Mega Man Battle & Chase

Mega Man: Battle & Chase, known as Rockman: Battle & Chase (ロックマン バトル＆チェイス) in Japan, is a racing game from the Mega Man series released in 1997 for PlayStation in Japan and Europe, and released in North America in 2006 as part of Mega Man X Collection for PlayStation 2 and GameCube.

Story
A new-hit show called Battle & Chase has been released. It is an extreme racing show, that pays off a large amount of money to the winner: 10 million Zenny. Soon, word reaches out to everyone and many robots decide to enter for their own gain, and it becomes a challenge where the stakes are high, and the reward is higher. When word reaches Mega Man, he decides to enter to use the prize money to fix Dr. Light's computer, which had broken after a thunderstorm. In the end of the tournament, Dr. Wily appears and steals the prize money for his own evil purposes, and the player must race against Bass (when not playing with him) and Wily to recover it.

Playable racers
* Dr. Wily is unlocked after completing the game. Only playable in Versus and Time Attack modes.

** Duo is playable only in Versus and Time Attack modes. Outside Japan, Duo is unlocked after obtaining all four hidden parts that appear after defeating the Black Troop members. In the original Japanese release Duo is unlocked only by loading a special save given in a promotional event from the Dengeki PlayStation magazine or using a cheat device. When starting the game with the save, a cutscene will introduce Duo and his machine, he replaces Bass in the opening race, and the message "デューオ登場" ("Duo Appears") is present in the title screen. In the PlayStation the Best for Family version, Duo is available from the beginning, the special cutscene being absent.

Non-playable racers

 * 4 Roader
 * Truck Joe
 * Yellow Devil
 * Black 4 Roader
 * Black Joe
 * Black Yellow Devil

Other characters

 * Chest, Plum and Ripot
 * Minor appearances: Dr. Light, Auto, Rush, Eddie, Beat, Treble, Turbo Man

Trivia

 * Battle & Chase was originally scheduled for a release on the PlayStation in North America in April 1997, a month after its Japanese release. Despite appearing in a number of magazine advertisements, the game was ultimately not released in North America, due to Sony Computer Entertainment feeling there were already too many mascot-based racing games in the market at that time. The game did not see a North American release until Battle & Chase appeared in North American copies of Mega Man X Collection, which is presumably the European version of Battle & Chase running at 60fps.


 * Most of the voice-overs and the appearances of the characters Plum, Chest and Ripot were removed from the non-Japanese versions for unknown reasons.


 * The two loading screens can be interacted with. Each player can accelerate Auto (Player 1) or Eddie (Player 2) by pressing the X button, and the Baccone eyes can be moved.


 * The secret Extra Parts resemble four Robot Masters. The Hammer Body is similar to Knight Man and attacks with a spiked ball, Retro Engine ("Retro Turbo Engine" in Japan) resembles Turbo Man's engine, Sky High Wing resembles Gyro Man's propeller, and the Blade Tires resembles Slash Man's legs.


 * On the Mega Man and Roll courses, the player can see a "Resident Evil" logo together with a Capcom logo at the start.


 * The cars of Mega Man and Proto Man, Rush Roadstar and Red Striker, appear as toys in the game Mega Man ZX. They also appear in the racing sidequest in the Highway area of Mega Man ZX Advent, where the player can ride on them.


 * There is also a Mega Man racing game for cellphone called Rockman GP. It was released in 2004 in Japan and only has three racers.


 * If the game is completed without being defeated with Roll or Guts Man in the Japanese version, a karaoke image will appear after their endings with the songs "Kaze yo Tsutaete" (with Roll) or "Ah Otoko Ichidai" (with Guts Man).


 * In the promotional video of the game that came with the Japanese version of Mega Man 8, it can be noted several changes happened from it to the final version, some of them being different item icons, the character faces don't move, Roll's car's ability to "fly" for a short time, and a course not present in the final version.


 * Battle and Chase was referenced a few times in Archie Comics' Mega Man series: the B&C Gazette (which included Chest, Plum, and Ripot as journalists), the mainframe for Wily's portion of the Egg Wily Machine X, and the Skull Machine XX appears in Short Circuits #11.