Mega Man 10: Threat From Outer Space!!

When I started reviewing Mega Man games several months back, it was a leisurely way to escape my own problems for a little bit, and articulate just why I love this whole franchise, starting from the original Blue Bomber, all the way to Mega Man Star Force, and hitting all points in between. After running out of games, I hit up the several cartoon series until I had nothing left to review. With all the sequels, spin-offs, and remakes in this franchise, I find it fitting that my last review (for now) comes back to the roots of the series.

I initially expressed my fears with the series continuing on in 8-bit, stating that I felt the series would become stagnant again. I've always felt that Mega Man has fallen behind the other gaming icons of his day, such as Mario, Link, and Sonic, and, while I don't think Mega Man has anything to prove, I find it sad that he has yet to have a real Next-Gen console game that utilizes the capabilities of any of the systems.

That is a complaint with the series as a whole though, more than anything, and doesn't affect my review so much of the individual game. The game itself is good, higher quality than most Mega Man titles, and it could be the start of something great for the franchise.

New Features

• Play as Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass (DLC), in three (slightly) separate stories.
• A difficulty select which changes the game quite significantly for all three options.
• Returning from Mega Man Powered Up, Challenge Mode.
• Save and watch replays of your best times, or check out the ranked leader boards videos.

Story
Okay, now I know Inafune knows these stories are just a load of junk. I'm serious, when asked about Mega Man 10's story in that online broadcast a while back, he basically said, "what story?" So yes, Mega Man 10's story is pretty silly, and it honestly could be the plot of one of the Ruby-Spears episodes.

One day, Roll gets sick with flu like symptoms. She's been infected with a virus that makes robots sick, and they've dubbed the virus, Roboenza. The virus soon spreads, and starts causing robots to go out of control and wreak havoc.

Dr. Wily shows up at Dr. Light's lab after having been attacked by one of the robots. Wily's been working on a cure, and has created a machine to help him, but it was stolen by the robots. Mega Man runs off to get back the machine, and Proto Man offers to help him along the way.

From here, you can choose who you want to play as, Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass (if you've downloaded him), and the story changes slightly depending who you pick. I'm talking like a few sentences at most, hardly anything to get excited about. Even Mega Man and Bass had more variety in the story.

Anyway, surprise surprise, it turns out Dr. Wily was behind everything! After defeating Wily, he's rushed to the hospital with a fever. He escapes from there, but leaves behind the cure to Roboenza.

Aesthetics
Inafune is the type of artist that likes to do more with less. Like a painter who's canvass is a business card, Inafune has restricted Mega Man 10's color pallet back down to 8-bit. Of course, Mega Man 10's graphical prowess is a joke, hardly utilizes any of the consoles to their full potential, but Mega Man just looks at home in his limited color values.

I'd gauge this game aesthetically superior to Mega Man 9, as most of the environments have a lot more detail. By comparison, Mega Man 9's environments were a bit empty. Mega Man 10 transports the player to an icy plain, to a psychotic highway, to a sports arena. Every inch of space is used up appropriately, and there is a great deal to look at. The game is big on some small details too, like the met hat sitting on top of a building in the credits, the addition of Tango and Reggae sprites, and just the overall feel of the game in general.

The bosses are pretty ridiculous looking, and I get the feeling creating these robot masters is getting harder and harder. As stupid as Sheep Man is, you can almost hear the developers snickering to themselves with each bolt of electricity he sends at you. If anything, it's Pump Man that wins the award for stupidest looking robot master, as he literally jiggles the back of his head to attack you.

However, some robot masters made a reappearance in this title, a couple with brand new 8-bit sprites! Wily's first stage is by far the highlight of the game for this reason. I was a bit disappointed with Bass's new sprites however, as I think the Neo Geo sprites of Bass just look better, but this is a minor complaint. Overall, Mega Man 10 surprises you at every turn and gives you something to look at on every screen.

Sound
Mega Man 10 hits the batting average in the music department this time around, which is always good, but far from the home runs of Mega Man 2, X, ZX, or Star Force. The title screen music is pretty good, and the majority of the games tracks are pretty mellow for a Mega Man title. I really wish they were more memorable and kick ass like some of the other games, and I'm not a big fan of the introduction music, but otherwise it's a decent soundtrack. As far as sound effects go, nothing you haven't heard a million times before.

Design
At first, I wasn't too impressed with Mega Man 10. It was better than a good chunk of Mega Man games, but it didn't hit all the right spots in terms of fun that Mega Man 9 did. For example, in Mega Man 9, you're hit with a great deal of new platforming gimmicks and enemies, from the rotating platforms in Tornado Man's stage, to the swinging pendulums in Jewel Man's stage.

Mega Man 10 starts out pretty standard in my mind, sticking with the tired and true type of level design, rather than laying on the gimmicks. However, Mega Man 10 is easily much harder than Mega Man 9, because it doesn't rely on those cheap tricks. More often then not, the stages are designed around wearing you down, while the instant death spots are pretty obvious to avoid with some timing.

Mega Man 10 makes you think about how to beat each screen based on the enemy layout, where as Mega Man 9, you could pretty much just blow through everything with the right weapon. This time around, the weapons are a little more balanced, and require the player to think on the proper application of the weapon to make use of it. Interestingly, most of the weapons are actually pretty weak with a head on direct shot, but quite powerful when you use them right.

