Fan-Game "Mega Man Y+1" First Look & Demo Now Available!

 

Following up on our SAGE 2020 coverage of Mega Man Perfect Blue, another major standout title from the expo was LMTeam's Mega Man Y+1. We got some more information on this project from the developers. Find out more and hit up the playable demo after the break!

  

Since we haven't covered Mega Man Y+1 before, let's get up to speed. Mega Man Y+1 is a fan-game in traditional 8-bit style but it's a bit more akin to the likes of Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10 in that it features graphics, effects and music that simply wouldn't have been possible back in the days of the good ol' NES.

     

Many thanks to Mel who works on the project for taking the time to answer some questions about this project. The original idea for the project started back in 2015 after being inspired by other Mega Man fan projects. 

It was just a small idea I had following some fun activities that I've done with friends, I saw the likes of Mega Man Infamous Intent at the time, and had the idea to give that a shot, maybe something cool would come out.


Formally, though, we did get started around December of that same year. That's when a few of us on the team made the push to get several artists, programmers, musicians involved with the project. (and while we got a lot of people interested, it was super early on - if you want to develop your fan game, I highly advise against making it public too soon, a mistake we've made.)

The game has gone through many different iterations since the project first started with multiple programmers. The game was originally going to use the "Mega Engine" framework but it's now almost completely custom made. Even some of the playable characters and original Robot Masters were changed during development. (R.I.P Spook/Fright Man. You lived as you were.. dead... Undead?) 

We certainly had our lows, our highs, and everything in-between. I think it's important for people to recognize that making a fan game (or a game in general) isn't easy at all, even if you have a tonne of help from other people or whatever - we're all just doing this in our spare time.

 

So why is it called Mega Man Y+1? Well the developers explanation was that "Y" means "the latest Mega Man game." It's also a play on past Mega Man fan-games using names such as Mega Man 10 or Mega Man 11 only to have to change the name of their project when Capcom released the next title in the franchise. Using "Y" meant they'd always stay one step ahead. 

A lot of time and passion has gone into this project and I can say that from playing the demo you certainly can tell! 

 

LMTeam released the recent demo - which is packed with content, for the SAGE 2020 expo (i.e Sonic Amateur Games Expo) an expo for mainly Sonic The Hedgehog fan game developers to meet and show off their new and upcoming projects, although a lot of Mega Man fan-games have also made an appearance. 

The demo consists of three full Robot Master stages (Timber Man, Volt Man and Toxic Man) with special weapons to earn as well as an extra mode and even some unlockable goodies! 

Graphically, the game is in the traditional Classic Mega Man 8-bit style. Although I know some people out there will already be writing it off on that, please don't! This game feels like it could have been an official release. Only a handful of fan games have made me forget that they aren't an officially licensed product -- I'm happy to say this is one of them. The presentation so far in this game is great; the short animated title screen was a really cool touch, too!

 

Mega Man controls like he always does, which is a very good thing. The slide and charge shot are both present in this game, with the charge shot sound fading after a while, which is always welcome! This is yet another game that gets the "feel" of an official Mega Man game right. I was able to pull off the precision platforming required in some areas with no issues. 

Difficulty-wise the game felt fair, though there were certainly more challenging aspects than the Perfect Blue demo. However, these are fully fledged Robot Master stages as opposed to Intro Stages used in Perfect Blue so that's understandable. 

 

I will say that this game, while it can be challenging in places, is actually pretty newbie friendly. There are checkpoints as usual, but this game also has the option of infinite lives! This option can be turned off if you prefer a classic challenge. But it was neat to see that the team had thought of accessibility options for less experienced players, too. There is also a shop in the game, but you can't access it in the demo; instead you're met with with a pretty funny "no" sound clip. 

One thing I do love about this game so far are the details. The Robot Master stages fit their themes really well, and by that I mean, in some Mega Man games, Robot Master stages don't fit the Master's stage theme (Gemini Man is a good example of this) in this demo all the stages kept the theme consistent with the Robot Master. 

 

There's chainsaw platform puzzles and logs being used as platforms to get over pits in Timber Man's stage, electric beams and platform switching puzzles in Volt Man's stage also being used to some extent in the boss fight, an even different colored chemicals and exploding platforms in Toxic Man's stage. Not only were they being used throughout the stage to change how the enemies behaved, but they were also in the boss fight itself! Giving the boss the similar properties it did with the enemies faced in the stage.  

