Mega Man Miscellanies

[Lander]

[tacoguy64]

Fuck, the OG 6 classic Mega Man games are all so good. 4 is the best of them, but really, who cares how you rank them internally when none of them are remotely bad.

I have yet to play 11 but this is correct have not played a bad classic MM game. Even 7/8 were good and had some great things going for them. It's been a while since i played them, and hard to pick a favorite. Soundtracks too range from good to GOATs, even those that are good have some standouts! I will usually cycle through 2/3/6/7/9 as my favorite OST in the series, I think those are the ones that have the quantity and quality of great songs. And they all have a lot excellent remixes too!

[Lander]

6 is one of my favorites too. I love the Rush adapters.

Yeah, 6 is really good. All the accumulated polish and accoutrements, plus transformative (haw haw) new gameplay features.
Shame they nerfed the adapters down to one kinda lackluster new form in 7; the rocket punch and boost jump there are quite rigid by comparison to their original incarnations.

[Sima Tuna]

Fuck, the OG 6 classic Mega Man games are all so good. 4 is the best of them, but really, who cares how you rank them internally when none of them are remotely bad.

I have yet to play 11 but this is correct have not played a bad classic MM game.

I must confess that I do not really like Mega Man 1 very much. Many elements of the game feel a little janky and unfocused to me, compared to the later games. There's a score on the screen and you can pick up score items. But it's not really a score-driven game and it zeroes your score when you game over anyway. Which most people are going to do, because the game is difficult. The primary way to get score is farming enemies in levels with no time limit, which is boring and shitty anyway. The knock-on effect in gameplay from enemies dropping score items is their drop pool is weighted for these useless score items you never want to see, instead of something useful like weapon energy or health.

The handling of Mega in Mega Man 1 is not to my tastes at all. He controls in a rather slippery fashion compared to later games. The 1-block platforming that's so easy and fun in later mega man games isn't fun here because of the looser control.

I think Mega Man 1 still has the core of a fun game in it somewhere, unlike MM5 imo. Mega Man 1 has some iconic bosses and stage gimmicks, plus some fun boss weapons. But I don't really enjoy actually playing MM1. I'm open to changing my mind. I know some people love MM1 the most of the classic games.

[Arino]

World 5 in color:

[Austin]

I think Mega Man 1 still has the core of a fun game in it somewhere, unlike MM5 imo. Mega Man 1 has some iconic bosses and stage gimmicks, plus some fun boss weapons. But I don't really enjoy actually playing MM1. I'm open to changing my mind. I know some people love MM1 the most of the classic games.

All I can say is.. get good at it? It's a lot more fun when you know what you are doing and don't even think about arbitrary things like how often score pickups appear, haha.

[Sumez]

I agree on the slightly slippery handling in Mega Man 1. It's subtle, but it's there, and it makes some precision jumps a bit more imprecise.
I think the stage design is less consistently good too, and has some pretty tame sections of similar repeated platforming. Compare Mega Man 4 which just constantly throws new fun challenges at you.

MM1 is definitely rough around the edges, and IMO the least good of the original six games. But it's a good game regardless.

[ryu]

You can say what you want, my favorite is and will always be Mega Man 8 (PSX), i literally like everything about that game, except maybe the final stage.

The soundtrack is fantastic and the overall game is fun despite of its gimmicky design. Still one of my favorites. But maybe just because it was the first console Mega Man I got to play as a kid since my family never owned a NES.

[Arino]

What do you think about World 5? The one I posted above. This is my first time playing it

[ryu]

What do you think about World 5? The one I posted above. This is my first time playing it

I still never even played World 4 and 5. Should probably just play them on NSO.

[Arino]

You can say what you want, my favorite is and will always be Mega Man 8 (PSX), i literally like everything about that game, except maybe the final stage.

The soundtrack is fantastic and the overall game is fun despite of its gimmicky design. Still one of my favorites. But maybe just because it was the first console Mega Man I got to play as a kid since my family never owned a NES.

Also 8 has incredibly gorgeous graphics.

[tacoguy64]

You can say what you want, my favorite is and will always be Mega Man 8 (PSX), i literally like everything about that game, except maybe the final stage.

The soundtrack is fantastic and the overall game is fun despite of its gimmicky design. Still one of my favorites. But maybe just because it was the first console Mega Man I got to play as a kid since my family never owned a NES.

Also 8 has incredibly gorgeous graphics.

MM8 is the best the classic series has ever looked. Even prefer the graphics of MM8 to what I've seen of MM11. I was both happy and sad when MM9 debuted with NES graphics. Like yes I was happy to see the series return after 10 years absence but I was hoping to see it evolve from MM8. I was also disappointed in both 9/10 removing the charge and slide. Like why? everyone knows charging up is awesome. But yeah always like seeing MM8 gets the respect it deserves.

