It's Rewind Time.

Mega Man is a frustrating game, which is a real shame, as it holds some interesting concepts! I tried playing the original NES version of Mega Man several times before, but always quit early on because of the amount of unfairly placed obstacles and enemies and never even managed to beat a level. This time I decided to give it another shot, as the Legacy Collection has a rewind feature - which turned out to be a real game changer. (Obviously this wasn't a feature in the original Mega Man, so I'm not going to add any points for it, but I'm glad it's in there, so I could experience the game to the end.)

Being able to do the initial six levels in any order as you please is a cool idea, you can just play the stage you feel like playing at the moment. I've only learned later on that there's an "optimal" progression route or something, but I liked being able to choose which boss to go up against next. Despite being seemingly disconnected at first, doing levels in a specific order can change the way you approach them, as each boss you defeat nets you a new power themed after them. Ice Man's power lets you freeze enemies mid-air, Bomb Man's power lets you detonate an AoE bomb and Elec Man's power makes you shoot electric beams in all directions. Each power has a different use and can change the way you play a stage. Unfortunately, there's a specific case if you don't have Guts Man's power before doing Elec Man's stage - you can't reach an item that's required to complete the game. This was the case for me and I was unable to proceed in the final stage, as I was missing the Magnet Beam and had to backtrack (causing me to have to revert to an earlier save file). Speaking of the final stage, I respect everyone who actually beat it without using save states, rewind or anything like that. It's all the frustrating parts of earlier levels cranked up to 11, featuring boss rematches against all the earlier bosses right before the final boss. Flame Man's spamming fire pillars again and you can't do anything against it? Too bad, enjoy starting from Bomb Man's fight again. The infamous Yellow Devil fight wasn't even that bad compared to some other bosses, as he'd always follow the same moveset patterns. I'm convinced Cut Man and Fire Man can actually read your future though.

After having rewinded more than in my entire playthrough of Life is Strange 1, I was able to have a decent time with Mega Man despite the infuriating game design. Hopefully the later entries will cut back on some of the comically placed enemies and obstacles, because I like the idea with the progression and the unlockable powers!

The more I practice speedrunning this game, the more confidently I can call it my favourite in the original Mega Man series.

The simple and humble nature of this entry makes for a fantastic purity that (while perhaps not always intentionally) feels quite free and allows for tremendous player expression. Due to the lack of E-tanks, not to mention I-frames not serving as a crutch mechanic against spikes, everything must be approached with skill and tactics alone. Take for example the Copy Robot fight. Should players slowly pelt it with bombs for a safe strategy, swap between the buster and Guts Man's weapon to render it helpless, or go all out with the fire to quickly kill it?

What of the pillars in Fire Man's stage? Should they be skipped with the Magnet Beam, frozen with ice, or patiently jumped past? Or the platforms in Guts Man's stage? Should the player learn how to leap across them, or fight Elec Man twice to destroy the guts blocks with his beam? The concept of revisiting stages for items would not be revisited until Mega Man 4, and boy did I have fond memories of experimenting with every weapon so heavily with this game.

In fact, I still have so much fun experimenting with different ways to tackle enemies. Maybe I'll freeze the Big Eyes and rapid blast them with the Buster, or maybe I'll use the magnet beam to lure them into the pits in Elec Man's stage. Every weapon in the game feels overpowered in the right circumstances. While later MM games feature more weapons, the limited amount of robot masters meant the limited amount of weapons here needed to have more than one purpose, thus the shield bundled with Fire Man's shot or the multi-directional nature of the Elec Beam. It's something I greatly prefer to only a couple weapons being worthwhile, such is the case with the metal blade mostly making the other weapons in MM2 redundant.

Of course, I can't forget the atmosphere either. The almost cheerful nature of Bomb Man's theme mixed with an underlying melancholy is permanently engraved in my mind, heavily mirroring my feelings of excitement to explore such a colourful futuristic world despite it being in the back of my mind I was unfortunately forced to face my own robot brothers. The battle against Yellow Devil also sounds like a descent into hell as I do my best over countless attempts to finally learn its pattern.

