Mega Man Star Force - Gameplay - Battle System

Battle System

Mega Man Star Force is an action RPG much in the same vein as Battle Network. It is rendered in an isometric style during field gameplay, but its battle system is three-dimensional, with the battles being viewed from behind Mega Man, and movement restricted to only left and right. Since enemies have a much larger playing field, battle evasion seems limited, but the player is given a choice of techniques like shielding and homing attacks to keep battles balanced. HP represents the amount of life Mega Man has. Whenever he is hit by an attack the number decreases, and when it reaches "zero," the game is over (and the player must start over from when/where they last saved). HP can be recovered in a number of ways, both in and out of battle.

Battle Cards are collected in a number of ways throughout the game, and the player must organize them into a folder to use for battles. Every time the "Custom Gauge" fills during battle, Cards are called up at random and are selected to use against the enemies. Depending on their arrangement on the screen, certain Cards can be selected together to provide combinations, just like Battle Chips from Battle Network. There are three different classes of Cards ranked by their power and rarity (Standard, Mega, and Giga), and only a certain number of Cards from each class, or a certain number of a specific Card, can be placed into a folder. Other options allow players to set certain Cards as favorites so that by connecting to other players via Wi-Fi, they can use their favorite Cards in a random draw during battles. This implements an element of strategy into planning battles.

The player can also use their standard Mega Buster at any time to combat with, and upgrade items for Omega-Xis can be collected throughout the game to increase the Mega Buster's rate, power, and charge speed. The Mega Buster is constantly charging to release a single powerful shot, but the player can hold the button down to fire rapidly. Other battle elements include the "Best Combo" system, allowing the player to chain together attacks, easily dealing damage well up into the thousands—Star Force's version of Battle Network's "Program Advances". At the end of every battle, a player's performance is ranked on a number of factors, such as speed and amount of damage taken; The higher score, the greater the reward.

Star Force also borrows the same elemental properties that Battle Network uses. The four elements include: Heat (fire-based), Aqua (water and ice-based), Elec (electricity-based), and Wood (plant and wind-based). Elements are attached to certain attacks and to enemies' (or Mega Man's) defenses. When an element is hit with an element that it is weak to, double-damage is dealt. Heat is weak against Aqua but strong against Wood, Aqua is weak against Elec but strong against Heat, Elec is weak against Wood but strong against Aqua, and Wood is weak against Heat but strong against Elec.