Mega Man
Capcom - 1987
The Mega Man series is one that I fondly recall from my youth, sitting for hours in front our RCA television, (with it's stylish wood grain plastic sides and rotary dial channel selection knobs) battling it out with the maniacal Dr. Wily and his robot creations bent on world domination. I must admit however, that the bulk of my experience with the series lies with later installments in the series (mainly 3-6). So when I put myself to the task of revisiting the NES library for the eventual goal of playing and reviewing every North American release on the system, this game was high on my list of first titles to tackle due to my love of the latter games in the franchise.
Let me say now, that the experience was very humbling. I remember renting this game at least once from the local video store after I first got my NES for Christmas in 1988, but I have virtually no recollections as to my original experiences with the game other than being put off by the laughably bad cover and manual art - Mega Man NES Cover Art. After a few assurances from classmates on the playground (the "forums" of the day) that Mega Man was in fact a decent game, I took the chance and used a precious weekend game rental to see what it was all about.
Looking back now, I can only surmise that I knocked myself unconscious attempting to emulate an advanced Ninja maneuver I saw on TV and never actually managed to play the game, or that the reality of the challenge was so overwhelming that my young brain kicked itself into some kind of self-preservation mode and repressed the memories of my subsequent gaming failure to protect my fragile, developing psyche. I can offer no other explanations why I would not remember such a profound ass whooping.
This game is hard.
Mega Man is brutal, unforgiving and gives no shits about pulling your gamer card, ripping it to shreds and throwing it onto the pile confiscated from players before you that it sent packing back home to mama. There are no shortage of difficult NES games, but the list of games that depend on genuine challenge and are not simply hard due to broken controls or ill conceived gameplay mechanics is much shorter. Mega Man fits into the former category for the most part. There are some instances of cheap enemy placement and platforming elements that require near superhuman reflexes to successfully navigate, but both can be overcome with some practice and level memorization.
You can chose to play any of the first six stages from the beginning of the game, which added some much needed variety to the typical NES game of the era. Most games of the day started on the same level every time which could be frustrating if you wanted to practice on a certain stage that was giving you trouble. The enemies move in regular and predictable patterns and you can shoot while climbing on ladders which is a welcome feature.
Most of your deaths will likely come from the death-defying platform segments over the many unfathomable pits and spiked floors. One area that I find to be especially annoying is this part in Ice Man's level where they drop you into an icy pit with an enemy that can only be killed with certain weapons and the platforms above you appear and disappear in a specific pattern. If you already know the pattern or have the weapon needed to dispatch the enemy, you're all set. But if you don't have the required weapon or know the platform pattern you are pretty much screwed, its a beginners trap the only purpose being to kill you.
As if this ice pit segment wasn't bad enough, as you progress through the stage you reach a point where the platforms needed for progression over the bottomless void below are not only moving around in a seemingly random pattern, they are also shooting at you !
Everything in the game is trying to stop Mega Man from taking the battle to Dr. Wily and they are doing a pretty damn good job of it. The other levels are just as challenging as Ice Man's in their own way, and the method the game uses to establish checkpoints when you are defeated can be unforgiving as well, such as dropping you directly into the above mentioned ice pit. You can, however use this checkpoint system to your advantage as dying during a regular boss battle will drop you back into the corridor immediately prior to the robot master. This is useful for getting yourself back up to full health before the fight if you have additional lives in reserve. (your special weapon energy is not replenished however).
Further adding to the challenge of Mega Man are the lack of elements that made the later installments memorable (and less frustrating), most notably the energy tanks and password system. The omission of any kind of progress saving system forces you to play through it in one go and increases the frustration factor dramatically, (although emulation through a traditional emulator or Nintendo's Virtual Console makes this a non-issue). If you are gonna attempt to do it "legit" with a real NES cart keep this in mind.
