Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chōsensha

Rockman & Forte: Mirai kara no Chōsensha (ロックマン&フォルテ 未来からの挑戦者) is a video game in the classic Rockman series. It is considered to be a “sequel” to Rockman &amp; Forte due to its naming, though it actually continues on from the story of Rockman World II. It was developed by Bandai under license by Capcom and released on August 5, 1999 for the Bandai WonderSwan.

Overview
Like in Rockman & Forte, the player can choose to play as Rockman or Forte. Once again Rockman can charge his shots and slide while Forte can fire in seven directions (straight up, straight forward, or any diagonal) with a rapid-fire arm cannon, do a double jump, and dash. This time, however, Rockman and Forte each get different Special Weapons from the Robot Masters they defeat. Rightot's shop returns with some of the items from Rockman &amp; Forte, but now Reggae and Tango are available for Forte and Rockman respectively.

Rockman & Forte: Mirai kara no Chōsensha only has eight stages. After finishing the opening stage, five stages are selectable initially, including the opening stage. The first four selectable bosses are (from top to bottom) Dangan Man, Konro Man, Aircon Man and Komuso Man. Defeating all the bosses will unlock the Clock Men, and after defeating them, Compass Man and then finally Rockman Shadow.

Story
From the game's opening scene: ''The year is 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?!''


 * Rockman 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 end the life of Rockman who I hate to 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!"

For the time being, the two had to set aside their differences and face the new threat of the Dimensions. After defeating all of them, they face their leader, Rockman Shadow. He briefly discusses Quint, a version of Rockman that previously came from the future but was captured and customized by Dr. Wily. Depending on which character confronts him at the end, he will give a different version of his origin, but in the end he will be put out of his misery, revealing that he wanted to be destroyed in order to stop his destructive desires.

Note: The year is given in the game as 200X, but this is most likely either a typographical error or a continuity error, as Bass/Forte made his debut in Mega Man 7, which took place in 20XX.

Bosses
Intro Stage Boss: Grey Devil

Robot Masters:

Final Boss:
 * Rockman Shadow

Gameplay differences
While gameplay of Mirai Kara no Chousensha is mostly faithful to a typical Rockman game, it differs in several aspects:


 * The player can only have a maximum of eight lives as opposed to the traditional nine.
 * Unlike other games where once the player has beaten a stage they may leave at will as long as they have acquired the Exit option, Exit is a single use item, and must be bought again at the shop every time the player uses it.
 * The player does not recover weapon energy between stages.
 * Buster shots fired from one screen travel to the next screen, allowing players to defeat enemies that have not even been seen yet as long as they move to the next screen quickly enough.
 * This is the first Mega Man game to feature mini-bosses in all Robot Master stages. Mega Man 11 would later also follow this model.
 * Robot Masters do not have an invincibility period after being hit, allowing the player to continuously attack them if possible, though bosses have points in their attack patterns in which they are invincible.
 * Special Weapons do a set damage against all bosses, such as Barrier Wind/Forte Cyclone dealing 5 units of damage. Rapid hitting weapons deal less damage but easily drain the boss' HP.
 * After defeating a Robot Master in the game, the Robot Master's portrait on the stage select screen changes to show him in a defeated pose. This is unique among the Classic series, as other titles instead blank out the Stage Select portraits or dim them after their stage is completed.

Item shop
Dr. Right and Roll run a shop and create items in exchange for Screws that can be found throughout the stages. All the items are available to purchase from the beginning. Dr. Right is the shopkeeper in Rockman's story, and Roll in Forte's story.

Except for the Super Buster, Hyper Buster, Energy Balancer, Energy Saver, Super Recover and Super Armor, all items can be used only once, which means they need to be purchased again after usage.

Other Media
The Mega Man series from Archie Comics teased at an adaptation of the game in Mega Man#20, although the series went on hiatus before it could adapt the full storyline. Despite the hints, Ian Flynn stated that the game was off limits due to be being told he may not use the material. Though it's possible it could've been Quint as Ian Flynn stated that he had plans for Quint and also stated that the team can make their own line of Robot Masters.

Trivia

 * Mega Man ZX Advent references some bosses of this game as comic book characters. 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 a boss. He is, however, indirectly responsible for Rockman Shadow's existence, as he scrapped and abandoned him for being a failed prototype of Quint.
 * The game reuses many tracks from Mega Man & Bass, which were downgraded to 8-bit to meet the limitations of the WonderSwan.
 * This is the only Rockman licensed game mentioned in the book R20 Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works.
 * Enemies in this game resemble enemies from the Mega Man X series as many are insects, along with Batton Bones being common throughout stages. It is possible that the enemies fought are early-production Mechaniloids from the future.