Mega Man Miscellanies

[NYN]

Going to water the dehydrated plant here, since the Temple o' BIL is a-brimming with acolytes.

Started and finished a Zero2 Normal run with Zaber, Zuster, No-Elf and a mission score of at least 95p as a requirement.
Did it mostly to get rid of my prejudice about it. I played it on release and, being my first Z title, got stomped. To the point where I blamed the game for my failings to rise up to expectations. Since then I thought of Z2<all.
Glad now for correcting my immature impression.
Bosses are fine, which filled me with dread before. Learning the Anchus brothers' tag team maneuvers is fun now. And so is their final attack smashing in to another.
Can't hold much against stages, 'cept the bits where to go Bionic Commando with the Chain Rod feels blant. Mostly to the input. It's like Rearmed 2 where you'd have to waggle on the D. The automatic here would not upgrade the parts, I think, but would make it fluent and less a bother.
The Guardian Temples, who were once a nightmare, felt more swift in procession. Getting the 95p (Time!) in Fire Temple with the planting of explosive above spikey grounds demanded quickly for precise execution. Fefnir became a fave in attitude, with his grunts supplied by Nakai Kazuya.

Asking the enthusiasts about unlocking the mini games in Z3: The writing on the cyberwall was that in order to get the ones with Fairy and Fefnir the score for final mission has to be 100p. Alas, now I find babble about scoring full every mission to do the deed. Quite a difference.
Is there somone here who could clarify through own experience?

[soprano1]

http://www.siliconera.com/2017/11/26/me ... or-series/
Christ, the figure itself looks like it has nice quality, but he looks like a fucking Gundam.

[ryu]

They just announced X1-8 ports and Mega Man 11 to be released throught 2018.

Neat. I hope they'll bundle the X games on disc once they're all out. Sounded like they're going to release them individually.

[Sumez]

I had to rewatch the Mega Man 11 trailer a few times, just to confirm what I was seeing. I was so ready to dismiss it as a new Mighty no. 9 style thing, or Mega Man 9/10 nostalgia pandering... but honestly, this game genuinely looks like it could be really good, and classic Mega Man.

I would then discern that the game is fortunately NOT another Inti Creates game, but actually inhouse Capcom - apparently there is still such a thing. If you skip through all the cringeworthy segments with annoying YouTube people, there are some pretty cool interviews with some of the devs in this Twitch video:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/206732636

They seem like they genuinely care about the game, even though their involvement with previous Rockman titles are minimal, and they really want to make 1. something that genuinely feels like Rockman and lives up to what the fans expect, 2. doesn't just build on nostalgia, but understand what made Rockman good.
I can't tell yet if they'll succeed, but they seem to have a good team to make this possible.

[mamboFoxtrot]

Yay its not another damn 8-bit game! I don't feel the environments really match the character graphics (seemed a bit too dull looking), but it looks fine enough so far.

[MommysBestGames]

I guess we're at a pretty low level, so yeah, things I'm excited about:
-Capcom's actually making it.
-They seem to care.
-Inti's not doing it.

It looked "fine"... with a few kinda-inspired enemies... it's not blowing my socks off yet, but they'e got time to work on it, so that's good.
The basics look good in general (and especially compared to MN9). Hoping for some really exciting gameplay/enemies in future videos.

[EmperorIng]

-Inti's not doing it.

I'm kinda tired of IntiCreates-developed side-scrollers. They know one style and can do it well, but when they were doing every single Capcom/Capcom-inspired platformer, it just gets old.

[Ji-L87]

It's great seeing that Capcom cares once again

As such, I don't want to be a downer on this but I'm not really feeling it visually. It doesn't look that hand drawn to me, rather I find the style rather uninteresting (and giving me some Sonic 4 vibes) and the backgrounds are pretty dull.

The PSP games had way more charm.

(And while we're at it, where my Legends 3?)

[Sumez]

I honestly think the visual style looks great.
Mega Man looks like Mega Man, without being overly stylized. I like that the concept artist really respected the original design, but focused on actually making Mega Man appear like a robot, rather than a boy in a rubber suit.
And I think it's great that the game doesn't try to pander to nostalgia, while at the same time balancing the background graphics to avoid clashing with the pure simplistic gameplay that characterizes the series. It's absurdly rare for modern designers of 2D platformers to think about that stuff (off the top of my head, Shovel Knight is the only one I can think of that got it right), so I'm very relieved to see that these guys get their priorities straight!

I'm kinda tired of IntiCreates-developed side-scrollers. They know one style and can do it well, but when they were doing every single Capcom/Capcom-inspired platformer, it just gets old.

I don't really think they do it well at all. I've been cutting Mega Man 9 and 10 some slack, because when it comes down to it, they managed to make two new games that people really like, and they didn't hold back when it comes to the difficulty of the game... But honestly, every time I try to play those games I just get angry with all the unfair design and horrible mistakes repeated throughout all of the stages and bossfights, a billion little things that none of the original NES Mega Man games would ever do. It's like the creators had absolutely no idea what made Mega Man great in the first place, and ended up with something bordering on IWBTG-like trial and error gameplay, which doesn't suit the series at all (we got Battle Kid for that, and it does it way better than MM9/10).

[Sumez]

I love this guy, btw. Everything he said in the interview made him come across like he just really fucking wants to make a great classic Mega Man game, and he's overjoyed that he finally got the chance to do it.

Spoiler

[gbaplayer]

I really hope Capcom goes for a physical release for Megaman Legacy Collection 1+2 and X.
Then it is Day 1 Buy for me on Switch. Also with Megaman 11 which i think looks great.

[soprano1]

Fucking finally. Too bad being a Switch exclusive, not interested at all in that console.

[gbaplayer]

Fucking finally. Too bad being a Switch exclusive, not interested at all in that console.

