Mega-Man: Always Fighting To Save The World!

Owenashi

For more then twenty years, the Mega-Man franchise has grown to be one of Capcom's solid pillars, right alongside Street Fighter and Resident Evil. Created by Keiji Inafune in 1987 with the original Mega-Man game for the NES, the character has spread to multiple series, incarnations and consoles. I myself jumped onto the fan-bandwagon with Mega-Man 2, sporting the kind of improvements over the original game that launched it right into "you're not a real gamer if you haven't played this game" status and helped pave the way for the rest of the near fifty original titles bearing the Mega-Man brand. So I thought I'd make this thread here for the rest of the fellow Mega-Man fans in the forums to chat and argue about the franchise's frequent good and minor bad points. First though, let's highlight the various series for those who aren't aware of how many characters held the Mega-brand.

Mega-Man (Main/Classic)
First Game's Release: December 17, 1987 for the NES

Spoiler:

Set in the year 200X, the ten games (1-9 as well as 'Mega-Man & Bass') followed the story of Rock, a not-so-simple robot made by Dr. Thomas Light to help out around the lab, only to be modified into a super-fighting robot when Light's partner, Dr. Albert W. Wily, decided to steal six other robots he and Light created and reprogram them for world-conquering duties. With the aid of Light, a transforming robotic dog named Rush, and his siblings Proto-Man and the housekeeping Roll, Rock would defend the world again and again from Wily's crazy ambitions as the original Mega-Man.

Gameplay in the Classic series more or less followed the platforming standards of the time they were introduced with the player having extra lives and passcode-numbers to extend his playing time in case of game-overs. What was unique was Mega-Man's ability to actually walk away from a boss-fight taking the bosses' (known as Robot Masters) weapon as his own, making most runs in the game a rock-paper-scissors deal due to the vulnerabilities programmed in. Figuring who was weak to what as well as the stages each boss had tended to bring the back the fans game after game, despite how the game's stories (and some of the bosses) tended to get weirder and weirder.

Mega-Man X
First Game's Release: January 19, 1994 on the SNES

Spoiler:

A new, more powerful game-console would call for more powerful games and heroes and Mega-Man X didn't disappoint. The series, set in 21XX, would focus not on Rock but his 2.0 sibling, X. Created by Dr. Light sometime near the end of Rock's adventures, X would be kept offline for thirty years due to his revolutionary systems requiring testing. Found by a scientist known simply as Dr. Cain, X would become the template for a new type of robot called Reploids. However, there were good reasons why X wasn't brought online right away as some Reploids eventually go nuts. X's adventures would deal with him forced to fight these enemy Reploids (labeled as Mavericks), often lead by former good-guy Reploid, the seemingly unkillable Sigma.

Gameplay for the X-series was for the most part the same as the original; run through eight stages, beat the Maverick boss at the end and keep a copy of his weapon to use on his friends. The series would however bring in new features like the ability to dash on the ground and in the air, jump up and off of walls ninja-style, and collect pieces of armor to add additional abilities to X. As the series moved off of the SNES and to other consoles, players were also able to play as Zero, X's main Maverick-Hunter partner and Axl, a mysterious Reploid who has the ability to mimic the look and abilities of simpler Reploid enemies in the stages.

Mega-Man Zero
First Game's Release: November 9, 2002 on the Game Boy Advance.

Spoiler:

Prior to the GBA's release, Mega-Man games on portable systems tended to be mostly rehashes of stages and fights against old Robot Masters/Mavericks. Once Capcom saw that you could make something original on Nintendo's 32-bit console-on-the-go, they got to work on extending the Mega-legacy there with this four-game series being one of the results. The series begins 100 years after X's time (said time thought to have ended in MMX-6 until they made a couple more games in the series), with a human scientist named Ciel waking up a different-looking and initially amnesiatic Zero from his century-long nap. He discovers that while he was offline, an anti-Reploid government called Neo Arcadia has risen up, led by the last being he'd expect. Zero joins Ciel and her Resistance to stop Neo Arcadia and any other threats to peace between Reploid and humankind.

Anyone who felt that the Mega-Man games of late were missing a few notches of difficulty were probably glad or horrified by MMZ's lack of mercy when it came to mistakes. Players also found that while Zero had his fair share of weapons, it wasn't due to mugging dead bosses' corpses. Rather, the special abilities factor of MMZ came from Cyber Elves, simplistic AI in fairy-like physical bodies which gave various boosts to Zero in one fashion or the other such as increasing max-health or preventing stage-hazards like spikes from hurting Zero.

