Another new feature comes in the form of the “Brother Band” system, a sort of contact list which you can use to link up with other players, human or NPC, to your Transfer device. Depending on who you have as your “Brother”, you get a boost to one of your stats such as additional HP and the more Brothers you have, the greater this boost. They will also have six battle cards selected as their favourites and these can appear as one of the random cards on your Custom Panel during battles. What happens is a portrait of your friend will pop up and when you select it as one of the cards you want to use, the six favourite cards flash by like in a game of slots and it’s up to you to stop it. Some very powerful cards can be obtained this way such as “Invincibility”. Players can also create and name their own card attack combos.


“Brothers” give you stat boosts and their favourite cards to use.
I don’t think I have to tell you that you’ll need to use Wi-Fi or the wireless link feature to include your friends in your Brother Band list. Apart from battles with friends and trading cards, there are no anonymous battle match-ups I’m afraid. Also, as with most game series that have continued from the GBA to the DS, players can plug in one of their Battle Network games to unlock a certain character in one of the town’s computers.

Much of Mega Man Star Force is rendered in the same 2D graphics that was used to present the Battle Network series but everything still looks very detailed and is animated smoothly. In fact, all the buildings, objects and NPCs have the same Battle Network look to them. Every time you’re about to fight a new boss, there’s always a differently themed dungeon for you to run through. One small annoyance I found with the game is the transformation sequence that takes place every time you go “On Air”. The top screen turns white and you watch as Subaru and Warlock merges together then poses for a few seconds. There’s no way of skipping this!


Reminds me of someone’s room… Isn’t that a Wii?
Battles are the only part of the game presented with 3D cell shaded graphics as you look onto the enemy from behind Subaru’s Mega Man form. Enemies look fairly good although some of the models look a little blurred which isn’t something new with the DS.

“Ryuusei no Rockman” no matter which version you get your hands on, will still feel very much like the Battle Network series with its card system and grid based battles. However, the status boosting “Brother Band” system does offer some interesting possibilities when playing with friends. With movement restricted to within one row of the grid and enemies throwing all sorts of attacks, it’s a slightly more challenging game and you may have to keep your wits about if you don’t want to see the “game over” screen too many times. Fans of the past Battle Network series may enjoy the little heightened difficulty.


This will take a little more effort to play than other RPGs because instead of simply talking to NPCs to move events on, objects in the environments have a role too which means you could find yourself checking everything. Other than that, you should have no problem fighting – especially if you’ve played a Battle Network game before. Bear in mind this game will come out as “Mega Man Star Force” in English.

• Sticks with the tried and tested card system from the BN series.
  
• Mini games to give you a break between all the random encounters.
  
• Cell-shaded graphics give battles a fresh look.
  
• “Brother Band” system may have groups of players working to create good card sets.

• Forced to watch the transformation sequence every time you explore the wave world.
  
• Random enemy battles can be overwhelming at times.
  
• Limited Wi-Fi feature. Could have had support for battles with strangers.