You can bypass the disappearing blocks in 9 just as well by getting Rush Jet before rushing into Plug Man's stage (only stage with those blocks in 9). More often than not the game gives you chance to simply wait and assess the patterns of the blocks as well before committing to a jump. I don't really get how that's much worse than the previous games.Sumez wrote: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.
Mega Man Miscellanies
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
9 is subpar, but an okay fangame. i wouldn't consider it an actual rockman game, but it's enjoyable to some extent and a decent effort.
10 is abysmal.
i briefly held top overall speedrun time on the leaderboard for a week or so around when rm9 came out and did a perfect run (no hit) on 10, so i played them really extensively.
9 is definitely memorization intensive - while you can play it without doing so, they are very keen on particularly obnoxious enemies and placement, which are all heavily mitigated by knowing which of the various abilities will dispatch them most quickly. doing this game buster only is a serious chore and i feel like they overtly balanced around the powers, which are tedious to cycle through or choose from the pause screen. levels are also overtly focused on their particular gimmicks and lack proper pacing, as well, which feels much more like inti creates' design ethos than what was in place during the original FC games.
9 also shoots itself in the foot by having the shop, but removing the slide. they go for this ostensible retro authenticity by removing charge & slide, but then keep the shop in, and even fill it with a lot of really OP items. i feel like the game was balanced around this, too, because on your first play there are quite a few particularly cruel pits or spikes that i imagine slapped some newer players in the face but can be made trivial with shop items. it feels like the idea a player could mitigate some of these with stuff from the shop had them acting as if they had free reign to overtly focus the levels on their instant-kill gimmicks. jewel man's momentum-based platforms are particularly unpleasant to get an initial grasp on.
there's really good color composition in the game, but they choose to make most of the levels and backgrounds incredibly vacant. peering back at the classic series, even 2 has considerably more advanced and interesting background art than this, frequently incorporating animated & exciting elements into it. i feel this is another weird thing like removing slide - they wanted to go for this superficial way of proving that the game was authentically "retro," rather than actually embracing the evolution of the series' art or play mechanics. plus, there's outright lazy, stupid, weird stuff like reusing a couple of the minibosses in the wily stages, despite them not thematically fitting in or working with the pacing (if you don't know that dumb flower clock thing is weak to concrete, get ready to waste a bunch of time).
you can really tell the original team is not working on the game, or at least tell that they don't have the same sensibilities that made the original era games of a memorable quality. inti creates' stamp of mediocrity really shines through, despite some occasional moments of genuinely competent design or fun ideas. 10, on the other hand, is absolutely poor looking, filled with bad ideas, and terribly paced. it does not deserve a dissection or much more acknowledgement than other fan-made trash projects like x street fighter or unlimited.
- - - - - -
as for the new game having an auto-charge, i wrote a bit on the nuances of charge mechanics talking about both the rockman series and makyo denstsu over in this obscenely long post. it's the big chunk of paragraphs before the edit at the bottom. i feel like auto-charge is a bad idea, especially since you can see in the trailer that they're sticking in line with the classic series and having there be a delay after the shot before you can fire individual pellets again. in the x series, there was no penalty for using a charge shot before going into rapid shots, which was one of many things that i think muddied its play into being much less interesting than the classic series. x series looked and sounded marvelous, even had slick controls, but fell apart horribly in level design, enemy/boss design, and pacing. much too easy and repetitive (watch any run of X2 when you get to the boss refights and look at how horrendously long, boring, and stakesless it is to get a sense of what i'm talking about).
i personally think the new game looks bad and wish that they would allow rockman to just die in peace, rather than trying to constantly resurrect the series. the boy had a good run, but it had more than enough sequels and we're never going to find designers who will properly recapture era ethos & design sensibilities. i actually quite enjoyed 8, but that's because it had a bit of its own identity and some incredibly lavish production - 11 looks like some sort of high profile doujin game bridging its design & visuals closer to the X series. maybe it will be okay and i'm simply being pessimistic, but regardless of its quality, i feel like it's just time to move on.
10 is abysmal.
i briefly held top overall speedrun time on the leaderboard for a week or so around when rm9 came out and did a perfect run (no hit) on 10, so i played them really extensively.
