When Capcom decided to end the Battle Network series back in 2006, it was a surprising move. The Battle Network games were a veritable moneymaker for Capcom in Japan, if not through the games themselves, then through other multimedia ventures and associated merchandise. But like its platforming contemporary on the Game Boy Advance, the MegaMan Zero games, Capcom had plans to continue it, albeit in a new form. Originally released as Ryuusei no Rockman (or “Shooting Star Rockman”) in Japan, the MegaMan Star Force games take place in the same timeline as the MMBN games, but 200 years later with a brand-new cast of characters, as is tradition in the MegaMan franchise.

I think it’s safe to imagine that Capcom was expecting lightning to strike twice with the Star Force series, at least as far as its domestic audience was concerned. As I mentioned last year, when Capcom attempted to do anime adaptations for their two new DS-bound Rockman franchises, they were offered only a single timeslot on Japanese television and Ryuusei no Rockman was the series that ended up getting the nod. Likewise, the series also saw a manga adaptation, as well as various toys. The problem is that, while Capcom’s expectations were clearly on par with that of the EXE series in terms of overall marketability, Shooting Star fell extremely short by comparison. While the first game had relatively strong sales, the remaining titles fell significantly. The anime was cancelled abruptly during its second season (which itself was based on the second game) in the franchise. And the series itself just lacked the overall presence that its predecessor had in terms of mainstream appeal.

Still, I have a soft spot for the Star Force games. Compared to other offshoots of the MegaMan series, they experimented significantly on the conventions established by its direct ancestor and crafted a trilogy of games that, while not perfect, were certainly an interesting twist on an established formula. So, with the Battle Network series retrospective firmly behind us, let’s take a quick look at what may very well be the black sheep series of the MegaMan franchise. And no, XOver doesn’t count: everyone knows you need at least two games to be considered a series.

MegaMan Star Force: Leo, Pegasus and Dragon

Despite the fact that the Game Boy Advance had only launched 3 years earlier, Nintendo was already looking ahead to the future when it came to the portable gaming landscape, likely due to the fact that it was the only market where their dominance was still unquestioned. Originally marketed as an experimental “third pillar” system not intended to replace the Game Boy line, the Nintendo DS would eventually release in North America and Japan in 2004 and in Australia and Europe the following year. While launch sales were tepid, this unique handheld would eventually find its footing and the presence of backwards compatibility with the GBA would eventually establish it as Nintendo’s next-generation handheld and bring an end to the Game Boy line. The DS itself would go on to be the best-selling handheld system of all time and second only to the PlayStation 2 overall.

You may wonder what this information has to do with MegaMan Star Force and besides the fact that it would serve as the sole platform for its mainline trilogy (as well as its only spin-off), it may seem irrelevant to the games at their core. But it does help to set the stage. As I stated in the previous two retrospectives this year, the EXE series was literally the most lucrative the Rockman IP had ever been for Capcom in its home territory. Couple that with the fact that the DS was Nintendo’s most successful platform of all-time and was well into establishing that dominance by 2006 and it’s clear that both the fans of the previous series and Capcom themselves had high expectations for the new Rockman the staff from the previous titles thought the platform needed.

As such, the design process itself was significantly more radical than previous outings. Yuji Ishihari recounted in the MegaMan Star Force Complete Official Works artbook that he originally submitted a design depicting “a ‘big brother’ type of Mega Man, who was tall and dependable” and that he was “asked to make the Mega Buster ‘something strange, with a face’”, noting the difficulty of crafting a design that didn’t resemble the viruses from the previous games. He also noted that there was also talk of a “wild and rebellious” Mega Man design, generally depicted in darker colors with a smirk on his face, but once it was decided that the main character was a more serious character, his expression grew dourer and dourer. Eventually, the primordial concepts that would drive the series forward were devised – a transforming main character, a setting taking place two centuries after the Battle Network games, “signal waves”, “merging with beastly monsters” and outer space – and the final design would begin to take shape once these ideas were finalized. The main character’s hairstyle was even devised to give this new MegaMan a unique silhouette, considering the game was being built from the ground-up in 3D.

This new series was even being positioned as the representative for the Rockman franchise’s 20^th anniversary. So, on December 14^th, 2006, Ryuusei no Rockman was released on the Nintendo DS in Japan. But while the latter Battle Network games were happy with a mere two versions, this new leg of the series decided to take things one step further releasing in three versions: Leo, Pegasus and Dragon, each associated with a unique transformation. However, when the game launched in North America the following year – on August 7^th, 2007 – the Dragon version was exclusive to GameStop in the United States and EB Games in Canada. The Australian and European versions would release on November 28^th and 30^th of that year respectively and (as far as I can tell) lacked a similar exclusivity deal.

It is the year 220x, roughly two hundred years after the Battle Network games. Society has progressed significantly in those two centuries. The limitations of the internet have all but evaporated, thanks to the use of ElectroMagnetic Waves [Denpa], a type of advanced radio waves (just go with it) that allow for connections that exceed even the wired networks of the 21^st century, forming what’s known as the Wave Road: a massive, intangible information superhighway. Overseen by three satellites – Pegasus, Leo and Dragon – EM Waves are capable of travelling at the speed of light and are both invisible and non-harmful to organic creatures. Likewise, PETs have fallen out of fashion in this brave new world, being replaced with Transers: devices that are similar to their 200x counterparts, but wrist-mounted and capable of attacking viruses directly with Battle Cards. Navis themselves have been depreciated to the extent where they’re kept on swipable cards and generally only serve to operate specific devices. But perhaps the most monumental change in this new society is the prominence of BrotherBands, bonds formed by close friends using EM Waves via their Transers. BrotherBands allow their members (called Brothers, natch) to contact each other at anytime from anywhere and share secrets with one another.

However, perhaps the most prominent discovery of this modern era is the discovery of intelligent life on other worlds. NAZA, the 23^rd century’s most prominent space exploration agency, launched a space station named Peace with the intent of building a BrotherBand with these new alien lifeforms.  Unfortunately, a mysterious accident caused humanity’s hope for interstellar communication to disappear with absolutely no trace. However, a few months later, a section of Peace was found in the ocean, causing NAZA to cease their search efforts and placing their projects involving space exploration on permanent hold.

It’s been three long years since Peace’s wreckage was found in the sea, yet its effects are still felt in the town of Echo Ridge [Kodama Town]. Among the crew was a young astronaut named Kelvin Stelar [Daigo Hoshikawa], who left behind his wife Hope [Akane] and a young son named Geo [Subaru]. In the years since his father’s disappearance, Geo has sunken into a deep depression, withdrawing from school and breaking off any and all relationships he had with anyone, save his own mother. One day, one of Kelvin’s old friends and a former coworker – Aaron Boreal [Mamoru Amachi], a founding member of AMAKEN, a new space research institute – pays the Stelar household a visit. While talking with Hope about the tragic circumstances of her husband’s disappearance and her son’s self-imposed isolation, Aaron greets the sullen Geo… and receives a curt answer in response. However, the family friend gives the young fifth grader a present: his father’s Visualizer, a pair of glasses with an unknown purpose. With that, Geo leaves the house for his nightly ritual, staring up at the stars at Vista Point, hoping to catch even the tiniest glimpse of his missing father.

However, unlike most days, Geo is stopped by a group of three children, roughly his age. Led by the snobby Luna Platz [Luna Shirogane], the Class 5-A president, the trio chastise Geo for his truancy. The largest of the three, Bud Bison [Gonta Oshijima] threatens him, while the smallest member of the group, Zack Temple [Kizamaro Saishoin], feels like Geo is looking down upon him due to his short stature. Geo sullenly continues on with his nightly routine, telling these prospective classmates of his that whatever they’re doing doesn’t involve him. But the class president isn’t one to give up, using that day’s lessons as the basis for a plan to achieve perfect class attendance – sending him a BrotherBand tutorial… and forcibly adding herself as his first Brother. Woefully recounting Mr. Boreal’s visit to his father, Geo tries on the Visualizer in hopes that maybe it’ll allow him to see his father. At first, the strange pair of glasses does nothing, but suddenly, Geo’s Transer begins acting weird, reacting to… his father’s access signal? The energy readings get closer and closer, until Geo is struck with an unseen energy. When he regains consciousness, Geo finds himself face-to-face with a mysterious creature that seems to be made up of EM waves. Stranger still, the young boy notices roads in the sky as well. All this strange imagery disappears when he takes off his father’s Visualizer, only to return when he puts it back on. The creature introduces himself as Omega-Xis [Warrock] (“Mega” [“Rock”] for short), admitting that he’s an alien refugee from the Planet FM and that all of the strange imagery he’s seeing is the Wave World, another layer of existence comprised entirely of EM waves. However, what truly catches Geo off-guard is that Omega-Xis knows his name somehow. Mega admits that he heard the name from some human when he was sent to Earth, which shocks Geo: could it be his missing father?

But before the FM-ian can explain further, the entities pursuing him have finally caught up with him. These EM Viruses have taken control of a stationary train and might use it to destroy Echo Ridge in order to get to Omega-Xis. With no other options, Mega enters Geo’s Transer and instructs him on how to perform an EM Wave Change [Denpa Henkan], transforming the duo into a singular entity. While Geo is clearly perturbed by this turn of events, Mega explains that for some reason, he’s not as powerful as he is on his home planet right now, which means he needs a host from Earth to unlock his full power… and unfortunately, the timid Geo is his only choice. Having manifested his head on one of Geo’s hands, Omega-Xis coaches the novice hero on how to use these new powers, defeating the viral invaders with ease. After returning to normal, Geo is pensive. Mega claims to know his father, but can he really trust this alien creature?

The next morning, Hope wakes her sleeping son before heading to her part-time job, once again trying to convince him to go to school and make some friends. The young boy remains adamant, until his new alien partner “convinces” him to go outside and check out all the people living their lives in Echo Ridge… by literally dragging him out of the house by his arm (from the Transer, of course). After talking to various residents and transforming to spy on their personal pages, Omega-Xis admits that he feels the presence of another FM-ian and is worried about just who it might be. Turns out it’s just some random Jammer – an EM Virus that Wave Changed with a human – trying to steal a car. But after a wild day of surveillance and minor heroism, Geo decides to call it a day… when he’s stopped by a familiar voice. Luna’s still adamant on Geo coming to school and this time, she’s got Bud’s muscle to intimidate him. Tired by the larger-than-average child’s trash-talk, Mega manipulates Geo’s arm, giving the big lummox an uppercut, much to his friends’ dismay. With that, Geo runs inside, mortified… while Mega wonders if he went too far. But after Bud recovers, Luna chews him out: if he can’t provide her with the muscle she needs, then what good is he? After all, that little punk Geo knocked him out in a single punch.  Devastated by being dressed down by the snobby girl (and threatened with cutting off their BrotherBand), Bud looks dejectedly across the horizon on Vista Point, reflecting on his failure that day. But in his despair, a mysterious voice called out to the young boy. Appearing as a flaming ox-like creature, the mysterious FM-ian introduces himself as Taurus [Ox], stating that he was drawn to him by his loneliness… and that he could give him the kind of power that would make the class president appreciate him again… as long as he lets him inside his heart.

3 days later, Geo sees a report on the evening news about some strange instances of destruction throughout Echo Ridge. Several red objects, including the town’s mailbox, red bicycles and even the bricks in various flowerbeds, have been smashed to bits. While Geo is concerned that the figures searching for Omega-Xis could be behind this, the FM-ian waves off this theory. With that, Geo figures it’s none of his business and decides to make his nightly visit to Vista Point. However, just as Geo is about to ask Mega about more information about his dad, that all-too-familiar voice rings out again. Luna Platz has returned – this time, with only her toadie Zach in tow, while Bud waits in their scouting vehicle – and accuses the sulking loner of the weird incidents. Geo denies it, but it turns out Luna was just joking. The three students have been investigating these crimes as of late, offering Geo the opportunity to join them… which the boy rejects. But as the boy begins heading home, he is approached by a truck, being driven by Luna and her goons. Geo rejects their offer to ride around but offers Bud a panicked apology for what happened the other day before running off.

While Luna decides to redouble her efforts to get that troubled truant to go back to school, Taurus convinces Bud to get revenge on Geo and show the class president his brand-new powers. With that, he Wave Changes into a colossal bull-horned monster and takes control of the truck, chasing our young hero down, while inadvertently keeping his friends hostage. With no other options, Geo Wave Changes, using the car he saved earlier to block the truck, allowing him to jump inside its computer. While navigating the truck’s surprisingly robust insides, Geo and Mega discover that somehow, Luna and Zack have been drawn into the system as well and the two of them discover that their friend has been overtaken by the mysterious FM-ian. Turns out FM-ians can turn humans into EM Waves without merging with them and Omega-Xis recognizes Taurus immediately. Geo’s worried about facing off with such an imposing figure, but Mega assures him that he’s so dumb, that he’s a pushover. Eventually, the pair reach Bud, who has been transformed into the single-minded Taurus Fire. Taurus taunts Mega for choosing such a weak host, informing him that he will reclaim the Andromeda Key from Omega-Xis, by the decree of the emperor. With that proclamation, Taurus sics his brainwashed partner on MegaMan, a battle which they easily win with Mega’s full power. But as Taurus’s influence leaves Bud, he vows that more FM-ians will come to pursue Mega and take back what he’s stolen. Regardless, Geo has begun to trust in Omega-Xis’s power – even if the prospect of more fighting seems daunting to him – and a bond is slowly forming between the two. However, as the pair begin to leave, Luna regains consciousness. Geo explains that Bud is safe and that they’ll safely return to the real world in no time. But when she asks just who he is, he pauses. Fumbling for a secret identity, he quickly decides to pay tribute to his partner: he christens himself “MegaMan” […Rockman] before teleporting away. After the three children wake up, Bud comes clean about his involvement with the destruction around town… admitting that his feelings of inadequacy and fear of losing the class president as a Brother drove him to pair up with a mysterious cow monster. With that revelation, Luna turns her back on her two minions… and demands that they all wake up bright and early to repair everything Bud broke under the influence of that strange creature. Off in the background, Mega muses about what just happened and the role human nature played in it, while Geo listens and considers it. But when will the other FM-ians chasing Omega-Xis strike… and through who? What is the significance of the Andromeda Key? And does Mega really know what happened to Geo’s father?

Much like how the X series owed a lot to Classic MegaMan and the ZX series felt like an extension of the Zero games, MegaMan Star Force has a lot of structural similarities to its predecessor, the Battle Network hexalogy. It’s an unorthodox RPG, which can be broken down into three sections. First, there’s the real world, where the player takes on the role of Geo Stelar (or whatever they decided to name him), which is functionally identical to the same segments in the MMBN games. Next, there’s the Wave Road, which takes the place of the Internet Overworld in the previous series. Only accessible from specific EM warp holes, the Wave Road actually exists above the real world in-game, essentially overlapping it. In fact, Geo can even see it and various EM wave-based creatures from the real world by putting on his Visualizer (by pressing the Y button in-game). Finally, there are the “CompSpaces”, which essentially serve the same purpose as the various computers from the Battle Network games – serving as both dungeons and small alcoves containing various items. Likewise, the SubChips from the later games in the series return, though they’re now known as Subcards, fitting with the new card-based Transer. This time, though, players can hold up to 99 of each type from the start. Most of these Sub-Cards are identical to those from the Battle Network games, though there are now three types of healing Subcards with SmEnrgy healing 50HP, LrgEnrgy healing 200 HP and D. Enrgy restoring all health, while “LocEnemy” and “SneakRun” have been renamed to “SrchEye” and “Cloaker”. The L button is still used for in-game hints, Card Traders and the general flow of the game falls in line with the GBA games, even their tendency to include post-game bonus content.

Having said that, there are some significant differences in Star Force from its predecessor, to the extent where I’d say that it may deviate from Battle Network even more than the original ZX deviated from the Zero tetralogy. For starters, while the Cyberworld and the real world were completely separate locations in the MMBN series, the Wave Road exists just above the real world in MMSF. In fact, by pressing the Y button at any time while in control of Geo, he’ll put on his Visualizer, allowing the player to see the Wave Road and various other EM-based constructs without pulsing in. Speaking of which, Geo can only transform into MegaMan by pressing the R button while standing on top of various giant, swirling portals called Wave Holes found in various locations throughout the game. Transforming back using the R button spawns him back where he pulsed in from, but by using alternate warp points, Geo can teleport into areas he normally can’t access, like the rafters in the school gym or behind the cashier at a store. Also, while the BN games allowed Lan to jack in to computers from the real world, CompSpaces can only be accessed when Geo has transformed into MegaMan from the Wave Road – by touching their corresponding warp holes on the touch screen once in range. However, that’s not to say that the real world doesn’t play its own role in exploration: certain Warp Holes can only be activated by examining objects or turning on machinery as plain ol’ Geo.

