Image from Amazon. This property is owned by Capcom.
What were the Mega Man Star Force games and what happened to them? This will serve as my review of the series as well as some history of the games. I’ll briefly give some history, the story of each game, and my thoughts on each one.
The Mega Man Star Force series was created by Capcom. This series served as the next step for the Mega Man series after the Mega Man Battle Network series on the Nintendo Game Boy. The Star Force series came out on the Nintendo DS systems. There were a total of three games in this series, more if you count the different versions.
Mega Man Star Force
Mega Man Star Force had three different versions. Those were Mega Man Star Force Leo, Mega Man Star Force Pegasus, and Mega Man Star force Dragon.
It was released on August 7, 2007 in North America. The versions aren’t that different, the only difference are the transformations you get and physical cards that came with the games. I’ll go over the story briefly and not spoil anything, even though they are old there are those that have not played it.
The story starts be describing the setting, which is the year 20XX. Digital beings called viruses exists and people use items called battle cards to defeat them. A space station was launched to make contact with extraterrestrials, but it disappeared. It then fast forwards three years. You play as Geo Stelar a 5th grader who’s father was on that space station. He’s been avoiding school as he still hasn’t dealt with his father’s disappearance. One night as Geo looks up at the stairs an alien named Omega-Xis. As they’re talking viruses take over a train and Omega-Xis and Geo merge together to transform into Mega Man. That’s as much as I’ll go into the story as to not spoil it like I mentioned before. I’ll talk about battle system, what I thought of the story, and characters next.
The battles take place on a 3×5 grid, 15 total spaces. At the start of a battle you choose battle cards that serve as your attacks, these can be swords, plasma guns, canons, and various other things. During battles there is a gauge at the top of the screen, once it fills up you can select battle cards again.
This is what the top half of the screen looks like during battles. The gauge on the right fills up as time passes and when you press L or R you can choose new battle cards from the bottom screen.
Top screen has Mega Man after transforming. The bottom screen shows battle cards.
I enjoyed the battle system as it basically built off of the one from the Mega Man Battle Network series. The only thing that took some getting used to was the perspective. You’re always looking forward with Mega Man’s back to you versus side view, which was in the Battle Network Series. Overall I enjoyed the battle system and it was easily explained for newcomers. After winning battles you can get money as well as new battle cards that can be added to a folder to be used in battles. You can only move side to side in battles so that is another negative.
I thought the story was creative and well written. As the story progresses we see Geo grow as a character. Though he doesn’t want to get involved with people to avoid being hurt, he still cares about their well-being. This shows the longer he is Mega Man. As the story progresses he slowly starts going back to school as well as opening up to people.
I think that the characters were written well. They all have different personalities and act on those personalities. The designs were well done as to make the main character unique as well as the side characters. You’ve got Luna the class president at Geo’s school that will do anything to get him to come to school, Zack the smarts of the group, and Bud the muscle. Zack is always trying to figure out ways to get taller and Bud is always thinking about food.
I give the first game a 9 out of 10. Though I had problems with some of the battle system mechanics, it wasn’t enough to take away enjoyment. I enjoyed the boss fights and the music as well. I will say that I disliked that we had one transformation compared to being able to have multiple ones when compared to Mega Man Battle Network 6, the last in that series.
Mega Man Star Force 2
Mega Man Star Force 2 was released in North America on June 24th, 2008. This game had two versions. Those are Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Saurian and Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Ninja. As with the earlier games the names relate to the different forms Mega Man can take.
Set two months after the ending of the first game, Geo and his friends return. Geo has become much more friendly after the events of the first game. It’s summer break and school is out, Geo and his friends decide to visit Willshire Hills to watch a movie. The movie is interrupted by a a mysterious enemy known as Dark Phantom. He kidnaps one of Geo’s friends sending Mega Man back into action against this new threat.
I think I enjoyed the story for this one more than the first. It had some sad moments as well as moments that made Geo reevaluate himself. The main villain is compelling and has a backstory that directly feeds into their motivations. The story leads to different countries which gives some new environments. There is one aspect of the story that is similar to the first which is basically Geo having to save the world. This game also includes a good post story that can be played after beating the game. It takes place in an alternate future. The story does slow down a little about half way through the game and it kind of breaks the pacing.
The battle system is the same as the earlier entry. If you played the first then you will be familiar with it. The only new features are new form changes and new battle cards. There is not much else to say since not much changed.
I enjoyed the new characters. They were well written and each villain had a motivation. They use flashbacks to give more background on characters which makes you understand them more. You get some more character growth from Geo’s friends which is nice.
I give this game a 8 out of 10. Although the story is enjoyable, halfway through the game things slow down. I also found one of the locations boring. I played through the game twice and hated that part of the game more than any other. The music is still pretty good. The transformations are alright but because of one of the bosses one transformation puts you at a disadvantage compared to the others.
Mega Man Star Force 3
Mega Man Star Force 3 was released in North America on June 30th, 2009. Just like the earlier entries this game had two versions. They are Mega Man Star Force 3 Black Ace and Mega Man Star Force 3 Red Joker. As with earlier entries the names have to do with the two main transformations.
Technological advances have been made leading to the creation of Wizards. These are assistants that users can have that can do certain tasks. School is back in session when one of these Wizards goes out of control sending Mega Man back into action to face new enemies and get to the bottom of this mystery.
The story for this one is pretty good but I feel like it borrows from what has already been done in one of the previous Mega Man games, specifically Battle Network 4. Both involve a meteor and someone controlling it. The new characters are pretty good except the main villain. As I stated before he feels like a carbon copy of what has already been done. The main villain also does not have a backstory that led them to doing what they do. It feels like a stereotypical mustache twirling villain that is evil just because he is. The ending of the story has an unexpected part that seems a little random and feels like they just put it in just to have an ending.
The battle system and graphics remained mostly the same except for one difference. These games introduce the noise gauge. This gauge appears at a certain part in the game and ties into the main story. Having a certain amount of the noise gauge filled up leads to different outcomes. Some of these include accessing your transformation, gaining access to stronger battle cards, and better rewards after battles.
As per usual the characters are good except for the main villain. Not much more character growth happens within the recurring characters. I enjoy the new characters as well as the backstory for each one except the main villain. The music in this game was better than the other two.
Unfortunately I give this game a 7 out of 10. I enjoyed the plentiful transformations and music, but they are not enough to compensate for the recycled scenario. This game would have a better score if there were not so many similarities between it and Mega Man Battle Network 4.
From what I’ve seen there might have been a fourth game in development, but there is not much information regarding it like concept art.
I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you for reading. If there was something I got wrong do not be afraid to let me know and I will fix it. As always I hope you have a good day whatever day that may be.