal 1 damage to bosses. Here's my thoughts on each, in the order I got them in:

"Rolling Cutter": Basically a souped up, purple version of the original that arcs super quickly. However, I'd say this version is a bit of a downgrade, since it's so fast the enemies' invincibility frames don't end before it arcs back.

"Thunder Beam": The three shots now all go forward, instead of having two go up and down. Plus, they're reduced in size. In my opinion, the worst weapon in the game, though still very good. If it was in a real Mega Man game it would be among the best.

"Ice Slasher": Completely different from the regular Ice Slasher. A super-fast shield with a large hitbox, although it evaporates pretty quickly. A very good weapon to use against certain bosses, especially Fire Man.

"Fire Storm": A decent, long-range, fast and arced shot. Pretty standard weapon compared to the rest. What makes it good is the fact that it deals 2 damage to most bosses, uses up very little ammo and there's no delay between shots, so pretty useful against bosses. Not my go-to against regular enemies however.

"Hyper Bomb": The absolute best weapon to use against regular enemies. A fast explosion that's launched horizontally on both sides of Mega Man. Kills everything in 1 hit. Only downside is its range and odd hitbox.

"Super Arm": The best weapon in the game. Launches a large block that arcs and turns into a giant wall that zooms forward once it hits something. Does 2 damage to bosses, kills everything. My absolute go-to for the endgame.

"Magnet Beam": Not even really a weapon anymore. When you use it, it makes you invincible for a few seconds. Pretty useful for crossing areas with spikes, and you can quickly use it and switch to another weapon to use it to its full effect. Only weird thing is that you have to get it using Elec Beam on a rock, which isn't made super clear and I thought you needed Guts Man's weapon to destroy it. So I had to play the stage twice before I realized this.

BOSSES: The highlight of this hack. The bosses have been made tougher than in the original, but they're still very fair. Reviewed in the order I fought them in:

Cut Man: Knockback is removed, he's faster and his Boomerang Cutter is much quicker and goes in all directions. It's a very long fight with just the Mega Buster, especially once you figure out his pattern. It's just a matter of endurance after a while. Would be a bit more fun if he did more stuff than that.

Elec Man: Quite easy, although it took me a bit to figure out. He moves and jumps between three spots and fires one (1) Elec Beam towards you. Way more fun and hectic than Cut Man, overall a good fight.

Ice Man: Fires 5 ice blocks(?) that you have to avoid, moves between three spots like Elec Man. Another easy one once you figure it out, I liked this one a little less than the previous but it was still quite fun.

Fire Man: Much more physical than in the original, Fire Man straight up charges at you, punches(?) you and quickly throws out two fire waves. The "Ice Slasher" pretty much trivializes this fight in particular, since Fire Man, unlike the other bosses, is constantly trying to get close to you. Very interesting and unique fight.

Bomb Man: Easiest fight in the game, just like in the original. Bomb Man jumps a lot more, and his bombs have way more range, but easily beaten with "Fire Storm".

Guts Man: Quite liked this one as well. Similar to the original, but there's way less time between jumps and the block he throws is much faster. Being on the ground when he jumps is devastating, you get pushed back super far and the delay is ridiculous. I got around this by pausing every time I got caught by the shaking ground, which apparently negates the effect.

Yellow Devil: MUCH easier than the original, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Throws one of two different patterns of Yellow Devil pieces at you, then an eye appears in the darkness and shoots at you. Very enjoyable fight, probably the best in the game.

Copy Robot: Did not enjoy this one. Copy Robot has some very odd behaviour depending on the weapon. Using "Ice Slasher" makes the shield appear on him permanently. "Rolling Cutter" has the shot stay completely still before returning to him through the floor, which means it's very hard to get hit. I just used "Rolling Cutter" until I ran out and then switched to "Fire Storm".

CWU-01P: Easy as piss. Not much to say.

Boss rematches: Main issue here is that you're given the Yashichi AFTER you've fought the last 4 bosses, not before.

Wily Machine 1: Very, very easy compared to the original. Just spammed "Ice Slasher" for the first phase and "Hyper Bomb" for the second.

Overall, a pretty fun romp that sort of falters near the end, but it's good entertainment for an hour or two. I very much recommend playing through it, it doesn't take a lot and the only part that might take some time is the bosses.

Almost since the beginning of the release - I have tried this hack.

1. Graphically - made interesting. Some graphics have changed a lot, and some - updates the existing one. So and so - it turned out interesting.

2. Music - written professionally and fits perfectly into the levels.

3. Level Design - ideally made for a high-speed character. Really, I didn't have any problems with this

4. Bosses are new and fresh in their own way. It's nice to study them and win (and lose). I will especially note that the Bosses in Wily Castle are unique. One of them even reminded me of another project where there is a similar boss

5. Abilities partially transferred from "MМ1 Limbo", but much improved and redesigned. Plus, a new animation for one of the abilities and a different presentation.

6. Everyone asked for it and rejoice: SPIKE BUG - fixed! And this is really a breakthrough. And, I think, we will meet this thing in other hacks as well.

If you want to get adrenaline and fun from a pleasant pastime - this hack will NOT disappoint.