Mega Man is Mega Okay ( Mega Man 1 Review )

A Nostalgic Intro

A few weeks ago I started to play through the Mega Man series on my Twitch channel - twitch.com/BradicalRadical - as part of my Throwback Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I play a retro game and stream it live. I chose Mega Man, partly because I was craving that platforming style and partly because Mega Man Zero Collection was just released on Steam so it felt topical. Speaking of which, the version I played was the Mega Man Legacy Collection on Steam. What does this mean in regards to the review and my opinion of it? Not much - only that my viewers tend to give me grief for using the rewind feature during my play through, thus making Throwback Tuesday's nickname - Bully Brad Tuesday. I love my friends. 

So starting the game up I was hit immediately with a wave of nostalgia. The classic Mega Man music almost overwhelmed me with memories of the past. The 8 bit soundtrack is still a masterpiece and definitely one that should be played on repeat. I am happy to say that this is maintained throughout the game, no track ever growing stale or annoying. 

The visuals are also still really well down. The game has aged beautifully, though that could be because the Legacy Collection did convert the 8-bit art into HD. Either way, everything was easily distinguishable and everything had an enjoyable futuristic feel. The game looks nice and does so through it's entirety. 

As far as controls go, the game has basic, easy to comprehend controls. You can jump and shoot. You can switch to an enemy's ability whenever that boss is defeated. Not much more to explain or review. It controls well enough and I never found myself having a hard time moving Mega Man. 

The story is also basic and simple. Dr. Wiley has evil robots at his disposal and he is planning to do evil with them. It is up to Mega Man to stop him. Simple, clean and doesn't need to be anything more. 

So if I think the game sounds incredible, looks wonderful, controls well enough and has a simple but serviceable story one could conclude that I loved every aspect of this game. But allow me to destroy that conclusion. 

Mega Man Made Me Angry Man

I have two big gripes with Mega Man. The first can be explained away as it being a product of its time. It is an old game that came out in the 80s. As such, it was expensive to make - even more so than what it is today. Games also didn't make nearly the revenue that they do nowadays. As a result, video games had to be unbearably difficult so that players would both receive a sense of accomplishment and will get their money's worth out of it. It is purposefully difficult so that the player would play it for longer periods of time, throwing attempt after attempt at the game. During my stream, which at the time of this writing I am still editing the videos, I had over 83 deaths. So I threw myself at this game quite a few times. 

Now my complaint with the difficulty is a weak one. Part of what upsets me is that at times it feels as though the game is unfair. It's manufactured difficulty, so to speak. But, as I said, this is easily explained away and doesn't affect the game's final score here. I do not think the game being hard hurts the game. 

I do believe that the game requiring a very particular item in order to progress does hurt the game. As many fans know, there is an item that will create platforms Mega Man can jump on. This item is found in Elec Man's stage and requires Guts Man's ability so that you can progress in Wiley Stage 1. This. Is. Frustrating. After spending close to 20 to 30 minutes just getting to that part in Wiley Stage 1, I am then told that I am unable to move forward because I need a power up the game made no mention of me needing. All that frustration is erased and I have to leave the stage just to do it all over again. And the power up is never used again at any other point in the game. Never before and never again after this one platforming segment. I can't help but call this what it is... bad game design. Now I don't mind having to back track and revisit levels in certain games - Metroid games are notorious for this and I don't mind it one bit in Super Metroid. But Mega Man has never had this kind of level exploration or a concept of replaying the level once it has been beaten. It comes out of left field. Now admittedly, since this is the first in the series, it is hard to say what the formula is exactly - if we are to view this game as though the rest of the series did not exist. Regardless, we're given no indication that we will need the item before attempting Wiley Stage 1. This could have easily been solved by just placing the item in the stage in which we use it. This caused a great deal of frustration and does take a point off. 

Final Verdict

Now other than what I said, I still do believe Mega Man is a fantastic game and deserves to be placed in the Gaming Hall of Fame - if such a thing exists. It's still wildly fun and looks incredible. The music is addicting and the game birthed the "one more try" mentality that still keeps me stubborn when faced with a hard game. I enjoy this game and absolutely would tell anyone and everyone to play through it. That being said, it isn't perfect... but it gets pretty close. My rating for Mega Man is... 

8/10

What do you think of the original Mega Man? Did my complaints seem valid or do I just need to get good? Let me know in the comments below and consider subscribing to the this blog so that you get email updates every time I post something new. Thanks for reading and as always; Good Night and Joy Be With You All.