Classic Megaman Mysteries

Megaman 1

Some unused concepts from R20. These are pretty quaint to look at, and among them is pre-Big Eye. The spiked ball would be brought into MM9 20 years later (or it could be a coincidence) and there's also pre-Springer from MM2 in these shots. The unused concepts for Wily's mecha seem pretty far out ... that first one actually seems possible using today's technology, but it was probably unworkable at the time.

Going through the rom one can see unused sprites of Dr. Light talking! Did he say "thank you for playing"? "Fight for everlasting peace"? "Screw you, Megaman"? Who knows! What's more interesting is that these sprites can only be found in the Rockman version of the game and not the Megaman version!

NES Boy pointed out the finger pointing sprite and the fact that in the data, Dr. Light's pants aren't white! He chose this colour because it was his colour in his character art, but it isn't necessarily correct.

On a related note, NES Boy has also found the lost door to Dr. Light's house! Was MM meant to go inside the house at the end of the game? Or was Dr. Light and Roll supposed to come out? Maybe it was just there for decoration.

Beyond the boss doors of Wily Level 1. IT's worth noting that unlike every other NES MM game, MM1 has nothing beyond the boss doors of most levels. Wily level 1 being the exception. In it it has a bit of what might be Cutman's stage followed by a small reapeat of the beginning of the stage. Why this is so? Who knows.

Funtastic Facts:

• 
  The order of the levels in the rom data is: Cut, Ice, Bomb, Fire, Elec, and Guts. This does not match up with the creation order of the bosses as they are listed: Cut, Guts, Ice, Bomb, Fire, and Elec. In MM1 the order of creation is the order of the bosses on the Stage Select screen, going clockwise (as illustrated).

• You do not re-fight the bosses in any sort of order, however Cutman remains the first.

Megaman 2

Concept art of Woodman from the Megaman 2 manual. Notice the leaves on his chest and the firey buster. Ironically, he can be killed with the Atomic fire in one shot!

A picture of the Rockman 2 beta. From The Warp Zone with permission.

A picture of the Megaman 2 beta. Apparently it's the same as the final, except the music is an octave higher in pitch. From The Warp Zone with permission.

"Clash"man. Alright, so this isn't technically too much of a beta pic. Since his name remains Clash in the Japanese game. However, in the American it's changed to Crashman. "Clashman" is a bit of mispronunciation on the part of the Japanese and the name's correction in the english shows it was always meant to be "Crashman". This pic was taken right off the back of the MM2 box.

What blocky trees! You could walk on those things, they're so square. I'm glad THIS was changed for the final. Also taken right off the back of the MM2 box which was scanned by The Warp Zone.

Here we can see an unused sprite seen in Crashman's tile data. Personally, I am glad that it remains unused. No idea what it's supposed to be, but it might be a Metool generator.

A few more unused tiles from Megaman 2 found by Metalman. They don't look like much, but they do suggest a signifigantly different design for Woodman's stage. While the entirety of Woodman's stage looks like blocky woody bits, these tiles show us that Capcom actually has tiles that were cracked and broken, which would have given Woody's realm a bit more polish. To note, Woodman's level in the Wily Wars is full of similarily broken woody tiles as found in these unused frames, so maybe they simply didn't finish Woodman's level.

Beyond the boss doors!

I remember long ago, playing MM2 on my trusty, dusty NES. While fighting Airman (while cheating of course, 'lil Gauntlet wasn't too different in that respect from grown-up Gauntlet) I, somehow, got him to get hit with his own Air Shooter. The boss door sound was heard and I was whisked away to a screen PAST Airman's level, into an unkown level. Where I promptly died.

This event has haunted me all these years ..... until now! Thanks to level editors I have mapped out just what lied .... beyond the boss doors of Megaman 2!

In level editors, Heatman's level is the first level that shows up. Beyond the boss doors of Heatman's realm is Wily level 1! Note that this really *is* Wily level 1 and not a *copy* of Wily level 1. To save space, presumably, the Wily Levels are all past the actual robot master levels!

Beyond the boss doors of Airman's level lies Wily level 2.

Wily Level 3 lies behind Woodman's stage.

Wily level 4 lurks past Bubbleman's stage ..... along with a surprise: Wily level 1 from Megaman 1!! That's right - it looks like MM2 was built right on top of MM1 and this stage is just one bit of leftover data.

Wily level 5 is beyond Quickman's level. Also a bit from the end of game.

Flashman's level contains another MM1 surprise! What looks to be part of a boss room and corridor! Because there aren't any throwable blocks in the room it's either Fire's room or Ice's room (the MM1 rooms are unique in that they can be accessed different ways .... this makes it easier to identify a boss room). Since the layout can mean it can be either one, I think it's more likely that it's Iceman's room. Because you slip and slide on the ground in Iceman's level ... just as you do in Flashman's level! This data from this is likely derived from MM1. Followed, of course, by Wily level 6 (the blocks in the air at the end of the level are that "stars" from when you fight Alien Wily). Followed by various ending screens and password screens.

Metaman's room is *very* interesting! At first it contains data for either Iceman's room or Fireman's room. Then it contains a bit of Wily level 1 for MM1! Followed by the corridor (albeit shortened) and boss room of Cutman (Gutsman's room lacks the "roof" that this boss room has, and since Cutman is the only other room structured like this - with throwable blocks on the left hand side - it must be his room). Followed by nearly ALL of Wily level 1 (with a shotened "outdoor" section and no boss room).

Crashman's room is next and beyond it's boss doors lie data for the MM2 introduction screens.

Wily level 4 with info from Wily 1 of MM1.

Final Wily level followed by those password and ending screens.