9 is definitely memorization intensive - while you can play it without doing so, they are very keen on particularly obnoxious enemies and placement, which are all heavily mitigated by knowing which of the various abilities will dispatch them most quickly. doing this game buster only is a serious chore and i feel like they overtly balanced around the powers, which are tedious to cycle through or choose from the pause screen. levels are also overtly focused on their particular gimmicks and lack proper pacing, as well, which feels much more like inti creates' design ethos than what was in place during the original FC games.
9 also shoots itself in the foot by having the shop, but removing the slide. they go for this ostensible retro authenticity by removing charge & slide, but then keep the shop in, and even fill it with a lot of really OP items. i feel like the game was balanced around this, too, because on your first play there are quite a few particularly cruel pits or spikes that i imagine slapped some newer players in the face but can be made trivial with shop items. it feels like the idea a player could mitigate some of these with stuff from the shop had them acting as if they had free reign to overtly focus the levels on their instant-kill gimmicks. jewel man's momentum-based platforms are particularly unpleasant to get an initial grasp on.
there's really good color composition in the game, but they choose to make most of the levels and backgrounds incredibly vacant. peering back at the classic series, even 2 has considerably more advanced and interesting background art than this, frequently incorporating animated & exciting elements into it. i feel this is another weird thing like removing slide - they wanted to go for this superficial way of proving that the game was authentically "retro," rather than actually embracing the evolution of the series' art or play mechanics. plus, there's outright lazy, stupid, weird stuff like reusing a couple of the minibosses in the wily stages, despite them not thematically fitting in or working with the pacing (if you don't know that dumb flower clock thing is weak to concrete, get ready to waste a bunch of time).
you can really tell the original team is not working on the game, or at least tell that they don't have the same sensibilities that made the original era games of a memorable quality. inti creates' stamp of mediocrity really shines through, despite some occasional moments of genuinely competent design or fun ideas. 10, on the other hand, is absolutely poor looking, filled with bad ideas, and terribly paced. it does not deserve a dissection or much more acknowledgement than other fan-made trash projects like x street fighter or unlimited.
- - - - - -
as for the new game having an auto-charge, i wrote a bit on the nuances of charge mechanics talking about both the rockman series and makyo denstsu over in this obscenely long post. it's the big chunk of paragraphs before the edit at the bottom. i feel like auto-charge is a bad idea, especially since you can see in the trailer that they're sticking in line with the classic series and having there be a delay after the shot before you can fire individual pellets again. in the x series, there was no penalty for using a charge shot before going into rapid shots, which was one of many things that i think muddied its play into being much less interesting than the classic series. x series looked and sounded marvelous, even had slick controls, but fell apart horribly in level design, enemy/boss design, and pacing. much too easy and repetitive (watch any run of X2 when you get to the boss refights and look at how horrendously long, boring, and stakesless it is to get a sense of what i'm talking about).
i personally think the new game looks bad and wish that they would allow rockman to just die in peace, rather than trying to constantly resurrect the series. the boy had a good run, but it had more than enough sequels and we're never going to find designers who will properly recapture era ethos & design sensibilities. i actually quite enjoyed 8, but that's because it had a bit of its own identity and some incredibly lavish production - 11 looks like some sort of high profile doujin game bridging its design & visuals closer to the X series. maybe it will be okay and i'm simply being pessimistic, but regardless of its quality, i feel like it's just time to move on.
~Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names~
| 
~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
| ~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
-
mamboFoxtrot
- Posts: 745
- Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2014 3:44 am
- Location: Florida, Estados Unidos
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Ah, I forgot the Classic series did that. Yeah, I guess auto-charge would be a bit of a problem then.classic series and having there be a delay after the shot before you can fire individual pellets again
ps: I hope that this game is non-traditional enough to just not have the stupid fucking yoku blocks or boss refights but I know that's a pointless hope to have...
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
I always felt it was a bad mistake to identify Mega Man with the yoku blocks. MM6 didn't even have them as far as I can remember? Maybe a single skippable room in a wily stage or something like that, similar to MM5. Even in MM3 they started backpedalling them, and there's only an extremely short passage where you can realistically die from messing them up.
The Mega Man games were always very tasteful with how they used it, so they always offered plenty of other solutions, kept the sequences short and easy to remember, and rarely punished you for messing up. If you knew the patterns you could ace a few of them faster than beginning to mess with rush items, but generally it's pretty open ended design. The worst offenders are obviously Ice Man's stage in MM1 (who cares, you'll have the magnet beam at this point) and Heat Man's in MM2 (the only dangerous segment is super easy, but it doesn't even matter if you do air man before this stage). After those two games, the series would find much more fun new ways to create challenging platform puzzles that didn't break the flow of the game. But no, of course MM9 and 10 have to stretch it out like it's some kind of defining attribute of the series. I believe one of the (actual) fan games even had a boss based on them.
