There are 2 types of response to Mega Man 9

Those who thinks it's a series regression that abandons a lot of past ideas to dumb down the formula back to the standard of Mega Man 2 and others who think it's a successful return to form for the classic series after lying dormant for over a decade.

Personally I sit right with the second category, I don't get the recent vitriol on this game as I feel a lot of it boils down to nitpicking on like a couple of bad screens when the game is full of superbly good ones

Yeah removing the slide is a bit excessive but I don't miss the charge shot at all and you can always play as Proto Man to get that experience back.

To me Mega Man 9 is the gold standard of what a great Mega Man game should be, it's difficult but fun to surpass, the level design is ingenious and creative and full of unique things that the series hasn't tried and didn't try again for the subsequent 2 games.

The bosses are all super fun to fight but the big highlight of the game for me are the subweapons, this is hands down the best set of subweapons in the entire series and because you're so limited in your moveset this time around it becomes an essential part to beating the game to actually use and understand them.

You can go to any stage and fight any bosses and come out the other way with an amazing weapon that will make your life easier, until you reach the Wily stages and feel like a god possessing the chaos emeralds.

The Black Hole Bomb, The Hornet Chaser, The Tridents, the Jewel Satelite, the Tornado Blow, the Magma Bazooka and the goddamn Concrete Shot

All of them sees great utility use both for traversing the stages and dealing with ennemies

I just wish MM9 had the weapon switch since you'd be switching between weapons often because of how good they are, it's one of the rare title where I run out of ammo's because all options are preferable to the base buster even if it's still pretty good on its own.

And my god, the music ???

This is easily the best soundtrack in the series and stands toe to toe with Mega Man's 2 iconic soundtrack, seriously Tornado Man stage is in my freaking vein as well as "We're the robots" which is my favorite Wily Stage theme by a long shot.

Anyway this game rules and I don't get why people are so butthurt about it these days unless they are truly that terrible at Mega Man game (which I'd understand, MM9 clearly isn't beginner friendly)

The final swan song of the Rockman World Subseries on the Gameboy and boy what a way to conclude this part of the series.

Unlike other RW games, this one is entirely made of original content and is a solid contender for one of if not the best classic Mega Man title.

The level design is some top notch stuff with great balance in difficulty across the board, it's not too hard or to easy, it sits right in the middle with both grace and confidence.

The Mega Arm is a much better and fun alternative to the Charged Shot in both utility and how fun it is to use especially once its fully upgraded and I wish it was kept as the standard for the rest of the series.

Speaking of weapons, the selection is not too shabby either, aside from 2 frankly useless exploration weapon which kinda exist to waste slots, the weapons have a lot of cool, unique and bizarre properties that make using them a ton of fun.

Like the Grab Buster which deals small damages but also heals you in return or the Salt Water which splashes a water bomb on ennemies bypassing shields and many others.

The music is fucking insane and I especially like the plot of this one, it's nothing to write home about but the Stardroids are all pretty fun and fair to fight with the buster which compensates the confusing weakness chart brought forth by their namesake (planets)

It also has easily the best finale of any classic Mega Man game, you don't a boss rematch but you do get to refight every unique bosses from previous entries in a final stage that's actually quite long but it's also probably the best final stage and wily fortress stage in the series, full of shortcuts to make with the subweapons and bonus segments.

Many people sleep on this one for being on the Game Boy but they shouldn't because it's honestly peak Mega Man game

I never understood the vitriol against this one, I guess the only reason why it's not as liked is that it was often unfairly compared to the first Mega Man X ?

But as good as Mega Man X is (literally a perfect videogame) this doesn't take away from how much of a banger MM7 is in my opinion.

Yeah sure the art style is different, the game feels a tad bit slower but I don't mind that, the game is really gorgeous and it might actually be my favorite art style in the classic series.

But where the game shines in my opinion is in its level design, its rather solid weapon selection and also in how much secrets the game has for you to find. It may make the game a bit more padded but it's entirely optional and I prefer this sort of Mega Man X style of exploration and getting new items than just adding a second fortress imo.

