Mega Man 9 Review (XBLA, PSN, WiiWare)

Let's party like it's 1987! Mega Man 9 is here, and it's a nice and affordable $10 across all
platforms (1000 Wii Points, 800 Microsoft Points). The real question is, does Mega Man still
have the old 8-bit magic, or is the spark better left in the mists of time?



We haven't seen a Mega Man game like this since Mega Man 6 on the NES back in 1993,
and the last “true” Mega Man game, Mega Man 8, was released back in 1996 on the original
PlayStation and Sega Saturn. IntiCreates, a company made of former Capcom employees
and Mega Man veterans, oversaw this game from start to finish, and the Blue Bomber's
creator, Keiji Inafune, also had a great role in Mega Man 9's production.

The story has never been the strength of the Mega Man series, and this one is no different.
Dr. Wily has been stopped once again at the hands of the Blue Bomber, and he is back in
prison....yet again. However, Dr. Light's robots soon start running amok, and Dr. Wily
insists that it's not his doing, but Dr. Light! Obviously framed, Mega Man dons his old all-
blue armor and goes out to stop the crazed robots and clear Dr. Light's name. Yeah, pretty
weak story, but remember that the whole game is about the action, and boy is it classic.

Mega Man 9 was built more on the Mega Man 1 and 2 engines, and there are a lot of
elements taken from those NES classics. There is no Mega Buster charge shot, no slide,
and worst of all, no on-the-fly weapons changing. The slide, introduced in Mega Man 3, had
a lot of practical uses, and I could think of a few spots where it should have been
implemented in 9, and I actually found myself wondering, “where the hell is my slide?!” I
also found myself wanting to use a charged Mega Buster shot, and nothing happened. I
never used it anyway in the old games, so small loss. Mega Man 9 is a 2-button game,
which works to perfection on Wii, since you will be holding the Wii Remote sideways like an
NES controller. Analog sticks don't have the same feel as a stiff D-pad, so for the
powerhouse systems the PS3 has the advantage in control since the D-pad is reasonably
placed on the DualShock 3, and it doesn't suck like the 360's D-pad. Xbox players will be
forced to use the left thumbstick to move our hero around, and while it's not bad, it doesn't
catch the same retro feel that one would get from using a D-pad.

As per usual, there are eight Robot Masters, and the classic challenge is beating the first
Master, then using the weapon you get to kill off another one. It may be classic, but there
are parts where the weapons are overpowered against the Master you want to kill. Boss
battles, a staple of the series, can be reduced to mere seconds, like using Fire Man's
weapon on Wood Man back in Mega Man 2. The Masters have better names than in the
past, too. Concrete Man, Tornado Man, Galaxy Man, Hornet Man, Magma Man, Splash
Woman (the first female Robot Master), Jewel Man, and Plug Man are all interesting, but
even better is the level design.

The levels in Mega Man 9 are some of the most innovative, yet devious and difficult ever
designed in the series. The game is a harsh reminder of how difficult games used to be. If
you're one of those people who think gaming has gone soft, give Mega Man 9 a whirl and
you will be given a lesson in frustration. You will die. You will throw your controller across
the room. You will be shouting curses and be flipping birds at enemies on the TV.
However, if you persevere, you'll have some awesome fun with Mega Man 9. There are
instant-death traps that border (and sometimes cross the border) on cheap, and,
especially in Concrete and Galaxy Man's stages, the death traps are the cheapest seen in
the series.


You jerk! I'm gonna kill you dead!

The big draw for most veteran gamers like myself and other people is that the game looks
and sounds like it would if it was made in the NES era. The graphics look great, even for 8-
bit, and the music is up to the classic Mega Man standards of awesome. The game even
pokes fun at itself, with incorrectly wrapping text, silly dialogue, and even Dr. Light saying
in the opening sequence, “You haven't done this in a while.”

Being that the game is on all three platforms, the game will have some graphical
discrepancies. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions are almost identical, since they
have the same glossy HD sheen, and the edges seem rougher. The Wii version does not
have a high-definition option, so it would have a more “authentic” and blocky look, like it
would on the NES. By design, these graphics are dated, but there is some merit to this in
that one could say it's an artistic statement.

Another discrepancy is that the Xbox 360 has the requisite twelve Xbox Live Arcade
Achievements to get, and they are not a walk in the park. There are also 50 in-game
achievements that range from speed runs to beating bosses with just your Mega Buster, to
the ludicrous task of completing the game without taking any damage. Only the hardest of
the hardcore need apply for some of the in-game achievements.

Mega Man 9 is not perfect, however. Going back to the graphics for a second, the game
designers intentionally put in slowdown and screen flicker that would have been present
should the game be on NES. While this is understandable and actually kinda nifty given
these days when slowdown is like a kiss of death for some games, it just makes an already
difficult game even more difficult, and not in a challenging way. This option (called Legacy
Mode) can be turned off, though, so if you're not a fan of screen flicker and intentional
slowdown, then you can turn that off.


OMFG!!1 Kill3r rob0t sciss0rs!

Another main complaint is that the developers are taking the Oblivion route in the realm of
downloadable content. Remember in Oblivion where you had to pay a few bucks for some
BS horse armor? That was a waste of money for something that should've been in the
game, and Mega Man 9 is taking that wallet-squeezing route. Downloadable content will be
available soon which will allow gamers to play as Proto Man (Blues, if you prefer), and
there will also be more difficulty modes, and also an endless survival mode. Nice touches
by Capcom, but why isn't this stuff unlockable in the game? This DLC will all be a couple
bucks a pop, too! Way to nickel and dime us to death, Capcom.

However, these are small complaints when you consider how much fun Mega Man is to play.
There is beauty in simplicity, and while that's been Dragon Quest's motto for years, Mega
Man 9 has heeded those words and given us something that looks and sounds like a relic of
days gone by, it has some of the most rewarding gameplay in the series' history. It's a
classic example of better graphics don't make a better game. Go out and buy this one, it's
a keeper.

Mega Man 9 gets a 4 out of 5.