Fuck, the OG 6 classic Mega Man games are all so good. 4 is the best of them, but really, who cares how you rank them internally when none of them are remotely bad.

I have yet to play 11 but this is correct have not played a bad classic MM game.

I must confess that I do not really like Mega Man 1 very much. Many elements of the game feel a little janky and unfocused to me, compared to the later games. There's a score on the screen and you can pick up score items. But it's not really a score-driven game and it zeroes your score when you game over anyway. Which most people are going to do, because the game is difficult. The primary way to get score is farming enemies in levels with no time limit, which is boring and shitty anyway. The knock-on effect in gameplay from enemies dropping score items is their drop pool is weighted for these useless score items you never want to see, instead of something useful like weapon energy or health.

The handling of Mega in Mega Man 1 is not to my tastes at all. He controls in a rather slippery fashion compared to later games. The 1-block platforming that's so easy and fun in later mega man games isn't fun here because of the looser control.

I think Mega Man 1 still has the core of a fun game in it somewhere, unlike MM5 imo. Mega Man 1 has some iconic bosses and stage gimmicks, plus some fun boss weapons. But I don't really enjoy actually playing MM1. I'm open to changing my mind. I know some people love MM1 the most of the classic games.

I just ignore the scoring system of MM1 altogether, it really feels like it was just slapped on with not much thought for it. The game is better that way, even though they did include it in the game it doesnt get in my way so im not too harsh about it. I am less forgiving with certain platforming section like the ones in Iceman's level. It is not fun waiting for those random platform, along with the shoddy hit detection makes that section a nightmare without the energy platform. I do agree this is not the most precise NES MM has controlled, especially compared to later entries like MM4. But i feel like they nailed so much right for their first entry, character design, levels, music, and weapons. All those elements will always make it fun for me.

[ryu]

Mega Man 9 and 10 are fine visually. 11 however is a bad joke, that game looks atrocious.

[copy-paster]

I think Mega Man 1 still has the core of a fun game in it somewhere, unlike MM5 imo. Mega Man 1 has some iconic bosses and stage gimmicks, plus some fun boss weapons. But I don't really enjoy actually playing MM1. I'm open to changing my mind. I know some people love MM1 the most of the classic games.

One of greatest strength of MM1 for me is the arcade-y nature and the fact you could melt the bosses by using the Elec Beam glitch is satisfying once you figure it out. It's been really long time since I played these games and I was just playing with save state till I beat it, and I personally think 3 and 4 have the best OST.

[Arino]

The soundtrack is fantastic and the overall game is fun despite of its gimmicky design. Still one of my favorites. But maybe just because it was the first console Mega Man I got to play as a kid since my family never owned a NES.

Also 8 has incredibly gorgeous graphics.

MM8 is the best the classic series has ever looked.

I always assumed that MM8 gets a lot of hate because the people who hate it are people who liked the MM gameplay on NES, but then as soon as MM7, MM&BASS, and MM8 came out, they didn't like the whole toy/cute style setting because it was not cool enough for them. They didn't understand the whole vibe behind it and what's cool in Japan. They were the kind of people who liked violent games so the art style of the later MM games resulted in those games being too far off from what those people thought was cool. That's how I imagine it, it's just a guess obviously, looking for a possible explanation, trying to make sense of things. I witnessed it myself around that time that some people refused to play certain games because in their eyes, those games were just not as "cool" as Tekken, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Extreme-G, GoldenEye, Medal of Honor, Fifa, Tony Hawk, you get the idea.

Funnily though I imagine that MM would have had the same or a similar art style on NES already, but it was technically not possible on the NES to have such detailed graphics so the creators of games were not able to express themselves as clearly to show what exactly they were going for.
There are even people who say they only like the MMX games. Most likely because the style of the X series makes those games cool enough for them, but not the classic MM series.

Btw are there any differences between SS and PSX regarding MM8? I think I have X3 for the SS (and SFC) and the other 32 bit ones all for the PSX.

Short personal story: I was always really bad at games, especially as a child and still as a teenager. Mostly I didn't even make it to the Wily stages of the MM games and my friends were just as bad lol. But then, 10 years later or something, one day I went back to MM8 (I had not even played video games in years!) and I just beat the whole game in one sitting (with no help from the internet or anything) and it made me feel so proud! Then I got back into games and I found all MM games so easy all of a sudden. It was lots of fun then to actually clear those games lol.

Mega Man 9 and 10 are fine visually.

