Review: Mega Man 9

By Stephen Munn | January 11, 2009

What is it?

Mega Man 9 is the first episode in the original Mega Man series in more than a decade. It’s a download-only game, and is available on all three of the home consoles for their equivalent of $10. What makes the game even more remarkable is Capcom’s decision to produce the game in the style of the first six games. As a result, the gameplay would be right at home on a classic NES console in the mid 1980s.

Those who are fans of those old games know that the design, while limited by the hardware of the time, is pretty timeless. Capcom pulled off some impressive tricks back then, and naturally we see plenty of that in this game, and then some.

The concept is not complicated. You play as Mega Man, a blue robot who was repurposed for battle by creator Dr. Light in order to take down a group of enemy robots after marching through their impossibly challenging stages. The games have a rock-scissors-paper mechanic to them. When you defeat a robot master, you gain the ability to use a related weapon from it. This weapon will most likely be overpowered against another robot master in the game, and it continues from there. While all the masters can be taken down with your default mega buster gun, it’s easier to figure out their weakness.

How does it play?

Capcom assigned Inti Creates to the task of reproducing that Mega Man feel and the result is flawless. The physics in the game feel exactly like they’re supposed to, the speed of everything feels right, and the controls are generally nice and responsive, though I found the PS3 controller or even Classic Controller superior to the Wii Remote. It is possible to play with the Gamecube controller on the Wii as well, which means if you have an arcade stick you could go that route. Another idea would be to use one of those NES to Gamecube controller adapters for this. No matter which controller you use, all the controls can be customized in the game, so you can play it however you like.

The challenge level in Mega Man 9 is at least equal to that in the early Mega Man games. That is to say, don’t play this game if you can’t be really zen about it, or you’re likely to damage something or someone. I played the game for a very long time before reaching a point where I felt I could review it, though the game’s clock only shows a few hours. As in those first games, this one relies heavily on memorization. As a result, by the time you take down a robot master, you most likely will be able to complete the stage that comes before with your eyes closed as long as you don’t get flustered.

How does it look and sound?

The game looks exactly like an NES game. Whether that’s good or bad depends on your personal taste. I think it works perfectly for the mechanics of this game, not to mention the appeal due to nostalgia. The music is of much higher quality than we were getting late in the Mega Man games. Not all of it is up to the excellence we saw in the first three Mega Man titles, but it’s definitely great. One of the criticisms of everything from Mega Man 7 on is that the increased detail got in the way of the pleasurably simple mechanics of run, jump, shoot, perhaps slide. This one goes back to basics to great effect, even giving you the option of setting the game to slow down and flicker when too much is going on, if that’s the way you roll.

The game doesn’t run in widescreen, so if you’re using your PS3 in HD, Mega Man 9 is going to run boxed on the screen. In addition to this, the edges of the pixels look smoothed, which makes the game look a little muddier than it does on Wii. While the game will run boxed on Wii as well if you’ve got a widescreen TV, the fact that the image is sharp goes a long way to making it look better. Combine this effect with the controller issues and you can make your own choice on which platform is better to play it on. In the end, pick it up for whichever you prefer. It’s certainly going to be easier to find the space for the game on your PS3 due to the presence of the hard drive, but if you’ve got the room and a controller alternative to the Wii Remote, Wii might be the way to go. If your 360 has a hard drive, you could do that too. Buy it for your favorite and be happy you did.

The music in the game is about up to the incredible standards set around Mega Man 3. While there isn’t much here that is quite as catchy as the best of Mega Man 2 and 3, it’s right up there and you’ll love it if you loved those. Who knows, maybe we’ll look back on 9 as better when we’ve got 20 years of nostalgia on top of it as well.

How’s the replay value?

The Achievements that are present for the 360 version of the game are present on all platforms. There’s a list of tasks to perform in-game in order to unlock, and just like an Achievement or Trophy, they pop right up on the screen when you fulfill the requirement. You’ll make a lot of them without trying, like by killing 100 enemies, 200 enemies, and so forth. Many of these tasks are very hard to imagine, like taking down a boss without taking damage, or completing the game without taking damage. It would take a lot of time and dedication to pull these off, and there’s really no reward to it aside from personal satisfaction. On the other hand, I’ve made that argument about achievements and trophies before. What’s the point beyond the personal accomplishment and perhaps bragging rights? Come to think of it, that’s all good.

Once you’ve pounded the life out of the game, go to the in-game DLC menu and pick up a Proto Man costume or even more punishing difficulty levels for just a couple dollars more. You’ll run out of fingertips before you run out of stuff to do in this game.

Is it worth it?

If you played and loved Mega Man through Mega Man 3, you’ll love this game as well. It really fits in nicely with those games in every way, and somehow managed to turn out to be exactly what we all wanted it to be after years of begging Capcom to do it. How often does that happen?

If you’ve got the roots and zen for it, Mega Man 9 for WiiWare, PSN, and XBLA gets five out of five. So does Capcom for answering the prayers of Mega fans everywhere. Rockman and roll, baby.