Note: MegaMan Legacy Collection Volume 1 for Nintendo Switch was used for this review. Some amount of rewind and saving was used that was not present in the original NES/Famicom release
"MegaMan" is an action platformer published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System in which you use a variety of ammo-limited weapons and gadgets earned by beating bosses to take the fight to evil scientist Doctor Albert Wiley. If I were to describe the hook of the MegaMan series to a casual player who is perhaps a tad younger and wanting to see if the series is for them I'd say the mainline series has three defining characteristics on the macro level:
1) Percision-based platforming with ranged weaponry.
2) Boss prep strategy/non-linearity in the early game.
3) weapon experimentation/light exploration (not exploration in the sense of a Metroidvania but more that you are rewarded for getting to hard to reach places usually in the form of extra lives or ammo).
Since this is my first time covering an entry in this franchise I'd also like to highlight a general shortcoming I find has come up when playing these games in the past. Mainly that I generally find Classic MegaMan bosses to be a tad plain to fight. The fights tend to amount to several "skill checks" in the form of:
1) Managing your HP/lives during the stage to ensure you have resources to burn on learning the pattern and fishing for weaknesses. (I generally like this part since it leans on the strength of the platforming by rewarding thorough and complete execution)
2) Executing on said pattern. This frequently turns into replaying a stage until you internalize the boss patterns to the point of muscle memory. I find this pretty tedious even if I can understand it as a quirk of this era of game design. I might be more open to this if the timings on certain bosses like FireMan and Yellow Devil weren't so strict.
With that context out of the way, I will say I find the original MegaMan to be a respectable prototype to the franchise highs of MegaMan 2 + 3. I'd certainly go back to it more than comparable entries in other franchises like say Super Mario Brothers or the original Legend Of Zelda though it still certainly has its antiquated elements. The art style for example feels slightly off here compared to the rest of the NES entries (mainly in the form of the color pallet feeling slightly off but this could 100% be all in my head). The game also features a rather superfluous scoring system as a quirk of the game releasing in an era where arcade gaming was still the most dominant form of the medium and console games were trying to sell themselves as the home version of that experience. Perhaps the most egregious of these outdated aspects is the non-linear aspects of the design lacking polish in certain regards.
In theory, you are meant to be able to tackle robot master stages in any order you want but in practice, you basically always have to go Gutsman first or second if you want to play optimally since the OP platforming gadget known as the magnet beam (which is basically required to finish the gun platform parts of Iceman's stage and literally required for Wiley Castle stage 1) can only be unlocked by using his weapon at the halfway point of Elecman's stage. Even putting that flaw aside Cutman being slightly weak to the default gun also means you are overwhelmingly pressured to pick him first by the game.
These misgivings aside though I generally find the game to be a satisfying and breezy experience held together by the rest of the level design being fair building on the design philosophy of introducing a platforming stage gimmick(s) and remixing them across several contexts. Spike free-falling and block platform segments have become a franchise staple and retro game meme for a good reason. Combine that with some solid music and an art direction ahead of many of its contemporaries and you have one of the NES's strongest first outings.
"MegaMan" is an action platformer published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System in which you use a variety of ammo-limited weapons and gadgets earned by beating bosses to take the fight to evil scientist Doctor Albert Wiley. If I were to describe the hook of the MegaMan series to a casual player who is perhaps a tad younger and wanting to see if the series is for them I'd say the mainline series has three defining characteristics on the macro level:
1) Percision-based platforming with ranged weaponry.
2) Boss prep strategy/non-linearity in the early game.
3) weapon experimentation/light exploration (not exploration in the sense of a Metroidvania but more that you are rewarded for getting to hard to reach places usually in the form of extra lives or ammo).
Since this is my first time covering an entry in this franchise I'd also like to highlight a general shortcoming I find has come up when playing these games in the past. Mainly that I generally find Classic MegaMan bosses to be a tad plain to fight. The fights tend to amount to several "skill checks" in the form of:
1) Managing your HP/lives during the stage to ensure you have resources to burn on learning the pattern and fishing for weaknesses. (I generally like this part since it leans on the strength of the platforming by rewarding thorough and complete execution)
2) Executing on said pattern. This frequently turns into replaying a stage until you internalize the boss patterns to the point of muscle memory. I find this pretty tedious even if I can understand it as a quirk of this era of game design. I might be more open to this if the timings on certain bosses like FireMan and Yellow Devil weren't so strict.
With that context out of the way, I will say I find the original MegaMan to be a respectable prototype to the franchise highs of MegaMan 2 + 3. I'd certainly go back to it more than comparable entries in other franchises like say Super Mario Brothers or the original Legend Of Zelda though it still certainly has its antiquated elements. The art style for example feels slightly off here compared to the rest of the NES entries (mainly in the form of the color pallet feeling slightly off but this could 100% be all in my head). The game also features a rather superfluous scoring system as a quirk of the game releasing in an era where arcade gaming was still the most dominant form of the medium and console games were trying to sell themselves as the home version of that experience. Perhaps the most egregious of these outdated aspects is the non-linear aspects of the design lacking polish in certain regards.
In theory, you are meant to be able to tackle robot master stages in any order you want but in practice, you basically always have to go Gutsman first or second if you want to play optimally since the OP platforming gadget known as the magnet beam (which is basically required to finish the gun platform parts of Iceman's stage and literally required for Wiley Castle stage 1) can only be unlocked by using his weapon at the halfway point of Elecman's stage. Even putting that flaw aside Cutman being slightly weak to the default gun also means you are overwhelmingly pressured to pick him first by the game.
These misgivings aside though I generally find the game to be a satisfying and breezy experience held together by the rest of the level design being fair building on the design philosophy of introducing a platforming stage gimmick(s) and remixing them across several contexts. Spike free-falling and block platform segments have become a franchise staple and retro game meme for a good reason. Combine that with some solid music and an art direction ahead of many of its contemporaries and you have one of the NES's strongest first outings.