Mega Man Miscellanies

[ryu]

that synthetic trumpet or whatever it is will haunt my nightmares

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJYvCHm3Ov4

I can see what you mean. As much as I like the soundtrack, outside of Frost Man's stage theme and the stage select theme I wouldn't listen to any of the songs on repeat outside of playing the game.

[Lemnear]

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

Can't remember, maybe is X8...no, my taste are weird so is probably X7

Why all this hatred for MM8? I like the music i posted, that electro-trumpet inspires me eras that no longer exist, melancholic in a way.
The OST of the stage select is super catchy

At this point, rather than saying which is your favorite, because de gustibus non disputandum est, which one do you think is the worst? X, not X, Spin-Off.

PS: I also like the two Megaman featured in the Capcom Arcade Stadium 2!

[Austin]

At this point, rather than saying which is your favorite, because de gustibus non disputandum est, which one do you think is the worst? X, not X, Spin-Off.

I’ll start.

Mega Man: Network Transmission (Game Cube).

[Air Master Burst]

X7, always and forever. Fuck X7 so hard.

Yeah, shit like Battle Chip Challenge and Dive are pure trash. And sure, I wasn't expecting a whole lot after the debacle that was X6.

But X7 hurts just to look at screenshots of.

[Sima Tuna]

X7 or X6.

I really dislike X6. Both as an unnecessary sequel to a finished story (which continued in the far superior MM Zero games) and because of the Nightmare mechanic. I don't know if I dislike donut boss in nightmare levels as much as BURN TO THE GROUND. A question for the ages.

[Sumez]

If you want to include spin-offs, there's no way I could give a concise answer. There are so many weird Mega Man spinoff games, including spinoffs of spinoffs, most of which I've never played, and many of which look pretty awful.

But it's always weird to me when people talk "mega man", and are implied to mean the collective army of related IPs, which all feel like really distinct experiences aimed towards rather different target audiences.
Only X and Zero really feel related to the original series at all, and I'd argue that Zero would feel a lot more distanced too, if the X series wasn't there to link the two. Additionally, when Mega Man X came out, how many people thought of it as a spin-off game? To me it came across like just the next chapter ("this is what Mega Man is like on the SUPER Nintendo!!") until they eventually came back and confused everyone with a Mega Man 7.
To me, "Mega Man" will always just be the original series and the X series.

With that in mind, even knowing that X6 and X7 are probably far worse, the game I dislike the most is by and far Mega Man X5. This was the game that made me realise that a Mega Man game even could be bad. Up until that point I was always eagerly anticipating new ones coming out, and I was really getting in gear for the PS1 generation, able to spawn some of the flashiest amazing 2D graphics that were putting the SNES to shame. And then I actually played X5, and it's the blandest garbage to ever come out of the Mega Man name . Or, well, it was at that point.

[BrianC]

Lots of MM spinoffs. Don't forget Mega Man Battle of the Network Stars.

[ryu]

I enjoyed all Mega Man games to some extend. Even X7 was not that bad to kill some time. But maybe I just forgot how bad the experience actually was and need to replay that one.

Edit: Wait. Command Mission was legit bad.

[Air Master Burst]

All this talk of obscure shitty Mega Man spinoffs makes me desperately want them to take a proper crack at Mega Man Soccer someday, but make it even zanier than Mario Strikers.

[tacoguy64]

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.

I always like the steam punk aesthetic of the game, but was not interested to try it at the time due to me not giving it a fair shot. I wanted fast paced action, lots of explosions in a mega man game and not a slower paced rpg. I still most like to think it was a competent, and possibly good game in its genre. Probably the same with most of the spinoffs.

Speaking of spinoffs, I really liked the Power Battles games. Such a great looking games, with awesome remixes of some classic songs. The fighting was fun, even if it was pretty easy, and even manage to expand upon some of the story of the X-series. Not bad for a spinoff.

[Lander]

Worst Mega Man game, eh. The measurably bad ones are going to draw a lot of ire regrdless, but to me the 'interestingly bad' entries are the solid ones that end up unremarkable or fall short of their potential.
So X7 applies, but not because it's the widely-lauded major clanger - instead because it put another nail in the coffin of future 3D Mega Man games.
If Capcom fucks up a good idea, it's very rare that they go back and try to salvage it, so the price of failure is steep. Metal Gear and Transformers got flashy character action games, but X and Zero didn't? Simply outrageous!

Anyway, Mega Man Zero 4. Mechanically it's just as tight as the rest of its subseries, but retreads old ground and settles into a design evolution that goes sideways instead of upward.
i.e. They added the Kirby glove, which is shorthand for we're all outta ideas coming from any studio that isn't HAL.
Everyone else always fall into the trap of hundreds of abilities! instead of making less of them that do more, which is a tiresome pattern to see repeated when Zero already has moveset and armor mechanics that could have been iterated instead.

Mega Man: Network Transmission (Game Cube).

