Rocman X

Rocman X
Famicom version title screen.
Publisher	Sachen
Developer	Sachen
Console	Famicom, Game Boy Color
Date	1995 (Famicom), unknown (Game Boy Color)
Engine	Unknown
Sound engine	Sachen
Alternate names/hacks	Thunder Blast Man

Rocman X (洛克人X) (also known as Thunder Blast Man) is an unlicensed game created by Sachen, released on the Famicom and NES sometime in the 90's and also sometime later for the Game Boy Color. The NES and English Game Boy Color versions were released as Thunder Blast Man, the Chinese version of the GBC game released as 洛克人X金 (Rockman X Gold), and one of the NES versions' label calls it Thunder Blaster Man.

Famicom Version

Rocman X's gameplay.

Rocman X's title screen is mostly copied from the first Rockman (Mega Man)'s Famicom game with the logo taken from Rockman X (Mega Man X), without the "K". The game also includes a story in English where Gadem City celebrates its centennial before the mayor's daughter, Miss Lucy, is kidnapped by the Paulung-Tang gang (led by Havel), who then take over and sabotage the city, holding it for a $20 billion ransom. Thunder Blast Man himself (also commonly known as Rockman X) appears to be based on Rockman/Mega Man and bears a passing resemblance to Quick Man from Mega Man 2, as well as sporting a cape. His default weapon is a boomerang as opposed to a standard Mega Buster, and only one can be thrown on screen at a time. You can get different weapons as well as buy a spare continue (if you don't have one) by visiting stores located before boss fights in each world, save for the motorcycle stage. As well as this, Thunder Blast Man has a charge move triggered by holding B and, after it fully charges (designated by the health bar flashing) releasing it while holding up, left, or right to fly in that direction (releasing it while being still cancels the move.)  This allows him to get across many pits throughout the game.

The first three areas are available on the stage select screen, and most stages (save for the fourth area, where the boss is fought at the end of a single motorbike area) are split into two parts and a boss each. After clearing these, the game becomes linear as you access the last three areas automatically in order. The fourth area is a motorbike chase scene which looks and plays somewhat similarly to the speedboat sequence towards the end of Wave Man's stage in Mega Man 5. If you die in a stage you can continue from the point that you left off at (assuming you have a continue; you always start a new game with a continue) but if you used it up or don't have one you have to restart at the stage you're currently on, losing your bought weapons in the process. This is a bit different in the mine cart segment of the final world, as falling into the spikes give you a game over regardless of health or continues, but you restart the level with your on-hand items (spare continue and/or weapons) intact. The ending explains that Thunder Blast Man has saved Gadem City from the Paulung-Tang gang and that the city has made a statue of him.

Game Boy Color Version

The GBC version has similar graphics and levels, but has completely different music. Most of the graphics are taken from the Famicom version, including some unused enemy graphics. Also, the gameplay is changed to a more traditional Mega Man-styled game and there are no shops or additional weapons in the game.  The level architecture in most of the levels is partially based on the level design from the NES game (usually at the beginning of a stage) although with accommodations made for your character's lack of a fly ability. The bosses require proper timing with hits like the NES version, except they're vulnerable for a much shorter time. Clearing all the stages yields no ending, as the game doesn't record bosses being defeated like a traditional Mega Man game. Two versions of this game exist: A "Rocman X" version featuring slightly edited Mega Man sprites and very slightly lower aim, and the more well-known "Thunder Blast Man" version, featuring the protagonist of the NES game. This version shares numerous similarities with Makon Soft games, particularly Rocman 8 and X4.

Credits

On some emulators, the credits show the third screen at the beginning instead of the first. They display properly on real hardware.

• Producer: Chun-Nan Lin
• Art: Su-Ping Chen, Ahi Hsu, L.J.U.
• Music & Sound Effect: Amadeus Wang
• Art & Character Designer: Chun-Nan Lin
• Programmer & Director: Eric Wu, Huan-Lin Tsai

Trivia

• Gadem City could be a reference to Gotham City from Batman.
• At the shop, there's an easter egg. If you poke the shopkeeper's breast, she looks at you disgusted and you lose $100 (though you don't seem to lose money if you buy something first.) Clicking on her face will show the closed eyes part of her idle animation briefly, similar to clicking on her breasts.
• The game's manual is the same for both the NES/Famicom version and the Game Boy version. Another thing to note is that the manual refers to Gadem City as Chiateng City, Miss Lucy as Rose, Havel only referred to once as "the jerk," and Thunder Blast Man (or Rocman X, as he's more commonly known) as "the leading role." It's also worth noting that the gameplay and controls mentioned in the manual are extremely similar to the Game Boy version, mentioning a charge-shot attack, five stages to select from the start, and pills apparently being the only item in the game.
  • It's also possible that the manual packaged with the console versions is specifically for the GBC game. The original Famicom release never came with its own manual (or the manual is extremely rare; Gaiapolis originally lacked a manual as well) and some of the NES reprints even use a label featuring the GBC version's title screen instead of the crude drawing of X.
• Thunder Blast Man appears on the front of the BootlegGames Wiki.

Three unused frames for Thunder Blast Man found in the NES version's ROM.

• There appears to be an alternate version of the upward flying sprites for Thunder Blast Man hidden in the rom, but they appear to be unused. Also in the ROM are alternate graphics for the flying and foot soldier enemies; these ended up being used in the GBC port.
• On both GBC and NES versions the title is misspelled, being called Rocman X (though this is possibly intentional.)
• The "Rocman X" character on the GBC version's box art is based more on X while the in-game sprite is an edit of the Classic Mega Man sprites.
• The game has a stage select cheat, activated by pressing Up + A + B + Select simultaneously then holding Down + B at the title screen. In addition to being able to select any stage in the game, the player will also have maxed-out money and every item in the game right off the bat.
• The Japanese text on the back of the Taiwanese release's box is lifted directly from Rockman 6. The art assets are from the actual Rockman X, although the screenshots are from the Sachen game.
• In the GBC port sometimes enemies/objects will fail to load. This is because of the game's built-in sprite limit, which prevents more than four sprites/objects (save for Thunder Blast Man himself) being loaded probably to prevent overwhelming the system. Scrolling the object's spawn point on-screen again after removing some nearby ones (like collecting any stray pills or killing off any nearby enemies) will fix this.
• The GBC port's level boundaries and layout follow the same design philosophies as Pokémon Adventure's. Both have the same stage dimensions and tweak the stage layout to accommodate the player's different abilities, as well as making up new layouts to fill up space where the original stolen layout ends. This could possibly support the theory that the game was made by Makon Soft (or by the same staffers.)

Gallery

Main article: Rocman X/gallery

Unlicensed Famicom ROM cassette 2.jpg

Boxed copy of Rocman X.

Rocman X for GBC. The Chinese calls it Rockman X Gold.