My buddy Toad Titan found and cleaned up this rare 1992 promotional tape for Rockman 5, Rockman World 3 and RockBoard. The origins of the tape aren't exactly know, but it appears to be meant for retailers to drum up hype for these three titles.
In any case, there's a number of neat things to see here. The footage for Rockman 5 features several differences from the retail version of the game. For example, there's a scene of Octoper OA with his missing tentacle (cut from the final version) and some special weapons have different mechanics. Other interesting things to see include a barrage of Rockman 5 boss designs, unseen and extended scenes from the Rockman 5 TV spot, gameplay from a development version of RockBoard, and a look at then-upcoming goods.
If you've got 20-minutes to spare, give it a watch! It's a neat reminder of an era long past.
The video was cool. Also, that girl voice in the last part..... is Rockman's VA?
ReplyDeleteNo, that's not his VA.
DeleteThe special weapons in RM5 look very different. Footage starts at 2:50.
ReplyDelete- Charge Kick seems about the same.
- Star Crash has a single, slowly orbiting star, which then homes in on an enemy.
- Gravity Hold looks like a typical time stopper... which unhelpfully turns the entire stage black.
- Gyro Attack can change direction multiple times, including horizontally.
Also check out the Gyro Man stage footage at 5:30. There's a "K" letter embedded in the last dropping platform. It's much simpler looking and has a different placement from the final game. Also there's no sound effect when it's picked up.
(As a side note, I dig the music arrangements used in these videos and other commercials. Wish Capcom would release them sometime.)
Here is a list of what I noted, starting chronologically from 2:50 onwards:
Delete2:50: different enemy choice / placement at the start of crystal man stage
dfifferent palette for the shielded cannon in stone man stage
in wave man stage: missing the hp at the end of the first scroll, and the 2nd scroll is different, like mirrored and instead of the Gas there is a hidden cannon
The next scroll is also different, but it looks empty as if not done yet
After the bubble gimmick part: going right it's a single continuous scroll instead of a having 2 scrolls
charge man stage: the bomb thrower enemies have 4 hps instead of 3; + in this scroll in the final game there are Lyric enemies instead of bomb throwers
Gravity Man stage: in the first screen there is a small hp and the wall is different, also in the final version the Nobita enemy at the bottom has a different placemant and there is another Suzy G at the top
Then, the gravity gimmick makes no sound and at the end of the scroll there is an E tank instead of a 1up
stone man stage: the enemies are missing in the first scroll. The baby metools act differently. The M tank is where there is a "MegaMan5" letter in the final version.
crystal man stage: the timing of the falling crystal gimmick seems different. In the part with the space metools, there is only 1 of them at the end of the scroll rather than 3.
napalm man stage: the tigers have 4 HPs as well instead of 3. also the design of the scroll is different, with more spikes on the ground
As for what you said about the "K letter embedded in the block" in Gyro Man stage, I think that's not it. I think the letters weren't done yet and so for now they're just symbols. We can see another symbol in stone man stage at 6:45 on the right of the screen, which I think corresponds to the letter. Indeed we see an M tank where the letter is in the final version, and a symbol where the M tank is in the final version, so I think initially their placement was reversed.
Conclusion: this seems to be quite an early version, as we see a lot of empty spaces and unfinished enemy and weapon behaviours. The robot masters portraits aren't done in the stage select screen either. It's worth noting that initially some enemies had more HPs and therefore the charge shot didn't annihilate everything in one shot.
It is hard to believe that there was a time when people not only got 1 but 3 Rockman game annoucements. And they even made some graphics and little animations just for that :'(
ReplyDeleteT_T Rockman... where are you?!
DeleteI think that boss icon in Rockboard is also different. Rush looks kinda different when he comes in too (the mouth).
ReplyDeleteI love Mega Man III. It's my favorite of the Game Boy titles.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but notice that the arranged music kind of sounds like it was done with the Mega Man 7 sample set. I'm sure that's mostly a coincidence, though.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this, Brian & Toad Titan! Made riding an exercise bike bearable, lol
ReplyDeletedoes anyone know where I can find that OST arranged?
ReplyDeleteFascinating. So Beat would come from an old Star Man weapon?
ReplyDeleteAlso, a short part of the footage is seemingly taken from a Rockman 3 advertisement.