Mega Man 11

Mega Man 11, known as Rockman 11: Unmei no Haguruma!! (ロックマン11 運命の歯車！！) in Japan, is a Mega Man game released on October 2nd, 2018. It is the eleventh main entry from the original Mega Man series.

Gameplay
Mega Man 11 features the usual gameplay of the classic Mega Man games, with a new feature. New to the series is the Double Gear System. The system allows Mega Man to possess two new abilities, those being the "Speed Gear" for slowing down time, and the "Power Gear" for Mega Man to charge a more powerful charged shot, shoot two charged shots together, and even power-up his special weapons as previously seen on the announcement and pre-order trailers. This is activated by pressing the front shoulder buttons on a controller based on the Gear Position (ex. PS4: for Power Gear and  for Speed Gear) The Gears have a nasty side effect, though; as a gear is being used, Mega Man starts to overheat as indicated by a gauge above him, which slowly builds up the longer he uses a gear. The gauge can be cooled down by deactivating these gears, but if the gauge reaches maximum, the overheat will prevent Mega Man from using the Double Gear again until after the cooldown has ended. There are also Gear Recovery pick-ups that can help the Double Gear cool down faster; they come in two sizes, small and large. Mega Man can also switch between either Gear with "Gear Change" by pressing the opposite activation button. When Mega Man is low on health, he can use the Double Gear technique - i.e. activate both gears at the same time - which allows for a devastating Final Charge Shot (though special weapons can still be used) that heavily damages everything onscreen while time is slowed down, but this will leave him severely weakened afterwards until the cooldown period is over which is longer than normal, and it cannot be turned off once activated. There are also several parts sold at the store that can help improve the Double Gear's abilities.

Mega Man is again able to use Sliding and Charge Shot. The Charge Shot now possesses the "Guard Break" ability where a fully charged shot can temporarily stun shielded enemies (such as Met or Sniper Joe), rendering them vulnerable to a quick rapid-fire attack before they regain their balance. The player can also call upon Rush to reach higher platforms, using familiar abilities such as the Rush Coil and Rush Jet (though Mega Man must defeat half of the Robot Masters to gain the ability to use Rush Jet).undefined A new feature is that the energy meter for Rush is now present as a standard feature, negating the need to switch over to it first, but the weapon energy is now connected to both of Rush's forms. It can also be activated or deactivated at will by pressing a button based on the controller (ex. For the default buttons for the PS4 version, for Rush Coil, or  for Rush Jet), which can also switch Mega Man back to normal if he is equipped with a special weapon.

Unlike any past games where Mega Man would merely undergo a color change upon collecting Special Weapons, Mega Man 11 introduces a new feature where his helmet and left arm (for his Mega Buster) will also undergo a change with each special weapon besides a color change, known as "Head Gear" and "Arm Gear", based around the design of the Robot Master the weapon is obtained from. His ability to switch between weapons without going to the menu originally seen in Mega Man 7 and most other games afterward (excluding Mega Man 9) is retained (but with positioning rearranged to buttons such as and  instead). Players also can now use the right analog stick (or right touchpad with a Steam controller) to allow Mega Man to quickly switch to a specific weapon based on the direction used without having to go through any others first (or tapping it to return to the Mega Buster).

Energy Tanks, Weapon Tanks, and Mystery Tanks make a re-appearance in this game, along with the Store and being able to use Screws as currency again (now referred to as Bolts), which is run by Roll for the Items/Support section and Auto for the Parts section. The player has the option of equipping or unequipping parts bought at the store, but if there are two similar parts, namely in the case of the Energy Balancer and Cooling System items that have a more powerful variant, only one may be equipped at a time. Also a number of items found in the store cannot be purchased right away and each requires their own method to be unlocked first before they can be purchased. Additionally Eddie and Beat play the same role they did in Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10.

Mega Man 11 features four difficulty modes: Newcomer, Casual, Normal, and Superhero. Much like with Mega Man 10, the difficulty level challenge will also affect what occurs on a stage and what items can be found laying around.

Once the Main Game is completed, the player can freely choose to return to any stage they wish, including the Gear Fortress stages. In addition certain parts not available in the main game are now eligible for purchase.

