Review: Mega Man 9 (Wii)

For folks like me, the idea of a new “classic” Mega Man game is an eyebrow-raiser.  I think any kid who grew up in the 80s played one of the Mega Man games on the NES at one point or another, whether you actually owned the game(s), borrowed them from friends or rented them at stores.  So how does “the Blue Bomber” perform in this latest installment?  It’s a mix of pros and cons for this game… which has a great concept, but quickly becomes frustratingly challenging.

First off, the disclaimer that Mega Man 9 is available for the Wii, PlayStation and XBox.  While I’m sure there are probably no differences between the three, I am reviewing the Wii version, which can be downloaded from the WiiShop Channel in the WiiWare section.

Interestingly, even though Capcom had someone draw up Mega Man 9 box art that looks just as tacky as the original Mega Man box did, this game is not sold in stores.  It’s only available via download to one of the platforms mentioned above.

Get to the review, already!

Mega Man 9 title screen

I think the concept behind Mega Man 9 is awesome.  Brilliant.  Brilliantly awesome.  Even though this is 2008 and we have the power to do things in total 3D with billions of colors and shapes in high-definition, Mega Man 9 gives you a look and feel of a game made 20 years ago.  Mega Man, his friends, his archenemy Dr. Wily and several perennial enemies all look just like they did in all the original games for the NES.

If you’ve ever played any Mega Man NES game, you know the drill.  Before you can go after Dr. Wily, you have to get through 8 main stages, each ending in a battle with its own Robot Master.  The stages have a theme to go along with the boss (for example, Splash Woman’s stage is mostly underwater; Jewel Man’s stage appears to be located in a mine).  Once you beat a Robot Master, you inherit their special weapon.  Each Robot Master is especially vulnerable to another master’s weapon, so even though you can play the stages in any order, the game is much easier when you can go in the order of those weaknesses.  After you beat all 8 stages, you get to go after Dr. Wily.

Stage Select screen

Out of all the original NES Mega Man games, Mega Man 9 seems to look, sound and play mostly like a combo between Mega Man 2 and 3.  Some of the music is exactly the same as MM2, the stage selection screen is pretty close to MM3, and you can get help from Rush the robotic dog, who first appeared in MM3.

A new improvement for MM9 is the fact you can save your game, rather than using a password system.  On the plus side, you don’t have to worry about writing down passwords or losing your work if you lose your password.  Having a save file also means the game can save more details… in the old days, passwords could only “remember” which stages you’ve cleared and how many energy tanks you had.

 The save feature in MM9 keeps track of those, along with how many bolts you’ve collected, and which “milestones” you’ve cleared (from a long list including X number of enemies beaten, game cleared X number of times, game cleared in less than X number of minutes, etc.).

On the downside, there’s not as much room for cheating.  Let’s face it, the password system was great in the old days because you could change one dot to give yourself more energy tanks or to clear off any really difficult stages you didn’t feel like dealing with.  Save files can’t be altered (at least not easily), so you’re stuck earning everything yourself.  (I never skipped stages, but I always liked being able to start every game with 9 energy tanks.)

As for the actual gameplay, the stage selection quickly reminds you why there hasn’t been a new Mega Man game in 12 years… they’ve already used up all the best ideas for Robot Masters in the earlier games.

• Tornado Man – Shoots air cyclones.  Just like Air Man in MM2.
• Splash Woman – Her stage seems a lot like Bubble Man’s stage from MM2.
• Concrete Man – Reminds me a lot of Guts Man from MM1.
• Plug Man – Looks like Heat Man from MM2, and acts like Spark Man from MM3.
• Magma Man – Can withstand high temperatures… oh, you mean like Heat Man?
• Hornet Man – This may be the only original-sounding boss in the game.
• Jewel Man – Seriously?
• Galaxy Man – Again, seriously??

I also wish certain other aspects of gameplay could have been improved.  In all of the old games, presumably due to the limitations of the NES, if you kill an enemy, scroll off the screen, then return to the same location, the enemy is magically back again.  This can be annoying in some situations.  Equally annoying is the fact that colliding with an enemy or a projectile can push you off a ledge, or stop you mid-jump — causing you to fall in a hole and lose a life.  (You know what I mean and you know you hate it too!)

So overall, I wasn’t totally thrilled with Mega Man 9.  However, I was very thrilled with the concept of a “new classic” game — a brand new game using the same classic graphics, concept (and some of the music) from the past.  I think it would great to see Nintendo do this with Super Mario Bros. or even to see Sega release new Sonic games that look/feel like the original Genesis series.  Nintendo already kinda did this with “New Super Mario Bros.” for the DS, and in some of the recent GBA Metroid titles.  Would be nice to see more.