Mega Man V

I really panned MM4 for Game Boy as being unoriginal and a bastard child mashup of two of the NES versions. It was so plain and just run of the mill that I nearly didn’t play MM5… but I’m glad I did.

Talk about a complete turnaround! MM5 for Game Boy is the same MM formula but with some fresh ideas. The robot bosses are (mostly) original and there’s an addition of a robot cat assistant just like MM’s dog Rush.

This still carried over some of the annoying “P Chip” system from the previous Game Boy game, but I could live with it as it wasn’t mandatory to get any of the items to complete the game, nor was it a prerequisite to collect the “WILY” letters either.

To top it off, this was the only version to support the Super Game Boy SNES add-on, and as such, had color support. That tremendously helped in laboring through the last of this console’s editions.

Mega Man III

Once again adds to the Game Boy iterations by borrowing heavily from the NES installments. The game is more like Mega Man 4.5 on the NES than anything else. In fact, if you go and take a look at my post for Mega Man 4 for NES, these pictures should seem familiar!

The game is a literal copy, down to small screen frustration, of those NES titles with very little innovation. It’s still something to play, but it started to make me rethink playing the Game Boy iterations of the Mega Man series…

Mega Man 5

As far as NES games go, this one was gorgeous and continued to push the limits of the hardware. The music was slightly tweaked with this version, the first major revision to the familiar tunes since MM2.

The Wikipedia entry for this game sums up the rest: “Mega Man 5 was met with a positive critical reception for its graphics and music, while receiving criticism for its lack of innovation in its plot or gameplay.”

It wasn’t particularly groundbreaking and was more or less, the same ol’ same ol’.

Mega Man II

As mentioned in in a previous update, I’m plowing through the handheld versions of this series… and most of the iterations are underwhelming additions that transpose ideas from their NES siblings. This one, in particular, is a mashup of MM2 and MM3 from the NES, featuring bosses from both. (Plus the addition of Mega Man’s dog, Rush.)

Apparently, this edition was developed by a different company than the others, and there are differences as such. Those are both good and bad since Dr. Wily’s Revenge (the first Game Boy title) was incredibly difficult and unforgiving. This one at least got the on-screen size of Mega Man proportional to the levels and enemies.

IMO this one is more worth checking out than MM1 on Game Boy, and especially more if you’re a fan of MM2 and MM3 on NES (which are, IMO, the two best on that system).

Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge

I really want to call all of the Game Boy Mega Man games steaming piles of monkey poo, but it’s simply not true. Each has its strengths as well as its faults.

Each iteration is essentially the same game. Yes, the NES Mega Man games were the same basic premise as the foundation (fight 6-8 robots, gain their powers and others) with small subtle changes and new challenges in each new edition.

The Game Boy versions are just like that too, yet, where they fall short is that you typically face only four robots (half of the NES version) before entering the Dr. Wily boards. That has more to do with the Game Boy’s limitations than the developers.

The part that really doesn’t sit well is that the games are more or less watered down versions of the NES games, mimicking Mega Man 2 and on. Many of the concepts, the bosses and level themes, are lifted directly from their big brother. However, the games at least have altered level designs that present new challenges from similar ideas.

The strengths are that the Dr. Wily stages are (almost) entirely unique and offer different storylines and challenges. For that reason alone, these are worth playing through and checking off of the list.

Now, the first Game Boy version is a frustrating trek down memory lane, because MM is so big on the screen, he gets hit by EVERYTHING and its way too easy to die in this game! It adds the difficulty of a MM2 on NES and amps it up a notch trying to avoid a constant barrage of enemies!

Mega Man 4

In case you were wondering: yes, playing these games is repetitive. But it’s my goal to check out and attempt to complete all of them.

The fourth iteration of Mega man somehow still pushed the graphical limits of the NES. The charging “mega buster” was the latest innovation, and in today’s political climate, some might be happy to know the Russians were to blame with this plot, as Dr. Wily is supposedly dead!

I enjoyed this, but MM2 and MM3 are still the defining games. MM4 was a little less difficult, at least until the stages following beating the robot bosses. (Which, BTW, featured one of the LAMEST robots in all of the series: Toad Man!)

Another one bites the dust… onward to MM5!

Mega Man 3

I have to admit a few things about the sequel to Mega Man 2:

It had some equally crappy portion of the game that were near impossible to beat, but far less of those and a tad easier in difficulty than MM2
The bosses (and their corresponding upgrade weapons) were incredibly lame creations (Snake Man???)
The easter eggs and storyline were really darn cool
The ability to slide added to the game
Graphically it raised the bar so high, the remaining games nearly like identical

I’ve played through all six NES Mega Man games now, and if I had to choose, MM2 and MM3 are the “must play” games (in that order too, for reasons mentioned above).

More Mega Man coming soon… because there’s a ton of these games!

Mega Man 2

This almost ended up with being on my dreaded blacklist!

After playing the original Mega Man, I can see how part two was a genre/series defining title. Several improvements were made to this sequel, but none more than the graphic makeover. Capcom really found a way to squeeze some life out of the old NES hardware (and would continue to do so with other Mega Man iterations after).

I also imagine the difficulty of this game squeezed the life out of many children! This game is just setup for your to fail at every turn. However, the better bosses, the storyline, and the graphics mesh well with how hard this game is, and really leaves you with a sense of depth and accomplishment.

I’ll have some notes for the NES sequels in the coming days.

Mega Man

Continuing the video game bucket list… I started a new series going back to the original MEGA MAN!

Here’s a series that I really only know from Mega Man 2 on the NES (also a mother to beat) and the Mega Man X series on SNES. Therefore, I wanted to go all the way back and play through these from the beginning… bear with me, there’s a ton of them!

Let’s start with the original. This game was #$@&%*! ridiculous to beat, and I’m saying that even with cheat codes.

It’s literally an hour’s worth of a game without all of the cheap jumps that could kill you, the equally crappy bosses (of which you have to face all over again in the final level… on top of multiple extra bosses) plus the fact that if you mistakenly start the wrong stage over again, there’s no way back to the main menu without losing all of your lives to “continue” the game. (I also forgot the random weapon you MUST have to beat the final level but wouldn’t know how to acquire without being told!)

All in all, it’s still a fun, groundbreaking game which introduced weapon upgrades and a free-flowing style to choose whichever path you wanted to play.

Now I look forward to nearly breaking my controller with the sequels!