Mega Man 7
Encyclopedia
Mega Man 7, known as in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
(SNES). It is the seventh game in the original Mega Man series and the first and only title in the main series to be featured on the 16-bit
console. The video game was first released in Japan
on March 24, 1995 and was localized later in the year in North America
and Europe
. The game is also available for the PlayStation 2
, Nintendo GameCube
, and Xbox
as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection
.
Picking up directly after the events of Mega Man 6
, the plot involves the protagonist Mega Man
once again attempting to stop the evil Dr. Wily
, who uses a new set of Robot Masters to free himself from captivity and begin wreaking havoc on the world. Along with some help from his old friends, Mega Man finds potential allies in the mysterious robot pair Bass and Treble. In terms of gameplay, Mega Man 7 follows that same classic action
and platforming
introduced in the 8-bit
Nintendo Entertainment System
(NES) titles, but updates the graphics and sound of the series for the more powerful SNES.
According to its creators, Mega Man 7 was only in development for a short time before its release. Keiji Inafune
, a noted character designer and illustrator for the franchise, handed off his duties to Hayato Kaji for this installment. Mega Man 7 has received an overall average critical reception. Although many considered it a competent game by itself, a majority of reviewers either called it a simple rehash of previous entries in the Mega Man saga, or considered it inferior to the inventive spin-off Mega Man X
, released on the SNES the year before.
. Thanks to the efforts of Mega Man
and his friends, Dr. Wily
was finally brought to justice. However, Wily had always known that he might be imprisoned one day, and so he had constructed four backup Robot Masters in a hidden laboratory, Burst Man, Cloud Man, Junk Man, and Freeze Man. If they did not receive a communication within six months, they would begin searching for their master. After six months, the robots activate and go on a rampage throughout the city in which Dr. Wily is being held. Mega Man is called into action. Upon driving into the city with Roll and Auto, he sees that it is in ruins, and that he is too late to stop Wily's Robot Masters from liberating the evil scientist. Mega Man gives chase, but is stopped by Bass, a robot with capabilities much like Mega Man's own, and his robotic wolf Treble. After a brief skirmish, Mega Man is informed that the two of them are battling Wily as well. Bass and Treble then take off, leaving Mega Man confused, but convinced that he has new allies and determined to again stop Dr. Wily's plans.
After Wily's Robot Masters are defeated, he dispatches four more to combat the protagonist, Spring Man, Slash Man, Shade Man, and Turbo Man. In one of the locations, Mega Man encounters an injured Bass and sends him to Dr. Light's lab for repairs. Mega Man defeats the remaining Robot Masters and goes back home, learning upon arriving that Bass had gone berzerk and left the lab with parts for new enhancements Dr. Light was working on. Wily appears on the video monitor and reveals that Bass and Treble are actually his own creations, and that they only gained his trust in order to steal the parts. Bass' apparent ambition is to best Mega Man in combat and prove himself as the strongest robot in existence. Mega Man makes his way to Wily's fortress and defeats Bass and Treble, and then Dr. Wily himself. As usual, Wily begs for mercy, but this time Mega Man chooses to end the mad doctor's life. Wily explains that as a robot, Mega Man is prevented from harming humans
; Mega Man replies that he is "more than a robot" and prepares to kill his long-time nemesis. He is interrupted when the fortress begins to self-destruct, and Bass and Treble arrive to rescue their creator at the last moment. Mega Man escapes the collapsing castle before returning home.
levels that typically end in a boss battle with a Robot Master. Destroying the Robot Master earns the player its special Master Weapon, which can be selected and used in all future stages. Each Robot Master is weak to a specific Master Weapon. Unlike the first six Mega Man games, only four new Robot Master stages are selectable at one time. After the player completes the introductory level, the first four Robot Masters in the list (Freeze Man, Cloud Man, Burst Man, and Junk Man) are selectable. After these are beaten, the player is taken to the intermission Robot Museum stage. When this stage is beaten, the other four Robot Masters (Slash Man, Spring Man, Shade Man, and Turbo Man) become available.
