Retro Profile: Mega Man (NES)
Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 8:30am by Jamie
When Capcom released Mega Man in 1987, I can only imagine what some of those kids (and the parents buying their games) were thinking when they saw the box art. I myself didn’t discover the series until Mega Man II was released on the old black and white Game Boy in 1992. By that time, he already had the more standard look and feel that we all know and love. When I first saw the original NES game cover about 6 years ago, I didn’t want to believe that the first American interpretation of the “Blue Bomber” looked so…awkward! The blue and yellow outfit, that pistol he was holding, and worst of all, that uncomfortably stiff, action figure-like pose was god awful in my eyes. I could clearly see that the game’s cover was a far cry from the actual game itself. I’m sure that many folks back in the day didn’t expect Mega Man to become one of Capcom’s longest running series to date. Capcom themselves didn’t realize just how much of a gem existed beneath the game’s surface at the time. So with that, let’s look a little beyond the bad artwork for a few moments, shall we?
Imagine a world, if you will, where the gaming industry is on a serious down spiral. No matter which console you owned, the games just couldn’t break any new ground. And to top it all off, many disappointed consumers still had the taste of Atari’s abominable “E.T.” game in their mouths.
Things were going very well for Nintendo from 1985 to 1988, as they had virtually no threatening competition. But all of that was about to change when NEC and Sega ushered in the start of the 16-bit generation. NEC had their TurboGrafx-16 system, while Sega introduced the Genesis console to the world. The Genesis in particular was the system that made Nintendo sit up and pay attention, as older (and younger) gamers fell in love the console’s arcade game upon its release in North America. Now granted, while the NES still had plenty of life left in it, Nintendo knew that they couldn’t afford to drag their feet any longer on creating a new console that could keep up with the Genesis’ hardware. So two short years later in 1991, “the big N” Released their Super Nintendo Entertainment System here in the States. It was only fitting that Super Mario World would be the game to premier as a pack-in game with the console. It truly took the Super Mario universe to the next level.
1985 proved to be a very good year for Nintendo, to say the least. They successfully launched the Nintendo Entertainment System in America (1984 in Japan), introduced us to the inviting world of Super Mario Brothers, and pretty much commanded the love and devotion of young gamers (and parents) everywhere. Nintendo’s reputation for making quality games seemed to have reached what some might call the “legendary” status in a fairly short period of time. In 1986, a game was created that would wow the crowd once again, and prove to be a real pillar of strength that’s still going strong today. That game, of course, is Metroid– the first game to introduce us all to the cybernetic bounty hunter Samus Aran. Metroid proved to be a truly inventive title, breaking away from some of the usual elements found in most games of that era, and played a significant roll in getting rid of a certain stereotype about females common to many video games of the 80’s.
When you hear the name “Dracula”, you might likely call to mind the famous novel written by Bram Stoker, or maybe the numerous movies or TV shows featuring the blood-sucking antagonist. For years, the story of Count Dracula has been told many times over, with different spins of how he wrecked havoc on normal humans and such things. I dare say that there isn’t a person on Earth who hasn’t heard of the guy at least once in the course of their lifetime. So given the popularity of this character, it was only natural that Dracula would eventually be featured in video games in the mid-to-late 80’s, when gaming found a new life on the Nintendo Entertainment System. And sure enough, in 1987, Konami released Castlevania– a game that featured a whip-wielding hero on a mission to defend the local townsfolk and stop Dracula’s bite for good, or so he hoped.
Every now and then, a team of game developers will hatch a plan to create a game that essentially mixes two (or more) genres into one whole entity. To their credit, it’s not hard to see why they would do such a thing. After all, it can prove to be refreshing to play a game that involves more than just one main gameplay mechanic throughout the entire time spent playing it. The problem, though, lies in the fact that cross-breeding genres often times prove to be a hard act to balance, and can easily turn out to be a total failure if gamers don’t accept this marriage of gameplay elements, so to speak. Well in 1990, Bomber Man and Adventure Island series creator, Hudson Soft was one of the few developers out there to actually try such a thing. From their efforts came a little NES title called Xexyz– a somewhat rare attempt at blending elements from the platformer and shooter genres, with just a hint of RPG thrown in mix just for kicks.
