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SAGE 2023 - Demo Mega Man Four Hounds

General Information

Mega Man Four Hounds is a new fangame in development, inspired by the classic Mega Man games developed over the years, official and fanmade. Headed by DeMontropolis, this specific fangame seeks to up the stakes in terms of challenge, personality, graphics, story, and music to provide a truly memorable experience.

Ever since our previous demo, we've been listening to feedback from all angles in hopes of improving the core experience and providing more accessibility without sacrificing what made Four Hounds special to many. So while there is only one new stage, the other four have been significantly updated from their previous iterations.

Players can choose to play as Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass, with each character having their own unique upgrades and playstyles. Dr. Wily is up to no good again, and it's up to our heroes to stop him with the help of the Four Hounds!

This game's roster of Robot Masters includes a new series dubbed the Super Light Numbers, consisting of Smirk Man, Scorch Woman, Static Man, Wing Man, Poison Man, Meteor Man, Root Man, and Ooze Man. Each of these characters bring a unique difficulty and charm never before seen. Certain Robot Masters also has different skins that switch out their designs; choose which one fits your preference.

The demo of '23 will allow the player to tackle the Intro Stage followed by Smirk Man, Scorch Woman, Static Man, and Meteor Man's Stages. Every stage is jam-packed with enemy encounters, gimmicks to test your mind, unique mid-bosses, and valuable goodies like 1-UPs, E-Tanks, and more. There are many branching paths and dead ends to explore, too.

The demo will come with 2 music soundtracks: an 8-bit OST that stays true to the original chiptune style, and an Arranged OST entirely created by DeMontropolis. Certain compositions are also customizable, allowing you to toggle between, for example, a stage's original song vs an alternate song.

Are you up for a true Mega Man challenge? Play the demo to test your might!

Latest reviews

Wew, this one was a doozie, I remember when last year I reviewed this one and I was left hopeful that this would change for the better, and surprisingly, it did honestly the fact the developers took my criticism to heart and actually made an effort to improve the level design is nothing short of respect, so I appreciate what all of you did. Definitvely now levels feel fairer and a lot more fun, I enjoyed my time with it and using the weapons was a lot of fun. Still it is not wholly perfect, there's some parts that feel a wee cheap, and need nigh-perfect timing, like I think that Static Man needs to lay down the Cheez-Wiz addiction because those deadly lasers give me only a fraction of a second to react.

On an aside I really like the new music, it's definitively improved upon the older music, and it sounds even better. I also like how the bosses look now, like back then Static Man looked like a reskin of Needle Man, now he definitively looks more unique.

Do I recommend this game in good faith now?... well, only if you're a fan of the more difficult games like Mega Man 3 for GB or Mega Man & Bass, or if you are the type of people that enjoy difficult rom hacks like Rockman 4 Minus Infinity, I am certainly one of them, and you need to have nerves of steel and the reflexes of a cat... either that or abuse shop items, I did that too and I am not ashamed to admit it LMAO.
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you need to have nerves of steel and the reflexes of a cat... either that or abuse shop items, I did that too and I am not ashamed to admit it LMAO.
Well, I played the demo with infinite lives, so there's that.

Still a fun game though.

Comments

Did someone said new Four Hounds demo?

Yeah, as someone who did play the SAGE '22 demo of this fangame (and uploaded a YouTube video of the gameplay on my account), I was excited when a new demo was announced. Now I just dowloaded it, tried it, and... Man, now it's the game's coding that failed miserably at working like intended, instead of my skills.

Okay, it was like two bugs, but really major ones. First was a softlock that happened when I selected the "Back" button too quick after saving my progress, forcing me to close the game. Then, there's a crash that occured when I selected Roulette Hat from the pause menu. It wasn't fun to see the game crash as I was fighting Static Man in his own stage and wanted to check if the weapon I just aquired was his weakness.

Those two bugs aside, there's a serious problem regarding shooting while grabbing onto a ladder : I can't turn around unless I'm not climbing up/down on it and/or while the buster is already out. If you try to quicky shoot to the opposite direction when climbing on a ladder (When playing as Mega Man), you'll clearly know what I meanby that.

In the meantime, I'll go get help on editing the 3 footages of this demo together into one video before uploading it on YouTube as part 1.
 
Fun demo for a fan game I've been following for a while, huge bug though.

In Scorch Woman's boss, there is a soft lock where you get stuck on the bottom tiles after defeating her and are unable to get back up, therefore not letting you get the weapon. No idea if this was caused by killing Scorch Woman with her weakness.

Is there a way to edit save files? I'd rather not go through the entirety of Scorch Woman again.
 
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Good game but, you miss a lot of places where you can make checkpoints. For beginners or for those who just watch the SAGE it's hard game. add at least a function like "bonus checkpoints" or something similar Put checkpoints at least in front of the mini-bosses
 
Hi, I just wanted to say I'm really really enjoying this game so far. I think the weapons are awesome and (most) of the stages are really cool, especially Meteor Man! However, I have a few criticisms so far.

1. The latter half of Static Man's level is way, WAY too hard. I appreciated that as a newcomer to Mega Man, Meteor Man and Smirk Man's stages were tough, but fair. I strongly dislike the lasers in Static Man's level, especially the ones that don't turn off on the side path later into the stage. What's up with that? I'm also really not a fan of the over-reliance on the Switch/Ladder/Conveyor puzzles in the last half of the stage. It felt like out of nowhere it suddenly became a Kaizo game. I think toning it down would go a long way to making that level better, especially because the roller skating segment was amazing. Great job on that!

2. This one is smaller, but still a gripe. I think the midboss of Meteor Man's stage has too much health, especially for how complex the pattern can be. It took me well near 20 deaths to figure out how to beat it, and even then I was only barely able to do it. I think lowering its health would make it perfect.

3. This one might be a bit of a stretch, but I think checkpoints could be slightly more frequent. This mostly has to do with the fact that the levels are long already, and I die a lot because like I said, I'm pretty new to Mega Man.

I will say, I appreciate the infinite lives option. Though, I will say, it almost seems as if you're expected to have it on, especially for Static Man's stage.

I haven't done the other stages yet, since Static Man's stage really took the wind out of my sails. I'm hoping they aren't as brutal. I started Scorch Woman's stage and got up until the dragon miniboss and died a bunch. No problems with that boss though, I think the level is good so far.

I hope this feedback is taken into account, and I look forward to future updates. Peace and love!
 

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