January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history: “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 to coincide with the birth of world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and 12 January being when Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 was created. Accordingly, I dedicate January to celebrating sci-fi in all its forms.

Quick Facts:
Mega Man struggled to make a mark in the 32-bit era, with the likes of Mega Man 8 (Capcom, 1996) and Mega Man 64 (Capcom Production Studio 2, 2001) proving frustrating and disappointing releases. After almost ten years without a mainline entry, Mega Man returned to his celebrated 8-bit roots for this throwback title. Keiji Inafune closely mimicked the graphics and mechanics of yesteryear, including options to emulate the poor performance of 8-bit hardware, and designed the first female Robot Master, Splash Woman. Mega Man 9 was widely praised for its old-school aesthetics and challenge, though its difficulty curve and poor stage design was questioned. Bolstered by additional downloadable content (DLC), Mega Man 9 was followed by a similar, equally praised sequel two years later and eventually made widely available as part of the Blue Bomber’s second Legacy Collection.

The Review:
Mega Man 9 is a throwback to the Blue Bomber’s glory days on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), perfectly mirroring the controls, abilities, and presentation from that era. Accordingly, the plot is as basic as you could ask for (Doctor Thomas Light has been set up by the devious Doctor Albert Wily, whose new Robot Masters are causing chaos) and everything is exactly like the NES days. This means you can freely choose from eight initial stages, blast enemies with Mega Man’s “Mega Buster”, and defeat Robot Masters to gain new “Special Weapons”. These occasionally aid you in traversing stages and will make battling Robot Masters easier, since each is weak to a special weapon. As with every game in Mega Man: Legacy Collection 2, players can enable an armour mode to reduce the damage they take, apply borders and filters, listen to the game’s soundtrack, and check out some concept art. Inputting a code or beating the game unlocks three extra modes: two harder difficulties and one where you play as Mega Man’s “brother”, Proto Man, which snags you another Achievement. While you can save your game after clearing each stage and the game features checkpoints, this version doesn’t include rewind functionality. The “save state” feature is a joke, too, simply saving any collectibles you’ve found but returning you to the last checkpoint, making Mega Man 9 an extremely challenging experience without the convenience of being able to undo stupid mistakes. Players can enable a rapid-fire mode but must equip Special Weapons or summon Mega Man’s robotic canine, Rush, from the in-game menu. This is also where you use helpful items like Energy-Tanks, Beat (who saves you from pits), and Eddie (who drops items). These are purchased from Mega Man’s “sister”, Roll, by spending bolts at Dr. Light’s lab, though some are single-use items.

By default, Mega Man fires his currently equipped weapon with X and jumps with A or Y, but his armour upgrades are missing. Proto Man has the slide and weapon charge, and enemies respawn the moment you edge offscreen. As ever, Mega Man’s new Special Weapons are a mixed bag, with their functionality mirroring previous Special Weapons. The Jewel Satellite is a reskinned Leaf Shield, for example, and the Plug Ball is just a more versatile Search Snake since it travels across surfaces. While the Concrete Shot creates temporary blocks, I found them pretty unreliable (especially if you buy the Shock Guard to resist insta-death spikes). The Laser Trident destroys special blocks to access shortcuts, goodies, and navigate Dr. Wily’s hazardous fortress, and the Hornet Chaser snags faraway items. The Tornado Blow whisks away all onscreen enemies and activates special propeller platforms, but its energy drains very quickly so you’ll want to use it sparingly to have ammo for the Magma Dragons and Magma Man. Magma Bazooka fires a three-way spread and the Black Hole Bomb creates a vortex that pulls in enemies and projectiles, but it’s best to save Special Weapons for the bosses as there’s rarely a need to expend them in stages. You whip out Rush Coil and Rush Jet a fair bit, especially to bypass tricky platforming with the latter and reach goodies like 1-ups and extra health with the former. Rush has no special underwater form this time, unfortunately, or any autoscrolling sections. In fact, I didn’t encounter any autoscrolling sections in my playthrough, just the usual hazards like insta-death pits and various spikes, a floaty jump when underwater, and having to quickly (and I mean quickly) bypass molten metal hazards. You can further increase Mega Man’s defences with the Guard Power Up item (or dramatically decrease it for an additional challenge with the Book of Hairstyles) and ensure that whichever Special Weapon is at its lowest ammo gets replenished with the Energy Balancer. You don’t need to worry about collecting letters or other items here, just snagging screws to buy stuff if you need them.

Visually, Mega Man 9 really scratches that itch if you’ve been missing the 8-bit aesthetic of the classic games. The story is told using large, partially animated, anime-like sprite art, text, and in-game sprites, with Mega Man again changing colour with each Special Weapon and simply blinking when idle. The presentation mirrors an NES title, though sprite flickering and slowdown have been eliminated (unless you activate them), and the music is perhaps the best since Mega Man 2 (Capcom, 1988). Mirroring the NES visuals means mirroring the gameplay style, meaning Mega Man is as clunky and limited as he was back in the day, which makes platforming difficult as it’s easy to slip off platforms (even when they’re not frozen) or drop down pits because you fell just short on your jump. Rush Jet helps and is usually a better option as those damn disappearing/reappearing platforms are back and Tornado Man’s stage tosses in moving platforms that spin you around, screwing up your jumps if you’re timing’s off. This stage also features ice, a rainstorm (complete with a minor wind effect), and storm clouds as additional platforms. Dr. Wily’s second stage sees Illusians creating fake blocks to trick you, Splash Woman’s stage has you hopping to fast-moving platforms that fly out of the walls, Magma Man’s stage is full of insta-kill lava, Galaxy Man’s stage debuts teleports that fling you about. Jewel Man’s stage was probably the most visually impressive as it’s set in a sparkling diamond mine, but I liked Galaxy Man’s space station setting and that Plug Man’s stage is a power plant with dials in the background and electrical hazards on platforms. This stage also plunges into darkness near the end and sees fake doubles of Mega Man spawn from television screens, Hornet Man’s stage is largely set in a lush rose garden full of unique flower-based enemies, and Splash Woman’s stage recycles the bubble gimmick from Mega Man 5 (Capcom, 1992).

