TMMN Reviews: Mega Man in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium

Ever since Capcom began rolling out various Mega Man Legacy Collection compilations, it’s been clear that they have no interest in including any of the side games which correspond to each series’ respective collection. No Game Boy games in Mega Man Legacy Collection or its sequel, no Mega Man X Command Mission or Xtreme games for Mega Man X Legacy Collection, and while it’s not a done deal yet, expectations are pretty low that we’ll see anything like Mega Man Network Transmission or Battle Chip Challenge in the forthcoming Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection.

To that end, fans’ have had a simple request: give us a Mega Man Legacy Collection that focuses exclusively on these side games.

Well, as of this writing, there’s no announcement for such a collection yet. However, Capcom has managed to find another way to deliver two of those titles to us.

Recently, Capcom has followed up their à la carte collection of arcade titles, Capcom Arcade Stadium, with the curiously-named Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. This set of titles includes the two Mega Man arcade games, which have had something of an interesting history when it comes to home ports. Released to arcades in 1995 and 1996, respectively, Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters would not see a home version of any kind until several years later, when they were released as bonus emulated unlockables in 2004’s Mega Man Anniversary Collection. Japan would not see this collection, however, but would exclusively receive the two arcade games in their own collection that same year on the PlayStation 2 as Rockman Power Battle Fighters.

In addition, there was also an actual port exclusive to Japan in 2000 for the NEOGEO Pocket Color as Rockman Battle & Fighters, but we’ll talk about that another time.

“Hey, I can see my house from up here! Or at least I could, if this big logo wasn’t in the way.”

The limited release of these two titles had been something of a sore spot for Mega Man fans back in the day. When it comes to spin-offs from the Blue Bomber (or any popular franchise, really), the results can be pretty hit or miss. And these two? They’re not only pretty good, but are also rare instances of Capcom themselves featuring any sort of in-game path-laying for the road between the original Classic series and the Mega Man X series. It’s not a driving factor of the games, by any means — it only occupies any space in two of the individual characters’ endings, one for each game — but you can’t dangle a carrot like that in front of us and not expect us to want a bite.

Both games are fairly similar at a glance, but do have their differences. Each is a Capcom CPS game (CPS2 for the sequel, fittingly enough) for one or two players, in which you get to choose one from a selection of characters and venture off to take on Dr. Wily’s resurrected Robot Master army. However, there are no traditional Mega Man stages here; rather, action takes place as more like a boss rush, albeit with some additional elements thrown in, such as knockdowns, that make it feel a little more like a fighting game. In traditional Mega Man fashion, defeating a Robot Master yields their weapon for player use, and once you’ve vanquished all the Robot Masters, you’ll venture to Dr. Wily’s base and challenge his mini-boss minions before taking on the mad scientist himself in a vehicular contraption designed to turn our Metal Heroes into sheet metal.

“Drat! There goes my plans to challenge him to a boxing match.”

Both games also feature an art style which draws heavily from Mega Man 7, though with some different frames and animations thrown into the mix. This is a huge glow-up for many of the Robot Masters, as they get to break free from the artistic confines of the 8-bit pixel art featured in the Nintendo Entertainment System games. For instance, Quick Man appears to be a fair bit larger, making him feel more reminiscent of Mega Man manga artist Hitoshi Ariga’s version of the character. In addition to updated visuals for many of the longstanding characters, there are a fair few remixes of familiar songs from the series as well, some of which would go on to be featured in other releases, such as the Rockman Complete Works collection. The stages themselves also provide some interesting backdrops, many of which you don’t normally get to see the likes of during normal Mega Man games, and sometimes feature some rather playful details added in the background.

In Mega Man: The Power Battle, you get to choose between Mega Man and Proto Man, who are out to stop Wily’s schemes, and Bass, who just wants to prove that all the other Wily robots are inferior to him. Mega Man controls just as you might expect, while Proto Man features a shield dash (that regrettably doesn’t protect him at all), and Bass uses rockets in his feet to perform a sort of flying dash-hop in a small arc through the air. Plus, each character can perform a single wall-jump off the edge of the screen, which is helpful for evading some attacks.

The cast of You Can’t Do That On Television would regret having Bass as a guest star after he said “I don’t know.”

