Mega Man for NES is ESSENTIAL CAPCOM Awesome!
37#nes #8bit #capcom #megaman
Mega Man (1987)
The original Mega Man is an amazing game, Over the years, I've committed so much of this game to muscle memory. It's an absolutely perfect action game featuring some of the most incredible jumping, pattern recognition, and timing challenges you'll find on the NES. It not only showcases the strength of Capcom as a developer but also demonstrates what Nintendo's system was capable of.
In its basic form, Mega Man is an action game where you play as a cute cartoon robot hero tasked with tracking down renegade robots. You have to defeat them to stop the mad scientist behind their rebellion. While I didn't realize it at the time, it's clear now that Mega Man was heavily inspired by Astro Boy and the works of Osamu Tezuka, especially with the whole professors, evil robots, and that distinct '70s and '80s Japanese cartoon vibe.
But what truly makes the Mega Man series special is the incredibly tight level design and platforming. Each stage culminates in a battle with a Robot Master, each designed around a simple theme: Cut Man, Guts Man (strength), Bomb Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, and so on. When you defeat a Robot Master, you gain their weapon as a power-up.
These power-ups are crucial because they exploit the weaknesses of other Robot Masters. For example, Elec Man is weak against Cut Man's weapon, Guts Man is weak against Bomb Man's, and Elec Man's weapon can pretty much decimate everyone else. A rock-paper-scissors system that adds a layer of strategy to the game.
Prices of Mega Man games on the NES have skyrocketed. I'd like to point out that the Famicom versions are readily available, and you can get the entire Japanese series on cartridge much cheaper than you can get even one of the later US releases.Mega Man was a moderate success upon its release. Even if the massive legacy that Mega Man spawned had never happened, I would still remember this game incredibly fondly.