Similarly, many of Mega Man’s usual enemies also return, including Metall, a new Sniper Joe variant with a machine gun, and that Shield Attacker. The Green and Yellow Devil live on in eye-like globs that split when shot, little propeller robots fly around roasting you with their flames, robotic octopi stain you with ink projectiles, sentient coal rolls around in minecarts, and pincer-like robots fly you into spikes if you’re not careful. Four stages include large mini bosses, such as the aforementioned Fire Dragon and a robotic elephant. Three of these are fought in quick succession, with each tossing a giant ball in different ways and suck it (and you) in to repeat their attack. The Hanabiran can be tricky as the robotic flower sprouts from different platforms to fire its petals at you while a rotating flower bar keeps you on the move and a spike pit spells certain doom if you slip. The Stone Head caught me off-guard in Jewel Man’s stage, but you can predict where it will drop if you watch the boulders overhead, so you just need to avoid them when they fall and not get stunned when it crashes down. Mega Man 9 will be harder if you tackle the stages in the wrong order so it’s best to start with Splash Woman. While the trident projectiles she fires can be as tricky to dodge as her downward thrust, she’s easy to beat with the Mega Buster and her Laser Trident is very effective against Concrete Man, whose biggest danger is stunning you with his big ground pound. His otherwise useless Concrete Shot crushes Galaxy Man, whose Black Hole Bomb is enough to stay away from and easily makes short work of Jewel Man, who simply flings his gems while hopping about. The Jewel Satellite makes mincemeat of Tornado Man, whose Tornado Blow is easy enough to either avoid or tank (especially as the overheard spikes are no threat) and will cut through Magma Man in no time (he was probably the easiest of the Robot Masters!) The Magma Bazooka can then take care of Hornet Man, who just fires swarms of hornets and is barely a threat.

Once all eight Robot Masters are defeated, Mega Man proves that Dr. Wily is behind everything (…shocker…) and four new stages become available. As ever, Dr. Wily’s mechanical obstacle courses remix enemies, gimmicks, and even mini bosses from previous stages alongside new ones, like those propeller platforms. Each is also guarded by a unique boss, with these four Spike Pushers waiting in the first stage. You must quickly blast their spiked balls back at them, avoiding their projectiles, before they can instantly kill you, which is more aggravating than challenging. Sadly, my run ended at the second Dr. Wily stage. While it was taxing enough to quickly spawn Rush Coil and get past the insta-kill molten metal hazards in the first stage, the tight hallways, floaty underwater mechanics, and tricky jumps ended me in a very specific, spike-filled room. It would probably be much easier if I had the Shock Guard, but you must buy this before entering the stage as exiting it means replaying the first Dr. Wily stage, which is just despicable. Looking ahead, there’s a giant mechanical, shark-like submarine, two “Devil” like globs, and the standard gauntlet against the previous Robot Masters. Dr. Wily also pilots a pretty awesome-looking dinosaur mech in the endgame before again resorting to his capsule, teleporting around, and firing electrical projectiles. Had the developers allowed players to create real save states, at least, or respawn in the same area after being killed, this difficulty curve would be much more tolerable. Instead, you’re sent back to or must reload your last checkpoint, getting more frustrated each time (or potentially getting better, that happened to me in a couple of sections) and slowly realising that you entered the stage underequipped since you had no idea that you’d need E-Tanks or special items. The “Hero” and “Superhero” modes only increase the challenge and, while Proto Man boasts a shield and unique abilities, he also receives double damage and greater knockback. Legacy Collection 2 also offers a handful of extra challenges, both based on your gameplay and from the main menu, where you can tackle remixed gimmicks and stages, time trials, and boss rushes for additional Achievements.

Final Thoughts:
I have to admit, a big ol’ goofy smile came to my face when I booted up Mega Man 9. I had no idea how much I missed the classic 8-bit art style and NES chip tunes until I started this game, which brilliantly recreates the visuals, gameplay, and challenge of the Blue Bomber’s glory days on the NES. Each level is beautifully basic, featuring simplistic backgrounds that nonetheless pop with colour and have a lot of variety while also being very familiar for long-time franchise fans. While it’s a shame that Mega Man is missing some of his later abilities, such as the charge shot and slide, it’s fun returning to that limited, somewhat awkward gameplay style. Mega Man’s new Special Weapons may lack originality or be somewhat forgettable, but I found myself using them a bit more than in the previous games and it remained as satisfying as ever to whittle down a Robot Master. I really liked seeing new enemies mixed in with some familiar faces, alongside new mini bosses and unique Robot Masters. The siren-like Splash Woman and bizarre UFO-like Galaxy Man were two standouts, as was the Fire Dragon (whose skeleton is revealed as you deal damage!) Sadly, as great as the game looks and sounds, Mega Man 9 is handicapped by the same issues that dogged the NES games. Namely, tricky platforming, unforgiving level design, annoying enemy placement, and insta-death traps galore. Unlike in the remasters of the NES games, there’s no rewind function to save you here and the “save state” system is a cruel joke working in conjunction with a fastidiously old-school difficulty that was sadly too much for me to overcome. It feels unfair to knock the game’s rating down for this, but it did impact my enjoyment of Mega Man 9, which strips back your options and abilities to artificially augment the already steep difficulty curve. Had the game been a little more lenient with its lives and checkpoints (especially considering the two even harder DLC modes!), this would be a solid recommendation. However, as it is, you’re better off picking up the remastered versions of the original games and playing those. They give you everything this game has, and more, and are much more satisfying as a result.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

What did you think to this throwback to Mega Man’s glory days? Did you find it jarring to go back to this visual style and challenge or did you welcome it? Which of the new Special Weapons and Robot Masters was your favourite? Were you shocked to learn Dr. Wily was behind everything? Did you ever beat the game (and, if so…how?!)? How are you celebrating sci-fi genre this month? Let me know what you think about Mega Man 9 in the comment, check out my other Mega Man reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Mega Man content.