Figuring this out can be tough, so it helps that a lot that players are able to upload videos of their best times through a stage directly through the game. Take note of these players techniques, and you'll discover some very cool things, like riding Wheel Cutter up walls, or the weapon switch trick with solar blaze. It's at this point, I began to see the depth of the design of the game start to break the surface.

This game really functions more methodically than other Mega Man games, and each screen presents a sort of puzzle to get through it. Running and gunning won't work this time around, and even after you've beaten the game a few times around, it'll require you to make choices about how you'd like to proceed. For instance, Triple Blade is easily the best weapon in the game, especially against minibosses, but it has the most difficult pitfall sections. You could wait until after you've gotten Rush Jet to get past it, but by then, the utility of Triple Blade might be gone.

Enemy setup aside, I found most of the stages pretty bland, but a few kick ass. Commando Man and Nitro Man's stages are fun, and Wily 1 is probably the best stage ever made in a Mega Man game! (You fight 1 robot from each of the previous nine games!) The levels that I thought were bland, however, instantly became much more memorable in Hard Mode, which is damn near impossible to beat. It's easily harder than Mega Man and Bass, and it adds so much to the game in terms of replayability. The first time a boss hit me with a new attack in hard mode, my reaction was "HOLY SHIT!"

Rounding out hard mode is easy mode, good for beginner and younger players, like my 7 year old cousin. It's a joke to anyone whose experienced in Mega Man games, but hopefully this mode will bring in a new generation of players. Proto Man and Bass also offer their own unique styles of play, giving you quite a chunk of game to see.

Mega Man 10 pumps out some extras as well, as challenges and achievements have returned. The standard "Beat the game in such and such time," and "don't get hit," achievements are there, but now the game has added a multitude of little scenarios to complete, ala Mega Man Powered Up. The scenarios are fun and give you a chance to practice on some of those pain in the ass bosses.

Also returning is time attack, but with a twist. The DLC for the game lets you download new stages with the Mega Man Killers, Enker, Ballade, and Punk, and beating these stages grants you the robot master's weapon as well, even for the main game! How cool is that? Unfortunately, you can't run the time attack with Proto Man or Bass as of yet, which sucks pretty heavily. What's the deal here Capcom?

Between Mega Man 9 and 10, I'd say 9 is the better game, because I enjoyed the platforming much more, but 10 is just barely behind it in terms of quality, and I won't at all be surprised to see people prefer this one over all the others.

Playability
I played my copy on the Nintendo Wii, and had a major problem with accidentally pushing the weapon switch buttons during normal game play. Maybe I just have fat fingers though. I doubt this is a problem for 360 and PS3 owners, and if you own one of the classic controller add ons for the Wii, this would probably eliminate that problem.

The characters all control smoothly, though I found Proto Man's ability to block shots with his shield cumbersome, as it only works when he jumps, and it isn't very reliable. The other playability issue comes from the weapons, which take some time to learn to use properly, particularly Thunder Wool, which is almost entirely useless if pulled off wrong, and difficult to use at that. Frankly, I've resorted to just forgetting about the damn thing against Pump Man.

Extras

• My personal boss order so far is: Chill Man, Nitro Man, Commando Man, Blade Man, Strike Man, Sheep Man, Pump Man, Solar Man.
• Wheel Cutter goes up walls, and is just too fun to use EVERYWHERE!
• It is possible to Rush Jet across the pits in Blade Man's stage, although it can be a perilous journey.
• If you have trouble, check out the replays posted in the ranking charts of other player's attempts, or post some yourself!
• Defeating a Mega Man Killer in time attack will net you his weapon for the main game as well!

Mega Man 10 didn't disappoint, and I keep finding new things to like about it. I'm really liking the community aspect that's starting to come together around Mega Man with the leaderboards and rankings. Mega Man 10 has a lot of polish and features Mega Man 9 didn't have, and while I still think Mega Man 9 was better, I'm liking the direction 10 is taking the series. Yeah, I still wish we had a real Next-Gen title, but at least Inafune is finding new ways to play with the old style.

Mega Man 10 Out Today!

About an hour ago, Mega Man 10 hit the Wii Virtual console in the US. Since the game was announced, I've done my best to avoid seeing too much content about the game beforehand, which is pretty damn hard when you visit a good amount of Mega Man websites. I've only played a couple of levels so far, as I've got a lot of things to do today, but I plan to fully digest this title during the week.

Expect my review for this title to come after I've finished reviewing the Mega Man cartoons, which should be sometime this week (I'm not doing Stream, Beast, or Beast + as of yet). First impressions are decent so far, although I found Sheep Man's stage and boss fight pretty easy, but the game feels comfortable right now. It feels different than Mega Man 9 though. Mega Man 9 was a return to the old school classics, but Mega Man 10 feels like a blending of the old school with some new age polish, if that makes any sense. I hope to get more time with this game soon.

Possibly Good News for a US Operation Shooting Star Release?

Kotaku has a story about soaring profits at Capcom, thanks in part to Operation Shooting Star among other high profile Capcom franchises. The stories I had read about Operation Shooting Star had the game in the bargain bins after a month, but it looks like Capcom has managed to turn a nice profit with the price drop after all.

As you might be aware, there are currently no plans to bring Operation Shooting Star to America or Europe, but I think these new sales numbers are a good sign for English speaking Mega Man fans. Being how the game is relatively inexpensive to make, it stands to reason Capcom could turn a profit in the US as well, but I think Capcom is going to wait until after Mega Man 10 comes out in March before making any new moves with the RPG section of the series.

