Megaman Nine
I’ve always made it a point to try and avoid games where everything is “happy” and “childish.” There were always two exceptions by character. Kirby and Megaman. Kirby is always a good time because no matter how cute it gets, you can always beat the shit out of a ton of little enemy bastards in a billion different ways at any speed you can handle. Megaman is kinda more of an enigma though. I don’t really dig at retro things just for the sake of being retro. Whenever a nostalgia buff drags on about something of 20 years past, I picture in my head a montage of female 1980s hairstyles. Not really the ones from old movies, but the ones still currently used. The soccer mom suburbia ones. So if my attitude about the whole thing is “dude, let it go,” what about the Rockman? What’s his appeal? Any hardware upgrade the guy got cranked the age-appeal down just a little bit further into the single digits and after they gave him the voice of a tranny not yet in puberty, all hope was lost. Then came the unholy hellspawn spin-off stepchildren where you’d think someone along the way would decide to finally tie a decent story into the whole thing, but that never quite made the budget. I took my chances with the X series. That was cool, until it sucked, and then everything was named after Guns ‘n Roses for some reason, then it sucked a little harder, then it got pretty cool again.
What does Capcom do after knowing it’s turned the icon into some Pokemon card battle Neopets quasi-phenomena to the eight year-olds and the other 99% of their potential audience only remembers Mega Man 2? Fuck it, do it in 8-bit. Let’s bring out the 80s hair in everyone and charge a 10-spot. Do I bite? Yeah, why not. I have $10 and Megaman is the background picture screen saver thing on my phone for the past two months for some reason. ‘Suppose I kinda have to.
Little did I know they were all about staying near Megaman 2. Here’s what you probably wanna know…maybe:
- They removed Charge-Shot, sliding, L/R weapon switching, mega buster while using special weapons, Bass, Duo, all but two Rush forms.
- They keep all the other add-on good guy characters.
- You can still buy stuff, but only basic items this time. No real permanent enhancements besides the weapons organizer.
- You can swap the shooting and jumping buttons.
- Still no really awesome special weapons. Still recycling that damn shield weapon.
- You’ll recognize many reused enemies from old games but with palette swaps and a new attack or something, like the red standing shield dude…but he has an uzi. Terrific.
- Just enough new enemies to stay interesting.
- New original music is a little meh.
- Many menu/transition jingles are ripped out of Megaman 2.
- Still got all the nasty jumping puzzles and traps. Disappearing blocks. Always disappearing blocks.
- You still can’t save when you’re inside Wily Castle. Yes you can save between regular stages though.
- Stage designs don’t feel phoned-in.
- They added achievements. Really tough achievements.
- Leaderboards for speedrunnin’.
- There is another $10 of DLC in the next coming weeks.
- The boss fights are surprisingly more interesting than all past games.
- Tornado Man stage is a bitch.
- Still a great challenge.
I’ll answer my question now. What is the appeal of the Rockman series? Why make it a point to play all of them? The games are a direct challenge from them [Capcom] to me. Surprisingly, the games have a fairer difficulty curve than most. Granted you have to play a part one time to know a trap is there, but I don’t feel like I could never have gotten through a tough spot in one shot. The other newfound quality I have grown to value over the years is the concept of “getting to the fucking point.” I’ll throw out an example. Silent Hill- no that’s too easy. Shadow of the Colossus. “K, I gotta find the bad guy-but-kinda-not-really-the-bad-guy. He’s huge, you’d think I could walk outside my temple thing and see him. Nope, gotta look for him. Ok, where’s my horse. There’s my horse. Got my sword all held up, yep, that’s good. Follow the light, follow the light, follow the light, follow the light, follow the light, whoa tree, follow the light, follow the light, giant detour mountain, follow the light, follow the light, I think I’m lost wait no I’m not, follow the light, oh I’m going backwards, follow the light, ok boss fight.” Well that’s cool and different and exploring and all that good stuff, mind you, this can work in 2D though. Megaman ZX: Say “Where am I?” 70 times in 20 minutes. That’s doing it wrong. So very wrong.
