Farmboy Kenny - "Original?"

Original enough for ya?


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Slingshot24 - Golden Sun Megaman 64

Another Golden great from Slingshot!

*Note: This game is also known as Megaman Legends for the PS1 and Rockman Dash in Japan.

So here I have a game that I have loved since I was a child. Megaman 64 for me was my first Megaman title and as far as I know, my first CAPCOM title.



Concept
The concept of the game is this: The world is flooded. Only Islands ramain. People called Diggers are essentially treasure hunters. They wander across the sea in their flying machines in search for treasures buried in installations loacated on islands. The greatest treasure of all is called the Mother Lode. This is the prize most diggers seek.

Story
Now for the main story. You are MegaMan, a digger aboard the Flutter, a ship piloted by Grandpa Barrel, and Co-Piloted as well as repaired by the mechanic Roll.

The game begins in what seems like a dungeon. Inside Megaman encounters mutliple enemies referred to as "Reaverbots". These are essentially rogue robots that attack on sight. As you venture through this dungeon, Roll talks to you giving advice and direction. Eventually you happen upon what is called a refractor. This is basically a valuable energy source that when found is used to either power a vehicle or used as a form of money called "Zenie". (Just like in DBZ! :D ) Upon collecting your refractor, you encounter a giant reaverbot. After his defeat you exit the dungeon only to see a cutscene of megaman leaving in a cliche` way.

Believe it or not, this is just your introduction.

The game resumes to show some sort of malfunction occurs in the Flutter causing you to crash land on Kattelox Island. Here the story truly begins. As you leave your crash site you head to town to find help only to discover some guy got lost in a dungeon and you must save him.
You save him, he thanks you, he runs home. You then learn that the ship will take some time to repair, and a new refractor to be able to head back out. You then are basically stranded so you go check out the island's problems. On this adventure, Megaman encounters new foes and searches the vast interconnected dungeons of Kattelox as well as learns of the island's mysterious legends all while saving the island from the vil plans of the Bonnes.

The story is unlike regular megaman games as it is a linear plot rather then played however you want. It is told with fully animated cutscenes that include voice acting.

(I'm sorry my closing description is lacking but I never want to risk giving away the details of the story.)

Gameplay- Movement, Combat, Difficulty, Saving

Movement
The game's movement gives you a few options. you move forward and back with the control stick, strafe with Z and R, and jump with A. The game controls fairly well and generally causes few problems.

The game has a bit of a platforming element to it as you do need to jump from place to place to do what is necessary. You grab onto ledges if needed and have to navigate areas to progress. One can also perform a dodge-roll by performing a smash bros esque side smash. This makes the player invincible for the time rolling which proves quite useful. Jumping and movement speed can be increased through the use of jumping springs and the skates that allow for quicker movement and higher jumping.

Additionally, after finding one of the refractors, MegaMan gains access to the "Support Car" which acts as a teleportation system.

Combat
As far as combat goes, your primary weapon is- you guessed it- The Megabuster. In addition to this, there are multiple acquirable weapons that can be developed by Roll once you bring her the parts. Then by selecting Item Development, she will check your inventory and see what she can do. There are tons of weapons, but you can only equip one at a time. you can also upgrade these. You megabuster also can be upgraded by attatching parts to it that have different effects such as range, power, and rapidness of shots fired. The amount of ammo you have is just like regular Megaman games where the Megabuster is infinite but other weapons are not. Each unique weapon also has its own feature. Some are landmines, others are homing missiles.

When fighting, one can lock onto an enemy and fire from one spot, and while strafing, one can fire their weapons with reduce accuracy from special weapons. The Megabuster is basically auto locking so movement is no issue there.

MegaMan also has Actively useful armor that can absorb a hit before you take damage. This armor can however be broken and all attacks will directly affect MegaMan's Health.

Aside from reaverbots, there are massive Bosses the player (That's you) must face that have only certain weakspots that may require platforming to reach and that deal massive ammounts of damage when they hit you.