Mega-Man ZX
First Game's Release: September 12, 2006 for the Nintendo DS

Spoiler:

The newest game-series set in the main timeline of Mega-Man lore, MMZX is set two hundred years after (so far) Mega-Man Zero 4. Reploid and human relations by this time have resulted in a blurring of the physical differences separating the two groups. What brings any sort of Mega-Man into play at this point thus is the use of Biometals, objects which become special armor for specific individuals, imparting the abilities and sometimes even the memories of those the Biometal are patterned after. One particular Biometal become the center of MMZX's story due to those who would use it to bring the evil from MMZ's time into the present.

The two games in the series are unique in that each present two separate pairs of protagonists who fall under the heroic banner of Mega-Man. The first feature these two...



Vent and Aile, both sharing the same story in the first game as orphans due to a Maverick attack who work at a delivery service at an older age, this leading them into contact with the Biometal based on X. However, it's not until they actually merge both X's and Zero's Biometals that they end up assuming their proper Mega-Man identity, Mega-Man ZX.



In their game, they use this double-merging ability with the X-Biometal to good use as they score the Biometals off of the bosses they face and then double-merge for use in other stages. By the second game's time however, they lose all but the Zero and X Biometals. They also lose their star status as these two replace them.



Grey and Ashe as characters have more individualistic stories, at least at the beginning. Grey's a Reploid boy who much like Zero in MMZ wakes up in a lab-tube without any memories of his past while Ashe's a human girl who works as part of the current anti-Maverick force in ZX's time. Both eventually come into contact with Biometal A, seemingly based on MMX's Axl and changing them each into a new Mega-Man.



Gameplay with them tends to be somewhat different as they use their Biometal's inherent ability to copy abilities to become complete replicas of the fallen bosses rather then double-merging their Biometal with theirs.

Mega-Man Legends
First Game's Release: August 31, 1998 for the Sony Playstation

Spoiler:

With CD-based consoles being able to deliver more games in go-anywhere 3D, it's not surprising that Capcom would also bring Mega-Man's platforming to the same dimension. Fans would however find Legends' world to be much more lighthearted as well when compared to games in the previous series. Set in a mostly water-covered Earth, humanity strives to survive with the help of Diggers, men and women who venture into technological ruins guarded by Reaverbots to obtain special power-giving crystals called Refractors. Mega-Man Volnutt happens to be one of those very Diggers, aided by his Spotter-sibling Roll and their grandfather, Barrell Caskett. When their airship crashes on Kattlelox Island however, they start to discover how much of the world's missing history ties in with Mega's.

Not every series survives it's arrival into the 3D world but Legends has been marked by the fans as one of the successful ones. Rather then stages, Mega runs around a group of ruins that slowly begin to connect to one another with new-found abilities. Fights with Reaverbots however tend not to supply Mega with his gear. Rather it's mostly the broken items found around the ruins and the rest of the games' locations that supply Mega with his gear once Roll patches and remodels them into working order. These tend to range from boosting-items for his Mega-Buster to skates for rapid movement to weapons that usually replace his right arm.



One particular note about the Legends series is the special prequel title, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, which stars not Mega and his family but the Bonnes, the Team-Rocket-esque villains of both Legends titles. The closest title in the Mega-Man franchise to this game which involves a villain in a starring role is the Classic-series' Mega-Man & Bass.

Mega-Man Battle Network
First Game's Release: October 30 2001 for the Game Boy Advance

Spoiler:

While MMZ showed how well a portable regular Mega-Man game could be, it wasn't the first Mega-Man game for the GBA. Rather that went to Battle Network, notable for not only bringing the action-RPG genre to Mega-Man but also starting a brand new alternate timeline separate from what was started in the Classics series. In Battle Network's world, the decision was made to focus on the Internet rather then robots. By the year of 20XX, the common item for use thanks to that focus is the (Pe)rsonal (T)erminal or PET for short. Even classes for elementary school children make use of them and the special AIs connected to each known as Net Navis. The two heroes of Battle Network are no exception.



Fifth-grader Lan Hikari and his specially-made Net-Navi Mega-Man.EXE would probably have had a normal life together if not for the net-terrorist group, World-Three, causing chaos wherever they go. Not willing to stand by and see innocent life of any sort get hurt by exploding ovens, out of control vehicles and polluted water, Lan and MM.EXE do their best in their respective sides of the world to stop W3 and any other villains natural or artificial.

