Mega Man 9

If you noticed, I didn't post a review of Mega Man 9 last week. Mostly because I played Rock Band 2 instead because Mega Man 9 is very hard. However I feel great joy when I play the 9th installment of the classic Capcom action platformer. To be honest I haven't touched an original Mega Man game since 1990 and Mega Man 3. I really had no desire to play a Mega Man game and fortunately the best of the series(2 and 3)were behind me. To come back to the series again after 18 years, it just brings me back to the days of only having one game to play on your console, and you had no choice but to play the fuck out of the game, and get really good. This concept is critical if you want to really enjoy Mega Man 9.

If you've played a MM game before you probably won't have any trouble learning how to play MM9. You run, you jump, and you shoot. There are 8 Robot Masters that need smashing, then after you defeat each one you gain their weapons. Overall, the weapons were kind of disappointing. I only found myself using 2 or 3 weapons regularly(of course, against the bosses I would use the weapon of choice), but the other weapons were either too slow to fire(Magma Man), or I didn't really have use for the weapon because of it's pattern(Plug Man). Rush, your trusty robot dog, returns as well to help you jump higher or fly over parts of the level if you choose to use him. They changed the way the Rush Jet flies though. Before, you had complete control and could fly him in any direction. Now he goes automatically in the direction he's facing, and you can only control his vertical movement which kind of sucks when your trying to fly through tight spaces, but I guess they did that to make it a little more challenging.

It's all about memorization and pixel perfect jumping. Some people like to belittle the fact that all you have to do is memorize the stages, and finish levels is a snap. I don't think it's that easy. You can know what's coming, but you still have to execute. The feeling you get once you finish a level is so much jubilation because it's so satisfying to hit your jumps that you had trouble with just a few minutes earlier. It's funny because I don't remember struggling this much with a Mega Man game other than the first one, so I walked into this feeling all cocky. However playing MM9 made me remember that it wasn't always easy, and I played a lot of 2 and 3 before they became like second nature. Plus I didn't have that jumping glitch that made MM3 a fucking cakewalk.

The look of the game was quite a risk for Capcom as well. It seems to have divided Mega Man fans because the developers decided to use NES technology and create a brand new game, but with 8-bit graphics and sound. This was an outrage to some people. With the way games are now, why would you go back and use old technology? Imagine how great a current generation Mega Man game would look. They(the four people that made this game at Capcom) chose retro over current gen for fans like me. They knew that seeing an NES style Blue Bomber, mouth wide open while jumping, would appeal to old school gamers like myself. I won't even talk about the music though because no game, Mega Man or not, will ever touch Mega Man 2. If you're a graphics whore like Dibsy(he hated Mario Galaxy, what's wrong with him?) then you probably won't tolerate this game.

Mega Man 9 is total fan service, simple as that. The controls are still tight, the action is great, and Capcom has been on a roll farming out their classic franchises like Bionic Commando and Street Fighter. They seem to be doing right though unlike other game developers. They're not just doing complete re-hashes, but rather they're adding something new, whether it be new graphics or a completely new game. I would only recommend this game to fans of the series. Otherwise you'll probably try one stage and say, "Why would I want to subject myself to this?" It hurts so good. That's how I feel anyway.