Story
The evil scientist Dr. Wily has completed forbidden research to attack the peaceful robotic society again. While reflecting on his younger days when he studied alongside Dr. Light, he remembered a creation of his own: the Double Gear System, a device that dramatically increases the abilities of robots, but its research was stopped due to the danger caused by pushing robots beyond their limitations, and it is related to the conflict between Dr. Wily and Dr. Light. Finishing the Double Gear System, Dr. Wily steals eight of Dr. Light's robots and increases their abilities to use on his plans to conquer the world. In order to counter the situation, Dr. Light reluctantly decided to install a prototype of the Double Gear System that Wily created when he was younger on Mega Man, giving him new abilities to help him stop Dr. Wily's nefarious ambitions.

After Mega Man has defeated four of the Robot Masters, Dr. Light explains the history of the Double Gear system. When he and Wily were students at Robot University, they both had their own ideas on how to create a new future for humans and robots. Light pursued the idea of giving robots independent thought in order to make them true partners to humans while Wily believed robots could only be accepted if they exceeded humans and became heroes with his Double Gear. Light opposed the idea due to the extreme physical exertion the system placed on robots, which made it dangerous to implement in them. A committee was held and Light's idea was given approval over Wily's, ending their friendship.

Mega Man defeats the remaining Robot Masters, prompting Wily to give the location of his Gear Fortress and challenge Mega Man himself. Mega Man infiltrates the fortress and defeats Wily's latest Wily Machine. The mad scientist begs as usual but insists Mega Man only won due to his Double Gear system. At this point, Dr. Light arrives in person to ask Wily to atone, showing that Mega Man has proven their research can work in tandem. However, Wily refuses and escapes as the fortress collapses. Mega Man, Dr. Light, and Auto escape, retrieving the bodies of the Robot Masters in the process.

Back home, Dr. Light installs the Double Gear in Auto to help him work faster as they begin the process of restoring the Robot Masters.

Presentation
Mega Man 11 is similar to both the seventh and eighth installments of the original Mega Man timeline in that it experiments with new and previously unseen graphical styles, as opposed to the series' more common 8-bit visuals. Much like Mega Man Powered Up, Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, Mega Man X7 (excluding the 3D stages), and Mega Man X8, Mega Man 11 uses 2.5D graphics for the gameplay engine. The game also has voice acting, the first to do so in the classic series since Mega Man 8.

Extra Mode
This mode, which is accessed from the main menu, contains the following:


 * Much like with Mega Man 10, Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, Challenges are available for the player to try out. Unlike before, other than just the time trials for the stages, mid-bosses, or bosses, new trial methods such as Jumping as little as possible are now available. The formatting is the same as Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 in terms of knowing which records to beat to be eligible to earn Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medals. Only by completing the main game is that the Boss Rush and Dr. Light's Trial Challenges are unlocked.


 * A leaderboard to monitor the records of the people with the best times. Also much like with the previous Mega Man Legacy Collection releases, players can watch the feed from only the top 30 players.


 * A Records section to monitor the achievements that have been accomplished or are currently available (excluding the secret achievements).


 * New to the series is a Gallery which is a database (similar to the database from Mega Man Legacy Collection) of every enemy and boss encountered in Mega Man 11, which adds more entries as the player encounters more enemies and clears more stages. The gallery also includes voice clips on all characters with voice actors.

Development
The game was announced on December 4th, 2017 during the live stream celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Mega Man franchise.undefined Before its announcement, two concept arts hinting its development were shown, the first as Roll's new design for her Nendoroid figure, and the second of Mega Man's new weapon design appearing as an easter egg in the Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 gallery, under the Mega Man 8 section.

When deciding how the game would look, the team selected some stages from previous games, such as Stone Man's stage from Mega Man 5 and Pump Man's stage from Mega Man 10, and redesigned them with improved graphics as a test.undefined The team decided that striving for an extended sense of nostalgia seemed a bit off from what gamers were looking for, and decided to use new graphics to show that not only is Mega Man back, but also improved. Because the game was the first original series entry in 11 years, the developers wanted newcomers to be able to understand the story easily. This is why the game opens with young versions of Wily and Light, explaining the source of their enmity. This would also be beneficial to long-time fans, fleshing out this period of both characters' lives.

