Weapons!

[NemZ]

So yeah, another thread about weapons.  Specifically, I'd like to know how other people conceptually think about the weapons.  Do you group them by damage type or by behavior?  Do you organize them by game?  Do you think of X weapons on the same landscape as classic weapons?  I find this just sort of curious.

For example, if one were to contemplate a list of weapons would you compare Flame Sword more directly with Atomic Fire or with Slash Claw?  Is Water Shield more like Skull Barrier, Water Wave, or maybe even Power Stone?  That sort of thing.

[fortegigasgospel]

I classify them in multiple styles actually.
Element + Behavior + Damage Type
For example Water Shield from Megaman 10
Behavior is a shield weapon, element is water, damage type would be water and rapid.

Needle Cannon
Behavior rapid fire weapon, no element, damage type would be stabbing/impaling.

Napalm Bomb
Behavior is a bomb, fire element due to the name, and explosive damage type.

If you want to base it on boss weaknesses look at Doc Robot, who's weakness changes to reflect the robot he is using at the time.
Bubble Man is weak to Metal Blade, and Shadow Blade via Docbot as well as in PF, so clearly Metal Blade and Shadow Blade are similar.
Both can be shot in multiple directions, both are bladed weapons. Though niether weapon was in WII, which Quick Boomerang beat him, which also did decent damage in 2 though.

But a boss like Snake Man who's weakness is Needle Cannon, what weapons would hurt a similar way to needle cannon? Yamato Spear would via shooting a spear head which is impaling the target, and maybe Ice Slasher by the looks of the shoots.

Behaviors can be unique to weapons too, but if you look many do function like another weapon, just branched off, but there are also "Barricade Breaking weapons" such as Thunder Beam, Crash Bomber, Hard Knuckle, Drill Bomb, Flash Bomb, Astro Crush, Spread Drill, Laser Trident, Commando Missile, Sonic Wave (in 1 case), Nuclear Detonator (in 1 case), Atomic Fire (in 1 case), Break Dash and Barrier Wind/Forte Cyclone.

Explosive damage weapons would probably be Hyper Bomb, Crash Bomb, Magnet Missile (its a missile), Dive Missile, Napalm Bomb (which doubles with fire damage), Danger Wrap, Commando Missile, Flash Bomb, Remote Mine, Nuclear Detonator.

Now many are obvious but I'll list the ones that I feel are easily overlooked.
Fire Storm: Fire + Barrier (with no blocking ability)
Crash Bomber: Explosive + Impaling (due to the drill bit)
Magnet: Explosive
Dive: Explosive
Danger wrap: Water element but no water damage.

Just to name some.

Also think of weapons that work like others by element or damage to help figure out who could beat certain bosses. Mars for example is weak to Salt Water, salt water causes rust and corrosion, so maybe Mars would be weak to Water Balloon, Water Wave, Water Shooter and Water Shield as well, but not Bubble Lead.

Also never forget "Blunt Force" weapons, such are Hard Knuckle, Dust Crusher or Power Stone, they hurt just buy hitting you hard.

TL;DR Ask yourself "What are all the ways this weapon hurts?" to find your answer.

[Gumballtoid]

I classify them by both functionality and damage type.

For example, Water Shield would be a shield/water weapon, Bubble Lead would be a power/water weapon, and Water Balloon would be a rapid-fire/water weapon. Leaf Shield would be a shield/nature weapon, Skull Barrier would be a shield weapon (some don't have distinctive damage types or behaviors), and Jewel Satellite would be a shield/crystal weapon. This method also helps find weaknesses.

[Tengu]

I would classify skull as a nature.

[NemZ]

Hmm.  I tend to think of them primarily by 'element', and grouped into families by behavior within that element... Atomic Fire -> Pharaoh Shot -> Magma Bazooka, for example.  But then I also wonder If I should put ice and water attacks together, or lightning and air, or earth/nature/crystal, etc.  Is guts an Earth attack like dust or a physical enhancement like Charge Kick?

To even wonder about this crap probably puts me in some especially deep level of geekery, I know.  

[Mr. X]

It's time to play GROUP THAT WEAPON!