It's also the minor details, things that the team didn't need to include but did anyway. Small details like the bark being stripped off of the tree logs when passing through the saws in Timber Man's stage or the fact you can actually pet Rush in this game... Though you may want to watch where you teleport him in!

No really! As you can see from Rush's meter, Rush can actually be taken out by enemies and some stage hazards in this game! Adding another layer of strategy when you want or need to use him. This could get interesting if this applies to other Rush items like Rush Jet, should that be included in the final product.  So please be careful where you place your doggo!

  

The music is also definitely something to talk about in this game. It's great! If a few tunes can stick in my head or get me humming unconsciously, then mission accomplished! With tunes like Toxic Man's stage or the Stage Select and the Stage intro jingle that was certainly the case here! Another neat little touch was the music changing slightly in the pause/weapon select menu. I did like the way the stage/boss intro was done, very cool!  

Secondly this games sports not one but two soundtracks! Back in the PlayStation days Capcom re-released Rockman 1-6 as the Complete Works editions,where you could choose to play with a remixed soundtrack. This is something the team have gone above and beyond on to include in this game, with each stage having an 8-bit rendition as well as a remixed version known as the "Complete Works Version" Here are some examples from the soundtrack.

This is Timber Man's original stage theme made by Deathro

             

Here is his "Complete Works" version arranged by Mel

          

Toxic Man's 8-bit theme by Littlelamp100

    

and his "Complete Works" version arranged by Harumi Makoto

 

  

You can switch between both soundtrack versions in the music options. 

Even Roll likes to toe tap along with some tunes on the menu screens! You can check out more samples of the soundtrack over on LMTeam's YouTube channel

The demo also has some replay value too, should you complete all three Robot Master stages you'll gain access to the Time Trial mode where you can try to beat your best time for each stage as well as making for a good way to practice your speedrun or boss strategies.

You'll also gain access to the Extras menu, here you can apply various screen filters, like this pretty cool Gameboy inspired one.

There's also some pretty.. out there ones too..

There is an additional Special Weapon that will unlock too, I won't spoil it here but if you gotta go fast through a stage it's a great weapon to use! 

Another aspect I can commend the team on with this demo was the response time with regard to fixes and patches, when the demo first launched there were some bugs and issues that sometimes caused the demo to crash, these were fixed and patched into the demo extremely quickly. I was even witness to this myself while watching a stream of the demo being played by AWD!, an E-Tank wasn't functioning properly in Toxic Man's stage. Luckily a lot of the development team were in the chat and spotted this, the next day a fix had been patched in for it!

In short this was a great demo and another fantastic fan made game to watch going forward! As a few of our readers pointed out in our Perfect Blue article - don't sleep on this one just because it's another 8-bit game. This was a superb little taster and i'm looking forward to seeing more from this one!

 

LMTeam  were also kind enough to tell us more about their Robot Masters featured in the game, the deep lore of Mega Man Y+1 is still yet to be properly revealed. However here are the group of Robot Masters you'll be facing off against in the game. 

We'll start with the three featured in the demo, the team have written bios for every Robot Master and included details such as their likes and dislikes, they even have designated birthdays! Artwork was done by both Karakato and Valo who also designed some of these Robot Masters. 

Timber Man

Trees, Beware! Timber Man is the finest in a long line of lumberjack robots. Boasting a finely crafted and always well-polished Ceratanium chainsaw, and just as scary with a temper, Timber Man has been trusted with the management of the grandest lumber mill in Monstropolis. Some say that the duties of leadership have caused him to spend less time making paper and more time filling out papers, leading to him taking his anger out on his underlings. 

Serial Number - IRN-001

Birthday - August 12th

Height - 176cm

Weight - 142kg

Good Point - Hard Worker

Bad Point - Short Fuse

Likes - Wild Flowers

Dislikes - Bureaucracy

I think it's safe to say Wood Man would not like Timber Man nor his stage! This place is filled to the brim with conveyor belts, saw blades, flying saw robots as well as axe, chainsaw and buzzsaw wielding enemies. There are the usual Sniper Joes and Metools posted here too but it was also cool to see the return of the Chainsoar enemies which we haven't seen since Mega Man V on Gameboy. 

Shooting the Chainsaws will make them retract and allow Mega Man to use them as platforms, leading to some timing and platforming challenges Don't wait around too long though as those chainsaw blades will come out again and that'd be painful for our Blue Bomber.

Those small details of the logs being trimmed, these also serve as platforms to reach higher ledges, just don't touch the saws! 

