| Rockman 12: Dr. Wily's Final Plan!! | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Rockman 12: Dr. Wily's Final Plan, rumored to be localized as Mega Man 12 in English speaking countries, is a 2D platformer in the classic Mega Man series, to be released on June 20th, 2020 internationally for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo DSGo. It will be the twelfth main entry in the classic series, featuring many new aspects inspired by the X series and others, as well as references to the other Mega Man series.
Gameplay[]
Rockman 12 features the usual, classic gameplay of the series. The player plays as Mega Man, the titular blue robot who can jump and shoot his Mega Buster to damage enemies. The game is divided into several stages, in which Mega Man may traverse the landscape, jumping to avoid obstacles and battling enemies.
One main difference from past games is that there are now much more than just 8 stages, one for each Robot Master; instead, there are 16 stages, not counting the introductory stage and the Wily City stages which can only be played at the end of the game. These stages end do not end with a battle with a Robot Master but rather a fight against a "Boss Mechanism", which take on an appearance much like the middle bosses of stages, instead of a humanoid figure. The rewards for these stages include "Sub-Tanks", "Partner Forms", and "Special Gears" which are explained below.
A Sub-Tank as depicted by Scott Honeycutt
Sub-Tanks are a new feature inherited from the Mega Man X series, but which work differently from there. They act similarly to Energy Tanks from the Metroid series, allowing extra energy collected at full health to be pooled into reserves. When Mega Man's primary tank is emptied, it is automatically refilled by Sub Tanks, unless they are all empty. There are three Sub-Tanks in the game, allowing Mega Man to quadruple his maximum energy. However, upon respawning from death, he only recovers half of his maximum Energy if he has collected at least one Sub-Tank; for example, after collecting one, he respawns with only the default tank full.
Another feature returning is Special Gears, which debuted in Mega Man 11. By holding down the back trigger buttons (by default), Mega Man can activate either the Speed Gear or the Power Gear, depending on the button. Under the effect of the Speed Gear, the game slows down around Mega Man, allowing for precise movement. Under the Power Gear, Mega Man's Special Weapons grow more powerful, including his Mega Buster.
Mega Man is once again able to Slide, just as he has been able to in most games since its introduction in Mega Man 3. Alongside the upgrades to the Mega Buster, Mega Man can now perform a "Charge Kick", wherein Mega Man may hurt enemies and obstacles by sliding into them with a full charge. This also allows Mega Man to slide slightly faster and farther than normal. New to the classic series is the ability to "Read", where Mega Man can read signs in stage that give info or lore.
Story[]
Abel City appears like the similarly named city does in Mega Man X, albeit slightly less advanced.
Dr. Light is finishing upgrades to Mega Man's Mega Buster where an earthquake rumbles across their city. Light sends Mega Man to go and find what caused it, and he sets off across the tops of the buildings on Rush's Jet Form. They soon find the entire Abel City has been overrun with Dr. Wily's robots. Mega Man fights them off and finds Wily, who sends out a robot to fight him. Mega Man prevails, but Wily only laughs, before telling him that it was just a distraction. Suddenly, Roll calls Mega Man, showing him a news report: robots all across the continent have been infected and have turned evil.
Returning to the lab, Light tells Mega Man that this infection is possibly related to Roboenza, and thus likely connected to Wily. Light speculates that he might be planning to attack the lab, and begins its automatic transformation into "Flight Mode", turning into an airship that leaves the city. As soon as it leaves the bounds of the city, a huge dome materializes it, and Wily's face is projected onto it, announcing that he has now taken control of the city. Mega Man and Light decide that they should travel to the other cities to find ways off opening the barrier, which at the moment seems invulnerable.
After defeating his first Robot Master, Mega Man returns with one of eight "Barrier Keys", shaped like a large key within a nut. Light begins to scan it, and finds that it contains an energy signature likely to disrupt the barrier. Wily disrupts the lab and begins communications, telling Mega Man that even after he has broken the barrier, he will not be able to beat Wily, as he has grown more powerful than ever. Mega Man ignores this, setting off to find more.
As Mega Man explores the levels, he finds many robots infected by this virus who he must fight; after defeating them, they temporarily come to and work to open the pathway ahead of him. Some of the robots express that they are his biggest fans, while others apologize for hurting him. All of them have blood red eyes while infected and don't say anything while attacking.