Sure, the game isn't perfect; I really wish Ice Man's level had water physics from later entries and the RNG platforms didn't suck, but something about reaching my destination always makes me feel complete. Seeing the hero I played as the entire time was a kid with his own family to return to, it truly awoke feelings of motivation in my silly child self.

FIGHT, MEGAMAN!
FOR EVERLASTING PEACE!

(In a testament to the unreliability of childhood memories, the awesome game I remember playing as a child was in fact Mega Man 2 and not the original Mega Man as I remembered.)

How does the grandpappy of the series hold up? It certainly looks and sounds good, and establishes plenty of the core mechanics as well as the charm that would go on to be a hallmark of the franchise. But (and I'll admit to being a casual scrub) it's simply too difficult to be fun. In an alternate timeline somewhere, this fades into obscurity and is picked up two decades later by the Angry Video Game Nerd who declares it "ASS" and shoots the cartridge with a cheap-CGI mega buster. The gameplay certainly bears all the hallmarks of fake difficulty dialed up to eleven, but I'm glad we avoided that timeline because this flawed game contained the seeds which sprouted into the far more refined Mega Man 2 and the superlative Mega Man X and I'll always appreciate it for that.

If you couldn't tell already by my name and PFP, I fucking ADORE the Mega Man franchise. It is without a doubt my favorite THING of all time, and while I may not have played every game in the series, the ones I have played are enough to win me over immensely.

However, with that being said, I can take off my love goggles for a second and see that for the original Mega Man has aged a lot, especially after 30 years. It is the first in the series I have played, so I do have a bit of a soft spot for it, and I do love the game, but regardless, it has problems.

The story, if you even know what it is, is simple, and it gets you excited, the graphics are pretty good, the music is very catchy and iconic, the control is pretty good, except for your somewhat slippery movement, the gameplay is fun as fuck and addicting, and the ending is simple, but nice.

However, it has a lot of issues. The level design is very poor, especially compared to later entries, the enemy placement is obnoxious, the special weapons, with a few exceptions, aren't really that useful outside of bosses, the bosses themselves range from being pathetically easy to ridiculously hard, some of the enemies are just a pain, and THAT FUCKING COVER ART. At least in the US, it is hilariously awful.

Nonetheless, like I said earlier, it was the first Mega Man game I ever played, and it does hold a special place in my heart, so I'll give it a higher rating then it deserves.

Overall, while it may not be perfect by any means, this game is still really fun and addicting to this day, and it was the wonderful start to my favorite franchise of all time.

Game #18

Angel_Arle Rockman reviews
Part 2: Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo for Famicom
Part 3: Rockman 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo!? for Famicom
Part 4: Rockman World for GB
Part 5: Rockman 4: Aratanaru Yabou!! for Famicom
Part 6: Rockman World 2 for GB
Part 7: Rockman 5: Blues no Wana!? for Famicom
Part 8: Rockman World 3 for GB
Part 9: Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise for Famicom
Part 10: Rockman World 4 for GB
Part 11: Rockman 6: Shijō Saidai no Tatakai!! for Famicom
Part 12: Rockman's Soccer for Super Famicom
Part 13: Rockman World 5 for GB

I’ve actually been thinking for the past week about reviewing a lot of the Classic Rockman titles mostly because I enjoyed doing them for Valis and Sailor Moon games. When I say a lot, I do mean it like 1-11, Rockman & Forte, the GB games, some spinoffs possibly too. This was mostly for me to reevaluate my thoughts on the games in the series. Though I was hesitant about doing it for a few reasons. I will say this, if anyone actually wants to see me do this then give me a comment but if not then I’ll just stick to this one review. This will be a big commitment and I can’t even guarantee I’ll get every game done this year tbh but anyway onto the actual review.

