Courtesy of The Free Bundle are five brand spanking new games, and as you might have already guessed by the name alone, there's no cost of admission. And compared to previous offerings, it's easily the most varied and compelling assortment yet.
Kicking things off is Bear Surfin Mega Wave, which again as the name implies, is about a surfing bear, plus You Have To Win The Game, which is the obligatory retro platformer, except the visuals here predate even NES-era graphics. There's also Dirty Split, an adventure game that has you solving the murder of a plastic surgeon, and Vicinity, a first person puzzle game that employs a teleportation mechanic.
But the star of the show is Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch. It’s a completely unlicensed and unsanctioned first person shooter starring Mega Man and his frenemies, various Robot Masters from parts 1-6.
Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch is a Doom mod that’s been around for some time now and is well known among freeware, online shooting enthusiasts, as well as Mega Man fans of course. Though it’s a bit of a shocker to see it make an appearance in such a manner.
It’s often clear where freeware indie games derive their inspiration from, or what they’re trying to emulate. The same can also be said for indie games that cost money to play, or even commercial game releases as well.
Whereas Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch flaunts its IP breaking flag loud and clear. But that’s pretty much the only that is being broken here; since The Free Bundle is not making any money, certain parties (i.e. Capcom) can only be so upset.
It’ll be interesting to see if the publisher does react in any way. Especially in light of them giving the stamp of approval to another indie effort, which tapped into both the Mega Man and the Street Fighter franchises.