PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Mega Man 9
by Jem Alexander 
{ Jul 23rd 2008 at 9:30PM }
Mega Man 2 is my earliest truly memorable gameplay experience, so it's a bizarre feeling to be getting hands-on time with a game that looks identical fifteen years later. Make no bones about it, though. Mega Man 9 looks identical to the old NES games from the series. Capcom said they were taking the series back to its roots, and that's what they've done; difficulty included.
If you've never played a NES Mega Man game, firstly -- shame on you! Secondly, you'll probably be confused by Mega Man 9's graphics. These are pixelated 8-bit sprite graphics at their finest. In fact, the game looks like it borrows assets from Mega Man 2. Particularly the forest level, where the background looks almost identical.
Speaking of levels, there were only two available and they were both hard as nails. Mega Man 9 is going to make you weep like no modern game has done in years. During the levels I played, Mega Man doesn't have any particularly special abilities. No charge beam and no slide tackle. Rush returns with a spring in his back, letting you reach higher ledges, but that's it. There's no indication whether you'll be able to pick up these skills later in the game or not, but I'm hoping so. Even Mega Man 4 had the charge beam.
Gallery: Mega Man 9
Even the sound effects and music escaped the passage of time, both are classic 8-bit Mega Man. As a result fans' brains will be torn in two as an overwhelming sense of nostalgia collides with the knowledge that this is an all new adventure for the character. A bizarre feeling.
Jumping puzzles involving disappearing and reappearing blocks are back with a vengeance in Mega Man 9. As are annoying mid-level boss characters who take up half the screen and have even bigger attack patterns. Did I mention this game was hard? Apparently only a handful of people have beat the levels shown at E3 -- and they're Capcom employees. The difficulty will probably be toned down for the official release, but you never know.
To sum up, Mega Man 9 is a NES Mega Man game that is late to the party by about 20 years. Despite that the game looks and plays great, as long as you can stand the 8-bit graphics. If you're a fan of the series then you'll love this and feel right at home. Otherwise, steer clear. Unless, of course, you've never played a classic Mega Man title, in which case you should probably pick this up and have a go. If you like it you can go back and play the others. At least you won't have a hard time adjusting to the aged graphics.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gaucho @ Jul 23rd 2008 9:50PM
"Capcom said they were taking the series back to its routes"
They probably meant back to its roots.
Nick Doerr @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:07PM
Here's the thing. The NES games couldn't handle all the action of the old MegaMan games. Characters would flash and disappear because of how the sprites were created, slowdown was horrendous in certain levels... you get what I mean. They were bogged down by the NES.
That's why I'm so excited for this. It should run super clean, super crisp, and super fast. NES MegaMan, but without the hindrance of 8-bit systems. There's the difference.
VeganTnT @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:11PM
Charge Beams are for wimps...
God I hope they put it in the game.
I love the series but I used to break so many controllers out of frustration up until the 4th game where we got Slide and Mega Buster.
JDigital @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:35PM
Its cool that a company has the balls to keep it oldschool... can you imagine the horrid game that would be Mega Man if you attempted to update the graphics?
miglaugh @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:43PM
It's so ugly I know I won't buy it.
Couldn't they have kept the 2d gameplay and just added some flare like bionic commando rearmed? Or at the very least just updated the sprites to HD like street fighter?
Luigi193 @ Jul 24th 2008 12:18AM
Not everything is about flashy graphics...
The purpose was to make it JUST like the NES versions...
TDLF @ Sep 22nd 2008 2:25PM
To Luigi193:
Then Capcom should have made it for the NES and charged me the $0.50 that it's actually worth; Instead they're trying to rip us off with reused art assets from Mega Man 2 on a $200 - $400 console and no new game play.
Not everything is about flashy graphics, but treating MM9 like BC:R would not have hurt the game in any way.