Ahh Rockman, one of those classic IPs by Capcom. Believe it or not, Capcom wasn’t the 8 bit juggernaut of the Famicom at first. They did the thing a lot of 3rd parties did and outsource their games early on. Sadly games like 1942, Makaimura, and Sonson were handled by Micronics, an awful development team who made some of the worst games on the console. They would make some Arcade ports of their own and even a Famicom sequel to Pirate Ship Higemaru but the game that I’d argue got them to reach the height was the original Rockman.

Rockman is an action game with a twist on the formula by letting you choose any stage you want. Nowadays this is common knowledge but what’s also common knowledge was that this was innovative for the time. Unlike later games there are only 6 Robot Masters here which are Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, and Elec Man. You’ll jump and shoot and sometimes even climb your way through all the stages to finally reach Dr. Wily’s fortress. This game also lacks a plot that you’ll have to read the manual for unless you’re playing the US version named Mega Man where the localization of the back of the box and manual are horrible, mentioning areas that don’t exist like Monsteropolis.

The controls in Rockman are pretty simple. You can shoot and jump and with the shooting you can only shoot in front of you. Rockman uses his trusty Plasma Cannon for the job and while there are stronger weapons you can get, it can be used as much as you want and it can do the job good enough that you could probably get through most of the game using it. It’s also your only weapon starting the game. Rockman can also climb ladders though he climbs them rather slowly but at least he can shoot from the left or right side with relative ease. Rockman also isn’t too fast of a robot but it’s nothing that will annoy you. His physics in the air are rather odd. It seems Capcom didn’t program it 100% correctly as falling from certain platforms will have him drop at 100 mph speed. Rockman also has a weird problem with his movement. There’s like a second of startup before he actually starts moving and it’s kind of odd but it’s easy to get used to.

The stages in Rockman have you travel places that somewhat fit the themes of the robot masters but not really to the extent later games would strive to do. Same goes for the level design. While it can be fun, none of it is absolutely spectacular. This is probably moreso to do with the time it was made in but some gimmicks are quite flawed. Take Ice Man’s stage where you have these platforms that shoot but are pretty poorly designed mainly having you fall to your death if you get hit once. That said it's not too bad once you learn the levels. Levels can sometimes even have a good flow to them and never outstay their welcome. I wouldn’t call Rockman a hard game but more so one that can feel daunting on first impressions. While the platforming may be at its simplest here, the game isn’t hesitant to kill you on one mistake. Be aware of spikes by the way as they kill you instantly even if you have invincibility frames. Just remember you have unlimited continues so never give up unless you just aren’t enjoying the game anymore. There’s also no saves or passwords so you’ll have to do it all in one go. One thing that was introduced as early as the first game are the appearing blocks which will have blocks reappear and disappear and you’ll have to follow the pattern to get past the section. It’s something the franchise will continue to do each game so don’t pray for its end!

At the end of each stage you’ll have a small room with obstacles or enemies that will lead to the Robot Master of each stage. They all got their different tactics and abilities to make you explode to death. Though that said some are easier than others. If you chose Cut Man early on, you’ll notice he’s the only one who gets a reaction from the Plasma Cannon making him an easy target to hunt down first. Though with all that said they aren’t all too hard. With Guts Man, just make sure you jump right as he’s about to shake the ground and it’s pretty easy. Ice man can kill you in 3 hits but his pattern is super easy to memorize. Bomb Man jumps around a lot and lobs bombs but it’s nothing too difficult to survive.Fire Man is weird in that he likes to shoot when you do, making him tricky to fight if you don’t have his weakness. Elec Man however is a pain in the ass. He can kill you in 3 hits like Ice Man but also can move around a lot and I remember it took me 27 tries to beat him without his weakness. Overall they are mostly well made boss fights that are fun to go through.