Getting through the excruciatingly long sequences of yoku blocks in MM9 was a pain. Did anyone seriously have fun playing that?
The Mega Man games were always very tasteful with how they used it, so they always offered plenty of other solutions, kept the sequences short and easy to remember, and rarely punished you for messing up. If you knew the patterns you could ace a few of them faster than beginning to mess with rush items, but generally it's pretty open ended design. The worst offenders are obviously Ice Man's stage in MM1 (who cares, you'll have the magnet beam at this point) and Heat Man's in MM2 (the only dangerous segment is super easy, but it doesn't even matter if you do air man before this stage). After those two games, the series would find much more fun new ways to create challenging platform puzzles that didn't break the flow of the game. But no, of course MM9 and 10 have to stretch it out like it's some kind of defining attribute of the series. I believe one of the (actual) fan games even had a boss based on them.
Getting through the excruciatingly long sequences of yoku blocks in MM9 was a pain. Did anyone seriously have fun playing that?
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Not mega man, but I lost interest in Nintendo's Gold Cliff handheld when I found out it's pretty much Yoku Blocks, The Game.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
my favorite usage of the yoku blocks is in rockman & forte (abysmal game), where the timers on them are all different and do weird things (no more timing your movement to the consistently spaced sounds!!). in one of the king stages, there's a pattern where a very important, key block only appears every other cycle the pattern repeats. this block lies directly above a pit of spikes. what will often happen is that you will enter the room, watch the pattern, and then try to execute it on the 2nd cycle only to jump straight into spikes, because the timing is tight enough that if you do not pre-emptively jump, you fall into them, anyway. amazing!!
~Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names~
|
~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
| ~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
You make it sound so bad. That's a serious grudge-holding right there, isn't it? Of all the blockos-sequences in the series, yes, I found it the least offensive. Fairly mild in repetition. But never mind me. Go on.Sumez wrote:Getting through the excruciatingly long sequences of yoku blocks in MM9 was a pain. Did anyone seriously have fun playing that?
What
even mean, though?!
even mean, though?!-
Mortificator
- Posts: 2809
- Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:13 am
- Location: A star occupied by the Bydo Empire
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
I like all ten Arabic-numbered games, as well as V on Game Boy, Mega Man & Bass, and The Power Fighters. The consistent quality of this series is amazing, so while having favorites is understandable, it's hard to take complaints about this or that game being "abysmal" seriously.
RegalSin wrote:You can't even drive across the country Naked anymore
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
So which would you guys recommend as the easiest to start with?
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
4 for the FC/NES is probably the easiest starting point. relatively lower difficulty, great presentation, diverse & useful weapon set, includes the later additions like charge & slide. i wouldn't call it the best, but it's one of the better ones.
i strongly suggest ignoring e-tanks in each game, the design in most (sans perhaps 7, which is really poor) is what i would argued as balanced around not using them. they're there as a crutch for beginners and it will impede the learning process to use them.
i strongly suggest ignoring e-tanks in each game, the design in most (sans perhaps 7, which is really poor) is what i would argued as balanced around not using them. they're there as a crutch for beginners and it will impede the learning process to use them.
~Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names~
|
~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
| ~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Yeah, just use the E-tanks when you're first learning boss patterns, etc. It's a good way to ensure you'll get through the game without continues on your first genuine attempt. A typical situation that will waste a life is getting to a boss door with little life left, facing a fight where you know you're gonna take damage, don't feel bad for healing up here. As long as you're not basing your strategy around the extra life gained from an E-tank (which would probably make you able to just tank a lot of fights you couldn't normally), you'll be able to enjoy the game just fine.
Once you're comfortable with the game, popping an E-tank will automatically fill you with shame, so no one else has to shame you. Either way, it's still better than using a continue.
I don't know if 4 is the best to start with... But honestly, it's probably fair to start with any game of the series, so you might as well go with one of the series' heights.