Another major difference compared to the previous MegaMan games on the DS is that the bulk of the action takes place on the lower screen, which allowed Production Studio 2 to incorporate various touch screen gimmicks into the gameplay. For example, many of the game’s dungeons utilize the touch screen for its obstacles, like pressing various on-screen prompts to stay on a bucking bronco, swiping rockets into one boss’s duck swan-shaped minions and tapping various points on-screen to pinpoint buried items with a radar. The touch screen also allows the player (as Geo) to control a variety of Navis, ranging from the simple button presses of the pitching robot PitcherMan [PitchMan] to the complex controls of PropellerMan’s RC vehicles. Meanwhile, the top screen generally displays one of Geo’s Transer screens. The main screen serves as a landing point, showcasing the player character’s name, current and maximum HP, experience level and their favorite Battle Cards. Another one showcases Omega-Xis’s current weapon (more on that in a bit) and stats, while the third and final one showcases the player’s BrotherBands. The touch screen’s prominence in gameplay also has a slight impact on the game’s traditional controls. MMSF omits the run button that was present in the Battle Network series from the very beginning, opting for a single movement speed on the overworld that feels like a happy medium between the walk and run in the earlier titles.

While the Navi Customizer has (obviously) been retired, there are other ways to improve MegaMan’s stats in-game. HP Memories return, though in this game they come in two different varieties, either increasing the player character’s health by 10 or 20 HP. Likewise, Omega-Xis can find new weapons to equip to his Mega Buster that alter his Attack power, the speed of his Rapid-fire attack and the time it takes for him to Charge a shot. These weapons are generally found in Mystery Data items throughout the game and some of them even have special perks. For example, the “Paralyzr” has a chance to paralyze any opponent that gets hit with a charge shot, while the Z. Finder and C. Finder reward the player exclusively with Zenny and Battle Cards respectively after a successful battle. If there’s any omission that I dislike though, it’s the fact that Star Force failed to bring back the Chip Ordering mechanic from the stores in the later Battle Network games. However, the Lottery mechanic has been brought back in the form of Cipher Codes. Various strange words can be found throughout the game and if they send them in an email to the player’s satellite with the subject “Cipher”, special prizes can be obtained.

Overall, this game’s battle mechanics are where it deviates the most from the Battle Network games. At its core, the action-oriented grid-based mechanics and the turn-based system allowing the player to equip Battle Chips Cards remain intact, but Star Force puts such a unique spin on the existing concepts, it becomes almost unrecognizable. For starters, the breakdown of the battlefield has been changed, going down to a 5×3 grid. Also, the camera has been restaged, taking on an over-the-shoulder view for combat as opposed to the neutral overview seen in the MMBN games. This change makes sense, considering that MegaMan now only inhabits a single row on the battlefield, leaving the rest to whatever enemy he’s encountered. Fortunately, he has also gained the ability to lock onto enemies by pressing down on the D-Pad in battle, which allows him to get up-close and personal for Card Attacks. Likewise, the lack of defensive maneuverability in battle has been mitigated by the shield – now activated simply by pressing the Y button – which completely negates damage from energy attacks… but not physical ones. Counter Hits also return, but in addition to temporarily freeze the affected enemy, they also add an extra card to the player’s hand, randomly selected from their folder. Charging shots has also changed slightly from the previous games. Now, simply not attacking builds up a charge shot, while holding down the Buster button performs a continuous rapid-fire attack.

Speaking of which, the method of selecting Battle Cards is also somewhat different from the Custom Window in the GBA games. While the BN games determined which Chips could be used together in a single draw via Letter codes, MMSF goes for a system based on proximity. Battle Cards appear on a 3-by-2 grid on the touch screen and players can choose to either select two Cards from the same column or multiple copies of the same Card on each turn. Cards are also generally color-coded: Cards with a yellow border on the bottom are Standard, Blue represents Mega and Giga Cards are Red. However, Cards with White bottoms are similar to the “*” code cards from the MMBN, in the sense that they can be used at any time without any regard for the other Cards currently in the player’s hand. While some cards are automatically white by default – typically ones that must be used in tandem with other cards (like Attack +10) – the cards marked as the player’s six favorites are also given this status. Also, MMSF reverts to the element designations present in the first three BN games. Only Cards themed around Fire, Aqua, Elec and Wood attacks have elemental designations, and they retain their traditional weakness cycle.

Star Force also continues the Battle Network series’ long-standing tradition of multiplayer content. In addition to the standard one-on-one battles and Card Trading, MMSF adds a new asynchronous multiplayer concept in the form of the BrotherBand. In the game’s main story, Geo eventually makes BrotherBands with three characters, which leaves three slots available to link up with real-life friends – though these in-game connections can be severed to make room for a whopping six BrotherBand slots. These connections give MegaMan a slight increase to his HP and grants him various abilities in-battle, similar to the Navi Customizer from the MMBN games. As Brothers (both in-game and real-life) increase their level, these buffs improve. Each Brother also adds a special bonus card to the player’s folder, which acts as a roulette that contains all six of their favorite cards.

Finally, there is the “Star Force” transformation, the main thing that differentiates all three versions of the game. Partway through the game, Geo and Omega-Xis meet up with the three Satellite Admins – Pegasus Magic, Leo Kingdom and Dragon Sky – and the pair are given a transformation based on the one that corresponds with the version of the game being played. Once it’s unlocked, a special card with the Satellite’s logo will appear in the player’s folder and selecting it will transform MegaMan into “Star Force MegaMan”, with new armor patterned after their Satellite’s admin. Pegasus gives Geo ice-based attacks, Leo uses fire and Dragon grants wood-themed powers. Much like the Cross system from MMBN6, these transformations don’t have any sort of turn limit but getting hit by an attack with each transformation’s corresponding weakness will dispel it for the remainder of the fight. Also, performing a counterattack will give MegaMan access to each form’s powerful “Star Force Big Bang” attack: a powerful Giga-level attack that deals extreme amounts of elemental damage. While each version has their own exclusive transformation, making BrotherBands with players with other versions of the game allows players to use the alternate Star Force transformations as well. The Star Force also allows players to utilize the Best Combo, a combination of Battle Cards that deal 300 or more damage in a single turn. These can be displayed on the player’s Transer home page, be converted into a “Legend Card” (which performs the combo in succession while freezing time) and even be used by their Brothers in combat.

Honestly, it’s difficult to provide a “review” of MegaMan Star Force. While the game should be judged on its own merits, the fact that it is the clear follow-up to the Battle Network series is constantly hanging over it – to the extent where many unique ideas that originated in MMBN6 actually ended up resurfacing in Star Force. But while comparisons can be made between the original “Classic” MegaMan series and its platforming descendants, MMSF feels much more distinct from the BN games, particularly due to its unique take on its predecessor’s battle system. While most high-level play in the Battle Network games relied on creating “perfect” folders, Star Force’s new battle system puts a lot more stock into engaging with the battle mechanics themselves. But in exchange, MMSF feels more action-oriented, while Battle Network was more strategic. As such, I don’t really feel like either interpretation of the “real-time tactical RPG” genre is objectively better than the other one: I think they both have their place, much like how I can enjoy the difficulty afforded to Classic MegaMan due to the character’s more limited move-set and the freedom offered by its successors’ evolutionary takes on the same formula.

With that being said, the original Star Force was my favorite of the trilogy, mostly due to the experimentation that Production Studio 2 put into crafting it. MMSF feels like a game that went out of its way to deviate from what came before it and tried to incorporate the unique features of the DS hardware in a way that many games released at this point of the system’s lifespan would. The fact that I’m literally enamored with the game’s storyline and lore is also a pretty big plus in my eyes. Believe me, I will not be going nearly as far in depth when discussing the other games in this series.

Graphically speaking, MegaMan Star Force is a tale of two games. The overworld segments – both in the real world and on the Wave Road – rely upon 2D sprites and greatly resemble MMBN’s art style. However, thanks to the DS’s higher screen resolution, the artwork is significantly more detailed and the characters themselves seem to have more realistic proportions, leading to characters that seem even taller than the designs from the first three Battle Network games. It also manages to utilize the earlier titles’ more muted color palettes and the more vibrant look of the fourth, fifth and sixth games in tandem with each other. The battle segments, on the other hand, are depicted entirely through 3D models. While the DS was Nintendo’s first portable that was capable of displaying conventional 3D models in-game, they tended to be far less impressive than what could be seen on sixth-generation consoles and even its contemporary, the PlayStation Portable. In that regard, Star Force is a pretty typical example of the DS’s lackluster graphical capabilities. On the plus side, it’s easy to understand everything that’s happening on-screen but even on the DS’s small screen, everything looks jaggy. Having said that, Capcom tried to work around the system’s technical limitations to deliver a certain “wow factor” when it came to the 3D segments’ presentation. The battle engine was capable of displaying multiple camera angles – most noticeably during the introductions to the boss fights – and the character animations seemed roughly as natural as their 2D counterparts, a significant step up from the Navi models in Double Team DS.

Star Force’s sound design also showcases its connections to the Battle Network series. For starters, Shinji Amagishi provides many of the sound effects, alongside Atsuko Fujitani. Likewise, long-time MMBN composer Yoshino Aoki and Mitsuhiko Takano were credited with the game’s soundtrack. And while it doesn’t sound too far removed from the compositions found in the BN games, the DS sound chip helps to create a unique sound – most of the instrumentation gives the game an almost “retrofuturistic” vibe. I probably would’ve preferred some fully sampled arrangements, much like what Double Team DS had, but considering the fact that that was an enhanced port of a GBA game and this game was built from the ground up for the DS, it makes sense that it would need to rely more upon the system’s built-in sound hardware. Aside from that minor criticism, I’d say that MMSF’s soundtrack definitely earns its place among the musical reputation of the MegaMan franchise as a whole. As usual, it’s hard to choose six songs to call my “favorite tracks” in the game, but I’ll be going with the main theme “Shooting Star”; “Homeroom”, which plays in Echo Ridge Elementary; the main battle theme “Ride On”; “Studying!”, the theme for Libra Scales’s dungeon; Gemini Spark’s dungeon theme “Dust Crash” and “The Place You Must Return To”, which plays over the end credits.

A few days after the Taurus Fire incident, Omega-Xis is getting bored by Geo’s tendency to stare off into the sky from Vista Point. Suddenly, a strange man with a morose expression on his face flaps by with a pair of avian wings, before crashing to the ground. While Mega is suspicious (one of the FM-ians pursuing him has a similar pair of wings), Geo points out that the wings appear to be attached to some kind of backpack. The man points out that the device is called a “FlapPack” and implies that this was the latest in a long line of failures. But when our two heroes attempt to get a closer look, the sullen stranger gets very defensive, almost as if he’s hiding it in shame. As it turns out, he’s Tom Dubius [Shinsuke Utagai], Aaron’s assistant at AMAKEN – which as it turns out, stands for “Aerospace and Modern Astronomy Knowledge Expansion Nexus” [or just simply “Amachi Kenkyuujo” in Japanese] – on break from examining the damaged truck from the other day. Aaron excitedly decides to invite Geo on a tour of their headquarters the next day. After all, it’s a holiday. But unbeknownst to Geo, Zack overhears his tentative agreement and hatches another scheme with the Class President…

That night, while working in the lab, Aaron offers Tom the opportunity to make a BrotherBand with him, an action the meek assistant at first takes as an order, before Boreal makes it clear that he simply wants to get to know Dubius better. The mild-mannered inventor considers his boss’s offer in private, when he is joined by a mysterious energy being, taking on the shape of a graceful swan. Introducing himself as the FM-ian Cygnus, the fancy fowl pries into Dubius’s history. As it turns out, growing up, Tom was adept at studying, but not so good at making friends. He spent most of his time in solitude, until one day, while he was working at NAZA, his supervisor becomes friends with him, giving him his first ever BrotherBand. But then, one day, one of Tom’s prototype designs was leaked to the public… and it turns out that his boss had not only done it but taken all the credit for his work as well. Dubius was so devastated that he left the agency in disgrace and resigned himself to solitude. As such, he’s apprehensive about accepting Aaron’s offer, fearful that history might just repeat itself.  

The next morning, Geo is reluctant to take up Mr. Boreal’s offer… but also equally reluctant to appear rude. After Omega-Xis chews him out, he takes the bus to AMAKEN’s facility. But when he arrives, he happens to find that he has three unexpected guests accompanying him – Luna and her two goons took the bus right after Geo’s. After a brief tour of AMAKEN’s museum, Aaron takes the children up to his office, showcasing various creations in progress. However, Tom Dubius is skulking in the background, listening in when he overhears a bit of conversation that gives him flashbacks to the fateful betrayal that drove him to unbridled despair… when in reality, Mr. Boreal was talking about a rocket booster pack he had invented. Devastated, Tom surrenders his heart to Cygnus, Wave Changing into the flamboyant Cygnus Wing. Meanwhile, Aaron decides to show the kids the crown jewel of AMAKEN’s museum: the Space Simulator, an area that recreates the conditions of outer space, without space or gravity. In fact, the only way to survive inside is to put on actual space suits. However, during their tour, Cygnus Wing appears on the scene, swearing revenge on Boreal for deceiving him. To wit, he uses one of his special abilities, hypnotizing everyone into pirouetting constantly – all except for Geo, but only because Omega-Xis warned him to look away in the nick of time. Cygnus Wing intends to make all of his captives dance until they run out of air, effectively suffocating them to death.

With little time to spare, Geo manages to escape the SpaceSim and transforms into MegaMan, chasing after Cygnus Wing in the simulator’s computer. But after catching up with the dancing foe and defeating him in combat, thus breaking the spell, Cygnus’s control over Tom is still unbroken. After all, his boss betrayed him, just like before. Aaron and the others try to convince him that he’s wrong, but Tom’s mind is made up. Aaron asks him for a chance to prove his honesty and Cygnus Wing obliges. If Aaron takes off his helmet in the simulator, he’ll believe him – he even makes the dubious claim that he altered the room to add oxygen. With that ultimatum, Aaron proceeds to take off his helmet… only to discover that Tom wasn’t lying. The revelation that trust could exist in the world finally drives Cygnus out of Tom, reverting him back to his human form. After a few hours of recovery time, Mr. Dubius recovers, though his memory of the events are spotty. With the crisis averted, Aaron sees off the children, but not before reminding Geo that his father believed that relationships helped make people stronger and asks him to consider living by those words himself. A few days later, Tom finally perfects the FlapPack (thanks to some advice from Aaron) and the two celebrate by going out to dinner, cementing their bond as brothers.

Sometime later, Geo is awoken from a mysterious dream by his home’s doorbell, only to discover that Mega is nowhere to be found. He answers the door, only for a mysterious figure to barge into his house, ranting and raving about “Z Waves”. Geo thinks he might be a thief, but it turns out that he’s just the opposite. After realizing his rudeness, the strange man introduces himself as Bob Copper [Heiji Goyouda], an officer of the Satella Police, the organization in charge of investigating crimes and other issues regarding EM Waves. As it turns out, he has found significant traces of Z-Waves – a special variant of EM Waves associated with FM-ians – mostly in Echo Ridge and at AMAKEN’s facility (due to the Taurus Fire and Cygnus Wing incidents), but also within Geo’s home. Geo manages to lie his way out of this investigation and goes off looking for Mega at Vista Point, only to find a girl roughly his age playing music and singing along. The girl finishes her song and apologizes for taking over the space, before walking off. Not long after, Omega-Xis reveals himself, admitting that he was intrigued by the music… and by the loneliness waves the girl was emitting. With the pair reunited, they decide to leave for home, only to find that Copper’s investigation has ramped up significantly, harassing everyone in town, including Luna. But her two minions aren’t quite as eager to follow their Class President today: they both have tickets to go to a concert featuring pop star sensation Sonia Strumm [Misora Hibiki] the next day. So, they decide to run off. But just as Geo decides to head home, Copper begins snooping around. Turns out he’s actually fully capable of tracking those Z-Waves he mentioned and he’s hot on MegaMan’s trail. Mega convinces Geo to hack into the policeman’s Transer and delete all of his data, but when he tries to, he activates some kind of EM shield, blocking their ability to enter his device. With no other options, they’re forced to commandeer a pitching robot and, using Mega as bait, knock him out cold with a fast pitch, finally making their way in and sending Bob’s investigation back to square one.