Ah, true. Glad I made the most of that one during my saturday morning cartoon years; classic action with a chip system is a nifty idea, but boy did they fuck up balancing the RPG parts.
If I recall, MM starts out way weaker than in any of the traditional titles, so you have to spend a good chunk of the game getting your mega buster and health bar back up to par before it becomes fun.
And by that point you could have finished a couple of other, better, Mega Man games, so why bother?

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.

Yeah, Legends is an entertaining time, though very much its own bag. A post-post-apoc Armored Core dungeon crawler is out of character for the franchise, but full of robust early 3D charm.

And it holds up really well as a localization, I think; the characters are likeable, the jokes land, and the Bonnes are gold whenever they're onscreen. Does a nice job of propping up the dungeoning until 2 refines the gameplay into something legitimately tight.

[Sumez]

Anyway, Mega Man Zero 4. Mechanically it's just as tight as the rest of its subseries, but retreads old ground and settles into a design evolution that goes sideways instead of upward.
i.e. They added the Kirby glove, which is shorthand for we're all outta ideas coming from any studio that isn't HAL.
Everyone else always fall into the trap of hundreds of abilities! instead of making less of them that do more, which is a tiresome pattern to see repeated when Zero already has moveset and armor mechanics that could have been iterated instead.

Mega Man Zero 4 is easily the best of the Zero games tho

[Lander]

Mega Man Zero 4 is easily the best of the Zero games tho

But why tho

[Sumez]

Mega Man Zero 4 is easily the best of the Zero games tho

But why tho

viewtopic.php?p=1413538#p1413538

Tldr; more fun bosses, more interesting stages, no stupid element system

[XoPachi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwYxZ_ky2fY

[Arino]

Mega Man Zero 4 is easily the best of the Zero games tho

But why tho

viewtopic.php?p=1413538#p1413538

Tldr; more fun bosses, more interesting stages, no stupid element system

I think I've heard that a few times that 4 is the best. I still haven't played it. So far I have only beaten Zero 1 & 2 (on a GBA SP), which were great. I have the Zero collection for DS and the most recent one on Steam and PS4.

[Sumez]

If you think zero 1 and 2 aren't garbage you're in for a treat with the two actually decent ones

[Arino]

If you think zero 1 and 2 aren't garbage you're in for a treat with the two actually decent ones

lol

[tacoguy64]

If you think zero 1 and 2 aren't garbage you're in for a treat with the two actually decent ones

Zero 1&2 garbage? In what universe? They got their flaws for sure, but calling them garbage is crazy. At worst, i would say mediocre for Zero 1 since many of its ideas fell short, but the core jump, shoot and slash gameplay feels great, music is still good, and story is better than what they did with the X series. Which is not a good compliment but I feels like a strong part of the entire Zero series so it should be highlighted. Graphically, Zero 1 is the least good looking of the bunch. And i know some dont like the newer character art styles at the time, but i thought they looked great, especially Zero. And Zero 2 improves many aspects from the first game.

[Sumez]

I can accept mediocre, if you don't really want the stages and bosses to be particularly enjoyable. Ultimately, that's what I'd rate a game on, everything else is second fiddle.
Regardless, calling the music and story "good" is too much of a stretch for me. The story especially is such a god damn chore, people won't stop talking and I just want to shoot things. I'm not 7 and I don't have any interest in these sorts of cartoons. But then, the music sounds like this.

Graphically, I think all of them look very good.

[Austin]

I remember loving Zero 2 to the point of playing through it many times back to back after completing it. I remember enjoying Zero 3 but liking it a lot less than 2, and got Zero 4 but lost interest pretty quickly (I think because of level design that was less linear?). Can't comment on Zero 1 other than it being balls-hard, so I never made it anywhere. It's definitely a series I want to revisit to get a modern perspective on, it was 20 years ago for instance when I played a lot of Zero 2 and 3, then buying 4 right when it came out.

[Sima Tuna]

Zero 2 is a great game with some amazing boss fights.

[XoPachi]

The only Zero game I don't care for is the first one because of the tedious weapon leveling. But I think 3 and 4 are the highlights (yes, 2 is pretty great). The series is entirely too talkative though and I'm not much for "super serious business" gritty Mega Man. I think Zero 4 was the worst about the excessive exposition, but at least they only make you watch scenes once and then you never have to again for the rest of the cart's lifespan.
I think 2-4 are some massively strong games with a ton of depth.
3 and 4's weapon system with the priority table makes for a really fun skill ceiling. It's just a shame the game doesn't grade you for using it. And I wish it was a bit more open ended in some fashion because most people will generally do the same starters and strings, but it's a fun thing to learn and memorize that the game isn't up front about. I also appreciate the amount of levels.

[tacoguy64]

I can accept mediocre, if you don't really want the stages and bosses to be particularly enjoyable. Ultimately, that's what I'd rate a game on, everything else is second fiddle.
Regardless, calling the music and story "good" is too much of a stretch for me. The story especially is such a god damn chore, people won't stop talking and I just want to shoot things. I'm not 7 and I don't have any interest in these sorts of cartoons. But then, the music sounds like this.

