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?
Mega Man isn’t your average platformer. That becomes quite apparent after selecting the Robot Master you want to face first. The game starts off showing the 6 bosses that you can attempt to defeat in any order. Each Robot Master’s stage has a going theme that befits their various abilities. For instance, Fire Man’s stage features areas with lava and enemies made of fire particles; whereas Guts Man’s stage is located in a rock quarry with certain enemies resembling a construction worker (hard hat and all). Most of the enemy character designs are quite unique, to say the least. You’ll have contend with a variety of small to mid-sized robots that range from easy-to-conquer floating penguins, to troublesome shield-carrying green droids and motion-sensing floor doohickeys. In one part of Cut Man’s level, you’ll literally be attack by pairs of cutter blades popping out of a small construct. Bomb Man’s level has a spot where timed devices shoot up from the chasms, exploding into smaller bits, which makes it tricky to jump to the next section without either taking unwanted hits or falling into the chasm all together.
If Mega Man manages to survive the obstacles in his way, he’ll finally pass into a room that eventually leads him to Robot Master for that stage. Once victorious, Mega Man will collect the power core they leave behind. One of the best parts about the Mega Man series is the joy of defeating an otherwise impossible Robot Master with certain weapons of other Robot Masters. Each of them has a specific weakness to the others’ abilities. Let’s take Ice Man for instance—if he seems too tough to beat, try using Elec Man’s Thunder Beam on him. You’ll find that it makes life a lot easier. Of course, there’s always at least one Robot Master that can be [relatively] easily defeated with Mega Man’s normal Buster cannon. Figuring out each bosses weakness adds to the fun of the game.
The Mega Man series has always been known for its challenging levels, and helped the NES to gain a reputation for having some truly hard-to-beat games. Anyone who’s played the other games in the Mega Man series can expect to see their fair share of cheap hits, missed jumps, and energy or weapon items teasingly placed out of conventional reach. But this first Mega Man game has a particular viciousness to it. While playing the game in preparation for this review, I was reminded of how aggravating it is trying to make it across those dropping platforms in Guts Man’s stage, and few players will be able to forget those bricks that appear and vanish in a certain pattern on Ice Man and Elec Man’s stage. Those are just a taste of some the challenges you can look forward to.
After you reach Wily’s fortress, you’ll still have to contend with other very difficult bosses; the yellow shape-shifting creature being the most frustrating for many. There’s also the all too familiar section in the fortress where Mega Man must fight the Robot Master a second time. In this particular game, you cannot choose in which order you’ll fight them, nor are there many energy or weapon capsules between battles. So if you’re low on energy, it’s an extra burden trying to avoid damage from their attacks. And on top of everything I just mentioned, there is no password system to save your progress! This may prove to be more than just a little discouraging to someone who doesn’t have the time or patience to try and beat the game in one sitting.
From the start, the series has always had an aspect of visual quality not often seen on the NES. The colors are bright and add to the very cartoon look and feel of the game. It’s never hard to tell what object is an enemy and what’s a power-up or platform. Reaching a Robot Master’s room can be a bit of an eye sore though, as the already bright background will flash for a few seconds as your enemy makes his dramatic entrance. Also, the graphics look a bit dated in comparison to each sequel that were soon to follow. Even so, every character animates well, which is what helps the game to develop its own personality. When Mega Man acquires a Robot Master’s ability, he changes color according to the weapon he’s using. Though it’s a small feature, I absolutely love it. After all—it’s the small things that count, right?
The sound quality wasn’t half bad either. While not all of the melodies are exactly memorable, they still fit the game very well and will keep you into the experience while you’re playing. My personal favorite would have to be the music to Cut Man’s stage. I was actually surprised that the developers were able to bang out tunes like that on such an early console. Fire Man’s tune is pretty hot (no pun intended) and one of my favorites. The only downer is that some of the tunes in the game sound a little pitchy or sometimes tinny. As can be clearly heard, Capcom still had some tweaking to do with audio presentation. Despite that though, you can still tell where they were going with it, and the audio quality was mostly perfected from the second game onward. Interestingly enough, the music that plays when selecting a stage has been appeared in various other Mega Man games on and off throughout the series. Even Mega Man X on the Super NES has it.