Mega Man 7 uses many of the same conventions introduced in previous installments, such as sliding along the ground, being able to charge the Mega Buster for more powerful shots, and calling on the hero's dog Rush to perform various tasks. One unique feature is Rush Search, which causes Rush to dig up useful items wherever the player is standing. Certain stages contain the letters "R-U-S-H", which, when collected, will grant the player access to the "Rush Super Adaptor", a combination of the two enhancements introduced in Mega Man 6 with a powerful rocket-arm attack and jetpack for flying short distances. Defeated enemies found throughout each stage can give the player extra lives, items which refill health and weapon power, and special bolts. The player can access "Eddie's Cybernetic Support Shop" from the stage select screen, where these bolts can be spent on items and power-ups, a feature that originally debuted in the Game Boy
Mega Man titles. The use of bolts and the purchase of items at a part shop would become a standard for the core titles starting with Mega Man 7. Other gameplay elements also exist, such as the player being able to obtain the robotic, helper bird Beat and Proto Man's trademark shield.
felt that due to the team's high motivation during that time, it was a very fun experience for him personally. The new head illustrator Hayato Kaji concurred, stating that the team was very devoted to the project's completion despite having to rush its development. Designer Yoshihisa Tsuda recounted, "I remember it being quite fun, like a sports team camp or something. Still, there are so many things about this title that I have regrets about, and even at the time we all found ourselves wishing for another month or so to work on it." Inafune takes credit for designing the character Auto, who is based on stereotypical "tin man" robots he remembered seeing as a child. Inafune also did the initial rough sketches of Bass and Treble, which bear the names "Baroque" and "Crush" in his sketchbook. The ideas for these two characters were ultimately handed off to Kaji for design. As with many other games in the series, the eight Robot Masters featured in Mega Man 7 are the product of design contests held for fans by Capcom in Japan. Capcom received around 220,000 character submissions.
One of the development team's goals was to add locations where the Master Weapons can be used to interact with the environments of many stages. In addition, Inafune wanted to include a hidden boss battle mode and recommended the idea to Tsuda, who discussed the matter privately with the game's playtest
er. Just one week before the game went beta, the team decided to include this mode on the conditions that Mega Man and Bass be the only playable characters and that it would have no bugs
. It was completed and included within two days. However, Capcom only made this mode accessible via a secret password. The team also intentionally made the game's final boss "insanely hard" and "something that cannot be defeated without the use of an Energy Tank". The beta for the original Japanese and overseas versions of Mega Man 7 occurred simultaneously. The translated localizations of the game contain less dialogue than their Japanese equivalent. When Mega Man gains a new weapon in the North American version, he speaks with Dr. Light; in the Japanese version, Mega Man may exchange banter with Roll or Auto as well as Dr. Light.
Gregory Ballard, the president of Capcom's North American division, admitted the company was too conservative in shipping copies of Mega Man 7 when it launched in the region during the fall of 1995. The demand for Capcom's released titles apparently did not meet the supply the previous year, causing the company to scale back during that particular release quarter. The music and sound composition of Mega Man 7 was a collaboration of ten people, including Ippo Yamada
, who was pulled in to work on the game while he was working on another project. A CD soundtrack for Mega Man 7 containing 37 pieces of music was published for the first time in Japan by Team Entertainment
on November 21, 2007 amidst the franchise's 20th anniversary.
, which Capcom had released on the SNES more than a year prior. Tony Mott of Super Play
found the game to lack improvement over its 8-bit counterparts in gameplay, stating that the level layouts are "muted and appear regular when compared to the X series". 1UP.com
editor Jeremy Parish labeled Mega Man 7 a "disaster" because it borrows the pacing, animation, and level design of Mega Man X without taking its better attributes such as armor and power-building. Brett Elston of GamesRadar
similarly noted Mega Man 7 as feeling far too similar to the earlier games and that it pales in comparison to the SNES's more relevant and inventive Mega Man X. GamePro
simply called it "a nice holdover" for fans waiting for the next game in the X series.
The game has enjoyed some positive remarks for its colorful presentation, play control, and challenge. GameSpot
contributors Christian Nutt and Justin Speer praised it even compared to the prequels: "Finally, a real upgrade to the original series on the SNES, after so many years on the moribund NES crippled the series. Unfortunately, it was a bit late to recover the massive popularity that the series had once enjoyed, but this was definitely a solid game." IGN's Levi Buchanan found the game to be one of the weaker installments in the franchise despite its attempt to add new gimmicks, some of which simply fall flat. "It's still worth a play to see the 16-bit jump," Buchanan summarized. "But expectations should be appropriately curtailed."
Lucas M. Thomas of IGN described the introduction of Mega Man's rival Bass as the seventh installment's most important contribution to the franchise. In spite of Mega Man 7 technologically moving the series from its NES roots to the next generation of consoles, it would eventually transition back to an NES visual and audio style similar to the first six titles many years later. Mega Man 7 has been officially re-released two separate times since its 1995 debut, first on the Nintendo Power
cartridge service in Japan and second on the Mega Man Anniversary Collection
in North America for the PlayStation 2
and GameCube
in 2004 and the Xbox
in 2005. A fan-made
8-bit remake of Mega Man 7 was created to coincide with the official release of Mega Man 9.
