Ahead of Gamescom 2026, which is taking place in Germany, Capcom invited me out to New York to get some early hands-on time with Mega Man: Dual Override. More specifically, I was able to spend roughly an hour playing the same demo that Gamescom attendees will be able to get their hands on when the show kicks off. Given how long it has been since we’ve gotten a new mainline Mega Man game (Mega Man 11 was released back in 2018), I was definitely interested in seeing what Capcom has been cooking up.
My hands-on session was played on the PlayStation 5, and while an hour isn’t nearly enough time to judge everything that Mega Man: Dual Override has to offer, it was enough to leave an impression. Everything about the game was fun and I had a blast. But, more importantly, it played exactly like I hoped a new Mega Man game would. There’s plenty here that feels familiar, while Capcom has also introduced several new ideas that change how you can approach both the stages and combat.
Mega Man Gets Some New Toys
As I assumed when Capcom first revealed Mega Man: Dual Override, this newest entry in the series takes plenty of cues from the games that came before it while introducing a few new tricks of its own, thanks to the chip system. Similar to Mega Man Battle Network, our hero can use a number of chipsets that will change the gameplay.
During the demo I had access to two of them. An offensive option that supercharged his firepower and allowed him to fire charged shots without needing to charge them first. Given how much time I’ve spent holding down the fire button in past Mega Man games waiting for that familiar charged shot, being able to fire them off immediately was definitely useful.
The second chipset gave Mega Man the ability to activate a shield whenever needed and provided an extra E-Tank if needed. Once activated, the shield protected him for a limited amount of time or until it absorbed a certain amount of damage. Both abilities gave me additional options during combat without taking away from the familiar running, jumping, shooting, and dodging that the series has always been known for.
Or, if you want the purist Mega Man experience, you could go without using any of the chips, which then allow you to call in Rush when you need him in a pinch. I didn’t do the latter, so I can’t tell you how that works out.
Then there’s the really interesting part, the Override ability. As the name of the game suggests, Mega Man can activate Override to push himself beyond his normal limits, giving him access to significantly more powerful attacks. During the demo, I could use Override in the form of a powerful shot, similar to Street Fighter Ryu’s charged fireball or a dash attack that sent Mega Man zipping across the screen while dealing damage to anything unfortunate enough to get in the way.
Of course, there’s a downside to all of that extra power. Using Override pushes Mega Man to his absolute limit, and once the effect ends, he becomes noticeably depowered for a short period of time. His regular shots become slower and weaker, leaving him more vulnerable until he recovers, which means Override isn’t something you’ll necessarily want to activate every time it becomes available. Thankfully, the downside doesn’t last very long, but it does make you think about when the best time is to use it, especially during a difficult encounter or boss fight. And if this sounds similar to the Double Gear system from Mega Man 11, you aren’t wrong.
Lastly, Mega Man now shows visible battle damage on his character model the more he gets hurt, with dark spots and black soot appearing across his armor. This gives players a clear visual indication of how much damage he has taken in addition to the health meter. Capcom first showed this off in the Mega Man: Dual Override reveal trailer, but seeing the effect build up during gameplay is a nice touch. This also appears to be the first time Capcom has added this kind of progressive visual damage to Mega Man’s model in a Mega Man title.
The demo I had access to was broken into three segments that took place across a single world, and if anyone was worried that all of these new abilities meant Capcom was moving away from classic Mega Man stage design, I wouldn’t be concerned. The stages were full of moving platforms, bottomless pits, tricky jumps, and enemies conveniently positioned exactly where you don’t want them to be. You know, the sort of enemy waiting right at the end of a jump over a pit just to knock you into it and ruin your day.
There were also flying enemies that would intercept me right as I attempted a jump, along with plenty of vertical sections that required some tricky platforming while enemies blocked my path. It constantly felt like the game knew exactly where I wanted to go and then decided to put something there specifically to make getting there more difficult.
As I said, classic Mega Man. Fans of the older games should immediately recognize what Capcom is going for here, and despite the new mechanics, the core gameplay still feels very much like the Blue Bomber I remember.