The sometimes mind-boggling difficulty and lack of a save feature keeps the first game in the Mega Man series from getting my highest recommendation. But it still has enough juice left in it to keep a person’s attention. It’s a game worth playing, especially if you’ve played the later MM games, but never owned this one. Usually, I would recommend trying to track this game down on the NES, but you’d most likely end up paying $35 or more at some online store nowadays. If you can, get the Mega Man Anniversary Collection on the PS2, GameCube, or Xbox. It shouldn’t cost you more than $30 and you get the entire original Mega Man series (1 – 8), spanning the NES, SNES, and Playstation consoles. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the series as much as I did (and still do).
May 4th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I’ve thought about getting the Anniversary Collection countless times, but I just don’t like the idea of having to use the Cube controller for it. IMHO, Megaman is for D-pad only. And the d-pad on the Cube controller kinda sucks.
I’d like to see a budget priced Wii re-release and be able to use the classic controller or maybe a version on the DS; handheld Mega Man 1-5 would be SWEET.
Or even if it was a 2.5D set of remakes like New Super Mario Bros. Just don’t let Mega Man shoot up, that would be blasphemy.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
The original Mega Man was a highlight in my life when I first played it. I remember the weekend when my mom rented it and brought it home for my brothers and I to play. Good times.
The pause glitch was the only way I could beat that game… its a rough game!
May 4th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Funny but irrelevant thing, I woke up with a Mega Man tune stuck in my head and told myself how badly I wanted to play one of the games (and I probably will later on, as I own the Anniversary Collection on Cube), then I got on here and thought it was kind of eerie that you were doing the retro profile on the original.
Coincidence, I suppose.
Anyway, I really love the Mega Man series. Mega Man was my childhood hero, and I’ve been playing his games since I was about 4-years-old. I rather appreciate the vicious difficulty. It always kept me on my toes.
Hmmm…they sure don’t make Mega Man games like that anymore. Now it’s all this Battle Network garbage.
May 4th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
WOW man I would think you didn’t grow up playing NES games back then am I right? Mega man was way too easy. You was just not hard core enough. Try ninja gaiden or battle toads. Part of the game was knowing it’s secrets. Also too all of the jumping was and had to be timed perfectly so if you could do this stuff it was like being the Micheal jordan or larry bird of gaming back then. The game Super mario 3 got this idea right along with some comprises and a big push that showed a movie player pwning the game we couldn’t even play yet! This is what the hardcore loved and did. The fact of the matter we all realized mega man was not the guy to get the job done in the beginning but he grows into a hell of a battler when you upgrade him. The graphics where so sweet also. The build up of part two just the title screen hasn’t been match yet it seems. Just reading this article just shows me why a game shouldn’t change just because the gamers lack less skills. The whole save point thing is weak also. To beat this game means you have mastered it. Much the way a quake player or a COD4 player masters their shot. When you get good at this game you will see why people can walk and shoot so well in some of your FPS games. The same thing happened with you shoot em ups.
I think this goes back to the fact that many think that being hardcore is buying and owning certain systems. Seriously it’s about being good at them. I mean there is no cheap hit in mega man…LOL after seeing it for the 12th time you should be able to avoid it.
I also notice that the older you get the less hardcore you become simply because you don’t have the time to master these things. Even though moms around the world fell like a kid playing video games is bad but it’s ok to watch 8 hours of TV. You know this happens too. They watch their age appropriate content then the family block. Now that the Wii has exercise included it’s ok in the eyes of parents now. Imagine what happen when people play tons of games even if it is Wii play. Seriously the light laser hockey thing is my favorite and all it needs for me is match options! That game requires a high degree of skill!
I remember when programmers made games because the games out where just not hard enough or challenging. The story was just some thing to get more people to play. Even a gimmick. The real meat of the game was how it actually played out. The difficulty was expected yet now it seems people think this difficulty is so unfair? Yet many people with practice have seen every piece of these games and there is some really surprising game play in these games.
I think this is why games are the way they are today. My favorite game fro square on the PS2 was einhander. Crazy hard yet really smart game. To be good at a game is an addiction in it self you get a rush when you can run thur a game like this. This is what kept us playing.
