Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chōsensha

Overview
Rockman & Forte: Challenger from the Future (Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chousen Sha) is a sequel to Mega Man and Bass (Super Famicom, 1998), developed by Bandai in cooperation and under license by Capcom, Inc., released in 1999 for the Bandai WonderSwan. The game was one of the last games released in the classic series before Mega Man 9 in 2008.



Release Date
Bandai WonderSwan:


 * Japan: August 5, 1999

Official Story
The year 200X. A group of robots calling themselves the Dimensions attacked Symphony City, a city where people and robots lived in peace. Though without any witnesses, the one leading the Dimensions with overwhelming power was a robot like Rockman. He was said to be a dark and wicked person completely obsessed with destruction. Rockman, who heard this news at Right's laboratory, took off to the scene despite being under maintenance. At the same time, Wily saw the dark Rockman, and to ascertain the mystery he sends Forte to the city. Just who is this dark Rockman really?!

R-SHADOW: "My name is Rockman Shadow! I am a robot with great power. I won't forgive those who don't obey me!"

ROCKMAN: "Stop your harming of everyone! Who the heck are you? How can it be you look just like me?"

FORTE: "I've come to to end the life of Rockman who I hate this day, but somehow this situation is different than usual."

ROCKMAN: "Forte, I don't have time to be concerned with that now. I must hold back those robots!"

FORTE: "Ch! It can't be helped, Wily's laboratory is near this city. I won't carry out our war of attrition here!"

-Translation by FireMan of Atomic Fire.

Note: The year is given in the game as 200X, but this is often considered either a typographical error or a canonical mistake as the game was, at the time, chronologically the last game in the Classic Mega Man/Rockman series. For instance, Forte (Bass) was not created until Mega Man 7, which took place in the 20XX time period (ca. 2013), so a date of 200X is impossible.

Actual Story


In the year 2016, only one year after King's Robot Rebellion had been quelled (in Mega Man and Bass), a futuristic robot came through a time warp and began to attack Symphony City, a city recently developed where robots and human beings could live together in peace (as Dr. Light had originally intended). This robot called himself R-Shadow (or Rockman Shadow) and bore a striking resemblance to Rockman and was accompanied by an army of powerful robots known as the Dimensions. Once their onslaught ensued, Rock was sent with Rush by Dr. Light to investigate and was surprised that R-Shadow looked almost exactly like him, except for his green armor and the visor covering his face. At the same time, Forte was sent by Dr. Wily to see who this new "intruder" was because the attack was in close proximity to his new lab. Thus, for the time being, the two had to set aside their differences and face the new threat set upon the world.

R-Shadow came from the the mid-21st century, to be more precise, from the time period that Dr. Wily visited with the Time Sled that he stole a few years prior from the Chronos Institute in order to steal futuristic technology. Wily (according to the Mega Man II manual for the Game Boy) had traveled 37.426 years into the future, which from the year 2010 would have been to the year 2048. In that year he "kidnapped" Rockman and reprogrammed him, turning him into a robot named Quint. That, however, was six years ago (so it would be 2053 in their time). Was this new threat, R-Shadow, Quint and thus, Rockman, but from the future?

As Rockman (and Forte) got a chance to speak with R-Shadow, he claimed to be Quint and having returned to his own present time, he spent a few years in anger and then built up an army of his own to return and get revenge on Rock for his past humiliation.

Would Rockman and Forte be able to defeat these time travelers with their advanced technology or would the world be forced to bend to their will? 

The truth
R-Shadow was not, in fact, Quint, but rather he was a prototype robot that Wily designed when experimenting with the technology present in the future. When Wily used the Time Sled to travel to the year 2048 and reprogram Rock into Quint, he first experimented with the technology of the time, the first product of which was him, a robot which Wily called R-Shadow. However, Wily decided that in the end he had no use for him and he was discarded. It was for this reason that he had come to the year 2016: he wanted to prove Dr. Wily wrong and show Rock that he was the superior robot, even if he was, in the end, only a "clone."

While the game depicts his "death" after his defeat at the hands of Mega Man and Bass, Dr. Light soon thereafter manages to repair him, and he is shown in a photograph with the team at Light Labs, sans helmet. He was most likely reprogrammed for two reasons: one because his programming was based on Dr. Wily's "evil" logic and because if he continued to desire Rock's destruction and was defeated a possible time paradox would exist. 

Trivia

 * Capcom references some bosses of this game as comic book characters in Mega Man ZX Advent. If the player can collect a certain Secret Disk, Konro Man appears in the cover of a digital comic book and is described as a walking stove hero. The Hunter Ray says he wants to create a comic book about a robot that fights with a folding fan in each hand (Aircon Man), and the item "Comic (Orange)" that can be obtained in Sharon's request is an action comic about two talking wrist watches (Clock Men).
 * This is notably one of the few Mega Man games where Dr. Wily was not the Mastermind behind the events or even the final boss.
 * This is the only Mega Man game to feature mini-bosses in all the Robot Masters stages.
 * This is the only official game that omits the rematch against the Robot Masters.
 * The Robot Masters in this game do not have an invincibility period after being hit, allowing the player to continuously attack them if possible.
 * Surprisingly this is the only Mega Man licensed game to be mentioned in the R20 Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works book.