Enemy, Laying Around

This is it--the one that started it all. As mentioned on the main page, no one could have foreseen that a low-profile game with bad box art would be the catalyst that launched one of the premier video game series that would last over fourteen years. The story here is that Dr. Wily and Dr. Light, two well-known scientists, were partners who created human-like robots. Of course, Wily turned on Light, reprogrammed all of the robots--excluding Mega Man--and tried to take over the world. As Mega Man, your job is to transport to the hideouts of the six robot bosses, in any order you'd like, and defeat them before infiltrating Wily's fortress. Since it's so early in the series, the plot past the overlying story isn't really too refined, and there really isn't any character development beyond Mega Man's. Dr. Light and Roll appear only in the game's ending.

Mega Man titles are unique not just because of the stage-select feature but because of their use of weaponry. In Mega Man, you take the power of the robot bosses you defeat. Each of those weapons have different effects on certain enemies, and they're essential for finishing off the bosses in a certain order. Since the bosses themselves are simplistic, with names including the words "fire" and "ice," the order should seem logical enough. In order to beat bosses without special weapons, though, you use your blaster; while its power is strong enough to beat most lesser enemies easily, you can only shoot three pellets at a time, and the damage they do to most bosses is negligible. If you choose to play this way, you're in for an insane challenge. Mega Man himself is vulnerable to all attacks, this shown by his energy meter; in order to restore lost energy, you can collect small or large energy pellets. The same can be done for robot boss weapons: After draining the power of a weapon's meter, you can collect weapon capsules to refill them. You can also add lives onto your total by collecting 1-up symbols (Mega Man heads). Points can be gathered by collecting little robot crystals; at the end of the stage, they're added up and added onto the point total--this is kind of pointless, since there are no rewards for collecting these. Finally, you can collect a Magnet Beam; it appears in your inventory like the robot boss weapons, but it has to be found first.

There's not much to say about the graphics. I mean, at the time, they were among the best seen on the Nintendo, but they don't hold up as well as the future titles due to the NES' advancements. There's plenty of glitching, too, which can detract from the gameplay--things like disappearing when hit and falling through floors due to slow processing. Still, this game features big fortress bosses with very imaginative look and powers. But the real essence of this game (as well as in future titles) is the stage design: Each hideout's atmosphere is designed to reflect the boss and its power.

Capcom is one of the best when it comes to music and sound, too. They did a pretty good job here in terms of tunes, but the sound overall is a mixed bag. Some sounds are appropriate--like the "bonks" signaling that your pellets have bounced off something or the freezing of enemies using the Ice Beam--but the others are all screechy. It doesn't interfere in the gameplay, though, so this is not a big problem. What Mega Man is good at is associating tunes with certain bosses, as the music of each stage has different tones and beats. For example: The music of the final stage of Wily's fortress is very slow and low-toned, which makes for a very tense and spooky feel. It's little touches like that which make this game.

The game's controls are considerably unstable. While you can jump accurately and redirect when in the air, there's this little sliding effect that makes you fall off the edge of certain platforms; this is especially annoying when jumping across the disappearing-reappearing blocks. But the weapons all control well, with the exception of the Magnet Beam, which can be a trial due to its control method, wherein the longer you hold the button down, the longer the step it creates. If you're trigger happy, you can wind up draining all of its power in one shot. The only other problem was mentioned earlier: Climbing ladders. You can climb easily enough, but getting hit while climbing leads to falling a long distance, and it's hard to grab back on.

As for challenge: You're hard-pressed to find another Mega Man game with this level of difficulty. You take a lot of damage for getting hit, and some of the bosses' weapons, such as Elec Man's Elec Beam, are crippling. While it's possible to defeat certain bosses with your blaster, it's nearly impossible to oppose such foes as Elec Man and Fire Man without the right weapon. Every boss does have a weakness, but if you don't know it--like the fact that the Mega Man clone is susceptible to the fireball--you'll be doing a stage over and over again. Adding to the frustration is the lack of passwords--you either finish this in one shot or you'll have to go through the whole thing all over again. Without the select trick, I'd bet that only a select few have actually conquered this game legitimately.

Despite any negatives, this is one of the true classics. You can hook up your NES today to play this game and it'll immediately bring back all of those memories--none of the future titles can match its classic feel, either. The ideas and concepts of Mega Man would be used again and again, going strong almost fifteen years later with no sign of slowing down. What else could I give such a title? Five Hard Hats, of course.

(1) Select Trick- In this game, you could use the select button to pause the game without going to the weapon subscreen. In actuality, this intended feature became an unintended glitch. Shooting a weapon then pausing and unpausing the game repeatedly with the select button when that weapon makes contact with the enemy will result in the weapon striking again and again. This is most prevalent when using the Elec Beam on the Rock Monster and Wily's ships.

(2) Extra Lives- On Bomb Man's stage, you'll come to a shaft containing a 1-up guarded by a Sniper Joe. After collecting the 1-up, go to the opening of the shaft and use the magnet beam to create a step below its opening--so when you exit, you fall onto the created step instead of to the bottom of the screen, wherein you can't get back up. After falling onto the step, reenter the shaft. More often than not, the 1-up will be there again. If you're lucky, it'll be there again and again.

(3) More Guts- Sometimes there are never enough liftable bricks in Mega Man. Walk up to a liftable brick--after collecting the Guts Power--and put just a little space between yourself and the brick, just enough so that the brick flashes. Now, as you go to pick up the brick, immediately push the opposite direction. If you time it perfectly, you'll have the brick in hand--but the original will still be there for you to pick up again! This comes in handy on the first stage of Wily's Castle and when battling the Bubble Contraption.

-The Stories-

[Mega Man series] [Game Boy series] [Mega Man X series]

-Sections-

[Characters] [Series] [Weapons] [Updates] [Manuals] [Game List] [Stages] [Sprites]