Yet now the industry is fighting what really makes hardcore gamers tick. Story has become the main point of a game yet no one really knows how to tell a good story. RPGs are you best bet. Yet the problem is once you’ve read a book it only gets read again if you really like the story or you like playing thur the events. Most of these games are being traded in. The first zelda and even the second where more like games rather than stories… these are the games that got people hooked because even if you did know all the secrets you still had a lot of dangerous stuff to kill.
So far hardcore gaming has turned into a spectator sport for fanboys. Those same beer drink jerks that follow a team that they could never hope to compete with. Real hardcore gamers want to play the best and the hardest players and games. Hell part of me just smiles while crush a person I know has a bot. Most of you may not remember but when the Wii came out lots of professional gamers where asked if they where getting one and most said hell yeah. They live to play games for the challenge and the fun you get from that.
If you grew up being handed stuff then you might not like that kind of stuff but there is a great feeling not unlike the feeling the guy from persuit of happiness had once he beat the game set in front of him.
This is the main reason why I still love capcom… They know how to give you a fighting chance but test you to the point that you actually have to surpass your last skill level.
Most people called the PS3 programmers laze but i think it was the fact that this thing was very very very challenging to program for. To a certain extent the Wii’s GPU is like that also for different reasons, yet those reasons where why gaming did have a golden age. Nothing was given to any one back then. People worked hard to make those games and people worked even harder to play them and we all had a great time doing that. Yet did you notice how SONY was given the gaming crown even with out selling a single system? Notice how nintendo was your mega man of the situation. Hell they did not even have a weapon at first! Yet now they have a nice stock pile in the inventory. It’s like people are operating just like Dr. Wily LOL in complete disbelief that this is happening. Iwata is a very hardcore gamer it would seem.
I’m sure you enjoy your mega man games but I guess it’s cool to not sound like fans of some thing times in an effort to be objective. You know when things try to be some thing like that they usually end up getting burnt. The game is a very very good game and what real hardcore gamers played and still will.
Hey but if you came in too late I can understand your bitterness to the game even though you ended up liking it. It’s like trying to play quake 3 online right now… The only people playing are the ones that have played since it’s release and they are very unfair if you don’t have any practice. They play that game ever day! Collectors are the only ones bored these days and people who want gaming to be about stories when the story is about struggle…LOL that is the point of the game!
Then you have older gamers trying to secure their hardcore-ness like an aging break dancer that afraid he is going to break his hip! So they go and buy jewelery are get the most expansive stuff just to show people they got it. You know a hardcore gamer when they show you how good they are or how they can just crush this or that game with ease.
Every one else are just critics, editors, collectors, and fanboys. being a gamer is where it’s at other wise your just wasting your time which explain why every one online is so bitter.
-GOOD GAME-
May 4th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Cliffnotes version please?
May 4th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Did anyone finish it without using the Elec Man pause glitch? I could do everything except beat the yellow rock guy.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
@Run line:
Man, you thought Battletoads or Ninja Gaiden were hard? And you call yourself hard core? I finished those games in gradeschool. You have no idea. Easy.
Einhander? Please. With its cutesy little gunpods? I finished that in one sitting in about six hours. And that was when I the hospital after my bilateral eye surgery. Then I gave it to my eight year old niece (also hard core) and she beat it in six and a half hours. She is not as hard core as me (few are) but still pretty hard core. Clearly more hard core than you.
I personally hook my computer up to my consoles so I can hack in and make all the enemies go twice as fast as usual and make my character’s weapons half as strong so the game can at least make some level of challenge for a mega uber hardcore player like me. Super mega uber. Hard. Core.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
The only guy more hard core than me? That yellow rock guy in Mega man.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Oh yeah you forgot about Super battle toads and super ghost and goblins. LOL You can log on to quake or any game of your choice online and I’ll show you hardcore OK. So since you beat einhander let me see your score and I’ll show you mine…LOL that is if you can still beat it. It’s one of the funnies games to beat because you unlock some serious weapons when you go back into it! Beautiful game by the way. Now thats a Wii port that needs to happen.
I’m not sure if you see the flaws in what your doing or saying, do you? Hack into your PC , consoles? Yeah it’s called running the rom on an emulator and increasing the frame rate. If you need to do those things then good for you go out there and make some money in the pro league OK? You don’t even sound like a hardcore gamer so stop trying.