January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history: “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 to coincide with the birth of world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and 12 January being when Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 was created. Accordingly, I dedicate January to celebrating sci-fi in all its forms.

Quick Facts:
After dominating Nintendo’s 8-bit consoles and successfully transitioning to 16-bit, Mega Man made the jump to the 32-bit era with Mega Man 8, with Keiji Inafune taking the helm following Tokuro Fujiwara’s exit from Capcom. The developers apparently struggled to adapt to the PlayStation hardware, and fought to keep Mega Man 8 2D. The game also featured tracks by J-pop band Ganasia and atrociously dubbed anime cutscenes by Xebec. Although Mega Man 8 sold well, reviews criticised its lack of innovation, uninspired visuals, and frustrating difficulty curve. While it inspired a spin-off title, Capcom chose to return to 8-bit visuals and gameplay for the next title.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Mega Man’s debut on the PlayStation and SEGA Saturn sticks so closely to the original 8-bit games that it could easily have been released on a 16-bit console with a few graphical adjustments. Aside from some visual changes and some voice acting and anime style cutscenes, the core gameplay is as familiar as ever, and actually a step back from Mega Man 7 (Capcom, 1995) and even some of the NES titles. Still rendered as an anime-style hero and wielding his “Mega Buster” arm cannon, Mega Man must tackle four new Robot Masters in whichever order the player chooses, then challenge four additional stages, and finally storm Doctor Albert Wily’s newest base, the Wily Tower. You’ll find Mega Man 8 more challenging if you tackle the Robot Masters at random as each one is vulnerable to another’s Special Weapon, which you acquire after defeating them and can, in some instances, be used to better traverse the environment. Like Mega Man 7, Mega Man 8 features an opening stage to learn the game’s controls, which can be customised but remain as simple as ever. The default setup sees you jumping with A or Y, firing your regular shot with X (or holding X to charge a bigger, more powerful shot), and utilising your currently selected Special Weapon with B. Mega Man can slide beneath enemies, projectiles, and through narrow passages by pressing down and A and can now swim by tapping A or Y. This does offer greater control when underwater, but it can be finicky as Mega Man’s quite an erratic swimmer! The Left and Right Bumpers let you quickly cycle through the Special Weapons you acquire by defeating Robot Masters, and these are manually selected from the in-game menu with the “View” button. Your Mega Buster comes with unlimited ammo and can even be fired in conjunction with your Special Weapons, but you’ll need Weapon capsules to replenish your Special Meter to use them. There are no Energy and Weapon Tanks this time, but you can still activate different shots and call upon Mega Man’s canine companion Rush from the main menu after defeating certain bosses.

You can visit Doctor Thomas Light’s laboratory between stages to buy gear from Mega Man’s sister, Roll, using Bolts. These allow you to immediately exit any cleared stage, speed up your shots, slide, and ladder climbing, replace your regular shot with a piercing arrow or laser, reduce the cost of Special Weapons, and negate the pushback you receive when taking damage. Rush is significantly different here, allowing you to ride him like a motorcycle, gift random items, perform an airstrike, or continuously drop restorative items while his meter lasts. You can still use him to fly across stages, but only in specific areas, finally adding an autoscrolling shooter mechanic at the cost of keeping you from freely flying past hazards or springing to higher areas. Though Auto, Beat, and Eddie help blast incoming enemies when freed from capsules, Rush Health and Rush Item can only be summoned once per stage and I really felt the loss of Rush Coil and Rush Adapter as Mega Man 8 includes some dodgy platforming. There are eight new Special Weapons in Mega Man 8 and, in a change of pace, they’re surprisingly unique. The awkward Mega Ball can be kicked to ricochet around or bounced on to get higher, the Thunder Claw snags hooks to swing you across chasms, the Flash Bomb destroys enemies and illuminates dark areas, the Ice Wave freezes enemies and lava so you can briefly bypass hazards, the Tornado Hold allows you to float and move certain objects, the Homing Sniper locks on to nearby enemies, the Astro Crush rains meteors to clear the screen or break certain barriers, the Water Balloon damages anything caught in its bubbles, and the Flame Sword delivers fire damage up close and melts ice blocks. While I mainly saved these for the Robot Masters, they’re invaluable in Sword Man’s tomb and the Wily Tower as you’ll need them (mostly Thunder Wave) to progress. Finally, Mega Man 8 features aggravating jet-powered board sections, jumping gaps and sliding under obstacles, in some of the most frustrating sections! The screen scrolls awkwardly, making it very difficult to see what’s ahead, you’re giving little time to react, and your button presses often fail (though Astro Crush can help a little as you’ll briefly float when using it).

Naturally, all the usual hazards return, including various insta-kill spikes on walls, ceilings, and floors, insta-kill flame bursts that must be frozen, and giant mallets that knock you to your doom. Disappearing and reappearing platforms also return, fading in and out of reality at the worst times, as do various moving and spinning platforms and even ones that you must press switches to move. There are more switches than usual, too, activating Dr. Wily’s teleporters and moving weighted blocks out of the way. You’ll loop around maze-like catacombs, navigate past spiked mines in fragile bubbles, frantically jump and climb a mechanical tower as it descends into sand, and hop to timed explosive platforms up narrow shafts. Platforming is quite the chore in Mega Man 8, especially without Rush’s usual abilities. Some platforms are just out of reach or quickly fall out from under you, sometimes you must make pixel perfect jumps to precarious platforms, sometimes the Thunder Claw passes through hooks, and sometimes you must risk instant death by sliding and jumping for extra momentum. Ladders are sometimes just out of reach, you sometimes must force dangerous platforms to respawn alongside turrets and enemies to try again, and those autoscrolling sections move far too quickly to ever be fair. You’ll battle on rising elevators, get rid of destructible blocks (watching for pits and spikes as they appear), catch a ride off toy trains, fight against (or be aided by) blowing wind, and avoid crushing hazards as you go. Unlike previous Mega Man games, Mega Man 8 uses a save feature when you clear each stage, though it seems to force you to re-do the entire Wily Tower if you head back to the map screen between these stages. You can replay any stage using your new Special Weapons to find hidden paths and goodies, usually a Bolt to spend at Roll’s shop, though there are no hidden encounters with Proto Man or upgrades to find here.