Here, you’ll choose from one of three courses, each featuring different selections of six Robot Masters (and as a result, special weapons to acquire from them), chosen when the roulette stops on their level. The first route, based on Mega Man and Mega Man 2, has you take on Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Crash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man, while the more cramped Mega Man 3–6 selection gives you Magnet Man, Gemini Man, Dust Man, Gyro Man, Napalm Man, and Plant Man. Finally, the last path consists solely of Mega Man 7 characters, no doubt to help promote the then-newest entry in the series with Freeze Man, Junk Man, Cloud Man, Slash Man, Shade Man, and Turbo Man. The first two routes end with a standoff against Yellow Devil before you fight Wily, while the last uses the VAN Pookin mini-boss from Shade Man’s stage in its place.

In many cases, these aren’t simple retreads of their previous battles, as they sometimes display new attacks and patterns. On that same note, the special weapons you acquire may act differently than in their original appearances. For instance, the Crash Bomber fires its projectiles in an arc, rather than just straight forward until it hits something. And then, of course, with a different roster of Robot Masters, the weakness chain is going to be different, though some may call back to or even mirror the original encounters.

“Wanna arm-wrestle?”

Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters ramps things up a bit. Taking place after Mega Man 8 (but released prior in order to promote its upcoming release), Duo is added to the roster of playable characters, and brings his own unique style of play to the mix. His normal attack is a shorter-ranged telescoping punch from his giant arm, while charging it up lets him fire a giant energy hand at opponents. Then there’s his version of the dash maneuver, the Giga Tackle, which sees him rush enemies with his spiked shoulders to attack.

Personally speaking, as much as I love the other characters, too, Duo’s play style is so fresh and unique that I almost always find myself choosing him whenever I boot this game up. And as Duo’s appearances have been few and playable appearances fewer still, the chance to wield his powers in such a way here makes Power Fighters especially unique in the pantheon of Mega Man games.

“You damn right!”

The other characters get a bit of an upgrade this time out, too. By charging your weapon and holding Up before releasing, each character gets to unleash their own unique special attack. Mega Man performs the Mega Upper, a Shoryuken-like jumping uppercut that would continue to be used in the Blue Bomber’s other fighting game appearances, such as Marvel vs. Capcom and Super Smash Bros. (don’t @ me about whether it’s really a fighting game or not, it’s close enough). Proto Man unleashes a short-range burst of energy called the Proto Strike, Bass performs a Guile-worthy Crescent Kick, and Duo? Duo can outshine them by performing a big uppercut with his Giant Knuckle, then following it up with an overhead smash that sends the enemy careening back into the ground, though this one is a bit trickier to pull off.

Each character also has a special support unit they can call upon when Eddie appears and they grab the item he drops. Mega Man summons Rush, who will ram the Robot Master with his Rush Jet mode whenever a charge shot or special weapon is fired, as well as giving a Rush Coil-powered boost to jumps. Treble will appear for Bass, and fire blasts from his mouth whenever Bass fires, or pounce foes when a charge attack is unleashed. Finally, Proto Man and Duo share in the power of Beat, who ironically does not ram enemies with his body, but instead grants them a temporary shield to protect them from further damage.

Obligatory appearance by the best Robot Master in the best stage (not that I’m biased or anything).

Rather than being sorted by the games they originated in, they’re now arranged by missions, of which there are three: “Search for Wily,” featuring Bubble Man, Heat Man, Shadow Man, Gyro Man, Centaur Man, Plant Man, and Mad Grinder as the Fortress Boss; “Rescue Roll,” with Cut Man, Elec Man, Dive Man, Stone Man, Slash Man, and Shade Man, followed by the Yellow Devil before Wily; and “Recover the New Part,” with Guts Man, Air Man, Quick Man, Gemini Man, Pharaoh Man, Napalm Man, and Fortress Boss Mecha Dragon. There’s no longer a roulette in play, either, and Dr. Light is there to helpfully allude to which weapon works on which Robot Master.

