Jump, jump! Slide, slide!

I think Mega Man 8 is always going to signify the game that made me stop listening to Mega Man fans other than myself. This is supposed to be the one that most people are mixed on? What planet am I on?

The mainline Mega Man series makes its first and only appearance on the PS1 here, and I don't know how much happier I could've been with it. The 32-bit visuals are colorful, eye-wateringly gorgeous, and as inviting as ever. The voice acting that Capcom saw fit to add due to the newfound power of the PS1... not so much, but it's so astonishingly bad that it loops right back around to being vaguely charming. Megaman feels wonderful to control, with a small but effective selection of traversal moves (the Rush Cycle?!?) and a fantastic arsenal of new boss weapons. This may also have one of the strongest scores in the entire mainline series—a collection of synthy, airy, and at times pulse-pounding tracks that perfectly accompany this game's imaginative stages. Speaking of that, Mega Man 8 probably has my favorite collection of Robot Masters thus far, and so many of the set pieces just... flat out rule, especially the shmup section in Tengu Man's stage.

I'll admit this though. The detractors are right about one thing. Those snowboarding sections are the worst.

Yeah, I don't know. I probably just rambled a lot, but hopefully I got my point across. I would've never dreamed this would become my 2nd favorite mainline Mega Man game.

You can call me Handsome Guy

So this is just classic Mega Man but with the controls of the X series and I’m all for it, great music and bosses, fun levels, awesome story and corny cutscenes I love it
Yes Jump Jump, Slide Slide is awful, it’s probably one of the worst designed Mega Man stages ever tbh but it’s doable, it’s like the disappearing blocks in Ice Man and Magnet Man’s stages, super cheap and annoying but everything else makes up for it
I’ll forever love this game for blessing us with Dr. Wahwee

أول ما لعبتها بعد ما خلصت 7 شعرت بأن في شيء غلط
التحكم ماش
تصميم المراحل ماش
مع الوقت صرت احبها اكثر لكن يا رجل الاختلاف واضح
لها معجبينها لكني بالتأكيد مب منهم

With the 32-bit sprite work, the PS1 era soundtrack, and the cheesy 90's era voice acting tickling your brain and Mega Man possessing the ability to have the Buster and a Special weapon selected at the same time, you might be fooled into thinking that this is going to be one of the crown jewels of the Classic Mega Man lineup for the first couple of minutes. Sadly, it doesn't take long for the Blue Bomber's physics to start to feel sluggish and floaty with all of his extra animation frames, because it's right around that time when the game starts to flood the screen with so many moving enemy and explosion sprites that the game dissolves into visual noise.

Still a fine Mega Man all the same. I'm just happy that the Internet only makes fun of Dr. Wahwee, Rwmega Man, and JUMP JUMP SLIDE SLIDE because that means that Aqua Man's handsome guy intro got to be a complete surprise for me.

Also shout-out to the Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 version of this game for removing the red cross on the "Heal Mega Man completely" Rush item and turning it into a mysterious white box, meaning I was trying to beat the last two bosses of this game on one health bar like a chump. Capcom changing this in a rerelease means that they're aware that the original version of Mega Man 8 violated the Geneva Convention!

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Best MM8 Robot Master - Aqua Man clears, but I also appreciate Astro Man for being programmed with anxiety.
Worst MM8 Robot Master - Saying "Clown Man" is too easy and also isn't true. The implications of Search Man's double-headed state of existence makes him the worst for me, but I'm saying this out of pity as opposed to hatred.

What an enigma! Dopey cutscenes aside, the presentation is near perfect for Classic Mega Man. even those cutscenes are really well animated! I do think the gameplay took a step down from 7, though aside from the much talked about tediously difficult parts I think it does come together to a bit of a smoother ride. The soundtrack is great, and I never had too much of an issue with the levels aside from a few hiccups. It all balances up to be pretty swell overall, if a bit clunkier than past and some future entries.

That shit was soooooooooooooooo much fun. The spritework, music, and goofy Saturday morning cartoon story really packs a nostalgic punch while showing you a peak you're likely looking for if you adore a more modern version of classics. Think something akin to Sonic Mania from the classics instead of Sonic Generations. With a few tweaks here and there, this feels like the peak of what Mega Man should aim to look like and make you feel in comparison to the classics. Truly a whole 'holy shit, two cakes!' scenario for me.

