Currently Playing #7

Mega Man X2 (SNES)

With Mega Man's big 25th anniversary fast approaching, I've been spending lots of quality time playing his games. I downloaded X2 off the Virtual Console last week. One of my favorite X games, this one throws a lot more at you than the previous entry. I like the X-Hunters, but they show up pretty early on and their presence prevents you from getting much needed things like more Sub-Tanks and much coveted Heart Tanks. Thankfully, the dash/shoot glitch from the first Mega Man X is still in effect in this game and that made being Violen, Agile and Serges a bit easier since I had only collected one Heart Tank and one Sub Tank. I never liked fighting Zero so I always make sure I recover all of his parts. I'd like to get the Shoryuken this time. In all my years of playing X2, I've never had the pleasure of using that super cool extra.

Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

I'm at World 4, which is full of dreaded mine cart stages. Seriously, every level I've played has placed the Kongs in a mine cart and these levels are far more difficult than the ones in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. If there isn't some lunatic destroying parts of the track with bombs, it's a low ceiling that you have to duck to avoid an instant death. I let out a depressing sigh whenever I miss a Kong letter or a puzzle piece in these stages because it means I have to come back just to get them. In one stage, one of the Kong letters is placed right after you come out from a low ceiling and you have to jump right after that. Unlike puzzle pieces, any Kong letters have to be collected in one stage run. Ugghhh. Despite my gripes with World 4, I really am loving Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Mega Man Zero Collection (DS)

After attempting to go through the first Mega Man Zero, I'm amazed I finished all fours of these games years back. This game has repeatedly used me as it's punching bag. I eventually caved and switched to the Easy Scenario. I had no idea it would be this easy. When you start out, you're loaded with Cyber-Elves of every type. You have maxed increased vitality and all four Sub-Tanks from the get go. As an experienced Mega Man player, I should probably be ashamed for playing the game on easy, but I recall it took me longer to get through the Zero games than it did the X series and for the sake of playing through the whole series in a timely manner, Easy Scenario is a blessing for me. Someday I'll go back and play it on the default difficulty but for now, I'm loving the odds being heavily in my favor.

Mega Man Anniversary Collection (PS2)

It only seemed right to take this game off the shelf and go through a few titles. It isn't perfect with a few sound issues and syncing problems on Mega Man 8's FMVs, but it's still a great collection. I've gone through the original Mega Man with Navi Mode activated so I could play with the remixed music. I also played it on Easy so I could show my nieces the whole game. I already finished my original NES Mega Man cart over a year ago once legitimately so that's good enough for me. I also showed them some of Mega Man 7 and 8, which are some of my favorite Mega Man games. It's funny, these games get decried for not being 8-bit Mega Man games and not quite feeling the same as the first six titles. Can you guess what fans are whining about now? Now 8-bit Mega Man is old hat and should be allowed to evolve. Fandom is one fickle bunch.

I'm to the second set of Robot Masters and it took me a bit of time to get to them. I nearly used up all of my lives fighting Tengu Man because he kept knocking me into the pits with his attacks. And then I got a game over on Clown Man's level because of the first train section. Yeah, I lost a few lives on Frost Man's snowboarding sections but I did get through there pretty quickly. I'm probably gonna need those four extra lives that the shop provides.

Mega Man V (GB)

I just completed this on my Super Game Boy (yes, it still works). Even better it works with my Retro Duo, one of the better Famiclones out there. Mega Man V isn't my favorite of the GB Mega Man games (that honor goes to Mega Man IV), but it's still a very good game. I like the original robots, the Stardroids, and the upgrades you could get for the Mega Arm made it quite the valuable weapon. I do dislike Mega Man V's password system, which was carried over from Mega Man IV, ditching the grid system. Seriously, who's idea was that?