Classic Game of the Month: February 2012

(*Note: This was originally going to be for January....but yeah, you know)

MegaMan

 

History

          MegaMan, known as RockMan in Japan and otherwise known as the “Blue Bomber”, first debuted when Capcom released the original game in December of 1987. Despite being designed as side-scrolling platformer for the NES, that is probably only thing it shares in common with Super Mario Bros. It was revolutionary for its time having a smooth and polished graphics and vivid colors (well, for the NES). The game was began the first of what would be a still growing series with over 30 sequels and remakes to date.

Normally, I’d throw in the backstory for the game as is printed in the instruction manual, however the American localization for the game decided to “make up” things that don’t quite make sense with the Japanese development (the way it was meant to be) nor the rest of the MegaMan series.

Back Story: The Brief version

A mad scientist Dr. Wily steals 6 high powered robots from his former partner, Dr. Light, and reprograms them to cause havoc throughout the city in hopes of eventually taking over the world. Alarmed by the chaos, Dr. Light modifies and equips one of his human-like lab assistant robots into a fighting robot (MegaMan) in order to stop the robots and bring Dr. Wily to justice.

Back Story: The Full and very dense version (Not for the easily confused)

In the year 20XX (basically, an undisclosed year in the 20^th century) brilliant scientist Dr. Light (or Wright depending on translation errors) and his assistant Dr. Wily have expanded the world of robotics with their experiments and creation of the first robot with a perfect human-like artificial intelligence – the protagonist of the game (named “Rock” in Japan so similarly he would be named “Mega” in the US). He would be created as a laboratory assistant along with his “sister” robot named “Roll”, a cleaning robot (Note the use of “Rock” and “Roll” in the Japanese naming – That was done on purpose).

MegaMan!

Inspired by these leaps in robotic advancements, Dr. Light would create 6 robots with AI to perform dangerous tasks in the city such as for construction, demolition, and work in areas of extreme temperatures in order to benefit man-kind. For this, Dr. Light would receive global recognition and a Nobel Prize. Dr. Wily however, would be trapped in his shadow and receive little credit. Fueled by anger and jealousy, Wily abducted the 6 robots from the labs due to their abilities and reprogramed them in order to take over the world. “Mega” was left behind due to his simplistic physical design however this would become is downfall. Dr. Light would equip him and turn him into a combat robot thus changing his purpose and putting the “Man” in “MegaMan”. Equipped solely with an arm cannon, he appears weaker than any of the 6 “Robot Masters” but a hidden ability to copy the signature move of any foe he defeats gives him a fighting chance to save his city and the world.

So yeah, tons of parenthesis and tons of inconsistencies in the back story…but really, it’s not an RPG, so understanding the story isn’t important until you become a fan of the series…like me.

Game Play

Game Play

MegaMan brought a considerable element into the world of side-scrollers: Weapon based combat. Rather than just running and jumping and climbing like most others, MegaMan’s weapons added the fun of attacking your enemies who each had their own HP and complex attack patterns.

MegaMan starts the game with only his arm cannon – essentially a gun that shoots out energy pellets. Although it can be rapidly fired, it’s quite weak. His only other abilities are running, jumping, and climbing ladders. 

A very notable thing about the game was the ability to play the 6 stages in any order. Six doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but they are very developed and quite long with many enemies to attack and ladders to climb. The ability to choose any order allows for different turn out in that each robot master has its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, the ability received from IceMan proves to do extra damage to FireMan.

The order is all up to you.

Another thing to consider when getting this game would be its difficulty. Despite being the first of a long living series and being for the NES, this game is HARD. MegaMan has a limited amout of HP and some enemies have the abilities to take out a large amount of damage, especially bosses. Extra-Lives are few and very often hard to come by. MegaMan also has a limit to the amount of times that he can use the powers that he gained from the Robot Masters before having to find energy tanks when he runs out.

Overall

Capcom’s MegaMan is another Classic Masterpiece. It’s appeared in MANY remakes and collections since its debute. Since 2008, MegaMan has been available for download on the Wii’s virtual console and on Sony and Microsoft systems.

MegaMan would also become an iconic character. There are over 7 characters who would later share the “MegaMan” name despite being of different time lines and universes. 


Further Reading
http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Mega_Man_(video_game)

http://mmhp.net/GameHints/MM1.html