That familiarity was probably one of my biggest takeaways from the demo. Mega Man: Dual Override doesn’t feel like Capcom is trying to completely reinvent the series just for the sake of doing something different. Instead, the new mechanics are being layered on top of the platforming and action that made the games enjoyable in the first place, giving Mega Man some new toys without abandoning what worked.
One thing that also stood out during the demo was that Mega Man actually acknowledged the Robot Masters he encountered. At one point, I came across Astro Man, who originally appeared in Mega Man 8 before returning again in Mega Man & Bass. Instead of Mega Man simply seeing him and immediately jumping into another fight, he actually reacted to seeing him again.
When Mega Man realizes who he’s looking at, he remarks, “You’re… a copy of Astro Man? They made a copy of you AGAIN?” It’s a small touch, but for longtime fans who actually know who these characters are and remember their history with Mega Man, it makes these returning bosses feel like more than just familiar faces being recycled for another game.
That also raises an interesting question about what Capcom is doing with the story. If Mega Man remembers Astro Man and specifically knows that he’s been copied before, then Dual Override appears to be directly acknowledging events from the older games. I wouldn’t speculate much beyond that yet, but I would absolutely mention it because veteran fans are going to notice that line immediately.
Twinkle Girl Absolutely Wrecked Me
The third and final portion of the demo was a fight against Twinkle Girl, and sadly, Capcom didn’t allow us to record any footage of her during the hands-on session. That’s a shame because this was easily one of the most interesting parts of the entire demo, and I must have spent close to 30 minutes fighting her because of just how dynamic the encounter was. Considering I only had an hour with the game, Twinkle Girl basically took up half of my session.
This wasn’t a simple case of walking into the room, spanking the boss, and calling it a day. Twinkle Girl had a moveset that I eventually started to figure out, including tossing fireworks that would explode in eight different directions before she eventually charged directly at me. However, if I got too close to her, she could change things up instead of simply sticking to the same pattern, forcing me to pay attention to what she was doing instead of relying entirely on memorization.
Then, just when I thought I had her figured out, she’d enter a second phase. Twinkle Girl would leap into the sky and start tossing several fireworks down at me before crashing back onto the platform, setting it ablaze from both directions and forcing me to quickly find somewhere safe to stand. Afterward, she’d return to her original attacks, except now she’d transition back into that second phase much faster than before, making the encounter increasingly hectic as her health continued to drop.
It was a fun fight, but one that required considerably more patience than I initially gave it. Since I only had an hour with the demo, I was trying to rush through everything so I could see as much as possible, and that ended up being a big mistake once I reached the finish line. This was also where Override became especially useful, as I saved it until later in the fight so I could squeeze out as much extra damage as possible when I needed it most.
Still, despite getting my ass handed to me repeatedly, I was smiling throughout the entire endeavor, and I think that says plenty about how much I enjoyed fighting Twinkle Girl.
The Blue Bomber Is Looking Good
Again, I played Mega Man: Dual Override on the PlayStation 5, and visually, the game looked amazing in action. More importantly, despite the new abilities and mechanics that Capcom is introducing, the gameplay still feels like classic Mega Man. Running, jumping, blasting enemies, avoiding hazards, dealing with deliberately evil enemy placement, and figuring out how to survive each section of the stage all felt immediately familiar.
Of course, roughly an hour with Mega Man: Dual Override was only a very early taste of what the finished game will eventually offer. The game is still very much in production, and Capcom hasn’t announced a specific release date outside of a 2027 release window, so there’s still plenty of time for things to change between now and launch. What I played, however, left me wanting more, and after waiting this long for Mega Man to get another proper outing, that’s exactly the feeling I wanted to walk away with.
If the Gamescom demo is any indication of where Capcom is heading with Mega Man: Dual Override, I think longtime fans of the series are going to be very happy with what the team is working on. It has the familiar platforming, the frustrating enemy placements, challenging boss encounters, and that classic Mega Man gameplay loop, but now there are some interesting new mechanics layered on top of it. This was only an hour, and there’s obviously much more of the game that I haven’t seen yet, but so far, the Blue Bomber’s return is looking pretty damned good.
