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> Results: Mega Man Anniversary Collection
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More Mega Man than you can shake a Wily at.Iﾒll admit it here and now ﾖ Iﾒm beginning to hate Mega Man. I hate the little guy for the addictive game play, keeping me playing ﾑtill the wee hours of the morning, shirking my work and family responsibilitiesﾅ Daddy, we havenﾒt eaten in two days. Quiet son ﾖ Iﾒve reached the Yellow Devil and only have one energy tank left. I canﾒt stand the incessantly spot-on and accurate play control, which always likes to prove that only I was solely responsible for that catastrophic jump into a spiked chasm ﾖ not the fault of shoddy programmingﾅ Tap, tap tapﾅ, tapﾅ..#%*#$!.....tap, tap, tap tapﾅ.  I despise the blue bomberﾒs catchy background tunes, which carry on in my head even after Iﾒve managed to tear myself away from the game for a short whileﾅ Whatﾒs that youﾒre humming dear? The Metal Man theme from Mega Man 2. Okayﾅ, donﾒt suppose you fed the kids today, did you? But the fact is, it isnﾒt Mega Man with whom I have issues. Instead, Iﾒve come to realize that Iﾒm evidently disgusted with my own fan boy attitude, which Iﾒve carried around all these years. Its why, with just Capcomﾒs announcement of this collection, Iﾒve been sitting on edge waiting for the day it would see release. The Mega Man series is just that damn good. If youﾒve played Mega Man, and youﾒve followed the game series as I have, youﾒre sitting there now, nodding your head, teary eyed with nostalgia. Youﾒre thanking your favored deity for the goodness Capcom has released upon the world. You understand where Iﾒm coming from. Itﾒs okay. Youﾒre among friends. But for other readers ﾖ those that have never experienced the joy of Mega Man gaming - youﾒre likely wondering for my mental health. But donﾒt judge. Not until youﾒve tried it. See, Mega Manﾒs simplicity is the key to Mega Manﾒs charm. The games create a perfect mix of action and strategy by simply upgrading your weaponry as you defeat boss character after boss character. So eventually, youﾒll find yourself testing to see what enemies are susceptible to what weapon, and applying new strategies to each level as new weapons are acquired. Everything then comes to a head, putting your completely upgraded Mega Man to the final test with a multi-stage Dr. Wily castle or two. This entire experience, enhanced by the seriesﾒ quality graphics, sounds and tight play control, is why Mega Man titles are revered by fans. Itﾒs why Capcom is celebrating the characterﾒs 15 year anniversary in the first place. Itﾒs why Iﾒll always remain a Mega Man fan boy, much as I hate to admit it. The collection starts with Mega Manﾒs 1-6, originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Here, Capcom and Atomic Planet wisely left the core game play of each NES Mega Man completely intact, but decided to offer a number of optional enhancements using the Playstation 2ﾒs controller layout. You now have an autofire button out of the gate, and a slide button for those Mega Man games originally offering the move. The controllerﾒs Left and Right shoulder buttons allow you to cycle thru your weapon upgrades, and some games will allow you to cycle through your collected items in similar fashion, making sub-screen access a thing of the past. These are all obviously handy features, but for fans not looking for change, theyﾒre certainly not required when playing. Thereﾒs more. Jump into the Options menu and activate ﾓNavi modeﾔ to really spice up the NES titles. Sure, the Navi hint system isnﾒt altogether useful (the hints are mostly attempts at useless conversation, and the path pointers are often unnecessary), but itﾒs still interesting nonetheless. With Navi mode active, youﾒll notice some of the sub-screens have been completely revamped, making use of the PS2ﾒs higher screen resolution to make everything more manageable. Life and energy bars are more in line with those featured in Mega Man 8, making it much easier to know what weapon is currently active, as itﾒs represented by icon as well as color scheme. But by far my favorite Navi mode feature ﾖ the remixed soundtracks. Replacing many music tracks in Mega Manﾒs 1-3, and all tracks in 4-6, the games are given a new sense of auditory life. Most of these instrumentals are true to the original themes, and are thematically well done. Oddly enough though, some sound as if they were poorly sampled from their source material (especially those featured in Mega Man 6). And when playing the first three titles, the jump between 8-bit tune and CD quality remix can be jarring at times. Why the developers didnﾒt spend some additional time to develop complete tracks for these games is beyond me. Also included with the collection is Mega Manﾒs only platforming foray on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Mega Man 7. Like the NES titles included with this collection, installment seven is an almost verbatim port of the SNES original, and even includes most of the hardware induced slowdown and sprite flicker long time fans will be familiar with. (The collection vaguely claims Navi mode is available for installment seven, but it doesnﾒt appear to be so.) Mega Man 8 (originally released on the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn) is true to the original source material as well, with no Navi mode enhancements or the like available. Capcom has also offered an option to make the series easier for gamers new to Mega Man. With the exception of Mega Man 8, the collection allows the player to adjustment each gameﾒs difficulty level between Easy and Normal. In the NES titles, youﾒll notice significant changes to each level when played on Easy, with some common enemies removed altogether. The robot masters are also more vulnerable to attack. In Mega Man 7, it appears only the vulnerability levels were adjusted. With all of the console games, itﾒs possible to adjust the starting number of reserve lives to either the original setting of three, or an advantage of five.  