The next morning, Geo is struck with a bit of déjà vu, being woken again by the constant ringing of his doorbell. Fortunately, this time, Mega hasn’t wandered off. But as with last time, the mystery intruder barges into Geo’s home when he opens the door, demanding to know where Sonia Strumm is. It turns out that the tacky trespasser is her manager and she’s gone missing the day of her big concert. And since Geo doesn’t even know who that is, he isn’t of much help. Flustered over this unforeseen interaction, Geo decides to take a walk outside, where he picks up a signal for help coming from Vista Point. Once there, he encounters the young girl from the other day, hiding behind the train. As it turns out, she is Sonia Strumm and she just isn’t in the mood to sing anymore. But when her money-grubbing manager stumbles by, Sonia pleads for Geo to hide her, so he takes her to the only place he can think of: AMAKEN Laboratory.

Once there, Geo explains the situation to Mr. Boreal, who is more than happy to give the young girl a place to hide for the night. He also tries to convince them to make a BrotherBand as a sign of their friendship, but Geo is reluctant. Suddenly, the power goes out due to some Z-Wave shenanigans and after MegaMan takes care of it, Geo returns to give Sonia a straight answer, but not before she asks him to speak in private on the roof. There, Sonia explains that growing up, it was just her and her sick mother. She only started a career as a pop star to make her mother proud, but since she passed on a few months ago, her heart just hasn’t been in it. She’s only singing for her fans… and to line her manager’s pockets with cold, hard cash these days. Geo almost decides to open up to her about his own problems, when suddenly, her manager barges in, incensed over the lost revenue after tonight’s concert was cancelled. Geo bravely stands between them, but the grown man knocks the fifth-grader to the ground with little effort and drags Sonia off, already formulating plans on how she’s going to repay him. Demoralized by his cowardice, Geo runs home, only to be met by Zack and Bud out in front of his house, complaining about the cancelled concert. Meanwhile, Sonia breaks out of her manager’s car and makes one last effort to escape, before being caught at a dead end. Suddenly, a passionate voice calls out to Sonia, sympathizing with her plight. The voice belongs to the melodious FM-ian Lyra [Harp], who offers the young singer the means to get revenge on those who would dare exploit her and taint the memory of her dearly departed mother. From the pits of despair, Sonia accepts that power and Wave Changes into Harp Note.

After knocking her manager unconscious with a single wail from her now-weaponized guitar, Harp Note travels to Echo Ridge to avenge her exploitation at the hands of her so-called “fans”, knocking everyone in town for a loop with her sick licks. Everyone except Geo, who is able to dodge thanks to Omega-Xis’s quick thinking and his Visualizer. Transforming into MegaMan (though Sonia easily deduces his true identity), he gives chase across Echo Ridge’s Wave Road, fending off her musical assault, only for Harp Note to escape back to AMAKEN. When he finally corners her, Mega acknowledges that he has a history with Lyra and she’s unconnected to the other FM-ians pursuing him, deciding instead to rule Planet Earth through Sonia and the power of her music. With no other option, MegaMan prepares to fight Harp Note and emerges victorious. However, what truly snaps Sonia out of Lyra’s control is Geo’s confession: that he does know how she feels, because he lost his father and he’s been afraid of growing close to anyone else, because he’s worried they might be taken from him the same way. As such, rather than casting Lyra out of Sonia, the FM-ian reforms, deciding to live life on Earth – after all, she has her friend Mega to protect her. After that, Sonia decides that she wants to retire and find out what she wants out of life, but not before giving one last concert. And three days later, she does just that at Vista Point. And after the concert’s over, she and Geo talk in private and when she’s overcome with emotions over everything that’s happened, Geo offers to make a BrotherBand with her, his first one in a long, long time. But after Sonia leaves, Geo notices the pendant his father gave him has started to glow with an ethereal light, only to fall dark a few moments later.

A few days later, Geo has another dream… taking place in a white void, with only Mega as company. Suddenly, three gigantic shadowy figures appear before Geo, telling him that they are communicating with him through his subconscious, claiming to be watching over him and warning of an oncoming disaster. When Geo wakes from this dream, he finds that his pendant is flashing again, but only for a brief time. He asks his mom about this family keepsake, but she doesn’t know anything about it and suggests that he asks Mr. Boreal about it. But as he makes his way to the bus stop, he is once again pestered by Luna, Bud and Zack, who seem a bit more desperate than usual. Turns out they’re doing a class play and absolutely need Geo to come back to class to make everything complete. And this time, Luna won’t take no for an answer – harassing poor Geo until he finally relents and walks into Echo Ridge Elementary for the first time in three years. Upon entering, he meets their homeroom teacher, one Mitch Shepar [Ikuta Michimori], who admonishes Luna for bullying Geo into coming to school before he’s ready. Regardless, Geo keeps up his end of the bargain and takes a look at their props and set for the upcoming play. And as he notices that everything looks familiar, his worst fears are realized when he hears that it’s a dramatization of MegaMan’s battle with Taurus Fire… written, directed and starring Miss Platz herself.

However, just as things get really awkward, a stage light almost drops on Geo – which he only dodges thanks to Omega-Xis’s warning. While the other students think it was an accident, Geo’s Visualizer reveals that a Jammer was behind the attack. After excusing himself, he transforms and tries to fight the low-level thug, but is surprised to see him grow to a gigantic size and shrug off any and all attacks MegaMan throws at him. He grabs our young hero while cackling and Geo only manages to escape by reverting to his human form as he loses consciousness. Upon waking up, he meets with another student named Pat Sprigs [Tsukasa Futaba], who seems really nice and is happy to meet Geo, hoping to see him in school more often. With that, he bids farewell to Luna and the others before finally making his way to AMAKEN. While Mr. Boreal doesn’t remember any significance surrounding Geo’s dad’s pendant, he discovers that it’s a transmitter that is activated by BrotherBand formations. Excited by the prospect of communicating with his father, Geo runs to the roof… only to be confronted by the three mysterious figures from his dream. Introducing themselves as Pegasus Magic, Leo Kingdom and Dragon Sky, they introduce themselves as the Administrators of the three satellites protecting Earth from EM interference. Omega-Xis finally recognizes these three beings. They were the Wise Sages of Planet AM, a sister planet to Planet FM that was wiped out by their ultimate weapon, Andromeda. They restate their warning that a disaster is approaching Earth and only the being known as “MegaMan” has a chance of stopping it. As such, they offer Geo and Mega their ultimate power: the Star Force. But in order to gain this power, they must prove themselves – first by defeating their five Star Guardians and finally by defeating one of the Admins in combat. MegaMan prevails and the Admins congratulate them for their power and skill and their opponent grants them their Star Force, but Geo and Omega-Xis don’t feel any different. That night, Geo can’t sleep, remembering everything that had happened around school that day, including the kindness he was shown by Mr. Shepar and Pat. Convinced by those memories and the fact that Sonia decided to find a new life all her own, Geo vows to return to school after his three-year hiatus.   

A few days later, Geo’s mom congratulates him for deciding to return to school and despite the young boy’s nervousness, he has fun on his first day back. Mr. Shepar is an unorthodox teacher who prefers telling stories over traditional curriculums. Then in the afternoon, it’s time to practice for the class play and Geo finally finds out the big role Luna was absolutely insistent on him playing: a tree. But aside from that, Geo has a good first day back. But all is not well in the halls of Echo Ridge Elementary. As it turns out, the school principal isn’t happy with Mr. Shepar’s methods. His class’s test scores aren’t high enough and worse yet, he’s not even taking advantage of the experimental Study Wave technology like the other teachers are. And if he doesn’t shape up, he’ll be fired… leaving his seven children destitute. This ultimatum leaves Mitch with a crisis of conscience – a choice between keeping his children safe and fed or giving his students a well-rounded education – and that conundrum summons forth the FM-ian Libra, who helps the good teacher come to a decision. Clearly, the school is right and Mr. Shepar has a lot of ground to make up in the meantime.

The next day, class isn’t quite as fun for Geo as it was on his first day. Mr. Shepar seems far more agitated and stricter, using the Study Wave to drill his students with times tables. The class is unhappy with this new state of affairs and one anonymous student’s grumbling sets Mitch off, causing him to Wave Change into the unbalanced Libra Scales [Libra Balance]. With that, he cranks up the Study Wave to dangerous levels, filling his students’ minds with information and leaving room for nothing else… not even their own thoughts. Even Geo is under its control, until a well-timed punch by Omega-Xis frees him. And while he notices that his classmate Pat also seems unaffected, stopping Libra Scales takes precedence. But when Geo pulses in to give chase, he’s confronted by the giant Jammer once again. But this time, MegaMan is finally able to tap into the Star Force, destroying him with little trouble. Overflowing with new power, Geo and Mega chase Libra Scales into the school’s studio, where he’s broadcasting a dangerous amount of Study Wave radiation throughout the building. And after navigating through a bookish barrage of painful pop quizzes, MegaMan comes face-to-face with Libra Scales and soundly defeats him. But even after turning off the Study Wave, Libra Scales is unwilling to surrender, willing to fight for his kids’ sake. Suddenly, the entirety of Class 5-A calls out to their transformed teacher, wondering if he’s alright. The revelation that his students still love him, even after how strict he’d become, causes him to regain his ideals, casting Libra out of his heart and turning back to normal. And while this incident did cause the school to rethink using the Study Wave, Mr. Shepar took full responsibility and stepped down. However, after his entire class petitioned the school principal to give him his job back, he was allowed to return to his old position. Meanwhile, on the night of the big school play, the lead actor – Pat, who was playing MegaMan – was mysteriously absent, so Geo is forced to fill in. The play goes off without a hitch (even with Luna’s last-second rewrite), but somehow, Luna swears she saw the real MegaMan for a split-second when Geo makes his entrance on-stage.

One week later, things have fallen into a comfortable routine. Geo’s been attending class regularly, but the Class President and her droogs insist on making sure that he keeps attending classes. After another normal day of school, Mr. Shepar asks to see Geo in the studio after class… only for Bob Copper to be alongside him. The Satella Police detective has theorized that the recent Z-Wave spikes can be attributed to extraterrestrials… and has noticed that Geo has been present for every major incident so far. Copper asks Geo to tell him if he has any involvement in these spikes, leaving the boy nervous… until his teacher steps in and takes the blame for the latest outbreak. Geo plays dumb, and while Bob wants to press him further, he realizes that now isn’t the time or the place. From there, Geo finally prepares to go home, only for Luna to be watching him like a hawk – seems like she has suspicions of her own. Suddenly, Bud and Zack burst into the classroom, acting strangely… before turning into energy monsters. Another Jammer has decided to attack Geo at the school, but with Luna following close behind him, he can’t transform into MegaMan. After being pursued throughout the school by more of these “EM Humans”, Geo eventually stashes her in an empty classroom and transforms into MegaMan. But his attempts at keeping Luna safe were all for naught: the EM Humans have taken her and their master demands that Omega-Xis hand over the Andromeda Key, lest something horrible happen to the young girl. MegaMan is paralyzed with indecision, getting beaten down by the Jammer, until Luna loses consciousness. Fortunately, Harp Note comes in with the save, destroying the energy fiends and knocking their master for a loop. This allows MegaMan to gain the upper hand, while the heroine takes Luna to safety. After that, Geo and Sonia take Luna back to her place, and while the snobby rich girl is a little perturbed by the presence of a boy her age in her bedroom, she still can’t shake the thought that there’s more to Geo than meets the eye. Afterwards, Sonia admits that she didn’t just come back to Echo Ridge to rescue MegaMan, she wanted to invite him to go shopping with her in Time Square [Yashibu Town] that Sunday. Geo is a little awkward at first but decides to accept after all, much to his mother’s delight.

Meanwhile, things aren’t going quite so well for the class president. That night, she overhears her long-absent parents discussing sending her off to a private boarding school, as they’re worried about the bad influence the other riffraff being educated there are having on their sweet little girl. To make matters worse, when Sunday rolls around, both Bud and Zack are preoccupied with previous engagements, so they can’t even be there for the Prez in her time of need. With her other options exhausted, she decides to condescend to hang out with Geo… only to see the young man walk off and get on a bus to Time Square. Luna decides to follow him, only to have her curiosity piqued further by the fact that he’s meeting up with… ex-pop sensation Sonia Strumm? After the young pair browses a department store, they decide to check out the exhibit of exotic snakes being held on the roof, with Miss Platz stealthily following them the entire way. At least, she does until she gets discovered by her parents, who chew her out for leaving her home. This draws Geo and Sonia’s attention, which only makes matters worse, as Mr. and Mrs. Platz use Geo and Sonia’s “date” as an example of the uncouth behavior corrupting their daughter, and decide to transfer her to a more prestigious school as soon as possible. With that, Luna explodes at her parents before running off… only to run into a sssssympathetic voice. The FM-ian Ophiuca [Ophiuchus] offers her the strength to live her own life – to stop being her parents’ perfect little doll – in exchange for letting her in her heart. Geo gets out just in time to warn her not to do it, but his pleas fall on deaf ears: a despondent Luna accepts the FM-ian’s help and transforms into Queen Ophiuca [Ophiuchus Queen].

To make matters worse, Ophiuca has the ability to control snakes and sends them after the attendees inside, even binding Luna’s parents with a couple of anacondas. And to make matters worse, when Geo and Sonia try to convince her to stop, she sics a particularly poisonous snake at Geo… only for Sonia to take the bite. With no other options, Geo looks for the store’s maintenance man and obtains his ThermoMan Navi Card, allowing him to turn down the temperature – forcing the cold-blooded reptiles to go into hibernation. Unwilling to let her plan end there, Queen Ophiuca retreats into the exhibit’s main computer, itself shaped like a giant snake. From there, MegaMan makes his way into the belly of the beast. He tries to convince Luna not to fight, but Ophiuca’s fangs have hooked into her very soul and she refuses to relent. After a grueling battle, both Wave Changed humans are battered, when Gemini – the King of Planet FM’s second-in-command – appears before them. Ophiuca gloats as Gemini readies an attack… before he strikes Queen Ophiuca with a thunderstrike for her failure, destroying the FM-ian and reverting Luna back to normal. She shortly regains consciousness, apologizing for her actions, but MegaMan explains that the alien took advantage of her delicate state. As the CompSpace collapses back in the real world, MegaMan tries to escape… only to be grabbed by Luna, who holds onto him with all her might. But as they fade back into reality, Luna is shocked to see that she’s clutching… Geo? With the cat out of the bag, Geo finally comes clean. And when Luna’s parents come to, they thought the day’s events were just a dream brought on by guilt over their daughter’s feelings, so they’ve decided not to transfer her to a new school. And after they leave to recover, Luna decides to repay Geo with a BrotherBand. Meanwhile, Sonia is a bit ticked off about how Geo abandoned her back there… but it’s nothing an ice cream sundae can’t solve.

A few days later, Geo leaves for home after another average day at school, when he receives a mysterious phone call on his Transer, gloating about the knowledge of the young boy’s true identity as MegaMan and ordering him to go back to Time Square. Once there, he notices that a fight has broken out. Upon further inspection with his Visualizer, he sees that the two angry people have odd EM Waves attached to them: shaped like white orbs with black “+” signs on them. After dispelling these phenomena from the two men as MegaMan, even more people begin fighting… and each person arguing is covered with dots, either the white “positive” ones or some black “negative” ones. And not surprisingly, a Jammer is behind this chaos. Tasked by a mysterious person to destroy all BrotherBands, the mook goes down easy, causing everyone to go back to normal. But after Geo pulses out and decides to head for home, he receives another mysterious call, taunting him. But even though he remains cryptic, the mystery caller gives Geo his name: “Rey” [Hikaru]. With no clues about this person’s whereabouts, Geo decides to go home, when he runs into his classmate Pat, who invites him to talk at a nearby café. While he’s there, the two have a heart-to-heart and Geo admits why he was so scared to return to school in the first place. Pat can relate though: he’s an orphan. Geo is shocked by this revelation, telling his classmate about how important Vista Point is to him, when Pat offers to take him to see his safe place. The two of them take a bus to Dream Island, a nearby man-made island. Once there, Pat brings him to a flower garden in the island’s park – a place that astounds Geo with its beauty. However, Pat also wants to take him to a different place, Dream Island’s massive landfill.

