"The year is 200X. A group of robots calling themselves the Dimensions attacked Symphony City, a city where people and robots lived in peace. Though without any witnesses, the one leading the Dimensions with overwhelming power was a robot like Rockman. He was said to be a dark and wicked person completely obsessed with destruction. Rockman, who heard this news at Right's laboratory, took off to the scene despite being under maintenance. At the same time, Wily saw the dark Rockman, and to ascertain the mystery he sends Forte to the city. Just who is this dark Rockman really?!"
—The game's intro
Rockman & Forte: Mirai kara no Chōsensha (Mega Man & Bass: Challenger from the Future) is a 1999 game and part of the Mega Man (Classic) series, developed by Bandai and released exclusively in Japan for the WonderSwan. It is a follow-up to the game Mega Man & Bass.
Like with Mega Man And Bass, you can choose between playing as Mega Man or Bass, and you get to fight six different robot masters in their respective stages. Standing out, however, is that they both get different Special Weapons from the Robot Masters they defeat.
- Dangan Man, weak to the wind weapons, gives the Rock’n Vulcan (Mega Man) and the Forte Vulcan (Bass).
- Konro Man, weak to the Vulcan weapons, gives the Flame Shower (Mega Man) and the Flame Mixer (Bass).
- Aircon Man, weak to the flame weapons, gives Barrier Wind (Mega Man) and Forte Cyclone (Bass).
- Komuso Man, weak to the flame weapons, gives Doppel Crash (Mega Man) and Doppler Attack (Bass).
- Clock Mennote , weak to Doppel Crash, gives Time Switch (Mega Man) and Time Bomb (Bass).
- Compass Man, weak to the wind weapons. He gives no weapon upon being defeated.
Tropes:
- Big Bad: Rockman Shadow, who takes the brass ring from Dr. Wily as the villain, and for once gets to keep it from him for the entire game.
- Boss Rush: This is one of the few games in the series not to have one. This is played with in Konro Man's diary where after stating that he was just defeated by Mega Man or Bass, he will come back as part of one, only to find that there isn't one.
- The Bus Came Back: Tango and Reggae make (albeit limited) reappearances, their last appearances until Mega Man 10.
- Death Seeker: Rockman Shadow reveals himself to be one to Mega Man. He deliberately travelled through time to seek him and Bass out in hopes that they would defeat him.
- Demoted to Extra: This game holds the distinction of being the only Mega Man game in the classic series where Dr. Wily not only isn't the Final Boss, he isn't the villain and isn't even in the game at all! He only gets mentioned in passing in the game's intro. While Rockman Shadow reveals he was built by him, he's completely acting of his own accord against Mega Man and Bass.
- Dual Boss: The Clock Men are the only Robot Masters in the series to be a pair of two bosses fought simultaneously.
- Enemy Mine: Since Rockman Shadow is a threat to everyone, including Wily's Lab, Bass is forced to bury the hatchet with Mega Man for the time to help fight him.
- Evil Knockoff: Rockman Shadow is suspiciously similar to Rock.
- Expy: Rockman Shadow is similar in appearance to Quint and even uses a weapon similar to the Sakugarne, but they're not the same character. In the end, it turns out the similarities aren't coincidental — Rockman Shadow was a failed attempt by Wily to create his own version of Quint and was scrapped as a result.
- Graceful Loser: Rockman Shadow accepts his defeat, since he wanted to be defeated in the first place.
- Greater-Scope Villain: While Dr. Wily isn't the bad guy for once and doesn't appear at all in-game, he's indirectly responsible for setting its events off by building and then abandoning Rockman Shadow, who has his own agenda from then on out.
- Hijacked by Ganon: Averted for the only time in the entire Classic series after pulling it in several games prior, Dr. Wily isn't the main villain and doesn't appear at all in the game.
- Killed Off for Real: Rockman Shadow is "killed" by Mega Man in the end and buried.
- Mercy Invincibility: Played with. The Robot Masters have no invincibility frames after being hit by a weapon, but do have them during an attack.
- Mercy Kill: Rockman Shadow is given this at the end of the adventure. He sought a worthy challenger from the past that could put him out of his misery.
- Meta Twist: After so many games, the simple fact that Dr. Wily doesn't even appear in the game at all, not even to hijack the plot, counts as one.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Bass of all people is saddened with Rockman Shadow's story and demise.
- Lone Wolf Boss: Rockman Shadow and the Dimensions are completely acting of their own accord, and aren't affiliated with Dr. Wily at all. No, really. While Rockman Shadow was built by Dr. Wily, he isn't working for him or with him — Wily even outright abandoned him, which started Rockman Shadow's quest in the first place.
- Recycled Soundtrack: All of the music used in the game are chiptune remixes of tracks from Mega Man & Bass.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- The Grey Devil fought in the intro stage looks very similar to the Green Devil, but much smaller.
- Rockman Shadow is an obvious homage to Quint - essentially a grown-up version of him.
- Time Stands Still: Mega Man's Time Switch weapon (Time Bomb for Bass), which can make time stop for four seconds at the cost of being unable to shoot, although he can walk through enemies and their attacks unharmed during this time- which is unique among the other time-stopping weapons in the series.
- Time Travel: In his backstory, Rockman Shadow says that he was built by Dr. Wily as a failed replacement for Quint, but was scrapped — he rebuilt himself to increase his strength, and devastated the world in his time. As nothing in the future could stop his rampage, he traveled back in time to find someone that could put an end to him: the strongest challengers, Mega Man and Bass. With that, he leaves the victor with words of advice in his dying breath.
- Warm-Up Boss: The Grey Devil, a smaller variation of the Devil series of bosses.
