Mega Man 6 ended up being my favorite NES Mega Man title.

I love the Robot Master designs in this one, and I think that most bosses have a good level of challenge without them feeling unfair even without using the weapon they're weak against. The Wily bosses in Mega Man 6 are the easiest ones so far, but I prefer easy bosses over ones where you're forced to play the waiting game until a small window of opportunity presents itself where you only get to deal a miniscule amount of damage.

I found myself using more of Mega Man's arsenal this time around compared to 5, which I think is great. Beat is once again an optional unlock, but I never found a good use for him this time around either, which is unfortunate.
I liked the new adapter upgrades, as the usual Rush upgrades had started getting stale. The Rush Power Adapter has its few use cases, however this is the most uninteresting of the pair. The Rush Jet Adapter meanwhile is busted and I honestly love it for it. Having a jet pack is simply awesome. I unfortunately missed the Energy Balancer, but I love that it's there. Not having to go into the pause menu before picking up a weapon charge pickup in order to switch to a weapon that needs charging is a godsend. I wish that this feature would come pre-unlocked in all games, as this merely has an effect on the player's convenience, and doesn't make the game necessarily easier.

The music is fine this time around. No particular bangers come to mind, but the game has a generally nice aesthetic. I loved the stage theming, and the game features some really nice sprite work.

The quality of the NES Mega Man titles have gone up significantly since the first release. While the road has been pretty bumpy up to 6 with some questionable design choices, I ultimately think that the general quality has steadily been going up. Mega Man 6 was surprisingly good, and if I were to pick one title to revisit in the future purely for the fun of it, I would most definitely pick 6 any day of the week.

Now it's time for the next generation of Mega Man with Mega Man 7 on the SNES!

It's sure a megaman game. By this point it's oly interessting to point out the different things.
- The bosses were good (after 4 I'm terrified of everything)
-The music was surprisingly mid actually. Idk
-The weapons were above avaerege. Nothing outstanding but better than 3's at least.
-I must complement the new suits though, Being able to fly is epic.

In cocnlusion: It's a megaman game 8/10
BUT, qwhere does it belong in the megaman list, it let me wondering. Because 5 is way more consistent, I didnt find anything mediocre in it. But 6 has a jetpack and that's hard to fight. I think it fits below 5 because it really didn't have memorable music and that's one of the aspects I look for in a megaman.