There, Pat explains how he became an orphan: he was literally thrown away. Found in the landfill by its SorterBots as a baby, he was wrapped in a towel with his name written on it. From there, he was sent to an orphanage, where he lives to this day. But he’s not bitter about what his parents did to him, which causes Geo to comment on just how strong of a person he is. From there, Geo decides to leave, when he receives another call from Rey, warning him not to get “trashed”. Suddenly, the SorterBots go haywire and attack Geo, forcing him to transform into MegaMan and deal with the group of Jammers behind the attack and coming face to face with their leader, Gemini. After defeating his goons, Gemini spirits away, but not before revealing the name of his human host… Rey. After stopping the SorterBot’s rampage, Geo goes to find Pat, who apologizes for bringing Geo to the dump. But before Geo leaves, he asks Pat to make a BrotherBand with him. Pat is hesitant, he feels that his secret is too dark to share with anyone, but says he’ll give Geo an answer the next day. That night, Pat mulls over becoming Geo’s brother, but he’s incredibly torn about what to decide… after all, can Geo truly be friends with two of him? But when a worker at the landfill tells him to leave the restricted area and comments on how poorly his parents raised him, he holds his head in pain. When he looks up, he has a completely different expression on his face, one of pure anger and spite. He proceeds to beat up the landfill worker… before shifting back to his more peaceful demeanor. He can’t believe that Rey could’ve done such a thing. That’s right, the trauma of being abandoned gave Pat Sprigs multiple personality disorder, and all of his negative feelings have manifested into his alter ego – Rey Sprigs.

The next day, Pat contacts Geo and tells him to come to Time Square so they can officially forge a BrotherBand. But when Geo arrives, Pat is acting strangely… something Omega-Xis picks up on and pulls Geo back. Rey reveals his FM-ian partner Gemini and reveals the truth about his condition to Geo. Turns out, Rey only wanted to make the BrotherBand with Geo to steal the Andromeda Key from him. And worse still, Pat’s willing to go along with it, because he wants revenge on the parents who abandoned him. Just then, the pair Wave Change into Gemini Spark – a being with a body for each of Pat’s personalities. Together, they use their powers to sow more discord throughout Time Square… but this time, their effects won’t fade unless Geo can defeat them. After that, they disappear and Geo is forced to chase them down through Dream Island’s landfill. After disabling two pieces of old machinery that were being used by more Jammers to distort the Wave Road, MegaMan comes face-to-face with Gemini Spark, who escapes into a satellite and begins broadcasting his energy as far as Echo Ridge. After a hard-fought battle, MegaMan emerges victorious… but Pat is ashamed of what he’s done and decides to leave, because his condition makes it impossible for him to build relationships with other people.

One week has passed and Geo has dropped out of school again, despondent over Pat’s betrayal. Omega-Xis decides to give him a pep talk, but this soon turns into an argument and Mega runs off. To make matters worse, Luna, Bud and Zack come to his house to try to figure out why he decided to stop going to school again (and if he knows anything about why Pat also mysteriously disappeared). Sonia even stops by, subtly mentioning that she saw Omega-Xis run off and is worried about what that means. But Geo isn’t in the mood for questions, so he sends them off and goes to Vista Point one more time. But he can’t even find peace in his special spot, as Sonia and Luna stop by to ask him what’s wrong – after all, they’re his Brothers (seriously, that feels wrong to write). But Geo is sick of friendships, relationships and other people and in utter frustration, he breaks both of his BrotherBands, resulting in both girls walking off in anger. Meanwhile, at AMAKEN, Tom Dubius informs Aaron that he’s picked up a disturbing signal from outer space…

That night, Geo has a nightmare about Mega being destroyed, one he tries to wave off as pointless, because clearly he doesn’t care about the FM-ian anymore. But as Geo considers what to do that day, he receives an urgent message from Mr. Boreal, asking him to come to AMAKEN. Once there, Aaron reveals that they managed to find a signal belonging to the lost space station Peace… and it’s heading to Earth. Geo is shocked and wonders what that means about his dad… a trail of thought quickly dismissed by one Bob Copper. As it turns out, Peace has been bombarded with so many Z-waves, it’s incredibly harmful to humans – perhaps even fatal. Suddenly, a new signal comes in: a declaration of destruction from the king of Planet FM. Suddenly, the lab shakes and… the Wave Road is visible to everyone, even without Geo’s visualizer. A giant ball of Z-Wave radiation suddenly appears before them and the three humans are bombarded with energy, leaving them paralyzed and slowly turning into EM waves. Fortunately, Copper’s Z-wave neutralizer makes short work of the phenomenon (but at the cost of his Transer) and even though AMAKEN is safe, more pockets of Z-wave radiation have been popping up all over the country. Even Time Square, where Geo’s mom went to go shopping earlier.

With no time to spare, Geo makes his way there, finding his mother and all the other people being affected by the radiation. Geo tries to transform into MegaMan… but since Mega disappeared, it’s pointless. Suddenly, three Jammers show up in the real world and begin beating on the young boy… until a mysterious attack from the heavens takes them and the ball of radiation out in one shot. The Satellite Admins saved Geo and inform him that despite their fight, both he and Omega-Xis have influenced one another: Geo showcased Mega’s courage just now, while Geo has taught Omega-Xis to sympathize with others. With that, the Help signal goes off and Geo tracks it down to Dream Island, where Omega-Xis and Harp Note have been defeated by the FM king’s five subordinates. Geo’s too late to save the Andromeda Key, but he does manage to block Gemini’s last attack. Together, Geo and Mega Wave Change into MegaMan but the FM-ian’s King recalls his soldiers, leaving another Jammer to fight in their stead. After defeating this colossal henchman, Sonia regains consciousness and Geo reforms his BrotherBand with her. She then suggests he do the same with Luna, who’s still back at home in Echo Ridge.

When Geo returns, he finds his friends from school standing outside of Big Wave. Luna sends off Bud and Zack and proceeds to scold Geo for hurting her feelings… when another surge of Z-wave radiation hits the small town. A trio of Jammers have kidnapped Bud and Zack… and decide to take Luna hostage as well. With no other option, Geo transforms into MegaMan, revealing his secret identity to the two boys, and proceeds to fight off the Jammers. After that heroism, not only does Luna become Brothers with Geo again, but Bud also joins in as well. With the Z-waves under control, Geo and Omega-plan their next move and decide to ask Mr. Boreal if there’s any way to reach the space station from Earth. He admits that his former boss at NAZA knows the location of the remnants of the space station they were able to recover after its disappearance and that if they could find them, they could potentially use it to make contact with the rest of it.

After searching for the mysterious old man, convincing him to help and following his clues, he manages to find what he’s looking for in Dream Island’s landfill. Geo and Mega find a secret storage facility with an entire section of Peace inside it, only for Mr. Boreal to show up as well – turns out his boss remembered its location and told him about it. Suddenly, more radiation appears underground and the two are attacked by Gemini. The FM-ian zaps them with electricity, taunting Geo by wondering if he realizes he can transform thanks to the Z-waves. It seems like they’re done for, when Pat jumps in front of Geo, taking the full brunt of the attack and allowing him to transform into MegaMan. Unamused by this turn of events, Gemini transforms into Gemini Spark… without the need of a human host. The battle is fierce, but MegaMan emerges victorious. After sending Pat off to get some medical assistance at AMAKEN, Geo tells Mr. Boreal about everything that’s happened to him, and while Aaron is still shaken up about what he just witnessed, he decides to make the necessary repairs to the wreckage. After all, it’s the only hope they have for salvation. He says he can make the necessary repairs by tomorrow and Geo readies himself for the greatest challenge he has ever faced. Meanwhile, the FM King congratulates his remaining minions for sealing the Earth’s fate.

The next day, Geo says his goodbyes to everyone and heads to the secret facility. Sonia tries to convince him to let her come along, but he tells her that she needs to stay behind – after all, she’s the only other person who can fight off the FM-ian invaders. With that, he uses the debris’ transmitter to teleport directly onto the space station. As he works his way through, he has to do battle with the other FM-ians, each with the ability to EM Wave Change without human hosts. But when they reach the inner sanctum, Omega-Xis gets surprisingly solemn. He admits to Geo that the humans were actually taken captive by the FM-ian king, a paranoid despot convinced that everyone was out to get him. Mega was their jailer and on the night before they were set to be executed, one human came to him with a plan. That man was Kelvin Stelar and he convinced Omega to transform him and his crew into EM beings with Z-waves and take all of them to Earth. But as they were leaving, he was attacked by Taurus and lost sight of the transformed humans. Despite this revelation, Geo remains hopeful that his father is still out there somewhere, and the two of them make their way to the inner sanctum of the space station.

There, they meet with the King of Planet FM. Introducing himself as Cepheus, he congratulates Omega-Xis for being the first FM-ian to stand against him and live. But surprisingly, Omega corrects the monarch: he’s the first AM-ian to stand against him. That’s right, the main reason Mega wanted revenge on Cepheus was for what he did to his planet and his people. Unphased by this revelation, the king summons Andromeda, a giant mechanical monster capable of devouring EM waves en masse. He offers MegaMan as an appetizer, before he transforms the Earth into pure radio waves and feeds it to Andromeda. The battle is fierce, but MegaMan emerges victorious. However, the beast isn’t destroyed and begins sucking in everything… including its master. As Cepheus holds on for dear life, Geo remembers everyone that’s counting on him – even his father – and through the power of love and friendship, charges up a Mega Buster shot powerful enough to obliterate Andromeda once and for all.

With his ultimate weapon destroyed, the king of Planet FM is expecting to meet his end as well. But Omega-Xis decides to spare him: without his minions or Andromeda, he’s powerless. Cepheus explains the root of his paranoia: for as long as he could remember, everyone – family, supposed friends, trusted advisors, even “loyal” subjects – has been out to undermine and usurp him. So when Planet AM and Earth made contact with him, he automatically assumed that they were just trying to exploit and destroy him… just like everyone else had. Realizing just how much they have in common, Geo decides to forgive Cepheus on two conditions: to trust him and to become his friend. The king agrees, deciding to make amends for his evil actions by rebuilding Planet AM. Suddenly, the Three Sages of Planet AM appear to offer their help, even telling Cepheus that some AM-ians were off-planet and thus the planet could be repopulated. They offer Omega-Xis a part in this new planet, but Mega rejects it. Geo needs his help to get home… and besides, he’s starting to enjoy life on planet Earth.

With that, Geo and Mega decide to return home, when the space station begins to disintegrate, closing off the warp hole they used to get there in the first place. Fortunately, Geo’s able to find another module and jettisons it, using the autopilot to set a course for home. But just when it seems like the danger has passed, the module’s systems encounter a fatal error, completely disabling the navigation computer, leaving our heroes lost in space. Worried about their lost friend, Sonia, Luna, Bud, Zack and Pat all shine their Transers to the sky and through the power of the BrotherBand, they manage to make contact with Geo’s, giving him a direct course back to Earth. Three weeks after Geo returns home, he’s finally ready to go back to class and everyone (and I mean, everyone) is there to congratulate him. As he walks to school with his friends, Bob Copper decides his questions can wait. Meanwhile, Omega-Xis and Lyra decide to make plans for the future… and they both decide to stay with their partners, expecting more adventures in the future.

Surprisingly, the first MegaMan Star Force actually did pretty well in terms of sales in Capcom’s home country of Japan. According to the Game Data Library’s archive of Famitsu sales data, all three versions sold 77,152 copies in their first week and would end up with 593,675 sales overall, making the first Star Force more successful than every Battle Network game aside from the fourth and sixth games. VGChartz implies that the game sold relatively well outside of Japan as well, with an estimated 390,000 sales in North America alone – though as usual, their sales figures are generally considered unreliable at best. Since Capcom doesn’t publish sales figures that didn’t reach the coveted 1 million sales mark, it’s hard to say if VGChartz’s assertion that it reached 950,000 units worldwide is true or not. What interests me more is whether having three versions increased Star Force’s sales potential. Was the increase in sales due to die-hard fans triple-dipping or was the original MMSF able to reignite the wave of hype that the Battle Network series enjoyed at its peak? Whatever the answer, Ryuusei no Rockman was clearly positioned to recreate the Rockman EXE series’ popularity in Japan, with similar anime, manga and toy deals already lined up. And with a start like this, what could possibly go wrong?

MegaMan Star Force 2: Zerker × Ninja and Zerker × Saurian

In a word, everything. Everything could go wrong.

Now I don’t exactly think it’s fair to blame the Star Force series’ downfall on its second game, but that’s more because I can’t remember much about it in the first place. You’ll recall I had a similar issue when it came to reminiscing about MegaMan X2. The only difference is that I managed to hold onto the idea that it was in the “good half” of the series. MMSF2 does not have that luxury going for it. Regardless, the game did serve as a harbinger for the series’ end, regardless of its quality. The anime’s second season – Ryuusei no Rockman TRIBE – was based on the game’s story and would end on a slapdash ending, showing “previews” of two of the transformations that hadn’t shown up by the time the show was cancelled. Granted, the manga had a complete run and the toy line continued unabated… but losing the anime that abruptly was a sure sign that Capcom’s partners weren’t quite as confident in the series as they were with Rockman EXE.

While the first game focused on space exploration and utilized signs of the Zodiac for the majority of its theming, Star Force 2 focuses more on “OOPArts” – out-of-place artifacts, which are artifacts that are found among archeological sites that seem unusually advanced given modern understandings of ancient cultures – and utilized cryptozoology when theming many of its bosses. Aside from that, the most interesting part about Star Force 2 is how it was released. While the developers decided to retain three major transformations like the previous game, Capcom decided to simplify the game into two releases, each containing two “versions” of the game. Thunder Zerker [Thunder Berserk] was the common thread between both of the game’s releases, while Wood Ninja [Green Shinobi] and Fire Saurian [Fire Dinosaur] were both exclusive to their respective SKUs. As such, the game was released in both Zerker × Ninja [Berserk × Shinobi] and Zerker × Saurian [Berserk × Dinosaur] variants, utilizing similar methods to Double Team DS to pack both “versions” in on a single cart. It does make me wonder if there was some sort of fan or consumer backlash to the previous game having three versions or if it was just a cost-cutting measure.

It’s been roughly two months since the Andromeda incident and life has slowly returned to normal for Geo Stelar. Well, at least as normal as life can be when you’re living with an alien made out of pure energy. But a new threat emerges when Geo and his friends visit Wilshire Hills [Roppondo Hills], a neighborhood in Electopia’s most prominent metropolis, Capital City [TK City]. A mysterious man known as Hyde sends forth waves of EM viruses and is able to Wave Change into Dark Phantom [Phantom Black]. But Hyde’s partner Phantom isn’t an FM-ian or even an AM-ian: he’s an Unidentified Mysterious Animal (UMA), a remnant from the lost civilization of Mu, an ancient culture that could use EM Waves centuries before modern humans. To make matters worse, there are other UMAs out there, seeking humans to exploit for unknown ends – including Yeti, who pairs with a greedy millionaire in his efforts to shut down a popular ski resort, allowing him to Wave Change into Yeti Blizzard. But the true danger surfaces when an OOPArt from Mu (which varies based on the version of the game) is showcased at the IFL Tower in Capital City. An enigmatic boy named Solo tries to steal it, only for Omega-Xis to swallow it in the scuffle. Days later, Solo confronts Geo but is unimpressed when he transforms into MegaMan. As it turns out, Solo is capable of performing EM Wave Change on his own and transforms into Rogue [Burai] and using the same Kamikakushi that attempted to steal the OOPArt, he traps Geo’s friends in a black hole. After Geo defeats the mysterious youth, Rogue teleports away but Zack, Sonia and Bud are all lost to the portal, while MegaMan can only barely save Luna from the same fate. But just who are Hyde and Solo working for? What happened to Geo’s friends? And is the lost continent of Mu just a legend… or all too real?

Star Force 2 refines many of the core elements from the first game but doesn’t feel all that different, essentially like a logical extension of it in many regards. For starters, pulsing in no longer limits MegaMan to the Wave Roads. He can walk around in the normal areas as well, though he can’t interact with human characters in the traditional sense. He can look at their Star Carriers though. In fact, this is how the game’s various sidequests are handled: normally, the screens for each NPC’s Star Carriers are blue, but if they’re pink, that means they need help (and by extension, have a sidequest available). Also, as for the top screen, players can still shift between multiple screens on their Star Carrier, though this time, the options are their personal page – which shows off Geo’s in-game Brothers and his Favorite Cards (reduced to a mere 4 from the previous game’s 6) – and a page that shows off the player’s real-life Brothers. Cycling through the various screens can also turn off the Star Carrier, allowing players to look up at the sky, which is generally shown by default anyway. Personal Combos have been slightly tweaked into Best Combos, which are functionally similar to their forebearers, except now they can also include Mega and Giga Class cards, but they still must be performed in a single turn on a stationary opponent. Finally, Star Force 2 also adds online functionality to multiplayer battles, as well as allowing players to make BrotherBands remotely via the game’s (clunky) Friend Code system, as was the style with the DS.