Look, a company can either offer new game play improvements, offer new graphics, or both. If they keep everything the same, then why should I spend my money on a game that is no different than the one I already have?
velocitySTRIKE @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:53PM
It's not often you read a Wii preview on a PS3 site...sounds like a blast anyhow. I've never played a Mega Man game so I guess there's always someplace to start.
Todd @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:30PM
Just buy the MegaMan Anniversary Collection. It has MegaMan-MegaMan 8 on one disc. It's pretty fantastic (as is the MegaMan X Collection).
Sueng @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:35PM
I wonder. Will this be PSP compatible? It'd be pretty cool to have this on the go.
Neuromancer @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:43PM
What's interesting is Mega Man 2 was most people's favorite in the series and was known for being one of the easiest too. So why make this one so hard? It doesn't make any sense.
Nate @ Jul 24th 2008 12:39AM
I've only played Mega Man and Mega Man 2. What's all this rushing and slide tackling nonsense? Back in my day, if we wanted to kill something, we had to shoot it. I beat both those games playing without any kind of cheats. Yeah, it was hard, but it was a lot of fun.
However, that being said, I was 8. I am no longer 8, and no longer enjoy most of the things I did when I was eight. Computer graphics have come a long way in 20+ years. There's no reason they couldn't update the graphics and the sound a la bionic commando, like someone else said. At least then it would be tolerable.
Janos2615 @ Jul 24th 2008 1:16AM
Capcom will probably make a fortune with this.
I hope this will have remote play support...I doubt it though.
alice @ Jul 24th 2008 2:51AM
This is awesome. I'm sick and tired of "graphics" this and "textures" that. Have we all forgotten that we're playing GAMES?
Loke @ Aug 7th 2008 11:17PM
Well, you can already play all the NES Megamans on PSP using the NES emulator. It works perfectly.
don_sf @ Jul 24th 2008 6:47AM
megaman 4 was the best in the series, no doutb.
however, i do hate to imagine the pixelation on a 52" 1080p hdtv lol.
doing this is great, because personaly i felt that the 2d mario games have always been better than the 3d ones.
what nintendo did the new super mario brothers for the ds was amazing, a perfect old style gameplay with new, fresh updated graphics. this combination of high(er) resolution characters and the old style gameplay was a very nice experience.
it would have been better if they took that route with megaman. just updated the character models and scenery. and come on, they should have the mega buster at least come on.
MakaiOokami @ Jul 24th 2008 1:39PM
I know... what would have been so hard about making an SNES like version? That would have been what I would have done. The vibrant colors, the beautiful sprites... Meg Man 8 was a great game by many means as well.
silverwolf761 @ Jul 24th 2008 9:44AM
Anyone know if they're including Widescreen support, or will it be vertically letterboxed?
Comtar @ Jul 24th 2008 12:25PM
"""[Editor's note: We played the Wii version of this game. If you're worried about the graphics being different for the PS3 version ... you're probably looking at the wrong hands-on article.]"""
Wait... are people really expecting the PS3 version to have any different level of graphics over the Wii version?
KiraXD @ Jul 24th 2008 12:14PM
im sure if its for PSN, it will be widescreen.
MakaiOokami @ Jul 24th 2008 1:37PM
Megaman 7 was my favorite game. It was the game that I loved and played the most even though I've owned an NES since around the time I was born, Mega Man is a game series I've played a lot of.
I don't think they had to take it all the way back to NES I would have like to see SNES look of it. Mega Man 8 was a great game too... now I feel I must whip out Mega Man Anniversary Collection and start dying all over again. :P
Majed Athab @ Jul 24th 2008 6:12PM
Mega Man rules.
Sabi @ Oct 11th 2008 3:34PM
I beat every megaman game to date, and this game will not stop me!!!
Lets go Buster Shot!!!!
The truth is these games are hard because they make the environment cheap to play against for example, no Air Control after getting hit, Enemy respawns if you leave screen etc...
but thats what gives the oppurtunity to us players to prove we are worthy of carrying a buster one day...