MM2 might be a slightly better starting point. It's a shorter game and arguably the easiest in the entire series. If you're playing a western version, make sure to pick "Hard mode" though, it's the normal mode of the Japanese version, and still easier than the other Mega Men. It has some examples of poor design though, so don't judge the series by missteps such as the Wily4 boss. It's not representative
The only game I wouldn't recommend starting with is MM1. It's not a bad game, but it's not very representative of the series either. If nothing else, the slight inertia in Mega Man's movements are a little annoying.
Once you're comfortable with the game, popping an E-tank will automatically fill you with shame, so no one else has to shame you. Either way, it's still better than using a continue.
I don't know if 4 is the best to start with... But honestly, it's probably fair to start with any game of the series, so you might as well go with one of the series' heights.
MM2 might be a slightly better starting point. It's a shorter game and arguably the easiest in the entire series. If you're playing a western version, make sure to pick "Hard mode" though, it's the normal mode of the Japanese version, and still easier than the other Mega Men. It has some examples of poor design though, so don't judge the series by missteps such as the Wily4 boss. It's not representative
The only game I wouldn't recommend starting with is MM1. It's not a bad game, but it's not very representative of the series either. If nothing else, the slight inertia in Mega Man's movements are a little annoying.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Sooo I just played Rockman World 5 (aka Mega Man V) for the Game Boy for the first time... Bought it originally some years back entirely due to it being the one Game Boy game with original bosses and stages, making it qualify as more of a stand out game than an attempt of a handheld version of the NES games.
But now that I've finally played it, I'm actually outright surprised just how good this game is! I only had one runthrough, and used a few continues, so it's difficult to really judge it yet, but my initial impresion is that it's easily on par with several of the better NES titles! It has none of the slow, sluggish movement or cramped spaces that I remember from other GB Mega Man titles I've played, and the stages are very creatively designed, with both familiar and unique enemies with new behaviors, and very thought through use of the landscape layout, affecting how you're forced to approach the enemies. The boss fights are a little simple and easy, but quite fun.
Very, very pleasant surprise that feels like discovering an entirely new Mega Man game for the NES. Ie. pretty much what Mega Man 9 and 10 should have been.
But now that I've finally played it, I'm actually outright surprised just how good this game is! I only had one runthrough, and used a few continues, so it's difficult to really judge it yet, but my initial impresion is that it's easily on par with several of the better NES titles! It has none of the slow, sluggish movement or cramped spaces that I remember from other GB Mega Man titles I've played, and the stages are very creatively designed, with both familiar and unique enemies with new behaviors, and very thought through use of the landscape layout, affecting how you're forced to approach the enemies. The boss fights are a little simple and easy, but quite fun.
Very, very pleasant surprise that feels like discovering an entirely new Mega Man game for the NES. Ie. pretty much what Mega Man 9 and 10 should have been.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
That's good to hear about MMV, i've been meaning to try it out. Now if I can only find my longlost gameboy flash cart...
I'm surprised to hear kitten thinks Rockman and Forte is horrible. I know it's often slammed for being "too hard", but it's definitely top 3 for me--I'll have to replay it again soon and return with elaborations, hehe
MM4 is the popular one that I don't like very much. I thought the music was phoned in, stage design blandish, and the charge shot a delaying annoyance.
I'm surprised to hear kitten thinks Rockman and Forte is horrible. I know it's often slammed for being "too hard", but it's definitely top 3 for me--I'll have to replay it again soon and return with elaborations, hehe
MM4 is the popular one that I don't like very much. I thought the music was phoned in, stage design blandish, and the charge shot a delaying annoyance.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
I need to give Rockman and Forte a serious chance. I remember the first time I discovered the game, it was like the (other) long lost Mega Man game for me, felt like it improved everything MM7 did wrong while providing a solid challenge compared to the absurdly easy Mega Man 8. However, replaying it recently, after getting a renewed respect for the classic series (in particular the NES games), I had the sudden realisation that it might not even be a good game. The stage design varies between boring and annoying, with a lot of traps that are easy to fall in when you don't know it beforehand, bullet sponge enemies and a general stop-and-go design that completely kills the flow. I theorize that the game might still be highly enjoyable if you learn the stages and practice how to play them optimally, making full utility of the robot master weapons, but that takes a lot of effort that is hard to put into a game that's so immediately off-putting as R&F seems to me right now.
Or maybe the game is just way more fun if you're playing as Forte?
The boss music rocks by the way, while it fits right in with the style of the PS1 MM/MMX games, it's so unlike anything else on the SNES.
