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Rockman 8 is a bootleg Mega Man game for the original Game Boy developed by Makon Soft. It was first released in 1999, possibly in a faux Japanese "Game Boy Color" long box by Ka Sheng. This and its GBC version Rockman X4 are based on the PlayStation 1 titles of the same names.

Overview[]

Rockman8Gameplay

Rockman 8's gameplay.

There are five Robot Masters, marked on the level select screen as Frost Man, Clown Man, Tengu Man, Grenade Man, and Rock Man. However, on the screen afterwards, the name and sprites don't match, along with some typos (i.e. Grenade Man on the Robot Master select screen is called "Tengv Man" on the following screen with a sprite of Spark Man) As well as this, the actual boss in every level isn't a Robot Master at all, varying between a car, a flying dreidel, and a penguin.

The engine contains many glitches throughout. One serious glitch is that sometimes after killing so many enemies all of the remaining enemies and moving platforms disappear, making the level impossible to complete. Another major glitch is found when battling the boss on Clown Man's stage, where the game will sometimes reset itself without warning. Rockman's health bar is bigger than normal and he can't collect any weapons in this game, nor does he have any extra weapons at the start. As a result, he only has the Mega Buster and the pause screen is blank, aside from showing his health bar. Charging up the Mega Buster is completely useless, as a charged shot does no damage. As there's no weapon energy, all of the items refill Rockman's health. The graphics are taken from the Rockman games and simplified. The music is poorly remade from Rockman 3 and Rockman 4, though Grenade Man's theme is a cover of Magic Man's theme from Mega Man & Bass. There is no ending, with the game going back to the robot master select screen after beating all of the bosses.

The opening has scenes cut from the real Rockman 8 opening.

Rockman X4[]

Rockman X4, also known as Megaman X4, is a Game Boy Color port of Rockman 8 developed by Makon Soft. All known releases of the game were published by Ka Sheng. The game is virtually identical to Rockman 8, but with a different intro sequence (this time showing scenes from the actual Rockman X4), a different stage select screen, and a basic color palette applied to all graphics. Also, it does not show you a Rockman World 3 boss when you select a boss. Instead, it shows the boss' mugshot. The game's title screen attributes the copyright year to 2000, suggesting that the game was first released, or at least intended to be released, during that year.

Gallery[]

Main article: Rockman 8/gallery

Trivia[]

  • Hardhat from this game was reused in Pokémon Adventure, also by Makon.
  • Mega Man's color is slighty darker than the official Mega Man gameboy titles.
  • The available ROM for this game appears to have compatibility issues with widely known emulators such as VisualBoy Advance.
  • The HUD shows what weapon is equipped, even though the only weapon Rockman has in this game is the Mega Buster.
  • According to the ROM header data the game's name is "Rockman 99".
  • Strangely, one of the stages includes a stage representing "Rock Man", who shares its name with the protagonist.
  • There exists sliding and climbing sprites (taken from Rockman World 3) that are inside the ROM, suggesting that Rockman was able to slide like in the actual Rockman 8.
  • This game and Thunder Blast Man[1] share the same engine

See also[]