There was no time in history quite like the 80’s. It was the only time when you could sport a mullet, rock out to Quiet Riot and still be counted as “with it” by all the high school kids, if you played your cards right. It was also an era where any threat of world domination by some force of evil could be thwarted; as long as you had some spare time on your hands and 25 cents (or more) to spend. That’s right…I’m talking about those shoot ‘em up games of the old arcades. It seemed that every developer out there had their own ideas of how to save the world, and Capcom was no exception.
Games of the 2D shooter genre usually entail a quick story about some aliens plotting to invade/destroy the Earth and/or galaxy. You, the person spending 25 cents per continue, usually play the roll of an ace pilot, flying an advanced space craft, and you’re the last hope for human kind. That’s all fine and dandy, but sometimes it’s fun to play a game that puts a slight spin on the tried and true formula of blast-the-aliens. Now, step into the year 1987. Arcades are booming with all sorts of shooting games to hold a gamer’s attention. It was then that Namco released Dragon Spirit- a game that featured a human that transforms into a dragon to defeat the evil forces that posed a threat to all living things in ancient times on Earth. A few years later, it was released on the NES (among other consoles) under the slightly new name of Dragon Spirit: The New Legend.
It all started in 1987, when Konami released their awesome platform/shooter, 
It feels like it was only yesterday that I had first laid my eyes on that commercial for Donkey Kong Country all bright-eyed, wishing for a Super Nintendo. I always jumped at the chance to play it at my local game store. I usually only got past the first two levels before I had to go home, but I didn’t care…I was just happy to play it. DKC made a big splash with gamers of all ages, and helped to line Nintendo’s already fat pockets with our cash. And really, it was worth every penny since the game was a 32 megabyte cartridge featuring awesome level designs, beautifully rendered characters and backgrounds, and some of the best graphics on the Super NES.
When I hear the word “ninja”, two things immediately come to mind- smoke bombs and the 80’s. Yep, those were the years when every kid wanted to be a master of ninjitsu after viewing a movie, TV show, or anime involving a man (or woman) dressed in dark colors and wielding a sword and throwing stars. Meanwhile, video game developers where also busy cooking up games of the same subject matter in the arcades.
If you ever want to know why and how Konami became so successful, just look at their arcade games of the 80’s. Not only were their games entertaining, but you could almost always bet that their arcade titles would find a way to the NES and other home consoles. Life Force was no exception to that notion, as it was ported to the NES 2 years after its debut in the arcades of America and Japan. Interestingly enough, this wasn’t a sequel to Gradius, but rather a spin-off of sorts. Even so, the core elements of what made Gradius a great game are still preserved in Life Force.
Rad Racer is a game that nearly every NES player out there has at least heard of. The funny thing is that I had played this game a lot as a little kid, but I had no idea that Square Enix (formerly Square Soft) was the developer behind it. I guess back then, I assumed that every NES game with that pixilated cover art was made solely by Nintendo and no one else. So, mistaken identities aside, Rad Racer always stands out in my mind as one of my fondest childhood memories. The best part is that many years after my first go with this game, it still hasn’t lost much of its appeal.
It’s a real shame that I didn’t play Metal Gear on the NES when I first had the chance. See, back in 1996, I briefly had a (barely functional) NES, that someone secured for me, free of charge at a second-hand store. I got about 9 or 10 games that came with this deal, and one of them was Metal Gear. However, my older brother dissuaded me from ever playing it, because he figured that I wouldn’t like it. Two years later, in 1998, I’d quickly remember the NES game that I missed out on because I started seeing commercials for Metal Gear Solid (MGS). So now, let’s fast forward to 2003. By this time, I had already completed MGS and I just got finished watching the ending to MGS2: Sons of Liberty. I felt that while I was waiting for another sequel to be made, I owed it to myself to track down a copy of the original Metal Gear. After finally finding the game and popping it into my NES, I began to see what I had missed out on.
The R-Type series is regarded by many as one of the biggest icons of the 2D Shooter. In 1991, developer Irem created Super R-Type to go alongside the launch of the Super Nintendo. It proved to be a fairly successful game, since it was basically the home console port of R-Type II. Personally, I’m a bigger fan of the Gradius series, but Super R-Type will always have a special place in my heart.
