Mega Man 7

"Jump, slide, jump! Jump, slide, jump! Oh, and shoot ..."

Yes! Capcom has finally decided to bring over the classic series to the SNES, after what seemed like centuries they had decided to ditch the NES for the more upgraded system and fans of the Blue Bomber could not be happier. The question is was the transition from the NES to the SNES a good one? I can honestly answer that with a big, fat yes. Mega Man now was into the 16-bit era and he looked just as good as one could have imagined. The game play was classic Mega Man in every sense of the word; you would go through the levels running, sliding, charging, and shooting in the quest to put together everlasting peace!

MM7 takes place right after the events of MM6, Wily has been put in prison for his fiendish crimes and the world was yet again at peace... or so it seemed. What was unknown to Mega Man is that Dr. Wily had created four robots that, if not woken up for six months would awake from their sleep and look for their master. The Blue Bomber eventually gets word that all of this is going on and sets out to stop them before they can free Wily. So yeah, this is pretty much the storyline for Mega Man 7. It isn't anything to drop your jaw over, but then again is there ever a Mega Man game where you'll do that? I don't think so. You'll also encounter another person who will play a pivotal role in the game, Bass. He was the creation of Dr. Wily and in a word is an exact copy of our Blue Bomber; he even comes complete with a dog sidekick, Treble. That cunning Dr. Wily just won't quit will he?

New characters aside MM7 manages to take the usual things we see in Mega Man games but give them a cool little tweak. For example, on the boss select screen you usually have all eight Robot Master's to choose from right at the start, but this time you are only allowed to choose four... initially. Once you defeat those four you'll have access to another four, to make up the eight. To continue with the innovations Dr. Light had built a new robot that assisted Mega Man. His name was Auto and he ran a shop that allows you to buy different upgrades if you had enough bolts. These bolts could be found in every level by destroying an enemy, very useful and truly one of the better things about the game.

As far as game play was concerned MM7 had everything you would come to expect. Mega Man could run, jump, shoot, slide, and charge his way through levels and at the end of every one you would fight a Robot Master who guarded the area. The Robot Masters in the game had name ranging from Freeze Man to Turbo Man; none of them were really one of those off the wall ones we usually saw in prior titles (Top Man). All of them had a certain weakness that you are able to exploit and they would do more damage if you hit them with it than by using your Mega Buster or some other weapon. And unlike the X series, which was more focused on action, this game stayed more true to the platforming genre. You'll be constantly jumping through many platforms, enemies, etc. while having a balance between it and shooting.

One of the biggest trademarks of the Mega Man series is its difficulty, and MM7 is kind of lacking in this area. There's nothing in the levels or Robot Master's that will challenge you to the point of dieing many times. This is somewhat saddening when you take into account how hard the rest of the titles have been, but at the same time is a plus for those new to the series. All of this said, there is one glaring exception to the rule and that would be Dr. Wily. The infamous scientist is one of the hardest final bosses you'll run across, it's like he had someone helping him learn the art of fighting during his time in prison. Looking at length this game pretty much ranks along with the other games. You have eight Robot Master's and then Dr. Wily's arena to conquer. This shouldn't take you to long and due to the overall difficulty, or lack thereof, it could seem shorter than usual.

Now, with a new console comes a new look from graphics. Thankfully, Mega Man and co. looks sexier than ever in-game. The sprites are smooth, feature plenty more detail than the NES counterparts. He features a very distinctive look than before, his facial animations give him that little spark of personality, and the mouth movements he and other characters have are a nice touch. Most of the graphics are very vibrant and filled with a more advanced, futuristic look that along with the backgrounds to give levels certain depth all makes for a nice little upgrade from 8-bit to 16-bit. Musically MM7 isn't the best one, but does have plenty of noteworthy tracks. With a better sound chip integrated into the SNES the songs are not only longer but don't have as many blips and blops as the old ones did. In fact, it has more of a rock type sound as opposed to more techno-ish stuff.

All in all this is a more than welcome addition to the Mega Man series. Capcom finally decided to give us a new, great, title within the classic realm. New characters, better looking characters, refined game play, and plenty of innovations make this a choice game to play. This is the best 16-bit Mega Man you're going to get and thankfully it managed to uphold the awesome quality we've come to love!

Final Score: 8.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/04, Updated 05/30/06