This stage also has a sub-boss that loves to cut trees and throw logs at you.

Timber Man himself can be pretty tricky, he'll swipe at you with his Chainsaw arm, he has a dive move that caught me off guard a couple of times. He can also charge up his saw which allows him to have a slightly more ranged attack.

For defeating him you get the Justin Timber Blade, a slash type move, it can also be charged to give your slash a slightly longer range. Similar to how Timber Man himself used it. You can test out all your new weapons on Auto if you wish on the "weapon get" screen. 

Volt Man

  

Built with state-of-the-art technology, such as a Super ReSynthesised Personality Core and a wireless body that can split in two, Volt Man was created to maintain and regulate the Monstropolis power plant. Such a task is no small order, and Volt Man works long hours night and day to ensure everything's running smoothly. Even when he's off-duty, Volt Man's mind is often preoccupied with keeping track of what he'll need to do when he gets back to work.

Serial Number - IRN-005

Birthday - April 13th

Height - 146cm

Weight - 92kg

Good Point - Attractive

Bad Point - Worrywart

Likes - Yoga

Dislikes - Pests

Volt Man's stage is probably the most puzzle heavy of the three demo stages, throughout the stage sparks will travel through the walls and upon reaching a plug they'll shoot out an electrical beam across your path, there are also different colored switches that you need to shoot in order to make platforms of the corresponding color move in and out of the background, so you need to watch your step in some areas.

These start out simple enough, however later in the stage some enemies which have treadmole? Activated satellites? These enemies can activate the platform switches themselves.

Some puzzles also combine the electric beams as well as platform switching.

This stage also sees the return of another neglected enemy type, we've not seen the Elec'n enemies since Mega Man 3 in Spark Man's stage.  

Volt Man, as his bio suggests is able to split in half, so not only are you dodging his legs running at you but you also need to watch out for him firing beams of electricity down from his upper torso! A cool little Easter egg with this boss is that he uses sound effects taken from Mega Man on DOS! A cool little nod to that game which also has a Volt Man in it. 

He also has a beam move that changes the platforms at the side of the arena, when split in half his upper torso is vulnerable but you'll need to use these platforms to try and reach him if you want to get some shots in. He can additionally send his upper torso around the arena circling the central platform.

For defeating Volt Man we receive the Volt Shock, this weapon fires a spark which then shoots electric beams at nearby enemies. If an enemy isn't instantly fried by the beam a spark sticks to the enemy, so if you fire again the tagged enemy will get hit by your next shot using it too.

 Toxic Man

Despite his imposing figure and seemingly powerful buster, Toxic Man was only created for the safe transportation, study and disposal of various unknown chemicals - in fact, his body is mostly hollow, so that he can store as much liquid inside of himself as possible! Even if he is treated decently well by his manager and co-workers, his entire life from creation has been spent in the same underground laboratory, a fact that leaves him wistfully wondering what's above the surface.

Serial Number - IRN-007

Birthday - June 26th

Height - 201cm

Weight - 157kg

Good Point - Cold Hands

Bad Point - Mute

Likes - Smooth Jazz

Dislikes - Depressing Surroundings

This stage is filled with various chemicals and explosive platforms! Each colored chemical has a different property which can also affect any enemies that pass through them coloring them in the same color of the chemical they passed through. Yellow means explosive generally, the yellow chemicals are safe to stand in but if you shoot a yellow platform it can explode. Blue Chemicals speed up any enemies that come into contact with it and finally, Red chemicals are dangerous to the touch and will drain your health pretty rapidly! 

Exploding platforms can become pretty dangerous later on in the stage when you have bottomless pits below you and enemies raining bombs from the sky..

The chemical effects also apply in Toxic Man's boss fight! When covered in blue chemicals he'll shoulder dash at you across the stage, when yellow he'll fire bubbles which will detonate the platforms in the middle of the stage, revealing two bottomless pits, which you'll have to be careful not to fall down while he jumps at you! Finally when he's red he'll fire exploding droplets at you as well as some toxic bubbles.

 

Defeating Toxic Man will earn you the Toxic Bubble ability, this fires bubbles upwards, this is actually a pretty good weapon especially for airborne enemies. 

The bosses shown from here on are not present in the demo but should be featured in the final game. 

Puppet Man

Puppet Man was a Robot Master who worked day and night to help run a puppet shop and entertain masses of children every day - that is, until the untimely death of his master. Through crafty usage of puppeteering, however, he managed to convince government officials that his puppet shop was still running. His antics cannot fool the locals - at least not in the way he would want to fool them - who share cautionary tales of the abandoned puppet shop, haunted by it's former owner.