Mega Man 10 is practically a foregone conclusion to be a block buster, and there is no doubt that the release is going to generate some buzz among all gamers, long time fans, lost nostalgic gamers, and new comers alike. A good time for OSS to hit would be right in the wake of when Mega Man 10's sales start to decline, a good month or two after release. This would be right at the height of Mega Man's popularity again, and a close follow up with Zero Collections would have the blue bomber churning out cash all year long. After that, Capcom will likely pursue Star Force 4 or Battle Network 7, or possibly OSS 2 (god help us if it's the last one).

I was right about Zero collections, and probably half right about Mega Man 10, so I'm going to make a prediction about Operation Shooting Star. Operation Shooting Star will receive a US release after Mega Man 10, and possibly after Zero Collections. In the wake of its release, we'll know what direction the RPG section of Mega Man will be going afterwords. While I'm at it, I think Zero Collections will be good news for ZX 3 as well, and I personally think this is what Inafune was talking about when he said he wanted to go a new direction with Mega Man in the live broadcast. We'll see though.

Read more at Protodude's blog.

Mega Man 10 Skeptics

There's an article on IGN about Mega Man 10 being in 8-bit. Apparently, I'm not the only one disappointed in the next game being in that style, but I'm almost surprised there is anyone else who feels the same way.

I certainly don't hate the idea of a new 8-bit game. I know the series will deliver on that level, and I agree with Keiji Inafune that there are still a lot of avenues to explore in the 8-bit direction. Inafune seemed to hint to me in the live stream, that more 8-bit games were on the way until he had gotten what he wanted out of them creatively.

There's nothing wrong with 8-bit gaming, and Mega Man is one of the best examples of this, and I know I'll have my copy on day one of Mega Man 10. That said, Mega Man isn't only good in 8-bits.

Let's ignore the X series for a moment, as that series can demonstrate my point, but does feature a lot of different tweaks. Most people consider Mega Man 7 and 8 to be terrible games, it's almost a matter of fact, but were they bad because of the graphics? The enlarged sprites of Mega Man 7 might have caused it to suffer in quality, but I think that's more poor design with the art that affected gameplay, more than the art itself. Mega Man 8 has a lot more screen real-estate, but gets more flack for terrible cutscenes mostly.

Mega Man and Bass, or more specifically, Rockman and Forte, however, both have widespread praise from fans who have played it. Here's a Mega Man game, not in 8-bit, that has some fantastic gameplay (though so god damned hard), although even this game feels a bit slower than the 8-bit games.

I think the concern is not that Mega Man 10 will suffer in quality itself. I thoroughly believe that a great deal of Capcom, and definitely Inafune himself, are a lot more passionate with the Mega Man franchise than they've been in a long time, which is great news for us fans all across the board. Mega Man 10, and I personally think a great deal of new Mega Man games coming in the future, will be great games, and have more polish than some of the older titles.

Yes, Operation Shooting Star seems like a money grubbing attempt, but I believe Capcom was testing the waters for a Battle Network revival more than anything. It might be somewhat apologetic, but I think Operation Shooting Star isn't for most of us who have already played those games, but for people that missed it, but it still is telling of a quality Capcom has continued to plague its company with since day one. Rehashing the same games over and over.

The so called "8-bit skeptics," are afraid of the series getting really stagnate again. The article cites all six classic games as being great, and they are, but the series really starts declining after Mega Man 3. Mega Man, despite his copy ability, has the worst time adapting to the times.

Think about it, the last true blue console game for the entire franchise was Mega Man X8, almost 6 years ago. Since then, we've seen the blue bomber find a home on hand held consoles, and not even trying the home console market, until Mega Man 9, which definitely doesn't have more power into it than a Game Boy Advance, or a Nintendo DS. What the skeptics are worried about is Capcom getting too comfortable, and releasing another Mega Man 4, or 5, or 6, or X3, or Battle Network 4, or 5, or even Star Force 1, 2, and 3 (let's face it, those games aren't even close to using the Nintendo DS's full capabilities).

On top of this, it seems to me Inafune wants to create another series out of Mega Man, which in and of itself isn't bad, but it certianly takes development away from the series we like. The fans at MegaManX9.com surely would like another X game. Fans everywhere are asking for a new ZX game, and even Star Force has its supporters. And we won't even talk about the Legends' fans. If Powered Up 2 is a realistic, near future game as Inafune said, even that takes resources away from other series.

I know I personally just want to see Mega Man live up to his potential, rather than play it safe. I want the Mega Man series up there competing with Mario and Zelda in sales numbers. According the the list of best selling franchises on wikipedia, Mega Man is number 35, sitting behind things like Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Harry Potter and a bunch more. Mega Man straight up has more games than any of those franchises, and it should be higher on the list, but it isn't, because Mega Man almost never innovates.

Take a franchise like Sonic, which pretty much hasn't been good since the genesis, and it's out sold Mega Man like hot cakes. That's because Sonic tried a lot of different things, yeah some of them were really stupid, but enough worked to pull in crowds.

I'm not saying I want to see Mega Man selling out to make money (but lets be honest, how is 125 games that are mostly fluff, not selling out already?). When the word "new" comes in contact with Mega Man design, people immediately think of X7 and get worried, but I think X7 failed because it was a rushed out, impassioned, poorly tested, piece of shit, not because it was 3D.

Mega Man 4, 5 and 6 may be "pure," but they are just rehashes of old formulas. 9 and 10 are better games, not because they have old graphics, but just because they are fucking designed better! It doesn't matter what the game looks like, so long as it plays well, but on the same token, there isn't any reason the game can't look great too! While I'm excited for Mega Man 10, this is why I don't want another 8-bit game.