I FINALLY PLAYED ALL THE NES GAMES HURRAY

this is one of the most story-heavy megaman games you can find. it has a real story, not just a different letter before the boss door (although it does also have a different letter before the boss door) all the strongest robot masters have conveniently gathered in one place, but oh no! they were unexpectedly reprogrammed by mr. x, the owner of the x corporation formerly known as twitter.
for the robot masters there was a very interesting idea here. you see, the developers took a look at mega man 5, in particular napalm man, and they noticed that napalm man's stage had gotten the game banned in vietnam for being unfathomably insensitive to vietnam war victims, and so they thought: well, what if we got banned in every country? - and thus the racial caricature genre of robot master was born. consider flame man: the developers wanted to make a middle eastern stage, so they did a brainstorm and the first things they wrote down were: "turban" and "oil". i'm just really glad they hadn't figured out they could make female robot masters too yet or we would've gotten Burqa woman. and of course tomahawk man is pretty self-explanatory.
so now half the robot masters are themed around countries instead of pokemon types, making the matchups make sense is understandably a little bit more difficult than usual. Although they did cheat and make a handful of them pokemon types anyway, corresponding to the classic stereotypes that in canada it is cold, in the middle east it is hot, in brazil there are plants i guess, and in china there is wind. the classic stereotype that everywhere in china has wind in it. Since the robot masters are all based on countries, figuring out the weaknesses requires a strong knowledge of world history. for example, take yamato man and tomahawk man, representing japan and the united states. which one wins? well, i don't know if you folks know much about world war 2, but japan was actually, involved, and, well, the united states actually (history buffs will know this) threw a tomahawk at them.
i've heard one of the main criticisms against the gameplay being that you now cannot do a slide and then press the jump button before the slide has finished occurring. apparently that's the biggest gripe with megaman 6, as if the average person gives a shit about that or would even notice. personally i think there are bigger issues.
in terms of gameplay, megaman 6 does bring something actually new to the table - in lieu of Rush The Dog we now have a set of bodily augmentations. now your first instinct upon using these might be to say "these look exactly like the regular rush adaptors". and you'd be close: they are the same, but they don't drain ammo and they also have a six-second unskippable cutscene every time you try to switch to them. the other difference is that you no longer get one for free at the start of the game like rush jet, but each one comes with beating either flame man or plant man, along with their actual weapons. so the game leans heavily on incentivizing you to get these bodily augmentations. especially the wily stages really do not go ten seconds without making you use one, and it gives me body dysmorphia. there are power blocks absolutely everywhere, including several in flame man's stage (which is completely pointless considering you get the power suit by beating flame man's stage) and all of the enemies are now way stronger in comparison to all the normal weapons, which basically makes those all useless. i mean the weapons are extremely uncreative anyway, i don't think there's even a single one this one that isn't a clone of an older weapon. it also makes the game way too unforgiving if you don't have the suits. you basically have zero chance of beating any of the levels without getting these things, which ruins the difficulty curve, and ruins the main attraction of a megaman game, which is to actually use the fucking weapons.
and think about how the gameplay is actually like once you do get them. the power suit allows you to beat most of the minibosses and enemies basically instantly by just walking up and spamming punch at them, and the jet one allows you to just fly past all of the platforming parts, effectively removing platforming from the game. so what's the point of even playing? Megaman is an action-platformer. if you remove the action and also remove the platformer, then the only thing left is - .
the wily stages, including the mr. x stages thanks elon musk, are entirely unremarkable and last way too long. they're basically half the game and they shouldn't be. almost every one has several new level gimmicks, and that is not the purpose of a wily stage. another issue with having eight original wily stages is that the actual robot master stages are noticeably shorter, since there is a finite amount of space on a NES cartridge. the whole game suffers.
anyway i know you're not playing a NES game for the graphics (thats what atari is for) but this one really works within its limitations. Parts of this game look like they'd be more at home on the sega genesis than an 8 bit console. all you have to do is compare the stage select screens between mm6 and the blank blue void of megaman 1 and it becomes clear that the designers were working from years of experience with nes games by this point.
Riddle me this, liberal: yamato man claims to be "impregnable", but yet all i have to do is go to google, turn off safesearch, and type in "yamato man mpreg", and lo and behold!
i actually really like the around-the-world concept, but these robot masters need some revisions- i'm not saying i could do better, but i've workshopped some ideas here:
representing australia - clown man. clown man is actually canonically australian already, so i think this fits perfectly. it also reflects the activities of the average australia pretty well.
representing the united kingdom - margaret thatcher but a robot. personally, i think a robot master should be intimidating and scary (terrifying, really) so since this is one of the scariest things britain has to offer i think it works.
representing france - baguette man. this is a stupid joke
representing the united states - keep tomahawk man, but we change his design to be like that washington sports team and we also change his name to a racial slur
representing saudi arabia - burqa woman. it's hip, it's progressive, also traditional, and anti-progressive, it pleases everyone. im into it!
representing antarctica - ice. theres not really people in antarctica so it doesnt really make sense to have a man type robot master, but theres definitely ice, so we can have ice
representing the country of vatican city - bible man. this guy is already an established hit, i think we can get the IP, and plus vatican city residents are a hugely underrepresented group in media, so we need to fix that.
representing the country of egypt - pharaoh man. this one is less resource-intensive too because you can just copy the megaman 4 stage with no changes.
representing the country of europe - metric system man. it represents the culture perfectly.
representing the country of latin america - goku.
i chose not to include any balkan countries because i'm pretty sure they already do this in real life, but if youll recall earlier when i said i couldn't do better, i have changed my mind; these are way better, and my ego is absolutely massive.
megaman 6 has the best presentation of any megaman up until that point. its music keeps the soundtrack quality from megaman 5 but also draws from so many genres and cultures while still combining them in a consistent way. it even has my third favorite boolean operator: nor! it would honestly be perfect if it was enjoyable to actually play. sadly, the great level design which it's full of is ruined by incompetent and gimmicky overall design choices to make one massive missed opportunity. now, this could all be fixed if they had just removed all the weapons and replaced them with more bodily augmentations. i want to see one where megaman's arms are replaced with ten new legs, like some type of lovecraftian, eldritch beast. how about one where megaman just has his nails done, and that's it. also there should have been more racial stereotypes.