The game's structure makes it likely that The MM1 levels were used as test levels before the game really got going. Also, although I can't get to these levels they don't seem to have any enemies in them. Still, it's a VERY interesting look into the development of Megaman 2!

Funtastic Facts:

• 
  The order that the levels appear in the rom is different from the boss order at the end of the game. The levels appear in this order: Heat, Air, Wood, Bubble, Quick, Flash, Metal, and Crash. The order of creation for the bosses is: Metal, Air, Bubble, Quick, Crash, Flash, Heat, and Wood. The order of creation is actually a "randomization" of the teleport hatch room layout! Starting from Metal's hatch ( the middle of the right hand row), go across to Air, circle down for Bubble and Quick, and complete a counterclockwise circle for Crash, Flash, Heat, and Wood (as illustrated in the picture)!

• The order of the boss levels in the rom matches up to the order of the teleport hatches (from left top down, followed by the bottom two, followed by the right top going down).

• 
  There's a small debate going on on the correct way to draw Metalman: with undies or without. His regular artwork has his waist covered by a metal blade and in many other peices of artwork his nether regions are covered, but his Complete Works picture has no red underwear on, and neither does his sprite. However, the Wily Wars sprite, Super Adventure sprite, character turnaround, and CD art do have underwear on. Also, the old NES sprites were very basic. So, in all likelyhood, he does wear undies.

• R20 supplies us with early names for the MM2 RMs that had earlier names (thanks, Auto!). Missileman (Crashman), Waterman (Bubbleman), Boomerangman (Quickman), and Rollingman (Metalman).

Megaman 3

Megaman 4

Concept art of "Flip Top" from the Megaman 4 manual. Ugly little bugger, wasn't he? The name "Flip Top" didn't last very long either.

From The Warp Zone. It's the Megaman 4 beta. Unknown if the game is different from the final.

Credit goes to Chris Covell of Christopher Covell Homepage (gee, think he's the webmaster there?) for this magazine scan from Famicom Tsushin magazine circa 1991 )used with permission). It features Ringman's level and Toadman's level.

At first there seems to have been no change, except ...

• firstly, there are no enemies this build (except for the hippo).

• Next, Ringman's rainbow beans seem to have a different graphic for the ends.

• There are also some glass designs not seen in the finished version of the game and the night scene uses a slightly different palette.

• The hippo has gone through some minor graphical changes (around the eyes, he looks up in the beta and down in the final).

• He also seems to have one tooth barely visible in the beta.

• Toadman's level also lacks enemies and the platform Megaman stands on has gone through some minor graphical changes as well as the brick path going through some palette. changes (it's more green than the final's brown in the beta).

Scans from Protodude of Protodude's Rockman Corner. These come from from Electronic Gaming Monthly's coverage of CES '91. Really some intriguing stuff here. And it's a different build than the other magazine scans! You can tell because these scans have the final sprite for the rainbow beams. Like most trials only a few stages are available and, like the RM7 sample, they use cute Metool icons for the "in progress" stages.

• Mugshot shenanigans! The mugshots seem to be in different places than in the final. This probably answers the question as to why the RM numbers are all mixed up (see "Funtastic Facts"). It's pretty different from the final build in almost every way.

• Brightman's level has different graphics for the background and the spikes the grasshopper rides on.

• There is no place in the final level that looks like the fourth screen shown in the mag. Moreover the "long" lightbulb graphic shown there never appears in the final game; they're always short..

• The badly drawn Sphinx in Pharaohman's stage was removed. I can't imagine how that fight was supposed to work ... although it seems likely that it happen at the end of the first part; where you go into the tomb. Maybe blowing it up would reveal the entrance.

• One less cannon in the second screen of Ring's level and the cannons in the third screen have been replaced by Saturn Seekers.

• The rain in Toadman's stage is white; as it was in the earlier build. In the final it's blue. Gold "caps" have been added to the ground.

Here are several unused sprites found in the final RM4 rom.

• sprites of Dr. Wily pointing. Logic says it's when he says Protoman betrayed him and that he'll take revenge on MM.

• Sprites of Cossack pointing. Probably glad to see Kalinka. There's an anomalous block of pixels beside this pose that might have meant to go with it ... but I can't tell what they're supposed to be for.

• Found by BMF54123 of the Lost levels forums and Metalman (of Sprites INC) offers some info too. They ought to look familiar ... these sprites are from the lost Sphinx boss prominently featured in the MM4 preview. The offset is 0000EA10. The snake goes at the top of the Sphinx's head and shoots the fireball. Speculation says that the two long tiles are for the Sphinx's chin. The large stone ball seems to have meant to turn, but MM is standing still in the beta pic, so maybe it stops turning when it hits the sand. There is a similarity to another boulder from Duck Tales, but examination reveals that these two rocks only bear a passing resemblance (the rock from Duck Tales is bigger for one). There is also an empty space at 22BA0, right above where the tiles for Pharaohman's level start. Good bet that the lost sphinx was once found there,

• This lost enemy sprite was found among the tiles for the enemies in Diveman's stage.

Cut Down Music - The title screen music for MM4 is actually just slightly longer than what we hear when the game starts. The odd thing is that there's really no way to hear the last few bits of the music normally. Even if you constantly move the cursor up and down, the screen will still reset. Even odder is that the music has an ending to it, so there wouldn't be a need to cut it off so abruptly.