Yes, they are fine in any way, great games, but it just seemed lazy, or rather stingy of them, to go for the 8 bit graphics! It was like they already treated those games like low budget shovel ware. Low price, download only, the 8 bit graphics - it's like they downloaded Mega Man Maker and an intern was given two weeks to make those games. We are lucky they turned out great. But all in all to me it seemed like a lazy cash grab (low budget = low risk), I think that's what upsets people. I mean it is fucking Mega Man after all, so "just because" trends were changing at that time, that is still no reason to treat poor Mega Man like that.

I think Mega Man 1 still has the core of a fun game in it somewhere, unlike MM5 imo. Mega Man 1 has some iconic bosses and stage gimmicks, plus some fun boss weapons. But I don't really enjoy actually playing MM1. I'm open to changing my mind. I know some people love MM1 the most of the classic games.

One of greatest strength of MM1 for me is the arcade-y nature and the fact you could melt the bosses by using the Elec Beam glitch is satisfying once you figure it out. It's been really long time since I played these games and I was just playing with save state till I beat it, and I personally think 3 and 4 have the best OST.

I never understood why MM2 is so popular, especially compared to MM1! I can't give you the details right now because it's been a while, but I have played through MM1 & 2 right after another at least twice (with no saves or anything like that, I am just saying this to make it clear that my judgement regarding bad design choices is not based on not playing the game how it was supposed to be played or anything like that) and I find MM1 so much better than MM2. Yes, MM1 is not perfect, but MM2 is a lot worse! I remember all kinds of terrible design choices where you were stuck in certain places if you didn't have exactly what was needed (the right weapon) so you had to walk back for ages until you were given an opportunity to painfully slowly grind the ammo for the weapons/tools the game wanted you to use. All sorts of bad stuff like this. And trust me I am someone who pretty much never complains about shit in games. I just either like a game or I don't. But I am not someone who criticizes a hundred things and wants everything the way they imagine it would be so much better.

Fuck, the OG 6 classic Mega Man games are all so good. 4 is the best of them, but really, who cares how you rank them internally when none of them are remotely bad.

MM4 was my first MM game back then! I was so surprised when I got to play 1-3 after because there was no charge attack and slide!

[Air Master Burst]

There are even people who say they only like the MMX games. Most likely because the style of the X series makes those games cool enough for them, but not the classic MM series.

This is me, although I don't think coolness has anything to do with it cuz I also enjoy 7, Bass, and 8. I also kinda hate X6 and X7.

I haven't tried the X8 demake yet but it looks super promising.

[Arino]

There are even people who say they only like the MMX games. Most likely because the style of the X series makes those games cool enough for them, but not the classic MM series.

This is me, although I don't think coolness has anything to do with it cuz I also enjoy 7, Bass, and 8. I also kinda hate X6 and X7.

I haven't tried the X8 demake yet but it looks super promising.

There is also someone working on a Mega Drive version of 4-6, I think 4 is already done or something.

[Lander]

I always assumed that MM8 gets a lot of hate because the people who hate it are people who liked the MM gameplay on NES, but then as soon as MM7, MM&BASS, and MM8 came out, they didn't like the whole toy/cute style setting because it was not cool enough for them.

The thing that always struck me about 8 was Mega Man's sprite. He looks oddly concerned or worried, which is in contrast to the neutral and determined presentation of the earlier games. Couple that with the squeaky english dub, and it almost seems like a soft reboot.

Dude was this close to flipping Asimov the bird and icing a motherfucker at the end of 7. Granted, it was never actually going to happen (and probably shouldn't on principle), but I can't begin to imagine the good boy incarnation from 8 struggling with that kind of interesting philosophical conflict.

[Austin]

I always assumed that MM8 gets a lot of hate because the people who hate it are people who liked the MM gameplay on NES, but then as soon as MM7, MM&BASS, and MM8 came out, they didn't like the whole toy/cute style setting because it was not cool enough for them. They didn't understand the whole vibe behind it and what's cool in Japan. They were the kind of people who liked violent games so the art style of the later MM games resulted in those games being too far off from what those people thought was cool. That's how I imagine it, it's just a guess obviously, looking for a possible explanation, trying to make sense of things. I witnessed it myself around that time that some people refused to play certain games because in their eyes, those games were just not as "cool" as Tekken, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Extreme-G, GoldenEye, Medal of Honor, Fifa, Tony Hawk, you get the idea.

