Mega Man 8

Mega Man 8, known as Rockman 8: Metal Heroes (ロックマン 8: メタル ヒーローズ) in Japan, was released for the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn from 1996-98 and is the eighth game in the classic Mega Man series. The game is the first in the classic series to feature anime-style full-motion videos (FMV) in order to tell the story and is the first and only game (aside from the DOS games) in which Mega Man is capable of swimming. The game also marks the tenth anniversary (1987-1997) of the Mega Man franchise, and limited copies were released with a color history booklet called "Mega Man Anthology" celebrating the series' history.

Story
In the year 20XX, two strange beings are fighting each other in outer space. As they collide into each other, they start falling towards Earth. Meanwhile, Bass and Mega Man are fighting on Earth, but the battle is cut short when Roll calls Mega Man. Dr. Light tells them that a strange meteor with a powerful energy signature has fallen on an island, and Mega Man is sent there to retrieve the meteor before it falls into the wrong hands. However, the island was Dr. Wily's current secret base, and he escaped with the extraterrestrial energy from one of the robots. Mega Man found the other robot badly injured in a crater and sends him to Dr. Light to be repaired.

Mega Man defeats four Robot Masters that attack various places on the globe and, when he returns to Light's Lab, he brings a mysterious energy found in the robots and finds that the robot is undergoing repairs. Then, while talking to Light, the robot breaks free and heads out into the desert. Mega Man follows him and the fight briefly. Proto Man intervenes the battle and tells Mega Man that Wily's new fortress, "Wily Tower", is up ahead. Mega Man goes ahead and is captured by one of Wily's robots, but the robot he fought before saves him and introduces himself as Duo. Duo explains that the other robot contained "Evil Energy" within it and that Wily was using that energy to make his robots more powerful. Mega Man needed to destroy the energy sources from the barrier protecting the Wily Tower, which was being protected by four Robot Masters.

After destroying the second four Robot Masters, he enters Wily Tower and fights against Bass and Treble, and, in the end, Dr. Wily. Mega Man was injured by the Evil Energy in the process, but Duo saved him and left him out in the desert, where Proto Man was there when he awoke and told him that Duo was thankful for his help.

Version Differences
Although Mega Man 8 was released on the Sega Saturn shortly after being released on the Sony PlayStation, the Saturn version was not identical to the PlayStation version. The differences are:


 * A Bonus Mode was included, which includes official and fan artwork, voice test, music test, and a secret animation test for the FMVs. Of note, the voice test includes some unused vocal samples, including an unused line by Frost Man, Dr. Light, and Mega Man saying "Metal Heroes" (used in the Japanese version). Bonus Mode replaces the promotional videos of Mega Man: Battle & Chase and Super Adventure Rockman that were present in the Japanese PSX version.
 * Special water morphing effects in Aqua Man's stage; the water flowed and moved more lifelike. Although it's not a transparent blue like in the PlayStation version, the wave effects gave it a more realistic feel.
 * Special lighting effects and and a siren flashing during Duo's mini-stage.
 * Some additional enemies in many of the stages (for example, the game's first two enemies are Mettals).
 * Some of the Robot Masters in this game are slightly tougher in the Saturn version, but the difference is negligible.
 * Cut Man (from Mega Man) and Wood Man (from Mega Man 2) make cameo appearances as one-time mini-bosses in Duo's mini-stage (Cut Man) and Search Man's stage (Wood Man). Defeating them earns Mega Man two Bolts that are otherwise lying in the open in the PlayStation version. (On a side note, Cut Man and Wood Man are thought to be the apparent stolen Robot Masters that were in the two broken display cases seen in the background of the Robot Museum stage in Mega Man 7.)
 * The music is slightly different in the Saturn version. Two notable examples are Aqua Man's Stage, which is moodier and has a wider variety of instruments, and Tengu Man's Stage, the only stage in the game which had an entirely different tune. Also, because of Cut Man and Wood Man's appearances, their respective themes are played in the Saturn version when players battle them; both are remixed to match the sound of the rest of the music. The Saturn version uses PCM encoded audio, while the PlayStation version uses the internal MIDI system of the console.
 * The FMVs in the Saturn version are compressed using Cinepak compression, which causes artifacting and slight blockiness, whereas the PlayStation uses its native MPEG.