With Battle Network, jumping through hoops the classic MM way is out the door. Rather, the games follow an almost episodic chain of events with the villains of the game creating a problem somewhere and Lan hooking his PET to the nearest Internet connection so MM.EXE can solve the problem. This usually means running through an dungeon of random enemies, flipping switches and solving puzzles to get to the boss Navi and beating him or her. This results in obtaining indirectly the boss' powers through the use of a chip based on the boss, allowing the player to bring him out briefly in Final-Fantasy summoned-monster fashion. Fights tend to go quicker with the use of other chips, Lan being able to go through a 'deck' of selected chips to give MM.EXE attacks via singular chips or an attack made from combining the power of several chips together. Future games in the series would reintroduce the ability to use the abilities of bosses (as well as ally Navis) directly via a fusion ability.

Mega-Man Star Force
First Game's Release: August 7, 2007 for the Nintendo DS

Spoiler:

Similar to how Capcom went from Zero to ZX for the move to the DS, so too did they move from Battle Network to a new series in the form of Mega-Man Star Force. Shifting 200 years past the ending of Battle Network's stories, the primary Internet tech of the world has moved up to the use of electromagnetic waves. Rather relying on Net-Navis for companionship, people are motivated to use the PET's replacement, Transers, to set up BrotherBands between other Transer users. Not everyone wants to get along though. Geo Stelar, depressed over his father's disappearance in space, holes himself in his home, away from school and the rest of the world. That changes however when he meets Omega-Xis...



A EM-wave-based alien, Omega and the special world created by EM-waves are able to be seen by Geo thanks to the use of a special pair of glasses Geo's father made. On the run from other EM-aliens, Omega makes a deal with Geo to help fight them off in exchange for helping him find his father. The two are able to merge together, allowing Geo to fight in Earth's EM-world as the newest Mega-Man, unaware that Omega's pursuers are also able to do the same with other humans, but in a much less friendlier way.

Gameplay for Star Force follows much in the same lines as Battle Network, though battles now follow an over-the-shoulder view rather then the 2D-like side view in BN. Battle Chips are now Battle Cards with summon-based versions of bosses and friendly EM-beings available. With the DS's online capability however, players are able to establish real BrotherBands with other people, giving them access to Cards not accessible due to Capcom making multiple versions of the same game like Pokemon. The BB with in-game characters and real players also allow for boosts to the stats for Geo and Omega's combined form.

If you're curious about any of the games, check these three links while enjoying these songs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_(series)
http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Mega_Man_Wiki
http://www.themmnetwork.com/

Lyrics NSFW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ufVQIUEiYc

Xenogears of Bore

Only MM game better than 9 is 2.

To think it took me about a year to actually beat it. Now I only have four "achievements" left.

Perfect the game-I've gotten close.
Speedrun Galaxy Man-Cannot do this, at all.
Beat all bosses with one hp left-not enough patience to do this. It's like a perverse half assed version of perfecting the game.
Mega Diet-Just never got around to it.

Xenogears of Bore

Sixfortyfive wrote: »

Sorenson wrote: »

Am I the only one who's seriously annoyed that that there anniversery picture shoves Rock into the second row to make way for the new-fangled upstart?

Nope.

I owned MMX3, MMX4, Legends 1, and the MMAC. While this may not be a representative sample, it gave me the impression that nothing of value was released between MM3 and MM9.

MM9, by the way, is probably the best game in the classic series by a mile. It's amazing how almost every robot master weapon is useful, and yet none of them are as broken as the Metal Blade.

Laser Trident is damn close.

No, the real impressive thing is that it has a shield that is actually worth using.

Sixfortyfive

Took me about 10 days to 100% MM9. Half of that time was spent on Mr. Perfect.

The only thing MM2 does better than MM9 is the music, and neither game is much of a slouch on that.

Timestones

I'm probably one of the few people who grew up on the old school Mega Man games and still enjoyed the hell out of the Battle Network spinoffs (well, most of them).

I need to go and pick up the Official Complete Works book for the Classic series at some point. Some really intriguing art in that one.

Xenogears of Bore

I guarantee that the next time I sit down to play some 9 I'll get all of those except Galaxy Man. I can beat him without getting touched or with the blaster or what have you, but I can't beat him with speed. I never seem to get lucky.

Sixfortyfive

I remember there being some trick to beating Galaxy Man quickly, but I can't remember what it was.

You probably already know that concrete blocks get rid of the black hole...

Xenogears of Bore

Yeah, I know that. The "trick" is to get lucky and have him land twice instead of going up.

