1987 was a big year for gaming. The NES had become the must-have item for kids and teens everywhere, ensuring that the hobby of video games was here to stay after the crash in 1983 had nearly killed it off for good. It was this year that some of gaming's most memorable franchises were born. Double Dragon stormed the arcades. Players were thrust into a world of adventure The Legend of Zelda. Japanese gamers were introduced to stealth-based gameplay with Meta Gear. Final Fantasy was far from Square's last game, saving the company from closing it's doors. Contra wowed us with it's thrilling run 'n gun action and we experienced the joys and frustration of taking on Dracula and his minions in Castlevania. No matter what side of the pond you lived on, 1987 was a fantastic time to be a gamer.
 |
| The Japanese box art set a trend for the rest of the series box art in Japan. |
 |
| In the words of the Angry Video Game Nerd "What Were they thinking?!" |
In December of that same year, another star stepped out into the gaming world. Rock, bearing the look of a human boy was actually a robot, the second one created by advance robotics expert Dr. Thomas Light. Originally intended to function as a lab assistant, Rock's life was changed forever when Dr. Albert Wily stole the six industrial robots that Dr. Light built, reprogrammed them and sent them to cause chaos and destruction across the land in his quest to dominate the world, because that's just what mad scientists do. Rock would not stand for this and much to Dr. Light's surprise, he volunteered to stop Dr. Wily and the reprogrammed robots. But being a mere lab assistant, he couldn't do it as he was. Dr. Light made the difficult decision to change Rock into a super robot, outfitting him with an arm cannon and blue armor. Thus Rock was reborn as Rockman, or Mega Man for those of us that live in America and Europe.
 |
| [Mega Man, NES] Being able to select your stage was a huge deal at the time and went on to become a series staple. |
 |
| [Mega Man 3, NES] The debut of Proto Man. I dare you to find a character with a more awesome whistle. |
Releasing in Japan on December 17 of 1987, Mega Man was quite the innovative game at the time. After hitting the start button, the player was presented with a stage select screen where six levels could be accessed from the get go in any order of their choosing. Most action and platforming games of that era set the player on a predetermined course throughout the whole game, so having this degree of freedom was quite refreshing. Once players made it through the Robot Master's level, they would do battle with him. Should they emerge victorious, they would get his weapon to use on another Robot Master. Mega Man followed the rules of the classic hand game Rock-Paper-Scissors, in which one element, no matter how strong, is always weak to something else. The old hand game is partially where Rock got has name from and also from the genre of Rock & Roll music since the audio would play a heavy part in the gameplay.
 |
| [Mega Man X, SNES] X, the second Mega Man. |
 |
| [Mega Man V, GB] The GB had five of it's own Mega Man games. Many site the fifth one as the pinnacle of the lot. |
While you could defeat all of the bosses with Mega Man's default weapon, having a boss's weakness weapon made the pace of the battle go by a lot more quickly. But if you wanted to take on the boss with just Mega Man's Mega Buster, the game never prevented you from doing so. On some of the more difficult bosses like Elec Man, this made for a great self imposed challenge. Again, it was form of freedom that very few games offered in the 1980s.
When the time came to release Mega Man in America, Capcom USA didn't think the character's anime look would go over so well with western gamers. The art department quickly whipped up their own over in a little over six hours. The results were less than stellar and many agree that the original Mega Man has some of the worst box art in the history of video games. Mega Man looks nothing like a boy robot, looking like a middle aged man with a completely wrong color scheme. This look for the character would go on to be labeled as Bad Box Art Mega Man. They say you can't judge a book by it's cover and while there is certainly some truth to that, Mega Man's less than appealing North American box art could have been one of the reasons why it didn't get the attention it truly deserved. Games in this era were full of horrendous box art, but Mega Man was the undisputed king.
 |
| [Mega Man 7, SNES] Despite not being an 8-bit game and using bigger sprites, this is still one of the best games in the series. |
 |
| [Mega Man 9, Various] After being MIA for 10 years, classic Mega Man returned. |
Those that weren't deterred by Mega Man's appalling box art would experience one of the finest action platformers on the NES, filled with imaginative bosses, crafty weapons, a wonderful soundtrack and one of the most brutally difficult adventures they'd ever comes across. The first Mega Man game set the stage for much to come. Great music, weapons and all that jazz and another prominent feature that has endured throughout the series and it's numerous spin-offs would be it's high difficulty, which demands a great deal of skill from players. Jumps need to be calculated properly, you have to know when to shoot, when to dodge, when to move left and when to move right, and when to stop and when to go. It may all sound simple, but the slightest wrong move could send you into a pit, into a bed of spikes or get you a game over. To this day, the original Mega Man is still viewed as one of the toughest games in the series. But with practice and patience, you can make the most challenging obstacles look easy. There are players today that used to struggle with the Yellow Devil boss at the end of Dr. Wily Stage 1 that can defeat him with taking little to no damage.
