Mega Man: The Wily Wars

Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Also known as: Rockman Mega World (JP) Developer: Minakuchi Engineering Publisher: Capcom Platform: Genesis Released in JP: October 21, 1994 Released in US: December 31, 1994 (Sega Channel), September 19, 2019 (Sega Genesis Mini) Released in EU: October 20, 1994 This game has unused code. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prerelease article This game has a notes page

Mega Man: The Wily Wars is a compilation of the first three NES games in the Super Mario All-Stars mold (revamped graphics and music), plus an extra game called "Wily Tower" where you can use all the weapons and items from said three games.

The American version originally had no physical release, instead being distributed as a Sega Channel download, but this was remedied with the game's inclusion on the Sega Genesis Mini in 2019. In 2021, a physical version was finally made available in America by RetroBit and Limited Run Games, and in 2022, the game was added to Nintendo Switch Online.

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Notes

Unused Damage Values What do you mean Super Arm works against the Wily Machines?!

Regional Differences Three times the games means three times the changes!

Unused Music

Track 72 in the music test is a theme placed among the Wily Tower soundtrack which is not heard anywhere in-game. Its intended use is unknown, but it was possibly meant for a password screen. The final game uses a serial EEPROM to store progress.

Unused Graphics

A portion of Break Man's scarf in Mega Man 3 ended up getting overlapped by the picture frame. Most likely nixed due to difficulty creating compatible palettes, since unlike in the NES version this is not a sprite-layer graphic.

The shadowy Proto Man from Mega Man 3's ending. The actual game just uses the regular Proto Man sprites with a blue palette.

Extended Life Bar

Using the Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 02E65C:??, the player's starting Life Energy can be set to anything from $00 to $7F (127). Using a value between $1D (29) and $56 (86) will cause the life bar to use unique colors: values over 29 give it a silver hue, while values over 59 turn it orange.

Any number beyond $56 (86) and up to $7F (127) will also work, but will cause the Life Energy meter to call random sprites, such as splash graphics or boss shutters, instead of the proper graphics. Grabbing any Life Energy pick-ups with more than $1C (28) Life Energy will immediately max-out the player's life back to that expected value.

(Source: gedowski of GameHacking.org)

Lockout Text

Among the game's region lockout text is "WITH NTSC GENESIS SYSTEMS". Presumably, the only way to have encountered this legitimately was by downloading the game during its US Sega Channel availability window using a non-US console.

Revisional Differences

European Release

• Aside from the obvious regional differences, less obvious bit-shifted addresses, and some copyright text, not much has changed under the hood.

Mega Drive Mini

• The game runs and loads a little faster.
  • Slowdown was eliminated by using more powerful hardware. The ROM itself was not significantly altered, however.
• Full-screen flashing has been significantly reduced to prevent potential seizure risk.

Genesis Mini

• Appears to be a mix of the Mega Drive Mini and European ROMs with some bit-shifted addresses.
• More copyright text was added.
• Much like the Mega Drive Mini version, slowdown was eliminated by using more powerful hardware rather than altering the ROM.

Retro-bit Release

• Appears to be based on the "Genesis Mini" revision.
• The save game data now uses battery-backed SRAM rather than EEPROM.
• The game loads within 10 frames instead of 250.
• As this is technically an unlicensed commercial reproduction, all mentions of Sega have been removed:
  • There is no "Sega" logo upon booting the game.
  • The copyright text now reads "Licensed by Retro-bit" instead of "Licensed by Sega Enterprises, Ltd."
  • The "Licensed by Sega Enterprises, Ltd." line has been erased from the main title screen.
• Various odds-and-ends have been tidied up, helping the game run a bit faster on real hardware.
  • However, the game still slows down when there are a lot of "active objects" on the screen.

Examples: Cut Man's stage (Guts Blocks), Yellow Devil fights (he splits apart), Buster Rod G refight (every platform is an object)

• The score counter disappears when fighting bosses in Mega Man.

Glitches

If Track 80 (the Wily Tower credits theme) is played long enough in the Option Mode screen, part of the music will desynchronize with the rest of itself. Eventually, if left to play for long enough, one of the channels will go silent. It's unknown what causes this or if this issue afflicts any other songs in the music test.