Mega Man & Bass: A Review

Mega Man & Bass was at one point considered in a way Mega Man 9 though that was never really the case. This game was originally made on the Super Nintendo but did not arrive probably due to the year it was made. In 1998, North America had all ready moved on and was in the middle of the next generation console war with PlayStation and Sega Saturn with the Nintendo 64. No SNES game was made and thus it never came to light. To get that version, you would need to get a Super Famicom and get that game called Rockman & Forte, it’s Japanese name probably through Ebay.

Anyhow, it did however make it to the Game Boy Advance in 2003. It would be considered a port from the Japanese game but for some of us in North America, this was the first time we ever really got our hands on it. I can tell you that I bought this game and actually wanted to play the game. The screen itself can view just about anything but sometimes it would be best to use the Game Boy Player as it comes in handy if you want to see it on the big screen and use the GameCube controller instead.

How is this game different from the others? Well, to be honest it’s real simple. You can choose who you want to play as in the game as either Mega Man or Bass. This is very similar to that of Mega Man X4 where you can pick between either X or Zero depending upon your preference. There are no animated cut scenes in this nor is there any voice acting so need to fret on that one. Bass is trying to prove he is the strongest and prove Wily wrong, which makes him honestly in the entire series more of a neutral character. While he hates Mega Man and wants to destroy him, if Wily gets in his way, he won’t hesitate to destroy his robot masters and of course defeat Dr. Wily himself.

With Mega Man however, he is out to do the right thing and stop Dr. Wily’s plans as always. He must face off with King, a robot that looks upon himself as the ruler of the robots and has six of his own robots plus returning robot masters Tengu Man and Astro Man. This is rare considering mostly the Game Boy Mega Man games had robot masters between respective games up until Mega Man V for the Game Boy.

The story goes depending on who you use is that Dr. Wily has built a new robot that’s supposed to be strong in King. Though he has a sense of justice and wants to do what is right for robot kind, he believed that all humans were the enemy. Proto Man tries to stop him but is beaten and you run into the first boss, that famous Blob monster that makes his return since Mega Man 3. You know what Dr. Wily wants to do so there’s no need to say it at all.

There are 100 CDs to collect and Dr. Light in the game has messed up on some of his words and it was really funny just to read it. There is no possible to get them all collected in a single game, as there are some that Mega Man can get and the same can be said for Bass. As for what do you get if you get them all, well pretty much the satisfaction of getting the job done. It would have been cool if they could have added a special mode like Proto Man mode and make up some story with him even though it would be non-canon.

Looking into this game, the main difference is that Bass has a rapid-fire attack, can dash, and can merge with Treble when necessary. Mega Man has Rush of course and he does have Rush Search and can be used in some areas to find CDs.

If you notice in this game, you don’t really get to pick any of the eight robot masters directly as you have to defeat them in order to extend paths and being able to choose who you want to face. After you complete all those and opening up paths, you get to King eventually and it becomes a multiple part battle. I believe personally it’s the best battle of the game and can be very challenging with Bass.

Best character to use is up to you, the player. I have played through it with both and they have their advantages and disadvantages. Bass can’t charge his buster but can blast in all directions plus double jump like Zero. I know this is going to seem random but whenever Bass has that thunder attack, does it kind of look like he points his finger up like a disco dancer? He’s a good character to use and responds very well. Mega Man plays like he has in every Mega Man game so he’d be the easiest to get used to. Bass should be used for challenge purposes.

It’s a pretty good game and worth checking out. You can play it on the DS and the Game Boy Player if you want to get this. I think mainly Mega Man fans would enjoy this more than non-Mega Man fans.