So, this week we are going to go on a bit of a detour.
I wasn’t planning on covering Mega Man 8 this week, but on Father’s Day I asked my son what he wanted to do and he was like “play video games with daddy!” I wasn’t going to tell him no. I even told him he could pick the game. He went right to “Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem,” but when I informed him that that game was just slightly not appropriate for a 3-year old, he happily picked Mega Man 8 as a second choice. How fitting, starting his gaming career off with the same franchise I began mine with 25 years ago.
By now just about everyone is familiar with Mega Man. I have touched on some of its more unique games and some parts of the X series, but this is the first time we will jump into the original series. Released in January of 1997, 8 is the only mainline series title for the Playstation 1 (it also came out on the Sega Saturn). It would also be the last one we would see for a while, as Mega Man & Bass (which is technically considered part of the main series) didn’t arrive in the U.S. until 2003 and a true sequel wasn’t released until 2008. Could it be that Mega Man 8 was so bad that it almost killed the franchise?
No, that certainly isn’t the case. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this is probably one of the worst Megan Games between the original and X series. But remember, this is Mega Man we are talking about. At it’s worst it’s still better than man series’ at their best. Mega Man 8 is a fine game, it lacks inspiration and has quite a few flaws, but the series’ classic gameplay is still there and still well executed.
I think the biggest thing that stood out was the art style. It is substantially more pastel-y and childish than its predecessors, even Mega Man 7. The original series is known to not be as dark or mature as the X series games, but this was a bit too much. My son loved seeing bright pink levels filled with toys and robotic trains, but it certainly wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. That being said, the cartoonish 2D look is well done, everything is crisp and clean. They do try and work some 3D stuff in, but it usually isn’t noticeable. It does get annoying when the game blocks your view with foreground objects, but its rarely a major problem. The game features cutscenes, which are awesome, 2D animations that play out the story. The voice acting is…less awesome. The dubbing is way off, Mega Man sounds like a four-year old girl and Dr. Light’s voice actor is awful to a spectacular degree.
You can’t talk about Mega Man without talking about the robot masters. You can tell they were running low on ideas at this point, because this time you battle:
-Frost Man (ok)
-Grenade Man (dull but could be worse)
-Clown Man (Most terrifying robot master ever)
-Tengu Man (What the hell is a Tengu?)
-Aqua Man (No, not THAT Aqua Man)
-Sword Man (he’s pretty cool actually)
-Search Man (Ok concept, weird design)
-Astro Man (Ok concept, awful design)
Yeah, it’s not the best list. None of these guys are all that interesting and only Sword Man really stands out. I should also mention that all of the robot masters have awful spoken dialogue. Look some of these up, they are almost as hilariously bad as Dr. Light. Also, Clown Man telling you he will “see you in his dreams” after you beat him is massively creepy.
That being said, it’s a pretty solid group from a gameplay perspective. There are some pretty solid fights here, Frost Man is one of the better “big” robot masters and Clown Man offers some a pretty solid action based fight. Aqua Man has some puzzle elements, Grenade Man changes up the fight half way through by blowing up the floor, Search Man has a unique gimmick of having to (you guessed it) search for him and Sword Man kind of plays like a lower stakes version of the Sigma fight from Mega Man X. Only Tengu Man really misses the mark, its another Storm Eagle rehash made even more annoying by his weakness weapon only traveling on the ground.
Speaking of the weapons, most of them are a great idea in theory. It’s a balanced, if uninspired bunch, a ground shot, rapid fire shot, screen clear, bomb that deals damage over time, etc. Tengu Man may have the worst boss fight, but I think he might have the best weapon, a fan blade that blows a tornado straight up when it lands on the ground. I guess someone at Capcom agrees with me too, its one of Mega Man’s attacks in “Marvel vs. Capcom 2.” The coolest thing though is that Mega Man can use the tornado to lift himself up, creating an alternate way to clear gaps or reach high places. That was a common theme here, as a lot of these weapons have secondary uses that the game forces you to take advantage of. For the first in Mega Man history, certain stages require the use of certain robot master weapons to complete. That’s okay, MM8 retains its predecessor’s format where you have to defeat the first four robot masters before you can battle the next four, but it still felt a little unnecessary.
