If you haven’t played any MEGA MAN games, you won’t understand that MEGA MAN 9 will punch your pride in the mouth. For the duration, it will consistently mangle your soul and devour your self-worth. Why then, is it so damn fun?
MEGAMAN 9 is fun because, just like MEGA MAN 2 and 3, way back when, the level design is brilliant, because the gameplay, graphics and soundtrack keep you coming back for more, and because the game rewards effort and persistence. The game is an 8-bit MEGA MAN game, and not just in the graphical sense. The game plays like MEGA MAN 2 did twenty years ago, and is, quite frankly, just as good.
Okay, so the designs of some of the enemies are somewhat… self-deriving. Concrete Man is Guts Man and a few other bots are more or less the same old concepts. That said, I assure you that the design still seems fresh overall, especially when it comes to the level design. Speaking of which…
Screw Jewel Man’s level. Seriously. The design is ingenious and the visuals are lovely, sure, but there are some jumps in that bitch that are just infuriating. Same with Tornado Man. The good folks at Capcom evidently saw it necessary to stick in the wind from Lost Levels (which I’ve beaten, of course) to fuck with your jumps. Luckily, I am a superhero, so it was all in a day’s work.
All kidding aside, I can tell you that in the first 3 hours of playing this game I beat two bosses. After that, things started falling into place and I was able to beat the game within 7 hours, but that’s still a long, long time to be playing a game like this. College guys like myself will have fond memories of their younger selves laying the smackdown on Wily in these games, and I assure you, the feeling is filled with the same warmth and satisfaction in MEGA MAN 9.
The game is GOOD, is the thing. Not only does it fill you with nostalgia, it doesn’t disappoint on quality. It’s not a rush job – work went into this game. I had read that the final fight with Wily was a disappointment, and while it’s not quite as brilliant as the ones in say, MEGA MAN 2 or 3, it’s frankly harder.
That’s only true, though, if you don’t stock up on health tanks and power-ups before you start the four Wily stages. To be clear, the final four levels took me twelve continues and two hours without the energy tanks, and I couldn’t beat Wily. With four tanks bought before trying again, and a cursory knowledge of the stages, it took me one continue and Wily was a pushover.
This was my biggest problem with MEGA MAN 9. This was never a problem in any 8-bit series entries. If they were trying so hard to duplicate MEGA MAN 2 that they eliminated sliding and the charge-up shot from MEGA MAN 3, then why even have the shop? If the three or four or five energy tanks laying around in the game are used up before you reach the final boss, and you don’t wanna be a little bitch and buy any shit at the store, it’s not very likely you’ll be beating Wily anytime soon. This happened with MEGA MAN 7 on the SNES, but never on the NES, ever. It’s the one real flaw I can see in the game, but realistically, it only cost me a couple hours of time, and it’s circumstantial, so whatev.
MEGAMAN 9 kicks a ton of ass anyway.
"MEGA MAN 9 (X360)" is on sale October 1, 2008 and is rated E. Action.