Funtasitic Facts:

• Megaman 4 is the only game where every bit of Capcom related literature disagrees with the game to the order of creation for the Robot Masters! At the end of the game, look to the numbers beside each robot and not what order they appear in. You'll find their order is:
  
  DWN025-Bright
  DWN026-Pharoah
  DWN027-Drill
  DWN028-Ring
  DWN029-Toad
  DWN030-Dust
  DWN031-Dive
  DWN032-Skull
  
  While every other bit of literature lists them as:
  
  DRN025-Bright
  DRN026-Toad
  DRN027-Drill
  DRN028-Pharaoh
  DRN029-Ring
  DRN030-Dust
  DRN031-Dive
  DRN032-Skull
  
  Additionally, the order of that the levels appear in the rom and the order that the robot masters appear in at the end support "number scheme 2" more than "number scheme 1". So it looks like "number scheme 2" is the more correct one, and probably the original one. So, why did Toad, Pharaoh, and Ring get switched around in the first place?

• Megaman 4 is the second game where the teleport hatch layout does *not* match up with the order of the boss levels in the rom.

Megaman 5

From Jesse E. Brown, Jr. A picture of the Rockman 5 Sample cart that was on ebay.

Found by Metalman and the Cutting Room Floor. This sheet contains:

• The octopus from MM origionally has a tentacle attach you from the right side! Supporting artwork was also found in the Megaman Complete Works artbook.
• First row is a robot that flies in, drops a bomb on MM, and then flies away.
• Second is a hammer robot.
• Third is another flying robot that fires at MM.
• The fourth row shows a variation of the Walking Bomb enemy from MM 3, guess they'd call it the Flying Bomb here. Was replaced by the Jet Bomb, although this version is still in the code.
• Flying robot head enemy. Maybe for pits?
• An enemy that would hang from the cieling and try to stab MM.
• A less detailed version of the Giree.
• A Garbyoll type of robot, however it looks like something could knock it over. It seems like a precurser to MM6's Pooker, which flips over when hit by the charged Mega Buster.
• Stoneman's level has unused platform tiles, a cloud, and a less detailed platform design hidden in it's graphics.
• Starman's stage has an unused tile that goes into the end of a window's shine.
• Chargeman's inner train was originally supposed to have small windows.
• Gyroman's stage had rain at sme point.
• And, finally, there's a completely random grid.

Debug Mode

Not quite as cool as MM6's or MM7's, but it exists. This code was reverse engeneered from an IPS patch that exists on the net.
code:
ATUKGUOZ
This code works on most emulators, or on a real NES with a Game Genie. With the debug mode on, you can restore your energy, pass through obstacles, and edit the palette.

• Press "left" on controller 2 to pause/unpause the game.
• Press "up" on controller 2 to pass through obstacles. This one is fun to experiment with.
• Press "right" on controller 2 to restore your energy and edit the palette. Use controller 1 to change the palette. Press "select" on controller 1 to exit the edit mode and have your energy restored.

You can also use this code to help you easily find which part of the ROM you can hack to change the levels! When you enter the "edit" mode (by pressing "right" on the 2nd controller), you will see several rows of hex numbers. Just write these numbers down (before you make any changes to them), and then use a hex editor to search for that same string of numbers. For example, if you pick "Napalm Man", when you first start the level, and you enter the "edit" mode, this is the first row of numbers on the right side of the screen:

0F 29 19 0B

Now open up the Megaman 5 ROM with your hex editor and click on the "Find" button, and type in 0F29190B. There is only one match (at 00C998), so you know that is the right area of the ROM for editing the palette for the Napalm level.

Credit should go to Sephiroth3 for finding the ROM address, and to Vagla for making the ips patch. Fount at GSHI.

Funtastic Facts:

• The order of the creation of the Robot Masters is determined by the order their levels appear at in the rom data. This order is: Gravity, Wave, Stone, Gyro, Star, Charge, Napalm, and Crystal.
• The order of the teleporting hatches follows this same pattern from top left going down, to center going down, to top right going down.
• This is the Rounder. It spins in front of MM, but does not actually hit him. It only appears in one place in one level - the very end of the first stage of Protoman's castle. Wierd. With the plethora of enemies that have gone unused, this one can count as an "almost unused" enemy of the game. Just judging from the design, it was probably meant for Starman's level.

Megaman 6

Found from an ish of Nintendo Power. The Megaman 6 "sample"! Not only does it say "sample" but there's other differences too. It lacks the Earth as seen in the final (it probably also lacks the introduction seen before you play). It has a "TM" instead of a "®" next to the Megaman logo and the Capcom copyright is centred (since the screen lacks the Earth at this point).

From the same issue of Nintendo Power. This scene is changed around allot in the final. Note the walrus enemy replaces that other guy. The land mine is lowered. The small life energy capsule is replaced by a large enemy capsule. And the purple ground is now blue. And that whole ice structure has changed. Overall the final looks easier than the beta.

Also from nintendo Power. Similar to Windman, this scene has a few changes to make it easier as well as a few cosmetic changes. The bear's yellow backpack is red in the final as well as having some small details added. His shots are black in the final. The pillars are more like steps in the final and the bear is easier to hit. There's a line of sky in the beta, but a similar glitch is still present in the final. The level looks like it's gone through some palette. changes too.

Like MM7, MM6 has a debug menu. And it includes the sound menu as well! However, unlike MM7, this is unwieldy as Hell and is a pain to cycle through. The pallettes, layout code, and sprites are not automatically associated. Bummer. Still, with a bit of fiddlin' around with, this is usable.
code:
EZKKIVKG
LLVKATOL
AXEGLVTU
Start the game and the screen will turn gray. Push the A button to access the debug.
Fount at GSHI.

In going through the tile data of MM6 you'll find the word Demo followed by a large block of junk data where there was supposed to be graphics data. One surmises this is where data from a demo version of the game was, but was later removed.

When looking throught he tile data of MM6 you'll also find the word "ZAKO" over and over again. According to Raijin (Snakeman) Zako reffers to minor enemies in Japanese.

