Mega Man (1987)

Não sei, eu sinto que o jogo é uma ótima introdução ao NES pras pessoas, ou seja, é divertido, simples, tem bons gráficos, ótimas músicas e boas mecânicas para um jogo de plataforma.

É desafiador no sue nível, te proporciona umas horinhas dependendo do seu nível nesse tipo de jogo, mas não é um jogo muito longo, considerado os padrões de hoje claro. Ainda sim, eu acho um bom jogo pra introduzir a franquia. O jogo mostrou o potencial do nosso querido bombardeiro azul!

I played a lot of Mega Man growing up. I remember only being able to look at the box the first couple of times because my mom thought it was a violent game, due to the box art. That iconic US front cover looks kinda messed up and hilarious to me, but the blue, EU box art was sick. The in game pictures on the back blew me away and I couldn't wait to play it.

Eventually I got to play and realised how difficult it is. The first few months I couldn't even beat one level, and I never beat the entire game until a couple of years ago, as an adult. It's still insanely hard imo, as most Mega Man's, but the absolutely legendary and incredible music makes you want to strap in and just trial and error until you get to the boss, learn its pattern and beat it - it is so satisfying for a gamer.

The level design is fantastic as well as the enemies, their movement and sounds, and the difficulty in this case is a good thing - because it's by design. Iconic title that most of us has played at one point or another, and a game that I would recommend to anyone that hasn't played it yet.

Mega Man was the first Mega Man game I ever played. Whether that was a good thing or not is a matter for debate.

I was drawn to purchase Mega Man due to the general popularity of his character, but the first game in the series just didn't sell it for me. Don't get me wrong: the game is good. But other Mega Man games are just better.

But let's be fair to Mega Man - it was starting from scratch, in a world without updates to iron out the kinks. It started a series which still hasn't died (at the time of writing this, Mega Man 11 is in development) and the game should be credited as a trendsetter and definitely a classic NES game.

But this game has its share of problems, and the first of these is the difficulty. I enjoy challenging games, moreso than cakewalks. I mean, that's why I love NES games so much - they're a refreshing challenge, something to really test my abilities as a gamer. But I enjoy a fair challenge. Many (though not all!) sections of Mega Man are straight up unfair - Yellow Devil and the beginning of the Guts Man stage come to mind - and the lack of passwords or anything of that sort make it really punishing to get a game over.

Though I've read of graphical complaints of Mega Man, I don't really see it. I find Mega Man's graphical style endearing. Admittedly, there are issues with enemy respawn and screen-clipping, but these issues are technical, not graphical.

The controls are probably my biggest issues with the game. Mega Man feels slow and clunky, he jumps too short and falls too fast. The movement is tiresome, troublesome, and overall contributes to the frustrating difficulty of the game.

Now that we've reopened the games old sores, let's see what it did right. I've already mentioned that I find the graphical style endearing; this applies especially to the character and enemy design. Though the majority of its characters and bosses are simple, they hold a certain charm that defies criticism. The game also has a great 8-bit soundtrack. Elec Man's stage is a particular favorite of mine. Also, the sections of the game which were not frustratingly unfair were a very good challenge that was rewarding to complete. The sense of progression as you gain more powers after every boss is a quality of the Mega Man series which few can emulate correctly.

Mega Man is flawed but an enjoyable experience. I definitely do not regret playing it because it introduced me to the rest of the series, especially 2 and 3, which are my favorites so far. Though it may pale in comparison to its successors, it laid the foundation for a fantastic series; it definitely deserves its spot as one of the great classics of the NES era.

It could've been better, but I liked it. 3/5.

“Mega Man has ended the evil domination of Dr. Wily and restored the world to peace.” – Narrator, Mega Man

So here I am on my laptop penning a review for the original Mega Man in 2017, a game that came out in 1987; four years before I was born. I never imagined I would be writing this however I couldn’t be more excited to do so. Growing up I went from a Master System II to a PlayStation and because of that I missed out on a lot of well-renowned titles. Over the years I have played through some of them but I recently wrote a post about how I wanted to expand what genres of games I play. The timing of this was fantastic as Sony had their ‘Big in Japan’ sale and Mega Man Legacy Collection was only $7.55AUD – an absolute bargain for six titles.

I hesitated before I placed it in my cart the first time. I ended up removing it after a few days. My only experience with Mega Man up until this point was reading on the internet that the series was incredibly hard and that the original in particular was the hardest. When it was time for the sale to come to an end, I figured it was now or never and I added it to my cart once again and purchased it. Even after the purchase I sat on the game for awhile. Eventually I asked Twitter which game in the collection I should start with and the response was fairly mixed. The two main responses were:

Start with the first one and experience how the series had progressed. Skip the first one and play the second one which is the superior experience. In the end I opted for the first choice as I figured if I could beat the first one that sets a precedent for being able to beat the rest of the games in the series and I wanted to see how the series had developed over time. I didn’t want to have access to abilities from the start that may be ripped from my grasp if I went backwards which is often the case and can have a jarring result.

Mega Man was first released in 1987 on the NES. Previous to its release the team behind the title had worked on arcade games which shows throughout Mega Man. Once you load up the game you are greeted with a screen that lets you choose between six Robot Master stages. In no particular order these consist of: Cut Man, Bomb Man, Guts Man, Elec Man, Ice Man and Fire Man. The non-linearity aspect lets you choose between each of these stages. With that in mind, each Robot Master has a weakness towards a certain weapon obtained from defeating another Robot Master which whilst unnecessary in defeating them can make your time with the game easier.

As I progressed through Mega Man I didn’t realise that there was any kind of story at all. I just accepted the narrative that had me pulverising robots and then Dr. Wily at the end. It wasn’t until I beat the game, saw the credits and looked into it that I realised the game had a basic story in the instruction manual. On a side note wouldn’t it be nice if all digital games included a digital copy of the instruction manual?

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.com/2017/08/16/mega-man-1987/

I am in the process of finishing up an "Introduction to Mega Man" course. Although completing the first Mega Man was an optional exercise for the course, how could I not?! I set out to start the game and finish it. The course required that I beat Mega Man 2, 3, 6, and then 1. I fear that going 2, 3, 6, and then 1 forced the experience to be a bit skewed, but I pushed forward nonetheless. Here are my impressions.

The game’s appearance is very minimal, clean, and quaint, especially when coming from the artistic colors and visuals seen in Mega Man 6. The colors are basic and the HUD is minimal, featuring only a seven-digit score at the top-center of the screen and a health bar in the usual spot for the series. I found the minimalism somewhat charming, in a retro way - even if only because I knew I was playing the first ever Mega Man game.

I was shocked to find there were only six robot masters in the game instead of the traditional eight, which began in Mega Man 2. There also were no E-Tanks or weapon-tanks to pick up to recharge ammo, and there are no traditional “safe zones” that we see before each robot master in future iterations. I also can’t help but complain about the way that Mega Man moves. He feels a bit “slippery” to me. He also feels heavier. This made jumps that would be easy in Mega Man 2+ more difficult than they needed to be. The absence of these things help me understand how great Mega Man 2 actually was on improving in its predecessor.

Mega Man 1 is undoubtedly inferior to its sequels, but I still have to admit that I loved the experience. Not to brag, but by the time I came to play Mega Man 1 I was pretty good at the game - so good that Mega Man 1 gave me little to no difficulty. I was able to beat the game in one sitting in just over two hours. I’m glad to experience the series’ roots and, most importantly, claim that I’ve beat it.