the play of this game feels rough and clumsy at first but like all the best NES games those chunky ass controls are really factored into the level and enemy designs in ways that make sure you know how to play the game but once you DO have a handle on it, boy, you can just glide through these levels. HOWEVER, ALSO like many NES games, that mix of really nice and deliberate level and encounter design is interspersed with some outrageously unfair bullshit like Mega Man's absolutely absurd fall speed into screens that lead to spike pits you can't see until you've committed to the jump or several fights that just force you to take damage based on the random chance of whether an enemy spawns in one of three possible locations.

All of these little frustrations are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, and coupled with surprisingly generous checkpointing and infinite continues, plus really short levels in general, Mega Man doesn't outstay its welcome even when the ration leans closer to frustrating than fun for me in the Wiley levels, which are basically the back half of the game.

And honestly that stuff is only like half of the experience. The AESTHETICS of Mega Man are such a JOY dude, some of the absolute most charming pixel art of its generation, extremely satisfying sound design, some bangin' tunes. Even when the game was pissing me off it was hard to get too mad at it because just existing in the space of this world is so fun and energizing.

I've never played a mega man before and after this starter I'm deffo ready to get to the iconic sequels, but even as a Clear First Stab at something that will EVENTUALLY be great, I think mega man makes a strong case for itself. Sometimes you can just tell immediately why things became iconic. This just has it.