Thoughts on Inafune's Broadcast

Just a few minutes ago Capcom did a live bilingual interview with Keiji Inafune to celebrate Mega Man's 22nd birthday, which is today! (Well, an hour from now for me). A good portion of the broadcast was dedicated to hawking new Mega Man products, such as The Complete Works books for both X and Mega Man, and hyping out the Mega Man manga by Hitoshi Ariga, Mega Man Mega Mix, all of these products which are being translated and released in the states by Udon Entertainment.

Some more products include the new E-Tank energy drink, and some Mega Man toys. Inafune to me seemed really amused more with this merchandise than just plain hawking it out, and I admit that a good chunk of this stuff actually looks pretty cool for your standard Mega Man fan. Inafune and Ariga drew some quick sketches of various Mega Man characters which were signed and then given to fans watching the broadcast, there were about 60,000 US viewers alone.

There was also a Q & A session in which Inafune answered some questions about up coming Mega Man games. He sort of brushed off the question about Legends 3, as I think everyone knows the answer to that one, but I'm sure Inafune still wants to make that game. There were some questions about X9, and Inafune isn't quite ready to make another X game just yet.

Perhaps the only real juicy piece of information that came out of this interview was Inafune's interest in making Mega Man Powered Up 2, and he said it has high chances of being made. I loved Powered Up myself, but honestly, once you play Powered Up, you just want to play Powered Up 2, if only to hear some remixed Mega Man 2 music.

Aside from what was going on with the interviews, the American commentators made a great deal of really stupid jokes about cake that kinda got annoying after awhile, and they didn't translate a great deal so much as run a side show of sorts. I can't really blame them though as Inafune, his producer Hironobu Takeshita, and Ariga seemed to be doing as much bullshitting on the side as the Americans were.

The highlight of the show was the Mega Man 10 trailer and Takeshita's terrible attempt at playing through Sheep Man's stage. I was skeptical about Mega Man 10 at first, but just from seeing that hand full of levels, I am completely pumped up about this one! It looked like just a plain blast to play, and it even looks much better than Mega Man 9! I can't wait till March!

Mega Man 10 Announced

So the next game will be in 8-bit as well and I suppose I'm a bit disappointed by that, but I'm pretty sure the game will at least live up to the fun that was Mega Man 9. I hope the series doesn't stagnate in the 8-bit era forever though, but knowing Capcom, they could go with this strategy for years on end.

Anyway there's some screenshots and information floating around about the game on all the various MegaMan blogs. Capcom doesn't seem to have the Nintendo Power article up as I'm sure there is some copyright issues they have to worry about, but if you're interested in seeing the stuff, let me link you to my personal favorite source, Protodude for more information.

Update on Rush Marine Cell Phone Game

No sooner than a few days after I post that there was no news on the new Rush Marine cell phone game, a few screenshots get leaked. It looks like the game will be out sooner rather than later. Check out Protodude's blog for more info and screenshots.

Preview: Mega Man Rush Marine

Slated for Q3 of this year, Rush Marine for cell phones is supposed to be a 2D side scrolling shooter. Simple, but what do you expect for a cell phone game? When it was announced all that was shown was a few proof of concept images, one of which is pictured below. We're in Q4 now however, and the game hasn't come out yet, nor has any new information come out as far as I could find. Not that anyone is particularly riled up for a cell phone game anyway. The project appears to be delayed at best, perhaps scrapped at worst. If I get any new information, I'll update this post.

Mega Man 9: The Ambition's Revival!!

That box art is brilliant isn't it?

For the longest time the game industry was just working with what it could work with given the technological limitations of the time periods. The original Mega Man games vaguely look anything like the concept art that conceived them. There wasn't a ton of thought given to game design either. Yeah, ideas were had that were tested out here and there, but the whole concept of studying games and seeing what works and what doesn't wasn't there. Many games of this era have really arbitrary puzzles, mazes and jumps in logic to solve. It was a simpler time and having a big time hit was as much luck as it was effort.

Jump forward to today. This is probably the first era of gaming that design is really widely studied from game to game. Mega Man as a franchise is all over the map as far as design goes and many lessons from previous games don't carry over into the next game. The few really bright spots in the series are so much better than the standard entries in the series that one wonders if the good design of those games can be attributed to luck and ambition. Even after 20 years of games, Mega Man's peak is still at Mega Man 2, the second game in the series. To many fans, nothing will top Mega Man 2, and despite how you would figure nostalgia might cloud many fans memories, Mega Man 2 actually stands up quite well today still. The question to Capcom and Keiji Inafune is how do they recapture the spirit and fun of the Mega Man 2 game in a new Mega Man game?

Enter Mega Man 9, the game that can be summed up as a scholarly examination of Mega Man 1 and 2. Take what works from the Mega Man games, eliminate what doesn't and reel in those lost Mega Man fans with an unbecoming retro style that until recently was pretty of from a major title from a major company. So did Mega Man 9 meet expectations?

New Features

• This game is a step back in graphics... on purpose!
• Say goodbye to charge shot and sliding
• Online Leaderboards and Downloadable Content
• Achievements

Story
Eight of Dr. Light's former robots have gone crazy and are attacking the city. Dr. Wily is on tv leading a revolt against Dr. Light when Light is arrested by the robot police. Mega Man with the help of his friends, vows to clear Dr. Light's name by stopping the robots.