Presentation:
Without a doubt, Mega Man 8 is the best looking 2D Mega Man game I’ve played so far. While Mega Man loses a few frames of animation compared to Mega Man 7, his body short circuits when he takes damage and he moves far smoother and has more personality than ever thanks to voice clips. The sprite-based cutscenes now bolstered by partially animated profile pictures and an infamous English dub that I found amusing and somewhat charming. The quality of these cutscenes might still be very outdated but they add a lot to this world and bring it even more in-line with its anime aesthetic, finally giving these iconic characters voices and personalities beyond story text. Mega Man sounds a little too young at times and Dr. Light sounds like he’s on the verge of a stroke, but these were fun and kinetic sequences that placed more emphasis on story than ever before. Mega Man’s rival, Bass, returns, with the two no closer to settling their differences, and even Proto Man helps in sticky situations. Sadly, the little tutorials and conversations between Mega Man and Dr. Light every time you get a new Special Weapon are gone, replaced by a somewhat impressive 3D model of Mega Man and some congratulatory text. Equally, while Mega Man 8 boasts a jaunty and unique techno-synth soundtrack, I can’t say I found any of the tunes all that memorable. I did like that the Robot Masters’ introductions featured voice clips and that they spawned into their arenas in a unique way, such as Aqua Man (not that one) emerging from the water and producing a rainbow displaying his name, Swords Sword Man cutting his way out of a statue, and Grenade Man blasting into the arena. However, while the game performs very well, with no slowdown due to the in-game action, screen and stage transitions are a bit jerky thanks to the PlayStation’s loading times.

While there’s little on offer in Mega Man 8’s stages that wasn’t done to death in the previous games, Mega Man 8 offers the benefits of 32-bit hardware by…slapping some 3D models and prerendered textures in the backgrounds. To be fair, this does give stages more depth, colour, and life than ever, with overgrown wreckage seen in the background of the introductory stage, more foreground elements, and far more vibrant and detail environments in general, with blinking lights and moving parts prevalent. Grenade Man’s stage is a dangerous weapons factory, with giant 3D mallets swinging, explosive blocks everywhere, and even dynamite blocks that you must race across to avoid falling to your death. Frost Man’s stage is a flash-frozen city, with you traversing an icy highway (strangely with no loss of traction), ploughing through snow, and blasting past the bright city at night. Tengu Man’s stage is a series of floating pillars held aloft by propellers that features a wind gimmick. As you fly along on Rush Jet, a gigantic bird-like battleship sporting turrets looms through the clouds and you must gingerly fly through this to reach the Robot Master. Clown Man is fittingly in a wacky fairground stage where balloons float in the foreground, you fight through a toy factory so littered with moving foreground elements that they become distracting, and eventually navigate through a pirate ship attraction. After a brief interlude where Mega Man first encounters Duo in a rocky cave, it’s off to Astro Man’s surreal stage with its M.C. Escher-like backgrounds, giant mechanical sunflowers, and ladder maze. Aqua Man’s stage is almost entirely underwater, with a domed underwater city seen on the horizon, while Sword Man’s takes place inside a boobytrapped temple where you must utilise different Special Weapons to overcome obstacles and clear a path to the volcano-like interior. Search Man’s stage features a jungle theme, while the Wily Tower naturally mixes every gimmick and hazard and makes them ten times worse. Here, jet board sections are nearly impossible, walls and ceilings damage you on Rush Jet, and aggravating, often instant-kill hazards are everywhere in this mechanical hellhole that almost had me snapping my controller in two!

Enemies and Bosses:
As any long-time Mega Man player might expect, a fair few of Mega Man’s most recognisable enemies return here, in more detail and with improved animation cycles. There’s the Metalls, for example, who appear in the standard variant and a flaming version to spark dynamite fuses. The Bunby Tank returns from Mega Man 7 alongside Battons (with the vampire bat-like Succubatton draining your health with its bite) and a new Sniper Joe. These jump, hide behind their shields, shoot, and toss grenades, though they’re few and far between and easier to take out than previous Sniper Joes. Mega Man 8 also throws ice skating rabbits at you, bird-like robots that fly in swarms, grasshopper-like enemies that often hop between small platforms to mess up your jumps, and little toy soldiers that also drain your health when they latch onto you or hop from hot air balloons. Robotic snakes drop near-endlessly from holes, large flying whale-like battleships hover in the skies dropping Metalls and ice blocks, and three gorilla-like robots toss bombs, spiked balls, or giant boulders that double as makeshift platforms. Crocodile-like robots snap at you from holes in the floor, robotic dragons snake through the air, and shellfish-like robots float about underwater alongside oyster-like enemies that shield their vulnerable cores with their shells. Large cylinders float about dropping bombs and armoured rhinoceros-like Sydeckas fire missiles, but they’re nothing compared to the mini bosses that pop up. A floating mechanical eye awaits in Grenade Man’s stage, surrounding itself with and flinging debris not unlike Junk Man, the central core of Tengu Man’s battleship doubles as a laser cannon, a strange spinning disk with a lion’s face bounces around in Clown Man’s stage firing doubles of itself and little robots, a large fish-like robot emerges from a waterfall to ram you and destroy your log platforms in Aqua Man’s stage, and a gigantic, cog-like robot shoots fireballs in Sword Man’s stage as you desperately avoid a plunge into lava.

