Dr. Wily's most challenging robot masters will be there when you pump up the GameBoy. And knowing the maniac he is, he's probably concocted a new one or two. Can you survive the eight empires before you break into Dr. Wily's lab? Well, if you experienced MegaMan before, you know it's no day at the beach. But good reason to get going on MegaMan in Dr. Wily's Revenge. Now. * When the stompin' cyclops springs into action, you better step on it. * The swooping copterheads just might be your greatest challenge yet. * If the giant fan is blowing, only a ledge-jump will save you from the spikes.
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Would be a okay game if it weren't for some really annoying level design in the final stages.
Cleared the game on the 3DS Virtual Console multiple times. For future replays, I will use mGBA on my modded Wii instead.
The only GB Mega Man game I owned as a kid was the second one, and I remember quite liking it. In my most recent Mega Man marathon craze, I thought it was about time I give some time to the other GB Mega Man games, and I picked up the first one to finally give it a go. It took me about 3 hours to complete the Japanese version of the game on my GameBoy Player.
The plot is very standard Mega Man, even for Mega Man. Dr. Wily wasn't actually defeated even though you thought he was, so you'll need to go back and defeat the four old robot masters he's reconstructed to put him away "once and for good" (I'm sure we'll get him this time, everyone ;b). This being a GameBoy game, it is in more of a GB-sized package in not just literal format but in gameplay as well.
Unlike the NES counterparts, there are only four robot masters to select from at the start. Even though this game started development and was released after Mega Man 3, there are four stages containing bosses from Mega Man 1 which you can pick from at the start. Though the bosses themselves are ones you've seen before, their stages are totally new, and even their patterns can be quite different. I often found the bosses here to be re-balanced in a way that made them much more enjoyable fights than the NES games, particularly Ice Man and Fire Man. Of course, after those four main stages, you have a handful of Dr. Wily stages containing their own bosses, but instead of a boss rush of bosses you've already fought, it's four more bosses from Mega Man 2. Though these fellows don't have their own stages, they do grant their powers after defeating them, and they also are followed by this game's sole unique robot master, Enker, who also gives his own special power after being defeated. Overall, the bosses are pretty darn solid, and I really liked the reworks they received to make them make more sense on a GB-sized resolution.
The stages are generally pretty well designed and fun, but damn are they hard. Despite coming out after Mega Man 3, you have no special platforming tools or E-tanks to aid you in this adventure. Some stages, particularly that five-boss Wily stage at the end, are really damn tough to do with only three lives, even fighting bosses with their weaknesses. This is easily one of the hardest games in the series that I've played. The game also doesn't have the best difficulty curve, with some robot master stages being quite significantly harder than others. It's not quite Rock Man 2 levels of hard, but it's not gonna be easy to get to Dr. Wily at the end. This has to do not just with the aforementioned lack of help devices, but also with the GB's natural resolution. In order to get that same look the NES games have, Mega Man is quite big on screen. The stages are generally designed around this, but stages and boss fights can still quite often feel cramped.
The presentation is quite nice, if nothing really unexpected. The large sprites look right out of the NES game, and are very pretty on the GB screen. The framerate manages to be quite stable and solid too, thankfully. Although there isn't much new designed for this game, what is there looks pretty too, and Enker is a robot master as faithful as any. The music is largely recycled tunes from the NES games, but that isn't really a bad thing. Good music is still good music, although on that note, it's a shame that a lot of it is from Mega Man 1, as that game has a decidedly weaker soundtrack than its two immediate sequels.
Verdict: Recommended. This is a really solidly done portable version of Mega Man. The difficulty and slight areas that need design polish are really the only things that makes it at all difficult to recommend. If you're a Mega Man fan, this is definitely a game you should pick up, especially given that it's only a few bucks on the 3DS Virtual Console, and a relatively cheap game to acquire physically.
The plot is very standard Mega Man, even for Mega Man. Dr. Wily wasn't actually defeated even though you thought he was, so you'll need to go back and defeat the four old robot masters he's reconstructed to put him away "once and for good" (I'm sure we'll get him this time, everyone ;b). This being a GameBoy game, it is in more of a GB-sized package in not just literal format but in gameplay as well.
Unlike the NES counterparts, there are only four robot masters to select from at the start. Even though this game started development and was released after Mega Man 3, there are four stages containing bosses from Mega Man 1 which you can pick from at the start. Though the bosses themselves are ones you've seen before, their stages are totally new, and even their patterns can be quite different. I often found the bosses here to be re-balanced in a way that made them much more enjoyable fights than the NES games, particularly Ice Man and Fire Man. Of course, after those four main stages, you have a handful of Dr. Wily stages containing their own bosses, but instead of a boss rush of bosses you've already fought, it's four more bosses from Mega Man 2. Though these fellows don't have their own stages, they do grant their powers after defeating them, and they also are followed by this game's sole unique robot master, Enker, who also gives his own special power after being defeated. Overall, the bosses are pretty darn solid, and I really liked the reworks they received to make them make more sense on a GB-sized resolution.
The stages are generally pretty well designed and fun, but damn are they hard. Despite coming out after Mega Man 3, you have no special platforming tools or E-tanks to aid you in this adventure. Some stages, particularly that five-boss Wily stage at the end, are really damn tough to do with only three lives, even fighting bosses with their weaknesses. This is easily one of the hardest games in the series that I've played. The game also doesn't have the best difficulty curve, with some robot master stages being quite significantly harder than others. It's not quite Rock Man 2 levels of hard, but it's not gonna be easy to get to Dr. Wily at the end. This has to do not just with the aforementioned lack of help devices, but also with the GB's natural resolution. In order to get that same look the NES games have, Mega Man is quite big on screen. The stages are generally designed around this, but stages and boss fights can still quite often feel cramped.
The presentation is quite nice, if nothing really unexpected. The large sprites look right out of the NES game, and are very pretty on the GB screen. The framerate manages to be quite stable and solid too, thankfully. Although there isn't much new designed for this game, what is there looks pretty too, and Enker is a robot master as faithful as any. The music is largely recycled tunes from the NES games, but that isn't really a bad thing. Good music is still good music, although on that note, it's a shame that a lot of it is from Mega Man 1, as that game has a decidedly weaker soundtrack than its two immediate sequels.
Verdict: Recommended. This is a really solidly done portable version of Mega Man. The difficulty and slight areas that need design polish are really the only things that makes it at all difficult to recommend. If you're a Mega Man fan, this is definitely a game you should pick up, especially given that it's only a few bucks on the 3DS Virtual Console, and a relatively cheap game to acquire physically.
The most notable thing about this game is Enker and the Mirror Buster. You get such a cool weapon that you hardly get to utilize because there's only one more Wily Castle stage after you defeat him. Otherwise, I both loved and hated the challenge in this game.
Decent, though unoriginal. The game relies heavily on content from MM1 and 2. The Robot Master stages particularly hurt this game, since they rely on MM1's level design principles, which often includes a combination of boring and annoying. The Wily stages were fun though.
This review contains spoilers
I found the recycling of old robot masters interesting, as I liked trying to figure the weaknesses again. There were a lot of times that the game felt unfair and some others that it was too easy. So I would say pretty unbalanced.