Saturday, September 22, 2018

A Good Mega Man Is Hard to Find


I probably ought to title this post "Sollosi's Favorite Mega Man Games" but I really couldn't resist the wordplay this time. Shoutout to Mark T for helping to inspire it.

Mega Man is one of my favorite video games series of all time.  In the 1990s I rented every Mega Man game on the NES and SNES (but only owned a few of them), and enjoyed just about all of them.  In the PS1/PS2 generation, the quality and quantity of Mega Man games flagged a little; the gap between Mega Man 8 and Mega Man 9 was over a decade and the last Mega Man X title was 2004's Mega Man X8.  The announcement of Mega Man 11 around a year ago was one of the more exciting game announcements in recent years for me.  Our beautiful blue boy's back, baby!

I always found Mega Man delightful, and maybe even a little inspiring.  He's a colorful, friendly-looking robot, he always fights robots bigger and cooler than he is (and gets stronger with each one he defeats), and he works hard to make the lives of humans and robots better.  Mega Man communicates wholesomeness, becomes visibly stronger after putting in effort, and stands for truth, hope, love, and justice. I love him. 

Mega Man 11

Mega Man 11 comes out in the first week of October, 10 or 11 days from the time of this post.  To celebrate the Blue Bomber, possibly my first favorite video game character, I'm going to rank the ten main-series Mega Man games.  That's 1 through 10 of the "classic" series, so Mega Man X, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Battle Network, and all those GBA and DS spinoffs will not show up on the list.  That pains me a little, because Mega Man X is my favorite sub-series of Mega Man, and if I counted *every* game with Mega Man in the title for inclusion, the Mega Man X series would probably claim 3 or 4 of the top 6.

But this post lists the Mega Man games numbered 1 through 10, ranked 10th through 1st by how much I enjoyed playing them.  Several Mega Man games have debatable "classic series" status, so I added three as honorable mentions.  So it's really a top thirteen disguised as a top ten, but that's normal for my blog.  Here it is:


Sollosi's Top Ten Favorite Classic Mega Man Games

Honorable Mention
Mega Man & Bass

At first Mega Man & Bass seems like an innovative late-generation Super Famicom Mega Man game (with a GBA port released worldwide) with a two-character mechanic reminiscent of Mega Man X4.  And it kinda is!  ...but it also has sluggish controls similar to those of Mega Man 7, a pretty brutal difficulty curve, and some weak boss designs (with two bosses borrowed from Mega Man 8 for the PS1).  Mega Man and Bass play very differently (which is good), but the stage designs suffer a bit to accommodate both gameplay styles, and neither of them moves as crisply as Mega Man or Zero in Mega Man X4, which came out a year earlier than Mega Man & Bass.  MM&B definitely counts as a spinoff to classic Mega Man, but I don't think it's one of the better ones.  If I included it in the list below it would show up in the 7 to 9 range, I think.

Honorable Mention
Mega Man V

Now HERE'S a Mega Man game I love.  The five Mega Man games for Game Boy (which used Roman numerals instead of Arabic ones) are mostly watered-down amalgams of different Mega Man games for the NES; they'll typically have one or two bosses new to the Game Boy version and are shorter and less challenging.  Mega Man V breaks that mold, with ten original bosses called Space Rulers instead of Robot Masters (including a non-Wily final boss), all four Game Boy-exclusive bosses from Mega Man I through IV, and a new feline companion named Tango.  It's a culmination of the Mega Man spinoffs for Game Boy, and a fun, unique Mega Man title in its own right.  Mega Man V is a little easy, but has great boss and weapon designs and would probably be in the top 5 of the list below if I decided to include it.  But I didn't.  100% worth picking this up on the 3DS Shop, though. 