Beating a Robot Master will let you take their weapon and use it for stages. Just keep in mind that unlike the plasma cannon, you have limited ammo for them though they can be refilled by beating a stage, collecting blue weird looking items that vary from small to big, or getting a game over. Now it’s time for Angel_Arle's way too long ratings for all of the weapons. Rolling Cutter from Cut Man is okay. Look it can be usable if you pick him early but otherwise it’s a nothing special weapon that you’ll probably only use in very specific situations. Super Arm from Guts Man is bad. It lets you grab specific square blocks to throw at enemies but not only is this very situational but the game doesn’t do a good job at all to encourage this ability. It would be so much better if you could just spawn blocks yourself but that would probably cause programming problems. Ice Slasher from Ice Man is one of the best in the game. It lets you freeze enemies letting you ignore them as you move on or make them an easy target for your plasma cannon. It has so many uses like freezing the fire pillars in Fire Man’s stage or even freezing enemies that normally respawn to prevent that strategy. It’s especially satisfying on the Big Eyes who do massive contact damage and the jump they do is RNG making it hard to time to go under it. Sadly it’s only issue is it lacks much use in the last few stages of the game. Hyper Bomb from Bomb Man is bad. I feel like this could be a good ability but sadly it never has any practical use due to having to wait for it to explode and it doesn’t even have any contact damage or anything. While one enemy is weak to it, the next one I’m talking about can too and is much better. Fire Storm from Fire Man is really good. You shoot a simple projectile but also give you a fire barrier for a second that kills any enemies on contact. The one problem it has is the fact the hitbox is inconsistent. Oddly I found a bug where you can make the barrier thing last like 8 seconds. I’m sure this was probably well known but I’ve somehow never seen it before. Thunder Beam from Elec Man is the best weapon in the game. It shoots three beams with one going forward, downward, and upward. It’s also strong like Fire Storm and has a lot of ammo. You’ll be using this one a lot once you get it so make sure to use it when you obtain it. Lastly there’s an item you can find in a stage called the Magnet Beam that lets you spawn a platform that you can make longer the more you hold the button. It’s great for making platforming easier and you’re not even forced to get it if you don’t want it…right?

Dr. Wily will be waiting for you once the final robot master is finished and you’ll go through 4 stages in a row to get to him. There’s no refills of weapon energy at the end of each stage so make sure you are careful. These stages can be challenging sporting many things you have experienced throughout the game. Though going through stage 1 will uncover an awful move, remember that magnet beam? Yeah they force it on you for one section which is such bad design. Oddly the difficulty kind of just goes away after stage 2 with the last two being pretty easy and the third one feels like an afterthought with no creativity here. There’s even a weird item called the Yashichi which is used in many Capcom games. It’ll restore everything to full, even your health. Just letting you know now that if you can beat the first 2 stages then you’ll be fine. In stage 2 you’ll also find out the robot masters aren’t ready to back out yet as you’ll have to rematch Cut Man and Elec Man again. You’ll fight the rest in stage 4.

Speaking of bosses, you got 4 of them here to deal with. The first and rather infamous is the Yellow Devil which goes to the left and right side of the room in a specific pattern that you have to learn. It’s easily the hardest fight in the game but once you learn it, you’ll have no issue whatsoever. You could also just use the pause trick if you don’t have faith in yourself but I won’t judge. The second is a Rockman clone who seems tough but just use Fire Storm and learn his AI quirks and he’s pretty easy. I will admit the idea of a clone also having your other weapons is pretty cool. If you want a good laugh, try using Super Arm or Magnet Beam during it. The next one is this bubble boss thing and he’s easy, just save the last 4 for your Super Arm and you’ll have no issue whatsoever. Finally there’s Wily himself who is also really easy wtf? Yeah just use Fire Storm on his first phase and then it’s second phase. The best tip I have is try to stay close but also stay still when he shoots the shot, it won’t hit you. Just don’t get too close that you’ll hit his ship obviously. Rolling Cutter or Thunder Beam can get the job done. Once you beat him congrats, Dr. Wily will do no harm anymore and Rockman returns home to relax until another threat rises.

Graphically the game is about what you’d expect for a Famicom game for 1987. At least they got the sprite art looking good as early as the first game. It’s got all the cool designs you’d expect to see. It’s just a shame stuff like backgrounds are mostly just a single color outside of like some inside areas. One thing I really love though is Rockman changes colors depending on the weapon he uses. Even his explosion when he dies changes colors which tbf is not surprising but I still love it! The music is also pretty good. I feel like a lot of people aren’t fans of it but I love a lot of the songs in this game. Favorites are Cut Man, Elec Man, and Bomb Man’s themes. The ending theme is also a wonderful piece to end the game on.