Unused sprites found in MM6. Oddly, Wily's sprites (the ones for his mecha's second form; the Skull Crusher) are in the middle of Centaur's sprite data. These are mixed in with that. The first seems to be a box and the second seems to be a target. (Perhaps Wily was meant to target MM?) The last is after the sprites for the flashing lights on Wily's mecha and I can't quite figure out what they are.

Stored along with the stage stelect graphics. Who can say what this was used for? Maybe as a mugshot in the Sample version? Found by the cutting Room floor.

Funtastic Facts:

• The order of the levels in the rom data is different than their order of creation. The order of the bosses in the rom data are: Blizzard, Wind, Plant, Flame, Yamato, Tomohawk, Knight, and Centaur while their order is actually: Blizzard, Centaur, Flame, Knight, Plant, Tomahawk, Wind, and Yamato. The order of creation in MM6 is determined by alphabetical order.

• MM6 is the third game where the teleport hatch layout doesn't match the boss level order in the game.

Megaman 7

Concept Sketches and Super Rockman

From R20, Baroque and Crash, Pre-Bass and Pre-Treble. At this point both Rockman 7 and Rockman X were known as "Super Rockman" (as in "Super Nintendo").Inafune wasn't entirely sure where he wanted to go with the series at this point, but we know that this idea was put into use after MMX had been made. So, even though this is the article for MM7, I will include some MMX designs to show the train of thought.

Some sort of ally character? Auto says R20 sheds no light on what this guy was supposed to be, but it seems more Classic series than X series.

These three guys are early concept sketches for "Super Rockman". The first being a lot like a kid in the X series. the second looking like an early Auto design, and the last kinda seems like a "Protoman" design thanks to that scarf. Inafune just calls them random sketches for the move to the Super NES.

More toying around with an idea for a SNES Rockman game. About here it diverges from the classic series and starts becoming part of the X series. Inafune wanted a more hardcore tone with the series and here we see what may have been early villains in the game. Subsequent concepts show the guy in the foreground evolve more and more into X and the three villains would dissappear until X2; where they would become the X Hunters.

You'll also notice that the hero guy has a C on his chest. You can see some Zero in this guy (the "wings" on his helmet).

Here we see the earlier concept evolve more into a design more reminicent of armorless X than Zero. Also seen is ... Vile with a Z on his head!?

From here the concepts are more clearly X-defined than classic series, although some cutsey elements remain for a bit as Inafune got his style right. When they made MM7 some of these ideas returned.

Rockman 7 Sample

Most of Rockman 7's in-developmant information is gained by a rom first covered and distributed by SNES Central with the Lost Levels giving them the cart to dump. A shout out goes to Quint of the Sprites INC forums and the GSHI guys for ripping these sprites and finding codes for the game respectively. Nightmare Zero as well, for making Save State Master a long time ago too.

First thing you notice is the title. It's brighter and doesn't have the subtitle in there. Otherwise the same. At this point it's worth noting that you can skip the intro entirely by pressing the Y button while pressing start. Also, if you wait at the title screen for a while it shows a playthorugh of quite a bit of Cloudman's level.

Easily overlooked, but the small weapon and life pellets have been made bigger in the final.

These are sprites of Wily escaping from prison. Really, it's huge in comparison to the building which is probably why it was removed. Although these sprites are unused in the final they are still found in the final's sprite veiwer. Which means either they were in there for quite some time or they just didn't delete the sprites of Wily's ship because they were still using the tiny explosions. The explosions are the same and remain in the final (when the building explodes in the intro).

• His jumping / shooting sprite has more frames to it, in the final it's just the one frame. In the beta it also resembles his standing / shooting sprite while the final's in an amalgamation of the second and final frame of the beta's sequence.
• Bass' shot is made larger in the final.
• Bass'talking sprites have been improved in the final. In the beta, the lighter skin tone is replaced by the darker skin tone. In the final his mouth actually looks open. You can hardly tell he even has speaking sprites in the beta.

Interestingly enough the sprite viewer shows his charge sprites have already been made and are identical to the final as is his Super Punch. Oddly, although the tiles are found in the ROM, his full suit is not in the viewer. Trebel also has all of his sprites finished. I think they were beginning to program Bass' attacks at this point in the beta process.

Nifty construction mugshots. I'm left to wonder if they didn't finish the mugshots or if this is for the player's benefit ... a bit of both, I think. Of intrest is the fact that the bottom one is Slashman and NOT Burstman.

As you can tell the ice the bear shoots is exceedingly different. The one in the beta has to be a filler until the graphic is finished.

The beta's icicles are harsher and were smoothed out in the final's.

All this guy got was a pallette swap.

The above enemy was changed to the more fun enemy below. Although they look different they behave the same way.

Capcom prefers this guy smaller it seems.

Junkman's magnets were changed drastically.

Once you finish all the levels you're treated to a "coming soon" image of Rush.

This motion was discovered in the sprite veiwer. He looks like he's throwing something. Maybe one of the attacks was imagined this way. If I had to guess, I'd guess Thunder Bolt. But it could also have been Freeze Cracker since Freezeman does a similar motion when releasing his weapon.

This sequence of a copter carrying a Met is probably meant to go into the "Wily's prison break" scene. After that scene broken copters and Mets are seen everywhere, so these sprites make sence in that context. However, they are NOT used in the beta, they were found in the sprite veiwer. The odd "rocks" in the sheet might be Met helmets or rubble from the building flying off. The data from this guy is actually in the final! It can be seen in the sprite viewer, however the graphics are completely messed up.

This is the most exciting find in the game: a lost miniboss. It was first seen in the Sprite Veiwer of the beta and is actually a mini boss in Shademan's level if you hack into it. Also, while Shade's level went through some pretty drastic graphical changes you can still see the mini boss destroyed in the final version of the level, right at the beginning. The electricity (seperated out) moves along his arm. Who knows? If they were quicker we may never have known this guy was more than just background scenery. It's place in the sprite viewer was taken by the animations for Skull Castle exploding at the end.