Of course it turns out Dr. Wily is manipulating events behind the scenes and Mega Man tracks him down and goes to stop him. Wily is defeated and begs for Mega Man for mercy. Mega Man replays the last 8 games to Wily through a hologram on Rush showing how sick of this he is, but Dr. Wily tells him he really means it this time! He takes him to Dr. Light who is held in a cage but Proto Man jumps in and tells him that it's a trap! Mega Man doesn't listen and Dr. Wily escapes. Mega Man finds Dr. Light and they rebuild and reprogram the robot masters to continue to serve humanity.

Where's Bass you might ask? He has a cameo, but apparently he's under repair. Bass just doesn't fit into the retro style this game was going for. The story is pretty simple but the simplicity of this game is kind of the point isn't it?

Aesthetics
Obviously the Wii, PS3 and 360 are much more capable in the graphics department than this game puts out but seeing as how this game wasn't meant to compete with next-gen graphics that isn't surprising. I would be wary of any review that gave this game a high graphics score as this isn't a graphically superior game.

That's why I grade on aesthetics, how the game looks for what it is. This game looks good in it's fake 8-bit style and it feels like playing a classic from the past. It looks better than any of the NES Mega Man games taking advantage of the fact that it only has to take on the guise of an 8-bit game. The detail in this game would have been amazing back then, but it's delightful enough for old and new fans alike.

There's inspiration from the whole franchise all over this game as well. Inti Creates put their own little touches to this game that the most devoted fans will notice. Don't Tornado Man and Splash Woman remind you of two certain characters from the Zero series?

Sound
The music in this game is fantastic and easily competes with the bests of the series. Most tracks are inspired by other games tracks but all have their unique flare to them. Mega Man 9 is a good game even if the sound is off, but it would never had come to the greatness that is Mega Man 2 if the music wasn't amazing and I can say the music in this game delivers.

The rest of the sounds are lifted straight out of other Mega Man games, complimenting the style well.

Design
Ah, but here is the clincher isn't it? Mega Man 2 stands the test of time as great game design, and it did it without sliding or charge shots or armor capsules or biometals or swords or servbots. Mega Man 9 is taking on this challenge as well by doing more with less. It can't be Mega Man 2, but it does do a lot to feel like it.

Mega Man 9 features some really tricky platform challenges and each stage has its own set of gimmicks, enemies and minibosses. The game feels really unique from one another and most of the challenges stand out from the rest of the series. Tornado Man's stage is my personal favorite with the spinning platforms. The stages are pretty tricky in a few spots and there are a number of instant death spots that may put off beginner players who will find Mega Man 9 deceptively hard. Experienced players will probably find Mega Man 9 to be relatively easy once they figure out the little tricks and traps. Luckily for new players most of the particularly devious traps have checkpoints close by.

The bosses are great, providing just enough challenge to be fun without ball bustingly difficult. When I first played the game, I unwittingly chose Tornado Man as my first boss, and incidentally he's probably the hardest robot master for most players. I did beat him after a few tries, but one of my friends had a hell of a time with the level. Another fun boss is the Double Devil (yeah, you read that right) and Wily's first form is really fun.

The weapons in the game all have their uses, and clever players will find the game even easier with proper planning. Hornet Chaser is a fantastic weapon that shoots bees out that go get items for you, concrete shot builds platforms and Jewel Satellite is probably the first ever useful sheild weapon. Actually, it's almost over powered as it can reflect shots back at enemies.

If you do have some trouble with the game, Dr. Light's lab is readily available with E-Tanks, extra lives, the energy balancer and a few other nice items if you have the right number of bolts. Dr. Wily is tough, so stock up if you're new.

Downloadable content features playing as Proto Man, harder difficulties, an endless stage, and an exclusive special stage. None of it is particularly must have, but an extra $8 should get you everything if you want to check it all out. In addition are the achievements which are pointless but fun if you are like many Mega Man players and wish to attempt to handicap yourself in certain ways. There is also a time attack mode and online leaderboards for the best times, but good luck beating them, some of the fastest times are around 20 minutes. The game isn't really all that long either, probably a little more than an hour and a half on your first go, but the price is right at $10.

Playability
I had zero control issues with this game and personally haven't experienced any bugs. It's as well polished as you would expect from a 20 year old series.

Extras

• Boss Order: I like to get Jewel Satellite early myself as I find it the most useful weapon, but I can wait on it. Tornado Man's weapon is great too, so sometimes I go Tornado Man, Hornet Man, Splash Woman, Jewel Man, Plug Man, Concrete Man, Galaxy Man, Magma Man.
• Concrete Shot will freeze those lava beam things. It's not entirely necessary to win, but Wily 1 is a lot harder without knowing that. Concrete Shot is also great for taking out minibosses.
• Speaking of the Minibosses, the magma dragon is very susceptible to Tornado Blow and the Black Hole Bomb.
• A great trick to use on the Double Devil is to Black Hole Bomb him, pause the game and select the weapon again, that'll give you time to fire off another Black Hole Bomb.
• If you have a choice of which system to get this game for, Wii's controller is shaped like an NES controller when on it's side for true Mega Man authenticity. However, PS3 and Xbox 360 feature HD graphics... of an 8-bit looking game... yeah well the game is fun no matter which console you buy it for.

Mega Man 9 is a must own, not just for Mega Man fans but for video game fans in general. At $10, you just can't beat how great a deal it is! Is it as good as Mega Man 2? Well it's very close and a hell of a lot of fun. This game proves you don't need top of the line graphics to make a block buster game.

