Mega Man 9 : A 2D side-scrolling action game inspired by the NES Mega Man games. Well, inspired to the point that even the graphical glitches have been mimicked as well.
Story : Dr. Light has been framed and Mega Man has to prove his innocence. There seems to be more dialogue in this game than in the Mega Man games that inspired it, though the cutscenes are all inconsequential anyways. Predictably, any attempt to shake up the plot is meaningless as just like all the Mega Man games on the NES, Dr. Wily is the real villain, though not as predictable is Dr. Light’s disdain for artificial life, much less the environment. You can skip all the cutscenes anyway.
This is a tricky review for me to write because Mega Man 9 feels like a game that was custom-tailored for me. I’m an adamant fan of the original Mega Man games, not so much for their ingenious storytelling but rather for their mostly exceptional gameplay. Likewise, I lean towards the earlier Mega Man games because the limitations of the original Nintendo system held back the artist’s original vision; I could enjoy the game without thinking that I was playing a terrible Astro Boy ripoff. Later attempts in the franchise to flesh the characters out or reinvent the franchise typically end in a series of anime clichés and contrived, predictable stories that were more frustrating than intriguing. How many times has Zero died?
Int’l Creations, the developers of Mega Man 9, know what makes the original games good but find other ways to bog down the concept. Their last attempt at the franchise was the modestly underrated Mega Man ZX Advent on the DS. That was a great game in the areas that a Mega Man game normally excels at: difficult stages that can be accomplished with practice, tough bosses with tricky patterns that players need study to defeat them, and interesting power-ups, in this case taking the form of the ability to transform into the previously mentioned boss characters. The problem was that they also added a very convoluted, text-ridden, boring and annoying storyline and strung the levels together with a useless hub and a barely-there Metroid-style need to backtrack to progress, both of which ruined the pace of the game. Despite all these issues, ZX Advent is a stellar game that comes highly recommended for platformer fanatics.
3 ½ stars
Okay, so I had to review another game to get a point across about Mega Man 9. Being that Mega Man 9 is supposed to mimic the 8-bit style of the original games, all that overworld nonsense and bad story is ripped out and you’re left with a straight platformer. If anything, you get the sense that the developers really studied the source material, because I could argue that the level design here is even sharper than in those past games. The powerups you obtain from bosses actually become useful throughout the game through carefully-conceived scenarios, and there are a handful of surprising stage ideas to throw veterans off guard. The bosses here can straight trample you if you’re not careful…or don’t have their weakness weapon. Speaking of which, the art direction here is equally bizarre, introducing you to the series’ trademark unorthodox enemy-robot-things with googly eyes. A flower robot presents one of the toughest battles in the game.
Like the past games, Mega Man 9 isn’t long when you know what you’re doing, and once you’ve gotten the hang of things, a play-through of the whole game should take about an hour. But for the Youtube video-posting speed runner type of gaming freaks, the option to run through the whole game or individual stages timed, along with some of the most absurd list of in-game achievements will give people something to brag about. And on top of that, the game is only $10, so say what you will about the developers going cheap with going for graphics and audio that would be considered cutting edge in 1985, but I prefer this than being flossed for $40-50 for certain re-releases like ohhhh…Kirby Super Star or Chrono Trigger on the DS.
If you like Mega Man games, your mind should already be made on whether or not you should buy this game, as it could very well be the best game in the entire series. If you haven’t, well you have to ask yourself whether or not you like to die, because if you step into this game, you are going to die and you are going to die often. But this is a good kind of death, one where you’ve progressed a bit further from the last time you died, and eventually your corpse is filled with a euphoric type of embalming fluid from the sense of satisfaction because you just beat Concrete Man with your regular gun. This is challenge, but it’s the right kind of challenge in a video game.
Pros : VERY creative boss ideas. Hornet Man? Galaxy Man? Jewel Man? Splash Woman? What inspires scientists to make such machines?
Cons : Admittedly, it is pretty lame that you have to pay to get extra difficulties.
4 ½ stars
And I do hope that some of the older developers take the same cue as Capcom when it comes to “updating” their franchises. Like say, for example, SONIC.
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