Game Debate #113: Mega Man

[AirVillain | 490]

1 hour ago, CodysGameRoom said:

Me finding out about the Master System. There's a Sega system before the Genesis?!?!? WHAT?!?!

Haha, yeah... get with the times. 

Re: Mega Man...

It's an incredible game and I think it's unfairly compared to the rest of the series. 

Isn't it fairly obvious that the later games are going to have tighter controls, more worlds, and improved graphics??? 2-3 are consistently given the most love because of their improved controls, but I think the OG needs some more respect.

For it's time Mega Man was INSANE. The controls are still great, music is incredible, and the weapons are some of the best (behind Metal Blade) in the series. 

It's been mentioned, but Elec-Man's weapon is the best in the entire series I think.  

And the upgrade you find to make the platforms was NUTS as a kid... still stands up in terms of upgrades/weapons on any NES/SNES game.  

For me.... despite as mentioned having MM2 first as a kid and it being my first Mega Man love I would still at the very least give MM a tie for #1 spot (ranking the Mega Man series on NES) with MM2. 

[MagusSmurf | 577]

6.

Mega Man in general is good stuff. But for this one in particular:

• Obviously doesn't look or sound as good as later games.
• The game is a good deal shorter than its successors and there are no passwords.
• Mega Man generally moves more awkwardly then in later games.
• There's some outright jank that sometimes kills you in ways that aren't fair or sensible. The Foot Holders in Ice Man's stage in particular.
• Elec Man might be my pick for the worst Robot Master in the series. When he kills you in only three hits, it's kind of infeasible to have a running fight against him without his weakness - which kills him in three hits so it's not like it's a good fight that way either. Either bring it, absolutely cheese him to death, or lose.
• Guts Man and Bomb Man's weapons suck.
• The difficulty of this game tends to be overstated. There are some things: the aforementioned jank, post-damage invulnerability doesn't protect against spikes, and I guess there's not much else quite like dealing with Yellow Devil. There's less game to get through than normal though and what's there generally isn't that hard? You just don't have Energy Tanks to fall back on.

This game will always be a noteworthy one for starting this series and yeah it's fun enough for what it is but the rest of the games in the series are basically all better. Or at least the numbered Classic games are, anyways.

[MegaMan52 | 2,450]

7/10 

Unlike the other NES games in the series (all of which I first played in the early '90s), I didn't get a chance to play the first Mega Man game until 2002. And I didn't even see pictures of it until 2000 or so. I knew it had to exist. Not only because it obviously wouldn't make much sense for the second game to be the first, but also because the first game was mentioned in my Game Genie Code Book and my brother told me he played it with one of his friends. In 2000, I sent a Money Order to Nintendo of America and bought Volume 7 of Nintendo Power (the one with the Mega Man 2 cover). Yes, they still had many of the old issues of Nintendo Power (as well as NES manuals and accessories). Two or three weeks later, I received the magazine from Nintendo of Canada. In Volume 7 of Nintendo Power, there is a "1 Year-Up Special" (a celebration of NP's first year anniversary) showing the locations of 1-Ups in various NES games including the first Mega Man. That was the first time I ever saw pictures of the game. In 2002, I finally bought the game on eBay (also got the manual).

Yes, of course the game is a little rough and has some flaws. This was before Mega Man was a franchise or even a trilogy, and you can't expect the first game in a series to be perfect (especially a game that was not only released in the '80s, but is also an earlier game for the console it was released for). It was one of the first games to allow you to choose the stage you want to go to, as well as having the "rock-paper-scissors" concept of defeating a boss with a weapon they're weak to. The graphics are perfectly fine for a 1987 release, and it was easily one of the better looking games at the time. Many of the animations look cool, and are pretty smooth for an earlier NES game. The music is good enough, and some of it is quite memorable in my opinion, such as Elecman's stage, Fireman's stage (which got a loose remix in Mega Man Network Transmission), Wily Stages 3 and 4, and the ending music. The game may not have much of a story other than what's in the manual (some of which was made up for the localization), but the ending is one of the coolest endings of any video game in my opinion and is a nice little reward for a game that some may find difficult if they haven't played it in a while (or at all).