I think I’ve figured out exactly why these old-style Megaman games can run the exact same formula and nobody seems to complain all too much. A Megaman game goes like: “Hay man, we got friggin’ Robot Terrorists! They be razor gonads hard but fair and classy. We know exactly where they are and they’re hiding in theme parks. Go smoke dem bitches!” And everybody’s all like “Ok!”
It just seems like a concept that’d be pretty easy to copy, but not a ton of games have been able to clone that kinda thing very well without straying outside the “fair challenge” into the “easy,” or “bad camera,” or “I don’t know how to program something,” or “not in interesting theme park setting,” or just forgot the “terrorist” thing altogether. Many titles like to cross into the “haphazard exploring into the sea of brown” category and that has its place ‘n all. But when a true balls-out, run-‘n-gun game is made available – be it a Megaman, Vectorman, Contra, Turrican, Metal Slug, Sunsetriders, Gunstar Heroes, Bionic Commando, what have you – I never hear of a run-‘n-gun totally failing in the market. It’s destined for profit or cult-status to some degree. It’s curious why that is.
In conclusion, I think a Megaman game continues to work because nobody has figured out a proper next-gen successor to this formula. Licensing and childhood-reliving are cool I guess, but I’d like to think they’re not 100% the cause of game industry profits. If Devil May Cry can build from and outclass Castlevania, an IP can be created that can steal the limelight from Megaman. Maybe we secretly don’t want that, but until somebody in the developing field decides to step up, I’ll argue that this outrageous little 8-bit experiment of a current gen title fills a niche that only the other eleventy old-style Megaman games could fill. That is strange to me and almost sad or brilliant of Capcom. I’ve never figured out which.
Megaman 9 is on WiiWare right now. It should be on PSN probably Thursday or something and XBLA next week or so. Maybe sooner. If you’ve never played with the old Rockman games and you’re not lazy, find Megaman Anniversary Collection for PS2. It’s on Xbox1 and Cube, but you want the PS2 version. You don’t need to buy MM9 if you’ve had your fill on the other games. It’s not like Megaman 9 does anything new unless fighting a robot mermaid chick boss does somethin’ for ya. MM1 and MM2 are on Virtual Console. Some would say they’re half price. Others would say they’re overpriced. That’s your call.
Oh. Right. That picture. Word on the street is you can get that NES case from the Capcom online store. Limited supply whenever they come out. Yes, it’s just a case with a cd in it. ‘Don’t even know if the cd works. That is all. Fight for everlasting peace ‘n all that…
September 24th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I’ve been playing Megaman 9 since Monday and I have to say, I feel it is just about as good as 2. Maybe not as good, but it is hanging out with 2 and 3. The bosses can be tricky at first, but once you work at it, you can get the hang of it. The new weapons, like you said, are basically recycled, but there are a few little differences to them. The bosses are pretty recycled too, but again, little differences. Level design is actually pretty good. Some are easy and some require you to master them. The music is awesome. Very reminiscent of MM2 and the sound effects are pretty standard. Controls can be flipped, which i feel is necessary and shouldnt have even been changed to begin with. Its too awkward to have them on default.
Overall, if you like Megaman before he got all NT and Battle Network on you, you WILL like this game. Its the game everyone wanted to be made, but for whatever reason Capcom didnt. For $10, you can buy way worse games. Plus, you get challenges, a ranking system, a time attack setup, and future DLC, which is all revealed in the Manual, dates, prices, everything.
Maybe Im too hardcore of a Megaman fan, but I truly feel that this is everything a Megaman game should be. Its nearly controller breaking at first and even after a few playthroughs, but then again it is trying to be like a classic NES game. I feel that this game is way worth the price and definitely needs some attention.
and yeah, those challenges, some are fucking impossible. Beat the game without getting hit? Fuck you.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Rockman crazy go fast fun jump ok! I really can’t wait to get ass raped by this one. And I’d kill for a Mega Man mighty mugg.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
It’s fucking fantastic! I downloaded it the moment I got home from vacation and it plays brilliantly; just like old-school Megaman should. This is the game I’ve been waiting for.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:40 am
I got it on Wii and 360. I never thought I would say this, but it is better on the Wii. It looks like an authentic 8-Bit game on the Wii and the classic controller’s D-Pad is way superior the the 360′s. The graphics on the 360 are kinda smoothed out and slightly blurrier. Both versions are hard as balls.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:31 am
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