Did you know that the Mega Man 11 Demo actually has a game over screen? Well, it does. I've seen it. More times, than I'd care to admit.
Originally, I didn't plan on touching Mega Man 11 until the release date of October 2nd, which is fast approaching. But I noticed one of my friends online was playing the Mega Man 11 Demo, something I didn't even know was a thing. Normally, I skip demos of games I'm looking forward to but I just couldn't help myself this time. Mega Man 11 is the first new Mega Man game in years so I guess I couldn't wait until October to try a slice.
Oh, and demo impressions. I have them.
I dig Mega Man's abilities that let him temporarily speed up and slow down time, though they will take some getting used to. I do like Mega Man's look in this game. He's always had a simple, yet appealing design. The extra lining on his upper body and boots is a very nice tough and reminds me of his Super Smash Bros. model. As much as I enjoy 8-bit Mega Man, I'm glad to see Capcom once again take the character out of that era as far as looks go. His movement animation looks very stiff and I suspect this was to keep it more in line with the 8-bit games. The last time Mega Man was given more fluid movement (Mega Man 8), people complained. The Blue Bomber looks pretty dang good in HD and having Rush Coil on call at the press of a button is the best thing ever.
For all my struggling with Block Man's stage (as of this writing, I still haven't finished it), it is a pretty enjoyable level that incorporates a block gimmick quite well. Falling blocks over bottomless pits force you to time your jumps carefully, conveyor bets in horizontal as well as vertical sections further server to spice things up and the very unexpected return of one of my most hated enemies from the original Mega Man, the Flying Shell, make for a pretty challenging level. This was the level that was shown off during the reveal trailer but demo was still the most I'd seen of it. Beyond the demo, however, I don't know much about Mega Man 11 and that's the way I wanna keep it until October.
When Mega Man 9 and 10 released, I knew pretty much everything about those games before I even played them. I knew what each level was like, what Robot Master was weak to what weapons, what the entire soundtrack was like for both games. I made the mistake of watching playthroughs for both games on YouTube thus spoiling myself of discovering the games on my own. Sure, playing a game is different from watching someone play it, but that whole sense of discovering the games on my own was completely lost. This (for the most part) was not the case when I played Mega Man 1-6 as a kid and 7 and 8 as a teenager.
The first Mega Man game I ever played was Mega Man 2 and if I was a cocky kid that that he was hot stuff back in 1989, that game would have served as massive ego check. Time and time again, Mega Man 2 would wreck me. I didn't know what Robot Master I should go to first, who was weak against what. Heck, I didn't even know you could switch to a Robot Master's weapon after you beat him! It was a real learning experience for me and while I got wrecked over and over, I had a lot of fun (at least until I reached Boobeam Trap. That boss sucks). When I got Mega Man 3 the following year, I had to learn to get good all over again. This time, I had Nintendo Power to help with the Robot Master weakness, but that did me little good when I couldn't even get to less than half of the bosses. Like a shonen character that keeps getting knocked down, I kept rising back up for more. Having gotten so much better at Mega Man 3 and having played the game for years, it is now my favorite game of the entire franchise.
With Mega Man 11, I have a chance to experience a Mega Man game as if I were a kid again. I have been avoiding info like the plague. The only Robot Masters I know of are Block Man and Torch Man. The only stage I've seen is Block Man's and I haven't even seen all of it because I keep dying on the second mini boss.What's the rest of the soundtrack like? What are the other weapons? I don't have a clue and that has me grinning like an idiot that just got a kiss from his crush. Mega Man 11 is my chance to play a Mega Man game (mostly) blind for the first time in a very long time. I'm going to find out who is weak to what on my own. I'm going to pick my own path to Dr. Wily. And arguably most important of all, I'm gonna find out just how sick the beats are of Mega Man 11 through gameplay and not someone's YouTube playthrough. Block Man's theme is a banger and I'm drooling over the thought of what the rest of the music sounds like.
If Mega Man 11 is going to be your first Meg Man game, I'm very happy for you. The best advice I could give you is to play the game on your own for a while with no help. Self discovery is one of the most gratifying things about a Mega Man game and video games in general. October 2nd is gonna rock. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go off and lick my wounds because my failure to beat the Mega Man 11 demo still haunts me.
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