This article has a talk page!This is a sub-page of Proto:Mega Man: The Sequel Wars.
On December 21st, 20211, the first build of Mega Man: The Sequel Wars running on a brand new code base was released.
A week later, the "EX" version of this demo was released with one additional stage and some bugfixes. Both were largely regarded as a significant step up from the creator's previous attempt at a "''Wily Wars" sequel.
v1.01 without the EX stage can be found here while the EX version of this demo can be found here.
Differences from Release#
General Differences#
- Most of the sound effects use the DPCM channel, which makes them sound grainy and gritty when compared to the later demo or the final game.
- The boss life meter is on the right side of the screen, as in Mega Man 7, 8, and 11. The final version moves it to the left side as in the NES games.
- Bosses have 62 frames of invulnerability after being hit. The later demo tones this down to 46 frames, as in Mega Man 4, and the final game keeps that value.
Toad Man Stage#
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Demos |
Episode Red |
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The water just outside of the boss area uses entirely different graphics more akin to Mega Man 4, but with a "fake transparency" effect applied. It's also in the foreground in the demo, obscuring active sprites.
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Demos |
Episode Red |
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This little piece of machinery in Toad Man's boss chamber was a bit brighter in the demo, making it look like a foreground object.
Unfinished Stages#
By locking the value of address 724D an entering any stage, we can go where no blue bomber was ever meant to go: deep into unfinished and hidden content!
A video playthrough of these stages can be found here.
Dive Man Stage#
Locking the stage value at 02 or 15 sends the player to a very incomplete version of Dive Man's stage. The water and sky textures are both rudimentary -- possibly hold-overs from the 2020 build -- and the camera seems panned down by two extra blocks. Additionally, there's absolutely no music to be heard, all enemies and Eddie share the same palette, and both the mini-boss (Moby) and the Wire Adaptor pickup go missing.
Dive Man is also absent, replaced by Dust Man for the time being. He has his reflection from his own boss fight -- which looks very odd here. Beating Dust Man allegedly gives the player "M.Buster", but the weapon on the demonstration screen is, indeed, Dive Missile.
Skull Man Stage#
A fully functional recreation of Skull Man's stage is can be found at 05. Aside from some graphical glitches with the Super Ball Machines, everything seems to be in working order... except for Skull Man, himself.
In v1.01, Skull Man uses his regular attack pattern, reacting to the player with three small shots or a giant leap. In the EX Update, however, Skull Man's normal mode behavior seems to use bits and pieces of his EX Mode pattern as attacking causes Skull Man to fire four rapid shots at the player. Doing this three times or moving makes him leap and fire four shots instead. Lastly, he never uses his trademark attack, the Skull Barrier. Very odd.
Unfinished Skull Man EX Stage#
Even though it wasn't ready in time for the initial release, a tentative version of Skull Man's EX stage can be found at 12 in versions 1.00 and 1.01. It is significantly different from what we got a week later.
Act 2, in particular, is notably unfinished by this point. The background stays cloudy, all enemies use the default palette, and none of the aesthetic tiles for the platforms have been placed. Additionally, certain enemies become glitchy past the Skull Dragon mini-boss and certain rooms even cause the game to crash on certain hardware or emulators. Despite this, Skull Man's EX Mode has been implemented, though the second phase change later on.
A playthrough of this version of the stage can be found here.
Test Levels#
Vs. Toad Man EX#
Hidden at level 11 is EX Toad Man's arena, fully functional and ready for a fight.
However, if the game's "EX Mode" is disabled, then it just loads the normal boss fight... which causes the platforms on the side not to load. Remember to enable EX Mode with 7248:81 before entering!
This area would be worked on further before the 2022 SAGE demo and Mega Water-S from Mega Man: The Wily Wars would be added.
Vs. Quint#
Although there has been no sign of Bright Man's "EX" stage variant, one piece of the puzzle has been around since at least this demo. Locking the stage value at 13 and entering any level will warp the player to a small, uneven arena where they'll fight Mega Man's shadow from another time: Quint!
He attacks with a mix of moves ranging such as Proto Man's spread-fire attack from Mega Man 7, Rockman Shadow's charge shot, dash, and Sakugarne quake from Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chōsensha on the WonderSwan, and even a couple of new moves! He's not the pushover he used to be, to be sure!
Other Oddities#
Unknown Stage#
For some reason, setting the stage select value to 71BF:05 and hitting Start triggers a "crash" noise -- like someone rattling a chain-link fence. It's unknown what's hiding behind this off-screen select box, if anything, but it's possibly regular Skull Man's stage, shown above.
Revisional Differences#
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Please elaborate. |
First Version#
- Released with four "Remake Mode" stages: Toad, Dust, Drill, and Bright Man.
- Introduced "Co-Op" play mechanic. In Co-Op play, Player 1 is Mega Man, and Player 2 is Roll.
Version 1.01#
- Fixed some bugs with Pharaoh Shot.2
EX Update#
- Released with an additional "EX Mode" stage: Skull Man.
- Added 6-button compatibility:
:* X is for 8hz Auto-Fire, Y and Z are for quick weapon switching.
- Hopping Metalls are no longer invincible while jumping.
- Super Ball Machines (EX Mode) now have spikes on their balls.
- The Skull Dragon mini-boss no longer breaks after being hit with Rain Flush.
- The player can no longer get soft-locked after beating Punk in Skull Man's EX Stage by being unable to traverse the room.
- Skull Man EX has a slightly different attack pattern in his second phase.
- Skull Man EX can no longer soft-lock the second phase of his fight by leaping off the Skull Dragon.
- Dust Crusher damage to Skull Man was nerfed from 8 to 4.