<center></center>
# Introduction #
I've looked at the Mega Man X games, covering the SNES trilogy, as well as Mega Man X4 for the original Playstation. I will be covering Mega Man X5 and X6 one day in the future, but truth be told those are not my favorite games, so going through them is a lot of work for me, and not enjoyable.
So, to buy time, I decided to play some good games.
Namely, going back in time to the original NES Mega Man series. And I will be covering them all!
In the first part, we will go through Mega Man 1through 3.
Released in 1987 for the NES, Mega Man was a sidescrolling platformer/run and gun hybrid, starring the hand cannon equipped blue bomer called Mega Man.
Throughout its releases, the Mega Man games would feature several additions and alterations to the concept, but the main gist of things would remain intact during the entire lifespan of the series:
The player would freely choose from a selection of levels, fight a boss, move on the next level and the next boss, before finally reaching the final stages that would pit him against the main antagonist of the series, Dr. Wily.
Defeating a boss would grant Mega Man its special weapon, with each special weapon being the weakness of one of the bosses, and the player would therefore need to come up with the optimal order in which to take on the levels.
This was quite revolutionary at the time, since it was 20 or so years before the open world concept would become mainstream in gaming, let alone pretty much ruin the media in the present day.
Trust me, I will be doing a rant on the entire open world sandbox concept in gaming one day.
<center></center>
These days, everybody knows Mega Man, and the series is actually getting its 11th entry next year.
But the series actually had quite the rocky start, and to find out why, let's dive in.
# Mega Man #
<center></center>
The Mega Man game that no one remembers.
Whenever people bring up Mega Man, or the "first Mega Man game they played", they are usually referring not to Mega Man, but Mega Man 2.
This is because the initial Mega Man was less then spectacular, and did nothing to make people predict the skyrocketing popularity that the series would have in the future.
The main concept is there, but the level design is off on some places, with some unfair enemy placement, and Mega Man's controls are not as well polished as they would later become.
I was aware of this, since I had beaten Mega Man before when I was younger, but it's never a game I go back to, so I had forgotten just how sluggish it was to control Mega Man in this game.
Instead of the eight bosses we would have in later games, the first Mega Man features six initial levels before the Dr. Wily stages.
It's not like it's a bad game, but considering how good the later entries are, it feels weird replaying the first one because it's so much more flawed than its more well rounded younger brothers.
Going through the games in the classic series, it has to be said that Mega Man 1 was the game I had the least fun with.
Even the soundtrack is rather uninspiring, and the soundtrack is something people always bring up when discussing the classic NES series.
Nevertheless, the game did feature cool new concepts in gaming at the time, such as the special weapons, boss weaknesses, the freedom of choosing which stages to tackle in which order, and for its time, it was an impressive release. Just not as good as its sequels would be.
A common criticism among critics at the time of the game's release was that it was very difficult. And to a European like me, it definitely has some of the classic Japanese difficulty, which can lead to frustrations from time to time. Even for a seasoned Mega Man veteran as myself. I'm all for games being difficult, but there are times in Mega Man where the game is just flat out unfair. Especially when a degree of the difficulty comes from the less than tight controls.
For laying the groundwork, it deserves credit.
<center></center>
I was actually able to dig up some interesting trivia on the creation of Mega Man. The game's lead artist Keiji Inafune has said that due to growing up on anime, he wanted the characters of Mega Man to be detailed and have animations that are realistic and make sense. Many of the era's counterparts, such as Super Mario Brothers, lacked these qualities, in Inafune's eyes.
He chose the color blue for Mega Man's character because blue had the most colors in the NES color palette.
The game was not a massive commercial hit, but did sell well enough to warrant a North American release. The US release was rushed out the door, and the cover art being rushed, as well, lead to this hilarity:
<center></center>
For whatever reason, Mega Man in the North American game cover is a middle aged man, suffering from midlife crisis, and forgot that he is equipped with a hand cannon, and therefore actually carries a handgun.
I dunno.
Mega Man was not a big hit in North America, and gee, I wonder why. Nothing in that cover art tells a kid in the 80s to buy the game.
Mega Man had its problems, but there was enough promise there for Capcom to greenlight a sequel, and that's where things really picked up.
# Mega Man 2 #
<center></center>
It's hard to discuss Mega Man 2 because you want to avoid saying stuff that's already been said, but when it comes to a game like Mega Man 2, what is there to be said.
Mega Man 2 took the concept of the first game, and improved upon every aspect, perfecting the formula. This is the game people most often talk about whenever discussing Mega Man, since it is the game most people are the most nostalgic for.
The graphics were improved, and each stage was given its own distinct color scheme, which helped give the levels life and their own identity. The animations were better, characters were more detailed, and the game was just more fun to look at. Still within the NES limitations, but for what there was to work with, the game looks mighty impressive.
But even moreso than the graphics, what was really improved upon was the soundtrack.
The soundtrack is perhaps the most memorable part of Mega Man 2 for players who grew up on the 8 bit era. Each level theme is awesome, they fit the atmosphere, they set the mood and all are memorable in their own right.
I'm sure most people have heard the millions of remixes of Dr. Wily Stage 1-2, for instance.
I'm listening to the soundtrack as we speak, and this retrospective was pretty much just an excuse for me to listen to it while doing something productive. And what's more fitting than a retrospective on the series.
