Played as part of the Mega Man Legacy Collection on Steam
Note - as I did not beat this game, this write-up should be taken more as a set of observations than a genuine review.
Outdated is a term thrown around a lot by newbies towards older games, and while a sign of generational gaps, it does raise an important question: when exactly is it fair to label something outdated? Do we include graphics? Well no, because then 90% of any given library will be archaic with each technological leap. Is it gameplay then? Ehh, considering the evergreenarity of most genres, that can’t be right either. Well how about mechanical limitations, such as low frame rates and glitches? Ha, do I even have to dignify that with a response when console peasants just got out of the 30 fps era?
No, for me, a game is outdated when it relies on systems meant to artificially elongate its runtime. The bang for your buck crowd may be obnoxious now, but back in the 80s you were purchasing titles for $40+ that fundamentally only had 3-8 hours worth of gameplay. Thus, in order to ensure players were continuously invested for a longer period, numerous tactics were employed by developers to draw out the difficulty. For PC adventures, this became moon logic puzzles; exploration games lack of directions, shooters bullet sponges, and platformers overly-precise jumps amongst others.
Mega Man isn’t a heavily daunting game, but the reason I began this review on such a tangent is because it too incorporates frustrating elements that ultimately make it not worth completing, the worst being the lie of freedom. From the start menu you’re provided six targets to select in whatever sequence your heart desires….or so you’re misled. The reality is you actually have to follow a predesignated order; any deviation from said order resulting in guaranteed death at the hands of the boss. Why is that? Well, every victory grants you a weapon from that respective leader, with different weapons having different advantages against different opponents, meaning not going in with the right one will culminate in a one-sided curbstomp.
And yet, there’s no f!cking way of knowing which works against which; no hints, no cues, not even common sense elemental suggestions (i.e., you’d think Fire Man’s tool would have an advantage over Ice Man, but nope, it’s Elec Man’s because ...reasons). As a result, if you go into this game without consulting a walkthrough beforehand, you’ll have no choice but to live-die-repeat until you luck your way into the proper arrangement, and this whole stupid schematic goes back to what I was saying earlier about developers concocting new ways of deceptively extending the shelf life of their product; Capcom deliberately did this to guarantee gamers were continuously invested in the NES release lest they beat it in under 2 hours (which is definitely feasible).
I know it seems petty to write-off an entire game based on one facet; however, you guys need to understand time is the most precious commodity each of us has, and to see it wasted on such frivolous schemes genuinely angers me. I understand this is how things worked back then, but that doesn’t make it a good formula by contemporary standards, and it’s not as though the rest of Mega Man is good enough to outweigh this deficit. As a side scrolling action platformer, each level is based around navigating or killing multiple enemies as you hop about from screen-to-screen. Unlike the original Super Mario Bros., Mega Man is unique in that enemies are generally pursuant of you, meaning the tried-and-true tactic of simply letting them walk past will not work here unless you want a swarm on your @ss. It’s a fine enough set-up, but where the game crumbles is in its limitations, hitches, and respawning enemies. With the first, Mega Man is only able to fire in a horizontal direction, forcing you to charge at dynamic enemies in ways that make you pointlessly vulnerable (and considering Contra had come out earlier that year, this restriction is inexcusable). With the second, not only do enemies take a noticeable sec to manifest on-screen, but you’ll experience a decent amount of FPS drops, the worst occurring whenever you attempt to lunge from the edge of a base (which yes, will screw you up, sending you tumbling down below where you’re greeted by the third flaw, the respawned enemies you just obliterated).
Credit where credit is due, the Legacy Collection comes with two features meant to alleviate these burdens: a rewind button ala Sands of Time and save files for manually creating checkpoints. The former, in particular, is a life saver, and I found myself using it quite liberally to curtail any game-induced (and, admittedly, player-induced) mistakes. Nonetheless, it’s not a good thing when you have to rely on modern solutions for failings in a vanilla release.
Graphically, Mega Man is a bit of let down too. Structures (especially Fire Man’s stage) generally look nice, but you’ll often notice a lot of recolored tiles and empty backgrounds slated a single color. Many of the enemy and boss designs are also pretty lackluster, with most of the latter either being uninspired (Ice Man’s parka, Bomber Man’s wrestling tunic) or rejected superhero garb (seriously, Fire Man and Elec Man eerily resemble Firestorm and Electro respectively).
Music-wise, I’m not going to lie to you guys -- I’ve always detested the NES sound chip. Yes, I know it produced a medley of iconic tunes, but those melodies were consistently conveyed with an irritating screech that blatantly showcased the extents of the technology. So yes, while the level themes composed by Manami Matsumae are technically fine, they’re ultimately done a severe disservice by the original format, and I would’ve loved some kind of cleaned-up option for the Legacy collection the way Super Mario All-Stars did for the OG Mario Bros. Audio cues like Mega Man’s various gunshots fare better courtesy of the inherent arcadey flavor of such actions, however, it’s not anything that’ll leave a lasting impression on you, especially since enemies don’t have death cries.
In the end, though, no amount of remixing would’ve made Mega Man 1 recommendable. While I’m happy it spawned a highly-successful franchise, it simply hasn’t aged well enough to warrant being completed. Should you really want to, at least consult a walkthrough beforehand so you don’t waste time.
NOTES
-There's no story to speak of here, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was included in the game manual (as was usually the case back in the day). It would've been cool if the Legacy Collection added it digitally the way the NiGHTS into Dreams PC port did, but I guess it ultimately doesn't matter.
