Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

Over 20 years after the release of the first MegaMan game, Capcom decided after several spinoffs and graphically-enhanced games starring the blue bomber, it was time to revamp him for current generation home consoles: the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

However, they were not going to give it a complete 3D makeover. They decided to throw one MUCH better in my view: revamp MegaMan with 8-bit grapics. Add downloadable content to the mix and you had yourself an instant "Downloaded Game Of The Year" candidate for 2008.

So without further ado, let's get to the meat of things:


THE GOOD (+)

+ MegaMan returns in 8-bit glory
Face it, Capcom did the smart thing by making a new classic MegaMan game in the graphics that made him a household name to begin with. MegaMan 9 goes to show that you don't need beautiful rendered PS3 and 360 graphics, online multiplayer mode, FPS, extreme bloody violence and whatever else gamers state makes a game "hardcore" or great nowadays.

All you need is good classic 2D visuals and gameplay to make a great game (look at the all the other NES MegaMan games that came before to get more proof of this statement). And to anyone who knocked his game just because it was in 8-bit, should go play their overrated Halo, Gears of War and whatever games they got selling like hotcakes when they would never stand the test of times in gaming history anyways.


+ Nostalgia
I usually try to not mention this as a good thing for playing this game, cause it always wins. If you ever lived through the 8-bit days with MegaMan as a kid, a game of this caliber would be a real blast of the past for you now as an adult gamer.


+ Modeled after MegaMan 2
MegaMan 2 is arguably considered as one of the best MegaMan games of all-time. Add the fact that this game was modeled after it makes the experience all the merrier.


+ Music is top-notch
From the opening theme on the epilogue to the ending theme after beating the game for the first time, MegaMan 9 provides you with a wide amount of soundtracks to get you into the game even more. Somewhere in this game is a song that will immediately be a favorite in a hearbeat, guaranteed.


+ Downloadable Content and Achievement Features
Even after beating the game for the first time, there is still a heap more of stuff to do to get a lot out of your money. DLC such as ProtoMan mode (playing the game as MegaMan's brother), Endless Maze (as the name suggests) to see how many rooms you can get through successfully before losing your life, a special stage with an exclusive boss and speed-run challenges of every stage in the game.

Also apart of all 3 versions of this game is a built-in achievement board with a list of optional objectives such as beating all the 8 original bosses with your normal weapon, not using an E-Tank in the entire game, beating the game without losing a life or health throughout the WHOLE game and etc. As noted, these objectives are optional, though the more serious gamers would really like to try and max out that board.





THE BAD (-)

- Bad and VERY predictable story
Immediately from the get-go, anyone who has played a MegaMan game would automatically know the outcome. Pretty much, Dr. Light (MegaMan's creator) has been falsely accused of using robots built by him for world domination. And the person who provides the evidence of this? None other than the main villain for all the classic MegaMan games, Dr. Wily.

It is so obvious what the outcome is going to be at the end. You don't need to play a lot of MegaMan games to know what is going to happen next. Capcom could've at least added some depth into the story a little bit, just to make it stand out more. Mainly because none of the NES games were as high on their stories unlike the SNES and PSX games at least.





THE NOT THAT GOOD WHILE NOT SO BAD (+ -)

+ - Intense difficulty
The one thing MegaMan games have been known for were the usually high difficulty levels and challenge they provided. The first game was no exception and was considered the hardest of the series......up until now.

Truth be told, you are going to lose a LOT of lives and get several game over screens on your first time around until you can finally get through the entire game either without losing as many lives as you did when starting or going through it like it was nothing. Yes indeed MegaMan 9 is a really challenging game which rivals the first one (which will definitely give gamers a negative attitude towards this game), though with enough practice it is not that hard anymore.






Astonishing 8-bit graphics, great gameplay and control schemes along with a strong sense of nostalgia easily makes MegaMan 9 a must-download game. However the intense difficulty may be a turnoff to many who usually do not like a challenge in video games and should be avoided because of that alone.

Either way you would be missing out on a lot if you do not play this game. Give it a try and see if it's your cup of tea.