And yet your avatar is Link...

[mamboFoxtrot]

Mega Man 11 is coming out on PS4, Xbone, and PC as well. Pretty sure the same also holds true for the new X game re-releases.

[soprano1]

Fucking finally. Too bad being a Switch exclusive, not interested at all in that console.

And yet your avatar is Link...

I couldn't resist his derp face.

[soprano1]

Mega Man 11 is coming out on PS4, Xbone, and PC as well. Pretty sure the same also holds true for the new X game re-releases.

Yeah, I just noticed that. Master Miller was right, don't make important decisions before 10AM. Same for posting.

[copy-paster]

Fucking finally!

Hope my pc can handle this game, pretty shitty though.

[NYN]

I'm amazed whenever Inti Creates gets slapped around MM-wise like a interim-intern.
Maybe the finer points of classic game design do elude me. Go on calling me a Zeros sucker.
I too notice things that aren't fun. Like the hub world in ZX. And the boss-copy in ZXA.
Yet, the way I see it, is that they did what mother Capcom didn't. Feeding ideas. Do something. Even failing, if you want to call it that.

Thinking 'bout MM 7 actually makes my skin crawl. Alas, a physical reaction.

[Sumez]

Yeah, I think that's their single saving attribute. And they should of course be commended for it. But despite having made so many of these games, it's like they still don't understand what makes the original games enjoyabale. And Capcom had no problem spitting them out every single year back then.
Just look at a game like Gunvolt - it seems like a game that should be great, but they forgot to add levels that were some kind of fun to play, instead it's just soulless filler and 20 hour long bossfights. All the Zero games have the basic action gameplay done well, and a few good boss fights, but once again the level design is absurdly lackluster. I only really liked the first ZX game, I think that's probably the best Inti game.

Now that Capcom are actually doing something for the first time since they started mistreating the Mega Man X series over the last few chapters, I'll give them credit for that, and be cautiously optimistic until I see some more footage from the game. I think it's promising so far.

[soprano1]

http://www.siliconera.com/2017/12/06/ne ... ga-man-11/
More info.

[Sumez]

Glad to hear the slide is in. Would be really crappy to have charge shot (the worst innovation in the NES games) but leave out slide (the best innovation in the NES games). Mapping it to a button is a fine idea. Stuff like this is what shoulder buttons are for.

A "game-changing mechanic" makes me uneasy though. Hopefully it's not something that will break with the flow or purity of the original design (such as the whole farming for screws to buy crap in the store thing).

[mamboFoxtrot]

The trailer showed a glimpse of what looked like some kind of super attack/mode, so it's probably related to that. But yeah, hopefully it's nothing too wank.

Slide button and weapon wheel sounds good - I've always been ass at sliding and ended up relying on the slide button in the Anniversary Collections. I hope they also have Auto-Fire and Auto-Charge from X6.
And maybe a "silent charge" option, too

But honestly what's on my mind with this is if we're going to actually get some unique scenery, or if it's just going to be generic factories, dirt, and bricks.

[Sumez]

Auto-fire ruins a Mega Man game. Tried playing MM2 with it, it's like using a cheat code.
Auto-charge sounds cool, but feels like something that might belongs to a subweapon rather than the main shot.

Yeah that super-attack thing at the end of the video had me kind of worried too. He has a wepon equipped so I was hoping it was just one of those crazy weapons with very little ammo, such as time stopping or gravity attacks, etc.

[copy-paster]

Auto-fire ruins a Mega Man game. Tried playing MM2 with it, it's like using a cheat code.

lol just play it with 10hz rate, looks same as I regularly mash it.

I hope the story of MM11 connects directly on X series, or have Zero as secret TLB. That would be good thing.

[Sumez]

I hope the story is completely superflous.

[Marc]

So do fans think 9 and 10 suck balls then? Only one I ever played in the day was 2, and I loved it. But couldn't get into either 9 or 10, they felt genuine unfair to me. Still, I picked up the collection on a sale, and was surprised to find myself really enjoying 2 and 6.

[iconoclast]

Nope, I think 9 is easily the best game in the series. Then 3, 2, and 10.

I like what I've seen from 11 so far. I'm glad they didn't go back to the retro aesthetic, though the 3D looks a little too plain as it is.

[Sumez]

So do fans think 9 and 10 suck balls then? Only one I ever played in the day was 2, and I loved it. But couldn't get into either 9 or 10, they felt genuine unfair to me. Still, I picked up the collection on a sale, and was surprised to find myself really enjoying 2 and 6.

Sounds about right to me. 9 and 10 have very memorization heavy level design, and are rarely enjoyable for me to play. They were popular enough when they were released, especially in a lack of other genuine Mega Man games - but I always felt they were very overrated. 2 and 6 are both great. 3 and 4 even better in my book. All the NES games are really good.

[Ebbo]

I never found 9 or 10 unfair or too memorization heavy at least when compared to older titles, especially since the series is home to such classics as Quick Man's laser traps and Heat Man's disappearing block stretch. I do remember both 9 and 10 having more enemies popping out from bottomless pits though so maybe that's got something to do with the overall feeling of the game.

While 4 has remained my personal favorite over the years, 9 & 10 are probably better games in my opinion when I don't let the nostalgia get the best of me. All the weapons in 9 are just so much fun and 10 has some of the best stage design gimmicks in the whole series.

[Sumez]

Exactly how 9 handles the disappearing blocks compared to any of the original Mega Man games (all of which allowed you to bypass them entirely, for starters) is actually a perfect example of how inane and annoying the level design feels to me in those two game.

In general 2 has several design flaws on some of its stages though (most obviously Wily 4 and its boss), that's why I don't get why everyone thinks its the best. 4 is amazing, and it's not nostalgia speaking.