The music also kicks so much ass as usual and even more so with the SNES sound chip making for some of the best track in the franchise.

The bosses are all super fun to fight and fair except for that goddamn Wily Capsule, seriously this one is just plain ridiculous.

Also fucking Ghost'N'Goblins easter egg and a whole ass secret fighting game mode ?

Can this game be any more SOUL ???

Mega Man The Wily Wars is the Super Mario All-Star of the franchise, it's easily the best way to play all first 3 Mega Man games albeit a bit slower and with worse music even if not all tracks have been completely butchered by the Genesis Yamaha soundchip.

The 3 games are beautifully recreated in 16-bit with a really good artstyle and retains a lot of their original quirks (yeah that means they kept the point system for 1 lol)

But the real star feature here is the Wily Tower, an entire short-length original Mega Man title inside of your Mega Man compilation, with some of the best stages and bosses the series has to offer and the possibility to create your own selection of weapons by pulling from every weapon from Mega Man 1 through 3.

It's an insanely good package if you want to get into Mega Man

I just wish the music was better

Off-topic but I can't wait for the Sequel Wars to be completed because the project is simply put insanely ambitious and good to play

Mega Man 4 is a really good followup to Mega Man 3 with some really cool level design to boot and a selection of subweapons that far surpasses the previous 2 entries.

It was also the first game to introduce the charge shot but in this iteration, I don't mind it too much because it's not nearly as good as in the rest of the series so it doesn't completely over shadows the other subweapon.

Upon revisiting this one however, I have gained a lot more love for it, I tend to kind brush this one aside as soon as I finish it but this time I really sinked in the experience and it was mostly enjoyable than not

It's also the first game to introduce 2 Fortresses instead of one and frankly speaking, I'm not a big fan of that even if that means more stages to go through, but it makes the game a bit too long and padded imo

I also wish there were more than just 2 secret utility items but Mega Man 5 solved this issue with the Beat letters.

Overall, it's a really damn good game and I actually dig the plot a bit this time

The most recent release to date and at first when I played it back then, I didn't know what to make of it, it was "fine" I guess but that's only because I didn't replay this one nearly as much as all the other entries on this list.

In a vacuum tho, and with more experience under my belts as well as a couple more replay, I think Mega Man 11 is actually pretty damn good

Not the best title in the series, but definitely in the upper tier of the titles in this series.

What brings it down for me is that the levels are just way too goddamn long for their own good, which would be fine on its own but the checkpoint system is just a bit too punishing, the game's a cakewalk but the tiniest mistake puts you several screens back and it's not like the level design gets any better by revisiting it, it's just kind of tedious.

Of course the star feature of the game is the Double Gear system, while you can play the entire game without making use of it, it's heavily encouraged in some situation and while I didn't get much use of the Power Gear, the Speed Gear is absolutely busted, it's essentially Time Man's weapon from Powered Up but available at nearly all time and once you get the upgrade to move at regular speed while using it, it becomes fucking ridiculous.

However the Power Gear main use is for the Subweapons which are for the most part really freaking good and like Mega Man X with its charged variant, the Power Gear adds additional effect to your subweapons making some of them way better.

Shoutout to Impact Man's weapon for being an airdash although a bit finnicky to use.

Also the bosses are the best set of bosses in the series mainly because of the double gear system, it makes for some really fun, spectacular and quite challenging encounters regardless of whether or not you have their weakness.

Too bad the game is a tad bit too easy until the Wily fortress stages that is because otherwise ?

It's a really damn good game

Mega Man 3 was once a favorite of mine but upon revisiting it multiple time, I kinda lost my love for it a little bit.