Rockman was a beginning that isn’t perfect but I won’t lie, I always enjoy playing it despite it’s flaws. A lot of people can be harsh on this game and I can’t really blame anyone for disliking it especially when the series would continue to get better but it’s still one I appreciate a lot. Maybe it’s because it’s my first Rockman game or it’s because I’ve played it a lot but regardless it hasn’t really aged too poorly. After this Capcom would make better games and show that they could be something that isn’t just porting Arcade games of mixed results. It was the beginning of a franchise and a new beginning for Capcom. Though despite all I’ve said, it may have not sold well? I’m actually not sure because it seems to have conflicting answers. I remember this one video saying it didn’t but he also didn’t give a source in the description or anything so I’m not really sure. Either way, regardless of whether it sold well or not, this game is worth playing. While the sequel would get way more praise, I’d still recommend trying this first to see where it all started. Rockman will fight once more very soon and his journey on the Famicom is not ending anytime soon.

Definitive Mega Man 1 Robot Master Ranking:

6. Ice Man - I'm pretty sure this is just a regular-ass dude in a parka, but hey at least he has the fun ice block puzzle we all love that is not totally irritating at all.

5. Bomb Man - Bombs are a pretty cool weapon and he actually looks like a robot. Loses cool points for constantly running away though.

4. Cut Man - I kinda like the weird green brick of his level, and his pink palette, plus he gets a cool cameo in the Saturn version of Mega Man 8. Also he inspired a decent HORSE the Band song.

3. Fire Man - Dreaded facing Fire Man as a kid and still sometimes he will screw up my Boss Rush segments. Loses points for having the same name as the dudes in the trucks kids love.

2. Guts Man - Dude looks awesome, and Wily definitely agrees since he keeps remaking him over and over again throughout the series. Also gets a cool cameo in Mega Man 8.

1. Elec Man - Whereas Ice Man looks like a regular guy with a parka, Elec Man looks like a regular guy with one of the coolest super villain costumes ever. Cool OST, and good weapon once you beat him. Elec Man 4 lyfe.

Mega Man 1 is always an odd game to play again. The rough stage design, the useless score pellets, only six robot masters, Super Arm being completely useless 98% of the time, the magnet beam being hidden behind Guts Blocks in Elec Man's stage instead of being given to you via stage completions, etc.

I try not to abuse turbo button on mega buster for the classic games, but MM1 always feels like it's needed especially with the fucking Big Eyes tanking so much damage (20 hits apparently!!). Even the little gun turrets that come out of the ground/ceiling take like three hits from it. If any game has the mega buster feeling like a pea shooter it's definitely this one.

Ice Man's stage is ass, disappearing blocks AND the flying shooty platforms? That's too much for one stage that doesn't belong to Wily. Far worse than Guts Man stage which IMO is easy in comparison, pretty sure people just didn't pay attention to where on the platform's sprite to look for as it moved on the railing for when it was gonna drop. Also, it didn't happen to me in this playthrough but I'm pretty sure it's possible to also fall right through those shooty platforms, making me hate them more. Elec Man stage is also fairly boring, it sucks when you don't know about the Magnet Beam and have to repeat the entire thing and kill Elec Man again.

I'm still convinced 98% of players just threw shots at Fire Man constantly in a hope to out-dps him, because god does the fight always look that way.

If you use pause trick on the Yellow Devil, no harm done. I don't blame you, because even when you memorize the pattern it still takes way too damn long to kill that yellow play dough bastard. I hope the memeing shitlord at Capcom who thought it was funny to make him a reoccurring boss fight in the series gets a grand piano dropped on them.

Game is fine and a bit better than I remember, but every game afterwards is superior it feels like. I could easily be misremembering 7 and 8, but every NES sequel is better for sure. Also, Rock looks so much like Astro Boy in the ending that it might as well be copyright infringement.

