Mega Man 6 is weird. It is both somewhat uninteresting and flat and, paradoxically, the most well designed Mega Man game for the NES, objectively speaking.
The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, but there definitely are some memorable tunes here. The graphics, whilst I still prefer 5’s overall looks and more pastel colours, are by far the most detailed and fun to look at of all six NES games, and enemies often come along with them, presenting a huge variety of challenges and fun and cute designs, which happen to represent pretty much the design philosophy of every enemy design made for the series after this game. By the way, the designs for the Robot Masters are also great and some of the best in the series, with the likes of Tomahawk Man, Knight Man and specially Centaur Man, one of the coolest in the entire franchise.
The levels are very well crafted and varied, presenting the most balanced and consistent difficult of all six NES Mega Man games, with good enemy placements and fun boss battles that remain fun and fair whether you decide to take them with the regular buster or their respective weaknesses. Also, the bosses’ weapons are good and useful for the most part, and the new Rush abilities are super fun to use and unintrusive, even with the Jet armour making some platforming challenges trivial.
Overall, the gameplay in this one is top notch in every way possible, even with the slight changes made to the slide mechanic. I never found any specific case in which this specific thing hindered my playthrough in any possible manner.
So, what is it that ultimately makes this, maybe, the most “meh” of all six NES Mega Man games?
I don’t know for sure. I know that, when I first played it years ago, it didn’t gave me anything special, and upon replaying it now, even with the newfound love I now have for it, I still felt little remnants of the former feeling. And I sincerely cannot pinpoint why.
Is the story bland and recycled? Yes, it is, but that’s not a real issue for me.
Maybe if you’re playing every game back to back, you’ll feel tired enough of the formula to be able to consciously find the merits of this particular one, and after replaying it, I have to say it was indeed the Mega Man game that I remembered the least of how it was.
Still, that’s not really the thing for me.
As I said, objectively speaking, this is the most well crafted and balanced game of all first six Mega Man games, and most gamers in the current era will definitely be able to enjoy this one with very minor nitpicks.
But, well, maybe this ends up making it a little bit too easy for the franchise standards. And I kid you not: it’s even easier than Mega Man 5, with Energy Tanks and extra lives being extremely easy to find and stock up if you know where to find them. I swear, there isn’t much effort involved in getting to the game’s final boss with 9 lives and 9 E-Tanks.
This could easily make Mega Man 6 the perfect entry for newcomers to the franchise, but it kind of fails to represent the core challenge associated with these games, and the new Rush abilities don’t help too much with this factor.
If it was one of the first three Mega Man games, sure, it would be an absolute masterpiece and one of the best games in the NES library, but, sadly, the gameplay here ended up being way too refined, to the point of making it really uninteresting for veterans in the series.
As a starting point, 5 still remains the best, and even 2 would be better for new players to get to know classic Mega Man.
6 is good, super well made, but deceptively way too easy in the end. This can be good or bad, and it’s up to you to decide which is which.
Still, I cannot look past it’s merits as a standalone game, and for every good aspect of it, it’s still a solid 3.5 out of 5 title in my opinion. It’s fun to play, to listen to and to look at, and playing it will NOT be a waste of time.
Maybe you’ll just have to be aware of these strange flaws and even replay it, as I did, to fully enjoy it for what it is.
The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, but there definitely are some memorable tunes here. The graphics, whilst I still prefer 5’s overall looks and more pastel colours, are by far the most detailed and fun to look at of all six NES games, and enemies often come along with them, presenting a huge variety of challenges and fun and cute designs, which happen to represent pretty much the design philosophy of every enemy design made for the series after this game. By the way, the designs for the Robot Masters are also great and some of the best in the series, with the likes of Tomahawk Man, Knight Man and specially Centaur Man, one of the coolest in the entire franchise.
The levels are very well crafted and varied, presenting the most balanced and consistent difficult of all six NES Mega Man games, with good enemy placements and fun boss battles that remain fun and fair whether you decide to take them with the regular buster or their respective weaknesses. Also, the bosses’ weapons are good and useful for the most part, and the new Rush abilities are super fun to use and unintrusive, even with the Jet armour making some platforming challenges trivial.
Overall, the gameplay in this one is top notch in every way possible, even with the slight changes made to the slide mechanic. I never found any specific case in which this specific thing hindered my playthrough in any possible manner.
So, what is it that ultimately makes this, maybe, the most “meh” of all six NES Mega Man games?
I don’t know for sure. I know that, when I first played it years ago, it didn’t gave me anything special, and upon replaying it now, even with the newfound love I now have for it, I still felt little remnants of the former feeling. And I sincerely cannot pinpoint why.
Is the story bland and recycled? Yes, it is, but that’s not a real issue for me.
Maybe if you’re playing every game back to back, you’ll feel tired enough of the formula to be able to consciously find the merits of this particular one, and after replaying it, I have to say it was indeed the Mega Man game that I remembered the least of how it was.
Still, that’s not really the thing for me.
As I said, objectively speaking, this is the most well crafted and balanced game of all first six Mega Man games, and most gamers in the current era will definitely be able to enjoy this one with very minor nitpicks.
But, well, maybe this ends up making it a little bit too easy for the franchise standards. And I kid you not: it’s even easier than Mega Man 5, with Energy Tanks and extra lives being extremely easy to find and stock up if you know where to find them. I swear, there isn’t much effort involved in getting to the game’s final boss with 9 lives and 9 E-Tanks.
This could easily make Mega Man 6 the perfect entry for newcomers to the franchise, but it kind of fails to represent the core challenge associated with these games, and the new Rush abilities don’t help too much with this factor.
If it was one of the first three Mega Man games, sure, it would be an absolute masterpiece and one of the best games in the NES library, but, sadly, the gameplay here ended up being way too refined, to the point of making it really uninteresting for veterans in the series.
As a starting point, 5 still remains the best, and even 2 would be better for new players to get to know classic Mega Man.
6 is good, super well made, but deceptively way too easy in the end. This can be good or bad, and it’s up to you to decide which is which.
Still, I cannot look past it’s merits as a standalone game, and for every good aspect of it, it’s still a solid 3.5 out of 5 title in my opinion. It’s fun to play, to listen to and to look at, and playing it will NOT be a waste of time.
Maybe you’ll just have to be aware of these strange flaws and even replay it, as I did, to fully enjoy it for what it is.