Do I think it's an excellent game ? Absolutely 100% but I thought its sequel Mega Man 4 executed on a lot of similar ideas better

The game kind of falls off hard once you reach the second half which is a shame but the actual main game is still goddamn solid, the subweapons a bit too situational but I got some good use out of a few of them like the Shadow Blade which is mostly a nerfed Metal Blade (for the better imo)

It also has the most stupidly broken Rush Jet in the series and you can trivialize most of the level design with this alone if you're willing to take on Needle Man early

It's probably one of the best title in the series still and much much better than both 1 & 2 personally

Also the music kicks so many ass in this one

The music is subpar, the subweapon sucks, the game's overall difficulty is wildly inconsistent and the charge shot is way too busted compared to everything else

What makes this one stood out ?

The level design

Frankly this is Mega Man at its most inventive in terms of level design, it's full of neat ideas and cool set pieces that mostly works really well.

There's no real bad stages in Mega Man 5 even as it drags its ass towards the end with the 2nd Fortress ( a staple of the 2nd trilogy which is something I was never a big fan of).

For as good as the actual game part is, I think it falls a bit too flat in many areas for the game to stand at the top

It really needed good music and more importantly not every subweapon being complete dogshit for me to truly have fun with it

Still it's objectively a really solid title and I now some people holds it in higher regard than me personally for the aforementioned reasons.

HOT TAKE ALERT
HOT TAKE ALERT

Mega Man 2 is fucking awesome, the ost is legendary ? The gameplay is much more refined and overall it's a great improvement from 1 and probably the best followup to a first game in the history of gaming.

But here's the kicker, it's not quite as evolved compared to MM1

The main reason why this one is so praised is because of having a difficulty selection and also because even with that, the game has the Metal Blades

This subweapon alone annihilates the challenge of the game and makes it your bitch, it's the boss weakness of like 5 bosses in the entire game (including Metal Man himself) and even when it's not, it's just the most preferable option for every situation.

None of the other subweapons compare

And once you obseve that, you also realize the level design isn't as stellar as people claim it to be, a lot of basic or even unfair gimmick like in Heatman and Quickman stage

Some stages like Flashman are just viusally boring and drawn out

And Wily Stage 3 can definitely go suck a dick

Other than that, yeah the game owns its reputation as one of the best title, it's just kind of overrated for me in my humble opinion

Mega Man VI is the most polished of the NES titles and probably the most polished game in the series if I'm being honest, the level design is pretty damn good, the boss designs are kind of awesome looking, the music is fire.

But I don't know, this game is a bit too easy and a bit too padded because of the exploration angle they wanted to give this one.

The Rush adaptors are a cool concept but are just a prototype of how good it'll be in seven and feel way too situational here.

The subweapons are a bit better than in 5 that's for sure.

However, this game lacks friction, it's way too easy for its own good, I know this sounds like a plus to some but I like to play these games to have a bit of a challenge and this one while not completely braindead ins't suitable enough to my taste in that department.

Still, it's a really fun game that I really enjoy revisiting

GOD DAMN IS THIS GAME HARD

I didn't quite remember how hard this game was until replaying it because much like IV, it kinda just exist in the middle of the Megaman World pentalogy and is also pretty derivative of the NES title.

Surprisingly, this game does not have boss rematches or even something similar, which makes it a good contender for one of the best game in the series for this reason alone

But alas, this game is way too damn demanding for an handheld title, the game has so much random difficulty spike not helped by the fact these levels are like super fucking long and without much checkpoint, like geez calm down.

Punk is a cool boss even if he's a bit easy once you figure out his pattern and the wily stages are a decent challenge.

Honestly this is probably the second hardest game in the series next to MM&Bass but at least the difficulty in this one isn't cheap, it's just kind of tiring ? Like running a marathon.

Great game really, kind of underrated even if it made me lose my mind at times

I don't really now what to think of this one, it's pretty damn good overall, but also kind of unimpressive ?

It's just a Megaman game that feels "there" for some reasons, it's much more derivative of the main series than even its predecessor and the game requires you to collect stuff in the levels to access the final stage but that isn't too bothersome to do even it's a bit of padding.