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
(SNES). It is the seventh game in the original Mega Man series and the first and only title in the main series to be featured on the 16-bit
History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
console. The video game was first released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on March 24, 1995 and was localized later in the year in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The game is also available for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, and Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Mega Man Anniversary Collection a compilation of video games developed by Atomic Planet Entertainment and published by Capcom. It was released exclusively in North America on June 23, 2004 for the Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2 and on March 15, 2005 for the Microsoft Xbox...
.
Picking up directly after the events of Mega Man 6
Mega Man 6
Mega Man 6, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It is the sixth installment in the original Mega Man series and was originally released in Japan on October 5, 1993 and in North America the following March. It was included in the Mega Man...
, the plot involves the protagonist Mega Man
Mega Man (character)
Mega Man, known as in Japan, is a cybernetic video game character, and the main protagonist of what has been referred to as the original Mega Man series developed by Capcom since 1987. The pixel art for the character was created by the designer of the original game in the series, credited under...
once again attempting to stop the evil Dr. Wily
Doctor Wily
, full name Albert W. Wily, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the original Mega Man series of video games. Designed by Keiji Inafune, he appeared in the first Mega Man video game and later in promotions and other media related to the series...
, who uses a new set of Robot Masters to free himself from captivity and begin wreaking havoc on the world. Along with some help from his old friends, Mega Man finds potential allies in the mysterious robot pair Bass and Treble. In terms of gameplay, Mega Man 7 follows that same classic action
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
and platforming
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
introduced in the 8-bit
History of video game consoles (third generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the third generation began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese release of both the Nintendo Family Computer and Sega SG-1000...
Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
(NES) titles, but updates the graphics and sound of the series for the more powerful SNES.
According to its creators, Mega Man 7 was only in development for a short time before its release. Keiji Inafune
Keiji Inafune
is a video game producer and illustrator. He was the former head of Research & Development and Online Business and Global Head of Production at Capcom, best known as the illustrator and co-designer of the character Mega Man, as well as the producer of the Onimusha and Dead Rising video game series...
, a noted character designer and illustrator for the franchise, handed off his duties to Hayato Kaji for this installment. Mega Man 7 has received an overall average critical reception. Although many considered it a competent game by itself, a majority of reviewers either called it a simple rehash of previous entries in the Mega Man saga, or considered it inferior to the inventive spin-off Mega Man X
Mega Man X (video game)
Mega Man X, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . It is the first Mega Man game for the 16-bit console and the first game in the Mega Man X series, a spin-off of the original Mega Man series that began on the SNES's predecessor, the...
, released on the SNES the year before.
Plot
Taking place in the 21st century (the ambiguous year 20XX), Mega Man 7 begins directly after the events of Mega Man 6Mega Man 6
Mega Man 6, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It is the sixth installment in the original Mega Man series and was originally released in Japan on October 5, 1993 and in North America the following March. It was included in the Mega Man...
. Thanks to the efforts of Mega Man
Mega Man (character)
Mega Man, known as in Japan, is a cybernetic video game character, and the main protagonist of what has been referred to as the original Mega Man series developed by Capcom since 1987. The pixel art for the character was created by the designer of the original game in the series, credited under...
and his friends, Dr. Wily
Doctor Wily
, full name Albert W. Wily, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the original Mega Man series of video games. Designed by Keiji Inafune, he appeared in the first Mega Man video game and later in promotions and other media related to the series...
was finally brought to justice. However, Wily had always known that he might be imprisoned one day, and so he had constructed four backup Robot Masters in a hidden laboratory, Burst Man, Cloud Man, Junk Man, and Freeze Man. If they did not receive a communication within six months, they would begin searching for their master. After six months, the robots activate and go on a rampage throughout the city in which Dr. Wily is being held. Mega Man is called into action. Upon driving into the city with Roll and Auto, he sees that it is in ruins, and that he is too late to stop Wily's Robot Masters from liberating the evil scientist. Mega Man gives chase, but is stopped by Bass, a robot with capabilities much like Mega Man's own, and his robotic wolf Treble. After a brief skirmish, Mega Man is informed that the two of them are battling Wily as well. Bass and Treble then take off, leaving Mega Man confused, but convinced that he has new allies and determined to again stop Dr. Wily's plans.
