So, I see this hack, and I think that it could be fun. Japanese hacks tend to be a change of pace in most cases and rather unique. However, Rockman Deus Ex Machina is not one of those hacks. Riddled with horrible level design and new boss AI and damage models that will make you want to rip your hair out in frustration. For one thing, the Easy version of the hack (which is far from easy) will not let you complete the game. In one of the Wily Castle levels you’ll spawn and immediately die. The only way I could find around this was to play the normal game and load a save state after a successful spawn. I’m not sure if this was intentional by Misty or not, I’m assuming it was due to how the rest of the game felt while playing.

The level design is full of holes and annoying and cheap shots, most of the time you’ll find yourself trying to figure out how on earth you’re going to be able to actually make it to the next screen, and then you just end up dying a whole lot and feel like save states are a necessity… which just screams bad hack design and just bad hack in general to me. Every single level in this hack just screams “oh, you’re hurt? Here’s an E-Tank you’re going to have to use in order to even have a chance at the boss” Some of the bosses I couldn’t beat even with two E-Tanks… I had to resort to using an infinite health code to get through the final bosses, and I literally sat there trying to beat Airman’s rematch (which the room is covered in spikes, and Airman will randomly blow you and suck you in…) and the final Wily bosses and what I’m assuming is a horribly edited Zero sprite from the GBC Megaman X games. Also factor in that one of the most annoying weapons to use is the Crash Bomb, which is what does the most damage to Airman, trying to connect with this bomb on him where you can make it explode next to him is very difficult and makes you more annoyed than feeling like you’re being challenged.

The majority of the bosses are really cheap, they take hardly any damage from any of your weapons, even the ones they’re supposedly weak against, despite the fact that it seemed like almost all the bosses took the most damage from Bubble Man’s weapon. The entire premise of Megaman is supposed to be based on Rock Paper Scissors, and while you’re trying to do that your opponent has a shotgun and is constantly killing you. Misty seems to have forgotten this, as the balance in this hack is way off and some areas are borderline “Kaizo” which is a bit of a misnomer since Kaizo doesn’t mean overly hard or “ass-holeish” in nature as it has been made out to mean in the English hacking communities. None the less, I hardly had fun while playing this hack, and the majority of the levels have decent ideas, but all the enemies are way too strong even on the easy mode…

The only other thing I can comment on with the enemies and bosses is the final boss is a freaking disaster, good luck defeating him legitimately…

The music is alright, it was revamped by Ika, the best track in my opinion was the remix of May’s theme from Guilty Gear, Blue Water, Blue Sky. It’s not enough to save this hack at all though… Ika also made Rockman No Constancy, while the hard version of that hack is ridiculously difficult, the easy version can actually be played by a normal human being and is an enjoyable hack for the most part, so don’t waste your time with this hack. Play Rockman no Constancy if you want to play a good Japanese Megaman hack. I’d skip this one, it’s not even worth looking into if you’re even slightly curious.