BrotherBands in particular have been overhauled significantly from the first game. For starters, the game now separates between “canonical” Brothers and the ones that are obtained by linking up with real-life friends, offering four spots for the former and six for the latter – meaning that players can have ten Brothers in total. However, only real-life Brothers offer the player additional card slots in-game. This includes the Auto Brother: an AI brother that is provided to the player by default, meaning that even players without the ability to form a BrotherBand in real life (either due to a lack of friends with the game… or a lack of friends in general) can do something with the multiplayer-focused mechanic. Appearing very briefly in story, the player can determine the Auto Brother’s name, the NPC type that represents them and their icon. The Auto Brother also gives the player the ability to utilize certain content from the other version of the game included on the cart. For example, players that selected Zerker as their game version will have either a Ninja or Saurian-affiliated Auto Brother (depending on the cart) and vice versa.

All Brothers (including the canonical ones and the Auto Brother) grant the player a certain amount of Link Power [Kizuna Ryoku], a numerical score that represents the strength of their bond. Certain in-game areas and items can only be obtained with a high enough rating, so obviously the higher the player’s Link Power, the better. Link Power also plays a role when it comes to the new “Ability Wave” mechanic, which replaces the first game’s tendency for specific Brothers to reward MegaMan with specific power-ups as a sign of their BrotherBand. Acting as a simplified version of the Navi Customizer from the Battle Network games, each Ability Wave requires a certain amount of Link Power to equip. Ability Waves can be found in Mystery Waves throughout the game, but they can also be obtained by rescuing Mr. Hertzes in battle. Operating similarly to the Mystery Data battles that appeared from the fourth MMBN through the remainder of the series, occasionally a Mr. Hertz will appear on the battlefield during a random battle. Completing the battle without attacking it (or allowing the Viruses to attack it) will reward the player with a random Ability Wave. There are also variants of each Ability Wave, each requiring a different amount of Link Power to equip, so it’s best to keep an eye out for Ability Waves with a smaller score requirement to maximize MegaMan’s abilities.

Another new mechanic is the Matter Waves [Material Waves]. Effectively replacing the Navi Cards from the first Star Force, Star Carriers are capable of generating hard-light constructs known as Matter Waves that can be used to emulate just about anything: from a pair of skis or a tent, to a self-driving car and even a submarine! Even more interesting, each Matter Wave is fully sentient, even engaging in (very punny) conversations with their users. Throughout the game, Geo collects various Matter Waves, which can be used both in human form and as MegaMan. At various points in the game, Geo uses a jet board to retrieve a lost movie ticket and a cooking machine to prepare ginger beef, while MegaMan uses a diving machine to explore the depths of Loch Mess [Donbura Lake] and a vacuum to suck up ghostly viruses.

Replacing the Star Force power-up transformations from the previous game is the new “Tribe On” mechanic. The biggest difference between each version of MMSF2 is the OOPArt that Omega-Xis accidentally eats early on in the game’s story: the Sword of Zerker [Berserk], the Star of Ninja [Shinobi] and the Rock of Saurian [Dinosaur]. Each of these eventually manifest as the Tribe On, a special transformation with their own unique abilities and elemental affinities. Thunder Zerker [Thunder Berzerk] is Elec-oriented, allows players to select Cards from the Custom Screen horizontally rather than just vertically (much like the Star Force transformations from the first game) and grants players the ability to use multiple Battle Cards at once in a combo. Wood Ninja [Green Shinobi] is Wood-themed, gives players the ability to counterattack and allow Battle Cards to lock onto enemies. Finally, Fire Saurian [Fire Dinosaur] is Fire-based (naturally), provides super armor and allows players to charge up Battle Cards to boost their attack strength. Like the Star Force transformations before them, each form also has their own special attack that can be unlocked by performing a counter, known as the Link Force Big Bang (or “LFB” for short).

What makes Tribe On unique compared to the Star Force transformation is its ability to be stacked. If MegaMan has already activated the Tribe On transformation and the entry for a Brother associated with an alternate version of the game shows up on the Custom Screen, players can either choose to use the traditional Battle Card Roulette or activate a Double Tribe transformation. This effectively combines the two transformations, giving MegaMan the coloration, elemental affinity and charge shot (and Mega Buster design) of the second form, the base design and Battle Card charge ability of the original form and the special abilities of both. For example, the “Saurian Zerker” Tribe On – activated when a Saurian transformation Double Tribes with a Zerker – is a silver variant on the Saurian design (with Omega-Xis’s head sporting the Zerker design) that has an Elec affinity and uses Zerker’s Thunder Slash charge shot, can still charge Battle Cards to increase their attack power (like Saurian), offers attack bonuses to both Fire and Elec-themed Battle Cards and grants MegaMan both Saurian’s Super Armor and Zerker’s ability to select cards by row. Likewise, this new form also has a new LFB that deals both Elec and Fire-based damage to enemies. However, if players have access to all three transformations, they can activate MegaMan’s ultimate form, Tribe King. This form has no elemental affinity, has the special abilities of all three forms (aside from the Card charge, which still remains the same as the player’s base transformation), doubles Battle Card attack power from the start, adds a new charge shot that deals damage of all three elemental types and grants MegaMan the all-powerful Czar Delta Breaker [Kaiser Delta Breaker] LFB.

Finally, there’s the Sky Wave. It turns out that when Geo’s friends went missing after being sucked into Rogue’s black hole, they were sent to different parts of the world. While Luna has a private plane and a passport, Geo is forced to use other means to reach foreign lands like Loch Mess in Netopia, Whazzap [Nanzca], a small nation just south of Netopia and even the Bermuda Maze [Bermuda Labyrinth], a mysterious phenomenon that causes even modern equipment to go haywire. To reach these areas, Geo must use the Sky Wave. Located somewhere in the Earth’s atmosphere, the Sky Wave is a vast wireless network that essentially serves as a greater overworld that connects these areas through the Wave World.

Despite all of the nice things I’ve said about the changes Star Force 2 made to the first game’s formula, I unfortunately have to say that the game itself still feels like a chore to play through. And the sad part is that, while it does have many of the issues Battle Network 4 had – in the sense that the game almost feels like it was incomplete and used copious amounts of filler to make up that windfall – MMSF2’s case feels a bit more tragic. Almost like the dev team was really excited about the game, managed to come up with roughly half the content early on (with various aspects of the game receiving different amounts of attention), proceeded to forget about it for a while and proceeded to come up with the remaining content by any means necessary a month before production ended. From what I’ve gleamed of the post-game content, it’s a full-on scenario in its own right, serving as a post-game chapter with its own narrative and unique areas, while the original Star Force followed in MMBN’s footsteps with various context-free challenges leading to extra difficult secret boss fights.

That sounds impressive, but it comes at the cost of the main scenario. The game decided to expand its overworld in place of designing actual dungeons, something that was intended to draw a greater emphasis to Star Force 2’s more open-world design. In practice, however, it just leads to bland level layouts that feel more tedious than exciting. Maybe I’m in the minority but following what is essentially a linear path while avoiding random obstacles just wasn’t as fun as the varied layouts of earlier titles: even MMBN4 managed to get that right, even if it only had 3 dungeons. And the obstacles themselves are a bit less fun than those of the original game. Like, I know that the first Star Force’s reliance on the touch screen rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but MMSF2’s attempts at going with traditional controls didn’t mesh well with me. There’s one particular segment, where MegaMan is forced to search the depths of Loch Mess and he has to essentially talk to Omega-Xis to get clues for where to dig. It reminded me a lot of the garbage dump segment from the first game, except the touch screen radar felt like a more interesting take on the concept. Worst of all, MMSF2 doesn’t even fully commit to ditching the touch screen. The final dungeon has what might actually be the worst implementation of that gimmick in the entire series, where a symbol flashes on-screen for a split second and players are forced to redraw them in two seconds in a tiny section of the lower screen. If they fail, they’re forced into a completely inescapable battle that yields only lost health as a reward.

It’s sad, because I really wanted to like Star Force 2 during this replay… but it just ended up feeling like a chore. Two of the boss fights from the first game are recycled with the flimsiest of pretexts – oh no, Bud and Luna still have residual EM radiation in their bodies, which caused them to randomly Wave Change again! The random encounter rate is so high, it would make early-gen Pokémon games blush. The game’s unique “major” boss roster feels slim (which explains the copious amount of recycling), even when compared to the first game. And when it comes to RPGs, all the quality-of-life upgrades in world don’t amount to anything if the scenario design (both in terms of story and gameplay) falls flat. The worst part is, I’d even learned to get over the feeling of betrayal I had from MMSF2 essentially ditching the awesome storyline of the first game. I actually wanted to like the game this time around! And it still failed me, what a shame.

As one might expect, the graphics haven’t changed much from the original Star Force in the second game. Just like most of the Battle Network sequels (aside from 4, which started from scratch), the best word to describe MMSF2 visually is “more”. There are several new NPC designs – mainly themed around Geo’s globetrotting adventures – and even some slight tweaks to some existing designs. It’s difficult to ski in summer clothes, after all. As such, the 3D models are still kind of unpleasant to look at for the most part (especially at higher resolutions), which showcases the DS’s biggest graphical weakness compared to its contemporaries. However, Star Force 2 does go the extra mile and adds in several new transition effects to make entering battle or the in-game cutscenes look a bit flashier, which is definitely a nice touch compared to the first game’s more Spartan presentation.

The sound design for Star Force 2 is a mix of new and old. The effects themselves were provided by Shinji Amagishi and series newcomer Yoshiki Sando, who previously did the sound effects for Street Fighter III: 3^rd Strike, MegaMan X8 and Devil May Cry 3 (among others). The music was handled by Yoshino Aoki and Marika Suzuki, who previously composed for the original Dead Rising and Sengoku BASARA and would eventually go on to work on MegaMan 11. The soundtrack in this game feels a bit more atmospheric in certain places, especially when compared to the original Star Force (and even the Battle Network games). That isn’t to say that it’s worse, but it’s more of an acquired taste in my opinion. Musical highlights this time around include the aptly titled “Sky Wave”; “Lakebed Search”, which plays in Plesio Surf’s section; Wilshire Hills’ theme, titled “Roppondou Hills” after its original Japanese name; “OBake Extravaganza”, which plays when Dark Phantom takes over Wilshire Hills; Rogue’s theme song “Melody of Isolation” and “Face of God”, the final boss theme. “Road to Victory”, which plays during multiplayer battles, is also worth mentioning… though unfortunately, it never comes up in the main campaign. One last note, the Japanese version also had some voice acting, which was unfortunately removed from the Western releases.

Geo, left absolutely heartbroken about failing to save his friends and haunted by strange dreams, begins to doubt his abilities as a hero – a title he never really wanted in the first place. But as he is moping, Dark Phantom emerges again and kidnaps Luna, using her as bait to draw out MegaMan and hopefully steal the OOPArt from him. Telling Geo to come to the theater where he first encountered Hyde, MegaMan is forced to fight through several Murian [Errand] guards, EM-based soldiers armed with swords and shields. But when he finally makes it through this gauntlet, our young hero is shocked to see Luna transform back into Queen Ophiuca, just like how Bud mysteriously turned in Taurus Fire at the ski resort. After defeating her, MegaMan is completely devoid of energy, while Dark Phantom has even more Murians at the ready to finish him off, when suddenly, he begins glowing with mysterious energy and destroys the entire horde with a single attack. But MegaMan isn’t himself: he has fallen victim to the power of the OOPArt and lost control of his body… and wants to destroy everything and anyone foolish enough to try to stop him. Luna cries out to him and their BrotherBand strengthens, giving Geo the strength of will to regain control over his body, as Dark Phantom makes a tactical retreat.

As it turns out, Geo’s friends weren’t lost forever in the Un-Dimension, but rather scattered all over the world. Zack gained relative fame as the first person to see the mythical Messie [Dossie], a cryptid supposedly hiding in Netopia’s Loch Mess. Bud landed in Whazzap and was welcomed as a herald of Mu. And Harp Note was spotted by a malfunctioning plane that flew through the Bermuda Maze. Using the Sky Wave, MegaMan travels to these areas, but encounters difficulty in bringing his friends home. Zack feels important due to his discover. Bud hit his head and lost his memory, falling completely into his role as “Budicus”. And Harp Note even breaks off her friendship with Geo, severing their BrotherBand and calling him her enemy. To make matters worse, new enemies powered by UMAs cause mayhem in these foreign lands. An unscrupulous TV producer transforms into the very Messie-like Plesio Surf [Brachio Wave] and threatens Loch Mess with tsunamis. Rogue resurfaces in Whazzap and reveals that not only is Bud a fraud, but that he is the true final survivor of Mu and attacks the village for this transgression. Whazzap’s tribal chief, desperate to bring his land back to prominence, trades secret truths about Mu to Hyde in exchange for the power to Wave Change into the massive Terra Condor [Condor Geograph]. And while Sonia refuses to acknowledge her friendship with Geo, it turns out to that was a lie she used to protect him from the mysterious forces Hyde and Solo are working for, who found her and promised her MegaMan’s safety in exchange for her cooperation.

As Geo can’t see through Sonia’s façade, he leaves for Wilshire Hills where he reflects on what’s happened recently, when suddenly, the mysterious Hollow [Empty] appears and lets a whole bunch of Murians loose on the public, in an effort to draw out MegaMan. Despite not being in the mood for combat, Geo fights off these enemies only to be met with a new and improved Rogue, boasting the power of the Indie Proof, an impenetrable EM Wave barrier that renders the moody last survivor of Mu completely invincible. But just as Rogue is about to make his final attack, MegaMan is mysteriously spirited away… by Harp Note of all people, who reiterates that they are no longer friends.

After realizing the truth and showing Sonia just how much her friendship means to him, MegaMan works together with Harp Note to navigate the Bermuda Maze and find whatever it is these evil forces are searching for, in an effort to stop them before their plans can come to fruition. However, what they find is shocking: the final resting place of Mu. Worse still, Hollow has been watching over them the entire time and attacks MegaMan in an effort to retrieve the OOPArt. MegaMan is able to defeat him, only to be attacked by Rogue after the grueling battle. Through the power of friendship his Link Power, MegaMan is able to destroy the Indie Proof and defeat Rogue again, but falls unconscious after using up all of his energy… which gives Dark Phantom the perfect opportunity to sneak in and rip the OOPArt right out of MegaMan’s body. With a feeling of pride that one of his “scripts” has gone off without a hitch, he presents the artifact to the true mastermind behind these attacks, Dr. Vega [Dr. Orihime].

A few days later, Geo has recovered but Sonia was left in the hospital from her injuries. Meanwhile, Dr. Vega has used the OOPArt to reawaken the lost continent of Mu and has announced her intentions of taking over the world with the formation of the Neo Mu Empire. She also makes it clear that only the “best” humanity has to offer will be named as citizens of this new empire, sending forth an endless army of UMAs to showcase her superiority. In their fear, the people of Earth turn on themselves and everyone’s Link Power begins plummeting. With no other options, Geo transforms into MegaMan and makes his way to Mu via the Sky Wave – but not before promising his friends that he would come back safe and sound – and navigates through the Bermuda Maze one more time. But when he reaches the fabled lost continent’s entrance, he is met with a familiar (but wholly unwelcome) face. Dark Phantom is itching for a fight, having been granted an extreme upgrade by Dr. Vega after successfully receiving the OOPArt. MegaMan still beats him though, causing him to beg for even more power… enough to give even Omega-Xis pause. But then, Rogue appears on the scene, absolutely livid over being exploited by Dr. Vega and easily incapacitates him. Dark Phantom begs for even more power, but Dr. Vega is finally sick of him and sends Hollow to dispose of him. With that, MegaMan and Rogue both enter the floating continent’s main hall, going their separate ways. MegaMan is forced to navigate another labyrinth, using ancient runes to open the path forward and fighting recreations of the other UMA-powered foes he fought before.

But before MegaMan can reach the inner sanctum, he’s stopped by Hollow. Fortunately, it seems that Rogue’s thirst for revenge has yet to be slaked, so he’s more than willing to take out Hollow for his role in Solo’s betrayal. Unfortunately, the stoic subordinate has a trick up his sleeve – an errant Kamikakushi creates a black hole, sucking all three of them in – but out of sheer anger (or perhaps something else?), Rogue literally uppercuts MegaMan out of their shared predicament, leaving him to stop Vega’s plan alone. But when Geo confronts the evil scientist, he finds that he’s already too late: Dr. Vega has already activated Le Mu [Ra Mu], an artifact hailed as the god of the Mu civilization and the source of the world’s (maybe even the entire universe’s) EM Waves. The battle between ancient deity and hero is hard-fought, but MegaMan eventually strikes a decisive blow, leaving Le Mu heavily damaged.