The problem here though, and it’s a big one, is that all these weapons do the same amount of damage as your mega buster. Unless a boss is weak to the weapon, each hits for only one point of damage. That essentially makes most of them useless for combat. Why Mega Man would use the Flame Sword, a close range attack, instead of the buster is beyond me. In a game that was properly balanced, the sword would do much more damage than a projectile. That’s supposed to be the reward for taking the risk of getting close to an enemy. The only weapons worth using outside of their alternate applications are the grenades, which deal damage over time, and the Astro Crush, which is a screen clear.
That’s really the biggest disappointment as it essentially forces you to play the game in only one way. Part of the fun of Mega Man games is that you can attack each level with a variety of approaches and strategies. Not having a use for most of the weapons completely removes that. It’s a shame too because there are some interesting level design choices here. I especially like the Aqua Man stage, where you fight a mini boss while falling down a water fall. Tengu Man’s stage has some pretty good platforming and an auto scroller segment that is actually fun. The second half of Sword Man’s stage is cool with the lava and moving platforms and Grenade Man and Search Man’s stages offer some quality running and gunning. Astro Man and the first half of Sword Man tried to be a little too cute with the puzzles though and Frost Man’s auto scrolling section sucks (you can try and hide these awful ride chaser things all you want Capcom, we see right through it). Again, you pretty much have to approach these all in the same way.
There is still plenty of fun to be had with Mega Man 8. It’s a well made game with responsive controls, interesting action and solid music. I also find it to be by far the easiest of the original series games, so maybe it would be more accessible to first time Mega Man players than other, more difficult titles. My son is a little too young to actually play yet, but this is the kind of game I would start him on. It’s bright and colorful, accessible and not punishingly difficult. That said, longtime Mega Man fans will probably find MM8 disappointing. It doesn’t really do anything new and is probably a little too childish for its own good. I mentioned before it’s definitely one of the worst games across the original and X series. I think its better than Mega Man and Bass and Mega Man X6, and could debatable be better than one or two others. That might spell doom and gloom for a lesser series, but Mega Man titles are all so well done you can’t go wrong with most of them.
7.5/10
I wasn’t planning on covering Mega Man 8 this week, but on Father’s Day I asked my son what he wanted to do and he was like “play video games with daddy!” I wasn’t going to tell him no. I even told him he could pick the game. He went right to “Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem,” but when I informed him that that game was just slightly not appropriate for a 3-year old, he happily picked Mega Man 8 as a second choice. How fitting, starting his gaming career off with the same franchise I began mine with 25 years ago.
By now just about everyone is familiar with Mega Man. I have touched on some of its more unique games and some parts of the X series, but this is the first time we will jump into the original series. Released in January of 1997, 8 is the only mainline series title for the Playstation 1 (it also came out on the Sega Saturn). It would also be the last one we would see for a while, as Mega Man & Bass (which is technically considered part of the main series) didn’t arrive in the U.S. until 2003 and a true sequel wasn’t released until 2008. Could it be that Mega Man 8 was so bad that it almost killed the franchise?
No, that certainly isn’t the case. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this is probably one of the worst Megan Games between the original and X series. But remember, this is Mega Man we are talking about. At it’s worst it’s still better than man series’ at their best. Mega Man 8 is a fine game, it lacks inspiration and has quite a few flaws, but the series’ classic gameplay is still there and still well executed.
I think the biggest thing that stood out was the art style. It is substantially more pastel-y and childish than its predecessors, even Mega Man 7. The original series is known to not be as dark or mature as the X series games, but this was a bit too much. My son loved seeing bright pink levels filled with toys and robotic trains, but it certainly wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. That being said, the cartoonish 2D look is well done, everything is crisp and clean. They do try and work some 3D stuff in, but it usually isn’t noticeable. It does get annoying when the game blocks your view with foreground objects, but its rarely a major problem. The game features cutscenes, which are awesome, 2D animations that play out the story. The voice acting is…less awesome. The dubbing is way off, Mega Man sounds like a four-year old girl and Dr. Light’s voice actor is awful to a spectacular degree.