After Wily's Robot Masters are defeated, he dispatches four more to combat the protagonist, Spring Man, Slash Man, Shade Man, and Turbo Man. In one of the locations, Mega Man encounters an injured Bass and sends him to Dr. Light's lab for repairs. Mega Man defeats the remaining Robot Masters and goes back home, learning upon arriving that Bass had gone berzerk and left the lab with parts for new enhancements Dr. Light was working on. Wily appears on the video monitor and reveals that Bass and Treble are actually his own creations, and that they only gained his trust in order to steal the parts. Bass' apparent ambition is to best Mega Man in combat and prove himself as the strongest robot in existence. Mega Man makes his way to Wily's fortress and defeats Bass and Treble, and then Dr. Wily himself. As usual, Wily begs for mercy, but this time Mega Man chooses to end the mad doctor's life. Wily explains that as a robot, Mega Man is prevented from harming humans
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov and later added to. The rules are introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories...
; Mega Man replies that he is "more than a robot" and prepares to kill his long-time nemesis. He is interrupted when the fortress begins to self-destruct, and Bass and Treble arrive to rescue their creator at the last moment. Mega Man escapes the collapsing castle before returning home.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Mega Man 7 is mostly identical to the six previous games in the series. The player, as Mega Man, must complete a series of side-scrolling platformPlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
levels that typically end in a boss battle with a Robot Master. Destroying the Robot Master earns the player its special Master Weapon, which can be selected and used in all future stages. Each Robot Master is weak to a specific Master Weapon. Unlike the first six Mega Man games, only four new Robot Master stages are selectable at one time. After the player completes the introductory level, the first four Robot Masters in the list (Freeze Man, Cloud Man, Burst Man, and Junk Man) are selectable. After these are beaten, the player is taken to the intermission Robot Museum stage. When this stage is beaten, the other four Robot Masters (Slash Man, Spring Man, Shade Man, and Turbo Man) become available.
Mega Man 7 uses many of the same conventions introduced in previous installments, such as sliding along the ground, being able to charge the Mega Buster for more powerful shots, and calling on the hero's dog Rush to perform various tasks. One unique feature is Rush Search, which causes Rush to dig up useful items wherever the player is standing. Certain stages contain the letters "R-U-S-H", which, when collected, will grant the player access to the "Rush Super Adaptor", a combination of the two enhancements introduced in Mega Man 6 with a powerful rocket-arm attack and jetpack for flying short distances. Defeated enemies found throughout each stage can give the player extra lives, items which refill health and weapon power, and special bolts. The player can access "Eddie's Cybernetic Support Shop" from the stage select screen, where these bolts can be spent on items and power-ups, a feature that originally debuted in the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
Mega Man titles. The use of bolts and the purchase of items at a part shop would become a standard for the core titles starting with Mega Man 7. Other gameplay elements also exist, such as the player being able to obtain the robotic, helper bird Beat and Proto Man's trademark shield.
Development
Prior to the release of Mega Man 7, numbered entries in the original Mega Man series were only on the NES. Mega Man 7 is the first and only numbered title in the original series released on the SNES. Capcom had begun its Mega Man X spin-off series on the console more than a year before. Due to "bad timing", the development team had to work under a very tight, three month schedule to complete Mega Man 7. The franchise's primary artist Keiji InafuneKeiji Inafune
is a video game producer and illustrator. He was the former head of Research & Development and Online Business and Global Head of Production at Capcom, best known as the illustrator and co-designer of the character Mega Man, as well as the producer of the Onimusha and Dead Rising video game series...
felt that due to the team's high motivation during that time, it was a very fun experience for him personally. The new head illustrator Hayato Kaji concurred, stating that the team was very devoted to the project's completion despite having to rush its development. Designer Yoshihisa Tsuda recounted, "I remember it being quite fun, like a sports team camp or something. Still, there are so many things about this title that I have regrets about, and even at the time we all found ourselves wishing for another month or so to work on it." Inafune takes credit for designing the character Auto, who is based on stereotypical "tin man" robots he remembered seeing as a child. Inafune also did the initial rough sketches of Bass and Treble, which bear the names "Baroque" and "Crush" in his sketchbook. The ideas for these two characters were ultimately handed off to Kaji for design. As with many other games in the series, the eight Robot Masters featured in Mega Man 7 are the product of design contests held for fans by Capcom in Japan. Capcom received around 220,000 character submissions.
One of the development team's goals was to add locations where the Master Weapons can be used to interact with the environments of many stages. In addition, Inafune wanted to include a hidden boss battle mode and recommended the idea to Tsuda, who discussed the matter privately with the game's playtest
Playtest
A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and flaws before bringing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise....
er. Just one week before the game went beta, the team decided to include this mode on the conditions that Mega Man and Bass be the only playable characters and that it would have no bugs
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
. It was completed and included within two days. However, Capcom only made this mode accessible via a secret password. The team also intentionally made the game's final boss "insanely hard" and "something that cannot be defeated without the use of an Energy Tank". The beta for the original Japanese and overseas versions of Mega Man 7 occurred simultaneously. The translated localizations of the game contain less dialogue than their Japanese equivalent. When Mega Man gains a new weapon in the North American version, he speaks with Dr. Light; in the Japanese version, Mega Man may exchange banter with Roll or Auto as well as Dr. Light.
