Retro Review: Mega Man

Reviewed Platform: NES

Release Year: 1991

Dr Wily, who is Dr Light’s assistant, is angry that his contributions are going unrecognised by the rest of the World. He re-programs six industrial robots, the Robot Masters, and attempts to use them to gain world domination. He also tries to re-program the lab robot Rock, but he resists. In a bid to stop Dr Wily, Dr Light upgrades Rock into a fighting robot named Mega Man. It’s your job, as Mega Man, to defeat the Robot Masters and ultimately foil Dr Wily’s attempt at World domination.

From the look of Mega Man, you may go into it thinking that it’s a relatively pick-up-and-play game, however, this is not the case at all. Mega Man is definitely one of the harder games you’re likely to play. The main menu gives you a choice of six levels (one for each of the Robot Masters), and it’s entirely up to you which order you play them in, although playing them in a certain order makes the game slightly easier.

Each one follows the standard formula, having you shoot and platform your way to the end, where you’ll face a Robot Master. This may sound simple, but it’s probably best to set aside an entire afternoon (or even day, depending on your ability) if you want to complete just one level. Enemies follow varied attack patters and travel at different speeds when attacking you. There can be lots of them, so if you fail to deal with them quickly you may find yourself overwhelmed and can take a huge amount of damage in a very short space of time. There are moving platforms which require split-second timing of jumps and Jedi reflexes, and platforms that appear and disappear in sequence which you must navigate to proceed. The layout of the levels can also cause some frustration, with enemies placed at extremely annoying locations. Getting hit whilst on a ladder causes you to fall back down, and getting hit near an edge can send you falling to your death.

Mega Man controls reasonably well, although he does slide a bit when moving or jumping. When precision jumping is required, the slide can be banana-splittingly frustrating, as you have to compensate for it constantly. Completing the levels isn’t impossible – you have your trusty arm cannon with which to decimate enemies, and whilst the basic cannon is a little weak, is sufficient. You can also acquire upgrades after beating the Robot Masters, which gives you a more powerful attack, although the ammo is limited and you must search for it in the levels. Getting through the platforming areas is more trial and error than anything else, coupled with a heavy dose of luck.

This is really where Mega Man shines. It’s a very bright game, everything is nicely coloured and nothing feels drab or boring. The sprites used are nicely detailed, as are the transitions and other animations present. Mega Man’s sprites stand out the most, with great colours and fine detailing. Each level has its own theme depending on the Robot Master at the end (Fire Man has a fire themed level, Ice Man has an ice themed level etc), and thus are unique in both their styling and colour palette used. Enemy designs are quite odd though, so you’ll often find yourself being attacked by a flying, grinning face, or shot at by a random object.

As far as audio is concerned, Mega Man doesn’t do too badly. Each level has its own music, and whilst these are ultimately loops of the same thing over and over, they’re quite catchy. However, if you’re not that great at the game you’ll probably be spending quite a long time in each level, so if you’re not a fan of them this could be an issue. Nearly everything has some sort of theme and all of them are relatively pleasant to hear; there is also the usual smattering of other sound effects for shooting or taking damage, but they’re not hugely memorable.

All in all, Mega Man isn’t a bad game, just not as deserving of all the praise as it could be. Whilst it spawned a hugely successful series of games, it’s not the best one out of them. It’s a charming and good looking game with some unique features, but it’s crazily hard. The levels range from mildly annoying to ludicrously impossible, and, whilst some see this as a challenge, it’s a complete turn-off for others. You’re not going to be able to get close to completing the game (or even one level) without a serious amount of dedication, but if you love a good challenge then Mega Man is the game for you.