Mega Man 9

September 29,2008 - Just a week after Mega Man 2 (the prime of the Mega Man series) was released in the Wii Shop Channel, Capcom has dropped the bomb and released Mega Man 9--the first real Mega Man game in over a decade. After years of bad spinoffs that included a soccer game, this retro-style release of Mega Man 9 makes up for all the terror hardcore fans of the series have been going through all this time.

This time around the blue bomber's arch nemesis, Dr. Wily, isn't actually the bad guy. Now eight new mega robots are out creating havoc, and when Dr. Wily goes on the news to announce that it wasn’t him, blame is then put upon Mega Man’s creator, Dr. Light. Now it’s up to Mega Man to save the world and prove that Dr. Light didn’t make the evil robots.

As everyone has been hoping, Mega Man 9 is played in the exact same fashion as Mega Man 2. The game requires some smart and quick reflexes while also having a substantial amount of skill in timing your jumps. All Mega Man can do is walk fast, jump decent heights and distances, and shoot things with his mega blaster. Aside from that, success is all based on your ability to maneuver him properly. If Mega Man misses a jump and falls a bit too far down, he dies. If he encounters melee style combat with an opposing robot, he’s dead meat. Like its good predecessors, Mega Man 9 features some fantastic yet punishing level design. Most of the death-defying leaps you make Mega Man jump require pixel-perfect precision. And even if you do land such a jump, there’s always the danger of getting shot, losing your balance, and then falling into oblivion. Then there’s the copter bots that help you get across a technical chasm, but just as you breathe a sigh of relief, you find that they just dragged you into a wall of spikes. It’s always been about testing patience.

The franchise has always been a test for gamers, and for those who pass the test through trial and error by completing the many dangerous levels, players are rewarded with the boss fights of course. While maintaining the same old-school grit, they aren’t anything too terrible, like Metal Slug with huge monster mechs taking up half your screen. Instead you face other robots that are superior to Mega Man in every way. When you find a way to kill them, you’re awarded with their weapon. Unlike previous Mega Man games, however, the weapon you earn isn’t automatically the next boss’ weak point. You actually have to try different combinations to see what really works.

Mega Man 9 is heads and heels above many when it comes to presentation. While the 8-bit graphics and MIDI audio have been outdated for a decade or two, they do the series justice and provide just enough nostalgia for both old and newcomers to keep playing. There Wii version of the game doesn’t look as crisp as the game on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade, but it was probably due to the possibility of making it cater to all the NES fans of the series.

Mega Man 9 is an extraordinary accomplishment through and through and has come at the right time. In an age where high-definition graphics and sound have become the norm, it is games like The New Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man 9 receiving less flack because of their emphasis on simplicity and bringing everything back to their roots. If there’s any knock to this game, it’s that you have to actually buy the extra difficulties. Be that as it may, Mega Man 9 actually isn’t a finished product, as Capcom has said they will continue to add all sorts of features to the respective consoles’ shops. But however way you look at it, Mega Man 9 is an absolute must-download and is well worth the price(s) of admission.

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