And then there are the arcade installments. Unlocked after spending some quality time with the console games, Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters consist of little more than a series of robot master battles, with a Dr. Wily encounter at gameﾒs end. There are no levels to play thru, and the one-on-one battles themselves amount to little more than shooter slugfests, with little need for strategy. The games are automatically set for arcade free play, with unlimited continues available, so they provide little in the way of challenge. Still, considering these games saw very limited, if not unofficial, release within the states (the game packaging claims they never were released within the USA, which is somewhat inaccurate), theyﾒre great novelties for Mega Man fans, with graphic styles reminiscent of Mega Manﾒs 7 and 8, and made cool with co-operative multi-player elements. So not withstanding the sheer fun of the Mega Man games themselves, things really scream straight-jacket when you consider the value. Ten games ﾖ count ﾑem, 10 Mega Man games ﾖ for the suggested retail price of $30. Thatﾒs a paltry $3.00 per game. Thatﾒs Capcom showing the love. Some notes for the purists. The NES titles, as you may have guessed, are pretty much translated ports of Capcomﾒs Complete Works series (previously released exclusively as individual budget titles in Japan). Meaning, these games are essentially Japan releases, so youﾒll notice a few differences with the title screens and other very minor odds and ends. Most notable, however, is the difficulty level in Mega Man 2 ﾖ as there was no ﾓNormalﾔ difficulty in the Japan release, you wonﾒt find it here either. Atomic Planet also seems to have taken a few liberties in attempting some grammar and spelling corrections throughout, but introduced a couple of new ones in the process. For those curious, Mega Man 8 is the Playstation version of the game ﾖ not the better featured Saturn rendition, and the multi-save option (three saves on one memory card) has been stripped. Oh, and the rumors are true ﾖ for whatever reason, the Mega Man 7 credits have been reduced to text only. And the offensive language has been removed, but no big deal, as it was decidedly out of place to begin with. All of these minor tweaks and changes, however, do very little to take away from the game play itself ﾖ each game is as solid as it ever was. But there are a few disappoints, sadly enough. Not with the games themselves, but more the extras and anniversary bonuses youﾒd expect with this kind of collection. It would have made for a far better package (and a far better homage to Mega Manﾒs history) if the NES titles featured a complete run of remixed music, instead of the hit-or-miss reality of Mega Manﾒs 1 thru 3. The save system is also disappointing in that only one save, per game, is permissible per memory card. Sure, passwords still apply for those installments featuring password systems, but for anyone looking to play Mega Man 1 or 8 without saving over existing progress, youﾒre looking at a playthru in one sitting. It would also have been nicer still to have the ability to activate individual aspects of Navi mode, instead of the all or nothing approach. And the collection should have featured much more in the way of historical material. The arcade titles are incredibly nice additions, but the Secrets menu is severely lacking ﾖ a few art galleries, an episode of the Mega Man cartoon (episode 1, ﾓThe Beginningﾔ), and only a few original music remixes. Other games (anniversary collections or no) have done far better, and this collection deserved nothing less than the ultimate treatment. Another fault is with the gameﾒs instruction manual, which you would expect to have been filled to the brim with interesting material, but what is actually weak in detail. So much so, it even lacks basic documentation for each game. If youﾒre a Mega Man newbie, youﾒll wonder why you canﾒt return to completed levels in certain games, why some games save energy tanks and others donﾒt, etc. Veterans will remember these details from the original games, but rookies may very well consider the collection defective, instead of the games simply being inconsistent. A lack of bonus stuff and accurate documentation aside, this collection is a blessing for Mega Man fans. The games themselves play true to the originals, with nary a noticeable change in playability. Hardware considerations have made some minor changes (the NES games, for example, feature no slowdown and much less flickering), but the core game play features the same spot-on control and feel. It could have used a bit more icing, but whatﾒs here ﾖ whatﾒs playable - is Mega Man gaming at its finest. I mean that sincerely. Donﾒt pass this one up. Kid Factor: Kid safe, gamer dad approved. Youﾒre a robot ﾖ a humanoid robot ﾖ and youﾒre battling other animal based and humanoid based robots, with everything presented in a very cartoon-like fashion. Very Astro Boy inspired. The collection is obviously appealing to older gamers looking for a little 80s era retro, but the kids - if they can get past the outdated graphics and sound - are going to love it.  Reviewer Recommended Ages: 6+ Genre: Action Platform ESRB Rating: E for Everyone Producer: Capcom Developer: Atomic Planet Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Mega Man Anniversary Collection |
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