You're allowed to disagree on Mega Man 4 (and I even agree on the charge shot, though the stage design is brilliant), however I don't think you could possibly claim that the music is objectively phoned in. Though not as immediately catchy as the three preceeding games (except the Cossack stages), the music is much more technical and thought through than any of the other NES games. I never realised it either, until a friend of mine (who is way more into music production) pointed it out to me - There are some seriously solid compositions in there that stand out much more in the long run. I get it if people prefer MM2 or 3's soundtracks, I'd be inclined to do so myself, but whoever made the soundtrack for 4 definitely went all in.
Or maybe the game is just way more fun if you're playing as Forte?
The boss music rocks by the way, while it fits right in with the style of the PS1 MM/MMX games, it's so unlike anything else on the SNES.
You're allowed to disagree on Mega Man 4 (and I even agree on the charge shot, though the stage design is brilliant), however I don't think you could possibly claim that the music is objectively phoned in. Though not as immediately catchy as the three preceeding games (except the Cossack stages), the music is much more technical and thought through than any of the other NES games. I never realised it either, until a friend of mine (who is way more into music production) pointed it out to me - There are some seriously solid compositions in there that stand out much more in the long run. I get it if people prefer MM2 or 3's soundtracks, I'd be inclined to do so myself, but whoever made the soundtrack for 4 definitely went all in.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
I played Rockman and Forte just last summer. It's like an early Mega Man 9, designed to be super hard to evoke early NES nostalgia in people that are extraordinarily good at games. Considering it came after MM8, I can see why they went that route, but it's honestly frustrating to beat if you're trying to just casually stroll through it.
Some parts are much more doable as Forte, but the first boss I ran into with him was super frustrating to deal with. It's not a game I would recommend.
Some parts are much more doable as Forte, but the first boss I ran into with him was super frustrating to deal with. It's not a game I would recommend.
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Does anybody know where i can find this acryl keychan again?
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOGDS-141583
I got it once from Super Potatoe in Osaka but it is broken now.
?
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOGDS-141583
I got it once from Super Potatoe in Osaka but it is broken now.
?
Last edited by gbaplayer on Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
My PCB Collection (2): Cyvern, R-Type Leo
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
http://www.siliconera.com/2018/04/10/me ... -in-japan/
JAPAN ONLY for now.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fALpIvDlLTc
Visual art for X1-X4
and X5-X8
JAPAN ONLY for now.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fALpIvDlLTc
Visual art for X1-X4
Spoiler
Spoiler
ChurchOfSolipsism wrote:I'll make sure I'll download it illegally one day...
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Nice of them to bundle X5-8 in their own package so they don't pollute the one with all the good games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OVv-J-LXQU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OVv-J-LXQU
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usis7p46Vxs
Well, the Switch version is coming to the West on July 24th, at least.
Well, the Switch version is coming to the West on July 24th, at least.
ChurchOfSolipsism wrote:I'll make sure I'll download it illegally one day...
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Dat voice acting. Almost as bad as Dr. Light hunting wabbit.Sumez wrote:Nice of them to bundle X5-8 in their own package so they don't pollute the one with all the good games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OVv-J-LXQU
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
http://www.siliconera.com/2018/04/18/me ... et-july-8/
Yay, a concert.
Well...I guess it's "better than nothing"!
Yay, a concert.
Well...I guess it's "better than nothing"!
ChurchOfSolipsism wrote:I'll make sure I'll download it illegally one day...
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2PAI5JNAT8
Not a big fan of the "double gear system", but hopefully the game rewards you for not using it as a crutch.
Not a big fan of the "double gear system", but hopefully the game rewards you for not using it as a crutch.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Hm, that actually looks okay to me. I could do without those Mega Man 8-styled callouts though.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
And more importantly, the level designs still look pretty solid. In the end it's the only thing that really matters.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Not feeling very picky at all about 11. The new trailer gave me the familiar vibe & showed off the series' traditional level design. A little worried about the slowdown mechanic but I'm sure the difficulty will be balanced for it.
MM's voice is still different from the way I would imagine it but it's better than 8. Bosses look so good.
MM's voice is still different from the way I would imagine it but it's better than 8. Bosses look so good.