Your first test comes from a giant robot crab that requires you to awkwardly kick your Mega Ball into his weak spot (though Astro Crush basically one-shots it). Your best bet at tackling the game’s Robot Masters is to fight Grenade Man first as he’s very simple, using wall jumps, a dash, raining debris, and firing his signature Flash Bomb and being particularly weak to the Mega Buster. His Flash Bomb makes short work of Frost Man, a large but clunky robot who delivers a shockwave punch, tosses his Ice Wave, and whimpers when damaged. While the Ice Wave is very effective against Tengu Man, it’s tough to freeze him since he’s always flying and floating about, dashing in and flinging you into the sky for a somersault kick with Tornado Hold. This Special Weapon snatches Clown Man mid-swing and deals damage when he drops to send his Thunder Claw under the ground to grab you, though it might help to slide under his wild trapeze swings. Thunder Claw works pretty well against Grenade Man but I fought Astro Man next, who’s best fought with the Homing Sniper but the Flash Bomb is also good. Astro Man teleports about, flings small orbs to whittle down your health, and fills the screen with his signature Astro Crush. Despite its limited uses, this Special Weapon decimates Aqua Man, who fires a shot of living water that tracks across the screen, conjures waves, and shoots his destructible Water Balloon. These are great at taking out Sword Man, provided you aim at his torso. Sword Man leaps about swinging his Flame Sword, which cuts through the elusive Search Man, who hides behind bushes and takes cheap shots with his Homing Sniper. As ever, all eight Robot Masters are fought in the Wily Tower, this time in more unique arenas, though you’re also tested by Duo during the interlude. He sports a charged, explosive fist slam and ricochets about but is fought to a standstill as Proto Man interrupts the battle.

When in the Wily Tower, four additional mini bosses await, the first being a robotic penguin that requires the aggravating Mega Ball as you must perfectly position yourself to ricochet your shot up the shaft where Atetemino appears, avoiding the crates and missiles it drops. The Bliking aircraft is fought while on Rush Jet, so be sure to grab your other robo buddies to help. This thing fires screen-filling lasers and destructible mines and missiles, and can only be damaged (preferably with Astro Crush) when its wings are fully extended. Bass and Treble combine for a rematch, one far less taxing than Mega Man 7’s as he flies about, charges at you, fires his Mega Buster, and blasts a concentrated beam from above. The Yellow Devil is evoked by the Green Devil, who can only be damaged by blasting a hole to its mechanical core and firing your Flash Bomb or Thunder Claw. Thanks to it constantly deconstructing, summoning green waves and floor spikes, and filling the screen with its pieces, this is another exercise in tedium as you have such a small window of opportunity to strike. Success once again sees you battle Dr. Wily in a two-phase boss fight that’s far easier than the brick wall I ran into in Mega Man 7. Dr. Wily’s newest skull-like machine advances with a buzz-saw like appendage that it flings across the ground. This is easily jumped over, as are its charged laser beams and even its projectiles if you time your jumps right. You need to be quite close to hit it with the Flame Sword but the Water Balloon reportedly works quite well, too. True to form, Dr. Wily mans a UFO-like hovercraft for the final phase, one that teleports about the place and sends purple orbs out in a spiral or spread. While he’s often just out of reach, some of his shots home in, and he can rain Dark Energy into the arena, you should be able to finish him off with the Flame Sword (or, better yet, the Flash Bomb), especially if you still have Rush Health in reserve.

Additional Features:
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 features twenty-one Achievements, with one popping when you complete Mega Man 8. You can also toggle various display options (screen size, borders and screen filters), view a character database and production art, activate “Extra Armour Mode” to reduce the damage you take, and take on additional challenges that have you play through remixed stages, boss rushes, and time attacks. Like the other games in the collection, Mega Man 8 lacks the rewind feature that would’ve made many of its more frustrating sections more tolerable and replaces it with a janky save state system that simply saves a new version of your last checkpoint rather than literally create a save state. Disappointingly, there are basically no secrets or collectibles in Mega Man 8 beyond the forty Bolts, and even those are difficult to amass in a single playthrough. While you can cobble together different combinations of items by visiting Roll, there are no new armours or additional weapons here, meaning there’s even less content than some of the 8-bit games! Incidentally, if you play the SEGA Saturn version (sadly not included in Mega Man Legacy Collection 2), you can battle Cut Man and Wood Man in Duo’s interlude and Search Man’s stage.

Final Thoughts:
Considering how much I struggled with Mega Man 7’s difficulty curve, I was apprehensive about tackling Mega Man 8, especially without the convenient rewind features. Thankfully, the final boss wasn’t anywhere near as much of an uphill battle and Rush’s new abilities made the lack of E- and W-Tanks more tolerable at times since Rush drops so many restorative items when summoned. Mega Man 8 makes a great first impression with its anime-style opening and colourful, detailed, vibrant stages. Sure, the voice acting is grating and ludicrous at times and the video compression is awful, but these cutscenes added a lot to the aesthetic and I was very impressed with the visual design of the stages. Unfortunately, Mega Man 8 is let down quite significantly by its gameplay. Not only does Mega Man sport no new abilities beyond his new Special Weapons, but he’s been robbed of many elements that made his games so much fun. I liked that we finally got autoscroller sections with Rush Jet, but I never expected to miss using Rush Coil and Rush Jet whenever I liked. The items in the shop weren’t very useful, it was disappointing that we don’t get to collect anything beyond Bolts, and those jet board sections can go die in a ditch! These sections are far too fast and punishing, often dangerously reducing your view space and requiring split-second decision making. The Robot Masters were fun and I liked the attempt to give the Special Weapons more versitality, but the Thunder Claw’s swing function was needlessly aggravating and the Mega Ball was a clunky and annoying addition. It’s such a shame as there was some real promise here but Mega Man 8 screws up even the most basic platforming mechanics with its janky controls and emphasis on pixel-perfect jumps, irritations only aggravated by the lack of a rewind function. Sadly, I’d say you’re better off sticking to the 16-bit games and even the later 8-bit titles as at least they offer collectibles, bonuses, and air-tight gameplay mechanics to make for challenging, but enjoyable experiences.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

What did you think to Mega Man’s 32-bit debut? Were you surprised to see Capcom stick to the 2D style of gameplay? Which of the new Robot Masters and Mega Man’s Special Weapons was your favourite? What did you think to Mega Man and Rush’s stripped back abilities? Did you also struggle with the jet-board and Rush Jet sequences? How are you celebrating the science-fiction genre this month? Whatever you thought about Mega Man 8, drop a comment below, go check out my other Mega Man reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Mega Man content for the site.