 |
| [Mega Man X4, PS-SAT] In the fourth X game, Zero became a fully playable character. |
 |
| [Mega Man Zero, GBA] The Zero series has a story line that's even darker than the X series. These games are also even harder. |
Mega Man 2 was released in Japan on December 24, 1988 and in 1989 in USA and PAL regions. This is the game that catapulted Mega Man to superstar status, adding more levels, more bosses and more weapons to an already established formula. Metal Man, Wood Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man and the rest of Mega Man 2's Robot Masters are some of the most fondly remembered bosses in video games and get the most fan art of all of the Robot Master bosses. Due to it's high production values, Mega Man 2 is considered by many to be the greatest Mega Man game and one of the best games of all-time.
Mega Man 3 was even bigger than the previous game and at 19 levels, it's the longest game in the Classic series. In one game, Capcom brought a lot to the table. Mega Man gained the ability to slide, allowing for faster travel, access to tight spaces and making it a little easier to evade enemies. Rush injected some life into Mega Man's support items and came in three different forms, Rush Coil, Rush Jet and Rush Marine. But the biggest addition to the game was Break Man, who would later be known as Proto Man. This mysterious masked character always marked his appearance by his signature whistle. He would often engage Mega Man in combat for a brief period and then leave. This left players wondering about the character's true nature, which was revealed in the game's surprise ending. Not only did Dr. Light make Proto Man, he was also Mega Man's brother.
Capcom would continue on with the Classic Mega Man series on the consoles up to Mega Man 6. The series, while still good, was growing stale. The SNES had been out for two years by this point and fans were wondering when Mega Man was going to appear on Nintendo's 16-bit console. A Mega Man did grace the 16-bit platform, and while he wasn't the ones fans were expecting, he was the one it needed.
Mega Man X released in North America on January 19, 1994. This new Mega Man was often referred to as X, a variable representing his potential, which is limitless. X had a few things in common with the original Mega Man. Being blue, having a buster and being able to copy weapons, but despite those similarities, X was a completely different animal. Not only did X look different from his predecessor, he played different, too. X could cling to walls, dash and has a power output that is far and away above his predecessor. X could also upgrade his systems by finding capsules that Dr. Light had hidden in case the Earth was in jeopardy. Such power-ups included an enhanced X-Buster that allowed X to charge up his default X-Buster and all of his special weapons.
In many ways, Mega Man X was a much darker and edgier game than it's Classic counterpart. This was largely reflected in it's story. In the Classic Mega Man series, there was some conflict between humans and robots, sure, but in the X series, it's escalated into a grand scale war. This is largely due to robots, reploids as they care called in this series, possessing highly advanced AI that allows them to think and make their own decisions. Unfortunately due to a virus, these reploids turn maverick and rebel against humanity, allying themselves with Sigma, the former leader of the Maverick Hunters. Gone are all of the "Man" names from the bosses. These Mavericks were primarily based off of creatures from the animal kingdom. Storm Eagle was design off the bird of the same name, Spark Mandrill was a baboon, Boomer Kuwanger was a type of beetle, and Sting Chameleon was well, a chameleon. There aren't nearly as many goofy looking Mavericks as there are Robot Masters and even something like an Octopus can look pretty threatening in the X games.
 |
| In 2010, Udon released Hitoshi Ariga's popular Mega Man Megamix in English. |
Mega Man X was the first spin-off of the Mega Man franchise and provided a jolt that the series was in desperate need of. Like the Classic Mega Man series, Capcom would produce numerous sequels to the X series adding new characters and new mechanics to the formula it already had. The X series would close out with Mega Man X8 but another spin-off was born in Mega Man Zero. In this series (which is even more difficult than the X titles), Zero is the main character and many of the same mechanics from the X games apply such as dashing, and wall jumping. With four games to it's name the Zero series was highly consistent and had a conclusive ending. It and the Battle Network series are the only two Mega Man series to achieve this.
The Mega Man games are often accused of milking. Once Capcom gets a gameplay style set, they pretty much run with it, tweaking it here and there and making some alterations when they see fit. The same can be said for it's other franchises like Street Fighter and Resident Evil. Yet, for the series repetitive nature, it's one fans have always come back to. Getting a weapon, using it on another boss, learning his pattern or getting his level theme stuck in his head to the point that you hum it at work are all things that have helped make Mega Man such a roaring success.
 |
| [Street Fighter X Mega Man, PC] Mega Man takes on numerous characters from the Street Fighter series. His toughest battle yet? |
Happy 25th birthday, Mega Man. Keep fighting for everlasting peace!
Part 2 - We're the Robots: My 25 Fav Robot Masters
Part 3 - Game Art #50: Mega Man 25th Anniversary Gallery
Part 4 - Get Equipped: The Best Weapons
No comments:
Post a Comment