Honorable Mention
Mega Man Powered Up

Mega Man Powered Up is a remarkable remake of Mega Man 1, adding surprisingly appealing story, dialog, and refinement to Mega Man's first adventure.  The two new Robot Masters are okay (the original six still look great), but the real selling points here are having Mega Man 1 playable with a modern control scheme and the wealth of optional modes.  You can build your own Mega Man stage or replay stages as defeated Robot Masters!  That's incredible!  The chibi-style art might not appeal to everyone, but as a total package Powered Up is excellent and is much more fun than going back to the original Mega Man 1.  If I replaced Mega Man 1 with its PSP remake in the list below, Powered Up would be at least 5 spots higher.  And speaking of which...  

Number Ten
Mega Man 1

The early concepts introduced in Mega Man 1 are essential, and a few of the stage tunes and most of the boss and weapon designs are great. So why is the OG Mega Man in last place? The controls are just awful.  Wonky jump timing requiring pixel-perfect accuracy, weirdly frictionless floors and platforms (and not just in Ice Man's stage), and badly-designed lategame stages and boss fights make Mega Man 1 an influential NES game that simply doesn't hold up.  I also don't love that there are only six Robot Masters in the NES version; play Mega Man Powered Up instead.

Number Nine
Mega Man 7

I absolutely do not have my finger on the pulse of what the fans think of different Mega Man games, so I have no idea if this opinion is controversial or not: I think Mega Man 7 is one of the worst Mega Man games, and largely a disappointment.  I didn't play MM7 until after I got into the Mega Man X series (MM7 came out between X2 and X3), but MM7 felt like a step back.  Unappealing boss designs, clunky movement worse than the NES games, OK-at-best music, and none of the design evolution of Mega Man X. It also puzzlingly divides the boss selection into two groups of four rather than a single set of eight, like the Game Boy games.  I don't regard Mega Man 7 highly.  At least Mega Man 7's stages aren't slippery nightmares, which was enough to avoid finishing in 10th place. 

Number Eight
Mega Man 10

Mega Man 10 is made in the image of Mega Man 9, with no control innovations beyond Mega Man 2 (no sliding or powered shots), but applying 2010 design sensibilities into a retro framework.  Unfortunately, Mega Man 10 has worse bosses and stages than Mega Man 9, and also significantly higher difficulty.  It's the only game in this list where I never beat all eight initial Robot Masters (I couldn't even finish the stages of two of them).  Mega Man 10's soundtrack is excellent though, and several of the stage concepts are really cool (especially the baseball stadium and racetrack).  Mega Man 10 is only recommended if you adore Mega Man 9 and want something more challenging.

Number Seven
Mega Man 4

Oh boy, now we're getting into the meat of classic Mega Man on the NES, with five of those games remaining for seven spots on this list.  Mega Man 4 introduced one of Mega Man's signature skills, the charged shot, but otherwise is on the weak side.  I think the boss and weapon designs are below average (Pharaoh Man the lone exception, that guy rules and his weapon's great), and the Dr. Cossack storyline wrinkle is forgettable.  Soundtrack is quite good, though.  Mega Man 4 is still Peak NES Mega Man, so it's certainly not bad.  This is the first game on this list that I wouldn't hesitate to replay. 

Number Six
Mega Man 5

Similar to Mega Man 4 in that Mega Man 5 has an unnecessary twist to the story (this time Proto Man / Blues is presented as the main antagonist), but it's better than Dr. Cossack or Mr. X at least.  Mega Man 5 also introduces Beat the bird and the BEAT WILY coins, adding for a decent new diversion.  The Robot Master designs for Mega Man 5 are above-average for classic Mega Man, and the music's great too (Napalm Man's stage is one of my all-time favorite Mega Man tunes).  Difficulty is also easy-ish, probably the least-challenging Mega Man game on the NES.  Very solid overall. 