Bosses
Intro Stage boss: 
 * Yadokargo

Robot Masters
Mid Stage Boss:
 * Duo

Fortress Bosses
 Wily Castle bosses: 

Stage 1:
 * Atetemino

Stage 2:
 * Bliking

Stage 3:
 * Mid Boss: Bass and Treble
 * Main Boss: Green Devil

Final Stage:
 * Rematch with the Robot Masters
 * Wily Machine No. 8 and Wily Capsule

Trivia

 * The opening FMV of the game shows some bosses from previous games; in one sequence, the Robot Masters that appear are in the order of the game they appear in (1-7): Guts Man, Quick Man, Snake Man, Pharaoh Man, Charge Man, Tomahawk Man, Shade Man.
 * Other robots in the opening theme include the Yellow Devil, Mecha Dragon, Wily Machine Number 4, and the Robot Masters Wood Man (MM2), Centaur Man (MM6), Spark Man (MM3), Skull Man (MM4), Gyro Man (MM5), Cut Man (MM1) and Freeze Man (MM7).


 * In the Robot Master contest of this game, Capcom said three of the six robots (not including Tengu Man and Astro Man) to be chosen to appear in the game had to have a specific appearance, being one with a sword and separable body, one with two heads, and one with long extendable arms.


 * This game marks Duo's first (chronological) appearance.


 * This is the first (and only) numbered game in the classic Mega Man series to feature FMVs and voice acting.


 * This is the only game since the first Mega Man (without counting spin-offs) to not include Energy Tanks.


 * Starting with this game, Mega Man was no longer able to use the Super Adapter. However, Bass was still able to use it.


 * This is the first game where Capcom didn't try to "Americanize" the boxart (excluding Mega Man 6, which wasn't published in the U.S. by Capcom, themselves).


 * This is the second numbered game where Mega Man could swim, the first game being Mega Man 3 for DOS.


 * As with Mega Man X4, the game is often poked fun at for its voice acting in the US and European releases, particularly Dr. Light who speaks with an apparent speech impediment, infamously pronouncing Doctor Wily as "Dogtah Wahwee". His voice happens to sound very similar to Elmer Fudd's.
 * The same actress in this game also did the voice of X in Mega Man X4


 * As with Mega Man 7, there's a part in this game that contains a typo in Mega Man's speech, as well. After Bass is defeated, he'll say, "Bass, why you don't understand?", when it should have been, "Bass, why don't you understand?"


 * There's also a typo in Proto Man's speech after the Duo intermission stage, where he'll say, "What happend?"


 * This is notably the only Mega Man game where Dr. Wily doesn't try to trick Mega Man when defeated by feigning guilt. In fact, his reaction when the Evil Energy tries to corrupt Mega Man implies that he was not planning on using the Evil Energy to attack Mega Man to cover his escape, and that he probably had no intention of tricking Mega Man.


 * The Saturn version is thought to be the original version or at least closer to the original vision of the game - according to interviews, it was intended to be a Sega Saturn game all along, but Sony allegedly demanded the game be released on their system.


 * The music that plays in Dr. Wily's fourth stage is a remix of the pre-boss fight music in the game.
 * The enemy that loses the fight to Duo at the start of Mega Man 8 doesn't have a name. His design appears in R20 Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works.


 * This is the first game in the Classic series not to have artwork for the Special Weapons.


 * In the Sega Saturn version, Wood Man appears as a boss in Search Man's stage and Cut Man appears as an optional boss in the Mid-Stage.


 * This marks the second classic Mega Man title in which fighting the Robot Masters goes through a unique canon (with the first being Mega Man 7); rather than fighting the eight bosses in a row in accordance to their weaknesses, Mega Man must fight them in two sets of four.


 * Although the Saturn version of the game had extra features not present in the Playstation version, The Mega Man Anniversary Collection used the Playstation version of Mega Man 8 instead.


 * This is the only numbered game in the Mega Man Classic series that is not on a Nintendo system (excluding Mega Man: Anniversary Edition). It is also the only numbered game in the Mega Man Classic series that is available on a Sega system (besides the first three Mega Man Classic games that were re-released on the Sega Genesis as Mega Man: The Wily Wars).


 * This is the first Mega Man game to show the amount of available shots for a Special Weapon in numbers (as opposed to the traditional Weapon Energy bars). The next game in the Mega Man franchise would be Mega Man X4, from the Mega Man X series.