Note - as I did not beat this game, this write-up should be taken more as a set of observations than a genuine review.
Outdated is a term thrown around a lot by newbies towards older games, and while a sign of generational gaps, it does raise an important question: when exactly is it fair to label something outdated? Do we include graphics? Well no, because then 90% of any given library will be archaic with each technological leap. Is it gameplay then? Ehh, considering the evergreenarity of most genres, that can’t be right either. Well how about mechanical limitations, such as low frame rates and glitches? Ha, do I even have to dignify that with a response when console peasants just got out of the 30 fps era?
No, for me, a game is outdated when it relies on systems meant to artificially elongate its runtime. The bang for your buck crowd may be obnoxious now, but back in the 80s you were purchasing titles for $40+ that fundamentally only had 3-8 hours worth of gameplay. Thus, in order to ensure players were continuously invested for a longer period, numerous tactics were employed by developers to draw out the difficulty. For PC adventures, this became moon logic puzzles; exploration games lack of directions, shooters bullet sponges, and platformers overly-precise jumps amongst others.
Mega Man isn’t a heavily daunting game, but the reason I began this review on such a tangent is because it too incorporates frustrating elements that ultimately make it not worth completing, the worst being the lie of freedom. From the start menu you’re provided six targets to select in whatever sequence your heart desires….or so you’re misled. The reality is you actually have to follow a predesignated order; any deviation from said order resulting in guaranteed death at the hands of the boss. Why is that? Well, every victory grants you a weapon from that respective leader, with different weapons having different advantages against different opponents, meaning not going in with the right one will culminate in a one-sided curbstomp.
And yet, there’s no f!cking way of knowing which works against which; no hints, no cues, not even common sense elemental suggestions (i.e., you’d think Fire Man’s tool would have an advantage over Ice Man, but nope, it’s Elec Man’s because ...reasons). As a result, if you go into this game without consulting a walkthrough beforehand, you’ll have no choice but to live-die-repeat until you luck your way into the proper arrangement, and this whole stupid schematic goes back to what I was saying earlier about developers concocting new ways of deceptively extending the shelf life of their product; Capcom deliberately did this to guarantee gamers were continuously invested in the NES release lest they beat it in under 2 hours (which is definitely feasible).
I know it seems petty to write-off an entire game based on one facet; however, you guys need to understand time is the most precious commodity each of us has, and to see it wasted on such frivolous schemes genuinely angers me. I understand this is how things worked back then, but that doesn’t make it a good formula by contemporary standards, and it’s not as though the rest of Mega Man is good enough to outweigh this deficit. As a side scrolling action platformer, each level is based around navigating or killing multiple enemies as you hop about from screen-to-screen. Unlike the original Super Mario Bros., Mega Man is unique in that enemies are generally pursuant of you, meaning the tried-and-true tactic of simply letting them walk past will not work here unless you want a swarm on your @ss. It’s a fine enough set-up, but where the game crumbles is in its limitations, hitches, and respawning enemies. With the first, Mega Man is only able to fire in a horizontal direction, forcing you to charge at dynamic enemies in ways that make you pointlessly vulnerable (and considering Contra had come out earlier that year, this restriction is inexcusable). With the second, not only do enemies take a noticeable sec to manifest on-screen, but you’ll experience a decent amount of FPS drops, the worst occurring whenever you attempt to lunge from the edge of a base (which yes, will screw you up, sending you tumbling down below where you’re greeted by the third flaw, the respawned enemies you just obliterated).
Credit where credit is due, the Legacy Collection comes with two features meant to alleviate these burdens: a rewind button ala Sands of Time and save files for manually creating checkpoints. The former, in particular, is a life saver, and I found myself using it quite liberally to curtail any game-induced (and, admittedly, player-induced) mistakes. Nonetheless, it’s not a good thing when you have to rely on modern solutions for failings in a vanilla release.
Graphically, Mega Man is a bit of let down too. Structures (especially Fire Man’s stage) generally look nice, but you’ll often notice a lot of recolored tiles and empty backgrounds slated a single color. Many of the enemy and boss designs are also pretty lackluster, with most of the latter either being uninspired (Ice Man’s parka, Bomber Man’s wrestling tunic) or rejected superhero garb (seriously, Fire Man and Elec Man eerily resemble Firestorm and Electro respectively).
Music-wise, I’m not going to lie to you guys -- I’ve always detested the NES sound chip. Yes, I know it produced a medley of iconic tunes, but those melodies were consistently conveyed with an irritating screech that blatantly showcased the extents of the technology. So yes, while the level themes composed by Manami Matsumae are technically fine, they’re ultimately done a severe disservice by the original format, and I would’ve loved some kind of cleaned-up option for the Legacy collection the way Super Mario All-Stars did for the OG Mario Bros. Audio cues like Mega Man’s various gunshots fare better courtesy of the inherent arcadey flavor of such actions, however, it’s not anything that’ll leave a lasting impression on you, especially since enemies don’t have death cries.
In the end, though, no amount of remixing would’ve made Mega Man 1 recommendable. While I’m happy it spawned a highly-successful franchise, it simply hasn’t aged well enough to warrant being completed. Should you really want to, at least consult a walkthrough beforehand so you don’t waste time.
NOTES
-There's no story to speak of here, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was included in the game manual (as was usually the case back in the day). It would've been cool if the Legacy Collection added it digitally the way the NiGHTS into Dreams PC port did, but I guess it ultimately doesn't matter.