With her ultimate trump card ended, Dr. Vega finally tells MegaMan of her past. Before she was the brilliant scientist that created Matter Waves in the first place, she was a young girl in the Tanabata Kingdom, a country mired in war and poverty due to the actions of its foolish ruler. Eventually, the endless wars would take a direct toll on young Vega, taking away the one thing she loved most. That day, Vega vowed to take over the world by any means necessary, to create a world where only wise leaders would exist and do with the foolish masses as they please. But without Le Mu’s full power, that dream cannot become a reality. So, Dr. Vega orders the lumbering colossus to send Mu careening back into the Earth and detonate the entire continent – if she can’t save the planet by ruling it, then she’ll remove its foolishness the only other way she knows how. At that moment, Hollow breaks off from his stalemate battle with Rogue, returning to Vega’s side to protect her from MegaMan’s attempts at destroying Le Mu once and for all. MegaMan is low on energy, but still strong enough to deal a cutting blow to Hollow, revealing… a man underneath?

It’s at that moment that Vega reveals the truth about Hollow: he was the first Matter Wave creation, based upon Vega’s dead lover Altair [Hiko], a man who died in one of her country’s many wars. Hollow was a perfect physical recreation of the deceased man, but at his core, he was a shallow imitation with none of the things that made Vega fall in love with him in the first place. Having failed at her goal of reviving her lost love, she eventually resigned herself to loneliness. But then, she found the ruins of Mu and found a chance to change the world. Vega gave Hollow all of her scientific knowledge and modified him for battle, turning him into the loyal servant he is today. Suddenly, a blast from Le Mu engulfs all three of them, sending them flying back. MegaMan is relatively unharmed, as is Vega, but Hollow… Hollow took a fatal blow to protect his mistress and fades from existence, but not before apologizing for failing to be the man she wanted him to be. Having lost both of her confidants, Vega falls to her knees, a broken woman. But then, a mysterious light beams down from the sky… and Vega hears a familiar voice comforting her. It’s… Altair? He even proves that it’s truly him, referring to her by his pet name for her, “Vegalina” [Ori]. He explains that while he may be gone, he heard a mysterious voice calling out to him, to reach out to her… and the strangest part was, the voice sounded just like him. And the weirdest part is that both Geo and Omega-Xis can hear him as well. But just as quickly as the voice appeared, it disappeared, but not before asking Vega to live for him.

After some coaxing from MegaMan, she takes his advice to heart… leaving Geo and Omega-Xis to contend with the crumbling, but still very dangerous Le Mu. Unfortunately, that last encounter with Hollow has left MegaMan completely powerless, when he receives a video call from Luna, telling him that everyone has stopped fighting and are praying for his safe return – man, there is way more religious terminology in this game than you’d expect – and knowing that the whole world is counting on him gives Geo the strength to finally destroy Le Mu once and for all, proving that he truly is the hero the world believes he is. Unfortunately, right after he saves the world, he falls unconscious… failing to save himself and breaking the promise he made to his friends. Mu crumbles and falls to the Earth and the credits roll. But after those credits, we find that Solo escaped from the Un-Dimension and has brought Geo back to Echo Ridge, safe and sound. The two exchange their farewells and Geo rejoins his friends as the game concludes.

Unfortunately, Star Force 2 had a very rocky sales history. In its first week, it managed to outsell the original game with 83,744 copies in its first week, but in terms of its overall Japanese sales, it only managed to move 291,962 units – roughly half of what the previous game sold. VGChartz’ estimates of the game’s sales in other regions aren’t quite as significant a drop: North America bought roughly 240,000 copies of the game while “other” regions moved a mere 20,000, with European sales remaining a complete mystery. And while I still take these figures with a grain of salt, they do fall in line with idea that the second game underperformed compared to its predecessor, a conclusion that’s already supported by the more reliable Japanese data. The point is, if Capcom cared about the continued existence of the Star Force games, there would need to be some big changes about how it was approached.

MegaMan Star Force 3: Black Ace and Red Joker

I’d like to preface this part of the retrospective with a disclaimer. I don’t hate MegaMan Star Force 3. It’s easily the second-best game in the franchise, more of a close runner-up to the first game than the second game’s distant third place showing. But that’s not to say that my relationship with the game is entirely positive. I hate that Capcom decided to discard whatever distinct identity the Star Force games were beginning to develop in favor of a half-hearted Battle Network retread. I despise that it seems like, at bare minimum, 80% of the “Star Force fanbase” are actually just MMBN fans who seem to think that MMSF3 was “close enough” to the BN games to be considered a worthwhile experience – and by extension, a redemption of the entire MMSF trilogy. I don’t hate Star Force 3, I just resent it more than anyone can imagine for what it did: effectively relegating the series to the dustbin of history.

Ironically, the third Star Force game was originally going to fall more in line with the previous titles. According to the Official Complete Works artbook, Capcom considered developing two new Tribe On transformations – an anchor OOPArt allowing MegaMan to transform into Water Pirate and the element-less Angelus wielding a crossbow – before eventually deciding upon the new Noise Change mechanic (more on that later). Even after deciding on the final concept, Capcom also ended up dropping a transformation themed around Harp Note. Even MegaMan’s design underwent some changes to streamline his design, dropping the bulky arm cannon shaped like Omega-Xis’s head in favor of something more streamlined, akin to the Mega Buster found on EXE.

Ryuusei no Rockman 3 released first in Japan on November 13^th, 2008 – with both the Black Ace and Red Joker releasing simultaneously. North America would eventually follow suit the next year, with both versions releasing on June 30^th. However, these were the game’s only two known releases. Apparently neither Europe nor Australia received the third Star Force game in any official capacity, at least as far as I can tell. Though whether this was due to Capcom’s lack of faith in Star Force in general or other reasons (after all, VGchartz didn’t have any data on European sales for the first two games) can only be speculated on.

Since the incident with Mu, EM Wave Technology has reached new heights. Matter Waves have given way to “Real Waves”, constructs that are identical to the real thing. These new insights have also led to the development of “Wizards”: sentient EM Wave-based beings that help humanity with everyday tasks. Even the Star Carrier has fallen out of use in favor of the new Hunter-VG terminal, a device capable of producing Real Waves and allowing Wizards to manifest in the real world.

But with these new advancements come new problems. EM Viruses have gotten stronger, as a result of Noise – a new form of radiation thought to have originated from these new advancements. But while any scientists seek to fully understand this new phenomenon, what they do know is that it causes significant harm to EM beings. Worse yet, the criminal organization known as Dealer has been using special cards laced with Noise to corrupt mundane Wizards into powerful warriors. To combat this new threat, the Satella Police has begun regulating the ability to perform EM Wave Changes, recruiting anyone capable of doing so as a part of Project Transcode, or “Project-TC” for short. Eventually, Geo and Omega-Xis become the third to register for this new program, following Rogue and its first participants: officer Arthur C. Eos [Shidou Akatsuki] (but he prefers “Ace”, regardless of the region) and Acid, the first synthetic Wizard built for combat, who combine to form Acid Ace. But with the mysterious Meteor G [Meteor Grave] drawing closer to Earth’s atmosphere and flooding the Wave World with dangerous levels of Noise radiation, MegaMan will need as much help as he can get to stop this new threat. But just who are the dastardly fiends behind Dealer? Do their nefarious plans have anything to do with the approaching asteroid? And most importantly, will Luna Platz win the election for student body president?

As I alluded to earlier, Star Force 3 makes some significant gameplay departures from the previous games in the series… but does it in the most familiar way imaginable. First and foremost, the screens have been flipped: the top screen now serves as the main screen for all gameplay segments, just like how the DS version of Battle Network 5 handled it. Having said that, MMSF3 doesn’t entirely drop the touch screen gimmickry of its predecessors. It just handles it in a much more mundane fashion – the Hunter-VG is essentially a zeerust-encrusted smartphone and the bottom screen’s raison d’être. So, instead of using it to solve puzzles or play minigames, the lower screen is now used for entering key codes, selecting floors on an elevator, checking emails, answering phone calls and thumbprint scanning. In other words, it’s essentially used to augment the DS’s limited button layout with a somewhat flashy interface.

To better emphasize how much more simplified streamlined MMSF3 is compared to its predecessors, the NaviCard and Matter Wave mechanics from the previous games have been dropped. There are points in the game where Geo gets to borrow other characters’ Wizards, but it only really happens twice in the game and their uses are significantly more mundane – Taurus can melt ice blocks and Acid has a sonar for tracking sensitive data. There are some fun minigame-type segments that feel a bit more advanced than the obstacles found in the game’s dungeons: there’s one where the player directs Omega-Xis to cut down enemies and another where MegaMan is in charge of blasting obstacles made of Noise to provide a path of attack for one of his allies. Likewise, Big Wave (the main shop in Echo Ridge) now has the ability to offer items from the various other stores found in the game world …in exchange for a 20% mark-up. Not quite as awesome as the Chip Order service from the Battle Network games, but it’s better than what the previous games offered, which was nothing. Cipher Codes can now also be redeemed by the shop’s Wizard, bringing it even more in line with MMBN’s Number Trader.

Likewise, the nature of the Wave World has changed slightly from previous games. For starters, whenever the Wave World is visible – be it when Geo is transformed into MegaMan or just wearing his Visualizer – regular humans become invisible, just leaving shadows behind. I’m not sure why Capcom made this decision, maybe they were worried about some kind of backlash against the Visualizer’s “Detective Vision”-esque superiority over the standard viewpoint, allowing the player to see everything. Geo can also Wave Change anywhere now, as opposed to relying on the EM Wave Holes from previous games. In fact, the Wave Holes themselves have been replaced by Wave Stations, which also serve as MegaMan’s way to get onto the Wave Road itself. But they do far more than that, they also show the player a world map, detail the viruses common to the area and allow MegaMan to download and equip different sets of 4 “White Cards”, which vary based on the area. These White Cards replace the “Favorite” mechanic from the first two games, except they are only available in predetermined sets and they exist outside of the standard 30-card folders, effectively expanding the player’s arsenal beyond the norm. Players can also set a “Default Card” to guarantee a specific Battle Card appears from the start, effectively identical to the Regular Chip mechanic from the Battle Network games, except there are no Memory limitations and only Standard Cards can be set as the Default. There are also special random encounters that warn the player in advance, disabling the ability to pause or interact with Mystery Waves, flashing a red “Warning” on the lower screen. These battles are more difficult than the standard ones, as they always utilize “Giant” variants of viruses. Finally, the Sky Wave from Star Force 2 has been replaced by the new “Astro Wave” [Cosmo Wave], which is functionally identical to its predecessor, except that it’s in the mesosphere and has been significantly streamlined.

Capcom also made some modifications to the battle system. For starters, players can select Battle Cards from the same row by default. No need for any transformations to activate that special ability this time around. Likewise, the Cards themselves are arranged far more haphazardly in Star Force 3. Sometimes, cards are hidden beneath others on the Custom Screen, limiting their usability. These covered cards can either be activated as “Single Use” Cards (meaning that they can’t be used with any others that turn) or as “Support Use” cards, granting them entirely new abilities which vary based on the Battle Card’s main element. Some of the secondary attack attributes last seen in MMBN6 (namely Sword, Wind and Break) also resurface, though these elements simply modify existing Battle Cards. In fact, certain Cards even boast multiple types: for example, the Scythe line of cards boast both Wind and Sword attributes, while still retaining its Null elemental status from previous games. 

The Personal/Best Combo mechanic has also been retired in favor of “Galaxy Advances”. Very much similar to the Program Advances from the Battle Network series, if three specific Battle Cards appear in the player’s hand during battle, they can be selected together – regardless of how they’re arranged, though they must all be on top – and they merge together into a larger card. Mr. Hertzes can still be collected in battle, but rather than granting the player a random Ability Wave power-up, they are essentially collected as a currency and can be traded at a special trading post for specific Abilities that can’t be found anywhere else. It’s kind of disturbing when you think about it, given how sentient they appear to be in-game.

Of course, the real star of the show is Noise, which permeates through every other new mechanic the game has to muster. Partway through the game, MegaMan is given the “Ace/Joker Program” (depending on the version of the game), a special Ability Wave (with a 0 Link Point cost!) that allows him to keep track of how much Noise is being generated in the area. The Noise level in a battle can be increased by finishing off viruses with non-elemental, “non-dimming” (i.e. the ones that activate instantly) Battle Cards, with the Noise percentage increasing by the difference between the Card’s damage score and the Virus’s remaining HP. For example, deleting a 40HP Mettenna with a Sword Card (80 Damage) would result in a 40% jump in Noise. Boss fights, conversely, grant the player half of all damage caused by the aforementioned type of Cards to be added to the Noise meter. It also appears that Counters increase the Noise level, but I can’t confirm that one way or the other. There are effectively three levels of Noise radiation: the green (0-50%) has no effect on gameplay; the yellow (50-100%) begins manifesting visual glitches on the battlefield and Red (100%+) is where things begin getting wild. Finishing a battle in the red grants players “Illegal Data”, rewarding the player with higher-than-usual amounts of Zenny, Noise Fragments and best of all, randomized Battle Cards – something that can allow players to grab powerful attacks far earlier than usual. Also, finishing a battle at 100% or higher Noise levels starts MegaMan at 50% in his next battle: anything lower will drop him back down to 0% at the start of the next battle. Finally, when the Noise level goes above 50%, it steadily decreases as the battle continues, remaining relatively constant at 50%.

While it’s been a common occurrence to pulse into Computer Cores throughout the Star Force games, MMSF3 also introduces the Noise Waves. Certain electronics generate dangerous amounts of Noise, effectively punching holes into a new dimension comprised entirely of the harmful radiation and populated by Noisms, EM beings (that seem almost like glitched-out Hertzes) comprised entirely of Noise. These areas are haphazardly designed, often contain rare items and can only be escaped by finding another hole back to the Real World – pulsing out is impossible. While these areas can be found from the start of the game, they only become relevant to the story later on as Dealer continues to weaponize Noise for their nefarious purposes, forcing MegaMan to rescue people from these dangerous areas.

Noise is even connected to the game’s main transformation gimmick. About halfway through the game, MegaMan is attacked by familiar foe Dark Phantom, who wants the power of the MegaMan’s new special Noise-cancelling program for his own, sending a horde of powerful viruses to attack MegaMan. But upon defeating them, MegaMan undergoes a strange transformation, his armor morphing to resemble an FM-ian’s appearance. This is the new Noise Change mechanic: a transformation that resembles the Double Soul and Cross systems from the latter half of Battle Network series but is functionally more similar to the Style Change from the second and third games, especially BN3’s take on it. As long as the “Ace/Joker Program” remains equipped, MegaMan will remain in his Noise Change form in battle. The basic Noise Change gives MegaMan some slight elemental advantages, usually by boosting the attack power of chips associated with that element. However, once the Noise levels hit 50%, MegaMan enters the “Vibrant Noise” state, represented by switching his color palette to better resemble the FM-ian that inspired the transformation. In this state, MegaMan has access to the transformation’s full suite of abilities, including a new Charge Shot and the Noise Force Big Bang (NFB) counterattack. However, if MegaMan gets hit by an attack associated with his elemental weakness, his Noise level drops to 0%, reverting his back to the base Noise Change form.

As the transformation is more or less permanent, MegaMan can only have one Noise Change equipped at a time. Having said that, new transformations can be obtained at random after completing battles. To mitigate that, there is a Noism hanging around on the Astro Wave that can allow the player to swap between their current transformation and the last one they had – which is technically better than nothing, but still feels a bit constraining for a mechanic that clearly benefits from experimentation. Per usual, two different versions of the game means two different sets of transformations, though Star Force 3 does handle it slightly differently from the usual. One set of transformations is simply far more common than the others – I’ve heard reports that there’s roughly a 3% chance of obtaining a Noise Change from the other version. The transformations themselves are all based on the FM-ian bosses from the first game, aside from one in each version that comes from Star Force 3 itself. Black Ace grants players access to transformations based on Libra Balance (Fire/Aqua, weak to Breaking), Bubble Cancer (Aqua), Gemini Spark (Elec), Queen Ophiuca (Wood) and newcomer Jack Corvus (Fire). Cygnus Wing (Null/Wind, weak to Sword), Taurus Fire (…Fire), Crown Thunder (Elec), Wolf Woods [Wolf Forest] (…Wood) and Queen Virgo (Aqua) are the common transformations found in Red Joker. There’s also a secret transformation (equally common in both versions) based on Rogue, but it’s rare and requires the player to forgo forging any “Real BrotherBands” via multiplayer.    