Difficulty
When looking back on this game, the thought of itsdifficulty has one key idea in mind... "OMFG THIS GAME WAS HARD!!!!! >:(" Being the age I was may have contributed to my issues with the difficulty of this game, but I often was faced with a haunting GAME OVER screen at each turn. Certain Elements allow for greater ease while playing such as the Helmet or Jumping Springs, which when assembled by Roll allow for impact resistance when landing on your head, or higher jumping to avoid attacks. In addition, one can purchase Armor upgrades and extra health canisters in your "canteen" which can be selected from the start menu. This proves to be incredibly helpful as enemy attacks become Nerf'd in your progression through the game with armor, and health can be restored at will with the canteen.

Saving
To save your game, MegaMan must find the monkey-robot assistant named Data (The Pikachu to Megaman's Ash) Finding this little guy can be hard as you can only usually save outside of dungeons and prior to some boss levels. Data when met can also restore your health and Ammunition. This will save your life. Data could also be found in the support car.

Characters
MegaMan Volnutt- That’s You!
The game’s protagonist and an all around awesome dude.



Roll:
The Fludder’s Co-Pilot and Mechanic of the Crew. Seemingly MegaMan’s love interest. She can build and fix just about anything, including weapons and vehicles.

Data: The Pikachu to MegaMan’s Ash
MegaMan’s personal Monkey-Bot. He saves your game and recovers Health and Ammunition.




Data and Roll

Barrel “Gramps” Caskett:
Owner of the Fludder and its Pilot. Found MegaMan as a baby and raised him as his own.

The Bonnes:
A family of Pirates and constantly recurring enemies of MegaMan. There are Three- Tron who falls in love with our hero, Tiesel, the leader, and Bon, the “Baby” who is a robot himself. They are served by underlings called servbots (Often mistaken for Lego-Men)



Additional Bits - Easter Eggs and Trivia
This game had some interesting features that proved sometimes completely random and unexpected. There are mini-games that can be played for cash found in one of the districts of the town. Some interesting Easter eggs include kicking a tin can into a bakery which in turn earns you 1000 Zenie followed by a "Please recycle your cans" message, or when purchasing a soda from a machine, instead of buying it, kicking the machine will either score you a free drink or blow the machine up. Also, MegaMan 64 seems to have a light side-dark side element as when doing certain things such as getting a free soda by kicking the machine that give your armor a darker tint that can turn into a harsh dark blue and black as a result of your miscreant ways. Also, you can sometimes pick up random things and give them away for something. You can also search through trash cans for items.

This game also teaches two VERY important lessons. Do not approach stray dogs, and ALWAYS look BOTH ways when crossing the street.

On the N64, this was one of the few games that had a Colored Cartidge on some of the copies. (I owned one but was robbed forcing me to buy the gray cartridge edition as a replacement -_- )

Lastly, this game had a Playstation Exclusive Sequel Called Megaman Legends 2.
This character model of megaman seems to have evolved into what we know as the MegaMan Battle Network version we see today.
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Sorry this is so dang lengthy (4 MS Word pages) but I had a lot to say. Probably need to cut down on some info. Critique is WELCOMED! :D

Love ya,
Stan.

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PekoponTAS featured in GamesTM magazine!

Control Freeks Very own PekoponTAS was featured in GamesTM Magazine! Check out the Article here! Congrats Pekopon!
A few months ago I emailed someone at GamesTM’s website and asked if I could be featured in the “Collector’s Corner” part of the magazine. Basically it’s a section that talks about a rare game, and there’s a brief Q&A with someone who owns it. I suggested myself with Space Squash for the Virtual Boy, and they accepted! I typed up my answers, sent them in, and waited about three months for it to appear in an issue. Not only did I get featured, but I got a copy of the magazine mailed to me free of chare, and I got it a MONTH before it would be in stores here in BC. I took the time to scan the two pages and post them here. I’m sorry the images are so huge, but they need to be in order to read them. Also keep in mind that the only part I wrote was the answers to the questions on the second page. I did not write the article itself.

Page One




Page Two



Pretty awesome if you ask me. :)
-PekoponTAS
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