Celebrate the 25th anniversaries of two classic Capcom titles

Street Fighter X Mega Man is a retro tribute to the classic franchises, that sees Mega Man on a mission to fight each of the Street Fighters as their 25th anniversary finishes, and Mega Man’s begins.

This is a fan created game, officially supported by Capcom. Seow Zong Hui from Singapore created this retro platformer as a tribute, with a soundtrack provided by Luke Esquivel. You control Mega Man over a series of tough levels that climax with a face-off against one of the Street Fighter characters. Like a classic NES game, it’s fast and uncompromisingly tough. If you die, it’s back to the start of the level, 80s style. No save points here.

You can play with keyboard or a gamepad – Street Fighter X Mega Man will recognize a gamepad as long as it’s connected when you start the game. Controls are faithful to Mega Man, with jumps, slides and weapons all working as they should. Unlike the old Mega Man games, there’s no save or password system, so if you want to beat the game you have to do it on one go. Combined with the overall toughness of Street Fighter X Mega Man, this makes for a really tough game. Enemies range from difficult to very difficult, and the Street Fighter bosses even more so. You’ll need all your retro skills to complete this.

The graphics and music are lovingly done, with each level based on a Street Fighter theme. The 8-bit versions of the Street Fighter characters look great, although you may be too busy trying to avoid them to notice! The soundtrack sounds just right for this retro tribute too.

This is a fan-made game, so it’s hard to judge against ‘professiona’ titles. However, the recent glut of great indie retro platformers, like VVVVVV or even Cave Story, have shown that you don’t need a big team to create a great game that’s tough without being unfair. Street Fighter X Mega Man really needs a save feature, and the README instructions should have more guidance about which order to attempt the levels.

There’s no doubting the love that went into Street Fighter X Mega Man, but it even makes famously unfair platformers like Ghouls and Ghosts seem tough! However, it’s lots of fun, and fans of both franchises will enjoy this free challenge.