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ESRB: 
Platform: XBox 360
Category: Action
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Graphics 6 |
Sound 7 |
Gameplay 8 |
Tilt 8 ||
Overall 8
Author: Frank
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Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom/Inti Creates
Features
1 player
Supported HD Output: 720P (4:3)
Mega Man 9 is a brand new game in the series. The trick is that unlike Capcom's recent digital downloads; this isn't a modernized sequel or remake. It is absolutely undeniably an 8-bit Mega Man game, right down to the crunchy music, chunky colorful sprites and extremely basic controls. Capcom has made this game for all the consoles and their respective downloadable services including WiiWare (Wii), the PS Network (PS3) and XBLA (Xbox 360). I had the opportunity to take the XBLA version for a spin. So how does this game play and compare to the original games that inspired it? Read on.
Graphics
The games graphical style will probably not win any awards in this day and age, but for old school gamers it is a slice of heaven. The side scrolling action adventure utilizes almost no modern day effects and frills, but it still manages to look fantastic. The game is very clean, bright, and very colorful. It is pretty clear right from the get-go that the dev-team really took their time to recreate the retro style game of yesteryear.
The pixel perfect presentation is exactly what you would expect with Mega Man 9. There is a cool classic intro, complete with still frame art to tell the story and text that scrolls incorrectly from screen to screen. The latter is kind of funny to see in action. In the options menu you can choose to turn the old school flicker on or off. If you leave it on the game will show sprite pop in or flicker lending even more to the retro theme and feel of the game. If you choose to turn it off, you then get visuals that are smoothened and look a little more modern. Character and enemy animations engage a few measly frames at best, making the powerful Xbox 360 hardware yawn from a lack of work. I loved that the physics of the game are faithfully recreated right down to the classic jumping and falling that is emulated perfectly from the older titles. It's classic Mega Man all over!!
Sound
As with the graphics, sound and music in Mega Man 9 won’t push your home surround sound by any means. The games various sounds are truly a collection of beeps, buzzes, pops, and whistles. There is no voice work in Mega Man 9, just like back in the day. If you are a fan of heavily compressed synthesized chip sounds then prepare to fall in love with this game’s audio. The really upbeat soundtrack is pretty much everywhere in the game. It borders on nausea as it moves along at its break neck speed with little or no signs of slowing. While Mega Man 9 is not in any sort of surround mode, it is clearly audible in its presentation.
Gameplay
Limitations breed creativity, and Mega Man takes that philosophy to the extreme. Capcom's latest tiny blue bomber title has gotten huge buzz for its emulated 8-bit graphics and sound, but the real gamble here comes from reverting to the simple game mechanics of an older classic, Mega Man 2. The new game is stripped of frills like slide moves and blaster charge-ups, which had become staples of the series.
I found out quickly that pretty much everything in the game kills you. I watched my ample energy bar drain quickly through the slightest contact with the numerous enemies and obstacles. Although some of these can be blasted away with your weapons there are times when you swear it's impossible to get past a screen unscathed. Mega Man 9 is extremlely unfair; your character has mediocre speed, an anemic vertical leap, and a wimpy gun that takes forever to kill anything. Through all of this you're asked to conquer a ton of enemies who have no such handicaps. They seem to float on air sometimes with grace and ease. The bosses are even worse. If you are an impatient gamer the tricky bosses and obstacle courses that they put you through will invite exasperation. However, if you play for the promise that once you discover new ways to use your limited arsenal success will be much more gratifying, then you will most likely to get the most out of the game, and that is the key here.
The old retro years in gaming are perfectly encapsulated here in Mega Man 9. The days of playing for hours on end with no save points or running out of lives and starting right from the beginning again are back. Mega Man 9 forces you to adapt to old school gaming as it will definitely challenge even the best of gamers. I had to pull out some of my old tried and true tecniques just to get by some areas. Stuff like creeping ahead just enough to trigger enemies without engaging them come in very handy, as does jumping from one level to another while shooting through the walls at the bad guys. While this may suffice some of the time, you will have to find the pattern of some of the bosses and nail the timing down to defeat them. Of course this does get tough and tedoius at times, but this is the way it used to be and I love it. To make things extra tough, impacts from any enemy knocks Mega Man backwards ever so slightly. Unfortunately it can be just enough to drop him off a ledge, into other enemies, or into deadly pits that can be lined with rows of killer spikes. Frustration levels will continue to climb.
While the skill level can be challenging to say the least, the control scheme is easy as pie. You can use either the left analog stick or the d-pad for moving, while the top facing buttons handle jumping and shooting. They can also be mapped to any of the 360’s top facing buttons making things as comfortable as can be. Yep, it is that simple as it harkens back to the 8-bit days when all you had was a d-pad and two buttons on your controllers.
For those who think they are up to the challenge there is a fairly large amount of gameplay action here. As is traditional for the Mega Man series you can choose which order to tackle the game's stages in, each having a different boss at the end. When you finally defeat a boss they will reward you with a new weapon which makes attacking other stages slightly easier. For example, Magma Man leaves you a bazooka while Hornet Man gives you the ability to fire swarms of hornets that home in on enemies. The different bosses will leave you different kinds of wepons which are quite enjoyable and in many ways yet another reason to keep playing. You can also purchase additional items and abilities by collecting screws scattered througout the game. It takes effort and perseverance to unlock the really useful goodies, but they can make all the difference and can save your controller from hitting the wall.
There are unlockables and additional game modes in Mega Man 9. You will start with Time Attack, which offers online leaderboards and is thus perfect for the gamers who have speed to burn and want worldwide recognition. Later on in the game you will unlock and Endless Attack mode (survival mode by any other name) and add a selection of mini-games to your menu.
Conclusion
Mega Man 9 exceeds expectations in many different ways. The graphics are 8-bit awesomeness with the sound to match. The difficulty on the other hand is much tougher than the hard mode of Mega Man 2 on the NES, and some of the obstacles are real head-scratchers. The game is very much aimed at a specific kind of gamer, and if you are into retro style games that are excruciatingly tough then Mega Man 9 is for you. At the end of the day there is really nothing here to convince a newcomer that the 8-bit era was great, but for those who remember any of it, Mega Man 9 is the experience of the year and is hopefully only the first of many more to come.
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