1. Does the weapon form a shield around you?
If yes, go to question 2
If no, go to question 3

2. Is the weapon Jewel Satellite?
If yes, then it's a God Tier weapon
If no, then it's a Shield weapon

3. Does the weapon have a fairly fast rate of fire and have at least one projectile that goes straight forward each time you press fire?
If yes, go to question 4
If no, go to question 5

4. Is this weapon Metal Blade or Triple Blade?
If yes, then it's a God Tier weapon
If no, then it's a Mega Buster Replacement weapon

5. Does this weapon damage/kill all enemies on screen at once?
If yes, go to question 6
If no, go to question 7

6. Is this weapon Tornado Blow?
If yes, then it's a Mobility Tool and a Full Screen weapon
If no, then it's a Full Screen weapon

7.  Does this weapon help you move faster/reach higher areas?
If yes, then it's a Mobility Tool
If no, go to question 8

8.  Does the weapon fire a projectile that returns to you?
If yes, then it's a Boomerang weapon
If no, go to question 9

9.  Is this weapon Water Balloon, Top Spin, Charge Kick, or Power Stone?
If yes, then it's a Useless Pile of Garbage
If no, go to question 10

10.  Is this weapon Junk Shield or Dust Crusher?
If yes, then it's a Useful Pile of Garbage (note:  if it's Junk Shield, congratulations:  you failed the very first question)
If no, then it's a Whatever weapon


In other words, I group by how it's used over element.

[Gumballtoid]

For lulz, I'm going to bring up the subject of Noise Crush.

What the hell is it?

It's a sound wave that's absorbed with your body, then fired off as a charged shot. I would refer to that as a chargable/spacetime weapon, if for only this reason: It's a sound wave. A a wave is a disturbance or oscillation that travels through spacetime, accompanied by a transfer of energy (according to Wikipedia). That transfer of energy is what does the damage. On the same note, that transfer of energy is what gives the charge shot extra power; it's constructive, so it can merge with a wave of the same frequency to become a bigger wave. Even so, the sole fact that it's a wave, and that it's got no distinctive type otherwise, probably means that it's a spacetime weapon.

[NemZ]

It's time to play GROUP THAT WEAPON!

 

A a wave is a disturbance or oscillation that travels through spacetime, accompanied by a transfer of energy (according to Wikipedia).

Show me a weapon that doesn't deal damage due to a transfer of some sort of energy in spacetime, usually kinetic or electromagnetic.  When someone makes a RM weapon based on the strong and/or weak forces then I'll be impressed.  Ooh, or maybe shooting Higgs Bosons to suddenly induce a massive change in mass!

[BiscuitSlash]

9. Is this weapon Spark Shock?
If yes, then it's a Useless Pile of Garbage

Fixed.

Spark shock is the worst, and when compared to decent weapons such as what Mr. X said, it IS a useless pile of garbage. This weapon simply doesn't get enough hate. IT SUCKS. Like most "bad" weapons, I've experimented with this thing, and apart from freezing Big Stompers, there's almost nowhere in the game where it's efficient to use. Unlike top spin which easily takes out 1/3 of the enemies in the game

If anyone can use Spark Shock and make it useful at the same time, i'll be very surprised.

[Laggy Blazko]

I like water balloon. I use it as a rapid-fire weapon when I play mm8 and I find it powerful.
(I hope we can fire it quickly if we smash the fire button in the mm8 expansion, otherwise I'll make my own modified version)

[PressStart]

I would classify skull as a nature.

Lol, yes!

I've thought about them as "elements" before when I was trying to think up a Mega Man card game, and wanted to figure out types to cover all weapons and are evenly distributed.

I think I came up with

-Blunt: Weapons with strong impacts (Super Arm, Hard Knuckle)
-Sharp: Weapons that slice and cut (Rolling Cutter, Triple Blade)
-Bombs: Weapons that explode (Hyper Bomb, Crash Bomber)
-Nature: Weapons that relate to plants, wind, and animals (Leaf Shield, Search Snake)
-Water: Weapons that use ice or water (Ice Slasher, Water Wave)
-Fire: Weapons that use fire (Fire Storm, Atomic Fire)
-Energy: Weapons that are electric or energy based (Thunder Beam, Flash Stopper)

There's of course, countless problems with such simple categories. Some weapons can technically count as more than one (Flame Sword), and some don't particularly fit into any of them (Time Stopper). Thus, I gave up on the crazy idea of a card game, lol.