That's a lot to unpack. One thing you have to remember is a lot of us experienced the Mega Man games when we were fairly young (I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man II). By the time 8 had come out, we had grown older. Tastes evolve, particularly quickly during adolescence. And the '90s was an insane time to be a teenager, with how fast the industry evolved and how much cool stuff was introduced during that timeframe. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure the average "gamer" at the time was getting pretty burned out with Mega Man. Capcom never really pushed the series forward much up until X, so in a way I don't think it's unreasonable to think that other types of games would have grabbed the attention of players much more than yet another classic Mega Man entry. It's one thing to look back on all those games now, having had decades to experiment with them, but it's another to experience everything first-hand as it released.

I was honestly okay with the cutesy style of 8, even back then I thought it was a gorgeous game. However, the gameplay didn't feel nearly as good as the NES games to me. Fat, slower sprites, pretty unforgiving platforming, and the music just wasn't "Mega Man" to me (we're talking traditionally a series that had energetic, rhythmic tunes, whereas 8's music felt way too happy and cheery). Maybe the lack of the "cool factor" played a role in how I perceived the game overall (X4 on the flip side filled that hole for me), but still to this day I don't care for its gameplay all that much, and that's what matters the most.

I have been trying to get back into 7 and Forte more recently and have been appreciating the challenge, so maybe I'll give 8 a try again after. The NES ones are still my favorites however because they feel so speedy, tight and concise compared to the 16-bit and up "classic-mega" entries.

[Arino]

I always assumed that MM8 gets a lot of hate because the people who hate it are people who liked the MM gameplay on NES, but then as soon as MM7, MM&BASS, and MM8 came out, they didn't like the whole toy/cute style setting because it was not cool enough for them. They didn't understand the whole vibe behind it and what's cool in Japan. They were the kind of people who liked violent games so the art style of the later MM games resulted in those games being too far off from what those people thought was cool. That's how I imagine it, it's just a guess obviously, looking for a possible explanation, trying to make sense of things. I witnessed it myself around that time that some people refused to play certain games because in their eyes, those games were just not as "cool" as Tekken, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Extreme-G, GoldenEye, Medal of Honor, Fifa, Tony Hawk, you get the idea.

I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man II

Lol I was shocked when I first read this as "I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man 11"

[Austin]

I always assumed that MM8 gets a lot of hate because the people who hate it are people who liked the MM gameplay on NES, but then as soon as MM7, MM&BASS, and MM8 came out, they didn't like the whole toy/cute style setting because it was not cool enough for them. They didn't understand the whole vibe behind it and what's cool in Japan. They were the kind of people who liked violent games so the art style of the later MM games resulted in those games being too far off from what those people thought was cool. That's how I imagine it, it's just a guess obviously, looking for a possible explanation, trying to make sense of things. I witnessed it myself around that time that some people refused to play certain games because in their eyes, those games were just not as "cool" as Tekken, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Extreme-G, GoldenEye, Medal of Honor, Fifa, Tony Hawk, you get the idea.

I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man II

Lol I was shocked when I first read this as "I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man 11"

Haha! Nah, Mega Man 2. I tend to use Roman Numerals since that's how the numbering is written in the USA versions of the games. Though to be fare, it is a "2" on the box itself, but "II" on the title screen.

[Arino]

I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man II

Lol I was shocked when I first read this as "I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man 11"

Haha! Nah, Mega Man 2. I tend to use Roman Numerals since that's how the numbering is written in the USA versions of the games. Though to be fare, it is a "2" on the box itself, but "II" on the title screen.

Now on PC it is more clear but on my phone it was just displayed as ||

[Lemnear]

You can say what you want, my favorite is and will always be Mega Man 8 (PSX), i literally like everything about that game, except maybe the final stage.

The soundtrack is fantastic and the overall game is fun despite of its gimmicky design. Still one of my favorites. But maybe just because it was the first console Mega Man I got to play as a kid since my family never owned a NES.

It was the first for me too, i tried the others too, and...i always prefer the 8
There was also a Zero chapter that i liked, for PS2 but i don't remember the name, but Mega Man wasn't the main character.

[tacoguy64]

I always assumed that MM8 gets a lot of hate because the people who hate it are people who liked the MM gameplay on NES, but then as soon as MM7, MM&BASS, and MM8 came out, they didn't like the whole toy/cute style setting because it was not cool enough for them. They didn't understand the whole vibe behind it and what's cool in Japan. They were the kind of people who liked violent games so the art style of the later MM games resulted in those games being too far off from what those people thought was cool. That's how I imagine it, it's just a guess obviously, looking for a possible explanation, trying to make sense of things. I witnessed it myself around that time that some people refused to play certain games because in their eyes, those games were just not as "cool" as Tekken, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Extreme-G, GoldenEye, Medal of Honor, Fifa, Tony Hawk, you get the idea.