No doubt, the other games in the series are more polished and fun...they're sequels, so of course they had to be better if Capcom wanted Mega Man to become a series. But if it weren't for Mega Man 1 none of the other Mega Man games would exist and Mega Man wouldn't have become a franchise, so even if it's your least favorite it still deserves respect.

It was also the birth of my favorite video game character. 

[Sumez | 2,963]

2 hours ago, AirVillain said:

Isn't it fairly obvious that the later games are going to have tighter controls, more worlds, and improved graphics???

Sure. But I think the game is 7/10 because it doesn't have that. Pretty straightforward from my perspective  That's still a "very good game", just not on the same masterpiece level as the better of the sequels.

Honestly my only real criticism is the control quirks and the level design that just didn't feel as informed and entertaining as a really good game of this style should have, and which the sequels do.

The music is still among the best in the series. Absolute bangers!

12 minutes ago, MegaMan52 said:

you can't expect the first game in a series to be perfect

I think there are plenty of examples of that, though. Including several games which are the only of their franchise, and which are still masterpieces.  Mega Man did great for their first entry, but I'm happy they moved on to doing greater.

[MegaMan52 | 2,450]

20 minutes ago, Sumez said:

I think there are plenty of examples of that, though. Including several games which are the only of their franchise, and which are still masterpieces.  Mega Man did great for their first entry, but I'm happy they moved on to doing greater.

I'm also happy they did better after. My point is that even though the game has some obvious flaws and even if it's someone's least favorite game in the series (which is completely understandable), the first Mega Man game still deserves respect.

[Sumez | 2,963]

I don't think it's being denied that! 

[Brickman | 3,989]

5 hours ago, CodysGameRoom said:

Me finding out about the Master System. There's a Sega system before the Genesis?!?!? WHAT?!?!

The SMS was huge here and even rivalled the NES for a little bit. So funny that it never took off in the US. Probably explains why it’s missing some games too.

[DarkTone | 985]

Solid 7. 

[AstralSoul | 502]

I gave it a 7 because it's iconic and started a fantastic franchise but the game itself is just meh. It feels so foreign compared to the other MM games. It's clunky and it's incredibly hard for all the wrong reasons. My best friend absolutely loves this game and the whole franchise so he'd give it a 10 but I asked him to imagine a world where Mega Man 1 was the only game in the series that existed, would it be as revered and remembered as it is now? We both said absolutely not. Mega Man is not great because of the first game, it's great because of the legacy it created. Still not a bad game by any means but it's definitely my least favorite game in the series.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

By the rating system, I went 10 because it is one of my favorite games of all time. There aren't many games I can just fire up again and again and play for 30 mins and feel completely satisfied. MM1 is one of those games. It's one of the few games I really, really regret not getting CIB 10 years ago when I had the chance bc now I just can justify the price, unless I triple my salary or something unfathomable. 

Either way, a real classic that helped define an era and a genre. 

[rdrunner | 422]

9/10 - Easy vote.  One of my all time favorite experiences with my NES.  I'd probably vote the same for parts 2&3, perhaps dropping the other NES episodes to 8's.  No 10's here, since those are reserved for stuff I just love a wee bit more.

You'd probably not be surprised to hear that I only own physical copies of 1-3.  Original trilogy all the way!

I also played and beat this game before any sequels existed, which while I admit allows me to forgive a few shortcomings that would be improved in future games, it also gives me a different perspective on the sequels and their added features.  For example:

E-Tanks?  Hardly ever used them, since I was so used to not having them.  Beating Yellow Devil, Clone, and the last boss rush without any powerups will do that.

Rush who?  Just give me the magnet beam any day!

Charged Shots?  Discourages the use of sub-weapons.

Final note: Gutsman is my favorite robot master in the series!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,544]

25 minutes ago, AstralSoul said:

I gave it a 7 because it's iconic and started a fantastic franchise but the game itself is just meh

Astral!