Intrestingly, the mini boss' demise was planned at this point since the Van Pookin is found in the sprite viewer and is almost complete. However, it's colors are slightly different than the version found in the final.

Sprite Viewer notes:

• Springman is nowhere to be found.
• Neither Wily, in his saucer, nor Light, nor Roll, nor Auto are anywhere in the viewer.
• Even though Slashman's level is in the Sample his sprites are nowhere to be found. It makes me think his level was moved to where it was only for the sample ... Burst's is not complete and is unplayable, so Slash's may have been moved there instead as the most finished level.
• Cloudman is not in the viewer.
• While no bosses are in the game, most have their sprites, moves, and attacks ready.
• The "Frozen Megaman" pallette is not done, but the sprties are.
• Many enemies that are featured lack attacks that are, nevertheless, done. The T Rex in Slashman's area is a prime example of this.
• Although they aren't programmed, the graphics for most of Megaman's weapons are done. Wild Coil is not, however, nor is Slash Claw.
• The Rush animations are done, although the suit intro is not.
• Many enemies have art done, but are not in the game (like Shade's zombies).
• Mash (the Robot Museum boss) is not there. The level turns up a blank too.
• No Protoman at all.

Yep, there's a sound test. More on that later. Song 20 (ripped by Quint of Sprites INC) is unused. It's corresponding music is Dr. Wily's first level theme, so that's what it's likely to have meant to have been. Alot of the music scores just aren't ready yet, which is probably why some stages have inappropriate music. Oddly,the second Wily stage and Protoman have music ready. On another note ... they changed the sound text colors. Someone was bored.

So, there's a bit of explanation nessasary. Firstly, the first set shows what RM7S has to start. Lots of E and W tanks, one S tank, and the Super Adaptor.

The next screen shows the values after I use my friend's tool - Save State Master - to edit in all the values for all the weapons as well as every single item. As you can see it doesn't work for the Beat Whistles at all, nor the Energy Balancer, nor the PU upgrade. Since it doesn't do anything at all for these, I surmise that either the data is very different or they just haven't been done enough. Meanwhile, the place for the "R, U, S, H" letters and the exit Unit are all glitched up. Meaning there's probably some programming code in there, but not enough. And it's likely slightly different.

The last screen shows the final MM7 edited to have every weapon using Save State Master (hence the bit of garbage at the top). Comparing the two one can see some graphical changes as well as a very cluttered screen for the beta. I think they might have wanted the classic Beat (with the homing attack ability) in there at some point because I can't figure out why he's there (his whistles already have a place in the second screen). When Beat was taken out everything was shifted around. The background sees some differences, but that's expected in this sample. Everything's different slightly.

A comparison of the sample's and the final's changed inventory items. They changed Thunder Bolt, Beat's removed, Protoshield has less shades, Rush Adaptor is his suit and NOT the fist (probably because the homing arm comes later ... gotta wonder if that idea was later in the game's production), Rush Search became Rush's head. The Next icon had it's arrow removed. And the words for "Beat" are in the beta, obviously.

Notable weapon changes include:

• Even if a weapon is unfinished it still takes off a larger amount of damage than regular shots. Even though the do look like regular shots. They cannot be charged. They shoot slowly; one at a time. All weapons except for Rush Coil take a long time to drain of energy.

• Freeze Cracker seems finished. It does not freeze the clouds you ride on in Cloud's level, nor does it freeze the lava in Junk's. But these can be considered attributes of those things and not really the Freeze Cracker itself. You like you're using Rush; Megaman is colored red and white.

• Thunder Bolt is called "Thunder Strike" in the beta ... but it's also called the "Thunder Strike" in the final Jap version of RM7. It does not power anything in Junk's level. You're colored normally.

• Junk Shield sees you colored Red and White - Rush colors. Fires normal shots.

• BURN Wheel stays on you if you hold down the fire button. Additionally it doesn't go away if you keep it on while hitting an enemy. This is very useful! Let go to fire it. Megaman is colored normally. You CAN burn down the trees in Slash's level (although the path to Beat isn't programmed in).

• Slash Claw colors you like Rush. Fires normal shots.

• Noise Crush fires two normal shots quickly; like the final Noice Crush. But they don't bounce off walls, nor can they be charged up. Colored blue.

• Danger Warp colors you like Rush and makes you fire normal shots.

• Wild Coil is WIERD! Megaman fires two half-balls (as shown). They bounce, but it doesn't matter how high you jump ... the physics aren't done yet. Megaman's colored normally. Can't charge 'em up either. Everythign Spring related looks like it's been just started.

• Blues Shield colors you like Rush and makes you shoot only one pellet at a time, like most Master Weapons. You don't actually get a shield. Wierd.

• Rush Search does nothing. You're colored normally. He just teleports in and freezes in a crouch position.

• Beat does absolutely nothing. You're colored normally and fire normally. Can't charge tho. This really makes me thing he was meant to be summoned ala MM5 & 6. He does not catch you if you fall.

• Rush Jet is exactly like Rush Search. Does nothing.

• Super Adaptor, as mentioned, is available from the start. You're colored in Rush colors and when you press fire the suit magically gets put on (obviously the intro animation hasn't been done yet). It does not come with the homing fish, but Save State Master did edit it in, so the programming exists even if there's no in-game way of getting it.

• Rush Coil is available in the beginning and work fine. Oddly enough, using the Cheat codes available online breaks it and it becomes just another large platform MM can stand on, but using Save State Master to edit in values works fine.