Much like with Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, the Nintendo Switch version also uses Amiibo support, and a new amiibo figurine for Mega Man will also be released. Both this and the original amiibo from the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U release can be used once a day to earn the player a free Energy Tank.

Characters

 * Mega Man
 * Roll
 * Dr. Light
 * Auto
 * Rush
 * Beat
 * Eddie
 * Dr. Wily

Bosses
As of September 19th, 2018, all eight Robot Masters in the game have been revealed. The first is Block Man, a rotund, cyan robot with gold & white accents and dull, grey bricks covering his body. His weapon, Block Dropper, gives Mega Man the ability to spawn/throw four cyan bricks.

The second Robot Master, revealed in the Pre-order trailer, is the electric-based Fuse Man. Upon obtaining his weapon, Mega Man can unleash a ball of electricity which can traverse through platforms when hitting the walls or the floor.

The third Robot Master, revealed on July 3, 2018, is a bomb-wielding robot named Blast Man. Upon defeating him, his weapon allows Mega Man to use floating bombs that can stick to enemies.

The fourth, revealed on July 19, 2018, is the fire-themed Robot Master, Torch Man. Defeating him grants Mega Man the ability to launch huge fireballs into the air.

The fifth Robot Master, revealed on August 31, 2018, is a construction-themed Robot Master called Impact Man. His weapon, Pile Driver, allows Mega Man to dash/air dash with a jackhammer drill. This attack allows Mega Man to ram into enemies with the drill, which then causes them to explode from the impact.

The sixth Robot Master, revealed on September 6, 2018, is a large, bulbous Robot Master named Bounce Man. His Special Weapon, Bounce Ball, allows Mega Man to throw three bouncing balls in front of him which can be tilted up or down.

On September 19th 2018, Capcom revealed the seventh robot master, the ice-themed Tundra Man, along with his special weapon, Tundra Storm, which destroys enemies above and below Mega Man with a column of cold air. In addition, the eighth Robot Master, Acid Man, was revealed on Mega Man 11's official website. His weapon lets Mega Man generate a shield of acid that absorbs damage and allows him to shoot globs of acid.

Blast Man, Torch Man, Impact Man, Bounce Man, Tundra Man, and Acid Man were originally speculated by fans and thought to have been tentative names, but as it turns out, those are their official names. This means that their names were unintentionally leaked online.

Mega Man 11 Demo Version
On September 6, 2018 a demo version was released for players on the Nintendo Switch for players to sample the gameplay of the game, with versions for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One released on the following day September 7. This sample contains a training mode for players to learn the Gear and Double Gear system gameplay, along with being able to play through Block Man's stage. Players can also use Rush Coil, Scramble Thunder, and Pile Driver as part of the Demo gameplay and have access to every difficulty level except Superhero. The demo was downloaded over one million times worldwide.

When the player beats Block Man and gets a chance to practice using Block Dropper or gets a Game Over, the demo will end and the player will see a screen thanking them for playing the demo, along with a link for player to have the option of buying the game digitally.

Achievements
Similar to the previous releases of Mega Man X Legacy Collection and Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2, different challenges are present in the game with 50 in total which can be viewed in the Records section which can be found in the Extra Modes section of the game. Also like before, excluding the Nintendo Switch version, passing any of these challenges will earn the player a trophy/achievement points.

Also much like the X Legacy Collection releases, some of these challenges were left secret until they are unlocked and for the PS4 version, passing all 50 challenges will earn the player a Platinum trophy for collecting the other trophies.

Note that for the First Run only achievements, it means that they can only be eligible when playing through the game the first time, and therefore a new save file must be made in order to gain the opportunity to collect them again.

Reception
Mega Man 11 received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic getting a metascore of 79/100 on PC, 82/100 on PS4, 77/100 on Xbox One, and 80/100 on Nintendo Switch. On whatoplay.com, it receives an aggregate score (playscore) of 8.44 on both PC & PS4, 8.06 on Xbox One, and 8.03 on Nintendo Switch.