Number Five
Mega Man 6

I don't love the boss or weapon designs in Mega Man 6 (they're odd and original, but not intimidating or elegant), and the "Mr. X" story is pretty weak as well, not meaningfully better than Mega Man 4's.  Mega Man 6 scores a LOT of points for new upgrades though, with Rush Power Adaptor and Rush Jet Adaptor being THE two most fun abilities of your robot dog in the entire classic series.  Mega Man 6 also has very good stage designs and music, even if it isn't a great collection of Robot Masters.  Mega Man 6 is probably the best-playing Mega Man game on the NES and it comes highly recommended.

Number Four
Mega Man 3

Mega Man 3 introduces Rush the dog, the ability to slide, and Proto Man to the series (but his design has a different mask and he's called "Break Man" at times), all of which are important additions.  The bosses are great, and the weapons and music almost as great.  Mega Man 3 also has an extremely robust endgame, in which Mega Man fights eight reprisal bosses from Mega Man 2 in addition to the regular boss rush.  So why is Mega Man 3 not ranked higher?  It's probably the hardest Mega Man game numbered 2 through 8 (not a compliment in this case), and those stages and endgame scenarios are a bit much.  And I love many of the stages and bosses, but they definitely aren't as cool as the three games higher up.  I've never beaten Mega Man 3, because that final gauntlet of Wily stages is pretty rough.  Still, Mega Man 3 cracks my final four for being influential and content-rich, but not quite hitting the highest highs of classic Mega Man.

Number Three
Mega Man 8

Sure, the voice work in Mega Man 8 is legendarily bad, and it does the Mega Man 7 / Game Boy thing I don't like in dividing the stage selection in two halves.  All of that aside, Mega Man 8 is excellent.  The visuals are expressive and colorful (Capcom did amazing sprite and environment work in the late 1990s), the boss and weapon designs are pretty good, and the stage designs are INCREDIBLE.  The latter four stages incorporate heavy use of the weapons from the first four stages!  They're the most nonlinear Mega Man stages ever!  ONLY ONE OF THEM HAS DISAPPEARING PLATFORMS!  The JumpJumpSlideSlide sections of Frost Man's stage notwithstanding, Mega Man 8 is a treat and I'm a little shocked that it was the end of classic Mega Man for twelve years. 
Number Two
Mega Man 9

Mega Man 9 is a deliberate throwback, with NES-styled visuals and audio despite releasing in 2008.  Mega Man's moveset in his 9th main game also lacks a slide or a charge, which was a small disappointment to me.  I wonder if several Capcom staff had been incubating and refining Mega Man design ideas for the entire 2000s though, since the bosses, weapons, stages, and music are all excellent, meeting or exceeding the highs of Mega Man's NES heyday.  The story is also probably the best in the entire classic series (though looking at its competition that isn't saying much), and the inclusion of Mega Man's first and only female Robot Master, Splash Woman, is notable and cool. Mega Man 9 is an excellent game and 100% worth playing for longtime Mega Man fans or interested newcomers, but sadly its follow-up wasn't nearly as good.  Probably the Mega Man game I'm closest to replaying. 

Number One
Mega Man 2

Probably an easy call at the top spot, but Mega Man 2 is too timeless to ignore.  Controls so tight that they remained mostly unchanged through the rest of the NES Mega Man games - later Mega Man games added new powers, but the running and jumping feel consistent from Mega Man 2 on. MM2's bosses, weapons, stages, and music are so good and so iconic that they're the standards for which the entire series is judged against. There are parts of Mega Man 2 I don't love (the disappearing platforms in Heat Man's stage, the laser beams in Quick Man's stage), but those are far outweighed by how much I love the boss designs, the awesome soundtrack (among the best ever made for 4 channels of audio), and the Metal Blade, still the greatest Mega Man weapon of all time. Mega Man 2 is unassailable and I feel it's a must-play for anyone interested in video games of the 1980s.

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Another blog post down!  I'm plowing through Shadows: Awakening and Dragon Quest XI, hotly anticipating Mega Man 11, and replaying The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.  That'll be the rest of my gaming September and probably a large chunk of my gaming October.  Happy autumn!

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