Star Force 3 also has an answer to the previous game’s Double Tribe mechanic with the “Multi-Noise Form”. By using Brother Cards from Real Brothers or “Opponent Noise” Cards by defeating people in multiplayer, MegaMan can stack two transformations together. They take on the Charge Shot, NFB attack, elemental weakness and even the color palette of the new form, while retaining the armor shape of their base form. There’s also the “Finalized Noise” transformation. Once Noise Levels hit 200% or higher, MegaMan gains access to Meteor G’s server, allowing him to transform into a powerful Noise Change based on either Acid Ace in the Black Ace version or Dread Joker [Grave Joker] in Red Joker. The transformation lasts for 3 turns, reduces their Noise levels to 0% and replaces their folder with one containing several powerful chips while Finalized. The level (and therefore, the strength) of the folder increases with the Noise Level, ranging from Level 1 at 200% all the way up to Level 11 when maxed out at 999% Noise.

I’d personally argue that MMSF3 is objectively superior to its predecessor in pretty much every way …and I doubt I’d get any pushback from making such a declaration. It continues the second game’s mission to reorganize existing mechanics into newer, more efficient forms, while keeping many elements that worked from the previous two games. It also benefits from having a much stronger narrative – both in terms of its scenario design and the underlying story surrounding it – than the previous game. Admittedly, the touch screen support feels tacked on for the most part and Noise Change takes a massive step backwards compared to other transformation mechanics seen in both the Star Force games themselves and even the latter half of its direct ancestor, the Battle Network series. But those just feel like minor gripes that do little to hold back the third entry in the series.

Yet despite all of that, I still think it’s only the second-best game in the series, still falling short of what the first Star Force delivered. And when I first reflected on my personal rankings for the series, I honestly felt that maybe I’d been too hard on Star Force 3 in the past and that upon reexamining it, it might just be my favorite game in the series this time around. But if anything, I probably forgot just how prominent my main issue with the game was. By this point in the Star Force series’ non-gaming finances were looking incredibly bleak – as far as I can tell, there was no toyline and the tie-in manga only lasted a whopping two chapters before getting shut down – so it’s clear that Capcom was willing to do anything to turn things around. In this case, “anything” meant catering to the Battle Network fanbase as much as humanly possible, to the detriment of whatever unique identity could have emerged from the first two games. Geo is a bit more light-hearted and “average” than he was in the second game, whereas these days he’s acting way more like Lan did. Harp Note begins to lean a bit more heavily into the “Roll.EXE” aspect of her role. Rogue, meanwhile, begins to pick up the slack as the aloof “ProtoMan.EXE” equivalent. Most prominent of all, Taurus Fire returns as a major character, serving as both a comic relief and MegaMan’s strong but clumsy pal, sort of like …GutsMan.EXE. And it’s not just the writing: the Noise Change mechanic in particular reeks of Battle Network and the fact that it leans so heavily on MMSF1’s narrative for theming makes it even more blatant – and only three of the bosses that were used as inspirations for these transformations actually appear in-game. And Galaxy Advances are literally just Program Advances with a new name.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of both series. But that might actually be what bothers me the most about this game: it fails to scratch the itch that a “Star Force 3” should have been able to satisfy, but it’s also clearly not “Battle Network 7” either. It falls in this weird middle ground, it’s more “Star Force” than it is “Battle Network” for sure, but it just serves to muddle the issue. But even when it came to the MegaMan platformers, Capcom always went out of their way to distinguish each iteration of the series from one another… even managing to create a distinction between the ZX games and its obvious predecessor, the Zero series. So, the fact that Capcom would even consider sacrificing Star Force’s identity to cater to a much larger fanbase – and I think it’s safe to say that they did more than just consider it – feels like a bit of a betrayal, even if I can understand the reasoning behind it.

For the most part, the graphics are similar to the previous games in the Star Force series, but I’d still say that MMSF3 is the looker of the series. I’m not sure if it’s just my eyes playing tricks on me, but the 3D models seem more detailed, even occasionally showcasing some mild animations at times – seeing Dread Joker activate his visor at the start of each battle gives me goosebumps. The glitching associated with Noise radiation is also a nice flourish and even the scene transitions feel a little more ornate than they did in Star Force 2. And that flashy new touch-screen interface is a lot easier on the eyes than the profile screens from the first two games.

Composer Yoshino Aoki returns for the third game, but this time she’s joined by fellow MMBN alum Akari Kaida. And this dream team definitely delivers the goods this time around, delivering a musical masterpiece easily on par with the first game in the series. My clear favorite track in the game would be the one that plays in Spade Magnes’s area, aptly titled “Rocket Emergency!”, but choosing a mere five other tracks to spotlight is a difficult undertaking. In the end, I went with the following: “Theme of Dealer” (pretty self-explanatory); the standard battle theme “Wave Battle”; “Noise World”, a haunting piece that plays whenever MegaMan explores a Noise Wave; “Crimson Machine”, the theme that plays in Dread Joker’s area and the final dungeon theme, “Fragments of Memory ~METEOR SERVER~”.

Surprisingly enough, Shinji Amagishi doesn’t return to handle the sound effects this time around. Instead, sound design was handled by Wataru Hama – who previously handled the sound effects for Resident Evil: Director’s Cut (as well as the original releases of 2 and 3), the first two Sengoku Basara games and Under the Skin – and Masatomo Tajima, who worked on Zack & wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure. The pair also previously worked on Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite together. Their style is definitely different from Mr. Amagishi’s work in the previous games, opting for a much more “realistic future” sound than the fantastic theming from the previous games in the series (not to mention the Battle Network games). Like MMSF2 previously, the game also incorporates some voice acting, but this time around, it’s been dubbed in English – much like how Advent handled things after the original MMZX trimmed most of the dialogue. Having said that, there really isn’t that much dialogue, so the voicework doesn’t suffer from the bit-crunching that Advent did on the DS. Everything sounds crisp and clear and while we’re still in the era where English voice acting in Japanese-developed video games were still a little cringe-inducing, it’s not that bad in the long run.

Meanwhile, there’s some new faces at Echo Ridge Elementary. A new student named Jack joins the fifth-grade class, while his older sister Ms. Tia serves as their new teacher’s aide. But with the excitement of a new classmate and teacher comes some strange phenomena. First, the Science Club’s rocket goes haywire as the mild-mannered pilot Wizard Magnes transforms into the sadistic swordsman Spade Magnes. Then, when Geo and his friends are invited to serve as extras in Sonia Strumm’s TV show being filmed at WBG Studios [Okudama Studio], Bud mysteriously transforms into Taurus Fire once again. But once things are under control and the famous hero MegaMan takes the special guest role from an aspiring actress, her cutthroat manager Wizard Ice transforms into the puckish Diamond Ice, freezing several Real Waves solid – including the stage where Sonia’s performing a concert after they wrap up filming. To make matters worse, a class trip to Alohaha [Shisa Island] becomes a disaster when Strong, the stoic Wizard in charge of the island’s environmental control system, is transformed into the barbaric tyrant Club Strong. Odder still, each of these transformations seemed to be triggered by a mysterious playing card… and when the Wizards all revert back to normal, a huge amount of Noise radiation is released, which crystalizes into red crystals before mysteriously floating away.

As it turns out, these incidents were the work of Dealer. This criminal organization is led by prominent philanthropist Mr. King, the founder of the King Organization, a charity seemingly dedicated to making life better for orphans. In reality, it allows King to recruit the most talented children into foot soldiers for Dealer’s illicit activities. While many children have been lost due to their incompetence, two of his most promising young agents still remain: Jack and (Queen) Tia. The brother and sister have even been blessed with their own FM-ian partners – Corvus and Virgo were two of Planet Andromeda’s most dangerous criminals, having a history with former jailer Omega-Xis. As such, they can Wave Change into Jack Corvus and Queen Virgo (imaginative names, I know). There’s also the group’s newest member, the imposing giant known simply as “Joker”. Finally, there’s Mr. King’s girl Friday, the aptly named Heartless, who completes the punny playing card naming scheme. By attaching Noise Cards to Wizards, they’re able to corrupt and mutate them into dangerous monsters, capable of great destruction. But the chaos that ensues is a mere side effect of their true plan. The red crystals that emerge after each confrontation with one of Dealer’s unwilling agents is known as “Crimson” and Mr. King has been gathering it with one goal in mind. He seeks to take control of Meteor G (which is comprised entirely of Crimson) for unknown purposes.

Unfortunately, right after Geo discovers Jack and Tia’s true identities, Joker arrives on the scene and calmly demands the two return to base. Just then, Luna arrives on the scene …recognizing the Wave Changed Jack and Ms. Tia instantly. Intrigued by MegaMan’s massive jump in battle power when he destroyed Strong, the towering adversary decides to see what doing the same to one of his dearest friends would do and blasts the young woman to bits right in front of him. Even the stoic Tia and snarling Jack are disturbed by this action, as Geo falls to his knees, absolutely distraught. A few days later, Geo and his group of friends are still mourning the loss of their beloved Prez, when Geo notices that his BrotherBand with Luna still hasn’t been severed. In fact, no one’s link with her has been severed. After a brief talk with Aaron Boreal – who is repairing Strong in Alohaha – Geo decides to seek the help of Dr. Goodall [Dr. Yoiri], the world’s most brilliant scientist and a former mentor of Mr. Boreal (and Geo’s father). She admits that the odds are against them, but tasks Geo, Omega-Xis and Acid with finding the remaining data. Meanwhile, Dealer begins an assault on an important location: WAZA (the successor to NAZA) has only one base of operations left and it’s also Satella Police Headquarters. But what’s even stranger is what they’re using to attack. The various battles with MegaMan has yielded enough data to create an endless supply of copies of Omega-Xis!

With all of Prez’s data recovered, MegaMan makes his way back to Satella HQ, when he’s accosted by an old foe: Dark Phantom has returned with a new script in hand, one set to make him all-powerful and send the Blue Bomber to his doom! After deftly dodging the demented director’s devious devastation, Geo and Mega make their way back to base, where they make quick work of Omega’s cut-rate copycats. But it was all just meant to wear down the Satella Police – Queen Tia’s been watching the whole time, waiting to strike. Transforming into Queen Virgo, she prepares for battle …with by the newly transformed Acid Ace. And it’s a good thing too, because MegaMan has troubles all his own. Dark Phantom followed him and is holding Zack and Dr. Goodall hostage. After defeating the wacky writer once again, he has a complete meltdown, stepping off the Wave Road into the abyss. And just in time, too. It turns out Ace can only remain transformed for so long without doing extreme damage to his body and Acid makes the decision to cut the Wave Change before anything irreversible hits Ace. With both combatants weary, MegaMan is forced to take on Queen Virgo and defeats her, allowing the Satella Police to take her into custody. But the most shocking revelation of all is that Ace was once a member of Dealer himself …which honestly, just explains his nickname. Still weak from combat, Ace enlists MegaMan along with Harp Note and the newly reformed Taurus Fire to join the Satella Police Commandos and fulfill a new purpose, Crush Dealer Foil Dealer’s Plan.

But before they can take the fight to Dealer, Geo has another equally important Purpose to fulfill: to help Luna become Student Body President. But on the day of the election, Jack Corvus decides to make his move to free his sister, attacking the school. To make matters worse, Solo has resurfaced. But despite being annoyed with Satella Police’s offer to join the Commandos, he’s even angrier at Dealer for stealing Mu technology for their purposes. The two rivals decide to put aside their differences to reach the school roof, where Jack Corvus is waiting for them. But one kind word too many causes Rogue to reassert his loner status, challenging MegaMan to a rematch – which the Blue Bomber handily wins. Even with that distraction, MegaMan makes it to the young Dealer agent just in time and the two face off. While the young hothead had the advantage the first time they met in combat, Geo and Omega-Xis emerge victorious this time. And best of all, Luna ended up winning the election for Student Body President!

With his two young agents detained, Mr. King decides to accelerate his timetable – causing Wizards all over Electopia to go berserk from Noise poisoning and siphoning off the resulting Crimson when the Satella Police takes them down. When a particularly large group of corrupted Wizards begin to attack WBG Studios, MegaMan and Acid Ace team up to take them down. But Joker is there to collect the Crimson. It’s then that the truth comes out: Joker is no mere human, he’s a powerful Wizard with a connection to Meteor G. And he and Acid have a close connection. With that, he saturates Acid Ace with Noise, forcing him to Finalize into his true form – Acid Ace Black [Acid Ace Illegal]. In this form, the former hero of justice goes berserk, attacking friend and foe alike. MegaMan can barely survive the onslaught until Acid Ace reverts to normal. But the stress of Finalization has left Ace hospitalized and Acid’s survival in question.

Boasting more than enough Crimson to fully control Meteor G, Mr. King gives the world an ultimatum: surrender the world to him or be blasted back to the stone age by the power of the Noise-based meteor. To show that he means business, he blasts WAZA’s headquarters, blanketing it in an impenetrable layer of solidified Noise and when WBG Studios broadcasts a message to resist, they meet the same fate. To save the people still trapped inside, Omega-Xis manages to tear holes into the Noise Wave, allowing MegaMan to rescue the people trapped inside both locations. And after further investigation, Geo and Mega manage to find the way to Dealer’s secret base. After leading a group of Satella Commandos inside and disabling the criminal organization’s Crimson Machine. But when MegaMan makes it inside, Ace transforms once again …and Finalizes once again. With no other choice, Geo must defeat his corrupted comrade in combat. After that, Acid Ace reverts to his normal form and decides to team up with MegaMan – before coldcocking Geo, knocking him out cold. He heads toward Dealer’s inner sanctum alone, but not before telling Omega-Xis that he trusts that MegaMan is the only other person capable of saving the world. Turns out he’s right: Joker easily defeated the reckless cop by the time MegaMan regains consciousness. With no other options, Geo and Omega-Xis come face-to-face with the massive Wizard’s true form, Dread Joker. The battle is hard-fought, but our heroes emerge victorious, leaving Joker crippled. It seems that King’s plan for world domination has failed as Jack and Tia appear on the scene seeking revenge after their “dear father” left them to rot in a jail cell, when Joker activates a self-destruct program. With no other options, Ace Finalizes one last time and absorbs the brunt of the blast. As the dust settles, Ace, Acid and Joker have vanished, leaving a giant collection of Crimson left in their stead. Geo is devastated by this loss, but quickly redoubles his efforts to stop Dealer with some goading from Omega. After all, they can’t let his sacrifice go to waste.

Meanwhile, Mr. King and Heartless have escaped to his orbital base. It’s there that Heartless reveals herself as the main saboteur to Dealer’s plans, even giving MegaMan access to their base. And to make sure King doesn’t stop her, she traps him in a Noise Wave. What she wasn’t expecting was that Queen Tia and Jack would beat Geo there …and they decide to send Meteor G on a collision course with Earth itself. MegaMan arrives too late to stop them but asks Heartless why she would help him. It turns out she was once a colleague of Kelvin’s and has located him. It turns out that he is trapped at the very center of Meteor G itself and has been trying to prevent it from colliding with the Earth, but his strength is beginning to wane. With this information, MegaMan and his allies plan to get him to Meteor G’s surface, so he can stop the asteroid and save his father.

One day later, the preparations have been made and using a giant Wave Station, MegaMan pulses into the science club’s rocket – now especially Noise-resistant due to Magnes’s brush with Dealer. From there, he’s able to reach the meteor’s surface and using some special data his father left to his mother before his fateful trip into space, he steadily makes his way inside. But before he can reach its core, Jack Corvus and Queen Virgo stop him and explain the wish they had. They wish to destroy the world’s technology, regardless of whether 80% of the world’s population would die in the process. It turns out that before they were orphaned, Tia and Jack were the children of the ruler of a small country that had made some massive leaps in EM Wave technology – something that made them a target for other, more powerful nations. With their home utterly destroyed, they were left homeless and they blamed technology itself for their woes. Fighting the brother and sister becomes a battle of wills, but MegaMan emerges victorious. However, Jack and Tia come to the conclusion that perhaps they were misguided all along, a revelation that Corvus and Virgo can’t abide by. But suddenly, the two FM-ians are struck down by Rogue, who reluctantly offers to take them back to Earth safely (as long as they don’t slow him down).