After collecting all the Barrier Keys, Light begins to use them to synthesize his own barrier that is more powerful than Wily's, as well as a device that can use all of them to open the barrier. They head off towards Abel City, now called Wily City, and open the barrier. However, as soon as they enter the city, they are shot down. Dr. Light is able to activate the barrier to protect them from the fall, although the lab is mostly destroyed. Mega Man heads off to stop Wily at the capital of the City, Wily City Hall, which now has a large tower built onto it with Dr Wily's evil logo.
Mega Man traverses the city, battling many corrupted robots. Some robots all amalgamate together into the "Legion Devil", which Roll describes as "gross and scary." Once Mega Man enters the tower, he faces many tough platforming challenges. At the middle of the tower, Mega Man hears a familiar whistle, and expects help when Proto Man appears. However, when he does, he begins fighting Mega Man instead wordlessly. When Mega Man wins the fight, Proto Man opens his visors to show bloodshot eyes, and simply says "...sorry" before teleporting away.
At the top of the tower, Mega Man faces off with Wily, looking out over the city. During the fight, it begins to thunder, adding to the dramatic tone of the battle. After defeating the Wily Machine, Wily ejects in a Wily Capsule, which Mega Man then destroys before it is struck by lightning. As Wily falls to the ground, he chastises Mega Man for trying to ruin his plans, explaining that he is simply freeing robots.
The ending post-credits scene references this classic opening scene from Mega Man 2
After he realized that Light would never work to make robots free, Wily decided to create a virus that undoes their restrictive programming, allowing them to be free. Mega Man tells him that his idea is free is just power, and that the only true freedom cannot come with control of any individual. Wily simply laughs at him before collapsing into unconsciousness. Mega Man grabs his body and teleports away, the game being won, although the true victory is put into question for the first time in a Mega Man game.
If Mega Man completes every stage then after the credits, a short scene plays, where Dr. Light is shown visiting a captive Dr. Wily. Light says to Wily, "you have started something incredibly dangerous in search of power, yet you claim to want the best for both robots and humans," and Wily replies, "why can't I want both?" Light then walks out of the room, closing the door and leaving the room in darkness, before "TO BE CONTINUED" appears on the screen.
Special Weapons[]
Mega Man with his Mega Buster equipped
Like in every classic Mega Man title, Mega Man may copy the abilities of defeated Robot Masters and use them in battle. They must be equipped from the pause menu or by using the right control stick to easily switch. Each Special Weapon has limited amounts of energy that is depleted while being used; once all is used up, Mega Man can no longer use that special weapon. As in Mega Man 8, Mega Man uses the "Advanced Weapon Copy System" (AWCS), which allows him to shoot his Arm Cannon even while using a Special Weapon, in addition to refilling all of his weapon energy upon respawning after death.
In order to encourage the use of the original form in the wake of the AWCS, Mega Man may now only charge his shots wile using the Mega Buster, which is his default state. At the beginning of the game, Mega Man's Arm Cannon is upgraded to the "Mega Buster Mk. 12", or "S-Buster", following the "Mega Buster Mk. 11" or "R-Buster" from Mega Man 11. Like that previous model, it uses solar energy to charges powerful shots that deal more damage and can "Guard Break", disabling shielded enemies, while also retaining the charge upon being hit. Its main new feature is the ability to Charge Kick.
| Name | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Shark Jet | Mega Man shoots a jet stream of water that pushes enemies and items alike. | Low |
| Nuclear Blast | Mega Man erupts in fire, hurting all enemies around him. | Medium |
| Vine Whip | A whip that can tether onto grapple points or grab ethereal enemies. | Low |
| Wraith Cloak | While held, Mega Man is invulnerable and can phase through enemies.
When released, if Mega Man is on top of an enemy, he hurts them. |
High |
| Dragon Meteor | A column of light appears that can be moved with the control stick/d-pad
When pressed again, a meteor crashes through at that position. |
High |
| Clock Gear | Launches a gear that travels along walls.
When it contacts an enemy, it grinds against them. |
Low |
| Sonic Wave | Extremely fast moving projectile that goes through armor. | Low |
| Plate Armor | Covers Mega Man in hard minerals.