That's a lot to unpack. One thing you have to remember is a lot of us experienced the Mega Man games when we were fairly young (I was 7 for instance when I first played Mega Man II). By the time 8 had come out, we had grown older. Tastes evolve, particularly quickly during adolescence. And the '90s was an insane time to be a teenager, with how fast the industry evolved and how much cool stuff was introduced during that timeframe. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure the average "gamer" at the time was getting pretty burned out with Mega Man. Capcom never really pushed the series forward much up until X, so in a way I don't think it's unreasonable to think that other types of games would have grabbed the attention of players much more than yet another classic Mega Man entry. It's one thing to look back on all those games now, having had decades to experiment with them, but it's another to experience everything first-hand as it released.

I was honestly okay with the cutesy style of 8, even back then I thought it was a gorgeous game. However, the gameplay didn't feel nearly as good as the NES games to me. Fat, slower sprites, pretty unforgiving platforming, and the music just wasn't "Mega Man" to me (we're talking traditionally a series that had energetic, rhythmic tunes, whereas 8's music felt way too happy and cheery). Maybe the lack of the "cool factor" played a role in how I perceived the game overall (X4 on the flip side filled that hole for me), but still to this day I don't care for its gameplay all that much, and that's what matters the most.

I have been trying to get back into 7 and Forte more recently and have been appreciating the challenge, so maybe I'll give 8 a try again after. The NES ones are still my favorites however because they feel so speedy, tight and concise compared to the 16-bit and up "classic-mega" entries.

I thought MM8 had a few things going against it at that time. Remember this was made at a time when 3d was all the rage at the time, so the audience did not take too big of a liking to anything 2d. And aside for being the 8th in the series, which people were getting tired of, it was also released at around the same time as X4. Which the X series in itself took the mantle of being the premier mega man experience ever since X1 debut. X4 also had the same issues as MM8 but it was able to at least release two more X-series games on the console before jumping into 3d. Speaking of 3d, did anyone ever play MM Legends? Seems like a very polarizing game in the series. I have not played it so can't comment much else on that but that game also released a short time later after MM8/MMX4.

[ryu]

Speaking of 3d, did anyone ever play MM Legends? Seems like a very polarizing game in the series.

I thought it was a fun RPG adventure, but I don't mind anime and non-standard control schemes. I suppose you can say the game demands some amount of tolerance towards these from its player.

[NYN]

Dude was this close to flipping Asimov the bird and icing a motherfucker at the end of 7.

Compuuute.

There is a slight change to the ending. In the Japanese version, after Dr. Wily tells Rockman that robots cannot harm humans, Rockman stops charging his Buster and remains silent.

Most obedient robot hero sets back to default house metal slave Rock, in line with superior 19XX society conventions. Learn and upgrade, now bow blue helmet to your superior opponent. Hai!

In the English translation, the silence is replaced by a threat to kill Wily, although the text speed was not changed.

'90s Gangsta Rap ref to bust a Cap in this Com, yo.

[Lander]

Compuuute.

It's the Super Robot Boy version of Kirby's angry eyebrows

I suppose you could also headcanon it as Dr. Light redesigning him between games; Mk7 was a bit close to the bone, best play it safe so cartoon NATO doesn't pass sanction!

There was also a Zero chapter that i liked, for PS2 but i don't remember the name, but Mega Man wasn't the main character.

Are you thinking of X7? That one has X take a backseat until halfway-ish so Zero and Axel can get some spotlight.

It also features the worst boss in series history

[Austin]

It also features the worst everything in series history

Fixed

[BrianC]

It also features the worst boss in series history

Burn to the ground!

[Sumez]

I always assumed that MM8 gets a lot of hate because the people who hate it are people who liked the MM gameplay on NES, but then as soon as MM7, MM&BASS, and MM8 came out, they didn't like the whole toy/cute style setting because it was not cool enough for them.

I remember enjoying MM8 quite a lot back when I first got it. It's different from the classic games, but it has its own charm.
But man, replaying Rockman & Forte only a few years back, it became apparent to me how tedious the level design is in that game. It just keeps stopping you in your tracks on nearly every single stage, and it's not particularly enjoyable. I wonder how well MM8 will perform on a revisit with less rose tinted glasses. At the time, just getting a new classic Mega Man was enough to get me excited.

I did check out the soundtrack just to refresh my memories after it got praised here, and I have to admit that's some of the worst garbage I've ever heard. The style is cool, but the instrumentation is insane - that synthetic trumpet or whatever it is will haunt my nightmares. Each to their own I guess, but I definitely can't stomach it XD