Mega Man

"It may be cheap at times, but it's still a great game!"

I am a die-hard, no-doubt-about-it, true-blue Mega Man fanboy, and I can honestly say that I have played most of the Mega Man games ever released (even the Japanese Rock Man and Forte for the Super Famicom). So I find it fitting for my first Mega Man review to be a review of the game that started the craze, Mega Man itself. I'm so glad Capcom didn't go with the formula they went with in the first game for the rest of the series, or else I'm sure the series wouldn't have sold nearly as well.

But that's not to say that the first Mega Man is horrible. In fact, it's far, far from it.

First off, Mega Man 1 is the only game in the ENTIRE series to have only six Robot Masters (the rest have eight, and in the case of the Battle Network series, even more). Second, it's the only game in the series to have a scoring system (it's pointless! I would have understood if every 50000 points or so, you got an extra life, but no!). And the third and most glaring difference: there's no password or save feature. This means you either have to beat it your first go-round, or don't beat it at all. However, when you look past this, and the couple of cheap moments this game throws at you, what you're left with is a solid, innovative platformer-shooter cross that, in it's own strange, special way, revolutionized the genre forever.

Now you know why I hate working in groups of two...

The storyline of Mega Man, you ask? Not much. The basic plot is this: Dr. Wright (typo? It's LIGHT in the other games!) and Dr. Wily, two partner scientists, created the first humanoid robot, named Rock (we sooner find out that Rock ISN'T the first, but let's not spoil that for the cavemen, shall we?). Rock was designed for basic household chores around the lab. Psyched about their success, the two doctors created a sister robot for Rock, named Roll (Rock... Roll... get it?), as well as six other robots designed for industrial work in all its forms. For quite awhile, these robots labored away peacefully, performing only the tasks they were designed to do.

But one day... that day no one likes to talk about... Dr. Wily went insane (gee, who didn't see that coming) and reprogrammed the six industrial robots to turn on their human masters and generally wreak havoc upon the world as we know it. Seeing Rock and Roll as useless, he left them behind.

Big mistake.

For some reason I'm sure none of use will ever be able to decipher, Dr. Wright (Light) saw potential in Rock, and converted him into a fighting robot, who he called Mega Man (or Rock Man for all you Japanese out there). Equipped with a plasma cannon on his arm also capable of downloading the basic combat data of the six industrial robots, Mega (Rock) Man sets out to destroy said robots and bring the genius behind it all to justice.

So... yeah. Simple ''evil-scientist-wants-to-rule/destroy-world-now-you-must-save-it'' plot. Generic, yes, but it's not like it has any effect on the gameplay.

Just what IS Cut Man's stage supposed to be?

Graphics in Mega Man were superior at the time. Sprites were large and detailed (just look at those teeth on the helicopter guys!), and Mega Man himself was a work of art all alone. I mean, if you let him stand still, Mega Man blinks! I'd like to see Mario try that. The robot masters are also unique... in their own strange, interesting ways (I mean, come on, Ice Man's a robotic Eskimo!)

Level graphics... well, they're a mixed bag. Some levels (ex. Guts Man) had a lot of time put into them (you can see crumbling cliffs and barricaded caves!), but others, like Cut Man (see tagline) look like they were slopped together in about five minutes (I mean, when was the last time you traveled through a blue void on garbled green and red blocks?).

Well, at least we have Mega Man 2 to thank for the complete turn around.

If only they put lyrics to these songs!

Soundwise, Mega Man is a masterpiece, and even the creator of Mega Man himself said that (one of the key features Mega Man was to be known for was its superior music quality). Some music, like Cut Man, will stick in your head for days. In fact, the only music I really didn't like was the boss theme. I just couldn't follow it.

Sound effect wise, it's not bad, either. You don't make a long, drawn out ''blooooooo'' sound when you jump, but a cool feature is that when you land, your shoes make a metallic ''clank'' sound. When you shoot enemies, you can hear the bullets tearing through their tough metal exteriors. It's pleasing to hear the Robot Master you just killed get blown to pieces, too.

