With a few hours of Mega Man 9 under my belt I’ve got to admit, this game is FREAKING HARD. I’ve played many games since the original Mega Man series was released on the NES and later on the SNES and nothing compares to Mega Man 9 in terms of sheer difficulty. This new franchise title looks and acts like the original with all the glitches, colors, bleeps and effects of the original games.
This game is much like chasing your kids around the yard, you forget how “old you are.” Mega Man 9 challenges reflexes, hand-eye coordination, patience and persistence. You are constantly awarded with death upon death and level restarts. Just when you think you’re getting close to a leader you’re actually just encountering a harder portion of the stage.
Between the start of a stage and the final boss you’ll encounter larger single-screen microbosses who challenge your patience and skills. As it turns out, I’ve got very little of both attributes. Upon defeating a little boss I am handed another like boss which is a little tougher. Upon defeating this slightly tougher boss (after many level restarts) I’m rewarded with yet another more difficult microboss.
Mega Man traditionally allows you to wonder all of the selectable stages out of the gate but each one gets easier as you build your characters weaponry. The trick is finding that “easy” level to get you to a boss, defeat said boss and acquire a weapon of mass awesomeness. Alas, I’ve done none of these.
You can find online video walk-throughs on the Internet which can give you tips for getting around the stages but the end result is the same: patience, persistence and accuracy. Mega Man 9 teaches you that nobody is a game master without consistent practice.
The first time through a stage is a destructive mess of failure. As you restart the stage over and over you’ll learn some of the tricks to getting you through the initial enemies without taking damage. You’ll build up your arsenal of tricks for hitting enemies before they’re on the screen and mashing the fire button to freedom… until you hit your first spike.
Spikes are the bane of the Mega Man character. Mega Man isn’t a fan of little pointy objects which result in instant death. You can hit the jump button quickly for shorter jumps and longer for bigger jumps; jumping technique is required to move you through spike infested levels.
You learn quickly to never turn your back on an enemy. Turn around, ever so slightly, and walk back on the side-scrolling screen and forward again will result in the rebirth of all enemies you’ve killed. This includes bomb wielding birds, rock tossing baddies and hells fury in the form of red and green cannons.
If you’re looking to discover all the ways you can possibly lose in a game, feel your inner child emotionally crushed under the weight of 8-bit bad asses, Mega Man 9 is the game for you. The achievements will make you laugh and the difficulty will invoke that old controller tossing nostalgia.
Mega Man 9 is a challenge. If you wish to take on this challenge and prove your 8-bit weight in the world of high resolution graphic fairy tales this may be the title for you!
At E3 Reggie Fils-Aime let the world know he wasn’t satisfied with the sales progress of the Wii or DS in 2007 and hopes Nintendo can do better this year. Perhaps Nintendo is playing the humble card? No doubt they bragged about their 10 million sales of the Wii and 20 million sales of the DS but quickly followed it by saying they’re not satisfied.
@Exbox One and Paystation 4
The Chinese have a very different understanding of what copyright infringement is. At university I was genuinely laughed at for having physical UMD disk games for the PSP by my Chinese course mates. Apparently in Hong Kong you can purchase an already cracked system and download the games online. As lucrative as the Chinese industry is, I don’t think Sony and Microsoft can ever crack it, regardless of the legal status of gaming in the country. Piracy will kill any profits they hope to make. The only games that can survive in China are Freemium games, which offer online transactions for additional content.
@Street Fighter 5 BETA be worth it (sorry my pun game is so weak)
I was never really a fan of the Street Fighter series. Like Jonah, I found it too technical. My biggest problem with the series was its poor storytelling. That’s why I grew up playing Mortal Kombat, with its accessible lore and buckets of ketchup. I was surprised to hear that SFV will be exclusive to PS4. Sony must be paying Capcom a lot of money to keep it that way. Ironically, while skipping Microsoft Xbox One, Capcom is bringing SFV to Microsoft PC,meaning that I can still enjoy the series as long as I overclock my system and get a diamond fiber connection.
@Pee-sports
I still can’t believe that e-sports actually exists. At least don’t call it sport. Comparing Usain Bolt to some spotty snotty teen who calls himself DeathLordOverkill745 is just laughable. Nonetheless, e-sports is difficult to ignore. Its raising the profile of gaming, and often in a negative way. Maybe some proper regulation will do it some good.
@QOTW
I can’t think of an expansion pack that I actually enjoyed. I don’t tend to buy expansion packs on their own. I get them with GOTY edition or in a bundle, so for me they become just a part of the game. The only recent ones I can think of were Dawnguard and Dragonborn for TES5, but all they did was throw extra content at my already overpowered Dark Elf.
I believe that a good expansion pack must provide you with a new gameplay mechanic, that lets you enjoy the game in a new way. Its what distinguishes an expansion pack from DLC. Throwing more of the same at you after you already completed 10 hours of a game is not worth the money. The expansion must also feel like an addition to the game; not something that was supposed to be there in the first place.