Modern retro re-envisionings are not for the faint of heart

By Stephen Munn | September 27, 2008

It’s been a long time since I broke my gamer rage over the head of Viewtiful Joe, and it seems the calming glow of endlessly continuing is starting to wear off. I’ve been tackling three games recently that have all given me the same familiar feeling. Frustration.

While Paul touched on this quite eloquently and accurately by sharing his experience of Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, let me make it clear that the game is not for those who aren’t ready to return to 1986 and play through an experience not unlike the original Castlevania. This is a beautiful thing, but let’s look a little deeper. You’re not ten anymore, playing the game every day for hours after school and getting an entire summer off. The muscle memory that lets you beat Castlevania today doesn’t exist for Dracula X Chronicles. And finally, when you punch something at age 32, you’ll do a lot more damage.

The sensation is similar with Mega Man Powered Up, but somewhat less. At the default difficulty, Mega Man Powered Up is harder than the original Mega Man, with or without muscle memory. They’ve also mixed up the boss weapon weaknesses it seems. On easy difficulty, it’s a cakewalk. I close my eyes and shake at the thought of what the hard difficulty would be like. And on the subject of Mega Man is my third game right now, Mega Man 9. Mega Man 9 is really, really hard. The level designs are devious, evil, and unforgiving in a way the original games only alluded to. You’ll die in the same spot over and over and over again. You’ll make it to a boss for the first time on your last life with only a sliver of life left and they’ll kill you in a second. It will take six more tries before you can make it that far again. Are you ready for this? Are you, really?

Dracula X Chronicles is a gorgeous game to see and hear that will crush you again and again. Mega Man Powered Up is probably the most full-featured modern remake of a game I’ve ever seen, boasting difficulty options, a comprehensive level editor, playable boss characters, and a fleshed-out story… all of which was not seen in the original. Not one for purists perhaps, but it’s wonderful. Mega Man 9 is an achievement, a throwback, and a terrible, cruel joke all at once.

This, my friends, is gaming nirvana… within lies only the purest hell of games that were designed hard because long games didn’t fit on cartridges, and they didn’t want you to finish the game in an hour. I wouldn’t have it any other way.