After playing the beta through, the following notes can be made about the levels:

• All levels have some graphical difference from the final. The most extreme case is Shademan's level and the latter part of the introduction level. Springman's level was also planned to be more obviously a toy factory (with burning toys int he background). All boss chambers seemed to have been changed around for the final.

• None of the Rush letters, nor adaptors exist in the beta and are, instead, normal items. Probably as placeholders.

• The intro has no Auto nor his car and instead has MM running through a series of rising / falling ground .... bits. Very annoying. Difficult without the Super Adaptor (which you start with int he beta). The music is from Turboman's level, the stage's music does not exist yet in the Sound Test.

• The dialogue between MM and Bass is, actually, largely the same, Bass just laughs more int he beta.

• Freezeman's level is largely the same, only with some minro enemy placement issues. The Rush panels and adaptors are not present in the beta and are normal types of items. Some segements were made more difficult int he final. The music is from Slashman's level as Freezeman's doesn't exist yet.

• Cloudman's level does not feature weather changing, nor does it have the "spotlight walkway". Protoman does not show up, although his room is accessible. It's largely the same.Cloudman's music is the correct tune.

• Things in Junkman's level cannot be charged with the "Thunder Bolt" (or what passes for it in the Beta). The lava cannot be frozen either, so no alternate routes (if they even exist, which they probably don't) can be accessed. There's some changes regarding the magnets regarding thr graphics (it feels harder too). Junk's music is from Turboman's level.

• The T-Rex in Slash's level isn't done yet and does no attacks. Although the trees can be burned down with the Scortch Wheel to reveal the ladder leading to Beat, that part of the level doesn't exist yet and going up the ladder does not take you anywhere. Since those trees can be burned down it's likely that they were working on that part before this was released. It seems mostly like the final. The music is the correct score.

• Shademan's level does not feature the alternate music track. The graphics are noticably different as well. Tthe enemies are from Freezeman's level serving as placeholders until the real enemies are done. The lost miniboss is here instead of the pumpkin and beating it any different way does not lead to any alternate paths, so the room to Protoman cannot be accessed (although I doube it exists). There's a noticable lack of a background nearing the end of the level. Bass is not in place yet either. Rush Search does not exist yet, so I can't check for the large energy pellet. The boss doors don't open and that part cannot be explored. The music is from Cloudman's level.

• Spring's level is so unfinished that you can go outside the level map. The stage itself features cameos from the Street Fighter gang as plushies. There are no enemies and the springs don't work making a moon jump code nessasary to go anywhere. The part with Auto's Hyper Bolt exists, but has nothing in it. The stage seems to be laid out in the way the final's is, but it's hard to tell. There's burning toys in the background of the boss room and the part where you get the Hyper Bolt. Very different feel tot he level. The music is from Cloudman's level.

Submitted by Schyfis who discovered this odd message in the hex of the Rockman 7 Sample. Evidently, at least part of it was built on top of an X-Men game. This message is not in the final.

Rockman 7 Prototype Playthough
Joseph Collins has donated these videos showcasing a playthrough of the Rockman 7 Sample rom.

Pro Action Replay Codes

These codes (and the sound test for MM7 as well as the sprite and sound test codes for RM7) were created by Ugetab of the GSHI forums per my request. Many don't add any "mysteries", however I feel like all the codes are a set.

MM7:
Can Access Any Weapon, Infinite Use(Go to the weapon menu, and press Up to select invisible weapons, then exit the menu and fire them to have the weapon for real)
C0461B00
C0466E00
C12F0EA9

Start Game On Level ??(01-0D. Intro would be screwed up a little by this code, but you wouldn't need the code if that's where you wanted to start)
C00C8F??
C00C9173

Moonjump - essential to play Spring's level in the beta.
7E0C1AF4

RM7:
Can Access Any Weapon, Infinite Use(Go to the weapon menu, and press Up to select invisible weapons, then exit the menu and fire them to have the weapon for real)
C0463800
C0468B00
C12F0EA9

Start Game On Level ??(01-0D. Intro would be screwed up a little by this code, but you wouldn't need the code if that's where you wanted to start)
C00C97??
C00C9973

Rockman 7 Prototype:
Sprite Viewer
C005B302

Sound Test
C005B304

Can Access Any Weapon, Infinite Use(Go to the weapon menu, and press Up to select invisible weapons, then exit the menu and fire them to have the weapon for real)
C0461B00
C0466E00
C12F0EA9

Can Access Any Weapon, Infinite Use(Alternate code, go to the weapon menu, and press Up to select invisible weapons, then exit the menu and fire them to have the weapon for real)
C0422A00
C0427D00
C1244DA9

Start Game On Level ??(01-03, 05-06, 08. Intro would be screwed up a little by this code, but you wouldn't need the code if that's where you wanted to start)
C0140F??
C0141173

From the final version of Megaman 7

A few unused sprites courtesy of Sprites INC!

Alright, so we have a large weapon capsule (probably was meant to work the same way as the large life capsule). Actually ... why was this left out again? We also have some mysterious item located with the large life and energy capsules and the energy balancer (which probably means it was meant for Rush to dig up .... probably). No ideas on what that does. None of these are in the RM7 Sample sprite viewer.

Burstman seems to have an "evil face" goin' on. This attack was never seen in the game .... maybe it's even meant to be an alternate entrance. Who knows? Sprites found by Ace Spark. This is in the RM7 Sample sprite veiwer, although it may be a frame shorter.

This attack was found in the sprite viewer of botht he final and the beta. It also exists in the beta's. It comes in the Shademan Attack set of sprites after his "stone vision". It's likely an effect to go around Megaman while he's frozen, but it was removed from the final.