Sorenson

Sixfortyfive wrote: »

I owned MMX3, MMX4, Legends 1, and the MMAC. While this may not be a representative sample, it gave me the impression that nothing of value was released between MM3 and MM9.

4, 6 and 7 were pretty decent methinks, 5 was just kinda' meh and 8 is infamous enough to know the lowdown on that.

Sixfortyfive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ_FSVWR6ZE

Sorenson

CHRIST I do not need to load a page only to have that staring right the fuck at me.

Pureauthor

The day Capcom gets competent writers outside its Ace Attorney division will be a sad day for the game industry.

Xenogears of Bore

BoF IV and Dragon Quarter weren't that bad.

MC Mystery

I thought Dragon Quarter was GREAT.

Anyways, on the subject of Megaman;

Megaman Legends 3 Dammit.

Megaman Legends 1 & 2 are fantastic fucking games. I never got to play the Tron game, but I wish I had cause she's one of my favorite game characters of all time.

Pureauthor

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is awesome.

Tcheldor

Ok, I'm going to be That guy and say I Dislike Megaman2.

Don't hate it, but I DO NOT like it. I LOVE 3 and 5. Yes I know 5 is in no way original, but I think it did a good job of putting together ideas that they produced in 4.

In addition I think X3 is the best X game, though I do have to replay X4 at some point.

Xenogears of Bore

If I ever get really bored I'll LP MM8 and 9 and finish that thread off with a bang.

I did a test run on recording eight awhile back and it turned out ok.

Sorenson

Pureauthor wrote: »

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is awesome.

I'm sure it is. Too bad I've gotten ripped off all three times I've tried to buy it.

Tcheldor wrote: »

Ok, I'm going to be That guy and say I Dislike Megaman2.

Don't hate it, but I DO NOT like it. I LOVE 3 and 5. Yes I know 5 is in no way original, but I think it did a good job of putting together ideas that they produced in 4.

How

How on Earth can you possibly not like 2

Tcheldor

I admit it. Sliding is just tooo good. The game just feels...clumsy. Like the first one, it just feels like it's barely holding itself together. I don't know why. Maybe it's all the imbalances in weapon power, or the fact that the final boss requires a specific weapon or you lose. Or the fact that quick man has his stupid level.

The music is great, and I've beaten the game multiple times, but when I replay megaman games I go straight to 3/5/6, X/X2/X3.

Romantic Undead

Ever since MM3 though, I never quite got the hang of sliding. I continuously accidentally slide when I mean to jump as it would seem I favor pressing a bit down when playing with any type of "cross" controller, resulting in tons of accidental sliding into pits when I mean to jump over them.

The X series resolved this by putting the dash up on the shoulder buttons, which was a godsend for me.

Spectral Swallow

I still think that Megaman and Bass (SNES Version) was the best MegaMan game. It just had so much to do and the powers you got were actually useful outside of boss fights!

Also MegaMan 8 was hilarious. Dr. Light's scenes still crack me up.

Ultrachrist

MM8 gets a worse rap than it deserves.

SLIDE! SLIDE!

Drunk_caterpillar

I still pop in X to play it again, and again. Favourite game in the dynasty methinks.

Igel

Sorenson wrote: »

Sixfortyfive wrote: »

I owned MMX3, MMX4, Legends 1, and the MMAC. While this may not be a representative sample, it gave me the impression that nothing of value was released between MM3 and MM9.

4, 6 and 7 were pretty decent methinks, 5 was just kinda' meh and 8 is infamous enough to know the lowdown on that.

I really enjoyed the different suits in six. The jetpack was my favorite.

Cherrn

I gotta say I prefer 3 over 2. It just feels tighter and a lot more visually creative. I also don't care for either Crashman or Heatman's themes.

Mega Man 3 has the single, most kickass videogame music track ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiQgYfyUdDs

Man, if only games were this classy nowadays.

Xenogears of Bore

I can understand people who like easy games preferring 3 to 2.

I cannot understand people who prefer the soundtrack. The opening is the only really great track in 3, the rest is meh to good.

Cherrn

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

I can understand people who like easy games preferring 3 to 2.

Is this some internet toughguy thing? 'Cause both games are pretty easy. 1 is the only one I'd consider remotely difficult, compared to other games of the time. In fact, I'd actually say 3 is harder, if only because of that one Wily Stage where you have to use the rush jet. Otherwise they feel about the same to me.

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

I cannot understand people who prefer the soundtrack. The opening is the only really great track in 3, the rest is meh to good.