January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history: “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 to coincide with the birth of world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and 12 January being when Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 was created. Accordingly, I dedicate January to celebrating sci-fi in all its forms.

Quick Facts:
Mega Man’s debut title became a widely praised run-and-gun that spawned numerous, equally celebrated sequels and spin-offs that dominated Nintendo’s consoles. After wrapping up Mega Man’s time on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with the widely praised Mega Man 6 (Capcom, 1993), Capcom faced a tight deadline for the seventh game. Designer Yoshihisa Tsuda expressed regret at not having more time to work on the title, which saw series artist Keiji Inafune design an all-new rival for Mega Man who became a fan favourite with spin-offs of his own. Though praised for its graphics and music, Mega Man 7 was criticised for failing to innovate on the core gameplay of the series and is largely seen as inferior to Mega Man X (Capcom, 1993), and the brutal difficulty curve made it one of the hardest games in the series.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Mega Man 7 brings the classic, 2D, sidescrolling run-and-gun action platforming of the 8-bit and portable games to the SNES for the first time. Fundamentally, very little has changed from Mega Man’s NES glory days, though Mega Man 7 does a far better job of translating and updating the classic formula than his previous 16-bit outing. As ever, Mega Man tackles four initial stages and one of Doctor Albert Wily’s new “Robot Masters” before challenging four further stages and Robot Masters and then finally storming Dr. Wily’s latest hi-tech base. While you’re free to choose which stage and Robot Master to take on, each Robot Master has a specific weakness that’ll make short(er) work of them. Unlike previous Mega Man games, Mega Man 7 opens with a tutorial to instinctively teach the game’s basics in a simple platforming challenge. By default, A and Y see you jump, B fires Mega Man’s patented “Mega Buster” arm cannon, and you can hold X to auto-fire in short bursts. You hold B to charge the Mega Buster for a stronger shot, jump higher when underwater, and Mega Man can slide beneath jumping enemies, some projectiles, and through narrow passages by pressing down and A. The Left and Right Bumper cycle through the “Special Weapons” you obtain from Robot Masters, though you can manually do this from the in-game menu with the “View” button. While you get unlimited ammo for the basic Mega Buster, the Special Weapons drain individual meters, so you need Weapon capsules to replenish these. You can also review your stock of lives and bolts (the game’s currency), activate health or weapon energy restoring Energy and Weapon Tanks, or utilise special items and Mega Man’s robotic allies from the game’s menu.

Mega Man’s mysterious “brother”, Proto Man, offers hints and you can visit Auto’s shop from the stage select screen, where bolts are traded for extra lives and E- and W-Tanks. These are also found in stages and dropped by enemies, of course, but Auto also sells Super Tanks to fully restore both health and Special Weapon energy, an “Exit Part” to exit any stage, and lets you call robotic bird helper Beat to rescue you from bottomless pits. However, you must first find Beat in Slash Man’s stage and, similarly, you’ll find extra abilities for Mega Man and his robot canine, Rush, by either exploring or shopping. Rush can again be summoned to spring you higher, fly you across areas for as long as the meter lasts, or find hidden goodies. Rush’s search ability is required to access the Energy Equalizer and Hyper Rocket Buster, though you must use your own abilities to find the hidden R-U-S-H letters to fully upgrade Mega Man like in Mega Man 6. Mega Man again gains powerful new abilities from each Robot Master that can be used to defeat others or further explore stages, such as powering up generators or burning objects. Some are very similar to previous Special Weapons (the Junk Shield is essentially just the Leaf Shield, for example, and Scorch Wheel is like Fire Storm). Thunder Bolt and Freeze Cracker are two of the best Special Weapons as they splinter on impact to damage multiple targets (the latter even freeze some enemies) and the Noise Crush can be powered up by absorbing the sound wave as it ricochets back. I found the Wind Coil erratic and unwieldy, however, and especially dangerous as it makes you a sitting duck, and the Slash Claw is powerful but hazardous as it’s only effective up close. Like my previous Mega Man experiences, I largely saved the Special Weapons for the Robot Masters unless I needed to activate machinery with the Thunder Bolt or utilise Rush’s abilities.

Mega Man 7 sticks very closely to the classic Mega Man formula, throwing bottomless pits, disappearing and reappearing platforms, and insta-kill hazards like various spikes and flame turrets at you. You’ll do as much vertical progression as horizontal thanks to the many ladders and rising or moving platforms, timed explosive platforms threaten to drop you, and conveyer belts push you towards enemies or pits. While enemies still respawn, they don’t clutter the screen as much as before, though they’re still placed in the worst positions to screw up your jumps. Wall, ceiling, and floor turrets and spikes are commonplace, some platforms crumble or spin beneath you, and you can ride or hop to other temporary platforms to cross chasms (or just use Rush Jet for a slightly easier time). Burst Man’s stage incorporates underwater sections that see you perfectly timing hops into the predictable tide to bypass spikes, Cloud Man’s stage has you riding cloud platforms and even fighting against torrential rain, Junk Man’s stage features insta-kill molten steel, crushing hazards, and overhead magnets you can power up, and Freeze Man’s stage sees you losing traction on icy surfaces and sliding into hazards. Prior to facing the Robot Museum, you’re presented with four additional, shorter stages. You’ll be hopping to log platforms as they fall down waterfalls and using Technodons to cross spike beds in Slash Man’s stage, bouncing around Spring Man’s funhouse, lighting up dark caverns in Shade Man’s dilapidated castle, and avoiding overheard tyres in Turbo Man’s stage. This stage also features a panic inducing drop past insta-kill flame bursts not unlike the lasers seen in Quick Man’s stage, while Dr. Wily’s first stage includes a blackout gimmick where the stage turns dark when you jump or land on certain platforms. More (and often smaller) conveyers are in the doctor’s second stage, as are flame burst blocks you must precariously scale, while his third stage includes platforms that only become visible when you’re on them and a risky underwater drop past some insta-kill spikes.

