I can't lie. Even as a devoted Mega Man fan, I was worried about the announcement of Mega Man 10. "Too soon," I thought. And Sheep Man1? I figured it was going to be the same old story that we've experienced in the past with the series growing stale due to a lack of good ideas.
After playing a brief demo of the game this weekend at CES, I'm no more certain than I was before. The bits I was shown were very limited and Capcom is clearly keeping secret as much information about the upcoming release as they can.
I do have some impressions of it, though, and I'd be happy to share them with you.
What we where shown of Mega Man 10 -- a portion of the "Strike Man" stage -- was not considerable. It did not even include the inevitable showdown with the robot master, so I can't speak to the nature of the bosses this time around. I haven't even seen one yet. The bits I did get to play are classic Mega Man, however. I was impressed with the level design, which had a number of little surprises both in unexpected enemies and some tricky jumps.
The aesthetic is a little strange, however. While I haven't seen Strike Man yet, I got the impression from the two mini-boss fights I played in the level that he's somehow related to sports. Now, this is totally speculation and it wouldn't be the first time that a mini-boss wound up being totally unrelated to the level that they were in, but that's the vibe I received as I avoided soccer balls and thought about the robot master's name. The level itself didn't feel particularly sports-focused, however, and I'm just a bit confused as to what I'm supposed to think.
Difficulty is a tricky thing for Mega Man nowadays. With many concerned that the ninth installment was too difficult, the addition of an easy mode made sense. What the mode does is add platforms to make jumps easier and reduces the enemy count. As a seasoned Mega Man veteran, I had only a little difficulty finishing the demo. It is by no means a cinch, but we've certainly seen more challenging levels than this one. The representative from Capcom who initially demonstrated the game to me had been unable by that point to finish the demo on normal difficulty.
I'm pretty hopeful for the game, but that's based entirely on a desire to play good Mega Man games and not actual experience. Yes, what I played of Mega Man 10 was fun, but every bad game in the franchise had at least one decent level and I didn't even get to play the whole thing. So, while I'm cautiously optimistic, I have yet to be given a really good reason to be excited.
1I later learned that Sheep Man's attacks are electricity-based. This makes him an electric sheep. Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Even if this game winds up sucking, he's my second favorite Robot Master of all time now, right under Heat Man.
Contest:
12:00 PM on 01.11.2010
| 
Mega Man 8 sub-weapon flashbacks!
Yeah, my feelings are not at all dissimilar. If there's such a thing as not-at-all-whelmed, then that be where I is.
And Megaman 9 was very easy, especially compared to a lot of the older games that had crap like undodgeable attacks and invisible shots due to screen flicker. The fact that people complained about MM9 being "too hard" just shows how soft the Megaman fanbase has gotten over the years.
I'm excited for this game, as Megaman has yet to ever let me down. And that's that.
Promises of a possible multiplayer main series Mega Man game for the first time since Mega Man 7 on the SNES, and three playable characters at launch are underwhelming?
Did you ever like Mega Man?
Also, everything Gen Eric Gui said. I'm really surprised anyone found Mega Man 9 hard, considering how cheap the sub-weapons are, especially. I think those people just never bothered to use the Jewel Satellite, or any other weapon ever for that matter. Hell, the black hole bomb one-hitted everything in the game, and you could pause-unpause to cancel the sucking animation. Tornado Blow made just about any "hard" jump a joke, as well.
It's in a coliseum. You're attacked by locker doors, baseball throwing robots, a frickin' soccer goal (twice!), spiked soccer balls, you jump on basketball hoops...
What more do you want?
(Also, Strike Man makes sense - his silhouette vaguely looks like it's wearing a baseball cap and/or catcher's mitt.)
@Gen Eric Gui
7... NEVER FORGET THE HORROR OF MEGAMAN 7!
And yes Megaman 9 wasn't too hard but wasted a lot of my time. I let the other Megaman games slide because they were on the NES but in Megaman 9 all the "unfair" difficulty I felt could have been fixed with a better save system. What possible reason in the year 200X could they have to make me beat 4 stages before getting to willy with no breaks? There's being challenging and then there's just being a time wasting dick.