Yeah honestly, it's a solid game and Balade is a really cool character, other than that, I don't have much else to say really

It pains me to put this game so low on the list because Dr Wily's Revenge isn't just my first MM game, it's also one of my first video game period.

I hold a lot of nostalgia for it and it took me 15 years to actually beat it properly.

Retrospectively and with my acquired skill, the game isn't that unmanageable, it's not easy but it's not amongst the hardest game in the series either.

It's essentially what if Mega Man 1 was actually good. They took the best 4 robot masters from said game and redesigned their stages to be much more engaging and interesting.

It also started the tradition of the GB games not having boss rematches, but still kept the boss rush only you fight bosses from II, it's a really good idea.

However it's not breaking any grounds as far as game design goes, I still enjoy it a lot mostly due to nostalgia more than anything else, but there has been better game since both in the World Subseries and the franchise as a whole.

I'm ngl, I don't get the hype surrounding MM10 in recent years with people claiming it to be a refined and better version of Mega Man 9 ?

To me everything about it is inferior, the level design is either terribly unchallenging or the complete opposite and being full of unfair bullshit and the ratio clearly is in favor of the bullshit.

Unlike MM9 who didn't suffer too much from Mega Man having less movement, this suffers heavily from it since Proto Man and its enhanced movement are available from the get go instead of being an unlockable.

The Subweapons are also a far cry from how good they were in the previous game, I like the Nitro Wheel's ability to climb up walls but its use is way too situational and it also is painfully slow to use as a weapon, the water shield is just a bad junk shield and overall a lot of the weapons are just slow and clunky to use and in a game where you're limited to only the base buster and no slides, this makes a massive difference.

Also wtf are these bosses deign man, some of the most forgettable faces in the franchise, they all feel like they came from a fan game.

The music while not bad, also has way more misses than hits.

People constantly bitch on the Wily Stage of 9 these days but tell me, do you enjoy the first stage being a boss gauntlet of 3 mini-bosses using the Doc Robot gimmick of pulling this time from multiple mega man games with different weakness chart each ?

Yeah absolutely fuck the Wily Stages in these games, I swear to god

If it wasn't for 1's clunkiness or 8's inconsistency, this would be my least favorite mainline Mega Man game

I'm going to be honest with you, I don't really like Powered Up

Sure it's better than Mega Man 1 but it's still Mega Man 1 at its core, even with the revised level design to make those a bit more palatable (even though it's neat that you can still play a version of the game that's closer to the original), the additional 2 new robot master stages are also pretty goddamn mediocre and their powers hardly fits inside of Mega Man 1's level design and difficulty curve.

I also just don't really like the artstyle and how overly cutesy, juvenile and bouncy everything is, the writing is beyond cringy even by Mega Man standard.

However the game gets a few points for its replayability, as you can replay the game with multiple characters including all 8 robot masters, Roll and Protoman and playable Roll is a blessing because she plays like kind of a dumbed down version of Zero so that's funny.

There's also a lot of additional neat stuff to unlock and a freaking level editors

It's a really neat package to pass the time but why did all that effort had to be wasted on a remake of Mega Man fucking 1 of all titles.

I think it would've greatly benefited from being a remake of the first 3 games instead but alas

The OG Mega Man isn't as bad as people make it out to be but obviously it's obvious it'll end up so low on the list.

The game is definitely a rough draft of what the series will eventually morph into and it shows, you got score which is borderline useless and the level design while sometimes having its moments and clearly not lacking in ingenuity even this early tend to repeat itself (every level ending on a Phone Guy is just the worst thing ever) and feature way too much frustrating parts some of which even require you use some subweapons (the wily castle stages in particular are a good exemple of this).

I wish the Magnet beam came back in the series, but I also understand why it never did, I lowkey prefer it to the rush items which are a bit excessive in terms of stage skipping mechanic.

The game isn't as difficult as people claim it is, there's definitely harder games in the series in my opinion but some ideas plain don't work.