I often revisit the tunes of Mega Man 2 outside of playing the games themselves, and as I've mentioned in the X series reviews, that, to me, is the mark of a great soundtrack; it works both in game and out of the game. There are lots of soundtracks that do either or well, the very good ones nail both.
I wouldn't say it's better than the soundtrack of Mega Man X1, but it's definitely 1A.
If you've somehow managed to miss the soundtrack of Mega Man 2 for 30 some years, I highly recommend you go check it out. It's all over YouTube and all sorts of music services around the internet.
Mega Man can still feel a bit slippery, but the controls are a lot tighter than they were in the first game, and it feels like you are more in control of Mega Man this time around.
The level design and enemy placement were worked on, and the game manages to remain challenging, but without some of the first game's unfairness. Difficulty in a game should be a challenge, not an unfair cause frustration of anguish.
<center></center>
One rather major flaw Mega Man 2 has, which must be brought up, is the infamous metal blade weapon.
It's broken beyond belief; it has a ton of ammo, does way more damage than the standard Mega Buster, and can be shot in several dirctions, whereasthe Mega Buster only can only shoot in the direction Mega Man is facing.
Once acquired, there's very little, if any, reason at all to use a weapon other than the metal blade, other than the boss fights.
It's a stretch to call it gamebreaking, since the player can simply choose not to use the weapon, but since it's there, it's fair to call it a problem that it's so ridiculously overpowered.
It overshadows the other special weapons, too, and discourages experimenting with them.
Other than that, it's hard to come up with serious flaws in Mega Man 2. It's a classic that definitely needs to be revisited every now and again, still.
Even though I'm more of a fan of the X series, Mega Man 2 is still responsible for many of my favorite gaming memories.
It's satisfying once you complete, but it's not a total goddamn nerve wrecker like a Ninja Gaiden, for instance.
The difficulty in Mega Man 2 is just perfect, with a lot of the first game's pitfalls having been avoided.
But, for whatever reason, a mystery to many, Mega Man 2 is **not** my favourite classic Mega Man game. That title belongs to the next game in the series.
# Mega Man 3 #
<center></center>
Mega Man 2 being a massive commercial success pretty much guaranteed the series to be milked for all its worth for years to come.
The concept would change very little, as mentioned earlier, but Mega Man 3 introduced one my favourite additions to the classic series, which was ability to slide.
This simple mechanic made it so much more fun to go through the levels, and is the main reason I have difficulty sometimes going back to Mega Man 2, let alone Mega Man 1, since I've played the post-Mega Man 3 games so much, I've gotten used to the ability to slide. This is further accentuated by the dashing ability in the X series.
Mega Man 2 perfected the formula, but Mega Man 3, in my eyes, improved upon it just a little further, at just the right places, and it feels like that with Mega Man 2, the team finally got it, and once they got it, they could just focus on making the game better, and the end result was Mega Man 3.
Mega Man controls pretty much the same, save for the sliding ability, but the level design is just a tad better, for the most part, I like the bosses more, and if you put a gun in my face and told me to pick the better soundtrack out of 2 and 3, I would say 3 has the better soundtrack.
And 2's soundtrack was amazing.
But Gemini Man, Snake Man, Shadow Man and Spark Man are just so good, I am forced to give the nod to Mega Man 3's soundtrack, which is where I feel the series peaked music wise.
Not to mention the title theme. It is by far the best in the series, and the only in the series that sends shivers whenever I hear it. It could have to do with the fact that after loving Mega Man 2, I was excited to play 3, and hearing the epic, heroic theme at the title screen was a great moment, which made a young me feel like I was in for a great adventure. Cheesy, but we all have those gaming memories from way back when!
Also, Mega Man 3 lacks the overpowered weapon that was the metal blade in Mega Man 2, so that alone makes the game feel a lot more balanced, encourages experimenting and using different weapons.
The weapons are better this time around, too, with what feels like more variety among them. But it could also be that I just end up using the metal blade every time I play Mega Man 2, ignoring the rest of the weapons.
Mega Man 3 was my favourite of the classic series before replaying them for this retrospective, and out of these three, it was once again the one I had the most fun with.
It's a controversial opinion, and I've gotten dirty looks before for noting that I like Mega Man 3 more than revered Mega Man 2, but hey, it's my retrospective, so deal with it.
<center></center>
Mega Man 3 also feels a bit more colorful and alive graphically than Mega Man 2, though not by much, but enough to make clear difference.
Definitely a huge step forward from the dull, greyish and boring Mega Man 1.
I'd still tell a newcomer to the series to start with Mega Man 2, but Mega Man 3 is the top of the heap, in my opinion. You can like and appreciate Mega Man 2, and then fall in love with how much further Mega Man 3 takes all the things you loved.
Sadly, the Dr. Wily Stage theme is not nearly as memorable this time around, however.
Mega Man 3 is once again more difficult than Mega Man 2, but not in an infuriating way like Mega Man 1, but in a way that does take practice and mastering. This is also why I recommend mastering Mega Man 2 first, and then moving on to Mega Man 3.
Mega Man 3 would be the peak of the classic series, for me, but there were still tons of Mega Man games to come, which I will be talking about in part 2.
See ya, and go play Mega Man.