Gregory Ballard, the president of Capcom's North American division, admitted the company was too conservative in shipping copies of Mega Man 7 when it launched in the region during the fall of 1995. The demand for Capcom's released titles apparently did not meet the supply the previous year, causing the company to scale back during that particular release quarter. The music and sound composition of Mega Man 7 was a collaboration of ten people, including Ippo Yamada
Ippo Yamada
Ippo Yamada is the alias of a video game music composer and producer. He has contributed music to such titles as Mega Man Zero , Mega Man ZX , and Mega Man 9...
, who was pulled in to work on the game while he was working on another project. A CD soundtrack for Mega Man 7 containing 37 pieces of music was published for the first time in Japan by Team Entertainment
TEAM Entertainment
TEAM entertainment is a musical hobby group that publishes music that is licensed to them. Motoi Sakuraba's game compositions are best known in this group. The issue with Sakuraba's music is that the games are copyrighted by the companies that own it, many of which have the practice of not...
on November 21, 2007 amidst the franchise's 20th anniversary.
Reception and legacy
Critically, Mega Man 7 has received a consistently average reception in both past reviews and more contemporary retrospectives. A large amount of criticism arose from the game's alleged failure to bring anything new to an already aging series, with some considering it inferior to Mega Man XMega Man X (video game)
Mega Man X, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . It is the first Mega Man game for the 16-bit console and the first game in the Mega Man X series, a spin-off of the original Mega Man series that began on the SNES's predecessor, the...
, which Capcom had released on the SNES more than a year prior. Tony Mott of Super Play
Super Play
Super Play was a UK based Super Nintendo Entertainment System magazine which ran from November 1992 to September 1996.Super Play was notable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it covered in great detail the console role-playing game genre...
found the game to lack improvement over its 8-bit counterparts in gameplay, stating that the level layouts are "muted and appear regular when compared to the X series". 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
editor Jeremy Parish labeled Mega Man 7 a "disaster" because it borrows the pacing, animation, and level design of Mega Man X without taking its better attributes such as armor and power-building. Brett Elston of GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
similarly noted Mega Man 7 as feeling far too similar to the earlier games and that it pales in comparison to the SNES's more relevant and inventive Mega Man X. GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
simply called it "a nice holdover" for fans waiting for the next game in the X series.
The game has enjoyed some positive remarks for its colorful presentation, play control, and challenge. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
contributors Christian Nutt and Justin Speer praised it even compared to the prequels: "Finally, a real upgrade to the original series on the SNES, after so many years on the moribund NES crippled the series. Unfortunately, it was a bit late to recover the massive popularity that the series had once enjoyed, but this was definitely a solid game." IGN's Levi Buchanan found the game to be one of the weaker installments in the franchise despite its attempt to add new gimmicks, some of which simply fall flat. "It's still worth a play to see the 16-bit jump," Buchanan summarized. "But expectations should be appropriately curtailed."
Lucas M. Thomas of IGN described the introduction of Mega Man's rival Bass as the seventh installment's most important contribution to the franchise. In spite of Mega Man 7 technologically moving the series from its NES roots to the next generation of consoles, it would eventually transition back to an NES visual and audio style similar to the first six titles many years later. Mega Man 7 has been officially re-released two separate times since its 1995 debut, first on the Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power (cartridge)
The flash RAM cartridge was a Japan-only peripheral produced by Nintendo for the Super Famicom and the Game Boy, which allowed owners to download Super Famicom/Game Boy games onto a special flash memory cartridge for less than what the full cartridge would have cost.During the days of the Family...
cartridge service in Japan and second on the Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Mega Man Anniversary Collection a compilation of video games developed by Atomic Planet Entertainment and published by Capcom. It was released exclusively in North America on June 23, 2004 for the Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2 and on March 15, 2005 for the Microsoft Xbox...
in North America for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
in 2004 and the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
in 2005. A fan-made
Fangame
Fangames are video games made by fans based on one or more established video games. Many fangames attempt to clone the original game's design, gameplay and characters, but it is equally common for fans to develop a unique game using another only as a template...
8-bit remake of Mega Man 7 was created to coincide with the official release of Mega Man 9.
External links
- Capcom Global website
- Official Rockman website
- Mega Man 7 at GameFAQsGameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...