System: NES
Genre: Action/Platformer
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Virtual Console Release: USA Aug 18, 2008 / EUR Jun 22, 2007 / JPN Jul 29, 2008
Original Release: USA Dec 1987 / EUR May 1990 / JPN Dec 17, 1987
Cost: 500 points
Players: 1
Rated: E for Everyone
Controllers Supported: Wii Remote, Classic, GameCube
The original Mega Man game is a title that is unfortunately overshadowed by it's superior successors. Despite being the game that introduced the world to the Blue Bomber, many didn't even realize that he existed until Mega Man 2 arrived. Even so, without the first Mega Man game, that much celebrated sequel along with the numerous spinoffs, would never be. Mega Man introduced the majority of the series' staples, chief among these being memorable tunes, non-liner gameplay, precision platforming and a difficulty that may very well have been responsible for introducing children the world over to expletives.
In the year 200X, Dr. Wily, like all mad scientists, dreams of world domination. To attain this, he steals the robots of Dr. Light, reprograms them and sends them off to wreck all kinds of havoc across the land. Rock, Dr. Lights lab assistant volunteers to go after the rampaging machine men and put and end to Dr. Wily's mad ambitions. To this end, Dr. Light makes the tough decision to modify Rock, giving him combat abilities to stand a chance against such powerful odds. Thus the super fighting robot, Mega Man is born (or Rockman if you live in the Land of the Rising Sun, or you just feel like calling him by his Japanese name).
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| Well, this fight isn't off to a very good start. |
Unlike a lot of other platform games of the '80s era, you're given some freedom in where you can go in Mega Man. The six robot masters, Bomb Man, Guts Man, Cut Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, and Fire Man can be disposed of in any order of your choosing. But like the announcer from Street Fighter Alpha 3 says "It all depends on your skill." To fight these androids, you have to get to them first, which can be an uphill battle in and of itself. A few of the robot masters will sustain good damage from Mega Man's default arm cannon, but more powerful foes like Elec Man will barely feel anything from it. For this reason (and because some bosses are tougher than others) a rock/paper/scissors formula has firmly been implemented. In other words, all six of these robots are vulnerable to another one's weapon. Although if you're confident or you're just looking for a challenge, the game doesn't force you to find the weakness chain. It's this kind of flexibility that really helped Mega Man stand out at the time.
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| The Thunder Beam will undoubtedly be your favorite toy. |
Even though it's the first game in the series, the original Mega Man game boasts some very useful weapons Elec Man's Thunder Beam shoots off in three different directions in one shot and packs a punch to boot. Ice Man's Ice Slasher can stop enemies in their tracks, Cut Man's Rolling Cutter comes back to you like a boomerang, and Guts Man's Super Arm allows you to pick up certain blocks and hurl them at robotic mooks. The ever-useful Magnet Beam is one of the best adapter items in the history of Mega Man games, creating platforms to elevate Mega Man to higher ground. There's really not a dud in the lot. Even Fire Man's Fire Storm and Bomb Man's Hyper Bomb have their uses.
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One of the series' biggest annoyances all started
with the very first Mega Man game. |
Mega Man games have a reputation for being rather difficult and this can be traced all the way to the series' first entry. Many fans believe that even by today's standards that the first Mega Man game is no cake walk. You may have heard of a certain boss in the first Dr. Wily stage that is a brick wall to many players, but let's be real here, he's far from being the only hurdle keeping you from reaching everlasting peace. Some of the robot master levels are absolutely brutal. Guts Man's stage, while shorter than most, has an excruciatingly painful platform section that takes place on moving platforms over a bottomless pit. These moving platforms move across a line that has drop points that require perfect timing to make it to the next one. Jump too soon or not at all and you're dead. Ice Man's stage is even worse. You're Platforming over a bottomless pit over moving, shooting platforms called Foot Holders. These Foot Holders are about as reliable as a sheet of thin ice supporting the weight of an army of sumo wrestlers. It's not that they break, but it's easily possible to have one of them shoot you and knock you into the abyss. And if that doesn't happen, you can glitch clean through them and die. Unless you're some kind of masochist, going through Ice Man's stage without the Magnet Beam is not recommended.
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The Magnet Beam is in Elec Man's stage. You can't
miss it. No, really, you can't miss it, because if you do,
you won't be able to pass the first Wily stage. |
It may not have received as much praise as Mega Man 2's score, but the original Mega Man does house some very catchy tunes. As frustrating as Guts Man's stage is, it has one of the best themes in the game. Fire Man's stage is pretty hectic and his theme captures what it would feel like to be surrounded by blistering flames and lava at all times. Bomb Man has one of the most underrated songs in the whole series. It's a slower theme that goes well with a stage that's easier than the others.
For 500 points, Mega Man is quite a bargan. Sure, most of the sequels are better games, but this one is still worth checking out, though the difficluty may turn off some. It's harder than the games that came after it since there are no E Tanks but the Virtual Console version does make things a bit easier with being able to save. Mega Man fans and those looking for a game that requires a fair amount of skill should download this without hesitation.
Box Art Disaster
Like many video games in the 1980s, Mega Man's American box art was radically different from it's Japanese counterpart. It was thought that Mega Man's anime look wouldn't be all that popular in the West (which is ironic when one considers how huge anime is in America now) so Capcom USA's art department scrambled to come up with a new cover. The end result was a character that looked nothing like his in-game sprite, instead resembling a middle aged man with a bizarre blue and yellow color shceme, sporting a hand blaster. Mega Man's American box art is widely regarded as some of the ugliest video game box art in the history of gaming. And yet as awful as it was, Capcom payed homage to it when Mega Man 9 released with T-shirts featuring retro American-ized Mega Man artwork. Mega Man 10 received similar artwork upon it's release.
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