Mega Man/Mega Man 2 Review

by Harry Sheridan

June 2, 2016

NES (Via Nintendo 3DS)

 

I’ve long been a big fan of 2D action platformers and considering the fact that the Mega Man series is one of the most popular in that genre, I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that prior to this year, I’d never really played a Mega Man game. Sure, I’ve played a little bit here and there, but I’ve never truly sat down and played one from start to finish. That’s I recently decided that it was about time I righted this egregious wrong by purchasing and playing through the Mega Man Legacy Collection*, which features the first six Mega Man games, for the Nintendo 3DS. So far, I’ve played through the first two games and am about halfway through the third, and I decided that I’d share my thoughts in a split review.

*I will be reviewing just Mega Man 1 + 2 as games (as if it was just the regular NES carts), not as they exist in the Legacy Collection edition or any of the extra content present in said game

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Presentation

-The Visuals-

Mega Man: Despite having never played the first Mega Man game, I’ve seen its pixel art and sprite work many times and so I felt pretty familiar with the game’s visual style going in. So, of course, I knew I was going to enjoy looking at Mega Man as I played. While it’s certainly not the prettiest game around, I think the developers did an excellent job theming and designing each environment based on the Robot Master that lived there (for example, Guts Man’s stage had the look and feel of a rugged construction zone, which makes sense since Guts Man was created to aid in construction work). Speaking of the Robot Masters, I don’t think I could possibly review this game without mentioning how much I love the designs of all the characters in this game. Just like their stages, each of the Robot Masters are designed to convey what their purpose/power is from a single glance, while also being simplistic enough to render in the game’s 8-bit style (for example, you can tell just by looking at the large, stocky Guts Man that his greatest strength would be his, well, great strength).

 

Mega Man 2: When playing Mega Man 2, I found it managed to not only continue with all of the design elements that I enjoyed from the first game, but it also improved upon them a great deal. The game's environments were further fleshed out compared to before, now featuring a higher level of detail and backgrounds that were typically more than solid, static colors (which was a huge step up in my opinion). Also similar to its predecessor, I thought this game had great designs for all of its Robot Masters, with Air Man standing out as my personal favorite.

 

-The Soundtrack-

I would be lying if I said I didn’t love Mega Man/Mega Man 2’s soundtracks. In fact, I’d still be lying if I said they were anything less than incredible. It’s really clear how much care went into the crafting of these games’ soundtracks by their respective composers (Manami Matsumae composed the soundtrack for Mega Man and Takashi Tateishi composed the soundtrack for Mega Man 2). Each of the songs are energetic, fun and incredible memorable, with my personal favorites being Mega Man’s “Cut Man Stage” and Mega Man 2’s “Air Man Stage.” Even if you don’t plan on playing either of these games, I highly recommend you go check out their soundtracks, as I would honestly consider them (Mega Man 2, especially) some of the greatest video game music I’ve ever listen to.

 

Gameplay

While my opinions regarding the games’ presentations were fairly identical for each, with the only difference being that that Mega Man 2 was an overall improvement, I feel like the gameplay between the first and second Mega Man represents a huge improvement in the series. While the first Mega Man was by no means a bad game, I did feel as though it contained a number of large flaws, gameplay wise, such as some bad level design (Elec Man’s vertical stage was an especially big example of this) and a huge difficulty spike upon reaching Wily’s Castle (Yellow Devil is even more frustrating here than he was in Super Smash Bros). Luckily, all of the issues I had with the first game are fixed in the second. All of the game’s stages felt really well designed and while the many deaths I experienced sometimes frustrated me, it never felt unfair and I was always able to overcome the challenges I was faced with (which, I have to say, was incredibly gratifying).

Overall

While I will admit that it took me way too long to get around to playing these games, I’m certainly glad that I did as I had a lot of fun playing through some of the early Mega Man games. Presentation wise, I think the developers did a great job, especially on the soundtracks (which boast some of what I’d consider the best songs in gaming). As far as gameplay, the first Mega Man acts as a decent foundation, but I think Mega Man 2 is where the series really takes off. Overall, I would definitely recommend playing through these NES classics (but I’d say maybe start with Mega Man 2 if you want the best experience).

 

Mega Man: Good/10                                                         Mega Man 2: Excellent/10

+Great Music                                                                                                                                  +Fantastic Soundtrack

+Great Visuals                                                                                                                              +Great Visuals

+Decent Foundation for Series                                                                                          +Great Level Design

-Some Bad Level Design                                                                                                        +Fun Gameplay

-Difficulty Spikes