Graphically, I think all of them look very good.

Oh man, i was thinking that was a good song in the game but you out here using it as your bad example, lol. All good. Just curious, which classic or X series OST is your favorite?

The only Zero game I don't care for is the first one because of the tedious weapon leveling. But I think 3 and 4 are the highlights (yes, 2 is pretty great). The series is entirely too talkative though and I'm not much for "super serious business" gritty Mega Man. I think Zero 4 was the worst about the excessive exposition, but at least they only make you watch scenes once and then you never have to again for the rest of the cart's lifespan.
I think 2-4 are some massively strong games with a ton of depth.
3 and 4's weapon system with the priority table makes for a really fun skill ceiling. It's just a shame the game doesn't grade you for using it. And I wish it was a bit more open ended in some fashion because most people will generally do the same starters and strings, but it's a fun thing to learn and memorize that the game isn't up front about. I also appreciate the amount of levels.

Agreed very much on the not being able to skip cutscenes. It is a major offense in any game, especially one that is a 2D platformer. At the very least, if the developers really want players to experience the story, it should be skip-able after seeing it once. This does make the zero series a bit harder to replay. I don't remember if you were able to skip cutscenes in the legacy zero/zx collections.

I'm not sure what was the worst part about Zero 1 for me, the awful leveling system, or the way they went about with the levels where everything is connected. It just wasnt well done in this game, they removed it from all the other Zero games. They tried big world again with the ZX series, but at least in those games you can morph into the other biometals which do play differently from the core Zero/X style.

I also have high regard for Zero 2/3/4. I lean more towards 3 but the other titles make a strong impression.

[Arino]

Oh right I still haven't played the two DS games yet either.

All I remember from Zero 1 & 2 (I guess it was Zero 1) is that I was ridiculously OP near the end. More OP than in any other Rockman game.

[XoPachi]

3 is my favorite for sure. And if you're over powered, play for EX skills. They make you commit to it by forcing you to stay A+ rank to obtain them. Using elves will instantly drop you to F. I think health increases will hit your score too. So if you want the full combo potential with crazy skills, you have to be balls to the walls.

[Arino]

Btw is the Zero collection uncut but in English? I remember something like the Zero games were censored on GBA outside Japan. Blood was removed and replaced with oil or something like that?

[ryu]

Btw is the Zero collection uncut but in English? I remember something like the Zero games were censored on GBA outside Japan. Blood was removed and replaced with oil or something like that?

I got the Japanese retail version and the games are in Japanese with the blood animations still in. Changing the language in game only affects the collection menu - the games are in Japanese regardless. No idea if changing the system language will affect the games itself (I forgot to test this).

[Lander]

viewtopic.php?p=1413538#p1413538

Tldr; more fun bosses, more interesting stages, no stupid element system

QED, nice

I have barely any memory of the bosses or stages, beyond finding the weather system to be gimmicky and inconvenient - probably due a series revisit on that front.

Never felt strongly about the element system either, since it's effectively traditional weaknesses but in a more abstract and less interesting form-factor.

3 is my favorite for sure. And if you're over powered, play for EX skills. They make you commit to it by forcing you to stay A+ rank to obtain them. Using elves will instantly drop you to F. I think health increases will hit your score too. So if you want the full combo potential with crazy skills, you have to be balls to the walls.

Yeah, the EX skills are one of the series' best ideas. Of the various ways to do difficulty modes, making the hard run a seamless opt-in that you can win tangible upgrades from is a great design.

It recalls a better version of the heavy-handed red / blue karma systems that got popular for a while; two exclusive upgrade paths predicated on how nice (read: willing to sacrifice adorable fairy for power up) you are, but without the awkward direct moralizing and binary ending that tended to accompany them.

[tacoguy64]

Oh right I still haven't played the two DS games yet either.

All I remember from Zero 1 & 2 (I guess it was Zero 1) is that I was ridiculously OP near the end. More OP than in any other Rockman game.

I wont go into a thorough review of both ZX games but I thought both games were again great in fundamental run/jump/shoot/slash gameplay, excellent in music, a step back in story, and mixed in the more metroid-vania approach they took this time around. ZXA improved upon its predecessors metroidvania design since you did get more transformation/abilities to explore with and a much better map layout than in ZX. They do repeat some of the same blunders they did in the Zero series when it came to the story like not being able to skip cut scenes. Though I dont remember if you can skip them after a first play through. Like it or not, ever since the X series, the story in these games have become more prominent, but that should not excuse them not being able to skip cut scenes and dialog. Overall I do recommend that fans of both X series and Zero series to give them a try, if any of what i said sounds appealing. The Zero/ZX legacy collection did a good job implementing the 2nd screen but it will never be as intuitive as playing it on the DS.