You can’t talk about Mega Man without talking about the robot masters. You can tell they were running low on ideas at this point, because this time you battle:
-Frost Man (ok)
-Grenade Man (dull but could be worse)
-Clown Man (Most terrifying robot master ever)
-Tengu Man (What the hell is a Tengu?)
-Aqua Man (No, not THAT Aqua Man)
-Sword Man (he’s pretty cool actually)
-Search Man (Ok concept, weird design)
-Astro Man (Ok concept, awful design)
Yeah, it’s not the best list. None of these guys are all that interesting and only Sword Man really stands out. I should also mention that all of the robot masters have awful spoken dialogue. Look some of these up, they are almost as hilariously bad as Dr. Light. Also, Clown Man telling you he will “see you in his dreams” after you beat him is massively creepy.
That being said, it’s a pretty solid group from a gameplay perspective. There are some pretty solid fights here, Frost Man is one of the better “big” robot masters and Clown Man offers some a pretty solid action based fight. Aqua Man has some puzzle elements, Grenade Man changes up the fight half way through by blowing up the floor, Search Man has a unique gimmick of having to (you guessed it) search for him and Sword Man kind of plays like a lower stakes version of the Sigma fight from Mega Man X. Only Tengu Man really misses the mark, its another Storm Eagle rehash made even more annoying by his weakness weapon only traveling on the ground.
Speaking of the weapons, most of them are a great idea in theory. It’s a balanced, if uninspired bunch, a ground shot, rapid fire shot, screen clear, bomb that deals damage over time, etc. Tengu Man may have the worst boss fight, but I think he might have the best weapon, a fan blade that blows a tornado straight up when it lands on the ground. I guess someone at Capcom agrees with me too, its one of Mega Man’s attacks in “Marvel vs. Capcom 2.” The coolest thing though is that Mega Man can use the tornado to lift himself up, creating an alternate way to clear gaps or reach high places. That was a common theme here, as a lot of these weapons have secondary uses that the game forces you to take advantage of. For the first in Mega Man history, certain stages require the use of certain robot master weapons to complete. That’s okay, MM8 retains its predecessor’s format where you have to defeat the first four robot masters before you can battle the next four, but it still felt a little unnecessary.
The problem here though, and it’s a big one, is that all these weapons do the same amount of damage as your mega buster. Unless a boss is weak to the weapon, each hits for only one point of damage. That essentially makes most of them useless for combat. Why Mega Man would use the Flame Sword, a close range attack, instead of the buster is beyond me. In a game that was properly balanced, the sword would do much more damage than a projectile. That’s supposed to be the reward for taking the risk of getting close to an enemy. The only weapons worth using outside of their alternate applications are the grenades, which deal damage over time, and the Astro Crush, which is a screen clear.
That’s really the biggest disappointment as it essentially forces you to play the game in only one way. Part of the fun of Mega Man games is that you can attack each level with a variety of approaches and strategies. Not having a use for most of the weapons completely removes that. It’s a shame too because there are some interesting level design choices here. I especially like the Aqua Man stage, where you fight a mini boss while falling down a water fall. Tengu Man’s stage has some pretty good platforming and an auto scroller segment that is actually fun. The second half of Sword Man’s stage is cool with the lava and moving platforms and Grenade Man and Search Man’s stages offer some quality running and gunning. Astro Man and the first half of Sword Man tried to be a little too cute with the puzzles though and Frost Man’s auto scrolling section sucks (you can try and hide these awful ride chaser things all you want Capcom, we see right through it). Again, you pretty much have to approach these all in the same way.
There is still plenty of fun to be had with Mega Man 8. It’s a well made game with responsive controls, interesting action and solid music. I also find it to be by far the easiest of the original series games, so maybe it would be more accessible to first time Mega Man players than other, more difficult titles. My son is a little too young to actually play yet, but this is the kind of game I would start him on. It’s bright and colorful, accessible and not punishingly difficult. That said, longtime Mega Man fans will probably find MM8 disappointing. It doesn’t really do anything new and is probably a little too childish for its own good. I mentioned before it’s definitely one of the worst games across the original and X series. I think its better than Mega Man and Bass and Mega Man X6, and could debatable be better than one or two others. That might spell doom and gloom for a lesser series, but Mega Man titles are all so well done you can’t go wrong with most of them.
7.5/10
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