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).