Favorite Enemy Name: Pickelman
Favorite Music: Elec Man, even if it's just REM's "All The Right Friends". OST is weak compared to the sequels for sure.

Finished as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the Nintendo GameCube.

Robot Master Order: Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, Elec Man. You go left to right (in this case, clockwise) and you use the Mega Buster on everything that's not a boss. This is the way GOD intended Mega Man to be played!

No... No that's insane. I need to deprogram myself from this psychotic way I've been playing the Mega Man games my whole life. And to do that, I'm going to play all the Mega Mens while being far more conscious of Mega's copied powers and boss weaknesses. I shall exterminate everything around me that restricts me from being the Mega Man.

The best place to start, of course, is the original Mega Man. Ok, actually that's the worst place to start. Mega Man has not held up - hell, you could say it hadn't "held up" in 1989 when Mega Man 2 released. It's rough, it's janky, and at times it's downright sloppy... but after looking up the suggested boss order and playing the game properly for the first time in my life, I found myself actually having fun. It probably helps that I'm playing this on the Mega Man Anniversary collection, which not only lets me enjoy these games on my CRT but allows me to use my new Retro-Bit LegacyGC controller as well. I am unshackled from the GameCube's shitty analog stick and no longer weighed down by the hideously cheap click of its face buttons, and it feels good.

However, having a better time doesn't make Mega Man a great game. Or even a good game. It's more like my opinion has gone from thinking it's bad to mediocre. Mega has a really strange momentum to his movement that always makes you feel like you're on ice, which needlessly complicates already precise stretches of platforming. Some level gimmicks are just irritating to engage with, like the asynchronously moving platforms in Ice Man's stage, or the vanishing blocks that appear periodically through the game but which are also in Ice Man's stage. Man, I'd like to take a torch to Ice Man, but for some reason his weakness is Elec Man's weapon? ... Alright! Strap this parka-wearing freak to the chair, no sponges, I want to watch his eyes pop.

Every level has a stretch that's just tedious to get through, like slowly climbing the ladders in Elec Man's stage while waiting for nodes to finish discharging energy. It's a snooze, but on the other end of the bullshit barometer is how frequently the game throws swarms of enemies at you that move erratically and exist to knock you into bottomless pits. Once you understand the sequence of how they spawn in, they're not a problem, but you'll probably take a few undeserved deaths until you realize how each level is paced. The most satisfying moments of the original Mega Man, the ones that clue you into why this series has endured, are when you turn a Robot Master's weakness against them, utterly dominating them after an arduous trek through their level. It feels good to turn the tables like that, but part of why it feels good in Mega Man: The First specifically is because the game is such a slog. It's like, I overcame this and I don't have to play it again. That's nice. That's a good feeling.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would recommend Mega Man as someone's first game in the series. They'd probably point you to Mega Man 2, which is far more refined and better at realizing Mega Man's core concepts. In fact, the series really owes its longevity to that game, but it's still worth looping around at some point and paying the original to appreciate the genesis of these mechanics and ideas. It definitely has worth as a novelty more than it does something you want to sit down and earnestly spend time with.

Actual boss order: Bomb Man, Guts Man, Cut Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, Fire Man.

I failed to beat Cut Man 11 years ago and have only now come to claim his head. There's tons of charm here, no doubt, but it's dampened by the level and boss design. Fire Man can be spammed at with any weapon, Cut Man is way too hard without rocks, which makes Dr. Wily Stage 2 aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh you've all already heard this shit I'm sure it's not what you want to hear me talk about so I'll use this time to confess to food crimes like dipping gummy bears in ketchup or butter in marinara sauce or adding cookies n cream ice cream to wine and microwaving it

the original mega man series has always kind of reeked of that whole 80s retro gamer neckbeard thing that ran rampant on youtube during my early years as a y2k baby. you know the type of loud white guy i'm talking about, the ones that called sephiroth a mama's boy and shoved down your throat how banjo-kazooie was the second coming of christ?

