Mega Man 9 Review by Lissa Nesbitt (aka Bound4Blades)
My first and fondest video game memories are of my brother's Nintendo system back in the early 90s. He was a bloody ass about me ever playing 'his' machine but I was lucky enough to sneak in a few plays while he was at football practice. And since his video games were in the family room my mother and father never enforced his Nintendo-embargo against me.
He didn't have a lot of games but I do remember the one I liked the most. Mega Man 2.
It was such a cool game. You had a little blue space man who would blast robots, climb ladders, and defeat unique bosses. The first few levels are always a pain in the ass because you only ever start out with the normal weapon. After you beat a boss you got his weapon and could use it against another boss. It was a grandiose game of Scissor, Rock, Paper. Metal Man killed Wood Man. Wood man killed Air Man. So on. While I never did beat the game, it was still fun to play.
Sitting in the family room, losing time with the controller, hoping my brother didn't come back from footballing early. Those feelings came crashing back the instant I picked up my Wii controller and began playing Mega Man 9.
The makers of the game, Capcom, know how to service long time fans of the game like myself. They released the (officially titled) ninth Mega Man game in the identical style of the early Nintendo games. The game not only went back to its roots with the sounds and music, but also the weapons or lack there of. In the later Mega Man games you had the ability to charge your shots and slide. Both are mysteriously absent from the game making Mega Man 9 the most challenging Mega Man game since 2.
The story is exactly like every other ‘classic’ Mega Man game where Dr. Wiley is trying to take over the world. The twist (yeah right) is that Mega Man’s creator, Dr. Light, is being framed by Dr. Wiley and is being blamed for the latest robot rampage. Of course Dr. Wiley is ready to come out looking like a peach by offering to stop Dr. Light’s evil robots. And naturally Mega Man thinks something stinks so he goes off to blow up the big bad robots.
The robots this time around are not too different than the standard set. You have a fire robot, a stone robot (Concrete Man), and a water robot (Splash…. WOMAN?). Yes, this is the first Mega Man game to have a GIRL boss. And what else is more feminine than a Little Mermaid robot?
You wouldn’t believe the kinds of crud I found on Google Images when I did a search for Splash Woman. I did get pictures of the new boss, but not the kinds of pictures I wanted.
NOT why she’s called 'Splash Woman'
The bosses are as follows:
Tornado Man
Magma Man
Hornet Man
Jewel Man
Plug Man
Galaxy Man
Concrete Man
Splash Woman
And if you need help figuring out the boss order (paper, rock, scissors) heres a handy guide by
CyberMoonStudios:
And here's a few tips + a sing-along by Benzaie!
http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/vi ... mega-man-9The graphics are amazing because Capcom has completely recreated not just the look but also the feel of the classic Nintendo Mega Man games. The big jump is that the sprites are all in high definition so that every colored square block that makes up the characters looks sharp and crisp. Does that make sense?
The music is my favorite part of the game. The composer really did a superb job on maximizing an 8-bit soundtrack for the game. It doesn't have as memorable a theme as Mega Man 2 - Dr. Wiley's Castle but the level music is still catchy.
The game has gone back to the bare basics of classic Mega Man games with its game play. No more sliding or charging your shots. You can only run, jump and shoot. The level design is border-line brilliant but very hazardous at the same time. There are lots of traps in the levels and sometimes your jumps or shots need to be timed perfectly or you will risk an instant death. Tornado Man's level is the most interesting level is also the most frustrating. The rotating platforms that spin you vertically take a lot of practice to manage and every misstep is an instant death. The same goes with the wind and rain part of the Tornado Man stage where you are jumping across narrow platforms above a bottomless pit while the wind pushes you backwards. Sometimes the jumps are literally Leaps of Faith because you know that with the wind blowing you will never make the jump. You take a deep breath and jump, only to discover that the cloud between the two platforms is hiding a secret platform. Hell!
Possibly a cheaper death are the flying helicopter robots in Galaxy Man's stage that will grab you and kamikaze you and itself into a spike wall at 100 Kilometers per Hour.
The weapons are good for the greater part. Some weapons I felt were useless (Magma Man) but others are extremely useful. Galaxy Man's black hole weapon lets you control the direction of a purple orb, then make it explode into a miniature black hole, sucking in any enemies near by. Hornet Man's ridiculous weapon, the hornets, are actually a combination of heat seeking missiles and item fetchers which is always handy if you can't reach a 1up. Concrete Man's concrete shot will actually create temporary platforms for you to jump on.
So far I have only reached the second level in Dr. Wiley's castle and it has me stumped. I wish I could finish the review saying I have beaten the game, but I just can't do it. That is probably the game's only weakness: It is extremely difficult. Even if you are an older gamer who played the classic Mega Man games growing up, this game will be difficult for you. I can only imagine what kind of frustration this game will cause for younger gamers who are not as 'hard core' as us NES gamers.
Another sad fact is that the young gamers probably won't appreciate this game because of its dated graphics and sound which is a tragedy. Most gamers who grew up with Xboxs and Playstation 2s or who have only experienced the latest generation of game machines might snub this gem of a game just because it either 'looks like rubbish' or because there isn't any gore or sexual themes. To many it might seem bland and a waste of their money.
I commend any young gamer who can grow to love the little blue robot as much as we have growing up.
I have seen the downloadable content, but for 1-2 Euros/Dollars being able to play as Protoman does not do it for me. And bloody hell, I will get my head examined if I think I need to download a 'hard' version of this game.
I'm not going to give any ratings (Graphics, Sound, Story, etc.) because that is not fair. The only category this game should be rated on is Gameplay, which scores a perfect TEN.
F.E.A.R. Review
Sorry about that I didn't know it was off limits to post images like that here. Especially after the inspirational posters thread 
What about Laughing Man? 
and no I actually found that image on Google Images when I typed in SPLASH WOMAN crazy huh?
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