Plot. Mega Man has brought the evil Dr. Albert Wily to justice and is finally imprisoned after countless attempts to take over the world and his defeats. But Wily always had tricks up his sleeve knowing that he would be imprisoned one day, he constructed four backup robots in a hidden laboratory; Burst Man, Cloud Man, Junk Man, and Freeze Man. Six months later, the destructive robots woke up and began searching for their master. Suddenly, the city where Wily is being held is attacked. Mega Man, Roll, and their new friend Auto drive to the city to capture Wily. Suddenly, Mega Man faces a new enemy named Bass, a robot with the same capabilities as Mega Man's own and his robot wolf-dog Treble. Mega Man discovers that both he and Bass are fighting the same enemy, and so begins a new quest to take down Wily once more.
Collecting bolts can help Mega Man purchase things from "Eddie's Cybernetic Support Shop", and from there you can get Energy Tanks, Weapon Tanks, and power ups. This featured was introduced in the Game Boy Mega Man Titles. Other elements exist such as Mega Man being capable of obtaining the robotic bird Beat, and obtaining Proto Man's shield after finding him in certain locations and then fighting him.
Concept. Mega Man 7 is the first Mega Man game to ever have an introductory stage. After beating it, unlike previous titles, Mega Man gets to fight only four Robot Masters. After defeating the first four, Mega Man goes to the Robot Museum, where previous enemies make a cameo and must defeat a Clown Robot. Then four new Robot Masters appear (Slash Man, Shade Man, Spring Man, and Turbo Man), which after defeating them, they head to Wily's fortress where they fight new bosses including a returning one, Guts Man. They must also fight the Robot Masters again before getting to Wily, who becomes more and more difficult to beat than last time.
Design and Development. Mega Man 7 is the first SNES title to have a numbered title in the original series. The development team had to struggle in working with this game for three months due to "bad timing". But Inafune-San has said that it was a fun experience for him working in this game despite the struggling. Distancing from the 8-bit graphics, this game has updated ones on 16-bit and still in 2D. The best designed stages are those of Junk Man, Cloud Man, Freeze Man, Burst Man, Turbo Man, and Shade Man.
Sounds and Music. Toshihiko Horiyama returns once again and music themes are incredible. The theme of Bass is one of the many best I have heard since it was like a combination of trance and techno. Also the boss themes of Clown Robot, Guts Man, the three bosses before the final stage and Wily's first mode was absolutely epic and catchy. Sound effects are a bit way off as sometimes when hitting the boss it was like they tried to make it sound like the ones from Mega Man X.
Memories. Me and my cousin were 9 at the time Mega Man 7 was being released and read a magazine about it. We both wanted to play the game so bad that it kicked ass. But we weren't much of Mega Man after Mega Man X was popular. Sometimes instead of Mega Man X on my SNES we would play Mario All-Stars, Zelda: ALttP, Star Fox, and Taz-Mania, oh memories.
Rantings. The lack of originality still continues in this game. And also, my most hated stages are those of Wily's castle because they were so full of unnecessary death traps. My most hated part in Turbo Man's stage were going all the way down avoiding those fires that killed you instantly, much like those lasers in Mega Man 2. And some bosses including Wily's final form are just so hard that you try to beat them lasting from six to ten minutes.
Good Aspects. Despite not being in the Virtual Console, it's still a good game. The game's replay value is moderately high and pretty decent. The introduction of Bass is one of the most memorable parts of the game, it's like if you're fighting an evil version of Zero in a way. I also loved Bass's look when he combined with Treble, and he looked incredibly awesome and dangerous to beat. Proto Man's return was also a good idea, as well as obtaining his trademark shield.
Overall. Mega Man 7 gets a 7 out of 10
God Bless and Play Hard Gamers!