The Blue Bomber is Back
But is he up to scratch?
Mega Man 9 is a completely new iteration of the classic Mega Man series, which had its humble beginnings on the NES. Alot were skeptical about whether Mega Man 9, with its deliberate 8bit styling, would hold up today as it did way back in 1987. The result is, for all intents and purposes, a great example of a Mega Man game, warts and all.
Capcom stays with the tried and true formula of the past Mega Man games by throwing you eight robot masters to defeat before you can progress to the games final group of stages and ultimate boss. From a boss select screen, you enter a platforming stage which houses a boss at the end. Defeating the boss will grant you the boss' weaponry to use in further levels. The game doesn't do anything at all in attempt to reinvent the franchise, but it does borrow from all stages of the Mega Man series, as well as backpeddaling a little in terms of abilities. Mega Man can no longer slide or charge his Buster, but retains the use of his robotic dog, Rush, and being able to collect 'bolts', a currency used to buy items to aid Mega Man, which made appearances as the series progressed.
A bit of a sense of deja vu pervades Mega Man 9. Alot of the sprites and background designs are ripped straight from older iterations of the NES series, although the level designs themselves are varied and challenging enough for you to forgive any recycling, which is a staple of the series at any rate. Because it was made from the ground up, Mega Man 9 doesn't suffer any emulation problems that some virtual console games fall prey to. The game runs smoothly, the controls are responsive, and the musical score is phenomenal. There is even an option to turn on sprite flicker and slowdown to make the game feel like more of an authentic NES experience, just part of the heavy fan service that make up Mega Man 9.
Make no mistake: this is a game made for fans. All the things you remember from classic Mega Man games, be they good or bad, make a return in Mega Man 9. Disappearing blocks? Check. Cunningly placed rows of spikes? Check. Enemies jumping out of holes in the ground at the last moment and causing you to fall to your doom? Check. The level designs in Mega Man 9 are as fiendish, if not moreso, than any classic Mega Man game to date.
Which brings me to a point. The game, like its predecessors, is very hard. If you're not the kind to plug away at sometimes frustrating levels and bosses, then Mega Man 9 is probably not for you. The game further cements its hardcore fan service by setting extremely difficult sets of achievements, time trial rankings in which you get a single life to beat other players' records (both for individual levels and entire playthroughs) in order place on leaderboards, and downloadable content which makes the game even more difficult than it already is 'out of the box'.
If the difficulty and list of achievements that many will never accomplish does not deter you, then you'll find an extremely well made 8bit Mega Man game that is true to the series roots, warts and all. The game definitely services the hardcore Mega Man fan rather than a general audience, though, so if you found the classic Mega Man games to be a bit too frustrating, this game definitely won't change your mind. The addition of online rankings, achievements, and DLC adds alot of replay value to the package, so if you like your Mega Man (along with all the cussing and controller throwing that goes along with it), 1000 points will be a steal.
In the end, Mega Man 9 is a great example of a Mega Man game done right, and proves that new games made for old hardware can be just as appealing as any modern game. It doesn't break any new ground, but it is a solid and faithful experience from start to finish.