Godzilla was an inside job
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Some more gameplay footage: (edit: "old" footage, but lots of details about the gameplay)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEgFPupCGLA
Overdrive mode sounds like a stupid crutch that actually rewards people for doing bad, however I can see it being extremely cool in the hands of speedrunners who would intentionally leave themselves at critical health at all times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEgFPupCGLA
Overdrive mode sounds like a stupid crutch that actually rewards people for doing bad, however I can see it being extremely cool in the hands of speedrunners who would intentionally leave themselves at critical health at all times.
-
BareKnuckleRoo
- Posts: 6169
- Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
- Location: Southern Ontario
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
This weekend I went through all of the Mega Man games for the Game Boy. Fun times. They're obviously scaled down handheld versions, but the later ones got good and interesting enough that it didn't feel like you were getting a half-assed version of a game, they felt like they held their own well. It's also worth noting that in most of the games, they seriously buffed the original weapons so in many cases, the robot weapons now feel stronger than their NES counterparts, or perhaps it's that the first three games had very high droprates of weapon energy. My impressions:
Mega Man (GB) - The musical renditions are tinny, not great. A lot of the enemies they used from the first two NES games tend to take up lots of screen space, so it feels cramped and difficult to dodge. It's also the only of the GB games without the slide function, which really helps with mobility (and I'm not crazy about the later "demakes" of the main games that removed the slide, it was a genuinely great addition). Overall it's playable, and isn't awful by any means. The MM1 weapons are all pretty decent, except for possibly Fire Storm which is a bit weak. The MM2 bosses only appear in boss rush form, but you still get their mostly useless powers. Quick Boomerang can't compete with Rolling Cutter for sheer damage, Bubble Lead is decent for the rolling sawblade enemies (2 hit kills), Time Stopper surprisingly is as useless as ever. Each GB game features a unique boss and weapon, and the Mirror Buster is interesting in that you can just reflect projectiles back at enemies, so it either trivializes enemies or is useless against them.
Mega Man II (GB) - The one with the final Wily stage that looks like Salvador Dalí made it. It's a weird one in that ALL of the stages for the NES bosses use completely new music instead of remixes of the original tracks (which was stopped for the next two games). The music's pretty decent though. Metal Blade completely destroys the game, even moreso than the NES since even fewer enemies are immune to it (such as the ostriches at the end of Wood Man's stage). You can slide in this one, and the MM3 bosses appear in stages too. The stages feel like scaled down versions of the originals still, fun, but not quite as experimental as some of the later games got with stage design. Top Spin sadly is more or less worthless since tons of the enemies resist it here, yet this game features the idiotic Quint and his Sakugarne weapon, which is literally just a stupid pogo stick with a face on it. It is, and I'm not exaggerating, possibly the worst weapon in any single Mega Man game ever made. It's not even worth using in the Wily fight over the standard peashooter.
Mega Man III (GB) - Where the handheld series got really, really good. The music's fantastic, and the versions of the stages that appear look really detailed (the backgrounds in many of the levels got super detailed such as in Snake Man's stage). Weapon selection is also pretty good here, you get a lot of genuinely powerful and useful options (except Gemini Laser, which sucks as always). It's also the first game where you have your charge shot, which is quite powerful and useful in general. I'm on the fence about the charge shot - it does interfere with the music to constantly hear you charging up, and you never really want to disregard the charge shot because it's quite useful. The weapons in general are quite powerful too - Shadow Blade, Drill Bomb, Dive Missile, and Spark Shock all saw extensive use here.
Mega Man IV (GB) - Fantastic game in general, follows the same style of 4 bosses then 4 more bosses, but instead of trying to make remixed versions of the NES levels, they often went off and incorporated entirely new hazards in the levels. Pharaoh Man, Bright Man, Crystal Man, and particularly Napalm Man all feel way different. Wily also gets a really badass space station, and there's several difficult puzzle elements in the game (with an entire beat the clock puzzle level where it's a rush to break the obstacles before you get killed, without destroying the obstacles you need to use as a platform. Weirdly, the charge shot has slight pushback on it, which means you have to be careful using it midair. It's not much, but it does affect how far you can jump if you fire a charge shot midair. The weapons are ridiculously powerful here; Pharaoh Shot doesn't consume any energy at all unless you fire it now, so you can stand under an enemy and charge it up, hitting repeatedly even if your first hit doesn't kill. Ring Boomerang collects items now, Rain Flush has tons of ammo (though it's still slow, and with the screen size it's hard to use effectively), and Charge Kick has full invulnerability during the kick, though you can't use the mega buster while it is equipped. The weapon energy drops are seriously toned down though, in favor of P-Chips (money) which you can redeem in Dr. Light's lab for items now.