This was another game I had on the Mega Man Anniversary Collection as a kid, but it was the only one on that collection I never ended up completing. There was a Wily stage boss so tough I simply couldn't get past it, so I never did. I aimed to fix that this time, and I finally completed the last of the NES entries that had escaped me in my youth. It took me around two hours to complete the Japanese version of the game.

Mega Man 6's story once again takes the route that 4 and 5 did with the "fake real bad guy", this time in the guise of Dr. X, a character who has collected eight of the world' strongest robots and aims to take over the world (all the while looking VERY SUSPICIOUSLY like Dr. Wily ;b). Again, it's nothing really special, but it does give us an excuse to have a more globe-trotting look to our robot masters (several of which are also quite casually racist XP).

This entry is probably the easiest of the NES entries, but it's also one that has some of the tightest design. Putting a neat spin on the idea of using Rush as your platforming buddy, you now no longer have him as a transforming machine you ride, but now you fuse with him to transform! There are two mode, one for punching and one for a sort of hover/double jump jet boost combo, and the best part about them is that they have recharging energy! Finally, the issue the other five games struggled with, that your platforming weapon can run out of energy forcing you to grind for more, has been solved. Of course, this isn't entirely true, as the rideable arrow shot you can also get has limited energy, but it's a BIG step in the right direction. The stage design is overall very solid and well put together, and is probably one of the more consistently fair feeling of the NES entries (particularly with how kind it is about health and life powerups).

The bosses are also overall quite good. You once again have your dash and chargeable mega buster, and much like Mega Man 4, most all the bosses are quite tightly and fairly designed, leading to some very satisfyingly technical and challenging boss fights. The only real issue, if it can be called as such, is that a lot of the bosses, particularly the non-robot masters (though some of them are also like this), are just too easy. Mega Man 6 is by no means an "easy" game, by most standards, but compared to the other games, the challenges it offers can feel a bit unsatisfying at times despite how well designed they are. It's not a flaw in the empirical sense, to be sure, but it something that made this game hit a bit less well for me than I hoped it would.

The presentation is another mixed bag like Mega Man 5's was. Graphically, this is definitely the prettiest of the NES games, with the robot masters especially being very well detailed and impressive looking. However, the music here just isn't really anything to write home about compared to the glory days of Mega Man 2 and 3. It's still good music, but not an all-star track like those ones.


Verdict: Highly Recommended. Out of the old games, I think this one sits just below Mega Man 4 in quality for me. It's got some disappointingly easy places and some rough design bits involving the new Rush fusions, but it's still a really tightly designed game that does a good job of righting the ship after how rough Mega Man 5 was.

Okay, I’m thoroughly convinced. I’m on board with a new truth, an idea not enough people come to: it isn’t the case that Mega Man 4-6 is a bad trilogy, it’s just that Mega Man 4 is bad. 5 was an eager course correction, one that gave me hope despite a few of its failings, and 6… well… Mega Man 6 is about as good as Mega Man 2, honestly.

A lot of it is because of Rush. Since his debut, Rush was progressively getting worse, to the point of just being an irritant partner in 5. A solution was needed to make the broader cast work, and we got it in the adapters, where Man and Dog combine to become their own best friend, available in two flavours, Jet and Power. Literal game changers.

The Jet Adapter allows Mega Man the power of flight, for a very limited period of time, a frankly broken level of platforming freedom that would have destroyed any earlier entry, but here inspired better level design, and often has you needing to use the Jet form to access power-ups or correct pathways (more on that in a bit), encouraging a bit of movement off the beaten path.

The Power Adapter is also this, but insanely destructive. Short range blasts of energy that can be charged for an even shorter range hit capable of destroying guarding enemies in a single hit, or even the suspiciously cracked blocks that hide power-ups or correct pathways (more on that in a- oh I said that already). The comical way some enemies speedily bounce off screen when hit with a charged shot is ridiculously satisfying, and I think this may rank among my favourite power-ups in the franchise. It helps that there’s a (skippable) little cutscene that shows our daring duo fuse together each time you select these costumes. Camp brilliance.

Both of these suits add a lot to the game, but take away Mega Man’s slide, so they don’t feel like a guaranteed optimum strategy as much as part of a three-pronged trident in Mega Man’s arsenal now. All three ways of being are necessary, and bring something to the party.

Another new, underrated feature is the Energy Balancer, a simple addition that stops you needing to change weapon when picking up energy, instead refilling the most empty one in your arsenal, which is just… that’s how it should be. It’s mad that this hasn’t always been the case. The only downside is that it’s hidden away on a different route to the correct pathway in the stage it’s on, and as such easy to miss.

