Another Japan only game! And of a godlike series?! NOICE. Lets rock.
Rockman EXE 4.5 is pretty much a fanservice game that served as a testing ground for the developers to test using other NetNavis (which we would later see lots of in later games). As a result, there are a lot of playables characters, but practically no story. You play as various NetNavis, go through the “story” mode (it’s the same for everyone) and you’re done. Your main goal is to beat all the tournaments and then beat the hidden boss after collecting all the chips and shit. Preeeetty basic. Yet it’s one of the funnest things on the GBA.
Dream Match
Your main menu basically acts as a PET system, where you can jack into the internet and check e-mails, etc. At first only a number of NetNavis are available: Rockman, Roll, NumberMan and GutsMan. You can freely just reset the game and play as another character any time you want. Each character’s personal progress is saved, which was probably why the story is so simple and short; because there is the possibility for a crapload of different “save slots”. In the main menu, after you’ve booted up your Navi, they will begin to talk to you. They will ask you various questions which will be recorded in its systems. They will ask you about your family members, your hobbies, who you like, what you’re good at, what subject in school you like, all sorts of stuff. You can input whatever you want, like for my hobby:
They Say to Do What You Love
They will then use these responses in various dialogue pieces, and since you can put in whatever you want, it can get pretty silly pretty fast.
“DA KID, you can’t handle e-mails from JESUS?”
The feature itself is very cute and fun and really works well towards making it feel like the Navi is alive and your bud. I mean, of course they are, right?
Each character naturally plays a bit differently. They each have their own unique charge shot that is basically one of their signature moves. NumberMan throws a die bomb, FireMan shoots fire down a row, etc. Some are better than others; the two I mentioned right there are some of the best ones. Besides that, you do not directly control the Navi. The move along the board on their own, programmed to follow the enemy to attack them, but to dodge any attacks coming at them. They can be pretty crappy at this sometimes, so there is a way to help em out. What one CAN do, is give em general directions like “stick to back column” or “stick to front column”. This will be used very often as it can be used both to dodge and to effectively use chips. You get 3 chips to use, shown at the bottom of the screen, and can shuffle them as the bar goes up. You select which chip to use with the cursor and press the button to use it. The bar fills up on the top, changing colours. When it is yellow, standard chips can be used. As it fills it becomes Blue for Super chips. Then Mega. Essentially, it takes longer to use better chips. Make sense.
The battle system is thus a interesting and fun beast in itself. The guiding controls adds another level of strategy not found by merely being good at controlling Rockman freely.
Nice
There are just a number of tournaments to win, and in order to get into them you have to progress the “story” a bit – which usually involves beating a bad Navi. These evil Navis are unfortunately unplayable, but there are still lots of playable chars to use! Also, the game has an internal clock that restricts you to just one tournament entry a day. Bastards! You unlock new characters through winning the Official Tournament over and over again with different peeps. But you unlock the best char after the first time: FireMan. Dude’s pretty wicked in my book. I mean, he’s just dope in general, but he has a very good charge shot in his fireblast. it does good damage that can also stack if and enemy moves through it, and it doesn’t stop for shit. Overall yum.
ThunderMan bein deep about rebirth after killing a god damn vampire
Rockman EXE 4.5 is super fun and an absolutely awesome concept I am 100% behind, because I like so many NetNavis so much. Similar to how Rockman Rockman allowed you to play as all the bosses, this too makes playing as your favorite “enemies” a total blast despite just putting you through the same thing over again. I just wish that, while I had fun using the extra chars in later EXE games, I wish there was an improvement sequel to this game that allowed free movement, more unique skills, and some more unique story elements for each char. Rockin around as ElecMan would be too hype for my soul. BUT ALAS, this was just a test run and the EXE series (and pretty much every other series) is too busy being over to have any more games made for it. IN MY DREAMS….
I give this an Awesome out of 10.
Hondoori Game Center 