Playthroughs
Mega Man 9 Speed Run by Steven 'Master ZED' Ellis

We're Almost Out of Mega Man

Only a couple of miscellaneous games in 2008. Both Cell Phone games released only in Japan and well... they might actually be decent. Frankly the thought of a new Legends game in Japan only is quite the kick in the balls for many Mega Man fans. Luckily this year most fans will be distracted by the biggest release this franchise has had in years.

Rockman Intuition

Dr. Wily has escaped from Prison and Mega Man must compete in 12 minigames to stop him. Done in the Power Up style graphics, Intuition gives me a bit of a Warrior Ware vibe and has a few Super Adventure Rockman style shooter games in it as well. It is a cell phone game though, and typically those games aren't very sophisticated. Still a collection of games is probably better suited to a cell phone than any single game.

Rockman DASH: Great Five-Island Adventure!

So those expecting a Legends 3 are going to be getting teased again by Capcom. The first Legends game in 3 years, and the first new Legends game in 5 if you count cell phone games as new games. Apparently this one even plays a bit like a standard Legends game as well, so yeah, we're missing out on something here in the states. The story involves the origin of where refractors come from and junk, and the Bonnes and Servbots show up as well. Of all the cell phone games in the series, this is probably the only one that your average Mega Man fan gives a damn about. Maybe we'll get lucky one day and North America will get it's own version, but don't count on it for a while.

Well for once, I am genuinely disappointed with not having access to the Mega Man cell phone games. Let it be known that quite a few of the more successful cell phone games did make it over to the United States though, so all hope is not lost for Great Five-Island Adventure! More pictures and synopsis at Mechanical Maniacs.

Tennis and Star Carriers

Almost done, it's 2007 and there are only 4 actual reviews left to cover. It's Mega Man's 20th anniversary and Capcom is in a celebratory mood! Of note, every NES game at this year was finally released to cell phones and the Wii Virtual console got Mega Man 1 and Mega Man 2 giving gamers yet another chance to pick up these great games. Lets see what else came out.

Rockman Tennis

I don't own a lot of cell phone games... actually I just own the cell phone games that came with my phone. As someone who plays a lot of PSP and NDS... I can't say I see the appeal in playing cell phone games and this one isn't going to do anything to sway my opinion. It's Tennis... It's Mega Man... is there anything else to say?

Shooting Star Rockman: Wave Change! On Air! TV Game

You know those one shot tv console games that you occasionally see advertised for little kids, well this is one of those. Basically you get a Omega-Xis shaped buster you wear on your arm and using motion controls you wave it around and play various minigames based on Mega Man Star Force. I have to say, this would be an excellent collectors item and I really wish my sister had picked it up when she went to Japan. The game doesn't even look all that terrible and you can see a full playlist of videos of it on Youtube User VixyNyan's channel. I doubt we'll ever see this in the states, but the Wii could probably emulate it if Capcom ever decides to toss US customers a bone.
Shooting Star Rockman: Wave Transer LCD Game

Just like Battle Network PET's, Capcom wasn't quite done pushing out new LCD games to buy. You can insert battle cards into it and play a little game of which I don't know much about.

Shooting Star Rockman: Star Carrier LCD Game

Oh hey, Capcom is already up to their old tricks and they changed the Transers everyone had attached to their arms in Star Force 1 to the Star Carrier in Star Force 2. Woo hoo, guess we gotta make a new toy to promote the cartoon! Actually though, I don't think we'll see a Hunter-VG for the third game, so I guess this might be the end of a trend. Either of these LCD games are still available from importing online sources, but they're expensive and stock is running low.

Next up, Mega Man ZX Advent

The Anniversary Collection and Other Games

Now we're up to 2004, and this on the other hand is a very good year for Mega Man. Yes, a couple of turds were made along the way, but the X series nearly recovered from X7, Zero had probably it's best entry in an already stelar series and nostalgic Mega Man fans would get one last chance to pick up all those games they missed. Let's cover the games of 2004 that I won't be giving a proper review to for a few obvious reasons.

Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Since the US didn't get ourselves the Rockman Complete series, Capcom gave us a special treat instead. We got all 8 Mega Man games and the previously unreleased Power Battles and Power Fighters as bonuses too! Can you ask for a better deal for your system of choice? Granted there are really small complaints, the Mode-7 ending from Mega Man 7 is gone, Mega Man 8 is the inferior PSX version for better porting, and the GameCube version for some reason felt the need to reverse the jump and fire buttons, but these complaints are nit-picking when it comes down to it. It's still a hell of a deal since all of these games at this point are nearly impossible to find in their original forms.

The versions of these games are the emulated Complete series, but this version didn't come with the bonus remixed music and extra game modes that 4-6 came with. Navi mode has been translated and included for those of you who get lost in a 2D game where you travel one direction...

You may ask which version is the best? The GameCube version has those annoying altered controls, but you can get used to them, so I would look at bonus content. The PS2 version has an episode of the Ruby-Spears cartoon on it and the X-Box version has an episode of Mega Man NT Warrior. Meanwhile the GameCube version has an interview with Keiji Inafune and retrospective of the series. Considering both Mega Man cartoons are at best an acquired taste, and at worst, horrible pieces of donkey shit, I'd go with the Game Cube version.

