Post by Chiz on Mar 16, 2006 6:28:02 GMT -5
As we all know, Capcom released Rockman (MegaMan to us) in 1987 in Japan.
I came across the most interesting find going through some old games yesterday. A Rockman game that dates to 1985. Of course, this has nothing to do with the Rockman series we all know and love, and doesn't even involve Capcom, but still...
The game is called Rockman and it's for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer, which was one of those big name computers that competed with the Commodore 64 in the 80s.
Upon seeing this, I just had to check it out.
The Boxart
"To get to his favourite food, 'Mushrooms', Rockman moves boulders and avoids the perils of the prehistoric world in this fast moving, addictive arcade game."
The Loading Screen
First impression from the loader? A Dig-Dug clone. If only had it been so good.
The Title Screen
The game ended up being some sort of junk you only hear about low-budget companies producing the mid 80s for various popular systems, which is exactly what 'Mastertronic' was. The fact that Mastertronic later became Sega Europe is beside the point.
Anyways, 'Rockman' turned out to be this very bizarre game where you need to gather all the mushrooms before the time runs out. You also have various monsters coming after you (such as the gray smiley face). Touching the enemies or the skulls will kill you instantly. Also, they can move up and down wherever, but you are limited to moving up and down only on the red 'ladders' (for lack of a better term). You can hammer your way through the green blocks (which is where the name Rockman comes from), but (whether this is bad coding, bad emulation, or intentional) hammering causes a sort of cave in (see the 'Spectrum' repeated over and over) which cannot be hammered through. The red/blue 'metal' blocks cannot be hammered through either.
EDIT: It's not called hammering in-game, it's referred to as digging. A game about a digger called Rockman? Bah, too far-fetched.
An In-Game Screen
All and all, this is a pretty horrible game, unless it gets better after the first screen, which I highly doubt. However, it does make me want to ask 2 questions:
1) How does this game, Rockman, affect Capcom's copyright on their game series? Is it why Rockman couldn't be named as such in America and Europe?
2) Rockman on the ZX Spectrum. Rockman ZX. Bizarre coincidence, no?
Ah well, I'd post the rom image but due to copyright stuff (to my knowledge, it isn't abandonware or PD) I can't post it, so you'll just have to take a trip to your local piracy site or roms collector and obtain it from them. The file name is Rockman (1985)(Mastertronic).tzx and is part of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Games [TZX] TOSEC set.
However, the emulator I used was X128 (coupled with DOSBox) and can be found at Zophar.net
EDIT: I've found out this game was also available for the Commodore 16/Plus-4.
2nd EDIT: I just remember what game this kinda reminds me of. It reminds me a bit of the original Lode Runner.
I came across the most interesting find going through some old games yesterday. A Rockman game that dates to 1985. Of course, this has nothing to do with the Rockman series we all know and love, and doesn't even involve Capcom, but still...
The game is called Rockman and it's for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer, which was one of those big name computers that competed with the Commodore 64 in the 80s.
Upon seeing this, I just had to check it out.
The Boxart
"To get to his favourite food, 'Mushrooms', Rockman moves boulders and avoids the perils of the prehistoric world in this fast moving, addictive arcade game."
The Loading Screen
First impression from the loader? A Dig-Dug clone. If only had it been so good.
The Title Screen
The game ended up being some sort of junk you only hear about low-budget companies producing the mid 80s for various popular systems, which is exactly what 'Mastertronic' was. The fact that Mastertronic later became Sega Europe is beside the point.
Anyways, 'Rockman' turned out to be this very bizarre game where you need to gather all the mushrooms before the time runs out. You also have various monsters coming after you (such as the gray smiley face). Touching the enemies or the skulls will kill you instantly. Also, they can move up and down wherever, but you are limited to moving up and down only on the red 'ladders' (for lack of a better term). You can hammer your way through the green blocks (which is where the name Rockman comes from), but (whether this is bad coding, bad emulation, or intentional) hammering causes a sort of cave in (see the 'Spectrum' repeated over and over) which cannot be hammered through. The red/blue 'metal' blocks cannot be hammered through either.
EDIT: It's not called hammering in-game, it's referred to as digging. A game about a digger called Rockman? Bah, too far-fetched.
An In-Game Screen
All and all, this is a pretty horrible game, unless it gets better after the first screen, which I highly doubt. However, it does make me want to ask 2 questions:
1) How does this game, Rockman, affect Capcom's copyright on their game series? Is it why Rockman couldn't be named as such in America and Europe?
2) Rockman on the ZX Spectrum. Rockman ZX. Bizarre coincidence, no?
Ah well, I'd post the rom image but due to copyright stuff (to my knowledge, it isn't abandonware or PD) I can't post it, so you'll just have to take a trip to your local piracy site or roms collector and obtain it from them. The file name is Rockman (1985)(Mastertronic).tzx and is part of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Games [TZX] TOSEC set.
However, the emulator I used was X128 (coupled with DOSBox) and can be found at Zophar.net
EDIT: I've found out this game was also available for the Commodore 16/Plus-4.
2nd EDIT: I just remember what game this kinda reminds me of. It reminds me a bit of the original Lode Runner.
