Mega Man, a critical look at the franchise

Let's get one thing straight here. The fact that I have played every US released Mega Man game alone should serve to tell anyone that my own bias towards Mega Man might be a bit skewed.

I love the games, I love the series, I love the character. I mentioned before that Capcom acknowledges the milking of this series, and if that's true, then I'm probably one of the biggest teat suckers this franchise has.

If you read the reviews at this site, you will mostly be seeing a general positive look at the games because that's how I feel about them. I'll mostly be comparing them to other Mega Man games most likely and my general feel towards these games is that they are worth the money you pay for them, however, being that there are over 50 games in the regular series alone that kinda adds up to a lot of dollars spent, and I can't certainly consider it normal behavior that most gamers would want to live through the same Mega Man experience again and again and again.

I don't want the integrity of these reviews to be compromised by this however, so I feel a general disclaimer at the start is necessary. There are many legitimate gripes with this series and I really doubt there are many people out there that are even going to find half of these games good.

To add some credence to my own critical reviews I did some small research seeing what the harshest of mega man critics thought about some of the best and worst games.

In general the games receive positive reviews but unfortunately a lot of the gripes I saw came from people who equate difficulty with quality.

Difficulty itself has nothing to do with a games overall quality, and many of these people need to realize that Mega Man might just be too difficult for them. It's not a bad game because you suck at it, and likewise it's not a fantastic game because you are good at it.

There are legitimate complaints about difficulty though, because some of these games ramp up on the bullshit instant death factor more than the actual skill of the player. Mega Man games are a bit flawed in that they require memorization of the level layouts, boss patterns and quick timing more so than anything else. Being patient with Mega Man seems to be the most necessary skill to defeat these games and you are more likely to die because some stages require the most precise timing (such as the infamous Quick Man Lasers) on very restricted paths. Most games aren't so bad they aren't playable but occasionally it feels Capcom doesn't even try on the level design.

The other complaint I usually see is the lack of a good story for the games. It's true, don't go into a Mega Man game expecting a great narrative, expect something so far in the background you might as well skip all the text given to you.

I don't hold games up to high standards with stories myself, but a lot of people buy games soley for the story. Mega Man players are a different breed of these people. We buy games that play well over games that write well.

Mega Man is a bit all over the place with story depending on which series you go to. Most of them range from mediocre to horrible and I can't really pretend to care about the mellow drama involved with X and Zero or how Dr. Wily inacts the same plan to take over the world every time. Nothing is so inconceivably bad that I don't want to finish any of the games (a problem I had with Metal Gear Solid 4) but there isn't anything special in here either.

The last gripe is that there are just too many damn games. Look at the timeline a few posts down. Mega Milked can't really be said enough and a good majority of the knock off games are terrible. Mega Man Soccer? Battle and Chase? Rockman's IQ Test? Are you shitting me?

Not to mention that most games just don't vary all that much. The formula works, but damn is it tired. It's a shame that the most unique games in the series are some of the worst playing (Mega Man Legends) and those games don't seem to have the life span that Capcom needs to keep going with them, opting instead to go back to beating the same dead horses.

If your a casual gamer, you'll probably want more variety in say your game boy advanced library than say all four Zero games which barring minor changes are pretty much the same game over and over.

I love these games, but most of them you could buy one of from the series and experience the entire thing. These reviews I have will go into intricate detail but the generalities will always be the same. If you can't get past that road bump, stick with buying a more diverse library than what I pick up at gamestop.

That all said, if you enjoy Mega Man enough to play through more of the same but slightly altered, then there's nothing wrong with one more game not fixing what isn't broke.

Before I move on to individual game reviews I'll be posting reviews for individual series so stay tuned for that.