We're generally not the flash gaming type, you may have guessed, but a new title on Newgrounds (NG) really floored us: Mega Man X RPG.
Developed by NG member ChamberACR, Chapter 1 was released recently, a follow-up to the "0" chapter released earlier in the year -- ACR recommends you just skip that one, though, and just head straight to Chapter 1 which is much improved. The game essentially plays like the Paper Mario series (complete with timed hits) crossed with the Mega Man X series, and it does it so well you wonder why the actual creators haven't thought of this before, instead of, you know, plodding out god knows how many new iterations without too much spirit or innovation (Mega Man 9 is excepted, of course).
There are cutscenes, an RPG-style story that actually seems quite good, random battles, dropped items, great music, and save support -- all the standards we love so much. The game runs at a max 720x540 resolution, and unfortunately you can't fullscreen it, which does kind of bring you out of the experience, but hey, it's great enough you're not terribly bothered.
A "semi-sequel" to Chapter 1 is in development, subtitled "Mission Pack" -- the developer, sadly, will be heading off with the Army in August, so no release date is firmed up, though he hopes it will be before then. Below are the planned features and their status -- quite ambitious for a little flash game.
- Save Transfer feature enables all equipment/stats/etc to carry over. (90% complete)
- New enemies/bosses. (10% complete)
- New animations for main characters. (0% complete)
- Items are now broken into four parts: Consumables, Treasures, Scrap and Key Items. This should help alleviate any confusion as to what items do. (100% complete)
- Mix and match scrap to create new items and equipment! (0% complete)
- More efficient code. (100% complete).
The bottom line with the title is this: if Capcom have any sense (and we like to think they'd appreciate something like this), they'll make something commercial out of this in collaboration with the developer, quite unlike what Square Enix did with the Chrono Trigger title Crimison Echoes. BioWare's Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood did pretty well after all -- where's our traditional Mega Man RPG after all these years?