Mega Man V (GB) - Entirely new levels everywhere, feels like a proper "main" game aside from the unusual robot theme and the scaled down screen size. The only really bad part is a decidedly bad shmup stage which is mercifully short (the boss fight where your sprite/hitbox size is reduced is cute though, and it shoulda been like that all stage long). The weapons you get sadly are a mixed bag though - the Mega Arm that replaces the normal charge shot does feel like a better balance for the charge attack since you can't fire until the arm returns, and there are enemies where strategically peashooter shots can kill faster (ones that have no invulnerability when hit). The Mega Arm's upgrades give it a weird random chance to latch on and do extra damage, as well as lets it collect items (functionally identical to the previous game's Ring Boomerang). I never got much use out of Tango, the new helper cat who bounces around erratically (but does a lot of damage when he does hit an enemy eventually), but there's some other neat weapons in the mix. Grab Buster is a simple, effective weapon that creates health items when it hits, giving you an easy way to recover health, Bubble Bomb is an awkward but devastatingly powerful upwards attack with tons of ammo, and Break Dash and Deep Digger feel like proper versions of Charge Kick and Super Arm (from Guts Man). You can fire the peashooter at all times when using them, and charging gives you an invulnerable dash with invulnerability frames after the dash. Deep Digger generally sucks because it is situational though, and only works standing on top of an appropriate block (not to the side). This is definitely a must-play, since there's a lot of cool setpieces to see, and unlike the other games, the basic enemy designs are almost all brand new (aside from the sparking enemies in Jupiter's stage which are reskinned versions of the enemies from Crystal Man's level).
Mercury also happens to be the only enemy in a Mega Man game I can think of who can steal E-Tanks and other items (he stole a freakin' Super Tank at one point from me!).
The only issue that appears to plague all 5 of the handheld GB games is that you can't rapid fire the peashooter - there's a built in delay where if you press B too quickly, it won't register (unlike the NES where you can mash it quickly), so in the ones with a charge shot, that ends up being generally much more useful.
Mega Man (GB) - The musical renditions are tinny, not great. A lot of the enemies they used from the first two NES games tend to take up lots of screen space, so it feels cramped and difficult to dodge. It's also the only of the GB games without the slide function, which really helps with mobility (and I'm not crazy about the later "demakes" of the main games that removed the slide, it was a genuinely great addition). Overall it's playable, and isn't awful by any means. The MM1 weapons are all pretty decent, except for possibly Fire Storm which is a bit weak. The MM2 bosses only appear in boss rush form, but you still get their mostly useless powers. Quick Boomerang can't compete with Rolling Cutter for sheer damage, Bubble Lead is decent for the rolling sawblade enemies (2 hit kills), Time Stopper surprisingly is as useless as ever. Each GB game features a unique boss and weapon, and the Mirror Buster is interesting in that you can just reflect projectiles back at enemies, so it either trivializes enemies or is useless against them.
Mega Man II (GB) - The one with the final Wily stage that looks like Salvador Dalí made it. It's a weird one in that ALL of the stages for the NES bosses use completely new music instead of remixes of the original tracks (which was stopped for the next two games). The music's pretty decent though. Metal Blade completely destroys the game, even moreso than the NES since even fewer enemies are immune to it (such as the ostriches at the end of Wood Man's stage). You can slide in this one, and the MM3 bosses appear in stages too. The stages feel like scaled down versions of the originals still, fun, but not quite as experimental as some of the later games got with stage design. Top Spin sadly is more or less worthless since tons of the enemies resist it here, yet this game features the idiotic Quint and his Sakugarne weapon, which is literally just a stupid pogo stick with a face on it. It is, and I'm not exaggerating, possibly the worst weapon in any single Mega Man game ever made. It's not even worth using in the Wily fight over the standard peashooter.
Mega Man III (GB) - Where the handheld series got really, really good. The music's fantastic, and the versions of the stages that appear look really detailed (the backgrounds in many of the levels got super detailed such as in Snake Man's stage). Weapon selection is also pretty good here, you get a lot of genuinely powerful and useful options (except Gemini Laser, which sucks as always). It's also the first game where you have your charge shot, which is quite powerful and useful in general. I'm on the fence about the charge shot - it does interfere with the music to constantly hear you charging up, and you never really want to disregard the charge shot because it's quite useful. The weapons in general are quite powerful too - Shadow Blade, Drill Bomb, Dive Missile, and Spark Shock all saw extensive use here.
