New Game; Old-School rules. That's what it's all about in Mega Man 9, the newest installment in the popular series. Directed towards fans of the classic NES games, Mega Man 9 stays true to its roots, going back to its original look and feel that made Mega Man the video game icon he is today.
Being a fan of the Mega Man series, I was excited to not only hear that Mega Man 9 was coming out, but to hear that it was going back to it's old-school NES look and feel. Well, if you weren't around for Mega Man's glory days back in the late '80s and early '90s, you might be really confused as to why Capcom decided to take this old-school approach to Mega Man 9. I can't really give you an answer to why they went for the classic Mega Man look, but in all honesty, I'm really glad they did because it has become one of my favorite games in the series.
| Gameplay | Rating  |
Simply put, Mega Man 9 is an old-school 8-bit NES game, but instead of it being 1988 and on the NES, it's 2008 and on the Nintendo Wii (also on PS3 and Xbox 360). Weird, I know, but the game is fun as hell and full of pixel-perfect jumps, one hit kills and some of the toughest bosses you'll ever face in a platformer, seriously. The game doesn't do anything to court new players, instead opting to cater directly to old-school Mega Man fans and longtime gamers who can actually remember when the first Mega Man game came out.
Gameplay goes something like this: you choose one of eight bosses, get through their level and beat them, acquire their weapon and then move onto the next boss which you think is weak against your newly acquired weapon. You'll repeat this process until you've taken down all the bosses and acquired all their weapons to take on the final boss. Throughout your adventure you'll have to make perfectly timed jumps, avoid spikes that will shatter Mega Man with one touch and take on hundreds of enemies determined to destroy you.
| Graphics and Sound | Rating |
Graphically, Mega Man 9 is the best looking 8-bit game I've ever seen. And I can say that without any doubt because the game plays on the Wii and not on the 20-year old NES. Visually the game looks the same as its NES counterparts, but the power of the Wii just makes all the pixels look smoother and cleaner. But don't come around expecting CGI cut-scenes and all that kind of stuff, what you get is literally what you see.
Not only does Mega Man 9 look like an NES game, but it sounds like one as well. Many of the familiar bleeps, blips and bloops come directly from the past games in the series. Many of the sound effects and even music come lifted directly from the older NES games, giving Mega Man 9 not only the look, but the feel of a classic game.
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| Overall Rating | Rating  |
Just to get it out there, Mega Man 9 totally outshines Mega Man 2, which is widely considered the best of the series. Before this newest installment, Mega Man 2 was clearly my favorite Blue Bomber game. And with so much directly lifted from the 1989 classic, Mega Man 9 is almost like a re-make of part 2, but with a new story and, obviously, on a more powerful console.
I'm going to be completely honest here though, Mega Man 9 is a hard game. If you're one of those gamers who can't stand seeing the game over screen over and over again, you'll probably want to pass on this game. But if you're looking for great old-school gameplay, with tons of challenge and re-trying levels multiple times until you beat it, this is the game for you. If you got through some of the past Mega Man games, especially the first few, then you'll love this game for sure.