Unofficial Official Mega Man Thread

Use the Robot Master intro jingle from when you select their stage.

I'm gonna try out the Death SFX for a while, see if I like it. Thanks for the suggestions.

Good god there are like 4 Mega Man threads.

How do you all feel about Mega Man 9 and 10? I think the concept was brilliant, someone else disagrees and says that the novelty of the retro graphics/gameplay wore off with 10. Quoting that conversation:

Bah!

Baaah!

My point here, continued from this conversation, is that video game remakes like Final Fantasy 7, Streets of Rage, and Half-Life take a ridiculously long time to make from the ground up.

I say 9 and 10 were great ideas that captured the nostalgia of the games but still allowed for new content. Considering that Capcom treats Megaman like garbage the fact that they took the risk of using retro graphics to recapture the nostalgia of the older games, to me, was pretty ingenious, certainly more than Sonic 4, which tried to continue from Sonic 3 but upgraded the graphics.

We could sit here all day and bash Capcom but 9 and 10 were, I feel, one of their smarter plays, even if they ultimately didn't go anywhere.

And if Mighty no 9 is any indication, rebuilding a Mega Man-esque game seems like it could still be a b'tch and a half if the team designing it doesn't have their heads on straight. The counterexample to this are indie games like Freedom Planet, smaller budget, smaller crew, looks better than pretty much any Mega Man game.

But still. Continuing right from the 8-bit days, smart move.

edited 17th Mar '17 1:26:20 PM by Soble

My main problem with 9 is that it was Platform Hell at its' finest. (Which also means at its worst.) I literally could not beat a single level in the game, and I strongly suspect that I would have to get a lot of bottles of rum to do so, if you get my meaning. (AR MATEY!)

10 was a hell of a lot better on that front, (up until the Wily Fortress anyway,) but while it was an enjoyable game, there was still one big problem with it; it wasn't the 1980's. By this point, Megaman had moved on. It had proved three times over by now that it could keep the classic gameplay alive while also giving us new bells and whistles such as 32 bit graphics and sound. But both 9 and 10 pretend like the series never moved past that and that we're still stuck in the 80's, (and early 90's by extension,) when we're anything but.

And that just wasn't the kind of game that the series needed. It needed something that captured the spirit of Classic Megaman while also dragging it kicking and screaming into the present, and if it had, we might still be seeing new Megaman games made today. You didn't even have to really do that much; just get rid of all of the hair-tearing excessive spikes and deathtraps, give us the amount of content people expect from most games these days, cover it with a modern coat of paint, and you're golden. But instead, it pretended as though we were still in the glory days of yesteryear, which was a problem, because what worked in 1987 wasn't necessarily going to work nearly as well in 2010. Rather than playing a game that was made today, I felt like I was playing one made over two decades ago. And that just wasn't what was needed to keep the series afloat or make it feel fresh. It was neither the game that the series deserved, nor the one that it needed right then. It just... was.

edited 17th Mar '17 11:38:57 AM by kkhohoho

If we're just talking about MM 9, then I agree with this. At the time it felt like a very bold idea, and Capcom really went above and beyond with the marketing and promotion for it which got everyone super excited because we hadn't really gotten a game like Mega Man 9 in a while.

But that was lightning in a bottle. By Mega Man 10, I don't think anyone was super excited about the concept anymore. The reception to it, as far as I've seen, has been "Oh....they're doing this again, I guess":

When you put it in context with other stuff like Street Fighter x Mega Man (which was an 8-bit FANGAME that was picked up and backed/assisted by Capcom) being the only other relevant Mega Man project for a while, the cancellation of MML 3 and other Mega Man games, etc, it puts the situation in a different and unflattering light.

Basically, there's nothing wrong with MM 10 by itself, but it speaks to a trend that was going around Capcom at the time where the only thing they really did was milk classic mega man with low-budget and unambitious games or projects that did very little to get players truly excited about the franchise. This is especially the case if you happened to prefer the other subseries, because while fun, MM Classic is the most basic form of Mega Man without any of the new and interesting mechanics from the later games.

As I said in the thread, this is all a bit of an understandable decision on Capcom's part, probably more than some people realize because afaik the games simply were not selling well. It's understandable for them to retire the character or not risk too much on an IP that they're unsure about going forward. But at the same time (and this is really the big one), if all they're going to do is just make more Mega Man 10's I don't really think I will care about the franchise anymore.

edited 17th Mar '17 12:29:48 PM by Draghinazzo

I'm with Drag. MM 9 was a pretty solid idea but MM 10 was just Capcom trying to milk a money cow. My opinion isn't helped by the fact that I can't stand Classic Mega Man no matter how much I try it.

