Forgotten Reviews: Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace/Red Joker

[The Forgotten Alex]

A switch-up from the usual, I'm not using Box Art this time.

We're back again, this time to review the (currently and most likely) last game of the Mega Man Starforce series. Black Ace and Red Joker. Let's dive right in!

~The Story~

Mega Man Starforce 3 starts it's story sometime after SF2 because I really dont know. Geo stopped Vega and Le Mu from wiping all existance from the planet.

Everybody has upgraded from a Star Carrier to a Hunter-VG.

The Hunter-VG allows people to see Wizards, which are EM-Beings, something only Geo could do with his Visualizer in the first two games. Wizards have become part of people's daily lives now. (Sounds a lot like Net Navis, doesn't it?)

However, like always, things start going bad. A secret organization has been corrupting Wizards and other objects with Noise, a weird substance that Le Mu knows where came from. Geo also has to worry about a new character, Ace. Is he Friend, or Foe? Go ahead and play the game because i'm not spoiling this for you.

The story is at it's strongest here in the trilogy, it will always have you on the edge of your seat (floor?) anticipating what happens next. There are a lot of twists and turns that keeps it from getting boring.

~THE GAMEPLAY~

LET THE BLUR HURT YOUR EEYYYYEEESSS!

Gameplay is the same, yet vastly different from the last game. For one, you may have noticed that I said Geo upgraded to a Hunter-VG. When you Wave Change with a Hunter-VG, you are assigned a Transcode. Due to this, Geo is now able to Wave Change just about ANYWHERE in the overworld. This saves the time you would use to try and find a Wave Hole.

New Battle Cards, new strategies. You may also recall I mentioned a thing called "Noise" earlier. In a certain point of the game, Geo will get a Key Item to help him control Noise to use for his benefit. This will eventually lead to...

NOISE CHANGE

Noise Change is just one of the new features of Starforce 3. It basically works like a Style Change from Battle Network 2-3. Except getting one has a different method (Getting into atleast 3 battles with Giant Viruses). Up above are just some of the Noise Changes available, and they're all reminiscent of older bosses in the series. Red Joker and Black Ace have different Noise Changes, but they're all accessible in both games, but ones native to Black Ace will have a lower chance of being obtained in Red Joker, and vice versa.

Red Joker has: Cygnus Noise, Taurus Noise, Virgo Noise, Crown Noise, and Wolf Noise.

Black Ace has: Libra Noise, Corvus Noise, Cancer Noise, Gemini Noise, and Ophiuca Noise.

They're all the same elements as their counterparts, but they all have different abilities from one another aside from the usual Element-Card boost.

But...what happens if the Noise level gets too high? Megaman will be able to tap into his 2 strongest Noise forms. (Depending on which version you get, these arent interchangable like the other Noise forms.)

FINALIZE, BLACK ACE/RED JOKER!

You might recognize the Black one, as it is my Avatar at the moment I am typing this.

Black Ace and Red Joker are finalized forms, only available to use when Megaman's noise gauge reaches 200% or Higher. His Folder gets swapped to fit his finalized form, and they both have their pros and cons.

Personally, I prefer Black Ace because of his speedy, yet deadly, tactics.

Also, the higher the noise gauge is, the better your folders will be.

Also, like the last two games, everybody has their own Big Bangs, used when Megaman successfully counters an enemy in his Noise form. These are dubbed in this game, "Noise Force Big Bangs".

~The Soundtrack~

Echo Ridge's theme is arguably the best one in this game. The Boss theme is really thrilling and gets you pumped to fight bosses. The Overworld themes (sometimes) never get old. Then there's this one particular track where a certain someone shows up and helps you omgggg.

Also, the final boss theme. The best shit I've heard since Cannonball (Megaman Zero 3).

~Final Score~

Whaaaaat!? It's over already? Aww man. It was a really fun run while it lasted. But I think it's time to end it here. You can help Geo fight many evils, and become the greatest Wave Battler in history. All in all, I give this game a...

9/10

Thanks for being the best one in the series. We give a tearful goodbye to Geo, Omega-Xis, Bud, Luna, Zack, Hope, Sonia, Kelvin,and every cast member as we traveled 200 years into the future.

GIVE IT UP FOR OUR TWO BRAVE WAVE WARRIORS!

EM WAVE CHANGE, GEO STELAR, ON THE AIR!

TRANSCODE, MEGAMAN!

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"Okay, I did what you asked, now am I free?"
"Not yet."
"What do you mean, not yet?"
"You cant leave the fans with the main series games, the side games deserve some credit too!"
"Oh...fine. If you insist."

It's not over yet.