Mega Man IV (GB) - Fantastic game in general, follows the same style of 4 bosses then 4 more bosses, but instead of trying to make remixed versions of the NES levels, they often went off and incorporated entirely new hazards in the levels. Pharaoh Man, Bright Man, Crystal Man, and particularly Napalm Man all feel way different. Wily also gets a really badass space station, and there's several difficult puzzle elements in the game (with an entire beat the clock puzzle level where it's a rush to break the obstacles before you get killed, without destroying the obstacles you need to use as a platform. Weirdly, the charge shot has slight pushback on it, which means you have to be careful using it midair. It's not much, but it does affect how far you can jump if you fire a charge shot midair. The weapons are ridiculously powerful here; Pharaoh Shot doesn't consume any energy at all unless you fire it now, so you can stand under an enemy and charge it up, hitting repeatedly even if your first hit doesn't kill. Ring Boomerang collects items now, Rain Flush has tons of ammo (though it's still slow, and with the screen size it's hard to use effectively), and Charge Kick has full invulnerability during the kick, though you can't use the mega buster while it is equipped. The weapon energy drops are seriously toned down though, in favor of P-Chips (money) which you can redeem in Dr. Light's lab for items now.
Mega Man V (GB) - Entirely new levels everywhere, feels like a proper "main" game aside from the unusual robot theme and the scaled down screen size. The only really bad part is a decidedly bad shmup stage which is mercifully short (the boss fight where your sprite/hitbox size is reduced is cute though, and it shoulda been like that all stage long). The weapons you get sadly are a mixed bag though - the Mega Arm that replaces the normal charge shot does feel like a better balance for the charge attack since you can't fire until the arm returns, and there are enemies where strategically peashooter shots can kill faster (ones that have no invulnerability when hit). The Mega Arm's upgrades give it a weird random chance to latch on and do extra damage, as well as lets it collect items (functionally identical to the previous game's Ring Boomerang). I never got much use out of Tango, the new helper cat who bounces around erratically (but does a lot of damage when he does hit an enemy eventually), but there's some other neat weapons in the mix. Grab Buster is a simple, effective weapon that creates health items when it hits, giving you an easy way to recover health, Bubble Bomb is an awkward but devastatingly powerful upwards attack with tons of ammo, and Break Dash and Deep Digger feel like proper versions of Charge Kick and Super Arm (from Guts Man). You can fire the peashooter at all times when using them, and charging gives you an invulnerable dash with invulnerability frames after the dash. Deep Digger generally sucks because it is situational though, and only works standing on top of an appropriate block (not to the side). This is definitely a must-play, since there's a lot of cool setpieces to see, and unlike the other games, the basic enemy designs are almost all brand new (aside from the sparking enemies in Jupiter's stage which are reskinned versions of the enemies from Crystal Man's level).
Mercury also happens to be the only enemy in a Mega Man game I can think of who can steal E-Tanks and other items (he stole a freakin' Super Tank at one point from me!).
The only issue that appears to plague all 5 of the handheld GB games is that you can't rapid fire the peashooter - there's a built in delay where if you press B too quickly, it won't register (unlike the NES where you can mash it quickly), so in the ones with a charge shot, that ends up being generally much more useful.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Here's Block Man's stage in full from E3, along with some Q&A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_uafKElLVo
It doesn't look terribly good, but at least it's not too offensive either. However, as expected, the time slow mechanic is severely overused.
It does look like a fun mechanic, but it feels out of place in a Mega Man game, where it could easily just have been a robot master power.
It doesn't look terribly good, but at least it's not too offensive either. However, as expected, the time slow mechanic is severely overused.
It does look like a fun mechanic, but it feels out of place in a Mega Man game, where it could easily just have been a robot master power.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
How can you talk about a single platforming level for 20 fricking minutes. That was aggravating, I had to skip around.
Re: Mega Man Miscellanies
Well, they hardly talk about the stage at all, and around 80% of it is Japanese translator chatter. Nothing interesting is being said anyway, except from a cringeworthy comment on how the old Mega Man games apparently had a tendency to kill you without warning.