
Not quite as short and possibly more elaborate than the game deserves version:
"If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the game designers laugh maniacally and give each other high-fives every time you die." |
While we won't delve into the alarming psychological instability of a mac and cheese hater, it's safe to say that this trip down memory lane won't transform you into a fan of the blue bomber. In fact, this particular lane's innumerable traps, deadly spikes, disappearing platforms and mean-spirited robot elephants would almost certainly encourage a detour.
Mega Man 9 is tough. There's something sadistic about level design that steers you down the wrong path, secretly building up your confidence and arrogance, only to splatter you on some sobering spikes. If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the game designers laugh maniacally and give each other high-fives every time you die. They love it -- but so do you.
Capturing the "feel" of Mega Man's NES outings isn't simply a matter of faithfully reproducing the retro graphics, animation and inescapably catchy 8-bit music. Mega Man 9 does all of that wonderfully, by the way, but it also succeeds in capturing that ineffable quality of a series classic like Mega Man 2. It evokes frustration, the kind that makes you fling the controller, gnash your teeth and mutter obscenities under your breathe. Not even Capcom employees were immune to those feelings during E3.
"How can that be a good thing?" you ask, secretly annoyed by our prescient abilities. The answer, as pointed out earlier, is that Mega Man 9 is Mega Man. As in: Unexpected deaths; level memorization; challenging bosses and those annoying hardhat-wearing bastards who pop out at the most inconvenient times. It's infuriating alright, but it's the kind of boiling frustration that, more often than not, translates to another attempt at foiling the robot masters.
Just one more go, then I'll give up.
Alright, just one more.
And Mega Man 9 is just one more. Just one more old-fashioned leap across precariously placed platforms and through stuttering boss shutters. If you want it, and you'll know if you do, look for it on WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network later this year.













(Page 1) Reader Comments
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After playing MM9 on console of choice, you can:
A) Destroy a $39 Wiimote (and, hopefully, a window) by flinging it
B) Rupture a $39 Xbox Controller by punching into your own face with clenched fists
C) Obliterate a $49 DualShock3 with the fury of a thousand red-headed stepchildren hopped up on RC Cola and Sour Patch Kids 'til their cheek linings are raw.
Your choice!
I'm going to throw my DualShock at my 360 until it 3RoDs, then tourniquet That Thing That Lives Under My House with a Nunchuck.
But that 360 d-pad is so awful...
If you want a challenge try to beat Megaman Powered up! Automatic levels or try to beat it on hard with Oilman. Hard ain’t that hard with Megaman or some of the other characters but with Roll or Oilman is like playing in extreme difficulty.
Well this is my list of games for the rest of the year.
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shit... that came off gay...
*runs*
Megaman Powered up! is a great game I wish Capcom released Megaman 2 Powered Up! some time in the future.
:(
Press A to continue
Press B to escape
Press Z for surprise
Thank you Jack Thompson.
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...but with the HD sprites as found in SF2:HD?
I know I do!!!!
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I'll only be happy when Megaman X9 comes out and when a new platformer series starring a Megaman is started(or maybe if X goes furter than X9... X series is the best IMO).
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There a reason why games like this aren't made nowdays.
No, people are just used to piss-easy games with save-anywhere, that hold you by the hand, like some disneyland ride, so that developers can present their pretty cutscenes in order.
You're right about one thing, there's a reason games like that aren't made nowadays, it's because "gamers" have become crying little pussies. Oh, and because dying in a game these days means waiting for retarded FMV's and overly long pointless animations again and again. No wonder they invented quicksave anywhere.
"The average gamer wants a easy game. i would say they want a fair game."
Uh, what? you think the "average" Mega Man gamers wants capcom to put out some crap that is simple? Have you ever played a megaman game, (classic that is)
I for one, have been waiting for a return to something like this for YEARS. True, I may not have wanted the 8 bit style, but it is very welcomed.
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Is ineffable a word? Does it mean what I think it means? Also, what games ARE effable?
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It's one thing to make a game using low-tech "8-bit" graphics and 5 channel mono sound, but to actually design and program a game without skipping a 15-year-hiatus-inducing beat. That's impressive. I cannot wait for this game!
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Much like I doubt Europe will ever get Mega Man 6. Over 14 years later, it has yet to reach any PAL region on the planet.
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Sorry, I'm just a bitter composer/sound designer in the ndustry. ;_;
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Many of the NES Megaman games had cutscenes just like MM9 does. I don't know exactly how it processes said cutscenes, but they do have them.
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and I guess worst weapon ever is a tie between guts man's and top man's.
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