With nothing left standing in their way, Geo and Omega-Xis make their way to the core, where they finally come face-to-face with Kelvin Stelar himself. But this joyful reunion is cut short almost immediately. It turns out that Mr. King has transformed into an EM Wave being himself and decides that if he can’t rule the world through intimidation, he’ll destroy it. He merges with the core, transforming it into a Crimson Dragon. And to add insult to injury, he decides to absorb Kelvin as well, adding Stelar’s considerable power to that of Meteor G. MegaMan erupts with anger and prepares for one last battle with the Crimson Dragon. Eventually, he’s able to delete Mr. King, but the Dragon still persists, growing more erratic and powerful in the process. Eventually, MegaMan Finalizes and lets loose one final powerful attack to destroy the dragon once and for all, leaving Meteor G to disintegrate.

In the end, Geo used up the last of his strength and is left floating in space, drifting in and out of consciousness, with just an EM Wave barrier to protect him. With the world hearing of MegaMan’s victory, they decide to form a world-spanning team with one purpose: “Bring Geo Home”. All over the world, Geo’s friends, complete strangers and even former enemies work together, contributing everything they can to find Geo out in space and bring him back to Earth. Eventually, they get a lock on him and Omega-Xis and Kelvin decide to give him one last push back home, promising that they’ll see him soon. And then, two weeks later, they make good on their promise, with Mega and Kelvin descending back to Earth as blue shooting stars. And so, the story concludes with an image of the Stelar family – Kelvin, Hope, Geo and yes, even Omega-Xis – engaging in a group hug.

Unfortunately, the reality of Star Force 3 was far less cheery overall. Japanese sales were even lower than that of the previous game, with 65,356 units moved on its first week and a mere 217,312 sold overall. This means that the only mainline Battle Network game it managed to outsell in its home country was the very first, though it did also manage to beat the staggered releases of Team Colonel and EXE 3 Black. VGChartz estimates that it sold roughly that well in North America as well, but those figures can be taken with a grain of salt. Considering the fact that by this point, Star Force had lost all of the ancillary media that made its predecessor a financial powerhouse, these sales figures painted a bleak future for the franchise. But Capcom had one last trick up their sleeve. In order to guarantee a future for Geo Stelar, Omega-Xis and their friends, they would look to the distant past of 2001…

Rockman.EXE Operate Shooting Star

To me, Rockman.EXE Operate Shooting Star feels like of another DS remake of a Capcom game from the Game Boy Advance: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney. Both games were enhanced remasters with extra content that utilized the DS’s unique features in an effort to improve engagement. But while the new version of Ace Attorney would be an international debut for the popular Japanese visual novel, Operate Shooting Star would end up being a Japan-exclusive enhancement to a game that launched worldwide nearly a decade before. PWAA’s new content would eventually serve as a springboard for future games in the series, while OSS effectively advertised a sequel series that already existed.

Operate Shooting Star adds a new prologue to the original Battle Network’s story, one that takes place sometime after the events of the third Star Force game. Shooting Star Rockman and his friends are at a WAZA laboratory, where Dr. Yoiri has revealed a warp hole that leads back to the past. Harp Note was abducted by a mysterious figure known simply as “ClockMan.EXE” and dragged back into the Inderned Internet roughly 200 years in the past. But before Subaru and Warrock travel back in time, the brilliant doctor warns them that the warp hole is only good for a one-way trip: Rockman’s only chance of making it back to the 23^rd century is by finding the timepiece-topped tyrant and rescuing his friend. With the risks known, Subaru heroically steps in. After getting his bearings on the primitive internet, our hero watches stoically as the portal between time periods collapses. As he begins his search for Harp Note, our young hero from the future is unaware that he’s about to witness the birth of a legend…

For the most part, Operate Shooting Star is identical to the 2001 GBA release of Battle Network Rockman.EXE, both in terms of content and the underlying game engine itself. However, Capcom did make various quality of life upgrades to bring the first game in the series more in line with later iterations. For starters, players can escape from battle by pressing the L button from the Custom Screen – a feature that first appeared in the second game. However, since the Escape Battle Chip is still present in OSS, this mechanic is about as reliable as it was in EXE2. Another addition from EXE2 that makes it into OSS is the “*” Battle Chip code. Perhaps my favorite new feature is that the lower screen displays maps to all of the Cyberworld areas, likely as a means to combat their outright Escheresque designs. There have also been some slight balance tweaks made to the game: for example, they removed the charge mechanic from the battery puzzles and the invisible pathways will occasionally be illuminated by flickering lights and slightly redesigned the most difficult section of IceMan’s area (as well as disabling random battles in that section). In fact, the game’s entire encounter rate has been decreased. Likewise, Rockman and Netto both run by default now, holding the B button causes them to walk normally. I think that was added to compensate for fans of the sequel series, as the Ryuusei no Rockman games didn’t have a run button at all. Finally, Operate Shooting Star removes the Armor mechanic from the original game and rebalances some existing Battle Chips as well as adding some new Chips (and Program Advances) themed around OSS’s new content and the RnR series in general.

The biggest draw for this version of the game is easily the second playable character. As alluded to by the prologue and the game’s title, players eventually gain the ability to control Shooting Star Rockman, in all his glory. And despite the fact that the Ryuusei no Rockman games operated under a different set of battle mechanics when compared to their predecessor, the developers made absolutely sure to make the character feel accurate to his series of origin. As such, Subaru has many of his trademark abilities. Holding down the Buster button lets loose with a volley of rapid-fire shots (though it’s a bit constrained to keep things in line with Battle Network’s overall speed). He also automatically charges up his Buster and by pressing the Y button, he can pull up his trademark shield – though the recovery time is a bit longer than it is in the RnR series. But the best part about this character is the return of his signature lock-on. Pressing the X button activates the lock-on and once he targets an enemy, he automatically gets in perfect range to use whatever Battle Chip he’s using. On top of that, Shooting Star Rockman’s movement speed is more in line with the later, more refined games in the EXE series. But my favorite feature of all is probably the wacky conversations that Warrock and Subaru have with Netto and Rockman.EXE by touching his portrait on the bottom screen during normal gameplay.

OSS also adds a unique new multiplayer mode, call Rockman Star Colosseum – or “Rock☆Colo” for short. It’s essentially a battle mode that feels like a cross between the standard overworld gameplay from the series in general, Bomberman and the traditional battle mode from the various Mario Kart games. Basically, players are scattered throughout a game map, based on various Cyberworld environments from both EXE and RnR (and even a few based in the “real world”) and players can fight with their character’s standard weaponry or various power-ups littered throughout the area. There’s also a single-player mode where players can duke it out with Forte.EXE, but the main appeal is clearly the multiplayer. Players can choose between Rockman.EXE, Shooting Star Rockman and Blues, though Forte can also be unlocked as a playable character. Hosting and winning matches grants the player points that can be used in a special store found in Netto’s PC, allowing player to buy powerful and rare chips. It’s an interesting curiosity of a mode that adds something unique to the game’s multiplayer offerings, but not much else.

Operate Shooting Star is another one of those games that I went into this retrospective completely blind on. All I remember hearing with regards to this game is that it’s “the definitive way to play the original MMBN”. Having gone through the complete story mode, I’m left with mixed opinions. OSS definitely makes some much-needed improvements to the GBA launch title, but at the same time, there were definitely some major issues that seemed to be ignored for the sake of solving more superficial problems. It was probably for the best that I started this year’s batch of retrospectives with the original version, because having roughly a decade to “detox” from the Battle Network and Star Force series allowed me to forgive many of the original game’s foibles. But marathoning the entire series (and its successor) over the past few months has done them no favor. It probably puts me more in the mindset of the audience at the time of its release though.

And worst of all, for all the improvements this new version made, they managed to ignore its most crippling flaw. The battle controls are just as stiff and unresponsive as they were in the original Battle Network, but I am far more willing to forgive that in a game that was literally rushed out to meet the Japanese system launch for the Game Boy Advance than a game that was released well into its successor’s life. And the worst part of all is …technically, they did fix it. But only if you’re playing as Shooting Star Rockman: a character you only unlock more than two-thirds into the game. And believe me, even that’s a double-edged sword. SS Rockman’s gimmicks absolutely break this game. But to be honest, they’d break any Battle Network game. Imagine playing through MegaMan 2 for the NES (or God forbid, even the very first game) with the character MegaMan X, with all physics, controls, and abilities from the later title intact – which sounds like a ROM hack I’m surprised doesn’t already exist. So, players are essentially left with the option of playing the unaltered laggy gameplay from 2001 or what essentially boils down to a “White Tanooki Suit”. Having said that, I would agree that it is a slight improvement over the original version but considering the lack of an official English version (and the fact that the original version is far more common), I’d only recommend this to people who are put off by some of the more unbalanced segments of the original game, but still insist on playing it themselves (as opposed to just watching a longplay video online).

The graphics are, for the most part, unaltered from the original version. The major characters in the game do get a new set of mugshots, which look slightly better at best and downright bizarre at worst – seriously, what did they make Rockman look like such a bug-eyed freak in this? They even got his eye color wrong, somehow! Very few graphical elements are directly recycled from the Star Force games, but the new sprite-work that was made for the special scenario looks great for the most part: Burai’s cameo looks a bit weird though. The game’s menus have also been redesigned (for the better, in my opinion), while the bottom screen either displays the PET screen and Cyberworld maps, depending on whether Rockman’s plugged in or not. The final visual flourish that OSS adds is a new opening that emphasizes the crossover content more than the fact that it’s a re-release of the first game. 

The game’s soundtrack was credited to Akari Kaida, Yoshino Aoki and Marika Suzuki, because OSS basically just reused compositions from the original Rockman.EXE and the first two Ryuusei no Rockman games. While the songs from the latter two games are taken directly from the original compositions, the original soundtrack has been slightly rearranged… to the music’s detriment. It just baffles me, but for some reason, transcribing audio tracks that were originally developed for the Game Boy Advance on the DS’s native sound chip just never seems to turn out too well. I’ve seen people complain that the music has a very distinct echo to it, and while I can hear that on certain tracks, my main complaint is the “tinny” sound that every rearranged MMBN track has to it. Everything just sounds… hollow. Of course, maybe I’m still just bitter that this game didn’t get the MMBN5 Double Team DS treatment – you know, with full-on rearranged tracks instead of just shoddily-instrumented retreads that somehow manage to be worse than the tracks found in the MegaMan Zero Collection, which were at least a lateral move. In their place, there is a lot (and I mean, a lot) of voice acting in this game. And as much as I complained about the “cringe-inducing” English dubs of MMSF3 and ZX Advent, Operate Shooting Star’s use of the gimmick is infinitely worse. This game has a lot of Japanese women pretending to be young boys screaming in it. Seriously, the sound of Rockman.EXE getting deleted has been singed into my brain now …and I absolutely hate it.

After (well, technically before, due to the whole time-travel thing) the prologue, the story of the first Battle Network game plays out normally, all the way up to Elecman’s takeover of the government complex’s underground power plant. From there, Count Elec and Madoi Iroaya – two WWW operatives that were humiliated by Netto Hikari and had their Navis deleted by Rockman.EXE – conspire to kidnap Lan’s little girlfriend friend that is a girl (and her little pink Navi too!). Sometime after the incident, Netto is lost in thought about what he should do about the WWW asks Rockman.EXE what he thinks. Rockman tells his Operator that he’s willing to fight them after their recent attacks impacted their friends and family, but this discussion is interrupted when Meiru contacts them in a panic. Some mysterious Navi kidnapped Roll, so Lan decides to head over to her place to figure things out. To make matters even more shocking, Netto finds the two World 3 members outside her house, babbling about “a blue Navi walking around in the real world”. Worse yet, Meiru is too stunned by the events to offer much more information: just that a mysterious blue Navi (that looked sort of like Rockman) walked into her home, jumped into her keyboard and the next thing she knew, Roll had been abducted. Burning with uncharacteristic determination, Rockman.EXE gives chase, dodging attacks from the stoic kidnapper, until he’s cornered. The two battle it out, with our hero emerging victorious, but the sore loser escapes into a mysterious portal, that sort of looks like a clock. Not remotely fazed by Netto’s (again, very uncharacteristic) warning, Rockman gives chase, only to find that the mysterious assailant has disappeared …and Roll is standing on a clock-shaped platform, completely unaware of what’s happening. Rockman begins making his way toward her, but when he steps on another clock-shaped platform, he slows to a crawl before stopping still. The mystery Navi suddenly appears, cursing his failed attempts at leaving history unaltered – even admitting he threw the fight with his namesake to avoid any time paradoxes. He calls out to Netto, asking for an opportunity to explain himself.

Stepping out of Meiru’s keyboard, the mysterious boy introduces himself as the Rockman from 200 years in the future, explaining that he’s actually a human named Subaru Hoshikawa that merged with a “Navi”, which causes his “arm Navi” Warrock to speak up and introduce himself. He also explains that he came back in time to rescue someone “very special to him” from the real kidnapper. Meiru corroborates this story, explaining that the blue Navi was chasing after a green one, the one who kidnapped Roll in the first place. Subaru also explains that he’ll need data from a clock in order to free this era’s Rockman from the time trap. While clocks are rare in 200X – everyone just uses their PETs to tell time – Netto remembers that Dekao has one at his house, but without Rockman.EXE, he can’t possibly access it. Shooting Star Rockman offers his services in the meantime, taking refuge in Netto’s terminal, to avoid any more interactions with the past. The pair successfully fight off a virus protecting the data and return to free Rockman.EXE, bringing him up to speed with the current situation. From there, two more traps remain, so both Rockmen (Rockmans?) work together to find more clocks to take data from and eventually make their way to the main chamber. But for whatever reason, Subaru’s friend and Roll remain completely petrified.

Suddenly, ClockMan appears on the scene and explains his master plan: he seeks to kidnap the most beautiful Navis throughout history and keep them for himself. Both Rockmen are absolutely disgusted by the sheer vileness of the futuristic Navi’s actions and team up to take him out. The battle is hard-fought, but the heroes eventually emerge victorious. After ClockMan is destroyed, Roll and Harp Note awaken, confused about their current situation but thankful that the Rockman from their respective time periods came to their rescue. Suddenly, a new time portal opens up and while Subaru isn’t sure if it’s the way home, he’s willing to take the risk. Fortunately, some familiar voices on the other end confirm that it is the way back to the 23^rd century. While saying their goodbyes, Subaru asks Netto if he’s willing to become his Brother, leaving him a special program as a sign of their friendship. Inspired by both Rockman.EXE’s determination to save Roll and Subaru’s willingness to risk everything to save Harp Note, Lan decides that he wants to take the fight to the WWW himself. From that point on, the story gets back on track – aside from a new scene during the credits, showing Shooting Star Rockman and Harp Note returning home to their own time period, greeted by their friends.

Unfortunately, low sales would mean that this would be the last adventure of the Shooting Star Rockman of the 23^rd century. The game was a Japanese exclusive, so its overall performance was bound to be less impressive compared to the mainline entries. But while the 31,013 units sold in the game’s first week seemed like a decent start, OSS has sold a mere 73,374 copies to date, proving that a re-release of a 2001 game with content that exemplified just how poorly it aged just didn’t have the legs Capcom expected of it. To put that in perspective, the Japanese sales of every mainline Battle Network (including EXE 3 Black, EXE 5: Team of Colonel and even Twin Leaders DS), Star Force, Zero and Legends game – as well as Network Transmission, MegaMan Xtreme 2, the Game Boy Advance re-release of MegaMan & Bass and every mainline X game (besides X8) – were more successful and all of those games also had foreign releases to shore up their overall numbers as well. In fact, we’d discover years later that Capcom was actually planning a fourth Star Force game, but it wouldn’t even get greenlit in the end. While no information about the game itself or why it was scrapped has been revealed to the public by Capcom themselves, it seems like a safe assumption that Operate Shooting Star’s poor performance was one of the most prominent nails in MMSF4’s coffin. But that’s a story for another time.

Honestly, things for the MegaMan franchise as a whole get much bleaker after the Star Force trilogy met its conclusion. Whether you consider the North American release of MMSF3 or Operate Shooting Star as its final major release, 2009 was when Capcom closed the book on that particular leg of the franchise. To put that in perspective, the only other major releases involving MegaMan around that period were 2008’s MegaMan 9 and 2010’s MegaMan 10 – and both of those were digital releases. After the latter game was released, an entire slate of upcoming MegaMan titles was wiped clean and after the Blue Bomber’s adoptive father Keiji Inafune departed from Capcom, it seemed like the entire franchise’s future was in jeopardy. Fortunately, things have gotten a bit less morose after the release of MegaMan 11 back in 2018. But aside from various cameos, compilations and curios, the iterations of the character outside the Classic Blue Bomber have yet to reemerge in the realm of console (and PC) gaming. I just hope that when other series begin to emerge from their long dormancy, the dynamic duo of Geo Stelar and Omega-Xis are among the characters that get a second lease on life.