Elec Man stage being a verticle stage really shows the series is not made for those unlike the X subseries and they refrained from doing this in the other games.

The game is also weirdly glitchy at point and the gameplay feel kinda lose compared to later entries.

The Yellow Devil can go fuck itself

Man, I really and I mean really want to love Mega Man 8

The graphics are gorgeous and the game easily has the best artstyle of any game in the series, Electrical Communication is a banger, Roll's design is a blessing and the subweapons are some of the best in the franchise and they even manage to implement them into the level design in really cool ways...

The shop to customize your buster is great and being able to use both your buster and your subweapons is a thing I wish the series kept moving forward.

But god is this game the definition of inconsistent, 3 stages are easy contenders for some of the worst stage in the entire series, they're also way too damn long for their own good, so much so that there's now a mid-permanent checkpoint and when they're not bad, they're just boring, gimmicky or overstate their welcome a bit too much.

I wish most of the game was on the same standard as Grenade Man stage, this is classic Mega Man gold standard but the rest really doesn't follow...

Also no e-tanks ? The new rush abilities are frankly pathetic and unfun to use and the game is kind of piss easy anyway so wtv.

Oh and the dub is hilarious !

War.... has changed.

It's no longer about fair difficulty curve, good level design or fun. It's an endless series of unfair stages, playtested by psychopaths and TAS-Bot.

This is the Mega Man game that people who never touched the series think Mega Man games are and I mean that in the worst way possible.

While porting MM8 Assets on the Super Nintendo is an impressive endeavor and having a second playable character for the first time in the series is actually a nice addition, everything in this game is out to get you and murder you.

The mini-bosses are often harder than the bosses themselves, bosses who takes a lifetime before removing their i-frames and allow you to hit them.

The endgame gives me nightmare and that's when playing with Bass who takes one billion hours before killing anything with his buster (thank god for subweapons) because guess what, they spent so much time implementing this new character that they didn't playtest the game for Megaman turning his playthrough from hell into super-hell

I guess collecting CD's is a cute feature but when trying to survive a game like this, you kinda don't wanna think too hard about 100% completion

It's a game made by sickos for sickos, you might enjoy this one if you're into cock and ball torture, but finishing this once was more than enough

ALSO NO FREAKING E-TANKS HUH ???

Technically a fangame but since it's officially distributed by Capcom I'm including it here and boy what a lazy fangame this is.

The level design is frankly super boring, a lot of long empty rooms with ennemies in them, barely any thoughts put into the level design and the platforming.

Some of the more unique stages are gimmick stages with their gimmick not implemented too gracefully.

The bosses would be fine if they weren't made needlessly complicated by the addition of a super gauge that builds up the more you damage them making their pattern a bit too unpredictable

The only real saving grace here is that it at least plays like a Mega Man game and not an approximation of one like the games lower on the list.

And I guess the subweapons which are actually pretty goddamn fun to use.

The music is full of weird mix of Street character theme and robot masters theme and I wish they would've just made 8-bit renditions instead of trying to make these frankly mediocre mashup

Not made by Capcom themselves and it shows, I like the robot master's design in this one a lot and the game isn't lacking in any cool ideas both in its plot and its level design...

But the execution leaves a loooooot to be desired because the controls are kind of awful and the new arstyle makes judging distances and hitboxes a lot wanker than it should

This is certainly deserving of a remake to bring it back to the standards of other classic mega man game

Bordeline unfinished, full of weird hit detection and jank that the first gameboy game didn't have.

It's also the easiest Mega Man game to date really, the metal blades are even more absurd in this one than they were in the NES Mega Man 2 and most of the game is just a breeze with only the jank able to kill you, at least if you didn't kill yourself already listening to the fucking soundtrack

A sort of Mega Man greatest hit for the Game Gear, it's ok, it exists, most stages are straight ports of their original counterpart but now with goddawful screen crunch

A frankly skippable entry

WHY MAKE A SEQUEL ???????

WHY ???