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Mega Ran 1
Original game : Mega Man
Platform : NES
Author : Doc Remedy
Release date : 25 January 2024
Category : Complete
Patch version : 1.3
Modifications : G, L, T
Downloads : 193
ROM Information
Database match: Mega Man (USA)Hack description
Mega Man is now Mega Ran for starters! Mainly a graphic hack, some level redesign and Boss weakness changes with secondary weaknesses were applied. An homage to one of the coolest people in the Nerdcore community, Mega Ran. It was only fitting to customize the original Mega Man (and more to follow?) around the legacy. Enjoy!Screenshots




Contributions
| Contributor | Type of contribution | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Doc Remedy | Hacking |
Reviews
| Use online patcher to see results | Glocknien | 2024-01-27 | Version 1.3 |
I revise my review after I see correct applying patch. Use online patcher this works. But when using computer and lunar ips tool it does not work. I scratch my head why. The hack is alright after all. It has minimal changes meaning same levels but add some blocks in the way. It is playable until the end with no glichy graphix. But I expect new things if this get updates. | |||
| A "Not-So-Mega" Fan Hack | Josephine Lithius | 2024-01-27 | Version 1.3 |
Short Review: This, uh... this ROM hack kind of reeks of "Baby's First ROM Hack™". It really does. The level edits are amateurish and lack consistency, the color choices are hard on the eyes, and due to meddling with Megaman's palette, a lot of other things have been unnecessarily "Mega Ran-ized". The Mega Ran sprites look okay, but that's about the only good thing about this hack – and even then, they only look "okay". Long Review: Oh, boy. Where do I even start with this thing? First and foremost, who is "Mega Ran"? Well, he's a Mega Man fan who does mixes of songs and raps pretty well. He was integral to a few Mega Man-athons at MAGFest, when that was a thing, and from my brief interactions with him through the chat, he seems extremely nice. He gained a tiny bit of notoriety due to his "Mighty" credits track for Mighty No. 9, which played on loop during the entire three-hour credit sequence, but he can hardly be blamed for that. He's just a nice guy and a fan of Mega Man, so making a ROM hack that includes him in any Mega Man game seems like a very logical choice. Unfortunately, this ROM hack is... not very good. I'll explain in order of appearance. Right as soon as the game loads, we're treated to a rather interesting title screen. The word "Man" has been surgically altered to read "Ran" with some credit text overlain atop it. Were it me, I would have added a shadow to the text for better readability, but I guess the blue-on-teal is alright. The "Ran" logo could definitely use some work, though. After pressing Start, we see that the Stage Select screen is as it always has been... except that now, for some reason, three of the Robot Masters are Black? As in, they now have a dark pigmentation of their skin rather than a light kind. I have no problem with "diversity" and whatnot, but I'm 95% sure that this was less about diversifying and more about lazy palette editing. Throughout the game, several things that previously used palette entry $38 ("pale tan" in YUV, "pale yellow" in RGB) now use palette entry $18 ("burnt gold" in YUV, "chocolate brown" in RGB). Bosses, explosions, the bottom of Dr. Wily's UFO... Mega Ran also uses this color because Mega Ran is Black, but honestly, it looks kind of out-of-place on other things. Also, the "whites" of Fireman's eyes – as well as Mega Ran's eyes and the 1-up sprite – have gone missing. The sprites were physically edited to remove that part, leaving them with "dotted eyes". This would be fine if it were consistent, but Elecman and Bombman still have their white sclera, so it just looks kind of weird. I can't think of an explanation for this specific edit. Some stages have been made harder, either by adding more enemies to areas or by making stage hazards more prevalent. (More spikes, wider pits, et cetera.) For example, the vertical areas of Cutman's stage has been made more annoying by putting tiles in the way, preventing the player from going straight up, while the opening part of Bombman's stage now has a ladder timing puzzle in the Bombombomb areas which also negatively impacts the later Blaster / Killer Bomb section. This is not fun. There are also areas that have been modified to be easier, too, though? To cite another example, the conveyor challenge in Gutsman's stage is only half a long due to the addition of solid platforms here and there, and the vertical section seems more open and easier to navigate. This seems like an odd design choice, making some areas harder and some easier with no real consistency. There are some downright ugly edits, too, such as the newly opened pool of water in Iceman's stage not cascading down into the room below it, or making the pit before the checkpoint in Fireman's stage traversable, leading to a little "zip" glitch on the next screen. Additionally, there are instances of sprite overload, such as that previously mentioned Fireman room having a "phantom" 1-up. It all seems very amateurish and doesn't really add much. A couple of the boss rooms are changed – usually by making things a haphazard mess or by putting things in the way. Sometimes, the alterations to the boss rooms affect how the bosses operate. Poor Cutman can barely navigate his newly rearranged room and, due to the Iceman battle taking place in a pool of water now, Iceman actually can't hit the player at all! (His Ice Slasher attack is height-oriented, and he's simply too low on the screen to use it as intended.) Some tinkering was done with enemy and boss damage as noted in the Read Me, too. For the most part, it seems like damage was toned down on bosses to match that of the later Mega Man games – ie. bosses only take 4 damage at max from their weaknesses. (Except Gutsman for some reason.) Considering that the player can still be demolished by one or two hits of Ice Slasher or Thunder Beam, I can't say as this is a very fair change, but it's fairly minor in the long run. And... that's about all the talking points I can think of. Finally, let's talk about the color scheming. Everything is dark. Most stages now take place at night and some levels were also recolored in some "interesting" ways. Elecman's stage is noted for now looking like "Electro's original costume" from the Spider-Man comics. I don't see it, myself. It looks more like the Green Goblin came in and redecorated. Megaman's weapon colors also got a repaint, making them overall generally darker colored. This doesn't really work well, as it just makes things seem muddy and unpleasant to look at. As I said in the short review, this seriously reeks of "Baby's First ROM Hack™" in a lot of ways. However, not all aspects of the hack are of that quality. Mega Ran's sprites are pretty decent – though "Normal Ran" looks absolutely out-of-place during the ending. (Cutman also steals one of Mega Ran's sprites, but that's normal.) Some of the level design is kind of interesting, though most of it's just annoying. The changes to the boss arenas are needless and, in Iceman's case, actually detrimental, but this can be amusing at times. And of course, the new colors are jarring but passable. Ultimately, though, this isn't a very fun hack or a very good tribute to Mega Ran, in my opinion. But honestly, this hack is hardly awful, much less "unplayable". If it's a "first try", it's actually reasonably alright. I just think it could be better. I can't really recommend this ROM hack due to the issues mentioned above. The foundation is there, but it really needs some TLC to become something good. | |||