First Time Discovering Dr. Wily & Mega Man Lore - Designing For Reaction
Added 2025-04-27 16:59:07 +0000 UTC
Comments
Thanks for all the info Beri! I never knew Mega Man had such heart to the games, and while platformers aren't really my thing, I'd be willing to make an exception just to say that I have played Mega Man before.
Xero Degrees
2025-04-28 14:30:41 +0000 UTCYep, that's Doctor Cossack! I picked him as my avatar when I first started really getting into Mega Man Classic (the games with Rock as the protagonist) about a decade ago, and I've stuck to him ever since. He's from Mega Man 4, my favorite in the series because of its tight design, the use of its new mechanics and being just the sweet spot between doing new things and keeping to what made the series great. People will tell you that 2, 3 or 9 are their favorites, and while they're quite good I do feel that 2 and 3 are a bit jank in some places and 9 returned to its roots so hard it gave up some of the improvements made down the line. But why Mega Man is liked so much is because of its very simple and straightforward design, then doing new things with it again and again. It's the whole Jump & Shoot Man thing that Egoraptor talked about in his famous Sequelitis video comparing Mega Man X to Mega Man Classic. And while the Mega Man Classic games are more or less the same game again and again, they keep managing to iterate on it. Mega Man 1 to 6 were all on the NES, from its early days to right before the release on the SNES. Here you'll find Mega Man 7, which despite being on the same console as Mega Man X 1 to 3 looks, plays and feels very different from those games. Mega Man 8 was on the PS1, which is where a lot of the funky voice lines are from (at least the ones not from the Ruby-Spears cartoon, the Mega Man 1 remake for the PSP or the in-game audio or OVA of the X games). Then there was a lot of silence where we saw many other Mega Man games: the X series made it to its eight game, the Zero series had four games with its own two-part sequel series, Battle Network had six games, and the two Legends games (Legends 3 when, Capcom?) Then there was silence, until we saw the release of Mega Man 9 and 10 back in 2008 and 2010. They were a lot more like the NES games, and people liked them a lot. Then there was more silence, until 2018 saw the release of Mega Man 11, which was very much its own thing. While the Double Gear system was quite the innovation to the series, it also meant the game had to be designed around it, making it less like the Classic games. If you want to actually play the Mega Man games, you're in luck! Capcom decided to make a lot of money a decade ago by putting all of the numbered Classic, X, Zero/ZX and Battle Network games on Steam. They play quite well and come with a variety of features and background material to make it a celebration of the franchise that has not received a new game since 2018. As of RIGHT NOW they're on sale as well, so you can get them on the cheap. Capcom also decided to take a Mega Man mobile game that was going out of service, ripped out not only its mandatory online component but also ALL OF ITS MICROTRANSACTIONS, then put it up for sale on Steam for a fixed price. Absolute gigachad move. Oh, and the guy who won the contest to have Dust Man put into Mega Man 4? Yusuke Murata just did the redrawing of One Punch Man for Weekly Young Jump, from the more crude webcomic art. Oh, and his design for Crystal Man made it into Mega Man 5 as well. But which one to play first? I'm biased, but I'm going to say Mega Man 4. Sure you can start with 1 and go from there, but in the first two you're going to want to be comfortable with chat yelling at you what to do because unless you're an eight dimensional gigabrain you're not going to figure these things out yourself. That is, if you even have people in chat who know the games to help you out. Sure there's also 3, but it's a bit of a pain. How about Mega Man X? That was my first Mega Man game when I was but a wee lad, as spotty as the ROM I used to play it was. While it's a good time, it's one of those games where if you don't go out of your way not only will you miss out on several cool powerups, you also won't get certain upgrades that might as well put you into a challenge mode. So if you want to play that one, pick up a guide for the secrets. In either case, there's the question of whether you want to use a boss order. All the weapons dropped by bosses are very effective against one other boss, but are less powerful or even useless against other bosses. While you don't need the actual weapons against the bosses, it does make the fights a bit easier. Sure you can go in whatever order you want or go buster only (so just your main weapon), but using the weapons in order gives you quite the fun experience. Unless of course you want to enter the Mega Man scene as the guy who beats (almost) all Mega Man games for the first time buster only, which might be good for your brand. There's also the issue of length: Mega Man games are not very long, and if you're good at platforming you'll beat them pretty quickly. This ain't no Hollow Knight. In Classic's 1-3 and 7-11 as well as the initial X games beating the eight (six in Mega Man 1) bosses means you're two-thirds through the game, so if you're going through it at a good pace you might be able to complete a game in two, maybe even one stream. Classic 4, 5 and 6 instead has beating the eight Robot Masters as the halfway point, so you can take it from there. But Mega Man's a blast, and I hope that you stick around for the games!
Beriorn
2025-04-27 19:28:57 +0000 UTC