[CMR | 520]

22 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Not sure if it'll end up the popular answer in the long run, I mean, it's where it all started, but also, is IS where it all started, bad choices, left out or yet to be thought up ideas not there, more lean, arcade roots strong only in this.  It is but isn't Mega Man in a weird way because it's quite the arcade game points and all.  It's a good good platformer, very good, but is it great?  No, just barely misses it, but was so good as a starting point that it then achieved greatness just after.  But this isn't about the just after.  MM1 has good platforming designs, a few cheap moments where it's more ugh than you didn't do this right or time this well stuff.  The challenge is stiff, but not too too demanding at least in the general stages of the 6 robot masters.  A great design though flawed, always was, where you just lose and lose until you figure out (or get a magazine) who to take first, second, third, due to weapon weaknesses but that's endemic of the entire franchise.   For the time it came out, it had some better than average music, sound effects, character and enemy designs that looks pretty solid, bland in places, but solid.  One could say that of the music a bit too, good, but memorable?

A good game that inspired greatness.

Talking about the platforming designs, I think it's interesting how the NES's limitations influenced those design choices.  MegaMan's sprites already took up a big chunk of the available sprites per scan line, so placing enemies on different levels was a good way to mediate flickering.  It was almost good design by necessity, but I also feel like they put a lot of thought into it as well.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

18 hours ago, Sumez said:

This statement really confuses me. Mega Man 1 does have a fairly clear boss order, but it was Mega Man 2 already that kinda ditches that.

No, Mega Man 2 still has very specific prerequesites for different levels if you want to make your life easier.  For example, have you ever done Heat Man first in your entire life?  I mean like ever?  That's what I'm talking about.  Mega Man 1 established that you should complete certain stages before others if you want to make your life easier, and Mega Man 2 continues that; and yes, I know Metal Blade is way OP, but certain items still make certain stages far easier to deal with, just like in MM1.  Whereas, once you get into the later NES Mega Mans it gets less and less important, to the point where you can literally choose any order you want (if you don't care about secrets), rather than having to worry about choosing a poor stage order actually impeding your smooth progress through the game...

Edited August 5, 2022 by Dr. Morbis

[Sumez | 2,963]

I would think that's a good thing, but you do you.

[Ankos | 442]

I'm more into newer Megaman stuff but the game is still pretty fun, and something I'd recommend more people try out. 8/10

[MegaMan52 | 2,450]

By the way, has anyone done this in Elecman's stage before?

The mini electricity beams can cause damage, even though the only way to touch them is by glitching though the walls.

[CMR | 520]

17 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

No, Mega Man 2 still has very specific prerequesites for different levels if you want to make your life easier.  For example, have you ever done Heat Man first in your entire life?  I mean like ever?  That's what I'm talking about.  Mega Man 1 established that you should complete certain stages before others if you want to make your life easier, and Mega Man 2 continues that; and yes, I know Metal Blade is way OP, but certain items still make certain stages far easier to deal with, just like in MM1.  Whereas, once you get into the later NES Mega Mans it gets less and less important, to the point where you can literally choose any order you want (if you don't care about secrets), rather than having to worry about choosing a poor stage order actually impeding your smooth progress through the game...

I think using the Time Stopper in Quick Man's stage and item 2 in Heat Man's to get over the massive pit are good examples of this.  I don't think this is the case in every stage, however.  The game has good balance, but it could have been even better.  I think the devs were pressed for time on it from what I've read. 

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Mega Man on NES is an easy 9. Still play it regularly.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

1 hour ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

Mega Man on NES is an easy 9. Still play it regularly.

This poll inspired me to play through it last night. It's still just as much fun for me today as it was when I was a kid.

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

I gave it a 6/10. The mechanics of the game are second to none. There's a reason why it became a franchise!

The level design and bosses are unspectacular, however. I'll give it a spin every now and again for variety sake, but it's near the bottom for the NES series. 

And the yellow devil may be the least fun boss fight in the whole series.