Rockman Power Battle Fighters (PS2)
Not quite done milking re-releases in Japan, Capcom also decided to throw out a PS2 port of the arcade games. Not quite sure that would be worth the money...

Rockman GP
Remember Battle and Chase? Well this is the phone version! I'm not sure how Mega Man appeals to racing fans, or how racing appeals to Mega Man fans, but hey, gotta keep the dream of a Mario Kart contender out there don't we?

Rockman Pinball
Really Capcom? Really? Pinball? Whatever. If you live in the UK however you can purchase this game for your phone... if you want...

Rockman.exe: Phantom of the Network
Up until this point we weren't missing anything with the cell phone games. Then Capcom decides to Blue Ball us and not release Phantom of the Network. From what I've read the real world play is just a series of menu's but the rest of the game follows just like an actual Battle Network game. There are new scenario's, new characters and plenty of battle chips. This is probably the only cell phone game for Mega Man thus far that probably doesn't suck ass. Unfortunately it doesn't look like there are any plans to release this state side any time soon. You can read a write up at Mechanical Maniacs.

For what it's worth, about this point forward Capcom mellowed out on Mega Man Minigame mania. There are still a few left on the list but nothing nearly as bad as Space Rescue and Rocket Christmas.

Rockman.exe Progress PET LCD Game
Based on the never US released Rockman.exe Stream series, the Progress PET comes in a few different colors and styles and features more battle chips to slide into it for the LCD game on the front. I couldn't find much more info about the actual game, but it's starting to get pretty fucking obvious that the only reason Capcom changed the PET's in the game and show is to market these stupid things. If you're looking to grab one of these things, there are still a few importers selling them, and they periodically show up on e-bay.

Also of note, a PC port was released of X3, X4 and X5. Coming up next, not only possibly the worst Mega Man game ever made, but quite possibly the worst Capcom game ever made!

A Bad Year to be a Mega Man Fan

2003 isn't Mega Man's year. Cell phone games can be interesting, but rarely have any depth into them beyond a 5 minute time waster, X continues a downward spiral and suddenly Battle Network starts churning out shit. The best game this year is Mega Man Zero 2 and a lot of people consider that a step down from Mega Man Zero. Let's get the miscellaneous crap that I can't give a proper review out of the way before we delve into the severely under developed Mega Man X7.

Rockman Bug Sweeper
If you've played Minesweeper on your PC, you've played this game. The difference is this one has some Mega Man graphics. What more can be said about Minesweeper? Is there really any place else that game can go?

Rockman Panic Fire
I'm not entirely sure what this one is. Perhaps a puzzle game where you have to find a route that avoids Fire Man to get to Dr. Wily. It sorta resembles Bomberman to me. And no, that's not a swastika in that picture, it's the other one... uh... Manji or whatever.

Rockman Slot
A bit self explanatory. Mega Man graphics over a virtual slot machine. Interesting tidbit related to major game companies and gambling, but you may not know that Konami actually has a line of slot machines. Don't get your hopes that the makers of Castlevania and Metal Gear Solid will be willing to return some of that money you've put into their company, the machine I played was so stingy I didn't when a penny back. Maybe a Mega Man slot machine would be kinder to me...

Mega Man Space Rescue
This game actually was released in the United States in 2007 for blackberry phones, but this is when it originally came out in Japan. You fly around in a Jet Pack and rescue astronauts. I don't have a blackberry, but if you do, have I got a link for you to download it right now, and guess what? It's free!

Mega Man's Rocket Christmas
Another game that made it over to the us. It's the same thing as space rescue, except Mega Man wears a Santa uniform and the astronauts are kids you give presents too. I don't know if this game is freeware or not but searching for it on the web showed a lot of different methods of distribution and I couldn't tell you how to pay for this game if you wanted to. Here's a link to a video though... wow, does that look boring.

Rockman DASH Golf
I'm sure the first thought you had when Mega Man Soccer came out was "why isn't this a golf game?!" What? You didn't? What about Legends? No? Well this is Mega Man Legends characters and Golf! On your cell phone! Wow... the Legends series really has fallen on hard times hasn't it?

Mega Man NT Warrior Advanced PET LCD Game
Yes, the US finally gets it's own LCD release since the Tiger Hand Held days. This is a little battle game where you stick in some battle chips that come with the thing to direct MegaMan.exe's attack. It features a multiplayer mode (good luck ever using that) and takes watch batteries. I guess you have to shake the stupid thing a lot to heal MegaMan or whatever. I don't own one, but gullible kids seem to like the game attached to it. This is really more of a display item for collectors though than a game, but you can still find this thing at various online shops such as amazon. Supplies are running out though so if wait around to long, it'll be gone for good... then again Battle Network is coming back, so maybe it'll get restocked? Be prepared, it's $30 to $40 for this thing.

Also of note, Mega Man and Mega Man 2 made their way to cell phones with a few minor changes mostly made to compensate for playing with a really shitty phone. If you absolutely have to have Mega Man with you every where you go, now you can I guess. Once again if you want to check out more images of these games, head over to Mechanical Maniacs.

Next up... ugh... Mega Man X7...

Mega Man's 15th

In the year 2002 Mega Man would be approaching his 15th anniversary. To celebrate, Capcom would begin working giving the US it's own celebration of Mega Man in the Anniversary collection which would come out two years later. In the mean time we had quite a few things to hold us over.

This would be the year Mega Man Zero would finally launch, and arguably the best Battle Network, Battle Network 3 would also hit stores. I'll be reviewing those games separately, but here's a list of games that came out that deserve mention.






