Mega Man 7 (SNES, 1995)
Graphics-8 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-8.5/6.5* Story-4
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/6* Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
* w/ tanks
+
Good bosses overall
Good variety
Mini-bosses
Hidden items
New Rush abilities
Choose your own path (level select - MM1)
Password save feature (pretty long unfortunately)
Somewhat comical (see the in-game intro)
Faster weapon switching (l/r)
Weapon explanations by Dr. Light (some suck though)
Good animation
More pronounced effects on bosses when you hit them with the weapon they’re weak to
Some new ideas (chase scenes, environmental effects from some weapons (turning on the machines in the junk man area with the thunder shot, burning down a tree in slash man’s area to find Beat with the scorching wheel, changing the weather in cloud man’s stage, freezing lava in junk man’s stage)
Shop system (press select to access it (not entirely obvious), collect bolts to buy items – e-tank, ammo tank, Beat the bird (gets you out of pits), etc.)
Challenging Wily fight (easier but kind of tedious using the right weapons – spring then thunder right after)
Taking hit doesn’t cancel the charge shot
Some interesting secrets
+/-
Activating Rush doesn’t change Mega Man’s color
Enemies drop ammo/health even if you’re fully charged (could’ve changed depending on what you needed at the moment)
Longer in-game cutscenes (unskippable?)
Introduces more characters (Bass & Treble – rival bounty hunter, Auto - shopkeeper)
Now you can only choose between four robot master stages at a time (perhaps to make the difficulty scale better but it would’ve been better to make it optional via difficulty options)
Somewhat warmer color palette than in the NES games
Forgiving hit detection around the edges of platforms (mega man can stand on less than one foot)
Much shorter knockback from enemy hits
Limited inventory
Ammo refill after Wily stages
Smooth vertical scrolling (however it’s too loose when going upwards)
Junk shield and thunder bolt are a bit overpowered (you can hit shielded flying enemies from the front with JS)
Overall the robot master stages are a bit easier than average
Weaker charged shots (only worth two normal shots meaning it becomes a bit more situational in use)
The hit detection when standing on the edge of the end of a ladder is inconsistent with regular platform edges
Rush can now take damage (could possibly be used as a shield in some situations but it also cancels the move for example if you’re trying to use the coil)
-
Rehashes a lot of previous ideas
Having to press down to slide (should’ve been done like in the X games)
No difficulty options
Overly long passwords
Slower movement speed
Visuals are too zoomed in
So-so sfx and weak instrumentation at times (tinny/cheap reverb)
Some issues with the tide water segments (loose upward scrolling, can’t go down to grab enemy drops from the bottom when the water levels are raised)
Trial & error (boss patterns, water physics, figuring out some of the alternate special weapon uses, the junk shield doesn’t protect against slash man’s eggs, guts man 2, etc.)
Some difficulty spikes (turbo man’s stage (hard to tell if you’re damaging the truck here))
Some so-so bosses (burst man, spring man, shade man)
Rush search is painfully slow to use (more likely to give 1-ups than large health containers, slowly falls asleep (!) if you put him too close to a wall)
Some overly resilient enemies
The scorching wheel and the spring weapon are pretty clunky to use
Longer boss intros
Several attacks keep the player from moving for a few seconds (the engulfment one is especially annoying though you can shorten it by mashing the buttons)
Underdeveloped and short robot museum stage
You get the proto shield (by finding proto man in three stages, finishing with shade man, then fighting him) too late for it to really be useful
Some slowdown (junk man’s and freeze man’s stages)
Generic art direction at times (most backgrounds)
The alternate path in junk man’s stage could’ve been more interesting with a time limit on the frozen lava
The game puts the jet suit transformation animation in-game so you can’t skip it any more
Notes:
Secrets: http://www.mmhp.net/GameHints/MM7.html#Tricks
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/6* Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
* w/ tanks
+
Good bosses overall
Good variety
Mini-bosses
Hidden items
New Rush abilities
Choose your own path (level select - MM1)
Password save feature (pretty long unfortunately)
Somewhat comical (see the in-game intro)
Faster weapon switching (l/r)
Weapon explanations by Dr. Light (some suck though)
Good animation
More pronounced effects on bosses when you hit them with the weapon they’re weak to
Some new ideas (chase scenes, environmental effects from some weapons (turning on the machines in the junk man area with the thunder shot, burning down a tree in slash man’s area to find Beat with the scorching wheel, changing the weather in cloud man’s stage, freezing lava in junk man’s stage)
Shop system (press select to access it (not entirely obvious), collect bolts to buy items – e-tank, ammo tank, Beat the bird (gets you out of pits), etc.)
Challenging Wily fight (easier but kind of tedious using the right weapons – spring then thunder right after)
Taking hit doesn’t cancel the charge shot
Some interesting secrets
+/-
Activating Rush doesn’t change Mega Man’s color
Enemies drop ammo/health even if you’re fully charged (could’ve changed depending on what you needed at the moment)
Longer in-game cutscenes (unskippable?)
Introduces more characters (Bass & Treble – rival bounty hunter, Auto - shopkeeper)
Now you can only choose between four robot master stages at a time (perhaps to make the difficulty scale better but it would’ve been better to make it optional via difficulty options)
Somewhat warmer color palette than in the NES games
Forgiving hit detection around the edges of platforms (mega man can stand on less than one foot)
Much shorter knockback from enemy hits
Limited inventory
Ammo refill after Wily stages
Smooth vertical scrolling (however it’s too loose when going upwards)
Junk shield and thunder bolt are a bit overpowered (you can hit shielded flying enemies from the front with JS)
Overall the robot master stages are a bit easier than average
Weaker charged shots (only worth two normal shots meaning it becomes a bit more situational in use)
The hit detection when standing on the edge of the end of a ladder is inconsistent with regular platform edges
Rush can now take damage (could possibly be used as a shield in some situations but it also cancels the move for example if you’re trying to use the coil)
-
Rehashes a lot of previous ideas
Having to press down to slide (should’ve been done like in the X games)
No difficulty options
Overly long passwords
Slower movement speed
Visuals are too zoomed in
So-so sfx and weak instrumentation at times (tinny/cheap reverb)
Some issues with the tide water segments (loose upward scrolling, can’t go down to grab enemy drops from the bottom when the water levels are raised)
Trial & error (boss patterns, water physics, figuring out some of the alternate special weapon uses, the junk shield doesn’t protect against slash man’s eggs, guts man 2, etc.)
Some difficulty spikes (turbo man’s stage (hard to tell if you’re damaging the truck here))
Some so-so bosses (burst man, spring man, shade man)
Rush search is painfully slow to use (more likely to give 1-ups than large health containers, slowly falls asleep (!) if you put him too close to a wall)
Some overly resilient enemies
The scorching wheel and the spring weapon are pretty clunky to use
Longer boss intros
Several attacks keep the player from moving for a few seconds (the engulfment one is especially annoying though you can shorten it by mashing the buttons)
Underdeveloped and short robot museum stage
You get the proto shield (by finding proto man in three stages, finishing with shade man, then fighting him) too late for it to really be useful
Some slowdown (junk man’s and freeze man’s stages)
Generic art direction at times (most backgrounds)
The alternate path in junk man’s stage could’ve been more interesting with a time limit on the frozen lava
The game puts the jet suit transformation animation in-game so you can’t skip it any more
Notes:
Secrets: http://www.mmhp.net/GameHints/MM7.html#Tricks