Dr. Light does a Jean Chretien impression! Okay, so no wondering why THIS was left out. Although I do wonder what he was meant to say. Sprites found by Ace Spark. Not in the RM7 Sprite Viewer.

Wily stands! Man. What bad posture. In the game he just jumps up to freaked when the alarms sound. Maybe he was meant to say something to MM before that. Not in the RM7 Sample Sprite Viewer OR the final sprite viewer for that matter O_o .

And, while we're delving into Rom hacking, I used a multitude of cheats found at GameFAQS to edit in all the weapon values in MM7 and this is what happened. It looks like some Beat data from the beta is still around! It gets completely overwritten by the Super Adaptor, but it's still there!! Does the "M" stand for "missing"?

It doesn't do anything but waste space.

C00C8F07 - Have this on in the intro level of MM7 and you'll be able to walk out of Auto's car and onto the beginning of the intro level. Created by Gauntlet.
It's an inteseting, but boring journey. And it only lasts from when Auto stops his car to when the computor takes over and gets you to the intro with Wily and Light. Still, it does show that they completely removed the rising and falling blocks that was present in the Beta's intro level.

And how are these unused sprites found? A Game Genie code!
Game Genie: D4D4-8DDF
PAR: C0062002
The thing starts right after the Copyright/Capcom logo. There's a sort of cross-hair cursor which can be dealt with via the second controller. It's to line up sprites and make sure they're in frame.

There are a few lines of text and values in the upper left, which are as follows..

"NUM-OBJ" - What group of animations you're viewing (00 is Megaman, 01 Jetpack Megaman, 02 A metool, etc.) Changed by holding B and pressing up/down.
"NUM-SEQ" - Which animation of the group you're viewing (For Megaman 00 is the default standing animation, 01 blinking, 02 climbing, etc.) Changed by pressing left/right.
"NUM-PAT" - Which sprite of that set of animations you're viewing..
"PAT-INY" - Which frame of the current animation you're viewing. Hold Y for the animations to go through (not all of them loop).
"OBJ-DIR" - If you have the current animation flipped horizontally or vertically, which you do by holding X and pressing a direction.
"CH-TYPE" "AT-CODE" "ST-CODE" and "DM-CODE" - NO idea. The latter three don't even show any values.

You hold A to move the sprite around. There's also values in the lower right, they relate to the cursor thing.

This is probably THE most interesting find in MM7 since it's undoubtedly what the game developers themselves used to test sprites.

Sound Test
C0062004

Yes, that's right, there's a sound test hidden in there too! X and Y turns both sounds and effects on and off. Also probably a leftover from testing days.

RM 7:
Sprite Viewer
C0062802

Sound Test
C0062804

Funtastic Facts

• 
  
  Found with the RM names were stage titles! Obviously meant to go underneath the name on the "RM select" screen. While they went unused in MM7, they *were* used in ROCKman 7!

• 
  Sprite 35 in the sprite veiwer has many animations and is an unused enemy. Which enemy is unkown since the sprite is all garbled. Spride 9D, the very last sprite is also an unused... something with garbled graphics. The beta doesn't have that many sprite packs, so it's of no help identifying this.

• 
  The sprite making team of Rockman 7 were somewhat careless in their work. If you pay attention to the hands of the Boss Characters, you will notice that in several instances, one hand has 4 fingers, while the the other has 5. Considering that this is not because none of the characters are suppose to have more digits on one hand than on the others, this is obviously a little mistake. Info courtesy of Auto of the Rockman Robot Center.

• 
  In Springman's level there's a display with planets and a drawing of what appears to be Astroman ... Info courtesy of Auto of the Rockman Robot Center.

• 
  | There are quite a few links to MM8 in MM7. In the Robot Museum there's THREE broken displays. One was Gutsman, but the other two? We can't know for sure, but Woodman and Cutman both make surprise appearances in the Saturn version of MM8 ... Info courtesy of Auto of the Rockman Robot Center.

• 
  The evidence is purely circumstantial, but the Mad Grinder seems to have gone through a few revisions in it's attack sequence.

  • Although it's quite prominent in the intro, the Mad Grinder never uses fire breath. Moreover, there's no open mouth sprites to support this use! In the arcade game, the Mad Grinder does open his mouth, but does not shoot flames at MM.

  • The Mad Grinder is broken when you face him. Yet, his intro art shows him intact. Moreover, his character art is of an unbroken Mad Grinder (obviously the intro made heavy use of it). Usually, this sort of "broken" sprite is a halfway indicator ... usually with Wily's mechs. After this, the attack pattern usually changes to something harder.

• Mad Grinder has an anomalous "vent" underneath him. This is never used in the game, but in Power Fighters it's a powerful rocket that can lift the Grinder up. There is no evidence of this in the sprite viewer.

• In the Power Fighters, the Grinder can lift his arms and smash things. Again, there is no evidence of this in the game itself.

• The Mad grinder is the same in the beta as he is in the final.

• I don't understand the anomalies surrounding this boss. The intro was not in the beta, so they would have known that the Mad Grinder does not shoot flames when they made it. Moreover, his destroyed condition does not make sense; unless they're implying Forte beat him senseless before MM showed up. But, then, why would the character art be of a fixed Mad Grinder? Also, the lack of his ability to take off is inconsistent with his character design ... there seems every indication that the Grinder used to have a lot more attacks than he used to; however this cannot be the case since his beta form is the same as his final form. However, it might also be that the intro was drawn or approved before the Grinder's attacks were changed. Truly puzzling.

• 
  In this game the stage select numbers are based off the mugshots as they appear in the game. The first set (freeze, junk, burst, and cloud) are just cycling through the mugs clockwise. The second set (spring, slash, shade, and turbo) are the same, starting with the top left corner.