Presentation:
Mega Man 7 is obviously a massive graphical upgrade from the Blue Bomber’s 8-bit days, featuring gorgeous, vibrant 16-bit graphics that put Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Minakuchi Engineering, 1994) to shame. Mega Man is a big, chunky sprite with more expression than ever thanks to the SNES hardware. While he only blinks or looks about when idle and still can’t look up or crouch, he has a determined look on his chubby cheeks and showcases his personality in sprite-based cutscenes with Auto, new rival Bass, and Dr. Light. Mega Man changes colour with each Special Weapon, now sporting two colour schemes for every weapon, and is far more detailed so you really feel it when he cries out in pain and explodes upon dying. The game incorporates partially animated, anime-style sprite art and in-game sprites for its story, which is emphasised far more here as interactions happen in some stages and after beating each Robot Master, with Mega Man and Dr. Light discussing his new abilities. I was a bit annoyed to find the story still shied away from answering lingering questions about Proto Man and instead introduced a new robotic rival for Mega Man, Bass, who has a cool look and his own robot dog, but appears out of nowhere with no explanation yet everyone acts like he’s been around forever. I was therefore nonplussed when Bass went rogue thanks to Dr. Wily’s influence, though I did enjoy encountering and battling this dark mirror of Mega Man. Mega Man 7 also includes a jaunty and bombastic soundtrack and much improved performance. While screen transitions can be a touch awkward, I never encountered any slowdown or sprite flickering like in the old games, even when lots of enemies or bigger foes appeared. Everything just popped with colour and little details, from Mega Man’s hair fluttering in the wind, to robotic Pterodactyls in the background of Slash Man’s stage, which has a fun Jurassic Park (Various, 1990 to present) aesthetic.

I was most impressed by Shade Man’s stage. As if featuring a hidden track wasn’t enough, the entire stage is modelled after the Ghosts ’n Goblins games (Capcom/Various, 1985 to 2021). Astro Zombie’s emerge from coffins and hop in from open windows in the background as you ride a platform to a castle roof, and the stage even starts in pitch black and illuminates when the full moon rises. Slash Man’s stage is a close second, with its dinosaur fences and thick jungle, but the game impresses from the start with a ruined city aesthetic, a visual treat only doubled with you visit the Robot Museum and see all the old Robot Masters in the background. Burst Man’s stage is a hi-tech mad scientist’s lab, filled with gigantic test tubes and lab equipment and murky water, while Cloud Man’s stage is up in the heavens, with windmills in the background, big fluffy clouds blocking platforms in the foreground, and an impressive rain (or snow) effect when Tel Tels appear. Junk Man’s fittingly holed up in a junk yard full of girders, blinking lights, and piles of junk that hide worm-like Dust Crushers. Freeze Man’s stage starts pretty basic, with just a snowy landscape in the background, but you’re soon venturing into a frigid cave full of frozen fossils and dinosaur skeletons. After fighting through Slash Man’s thick, prehistoric jungle, you’ll be knocked about in Spring Man’s funhouse. This is a colourful, circus-themed stage full of springs and flashing neon lights, while Turbo Man’s stage is set in a garage. After battling past tyres and tricky platforming, you drop to a giant, sentient semi-trailer truck for a mini boss fight. As ever, Dr. Wily’s stages are mostly just hi-tech facilities and robot factories, but the first one is modelled after a flying battleship, the second has a green metallic and turtle theme, and the third is geared more towards machinery.

Enemies and Bosses:
Some familiar robot baddies pop up in Mega Man 7, respawning when you leave the screen and randomly dropping pick-ups. Naturally, the series staple Metall is back, hiding beneath its helmet, swimming underwater with a snorkel, and floating from above thanks to propellers. Sniper Joe also returns, thankfully far less cheap than before and easily dispatched with timed jumps or shots, as does a revised version Tom Boy and new versions of the always-annoying Shield Attacker and sentient fan Matasaburo, with the latter both sucking you in and pushing you back in Cloud Man’s stage. We’ve got little spherical bombs riding sleighs, slender tanks whose heads detach upon defeat, hopping traffic cones, robotic bats, crows, and fish, and birds that drop eggs filled with little chicks. Similarly, Derusu Bee hives near-endlessly spawn robot bees, a jouster-like knight rushes at you on a single wheel, robotic cockroaches continuously scurry about until you destroy their nest, and robots walk on the ceiling and drop icicles. There are hopping frogs, detached helmets, grinning rockets, large robot Stegosauruses that fire their fins and homing missiles, and a little sphere robot flings spiked tyres at you. Some stages also include mini bosses, such as the steamroller-like Mad Grinder in the prologue and the similarly themed forklift contraptions encountered in Turbo Man’s stage. You’ll easily take down a giant stationary polar bear that can only attack by flinging ice projectiles across the ground, blast the eyes of the large, grinning Sissi Truck while avoiding its minions, and pummel the core of the VAN Pookin to access new areas of Shade Man’s castle. While you battle the crab-like Kanigance twice, the Tyrannosaurus rex-like King Gojulus was the most visually impressive mini boss as it chases you down and attacks with flaming breath.

