Backlog Game Reviews 12: Megaman 8 / Rockman 8 Metal Heroes (Sega Saturn)

    Hey there, and welcome to Backlog Game Reviews. Today I'll be taking a look at Megaman 8 on the Sega Saturn. This game was originally released on the Playstation on December 17th, 1996 in Japan and on February 28th, 1997 in North America and Europe. It was then re-released for the Sega Saturn on January 17th, 1997 in Japan and February 28th, 1997 in North America. The Saturn version is regarded as the superior version for reasons I'll get into later. Megaman 8 is also one of the least popular Megaman games. Is it a bad game? What makes the Saturn version different from the Playstation version? Let's find out!

Megaman fighting Gutsman in the opening cutscene.

   The story of this game is a bit more complex than past Megaman games. Like other games, it's nothing groundbreaking but it's easy to see that Capcom put some time and work into it. The story starts with what appears to be a meteor crashing into Earth. Megaman is sent to investigate it by Dr. Light. During his investigation, he finds a severely damaged robot and Dr.Wily.

At the start of the story we see two robots fighting in space.

   Dr.Wily has come into possession of a new energy source and with it, he claims to be unstoppable. Megaman sends the damaged robot to Dr.Light for repairs, and after doing so he goes off to fight 4 new Robot Masters that Dr.Wily sent to attack cities around the world.

Encountering Dr.Wily at the meteor crash site.

 This story is pretty in-depth when compared to other Megaman games. It's probably the best we've seen in a Megaman game so far. It's good, better than what we've seen before but at the end of the day it's nothing special. That's all I can really say about the story so let's move on to the gameplay.

The first four Robot Masters.

   Megaman 8 doesn't try to change up the gameplay. Instead, it tries to refine the formula. You have to fight your way through 8 stages and fight 8 robot masters. Because of story reasons you only have access to 4 stages at first. Each stage in this game is unique and has its own gimmick. While some stage gimmicks are pretty good others are not so great. In one stage you have to use the Rush Jet to fight through a wave of airborne enemies. Almost like a side-scrolling shooter.

Rush Jet section in Tenguman's stage.

   This is probably one of my favorite sections in the game. But like I said before not all the stages are as good. For example, you have stages like Astro Man's. His stage is just one big maze. I don't hate his stage but it's definitely not on my list of stages that I want to replay.

The Snowboarding sections are considered to be extremely difficult among fans. Personally I don't think it's that hard.

   While Megaman 8 seems to only try to improve upon the Megaman formula it does bring some new things to the table. It's not much but Rush has some new abilities in this game. The first one being the Rush Question. When you use this Rush will teleport to Megaman and give him a random item. Sometimes he won't give you anything at all and will just go to sleep and leave.

Getting an item from Rush using the Rush Question.

    The next new ability Rush has is the Rush Bike. This will allow Rush to turn into a motorcycle. While riding rush you can fire bullets from his mouth. It's a pretty weak attack so you might be better off just jumping over enemies. The extra speed you get from riding Rush will allow you to do longer jumps and reach places you wouldn't have been able to with a normal jump. There's only one time in the game where you'll need to use the Rush bike to make a jump. It's a pretty useless ability but it's fun to use.

The Rush Bike.

   The next 2 abilities on the list are pretty similar to one another. We have the Rush Bomer and the Rush Charger. Using the Rush Bomber will make Rush fly back and forward at the top of the screen and drop bombs down on the enemies. It's best used on bosses. It can give you the advantage if a boss is giving you a hard time.

The Rush Bomber.

   The last ability the Rush Charger is just like the Rush Bomber. But instead of dropping bombs Rush will drop health items and weapon energy for you. Also just like the Rush Bomber you should save it for boss fights. It can turn the fight around if you find yourself in a tight spot.

Rush dropping items with the Rush Charger.

   Rush's abilities in this game aren't anything special. They can be helpful or fun to use from time to time, but you won't get that much use out of them. And other then these new Rush abilities Megaman 8 doesn't really do anything new. It's a fun game just don't go in expecting a fresh new experience.

One of the many mini-bosses. They aren't that hard but I wish they had health bars.

   As for gameplay differences between the Sega Saturn and Playstation, there's only one. The Sega Saturn has two bosses that the PS1 doesn't.

Facing off against Cutman, one of the two Sega Saturn exclusive bosses.

   They're both mini-bosses and you don't get anything for beating them, but they're fun to fight. And it's always nice to have extra content even if it's just an extra boss fight or two.

 The presentation is where I think this game shines the most. The graphics are some of the best seen in a Megaman game yet. It's said that the Sega Saturn version has better graphics than the ps1. They look pretty much the same to me though.

Megaman talking to Dr.Light in one of the animated cutscenes.

   As you can see in the picture above Megaman 8 sports animated cutscenes. People say that the ps1's cutscenes look better, but again they look the same to me. The cutscenes are short but are fun to watch if you're playing the Japanese version. The English version is plagued with terrible voice acting. The bad acting makes it hard to take the cutscenes seriously.

While the English voice over is terrible I have to admit that I really do like the animated cutscenes.

   The music in this game is great. From the boss select screen to the credits theme there isn't a bad song in this game. In terms of music, the Saturn slightly beats the ps1. In the Saturn version Cutman and Woodman have remade versions of their themes. And Tenguman has a different stage theme on the Saturn. His theme on the ps1 is good but the Saturn one is more fitting for his stage.

    The only thing left to talk about is the bonus mode on the Sega Saturn.

Bonus mode main menu.

   Bonus mode has a variety of things available. There's a sound and voice test. There's a collection of official artwork from Capcom. And you can also look through all of the artwork sent in by fans as suggestions for robot masters.

Robot Master suggestions sent in by fans.

      

   The bonus mode is a nice feature. I don't think it makes the Saturn version any better than the PS1 version, but again more content is always nice.

Official artwork from Capcom.

   Megaman 8 doesn't do anything to set itself apart from other Megaman games, but what it does do it does well. It's a fun game. Challenging at times but it's not all that hard. I think it's one of the easiest Megaman games out there. If you like platformers give this game a try. If you can I would play the Saturn version, mainly for the two extra bosses. The PlayStation version has less content but it's just as good as the Saturn version.

 That's all I have to say about this game. I'm gonna take a break from Megaman for a while and take a look at a PC Engine game next time. Thank you for reading! I hope to see you again at Backlog Game Reviews.

Gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP-JN5qErak