What started as just something silly to cheer myself up (which the questionable voice acting did in spades) ended up being what I would consider one of my favourite Classic Megaman games.

Loved the variety in the levels, the weapons being used to help with the platforming was cool and I wish it was expanded upon and it's the graphical detail of the PS1 does absolute wonders for the Classic's more cartoony artstyle.

Loved it

Welcome to the 32-Bit era for the blue Bomber! And while this game isn't talked about often among the fanbase, I think this game is a gem in the franchise. 8 is a refinement of everything Classic Mega Man was to this point, while trying to build ideas to try to move the jump n' shoot design forward, while also being a fun adventure with Rock.

Mega Man 8 really doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. 8 robot masters, 4 Wily's Castle stages, boss rush, bust Wily, save the day. So what makes Mega Man 8 so special compared to the other 12 times this formulas been done?

The answer is this feels like the most actualized vision for Mega Man's world yet, from characters, visuals, music, uh 'story' if you want to consider that. There's a passion behind Mega Man 8 wasn't quite felt in 7 or many of the later NES releases. Like this game looks as gorgeous as it does and it came it a little over a year after Mega Man 7, and it ended up looking this gorgeous.

This game's sprite work is some of the best on the console, and honestly aesthicly, this game is peak Mega Man. The enemies are vibrant, colorful and expressive, with some of my favorite enemy design in the franchise. The robot masters are unique and expressive, they animate very well while being packed with personality, aided by (very cheesy) voice acting. Seeing more of Mega Man's retro-futuristic world is just...really neat in a way I can’t express properly. The world of Mega Man really pops in this game.

I haven't even mentioned the music, composed by Shusaku Uchiyama. He composes of some of the most memorable music in the fn the Classic franchise in this game, and it helps sell the colorful, airy vibe this game has.


What about that gameplay? As I said earlier it’s a Mega Man game, you jump, shoot and slide and it feels good. Everything’s scaled better this game and platforming feels less clunky than 7 out the gate, which is great. Level design is on point, mostly what you expect from a Mega Man game. There’s a complaint to be made for some of stage gimmicks dragging for too long, such as the infamous Jet boarding sections or the SHUMP sections, but honestly most stages flow extremely well to the point where even the sub-bosses were fun for me. I even enjoyed the idea of adding a labyrinth, even if it is a bit clumsily handled.

Also, the game tries to add fresh ideas to both Mega Man and remixing a few old ones. For starters, in the intro stage Dr. Light gives Mega Man the special weapon the Mega Ball, which allows Mega Man to spawn and kick a ball that ricochets off of walls and objects, which is neat, but as a hidden gimmick Mega Man can jump off the ball to give him a pseudo-infinite jump so long as he has the weapon energy. And I love that kind of shit in games, it promotes skill expression and adds a bit of depth to the game. 8 in general seems to flirt with the Special Weapons more for level design. On top of all being pretty well designed and useful for the challenges MM8 asks of you, quite a few interact with Mega Man, the enemies and level design itself that really promote exploration and experimentation with the weapons. To reward this, The Bolts, which were random item drops in the GB games and 7, are now hidden collectibles, and now the shop gives Mega Man more permanent upgrades. It’s not anything groundbreaking in terms of a game play loop, but it was a nice, simple fresh take in the Classic formula besides just finding the Rush/Beat parts and beating the robot masters, while not just being the armor system from MMX.

Finally, I should mention the fact that this was the first game designed with It's the first game designed with Animated cutscenes and a story that is in the backdrop of the game and it adds absolutely nothing and is very pointless and predictable, and doesn’t really go anywhere. It's a basic plot where there's a dark energy that Dr Wily uses to power up his robot masters and also introduces Duo, A mysterious alien robot who strongly believes in justice. It it really doesn't do anything novel storytelling wise but it's still a big part of the charm of Mega Man 8, even with its comical voice acting.

I had no intention of talking about Mega Man 8 this long. And I still have a lot more I want to say, but I think it’s best to conclude with this game super cool to me, and I don't get to say that a lot about the classic series. I think it does a lot of things that are really interesting for classic Mega Man and it's a shame that classic series didn't get more love and attention like this, as I feel it was on the cusp of doing more for the classic formula. I very much recommend Mega Man 8 to Mega Man fans and platformer fans alike.