Oh, the correct pathways, yeah. So often in robot master stages there’ll be two possible routes to take, and whichever one is harder to reach will inevitably turn out to be the better path to take, and rewards you with either some items or, upon beating the robot master, one of four BEAT letters to bring everyone’s favourite bird back into your arsenal. It’s a small bit of diversity in level design that makes the game feel bigger, even if you’re unlikely to ever take the wrong route once you’re aware of the feature.

The robot masters themselves are the most Kinnikuman they’ve ever been (and they have, by nature, always felt a bit like Kinnikuman characters). By virtue of an international competition we are graced by a range of characters that feature casual regional stereotyping, yes, but not offensively so, allowing for a greater sense of cartoon silliness to what are honestly the smallest obstacles in these games at this point. I like… most of them, design-wise, and gameplay wise the balance between challenge and gleeful destroying with the correct weapon feels pretty satisfying, shout-out to Centaur Man, who poses almost no threat, but whose gimmick makes the fight feel bigger than it is.

The final run (once again in two distinct parts, for the least convincing story reasons ever) was pretty good. I had taken some night nurse before going in, so my memory is pretty fuzzy, but it flew by without frustrating me or dragging itself out, and had me chuckling at some of the boss designs, which were either silly or I was just that out of it. At one point Wily is in a big shoe. It’s not a shoe, it’s a big UFO with spikes on the bottom, but it makes me think of a shoe, and does what shoes do. That’s great. How could anyone not love that. And there’s a dinosaur, I think! And a shitty Metal Slug! How did I finish the game in this state?!

I was going to take a break after 6, expecting to feel deflated, but this slapped, I’m energised again. Time to move onto the SNES, and see what 7 brings to the table. I’m not 100% sure I ever finished it as a kid/teen. Should be fun.

Although all the flaws this game has, I can say that it has an identity for sure. The last 8-bit entry (for now) brings everything we liked on the formula without changing too much, that's also a usually bad point reported by many, as the franchise became a bit stale at this point.
I really like the bosses here, the country-themed robots and the tournament thing bring a nice fresh to the game, shame that Plant Man boss battle is extremely underwhelming, glad the Power Fighters brought him some justice.
The graphics are the most beautiful from the NES era, and the music is again great as always but does not top 2 and 3.
The new power and flying upgrades are good additions and would pave the way for the ones we have on the next entry.
The Mr. X plot is a little bit dumb but it works somehow..
The charge is satisfying here but it's too powerful, and in addition, the game is too easy, with just rare sections of real challenge.
But, why in the hell they've removed the slide-jump mechanic here? It annoyed me a lot since I was trying to do it several times due to my muscle memory and ended up killing myself, that's a downgrade for me.
It's a nice goodbye to the NES era and a good way to introduce new people to the series without having too much frustration by the difficulty.

it's one thing to try too hard, it's a whole other thing to not even succeed.

To keep from letting the fatigue set in (if it hadn't already), Mega Man 6 adds two new Robot Dog+Robot Boy Combination Modes for Mega Man to use in his mission for everlasting peace. The hard hitting Power Adaptor makes Mega Man's charged shot deal one tick of damage more than a regular charged shot, but with a fraction of the distance. You cannot slide with it. Save for some very specific instances, it is only useful as a glorified key for breakable walls. The other adaptor breaks something other than walls, it breaks the game itself.

The Jet Adaptor lets Mega Man fly for a short period of time. You can't charge your buster with it equipped. Hell, you can't slide with it on either, but you don't need any of that. The Jet Adaptor allows you to skip almost everything in the game. What's the point in fighting a tough enemy or performing tricky platforming if you can just fly over it? I would understand this if it was a secret mode, or something that involves collecting something from each stage, but you could get this item after your first boss kill (just so long as that first kill is Plant Man).

The Jet Adaptor is what i imagine purists think an Easy Mode is. You are indeed cheating yourself by avoiding playing the game, but look at that cover art. The Jet Adaptor is front and center, Mega Man 6 WANTS you to use it. You're playing the game as intended. There's only one tricky jump towards the end you have to do with the Jet Adaptor, but everything else is just easily skipped.

And the worst part? The parts you're skipping with the Jet Adaptor aren't even all that great. This is a pretty weak Mega Man game that struggles to find an identity.

They never shoulda made Tomahawk Man, man