Trivia

 * Mega Man 11 marks the return of the mainline Mega Man series after eight years of hiatus.
 * Excluding re-releases and compilations, this is the first Mega Man game to be available on Steam upon release, as well as the first Mega Man game to receive a standalone physical release since 2008's Mega Man Star Force 3.
 * Rock's design is based on his appearance from the manga included in Rockman Character Collection, including the cleaning device used by him.
 * This is the first classic Mega Man game (barring compilations) to come to a Nintendo console physically since Mega Man & Bass in 2002/2003.
 * It is also the first original Mega Man game since Mega Man 7 to feature at least one Robot Master on all cover art outside of Japan.
 * Along with Mega Man 8 and Mega Man & Bass, this is one of the few classic Mega Man games to have its western box art unaltered from the Japanese version (apart from the game's logo).
 * Mega Man's new ability with gaining a new Head and Arm Gear in addition to the color changes when using special weapons is similar to his successor’s Armor changes.
 * Just like in Mega Man 7, Mega Man 8, and Powered Up, the Robot Masters make an animated entrance (such as Fuse Man dropping down onto the stage while inside a lightning bolt).
 * This is the first classic Mega Man game since Mega Man & Bass to feature idle animations.
 * The Robot Masters in this game are referred in-game as Wily Numbers despite not being made by Dr. Wily, as has happened in previous games.
 * In fact, all of the Robot Masters have the names of companies that manufactured them listed in the in-game database, with one of them even being mentioned as being made by Cossack Robot Laboratories.
 * Like with its fellow games released in 2018 Mega Man X Legacy Collection and Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2, Mega Man 11 also celebrates the franchise's 30th Anniversary.
 * Alongside the Mega Man and X Legacy Collections, Mega Man 11 is the first Mega Man game to be released ahead of Japan.
 * This is the first Classic Mega Man game to display a Robot Master's serial number alongside the robot himself when he is selected.
 * It's also the first game to give the Robot Masters official nicknames.
 * Not counting Mega Man Powered Up, Mega Man 11 is the first classic Mega Man game to feature multiple stage select themes.
 * As part of the promotion for both Mega Man 11 and another upcoming Capcom game, Devil May Cry 5, the character Nero (a character from the latter game whose English voice actor also voices Zero in Marvel vs. Capcom series and Nintendo crossover Super Smash Bros. series) is able to obtain the Mega Buster via DLC.
 * Notably, both Proto Man and Bass are absent from this game. However, it was implied that they might be added as downloadable content in the future.
 * This is the first main game of the classic Mega Man series since his introduction in Mega Man 3 not to feature Proto Man. He was, however, mentioned in the Sniper Joes' profile in the gallery section. Also if one considers Bass's cameo in Mega Man 9, this is the first game not to reference Bass at all since his introduction in Mega Man 7.
 * Unlike before it is now possible to switch to the Japanese voice acting and still be able to keep the English text active.
 * Unless you count Mega Man Powered Up's Old Mode, this is the first game since Mega Man 1 to have a point system. However it is not part of the main game, but rather part of one of the categories of 11's challenge mode.
 * This is the first game since Mega Man V to just have one song for every Wily Fortress stage instead of either two or four songs that are usually used for each Wily Fortress stages in each game.
 * Mega Man 11 has a number of similar elements to Mega Man X8.
 * The player has the ability to exit a stage if they wish without having to beat the boss first.
 * This also makes it the only Classic series game not to have the Exit Part to do it.
 * Mega Man's newfound Guard Break ability of neutralizing enemy defenses with a Charge Shot is similar to the X-Buster Charge Shot ability in X8.
 * Unless one counts Mega Man: Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X, this is the second game where the player has the option to revisit Fortress Level stages after X8.
 * The fact that not all items are not available in the store right away and each requires an unlock method is similar to both X8, as well as Mega Man Xtreme 2.
 * Unlike with the Rare Metals from X8 or the collecting of DNA Souls from Xtreme 2, each item requires their own separate unlock method before they become available in the store, with only a few items sharing the same unlock method.
 * Just like Mega Man Powered Up and Mega Man 9, all 8 Robot Masters in this game are repaired back to their original selves although it happens after the main story is finished.
 * Mega Man 11 is the only Mega Man game that features Robot Masters who are renamed between their Japanese and English names, unless one counts the inconsistent variations in Crash Man’s name.