Best. Comment. Ever.
And you've NEVER been able to save midway through Wily levels. If you could, it would take out all the danger and fun of going against Wily. And I mean, seriously, even on my first run of the game the Wily levels took me just over 20 minutes to beat. And once you know what's coming they can be beaten in about 3 minutes each. So the complaint that they're "too long" and need save points is kinda of moot. If you can't put aside the 20 minutes you need to beat the Wily stages, just don't play the game until you do.
Number 10 will be no different. It may not prove be the best game in the franchise, but I'm fairly sure I will have a blast playing it.
Also, considering it's an affordable DL game, nobody should complain.
Capcom is producing these "retro" sequels for Mega Man fans. Enjoy. =)
Megaman 7 seemed too much like a Megaman X game for me to enjoy it. It just wasn't Megaman enough for me I guess.
"And you've NEVER been able to save midway through Wily levels."
My point exactly. I've always hated it when games feel like they're wasting my time rather than entertaining me. Besides 9 I've never beaten a single other Megaman game and that's probably because of the save system in it. I was younger when I played the rest so I would get up to the Wily stages and quit somewhere in between.
Is it so hard to ask for a challenging Megaman game that doesn't rely on checkpoints and lives and will actually just let me save at the points I need to. Thinking about it now it wouldn't really change much I mean after you save you usually continue anyway so why force us to go through without stopping?
Read the first part of the above. It's the worst in my opinion like Super Mario Sunshine is the worst 3D Mario but that's probably just my high standards than the game being genuinely bad. Being the worst Megaman game isn't that bad in my opinion considering that this is a series I am willing to play again and again despite never personally beating some of the games (When in doubt get your friends/family to do it for you!).
Also Megaman and Bass is the one game I've never touched from the platforming side of the Megaman spectrum. How is that game? Good? Bad? Better or worse than 7?
*giggle*
Really? You're calling out my appreciation 'cause I'm not, in your opinion, impressed enough by mechanics or features that aren't in any way related to what I like about Mega Man in the first place?
And no, I didn't like Mega Man 7.
It's the only original Megaman game I haven't beaten due to difficulty, and I thought Megaman 9 was easy peasy. So take that as you will.
Also, only Mega Man and Proto Man will be available the start. The third unknown character will be DLC.
Megaman has no reason to be in "Megaman and Bass". I mean, for god's sake, Bass has a freaking double-jump, fires continuously with the button pressed down, and his sprite looks cool while the Mega Man sprite generally looks dumb. The only thing Bass doesn't do is slide, which is necessary to get some of the bonus material hidden around (files on previous mega man games robot masters). The boss fights range from very easy to medium, mainly because double jumping is retardedly good. If you like challenge and do not mind looking retarded, you should definitely play the game as Mega Man. Otherwise, the whole game is not much different in style to 7. :S
Clown Man: "See you in my DREAMS!" *explodes*
I find Megaman 9 quite easy as it's only really hard if you've been Megamanless for a while (Weird thing is Megaman 1-6 seem easier after playing 9 for a while especially 2. I really chalk down not completing the games myself down to time.) So that won't be such a leap.
I'll try it and probably obsess around it like other Megaman games before giving up at the last stages.
Yeah, I said it. I enjoy them, but not enough to memorize them.
Overall i'd say it's a solid 8 for me, its just feels quite different when coming from the MM 1-7 series.
On the other hand, however, I really hope that the rest of the music doesn't sound as bad as Strike Man's theme. I mean, the first half sounds good, but the chorus totally kills it. I also hope they don't fuck up Proto Man like they did in MM9. I can handle double damage, but double recoil?! Have either one or the other, but not BOTH!
(heh, and in checking its name on a certain image site, I see someone else made that literary(?) connection)
Now that's the spirit I want to see! :)
Best regards, Anna, CEO of iscsi ha and itunes