Serial Number - IRN-002

Birthday - March 15th

Height - 149cm

Weight - 101kg

Good Point - Stylish

Bad Point - Rusty

Likes - Family Reunions

Dislikes - Gambling

Weapon - Puppet Shield

Puppet Man's stage looks to take place in the abandoned Puppet Shop and.. is that a toy Charge Man and Spring Man?! I also like the "Zolbot" in the background, maybe another Tom Hanks "Big" reference? 

Phoenix Man

Phoenix Man is a name that would make many groan, but there are a few qualities he does have. Beyond his character, his chassis is notably impressive, providing powered flight in a stylish, yet secure (if used correctly) manner. Unfortunately, Phoenix Man was not built with a personality suitable for his fragile work at a geothermal power plant nor his dangerous build, leading him to consistently cause problems in a workplace he secretly never enjoyed.

Serial Number - IRN-006

Birthday - May 20th

Height - 156cm

Weight - 112kg

Good Point - Red

Bad Point - Nail-on-chalkboard voice

Likes - Reckless dares

Dislikes - Consequences

Weapon - Phoenix Flight

Phoenix Man's stage looks to take place in a volcanic area. We have seen some early footage of Phoenix Man's weapon in action too. The Phoenix Flight looks like a flaming dash that allows Mega Man to fly.

Might just want to be careful about other flying robots though.. 

Angler Woman

Angler Woman's existence was only recently made public when she suddenly went berserk as part of the ongoing rebellion. Built by none other than [REDACTED] as part of a secret government project, with the arsenal to match. Angler Woman's sole purpose is to mercilessly tear down any who seek the secrets of an undocumented underwater research facility. Only one thing is clear about her; you should not stand in her way!

Serial Number - IRN-003

Birthday - [REDACTED]

Height - ???

Weight - ???

Good Point - Powerful

Bad Point - [REDACTED]

Likes - [REDACTED]

Dislikes - [REDACTED]

Weapon - Angler Bite

The developers are still working on Angler Woman's stage so they sent me the above image. We can only assume it will set in the Underwater Research facility mentioned in her bio, but for now even her stage is [REDACTED]. Angler Woman is also one of two female Robot Masters present in this game!

Melon Man

Melon Man is something of a local celebrity thanks to his charming design and his quirky yet warm personality. You'd be led to believe that Melon Man has lived in Monstropolis for a long while, but the truth is that he was only recently relocated to Monstropolis' heavily industrialized farm recently, shortly after his humble workplace miles upon miles away was repossessed. Even though he's lost all of his friends and contacts during the transition, his surge in popularity in his new home must be something to be proud of, right?

Serial Number - IRN-008

Birthday - August 3rd

Height - 169cm

Weight - 99kg

Good Point - Honest

Bad Point - Sceptical

Likes - Home

Dislikes - Raisins

Weapon - Melon Bomb

Melon Man's stage looks to take place in a greenhouse like area, not much else has been seen of this stage so far.

Mimic Woman

Always the life of the party, tedious archaeology work never becomes boring when Mimic Woman's about! Sharing a single consciousness between two separate robots (a small humanoid and a treasure chest-themed transportation unit) makes Mimic Woman a bit too air-headed, but what she lacks in subtlety and concentration, she makes up for in undying passion for history, and a childish charm that few can ignore. Just be sure not to get her started on a tangent about her latest discoveries...

Serial Number - IRN-004

Birthday - June 20th

Height - 145cm

Weight - 106kg

Good Point - Studious

Bad Point - 300mb Memory

Likes - The Macerena

Dislikes - Crotchety Folk

Weapon - Mimic Trap

Mimic Woman is the second female Robot Master in the game and her stage looks to take place in a dungeon dig site. Personally her design is probably my favorite as it's something we haven't really seen from a Robot Master before. Judging from the designer Valo's artwork it looks like she can get out of the treasure chest.

This was a really fun demo and it left me wanting to play more of it! So don't sleep on this one, give the demo a download and try it out for yourself! 

SAGE Game Info and Download Page

Direct Download Link

(Right-click "Save Link As")

Did you give the demo a try? Let us know what you think in the comments below! Major thanks to everyone involved with making this over at LMTeam I hope to see more of this game in the future and wish them the best in getting it completed!

Sources: LMTeam, Mel, Karakato, Valo