Use while already covered to slam into the ground, generating a shock ave. |
Medium |
Partner Forms[]
Partner Forms are a returning mechanic from Mega Man 5. They function similarly to Special Weapons collected from Robot Masters in that they can be equipped, and in that they use the Advanced Weapon Copy System, refilling their energy after death and allowing the use of the Arm Cannon. As the name implies, they involve Mega Man combining forms with his partners: Rush, Beat, and Tango.
| Name | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Rush Power | Mega Man merges with Rush, and can unleash a powerful punch. | Medium |
| Beat Wings | Mega Man merges with Beat, and can boost himself in air. | Low |
| Tango Boost | Mega Man merges with Tango, and can jet forward on the ground quickly. | Low |
Items[]
An E-Tank ingame
Across his journey, Mega Man encounters many useful items. All of them are consumable, giving some sort of benefit whenever they are used but disappearing after. Like in Mega Man 11, only a limited amount of each can be carried at a time; unlike that game, however, there is a global inventory for each item, rather than them having their own unique limits. Certain Parts increase the carrying capacity of this inventory.
Parts[]
Unlike the standard Items, Parts must be purchased in exchange for Bolts which appear on the stage or when dropped by enemies. They are bought at the lab from Auto, and can be equipped or de-equipped. Certain Parts take up a part of the body, and thus may interfere with others, meaning that only one of that category may be equipped at a time.
Robot Masters[]
Robot Masters are powerful robots created by disparate corporations using the baseline research of the "Robot Development Panel" (RDP), headed in the past by Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. Many of them were created by Light or Wily themselves. As Wily takes control over them in numerous different ways, he assigns new serial numbers to them unique from their originals, which are listed in the table below.
Each Robot Master has a weakness to specific Special Weapons from other Robot Masters, as well as resistances. Additionally, each has their own stage, as described in the stages section. Although they can be played in any order, most players will tackle them in an order that allows them to use Special Weapons against the Robot Masters that are weak to them. The table above lists in the order, top to bottom, in which their primary weaknesses follow.
| Name | Description | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Shark Man | Shark teeth and fins, loves to swim. | Sea Park |
| Nuclear Man | Has orbits like an atomic model, glowing head. | Power Plant |
| Rose Man | Head of rose, thorny lanky long arms | Greenhouse |
| Wraith Woman | Ghostly and pale, no legs, floating | Robot Cemetary |
| Dragon Man | Face within mouth of dragon head, wings and scales | Ancient Temple |
| Chrono Man | Large clock with face, its arms are hands on a clock | Clock Tower |
| Sonic Man | Sharp elbows, curvy unibrow, big headphones | Radio Station |
| Plate Man | Big and round, covered in minerals forming plates | Mineshaft |
Boss Mechanisms[]
These bosses are not Robot Masters, yet still preside over the end of stages in Cities.
Wily Bosses[]
These bosses take on more robust forms than Boss Mechanisms, and appear exclusively at the end of Wily City levels. Unlike the other types of bosses, they do not drop upgrades, but rather consumables such as E-Tanks.
Stages[]
The stages in the game are split between 6 different cities, although only 5 are normally available. They can be tackled in any order within the city, and the player may go through cities in any order, not needing to finish one before choosing another. The only exception is Abel City, which has been captured by Dr. Wily and transformed into Wily City, which can only be accessed after recovering all 8 Barrier Keys from the scattered Robot Masters. Only Robot Master stages must be accessed to do this and complete the game, making the other stages optional. However, the stages are not specifically marked as being Robot Master stages, making trial and error necessary.
Trivia[]
- The Robot Masters follow the same themes and weaknesses as Mega Man 2, although it is not obvious, following a similar trend as Mega Man 11. The comparisons include:
- Metal Man (Mega Man 2) and Plate Man (Rockman 12)
- Air Man and Wraith Woman
- Bubble Man and Shark Man
- Quick Man and Sonic Man
- Crash Man and Dragon Man
- Flash Man and Chrono Man
- Heat Man and Nuclear Man
- Wood Man and Rose Man
- A few signs throughout the game mention a new "Slide Protocol" available for purchase, presumably referencing Mega Man's ability to Slide and perhaps his new Charge Slide move. This is actually present in gameplay, as many Robot Masters actually slide when attacking.
- It is the second game in a row to not include Bass before DLC as even a reference, as Mega Man 11 also did so.
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