• The teleporter level is also based on the half-and-half setup of the mugshots, however, it seems as if they're based off the beta version of the mugshot setup and not the final version. As you'll recall, Slashman and Bustman's mugshots were switched and here Slash and Burst appear in the first and second set of robots respectively, so this must be based of the beta mugshot setup. After that they randomised both halves seperately. The top half seems to be the mugshot screen going up-down and right-left. The bottom half is the mugshot screen rotated 90 degrees.

Megaman 8

So, that part in Frostman's and Wily's stage could have been more annoying!? Someone needs to be shot for even thinking of this... It's a tad more plan than "jump jump" or "slide slide". Either because you don't have to be in motion to shoot or because it was taken out early and wasn't touched up with the others. You decide! Taken from Sprites INC, found by Clownman.

Screens from the same IGN article that featured three videos. These show things a bit more clearly than the low quality videos did. For more info, see the vids.

Rockman 8 Beta Videos

For the third video, Jump to the 2:52 point for the prototype stuff:

Early mm8 gameplay video posted by MegaPhilX (last two), SuperMega233(first one), and myself, and discovered on Protodude's Rockman Corner (except for the vids I discovered, those were on IGN). MegaPhilX used his own copy of a MM8 beta to get this rare look into it`s contents. I'm afraid I haven't played MM8 into exhaustion, and I can't take screen shots, so any more insight into the differences between the beta videos and the final product would be appreciated!

Notable changes include:

• The music in Frostman's stage.

• (For the last three vids) the lack of music at all. (Could it be turned off? Or just another build?)

• Some sound effects are different (elevator lift, Megaman's jump, and charged shot).

• No Bubble Bats attack you in the elevator.

• Incomplete backgrounds with no lighting effects.

• No annoying "jump jump" and "slide slide" sound effects.

• No "shoot shoot" sprite (either removed at this point or not implemented).

• Graphical changes in Grenademan's level (platforms and ground sprites) as well as layout changes (this section doesn't correspond to the final map).

Funtastic Facts:

• 
  The teleport stage has the same layout as the mugshots.

Megaman 9

Swiped from the Megaman Network's Gallery, this concept art for Plugman shows an unused attack idea.

Here's the very first images of Protoman shown to the world at large. What's really interesting is the background, though. A glimpse into a test stage! Reminds me of Star Trek.

It's kind of odd to see this as the first glimpse of Protoman. Combined with absolutely no story (fair enough) with no ending (what!? even Powered Up go that right ... for Protoman anyway) and the fact that it's really just a simple swap with MM, it really makes me think that Capcom didn't finish Protoman. It wouldn't take very much effort to include new ending stills along with the rest of his sprites. Even Roll's second costume affected her still!+

Okay, well ... the vids pretty much speak for themselves. I apologise for the crappy quality, but I work with what I have. The above was shown to English speaking audiences and it's important to note the use of the "L" for the US "Light" as opposed to the "R" for the Japanese "Right". This is intentional and does change for the region. Oddly, neither the "L" nor the "R" appear as unused graphics within the game's stage select tiles ... or maybe they used one of the stage's graphics for this part ...

Nothing's really different for the trial, minus the lack of names and fightable bosses. When you complete the stage, you teleport out. I think it's safe to say that they just removed them rather than them being unfinished at this point.

Two minor and unused enemies found by NES Boy. Okay, the skateboarder was found earlier, but he submitted a more complete rip to me. The first looks like it was meant to be in Hornetman's stage, but the other one's placement is a mystery to me.

Unused sprite of Fakeman putting his arm down after his salute. Fake Man sprites were used for the end of the game, but not this one.

Here's a big one: unused sprites of a throwing animation existing in MM9! Traditionally, these kinds of frames are associated with weapons like the Metal Blade.

Funtastic Facts:

• 
  In an unholy coincidence, the MM9 mugshot boarders look almost exactly like those found in the first PC game.

• Megaman 9 actually reuses ideas from older MM games. Woodman's stage tiles were used for Crystalman's world and the ladders are also from MM2. Splash Woman's bubble challenge is virtually identical to that of Waveman's in MM5. The rain impeding MM in Tornadoman's stage has been used for Toadman's stages (of the games he's in), the intro stage of Rockman and Forte, and Cloudman's stage in MM7.

• Oddly, Protoman has absolutely no ending or cut scenes in this game. Meanwhile, buying Roll a new dress and playing without MM's helmet on changes graphics at the end of the game and the stage select screen respectively. What Protoman really is, is a sprite-swap of MM with charging and sliding merely unlocked rather than "patched on" after the fact. So why did Capcom skimp out on the ending? At the very least it seems possible to edit the ending images.

• 
  This is an enemy found in the Wily levels. It resemples a video projector. Plugman works in a TV factory. It's possible that this enemy was first meant for Plugman's stage. Similarily, the shield-holding enemy is grouped with Tornado's enemies, but actually appears in Wily level 1 first.

• A Big Mystery:
  According to S-Kill of the Capcom Unity forums, there exists an unseen, unheard of, unguessed, unproven, unsubstancianted and unfound mystery in MM9 that only he knows about and nobody else does. Once he hears someone tell him what it is, he assures us he'll let us know if we got it right. His fellow staffers assure us that he's on the level.

• 
  The robot master numbers seem to be based of a paired "randomisation" of the title screen. They started with the top-left and went down. And then mirrored that (going bottom-right and up). Then center-right. And then they mirrored that too (going bottom center and left).

• 
  The teleport stage is very random here, but it's not beyond reason. It seems they took the RM number order and started with the last - Galaxyman at top-right (a very common starting point). Then they went down-across. Then filled both center teleporters going in the same direction. Then they mirrored (going back to the top); right-across this time. And then (probably) to mirror the filled-in center teleporters) middle right -left.