I like MM 10 better than 9 for its story and being a lot easier XD; but I like 9 too.

Same here. I feel 9 and 10 were similar to 2 and 3 in a lot of ways (mostly gameplay and sound design-wise), in that I always saw 3 as being the better game compared to 2, despite 2 and 9 getting more overt praise compared to their immediate sequels.

Still, I agree with the "more of the same" sentiment a little and felt that 10 would've worked better if they remade it in the same graphical style as 7, 8, or even Powered Up, while retooling the gameplay to fit more modern gameplay standards.^note Ideally, I would have made 10 the 7 throwback and 11 the 8 throwback, as far as graphics were concerned. At least it would stave off the "sprites are old hat" arguments. Though then I'd have to ask what would Mega Man need to change to fit said standards without losing too much of its own identity (not helped by the franchise having subseries like X and Zero that changed up the Mega Man Classic gameplay already); change too much and you may as well make it into a new IP/reboot or use a more fitting franchise.

...People mentioned Freedom Planet and Shovel Knight as examples of "retro done right", which is fine, I guess, but wouldn't something like Azure Striker Gunvolt be more appropriate in regards to this franchise? I haven't played it (though I do have the sequel downloaded), so I can't say anything about how it compared to any of the Mega Man games, but hadn't it modernized the gameplay pretty well, at least by the sequel...?

Ehh not really. it took until two to find it's footing and even then most mega man fans dont like it's stop and go gameplay with gunvolt and from what i see people vastly prefer copen's gameplay. in terms of level design it's very run of the mill in terms of it's design, because of the flashfield and having to position enemies for scoring. they've yet to find a good balance, but then again, neither did zero 3.

What? Zero 3 was the best of MMZ games...

And it's not like Gunvolt was meant to be Mega Man's successor, unlike Mighty 9.

Sorry i meant zero 2

What do you guys think of the Protomen and its deconstructing Holding Out for a Hero?

I've never listened to them and currently have no plans to.

Me neither. I just read the trope page.

Edit:I still wonder about the trope and moral of the story.

edited 20th Mar '17 1:09:18 AM by GAP

I like the songs

I fucking love the Protomen and am literally incapable of comprehending why someone wouldn't.

I also love the Megas so ptsd robots might be my aesthetic

They'll watch you die to save their lives... they will not stand there by your side.

Also, the Protomen's lead singer can put more emotion in his voice than any other singer I've known.

edited 20th Mar '17 7:25:58 AM by Yinyang107

Powered Up had the right idea I think when it came to graphics. Sure it used 3d, but it gave them a chibi esthetic that kept the more cutesy, simplistic look of the sprites of yore.

Not everyone likes the PSX-era more animesque designs, but I do. Still, point is even newer games like that still kept a recognizable style despite the changes, and the 7th Classic game and the Zero series found a happy medium between detail and efficient design.

I find Zero Characters to be a tad too skinny, and some characters have loo long arms.

I loved the Zero aesthetic. So much.

The skinny-ness has a good reason tho: it's the start of making them close to humanity.

That said, I'm slightly torn on the Zero series' bosses. They all look more animal than man for some reason. I actually like that kind of design, but that kinda goes against the "protector of humanity" bit they're going with.

At least it makes for some kind of brilliance for the ZX series: they're called "Pseudoroids" because they aren't conforming to the strict "humanoid" law posed by the Legion.

The very first game look kinda lackluster compared to the preceding ones tho. Especially with the way they handled the level choices

edited 21st Mar '17 8:33:01 AM by Getta

The ones in Zero are themed after mythology. Mutos Reploids.

I guess with the intention of having them viewed by the public as guardian spirits and punishers of the unjust

Fits in with the angelic theme X decided to go with

Arcadia comes from Greek myth. Renowned for being unspoiled harmonious wilderness. As does Elysium, X's original name for the city. Elysium was the realm of those chosen by the gods. Of course in the original Japanese he apparently just straight up called it Heaven.

Anyway, mythology and religion seemed to have become a fascination for X so I can see him trying to use it to inspire the people and give them hope when there was just a single city left

Also funny is that he didn't name the city Heaven right away. I guess he figured he had to work up to it.

But the city is covered by the Eden Dome and has a tall tower reaching to heaven that used to be a space elevator

Cause X loves mixing mythologies

edited 21st Mar '17 6:39:20 AM by Bocaj

Mutos = Mythos?

Yup

Also why Prince Mytho is pronounced Muto in Princess Tutu