From solitaire to football: the wildest "Mega Man" spin-offs you (might) not know about

Rainer Etzweiler

26/3/2026

Translation: machine translated

The "Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection" lands on all relevant platforms this week. A good time to take an in-depth look at the quirky side of the franchise.

Whatever you're doing, stop what you're doing and click HERE. Done with it? Very good, you've got the right background music for this article (I didn't say it was good, just that it's appropriate).

On 27 March, the «Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection» will be released for all major platforms. The spiritual successor to the «Mega Man Battle Network» series returns with all three main parts, which in practice means seven games: three versions of the first and two each for the two sequels. The same principle as for «Pokémon» releases.

The seven titles come with revamped graphics, an optional filter, a rearranged soundtrack and other quality-of-life features that free the role-playing series from its Nintendo DS dust.

«Star Force» is not a complete foreign body in the Mega Man universe - anyone who has played «Battle Network» will feel right at home. The card-based battle system works in a similar way to its predecessor.

This makes this spin-off one of the more straightforward chapters in the long history of a franchise that has had far more absurd outings. What Capcom has signed off on in the name of «Mega Man» - or «Rockman», as he is known in his home country - is remarkable. It reads like the minutes of a product decision meeting where all the pitches were nodded off at some point because everyone wanted to go home early.

Here is a selection of them.

«Pachislot Rockman Ability» (Arcade)

Do you like «Mega Man» but wish there was a spin-off of the series where you could lose your savings? You're not alone in this strange challenge and there's a solution. «Pachislot Rockman Ability» is a slot machine with an official licence from the developer.

For a small entry price, the coin slot gives you the priceless feeling of being personally gutted by «Mega Man». The real highlight is the design of villain Dr Wily. The franchise nemesis rocks a slick porno moustache and a metrosexual micro-bangs haircut. My new conspiracy theory is that Mega Man and him only have a beef because the doctor just has more swag.

«Mega Man: Battle & Chase» (Playstation)

After «Mario Kart 64» established the fun racer genre in 1996, all developers believed that their characters also needed a kart racing game. And they were all wrong. One of them was Capcom. Although «Mega Man: Battle & Chase» is not aggressively bad, it has hardly any ideas of its own. The power-ups fulfil expectations: offensive attacks, invulnerability, speed boost. The track layout is similarly uninspired and the obstacles on it seem arbitrary. «Crash Team Racing» was released a year later and did everything better.

«Mega Man Soccer» (SNES)

Apropos «Mario Kart». While the plumber regularly meets his enemies on the racetrack (why actually? Why does he voluntarily hang out with the guy who keeps trying to steal his girlfriend?), Mega Man and his opponents settle their differences on the football pitch.

Does that make sense? Not really. But is it funny? Not particularly, which is surprising. The different abilities of the robots would be predestined for an action-packed arcade football game, but unfortunately their use is limited to two versions per game. In addition, «Mega Man Soccer» suffers from the overpowering goalies, who guard their goal better than Donald Trump guards the Epstein files.

«Mega Man Legends» (Playstation/Nintendo 64)

The best spin-off from the blue bomber is an unfinished action RPG trilogy. «Mega Man Legends 1 + 2» was released for the Playstation in 1997 and 2000 respectively. The debut received a late realisation for the Nintendo 64 in 2001, after which the franchise lay dormant for almost ten years until Capcom surprisingly announced a sequel for the 3DS.

The joy was short-lived; in 2011, «Mega Man Legends 3» was cancelled, which upset some fans so much that they produced a documentary about it.

As a role-playing game, «Legends» can only compete with rival products from Square Enix or Atlus to a limited extent. It achieved cult status thanks to the likeably written characters and the story, which is reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon.

By the way, there is another spin-off (spin-off-ception!) called «The Misadventures of Tron Bonne».