Each stage culminates in a battle against one of the eight Robot Masters, with each vulnerable to a specific Special Weapon and fought again in Dr. Wily’s final stage as part of the final boss gauntlet. I tackled Burst Man first as the regular Mega Buster easily pops his bubbles and damages him. Indeed, he’s little threat even when he uses Danger Warp to spawn bubbles with mines; just keep firing and you’ll escape his bubbles and put him down. His Danger Warp is great against Cloud Man, who hovers above and summons a thunderbolt to strike you and send an electrical current through the ground. Be sure to dash under him to avoid being blown to your death when he summons a rainstorm, and position yourself to hit him with your Special Weapon. His Thunder Bolt annihilates Junk Man, who leaps about flinging junk and causing it to rain down. He can attract a bigger ball of junk to throw, but he’ll probably be dead before he gets a chance. The Junk Shield tears through the nimble Freeze Man, who can flash-freeze the ground, freeze you with a shot, and drop icicles, though it’s much tougher landing clear shots on the rotund, clown-like Mash, whose head you must detach to pummel with Danger Warp. The Freeze Cracker quickly ends Slash Man, though he’s a fast target and loves to hop offscreen, rain goop into the arena, and pounce with his claws. Rather than electrifying Spring Man with the Thunder Bolt, jump and slash him with the Slash Claw, quickly sliding away from his extendable punches, to finish him off. I fought Shade Man next and he was by far the toughest of the regular bosses as he swoops in and drains your energy to replenish his own, freezes you with his energy waves, and is most vulnerable to the unreliable Wind Coil. Finally, I fought Turbo Man, who transforms into car to charge you, saps your health with Scorch Wheel, and sucks you towards him. The Noise Crush is your best bet, but he’s a pretty big target to hit.

Mega Man’s new rival, Bass, is fought three times. The first fight is a sparring session where he jumps about firing regular shots, but he adds charged shots in the second bout and joins with Treble for the third. In this fight, he flies about, jets towards you, fires a homing punch, and is a much tricker target to hit. Dr. Wily gives Guts Man an upgrade in his fortress, forcing you to pepper him with shots and trick him into dropping giant stones for you to hit at him with the Slash Claw. You must keep him at bay with your shots to avoid his pincers tossing you into the ceiling, and work fast to avoid being crushed. The giant, turtle-like Gamerizer guards Dr. Wily’s second stage and is best damaged with the Wind Coil. You must time your shots to hit his head and avoid being immolated, slide under his rocket charge, and fend off his minions when he flies off-screen. While this was a pain, it was nothing compared to the HannyaNED², which chases you across a platform, fires a piercing laser, spits bombs, and shoots high and low missiles. Its only weak spot are its eyes, which are extremely difficult to hit with Noise Crush, to say nothing of its massive hit box! Things take a turn for the ridiculous in Dr. Wily’s final stage, where you must defeat all eight Robot Masters and endure a two-stage battle against his latest mech with no checkpoints in between! You must slide under the Wily Machine 7 to avoid being crushed and attack its smaller doubles to clear the ground, though landing shots on Dr. Wily’s cockpit is easier said than done as the hit box is very small and your attacks do minimal damage. Dr. Wily’s last-ditch attack comes in his latest capsule, which teleports in and out and fires homing orbs that damage, stun, freeze, or immolate you. He also shoots a lightning bolt that travels across the ground and is often out of reach of most Special Weapons, making for a ridiculous tough final boss that broke me.

Additional Features:
There are twenty-one Achievements available in Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (Capcom, 2017), with one awarded specifically for beating this game. Alongside different display options (screen size, borders, and screen filters), Legacy Collection 2 allows you to view a character database and production art, enable “Extra Armour Mode” to half the damage you take, and tackle additional challenges. These see you playing through remixed stages, enduring boss rushes and time attacks, and defeating certain bosses with only the Mega Buster. Mega Man 7 uses a password feature so you can skip ahead to later stages and gain some helpful extra items, which you may need as, for some bizarre reason, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 removes the rewind function! Sure, you can enable auto- and utilise manual saves, but these aren’t like save states. When you reload, you reload from the last checkpoint, meaning you have to endure the final boss gauntlet every time if when you fail! There are a lot of secrets in Mega Man 7, with even Rush’s abilities hidden in stages or needing to be purchased. You’ll need all the R-U-S-H letters to access Mega Man’s most powerful form and must collect a lot of bolts or search all over for additional upgrades. The Hyper Bolt will reduce Auto’s prices, and you can gain Proto Man’s overpowered shield if you track him down and defeat him in battle!

Final Thoughts:
I was really excited to get stuck into Mega Man 7 after largely enjoying my playthrough of the first Legacy Collection (Digital Eclipse, 2015). The game makes a fantastic first impression, utilising the greater processing power of the SNES to bring more life, detail, and colour to Mega Man and his unique world than ever before. The game is everything The Wily Wars wishes it was, featuring tight controls, fantastic use of space, and essentially being a 16-bit do-over of the 8-bit classics. The challenge on offer is immediately familiar, with the game’s difficulty being dictated by the player as much as the many hazards and bizarre enemies. While I remain disappointed that the Special Weapons aren’t more innovative, the Robot Masters had a lot of personality and put up quite a fight at times. I was disappointed to see Bass steal Proto Man’s spotlight, but Bass has a bad-ass look and offered some fun bouts, to say nothing of the anime-like visuals evoked by the sprites. The stages also provided some enjoyable (if often safe and recycled) gimmicks, with the game outpacing its 8-bit counterparts at every turn and hiding some cheeky secrets that greatly reward you. Unfortunately, Mega Man 7 is let down by Mega Man Legacy Collection 2’s lack of a rewind or proper save state feature. Without these, the difficulty spikes dramatically and unfairly for the finale, forcing you into a boss gauntlet that’s practically unwinnable and sucking a lot of the fun out of the game. I get that this is how games were played back in the day, but it makes no sense to remove these features when they were included previously. Just allowing players to use save states rather than just manually saving to the latest checkpoint would’ve helped but, as is, Mega Man 7 is made for hardcore gamers only with its brutal difficulty curve.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Were you excited to see Mega Man come to the SNES back in the day? Which order did you tackle the game’s stages in and did you ever fully upgrade Mega Man? Which of the new Robot Masters and Mega Man’s Special Weapons was your favourite? What did you think to the late-game difficulty spike and lack of quality of life features? Which of Mega Man’s SNES games is your favourite and would you like to see more titles released in the franchise? How are you celebrating all things science-fiction this month? Whatever your thoughts and memories of Mega Man 7, drop them below, check out my other Mega Man reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Mega Man content you’d like to see me cover.