Mega Man and Bass (GBA)
Although it's a port, it's worth mentioning because this was the first time this game was released in the United States. The music isn't as good, and it does have some annoying vertical scrolling since the game wasn't re-sized to GBA's aspect ratio, making an already really fucking game even harder. Still this is your only legal method of obtaining this game in the states without importing the original. It also has a translation change concerning Quint, but I've already beat that into the ground.

Rockman 123 (PC)
This is a simple port of the original NES games, although I believe it actually uses the Complete Works versions. I normally wouldn't mention a port, but this is a Taiwanese only game, and the title often confuses people. It's not worth your time to track this down unless you want to own every version of every game.

Kobun Flies Xmas
There were also a couple of Cell Phone games released in Japan. This one is essentially Kobun Flies? with graphics in a Christmas theme... Wow? Really Capcom? Really?

15 Panel
As if that wasn't bad enough, they also released one of those annoying sliding panel picture games with a few Legends characters plastered on them. The artwork barely even looks like Legends, talk about your waste of money.

Rockman.exe Plug-in PET Game
And speaking of money, you'll need a lot of it if you want to import this LCD game. Shaped just like the PETs from Battle Network and coming with some battle chips, this thing costs $130 bucks to import. Jesus. It's cool looking to be sure, but what a fuck ton waste of cash if you ask me. Later the US would get a few versions of their own with the popularity of Mega Man NT Warriors. A side note, I got a few Battle Chips for this thing when my sister went over to Japan, so that's kinda cool.

2002 was a good year for Mega Man, right before a really bad one in 2003 where X nearly died, the cell phone games got out of hand, and Battle Network was shilled out like you wouldn't believe. Hell, a lot of people even consider Mega Man Zero 2 to be the worst out of the Zero series, although it really is the high light of that year. We've covered 15 years of Mega Man so far, only seven more to go! Coming up next, Battle Network 3, Blue/White.

Mega Man Miscellania for 2001-2002

I haven't personally played any of these games, or they aren't interesting enough to go in depth with a review about, so here is the rest of the 2001-2002 miscellaneous Mega Man games in small detail before we move on to our next real review of Mega Man Xtreme 2.

Mega Man 64
It's hardly worth mentioning since it's just a straight up port of Mega Man Legends to the N64. As you would expect this version has a few things scaled back and changed. Most notably the sound is under much worse compression to fit on to the cart and some songs are just straight up missing. There are a few other small changes that nobody in their right mind would care about such as a poster or two changing. At the time, the real choice here was between what system you owned and which controller you would feel more comfortable playing with. Now adays it's probably better to get whichever version you can as the market for this generation of games has disappeared almost entirely. If you do have a choice, go with the PSX version.

By the way, what is up with the US box arts being so lazy and terrible? They're just a 3D render of the main character with really cruddy textures. Maybe this series wouldn't have done so bad if Capcom USA put even the same amount of effort as Mega Man 1's box art.

Rockman Strategy
A strategy game made by Dreams Come True and officially licensed by Capcom. This one never came out in the US and was released in Taiwan a couple of years after Rockman Gold Empire. It introduces a new character named Fan and plays from an isometric view like an RPG. I couldn't tell you if it was any fun or not as this is the type of game that requires you to read and there aren't any English translations available as far as I know. It's a rare game for sure, but its starting to be more widely known and an English fan-made patch is probably inevitable if you want to pick this one up off of E-bay. You can read more about Rockman Strategy at Mechanical Maniacs.

The Cell Phone Games
I've never played a single Mega Man cell phone game for a few reasons. First, most of them are exclusive to Japan and I frankly don't give a shit enough to transfer funds into Yen to get them. Secondly, I just recently got a phone that can play these Java games anyway, so the option has only just now opened up. Thirdly, I hate playing cell phone games as is. My phone wasn't meant for the precise timing of a Mega Man game that's for damn sure and I don't want to end up breaking my damn phone for the unresponsive controls for it. Almost all the Cell Phone games are Japan exclusive anyway and most of them don't add much to the Mega Man universe as it is. Maybe the Battle Network games for the cell phones do, but it's a loss I'm willing to deal with. Anyway my knowledge of the cell phone games comes from Mechanical Maniacs, so if you wanna skip ahead read their article on the whole selection, I'll just be mentioning the ones that come up as we go along.

Jump! Rockman!
Kind of a funny title if you bothered to watch Kefkafloyd's Mega Man X Let's Play. It's a simple get to the end of the stage platformer. As you would imagine, the central theme is jumping.

Kobun Assembly
Kobun is the Japanese name of the Servbots (direct translation is Henchman) and they get whored out quite a bit despite not actually being in very many games. They starred in quite a few cell phone games. This one you have to build Servbots within the time limit and not make mistakes. There aren't many pictures of these games so sorry about the quality.

Kobun Can Fly?
You have a propeller on your head and fly across the stage. That's about as much as I know.

Kobun Punishment
Remember the punishment mini-game from Misadventures of Tron Bonne? It's kinda like that, or at least looks like it. I think you play as the Servbot this time though.

Kobun Watch
It's a clock. The Servbot does different things at different times... but it's just a stupid clock. Yeah... totally worth the money right?

Can you see why I'm not in any hurry to pick these up? That's all that came out that year, oh and Legends was ported to PC as well. Capcom would go on to release many more cell phone games, and we'll cover those as they come up. If you want to read more on them or skip ahead a few years, head on over to Mechanical Maniacs.