WEAPONS?! In a PLATFORMER?!?! After I faint, make sure to wake me up, okay?

That's right. Mega Man is, in no way, shape, or form, your traditional, run, jump, and bounce-on-goombahs platforming adventure. This game is a combination of tight jumping and fast-and-furious shooting. Thankfully, this is all accented by the most responsive controls I've seen in a video game to date. Use A button to jump, B to fire. It's THAT simple! And Capcom made it work! YAY!

When you start the game, you are presented with a screen with six boxes; inside each is a picture of one of the robot masters you are to fight during your adventure. Simply highlight a box, hit Start, and you're on your way to kill the selected Robot Master!

But wait, you may say. Aren't platformers linear, as in ''go-from-level-1-to-level-2-to-level-3-etc.'' fashion? 'Tis true, but not in Mega Man's case. In this game, you can complete the levels in any order you wish. This allows you to customize the difficulty level, so experienced players can start with tough stages like Fire Man's while novices can begin with mellow stages like Cut Man's.

But, the level system isn't as non-linear as you may think. You see, you start off with your basic Arm Cannon. This gun is good for your all-around robot bashing, but against most Robot Masters, you may as well be shooting peas through a broken straw. But, do not worry, as there is a solution! Each time you kill a Robot Master, you gain a slightly toned-down version of their main weapon (for example, you get Rolling Cutters from Cut Man, a toned down version of the scissor headdress that he tries to kill you with). This wouldn't be much different, if the robot masters weren't weak to another special weapon of yours. That's right. Each robot master has a weakness, and it lies in one of your special weapons. Some weaknesses are obvious (let's see, if you have two robot masters, one fire-based and one ice-based, just what would kill that fire-based one?), while others rely on trial and error (just WHAT kills a midget-guy with scissors on his head?!)

But that's not to say this game is without its flaws. At times, the game can be astoundingly cheap. For example, in Ice Man's level, there's a part with randomly-moving platforms with guns on the sides. These guns fire occasionally, and it's your job to get across these platforms safely. Problem is, you're above spikes or a pit, and you're often not in the right position to jump to the next platform. And, if you get shot, more likely than not you'll get knocked back far enough to fall down to your death. Though there's more places that are just as cheap, they're few and far between, so they shouldn't lead to a terrible amount of frustration. Most of the time, if you die, it's your fault.

So, all in all, Mega Man was one of the most innovative games to hit the NES in the late 1980's. It's also nice to know that the games got much, much better as time progressed (why people see Mega Man 6, 7, and 8 as so horrible, I'll never know...) Now the X series, on the other hand... that's a whole 'nother story, but let's not get too far into that

Should I Buy or Should I Rent?

This game was a rarity even in the era it was released (I can remember playing every other Mega Man game as a kid, but not this), so imagine how elusive it is now. Look on E-Bay, and as a last resort, download the ROM. But, if it was 1987, I'd say buy, BUY BUY!

THE MARILYN MONROE

Innovative
SUPERB music and sound effects.
In most places, the graphics are quite nice.
Spawned enough sequels, spinoffs, and sequels of spinoffs to shingle your house with (though I have yet to try such a feat)
It's Mega Man! C'mon, people!
Probably has the most responsive controls in a video game to date.
Challenging enough to keep you hooked, without getting frustrating (often).

THE MARILYN MANSON

In a couple of places, the graphics are not so great.
If this storyline ain't generic, I dunno what is.
Insanely cheap at times.
No password system.
Pales in comparison to just about every other Mega Man game to date (though it is superior to the late X games [no relation to the extreme sports competition])

Final Words

Mega Man will surely, without a doubt, proof-positive, go down as an icon in gaming history, and he has this game to thank for starting it all.

But Mega Man 2, well, that would show us what the Blue Bomber was truly capable of, and would be the main engine in the rocket that would blast him off to the world of video game stars.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/29/04