But really the current hardcore are not hardcore they are collectors, fanboys, or what ever. It’s funny you bring up kids because they are the only ones that have a chance at being hardcore these days. Hardcore goes back to the guys that try and beat high scores they have no system preference most of the time and just show up on the scene like those SF guys did during those nice arcade days….LOL
Sorry if you take offense but really you’ll be happier if you know what you are about when it comes to gaming. This may be your hobby but there are people out their that you just do not want to go up against. Oyeah I forgot one more the entourage gamers that simply play what there friends play. Those are not bad things but they are true. A lot of that stuff leaves to the bitter news and the spectator sport called fanboys and system wars. I’ve even met hardcore online poker players which is crazy some times because their family is hardcore about it also.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
DocOctorok I’m sorry but you use the cut scissors on him or the rolling cutter on him. It’s like one or two hits… Told you it’s easy right? Just don’t get hit too much.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
The game is hard so take it easy ok games are suppose to help you figure out how to deal with stress.. well thats if you get good at them. Practice and data is your friend!
May 4th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I play games, things that kids do, I’m hard core… Silly wabbits!
I myself am an EXTREME GAMER X TO THE POWER OF 10 + 1 !!!
May 4th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Runline, if you want proof, I have a video up on Youtube showing me simultaneously finishing Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads, and Einhander. I hold an NES controller in each hand and work the PS controller with my toes. You can see my high score on it. You’ve never seen so many 9’s in a row.
Check it out and weep at www.youtube.com/watch?v=sarcasm
May 4th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
“The only guy more hard core than me? That yellow rock guy in Mega man.”
He is actually the easiest reg shot kills him but you can use Hyper Bombs.
Have you played ninja spirits yet? LOL now thats fun too!
May 4th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Man I’m not clicking on that! You can see sarcasm in the meta code? What are your 11?
May 4th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Bii professional sports players play kid games also so whats your point? Good for you extreme gamer hope that works out for you. But really sarcasm aside I live and breath gaming and it pays the bills for me though I wish I would have started doing this when I was 16 like some other people! The only way to stay hardcore is to make loads of money or work in the industry as a reviewer, blogger, tester, programmer, artist, you get my drift but the amount of time playing games is all over the place LOL.
May 4th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I could only beat 3 of the stages, the rest were too hard..timed jumps are insane.
May 4th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I have a better way to stay hard core. I employ “Method”. You know how “Method” actors actually stay in character even when they are not filming a scene? I do that with the character of the game I’m playing. Take Mega Man, for instance. When I am playing Mega Man, I always embody the character of Mega Man. Everything I say starts with Mega, just like him. I say, “Mega Hi” or “Mega how are you” or “Mega judge, I haven’t paid my Mega parking tickets because I have no Mega money”.
You can only envision the week I had when I played Yoshi’s Island. But I stuck to it. That’s how I stay Mega Hard Core. Yoshi!!!
May 4th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
sir jorge Ahhhhh you could have done it! Wax on Wax off kid! Hey now don’t go giving up! If your going to do that then you can never rely say your bored now can you?
It’s like dancing just takes timing. Once you get it you’ll walk all over the other games too.
Ahhh Doc how you doing man. Most games are writing for a player not yoshi are mega man. Hey but if that works for you then cool. I would love to take you to some parties to try that out! Mega man doesn’t even speak with a mega? WTF are you talking about? Oh well stop taking your patience’s meds.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Best. Comments. Ever.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
On a serious note, good pick, Jamie.
Mega Man is one of my all-time favourite gaming franchises. It is a shame to see the series falter as it has over the last decade or so. The various spin-offs seem extremely lame; even Mega Man ZX Advent for the DS, which is spiritually similar to the old games, just isn’t the same.
We need the Blue Bomber, not hyper-evolved hunters from 300 years after the existence of the original Mega Man, or whatever the story has become. Capcom, make it happen; bring back the Blue Bomber on Wii.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
@ DocOctorok
Amazing. Hilarious. Brilliant.
@ Everyone else again
Okay, I played the original Mega Man AFTER I had already played Mega Man X and I can say that Mega Man is complete trash compared to X. X’s combination of amazing gameplay, incredible levels, brutal (but beatable) bosses, Outstanding music, and just about the right level of frustration makes it the better game by far.
Mega Man was just unplayable after playing the SNES’ X series.
…and I admit I can barely beat Anything in it…haha.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
*in the original, that is.