That's fine, music is one of those points I don't want to argue, as it is entirely subjective. If I had to explain it, however, I'd say that I prefer 3s music, because it is generally more progressive and off the wall. They did some cooler stuff with the sound chip.

The only tracks I really dig in MM 2 are Metal Man, Flash Man, Wood Man and Wily Stage 1.

The rest is middling to shit (especially Wily Stage 2. FUCK that noise)

Mega Man 3 has the opening track, Needle Man (which is probably my favorite level theme in the whole series), Magnet Man, Top Man, Spark Man (that intro is orgasmic), and both Wily Stages 1 and 2 are fantastic.

Speed Racer

Whose dick I gotta suck to get an HD sequel to Megaman Legends.

Cherrn wrote: »

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

I can understand people who like easy games preferring 3 to 2.

Is this some internet toughguy thing? 'Cause both games are pretty easy. 1 is the only one I'd consider remotely difficult, compared to other games of the time. In fact, I'd actually say 3 is harder, if only because of that one Wily Stage where you have to use the rush jet. Otherwise they feel about the same to me.

I'm pretty sure anyone calling MM2 easy counts as an internet toughguy thing.

Though the first is a great deal harder.

Then again, my perception might be skewed because I've never played through an MM where I actually used the robot master weapons.

Xenogears of Bore

One is harder than two, two is a lot harder than three, three is harder than four,which is harder than five, which is about the same, maybe a bit harder than six, seven is harder than 3-6, eight is about as hard as seven, and nine is about as hard as two.

I don't get how anyone can argue that three is about the same as two. Two has much harder levels and bosses overall. Hell because of the levels two on "normal" is still harder than three.

Dehumanized

Tron Bonne is wonderful. Glad I own it.

Speed Racer

I just remembered that I never finished MML2. I got to what I think was the final boss and then I had to return it to the friend that lent it to me.

Gar king

nth-ing where the fuck is my mega man legends 3 its been years capcom.


also I think 8 is my favorite because that was the one that I could beat when I was growing up.

Cherrn

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

I don't get how anyone can argue that three is about the same as two. Two has much harder levels and bosses overall. Hell because of the levels two on "normal" is still harder than three.

It's been a while since I've beaten either game (back in 2004, I suppose, when the Anniversary Collection came out), but I definitely had a harder time with 3, probably because the levels are longer. I went through 2 in one sitting after not having played it for years, and I could probably do it again today. I fail to remember any really hard parts in 2 - the flash beams, maybe, and that one dumbass bird/ladder screen in Crash Man's stage. Shifting blocks are also in 3, so I don't know?

The bosses, though? Really? I don't even know how you'd even argue this, as it's entirely based on pattern recognition. It's not like any of them require seriously skillful jumping like, say, Yellow Devil.

UnbreakableVow

Pureauthor wrote: »

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is awesome.

This is the honest truth.

Found it at a BJ's a couple years after it came out (think a Sam's or Costco-type deal) for $15. Wonderful, wonderful way to spend my cash.

Ultrachrist

I remember Wily being pretty damn hard in 7. Nothing else sticks out as too much more difficult than the rest but they've all merged together by now. I never had as much trouble with the yellow devil as some.

If we wanna go outside numbered mega mans, MM&B has some wacky hard segments.

SkutSkut

My favorite Mega Man series is actually the Zero series. Remember that part in X3 where you actually got to play as fuckin ZERO? Now knock that shit up to 11. That's the Zero series. Bosses that will rip your ancient tech ass to ribbons if you don't play it right. hard series, especially if you play it right like I do.

and of course the boss music

Zero's in trouble

Spoiler:

no cyber-elf runs, always.

Frem

If you like Megaman Legends and random game designs, you need to read this. It's a bunch of fanmade designs for a 3rd Megaman Legends game, complete with lore, reaverbot designs, and a ton of sketches.

I especially like his idea for rogue servebots to function as old Megaman 1 enemies and bosses.


(Also pretty much all that guy's other game design lore stuff here and here are amazing)

NAND NOR

I've never gotten the big deal about Mega Man 2. The Zero and Legends series surpass it completely.

Actually, if I had to pick a game that was almost perfect in terms of fun and gameplay, it would be Mega Man X.

Page-

I like how you guys are just pretending that Command Mission never happened.

Not that I blame you or anything. It's just cute.

Ultrachrist

I got that for Christmas one year.

I like RPGs. I like Mega Man. This can't go wrong!

Tcheldor

I hear it wasn't actually terrible...