Dude was this game always this fucking solid? Jesus christ. I always loved it for the OST and Pharaoh Man but like. Dude, the weapon selection here’s good (Pharaoh Shot being my favorite it’s so cool), and the stage design is superb. Holy hell man. This is really good. I had always written this off as just “good,” and idk why. Maybe it’s that 2018 me struggled really bad on Ring Man due to not knowing how Pharaoh Shot worked, so I took a break and had a disjointed run. I did it in one sitting today. And it was awesome. Good to be wrong about some things, give that 7.5/10 game a replay and it may shoot to a 9/10.

Replayed this today just to make sure and yep, it whips ass. Maybe the best weapon set in the series. No charge beam making an annoying as hell noise. Slide I could live with having but it's mostly a nothing mechanic so whatever. Fucked up levels full of traps and puzzles to cheat your wya past with the right weapons. I need to check a few others to see if this one's my actual favorite but it's like, top 3 at least.

Messed up that they just murder the robots once they finished with them though. Probably why there were like 8 different apocalypses in this timeline

Replayed this one and resisted the temptation of using the Collection's additional save features. I took on this challenge raw!

So what do I think of the game? Mega Man 9 is the best version of this expression of retro-styled Mega Man. The levels are tight and interesting. The boss weapons are unique and multi-faceted (got a lot of use out of each). The boss fights themselves are challenging but satisfying to master. The shop feature is appreciated and useful although I wish the text was sped up.

The Wily Stages might be a titch too hard but they're still pretty good although I have my complaints for the banality of the first Wily Stage boss and Twin Devils. I like how the campaign eschews the template of later day Mega Man NES titles and has the 8 Robot Master levels then the final four Wily Stages. They're pretty hard but having that singular gantlet (in which you can prepare with many lives and E-tanks) is a strong, tight gameplay decision.

This is pitch-perfect simplicity. It's a handful of the franchise's mechanics with a lot excess stripped away and refined until it came out just right.

Yeah, this is the best Classic Megaman, no contest.
Levels are great, they each have distinct things unique to them that still keep the focus and gameplay the same. Only two I have any sort of problem with are Hornet Man and Jewel Man but with the ladder it's really only one jump and it's not like the entirety of HM's level is bad. Boss balancing is good here, there are some that are easier than others (Galaxy Man, Splash Woman) but none is an impossible first pick like some other games in the series, and no Wily Boss comes off as bs like ones only weak to one weapon or the abominable Yellow Devil Mk-II. I have consistently found use for EVERY ROBOT MASTER WEAPON which is actually huge, no other game even comes close to that.
Megaman 9 doesn't do anything new, but it takes all the good things Megaman has and uses them to great effect and the result is wonderful.

The swan song to Cuphead was a big, chunky one for only $8. Shitty anime fighters charge more than that for a single character! Now ain't that a bitch? The entire 4th Inkwell Isle has its own series of unique surprises, secrets, and content that bleed over to the original game including new weapons, new abilities, and Chalice herself as a playable character with her own fundamentals.

The bosses in this new DLC are the highlight, of course, and don't disappoint for the most part. The final boss was especially a delight. My one complaint regarding the DLC bosses, they seem to rely a bit too much on RNG and making a mess of hitboxes on the screen. Much more than the original game's bosses, at least. It feels slightly less fair and fun to learn overall, I think.

Even so, this last course was indeed delicious with its peak artistry and catchy tunes all harking back to the era of classic cartoons and vaudeville nonsense. I look forward to whatever it is MDHR have planned next.