yeah, but for real, i've always felt mega man's success on the nes was very much 'right place, right time'. i like me some challenging platformers - hell on the nes alone i can think of tons i enjoy - but i think nes mega man as a series has a lot of shitty game and level design that gets swept under the whole 'nes hard' bullshit moniker that was basically code for 'i have nostalgia for this inherently poorly designed video game' and due to the charm of the characters, art and music (all of which i also enjoy) it got away with it.

still, there are moments you can see the potential for something great here and i'll give the original a slide for some of its jank because it was the first one. by the time 2 comes around and a lot of this archaic bullshit is still around... i'm less tolerant. i like this franchise as a whole but nes mega man is easily the most overrated aspect of the bunch. i'll take contra any day of the week.

I understand where a lot of people stand with this game. It shows its age, yes. As the first game in the series, it was bound to be a bit rough around the edges. The thing is, that doesn't really matter to me. At the time of writing this, this is the only Mega Man title I have finished without save states, and as such, is the one I am most familiar with.

I played this a ton when I was a kid. I also died alot. Was it masochism that drove me forward? I can't say for sure, but I put in a great amount of effort and hours into beating it. This was on the Wii, mind you. Beating this game without save states is still my greatest personal achievement in gaming. I have no doubt that Mega Man 2 is an objectively better game, among others. But I have a soft spot for this one thanks to nostalgia. I probably wouldn't willfully subject myself to another legit playthrough just because it's so tough. But it was a fun challenge while it lasted.

Capcom's first attempts with platformers resulted in Mega Man, whose formula was still imperfect, but bore the makings of subsequent titles. In some respects, the game is reminiscent of Ghosts 'N Goblins (1985) with its increased difficulty and the way the enemies move. Nowadays, the reputation is that this Mega Man is vastly inferior to Mega Man 2 (1988) and that the latter is to be preferred. I don't think I fully agree with this statement, but I recognize that it is a different game philosophy - far from the ethos of the franchise - that the player must get used to.

The structure of the Mega Man series is already noticeable. The player must complete a set of levels, in any order, to collect weapons from each robot, before assaulting Dr. Wily's fortress. Instead of the usual eight robots, Mega Man has only six levels. Each is inspired by an element, allowing for unique level design. Elecman resides at the top of a tall tower, while Gutsman burrows deep into a mountain. Some of the other levels don't really seem to build on their theme, which is unfortunate, like Cutman's level – few Mega Man games manage to maintain a consistent quality throughout the entire game, Mega Man 4 (1991) being perhaps the big exception.

The game is characterised by a very tough difficulty, both because of erratic enemy movement and because the jumps are very often pixel perfect. The game leaves very little room for error when moving and the constant pressure from the enemies pushes the player to their limits. The enemies' respawn is aggressive and forces the player to flee forward, which can prove deadly. More so than the rest of the franchise, Mega Man assumes that the player must memorise the layout to progress. However, there are some good ideas that distinguish the game from the generic platformer, such as the ability to pick up blocks to open a path and throw them at enemies. Mega Man also puts a particular emphasis on its screen structure, which makes them look like little puzzles to solve. It is probably in these sequences that the game shines the most. Unfortunately, an artificial difficulty is always added through enemies, positioned in such a way that the player can't really take their time.

Despite all this, Mega Man remains a historical game due to its non-linear nature, its weaknesses system and a special atmosphere, largely carried by its rock soundtrack, whose quality is rare for a NES title of this time. Fireman's theme has a heroic quality reminiscent of childhood escapades, intermingled with a certain nostalgia: it can be related to the theme of the Astro Boy anime adaptation (1980), from which the design for the protagonist was inspired. The ending scene clearly draws from the same musical repertoire, while borrowing Tezuka's dialectic between machines and humans, science and ethics, war and peace. If these themes are not elaborated, they envelop the game with a unique halo, that probably contributed to its success. Mega Man thus remains, despite its game design shortcomings and rough nature, a very interesting title to revisit, so as to understand how Mega Man 2 has learned the necessary lessons and created a formula that distances itself from the unbearable difficulty of the NES.