«Rockman Solitaire» (mobile)

Fun Fact: «Solitaire» was built into every Windows operating system from 1990 and was primarily intended as training for the then still relatively new mouse control. Nobody expected that the game would cost more labour hours than any trade union could ever achieve.

If you're not familiar with the Procrastination programme, the game is played alone, which is logical given the level of difficulty: red card on black card, descending order, ace on top. Congratulations, you have sorted your cards.

In 2012, someone thought this dynamic gameplay was the perfect setting for a «Mega Man» spin-off, resulting in an unnecessary mobile game.

«Wily & Right no Rockboard: That's Paradise» (Famicom)

Decently more exciting is the board game adaptation «Wily & Right no Rockboard: That's Paradise», which plays a bit like Monopoly. Buying plots of land, landing on opposing fields, picking fights with other players - you know the drill. There are five characters to choose from, none of which are Mega Man. Instead, there is the B-Team, including a real Deep Cut with the Russian Kalinka Cossack.

And if you're thinking, «Isn't that a bit racist?», I like to remind you that Kalinka's compatriot in the boxing game «Punch-Out!!» was called Vodka Drunkenski, while his Italian opponent was baptised Pizza Pasta. It was, er, different times.

«Mega Man» (Game Gear)

Short intermezzo with a less exotic spin-off: Capcom declares the game as a spin-off, but in fact it is simply a mix of «Mega Man 4» and «Mega Man 5» for Sega's hapless Game Gear. If you still have one lying around in your basement, now would be a good time to sell it. The current price for a complete copy is around 1,200 francs. «This makes Mega Man» the most valuable game for the handheld.

«Rockman & Forte Mirai kara no Chōsensha»

Apropos hapless handhelds: The Wonderswan was released shortly before the turn of the millennium and technically positioned itself between the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance. The console from Bandai was barely on the market for three years, but in that short time it accumulated some good games. This did not include «Rockman & Forte Mirai kara no Chōsensha», a sequel to the Super Famicom title «Rockman & Forte» (known as «Mega Man & Bass» on the GBA).

The sidescroller is average at best, but the credits showing Mega Man playing football are interesting. Clear proof of the MMCU - the Mega Man Cinematic Universe.

«Super Adventure Rockman» (Playstation)

Sometimes a single word explains why a game is forgotten today. In the case of «Super Adventure Rockman» it is «FMV». Actually, that's three words. «Full Motion Video» was temporarily the buzzword of the gaming industry. At the end of the day, it was nothing more than video clips with rudimentary interactivity. It was believed that photorealism alone would be enough to carry the medium into the future.

The technology gave rise to a few interesting experiments. These included the arcade hit «Dragon's Lair» and the terrifying/gross «Night Trap». However, nine out of ten FMV releases were strip poker games or similarly soft-porn orientated outpourings (pun intended), which is why the «game» films quickly fell out of fashion again.

This news apparently reached the «Mega Man» makers a little later.

«Cannon Spike» (Dreamcast)

Here I cheat a little bit. «Cannon Spike» is not officially a spin-off. However, you can play through the game with Mega Man and I think more people should know about this obscure Dreamcast secret, which is why I'm including it here.

The game sends the «Anti-Robot Special Forces», which paradoxically also includes Mega Man, into battle against an army of herziger Hunde-Babys ball-happy robots. In addition to the blue bomber, there are other Capcom characters to choose from, including Cammy and Charlie from «Street Fighter» and Arthur from «Ghost 'n Goblins». The goal is the same for all of them: Kill the opponent, kill the boss and move on to the next level. Simple and just as short. «Cannon Spike» can be played through in around 20 minutes.

«Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection» will be released on 27 March for PC, PS5, Switch 1 + 2 and Xbox Series X/S. I tested the PS5 version that Capcom provided me with.

Rainer Etzweiler

Freelance Editor

rainer@rockstar.ch

In the early 90s, my older brother gave me his NES with The Legend of Zelda on it. It was the start of an obsession that continues to this day.

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