[Hilman170499]

Weapons classified by types(Including Mega Man Killers, Quint and Mega Man V):
Cutter:Rolling Cutter, Metal Blade, Shadow Blade, Gyro Attack, Silver Tomahawk, Slash Claw, Flame Sword, Tengu Blade, Wheel Cutter, Triple Blade, Screw Crusher
Electricity:Thunder Beam, Spark Shock, Electric Shock, Thunder Bolt, Thunder Claw, Lightning Bolt, Plug Ball, Thunder Wool
Ice:Ice Slasher, Blizzard Attack, Freeze Cracker, Ice Wave, Ice Wall, Chill Spike
Fire:Fire Storm, Atomic Fire, Pharaoh Shot, Flame Blast. Scorch Wheel, Flame Sword, Wave Burner, Magma Bazooka, Solar Blaze
Explosive:Hyper Bomb, Crash Bomb, Drill Bomb, Napalm Bomb, Bubble Bomb, Danger Wrap, Flash Bomb, Remote Mine, Commando Bomb, Ballade Cracker
Earth:Super Arm, Drill Bomb, Power Stone, Sakugarne, Deep Digger, Spread Drill, Concrete Shot, Jewel Satellite
Water:Bubble Lead, Rain Flush, Water Wave, Bubble Bomb, Salt Water, Danger Wrap, Water Balloon, Water Shield
Shield:Leaf Shield, Skull Barrier, Star Crash, Plant Barrier, Junk Shield, Jewel Satellite, Water Shield, Mirror Buster
Nature:Leaf Shield, Search Snake, Plant Barrier, Hornet Chaser
Wind:Air Shooter, Wind Storm, Tornado Hold, Tornado Blow
Time/Space:Time Stopper, Flash Stopper, Gravity Hold, Black Hole, Centaur Flash, Astro Crush, Black Hole Bomb
Rapid Fire:Quick Boomerang, Needle Cannon, Yamato Spear, Water Balloon
Light/Laser:Gemini Laser, Flash Stopper, Spark Chaser, Centaur Flash, Laser Trident
Homing:Magnet Missile, Dive Missile, Spark Chaser, Homing Sniper, Hornet Chaser
Close Range:Top Spin, Charge Kick, Break Dash, Slash Claw, Flame Sword, Tengu Blade
Screen Hitters:Time Stopper, Rain Flush, Flash Stopper, Gravity Hold, Centaur Flash, Astro Crush, Lightning Bolt, Tornado Blow
Barricade Breakers:Super Arm, Crash Bomb, Hard Knuckle, Drill Bomb, Break Dash, Flame Blast, Wave Burner, Spread Drill, Trident Laser
Chargeable:Atomic Fire, Pharaoh Shot, Noise Crush, Wild Coil, Homing Sniper, Magma Bazooka
Misc:Dust Crusher, Grab Buster, Photon Missile, Crystal Eye, Rebound Striker, Copy Vision

[BiscuitSlash]

I classify most weapons by element and tactic/how they work. This gives me the ability to use them better during stages, as I can figure out what would work best against an enemy and whether or not an enemy will take more damage from a certain weapon.

For example, mid range flying targets that don't take much damage? Power stone! That usually works best for those situations and can sometimes pull off some amusing stuff. Blizzard attack seems to work really well against the enemies in Flameman's stage as it tends to destroy them in one hit iirc, along with it being easy to hit most of them. Water Cutter also does the same thing on those enemies along with hotheads in Rockman 4MI.

[Gumballtoid]

I like water balloon. I use it as a rapid-fire weapon when I play mm8 and I find it powerful.

At least I'm not the only one.

[BiscuitSlash]

I like water balloon. I use it as a rapid-fire weapon when I play mm8 and I find it powerful.

At least I'm not the only one.

It's only somewhat bad in RM8FC because of how quickly it loses it's ammo. In the original it's great (high RoF and power and has a good arc), and you must be doing something terribly wrong to make it suck.