Though the journeys vary, you more or less end up accomplishing all three goals by the end of each path, anyway. The “Search for Wily” story adds an additional wrinkle in that getting the parts can change up your special move in different ways. Another difference comes in the 2-player mode: in Power Battle, both characters will acquire a fallen Robot Master’s weapon, but in Power Fighters, a number of items are scattered by the exploding Robot Master, one of which being their special weapon data, meaning it’s a race for the item to see who gets to it first.

While the series has since opened up more to allowing you to play as characters other than Mega Man himself, at the time, this was the only way you were getting to enjoy playing as Proto Man, Bass, or Duo. And even with the inclusion of Bass and Proto Man as playable characters in Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10, and Mega Man & Bass, it’s still fun to go back to this point in time and rumble with Robot Masters using the whole lot of them together.

“You know what really grinds my gears…?” “Stop it, Proto Man, you know you’re not allowed to watch Family Guy!”

Neither game takes very long to complete, especially with the unlimited credits afforded you by the Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium emulation, but there’s quite a bit of replay value in all the difference combinations of player characters, courses, and endings (with Power Fighters even offering special multiplayer endings as well). On top of that, there are other options you can choose ranging from speed to difficulty level, and even rewinding. Or heck, if the actual gameplay isn’t of any interest to you and you just want to play around to see the different characters, stages, music, and endings, there’s free downloadable content that allows you to turn on invincibility in the entire games catalogue.

Sadly, multiplayer for these two titles is local only, though there are online leaderboards. There are also numerous other options you might expect from a collection such as this, including screen filters, frames, resolution, detailed manuals, and even a faux arcade cabinet to simulate playing them in an actual arcade. Oh, and you can choose between the Japanese and English versions of the ROMs, too, so you can totally get your Rock on, man!

“Aim for the head?! I thought you said ‘maim‘ with my head! Oh, sh–!”

I’m not intimately familiar with the arcade experience playing these games, as they were both pretty rare to find in the wild. Still, everything went off pretty well here, as near as I could tell, with no glaring flaws to speak of.

You can download Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium free of charge on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Steam, and for doing so, you’ll even get a free copy of SONSON. Each individual title is $3.99 USD, and for these two titles, that’s a steal, in my opinion, especially if you’re a Mega Man fan (and I question how you made it this far if you aren’t). You can also grab the entire 32-game line up for $39.99 USD, or if you’re on Steam, get the exclusive “Mini-Album Bundle,” which has all 32 titles, 15 soundtracks from the collection, and an additional special medley, all for $54.99 USD. Finally, if you buy the game before September 30th, 2022, you’ll get a 3-in-1 of arcade titles, Three Wonders, for free!

Long story short: If you’re reading this site, then there’s probably very little reason for you not to at least grab both Mega Man titles from this collection. If for some reason, you can only get one, then I definitely recommend Power Fighters over Power Battle (sorry, Turbo Man!). It’s just the overall more refined experience that offers more in pretty much every category.

One other thing to note: I mentioned how there’s no sign of a Mega Man Legacy Collection for side games such as this, and I just want to point out that just because they’re featured here doesn’t preclude such a thing from happening. After all, several games from the DarkStalkers games are featured here, and they’re also a major part of the recently-released Capcom Fighting Collection. So if you like to keep all your Mega Man games sorted in nice little Mega Man compartments, there’s still hope.

Left: “Vote Haggar!” Right: “Ooh, that is definitely gonna leave a mark…”

Finally, as there are 32 other games in this collection, I just wanted to quickly highlight a few others I’ve enjoyed from the lineup:

• Street Fighter – This one’s definitely not for everyone, but I do love seeing where it all began, and there’s a certain raw grittiness about the graphics and sound in this title that I still enjoy. It should be noted that the special moves are extremely tough to pull off here, but I feel like a champion whenever I do — especially if it connects.
• Saturday Night Slam Masters – It’s Capcom fighting meets pro wrestling, and you even get to see Mike Haggar before he became the mayor of Metro City in Final Fight!
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo – A strange twist on Capcom fighting, with a few Mega Man cameos, to boot!
• Gan Sumoku – Once known as Gun.Smoke (no relation to the TV series, nor prizes for guessing why they’d change it), this top-down western shooter is effectively the precursor to Red Dead Revolver and the Red Dead Redemption series!

Thanks for reading!

Special thanks to Capcom for providing a review code. The Xbox version was played for this review.