Mega Man is worth a play, and is actually quite good if you aren't bothered by the merciless difficulty. If you are a Mega Man veteran but missed this one somehow its nice to go back and see the series roots and experience a new challenge worthy of any hardcore NES gamer. If you are new to the Mega Man series or even just the 8-bit Mega Man games, i would recommend starting with MM2 or 3 and saving this one for when you have mastered the more polished installments and need additional challenge.
Cheats and game suggestions -
Boss order and weaknesses (not required, but I find this order the easiest):
Game Genie Codes:
This game is hard.
Mega Man is brutal, unforgiving and gives no shits about pulling your gamer card, ripping it to shreds and throwing it onto the pile confiscated from players before you that it sent packing back home to mama. There are no shortage of difficult NES games, but the list of games that depend on genuine challenge and are not simply hard due to broken controls or ill conceived gameplay mechanics is much shorter. Mega Man fits into the former category for the most part. There are some instances of cheap enemy placement and platforming elements that require near superhuman reflexes to successfully navigate, but both can be overcome with some practice and level memorization.
You can chose to play any of the first six stages from the beginning of the game, which added some much needed variety to the typical NES game of the era. Most games of the day started on the same level every time which could be frustrating if you wanted to practice on a certain stage that was giving you trouble. The enemies move in regular and predictable patterns and you can shoot while climbing on ladders which is a welcome feature.
Most of your deaths will likely come from the death-defying platform segments over the many unfathomable pits and spiked floors. One area that I find to be especially annoying is this part in Ice Man's level where they drop you into an icy pit with an enemy that can only be killed with certain weapons and the platforms above you appear and disappear in a specific pattern. If you already know the pattern or have the weapon needed to dispatch the enemy, you're all set. But if you don't have the required weapon or know the platform pattern you are pretty much screwed, its a beginners trap the only purpose being to kill you.
As if this ice pit segment wasn't bad enough, as you progress through the stage you reach a point where the platforms needed for progression over the bottomless void below are not only moving around in a seemingly random pattern, they are also shooting at you !
 |
| Don't let the cute googly eyes fool you, these platforms want you dead. |
Everything in the game is trying to stop Mega Man from taking the battle to Dr. Wily and they are doing a pretty damn good job of it. The other levels are just as challenging as Ice Man's in their own way, and the method the game uses to establish checkpoints when you are defeated can be unforgiving as well, such as dropping you directly into the above mentioned ice pit. You can, however use this checkpoint system to your advantage as dying during a regular boss battle will drop you back into the corridor immediately prior to the robot master. This is useful for getting yourself back up to full health before the fight if you have additional lives in reserve. (your special weapon energy is not replenished however).
Further adding to the challenge of Mega Man are the lack of elements that made the later installments memorable (and less frustrating), most notably the energy tanks and password system. The omission of any kind of progress saving system forces you to play through it in one go and increases the frustration factor dramatically, (although emulation through a traditional emulator or Nintendo's Virtual Console makes this a non-issue). If you are gonna attempt to do it "legit" with a real NES cart keep this in mind.
Mega Man is worth a play, and is actually quite good if you aren't bothered by the merciless difficulty. If you are a Mega Man veteran but missed this one somehow its nice to go back and see the series roots and experience a new challenge worthy of any hardcore NES gamer. If you are new to the Mega Man series or even just the 8-bit Mega Man games, i would recommend starting with MM2 or 3 and saving this one for when you have mastered the more polished installments and need additional challenge.
Cheats and game suggestions -
Boss order and weaknesses (not required, but I find this order the easiest):
| Robot Master | Weapon to utilize |
| Bomb Man | Mega Buster [P] |
| Guts Man | Hyper Bomb [B] |
| Cut Man | Super Arm [G] |
| Elec Man | Rolling Cutter [C] |
| Ice Man | Thunder Beam [E] |
| Fire Man | Ice Slasher [I] |
Game Genie Codes:
| Effect | Code |
| Infinite Lives | OZSKPZVK |
| Infinite Energy | SZKZGZSA |
| Mega Jump | TAOOYTGA |
| Only bosses deal damage | AVVXLPSZ |
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