This review was published on 06/28/2013.

Mega Man 9 is a side-scrolling platform game released for the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in 2008. It's a digital release that could be purchased on each system's respective online stores. The game was co-developed by Capcom, the company that originally created Mega Man, and Inti Creates, the company that developed the Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX games for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, respectively. Mega Man 9 is a modern game that eschews modern graphics and sound to go back to the 8-bit visuals of the Nintendo Entertainment System, where Mega Man was born. Previous to Mega Man 9, the Mega Man series was all but dead, not having a single release for over a decade. Sure, there were plenty of spin-offs between this and Mega Man 8, but many thought there would never be another traditional game in the main series. That is, until Mega Man 9 showed up. Mega Man 9 is a love letter to all those who thoroughly enjoyed the 8-bit Mega Man games, particularly Mega Man 2. It goes back to the basics in more ways than one, providing the challenging gameplay you'd come to expect out of an old NES game. Mega Man 9 is an excellently crafted game that does justice to the classic series.

Mega Man is a blue, heroic robot designed and created by the jolly Dr. Light. The blue bomber has stopped the evil Dr. Wily from taking over the world many times in the past, and the world lived in peace ever since. That peace comes to an end when robots start attacking the city for the umpteenth time. You'd think that it'd be obvious who the culprit is by now, but things are not so simple. The robots causing the trouble were all created by Light, casting suspicions to fall onto the good doctor. Somehow, Wily broadcasts a recording on public television showing Light as the culprit behind everything. Then Wily actually asks people to donate money to his bank account, so that he can build robots to stop Light. You'd have to be a moron to believe this guy. Sure enough, everyone believes him. The drama escalates when society decides to imprison Light for his alleged crimes. It's now up to Mega Man to clear Light's name and stop the real culprit.

In the last few Mega Man games, Mega Man had the ability to jump, shoot, slide, and charge his shots. In Mega Man 9, however, you can only do two of those things: jump and shoot. The developers got rid of the slide and charge shot to give the game a more basic feel, like that of Mega Man 2. This is one of the most divisive aspects of the game, as fans are totally split on whether it's a good or bad thing. Those who hated the slide and charge shot of the newer Mega Man games will welcome this change, but fans that actually liked that stuff will be disappointed. The level design has been adjusted to account for the lack of a slide and charge shot, so the omission of those abilities doesn't ruin the game. It does, however, decrease the amount of depth that the game could have had. The problem is slightly alleviated if you choose to buy the Proto Man DLC, which allows you to play as Mega Man's robotic brother. Proto Man has the slide and the charge shot, but there's a significant catch; he takes twice the damage Mega Man does. That trades one problem for an even bigger problem, so it's not worth it unless you want a challenge. Plus, the DLC costs extra money.

With no intro stage in sight, you are immediately presented with the stage select screen, where you choose one of eight Robot Masters to take down. This time the cast of Robot Masters are Concrete Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Plug Man, Tornado Man, Magma Man, Hornet Man, and Splash Woman. Yep, this is the first female Robot Master in the whole series. For as much as this game regresses, it makes major progress. She looks a little bit like a certain robot from the Mega Man Zero series. Most of the Robot Masters are designed similarly to how they were back in the 8-bit games, many of them with similar body types. An example would be Magma Man; he looks just like Needle Man from Mega Man 3, but with fire instead of needles. Concrete Man looks similar to Guts Man from the first Mega Man. Not all the Robot Masters resemble older ones, though. You still have a couple wacky designs like Galaxy Man, who basically resembles a flying saucer. Plug Man has kind of a suggestive name, similar to Wood Man and Hard Man from previous games. As for Jewel Man, well, I can't see the point to him. Maybe he's an interior decorator of some sort. Mega Man 9 has some strong, memorable Robot Master designs, and that's an important factor in any Mega Man game.

Like in nearly every game in the series, Mega Man gets Special Weapons from the Robot Masters he defeats, which he uses to exploit boss weaknesses. One issue that the Mega Man games started to develop in later titles is that Special Weapons became progressively less useful, eventually only being good for exploiting weaknesses. Mega Man 9 changes that by making almost all the Special Weapons extremely useful, for both bosses and stages. The idea is that Mega Man's regular gun is rather weak and inefficient at taking care of most things, so it's generally better to use a Special Weapon. There is a Special Weapon for every situation, like Magma Man's weapon shoots out a spread shot that reaches enemies in areas the regular gun can't. Some Special Weapons also have effects beyond damaging enemies. For instance, Hornet Man's weapon shoots out a hornet that normally homes in on foes, but it also picks up nearby items, like life energy. Some of the Special Weapons are a little overpowered, though. Tornado Man's weapon is a good example, because it completely annihilates all normal enemies on the screen. It runs out of ammo quickly, but it's still way too strong. Galaxy Man's weapon does a similar thing, where it shoots out a black hole that instantly kills nearby foes. Imbalances aside, Mega Man 9 has some of the best Special Weapons in the series.

The stages in Mega Man 9 are all incredibly difficult. Like, they're even harder than what you would normally expect from an NES Mega Man game. There are a lot of enemies and they're all paced in ways to maximize player disadvantage. Instant kill spikes and bottomless pits are positioned in nefarious ways, often requiring nearly impossible jumps. The true challenge in this game isn't the bosses, it's the stages themselves. That's a stark contrast from most Mega Man games, where the reverse is usually true. The difficulty never feels downright unfair, but it does seem like they went a little overboard this time around. One example is this part in Tornado Man's stage where you have to make a series of tough jumps while dealing with strong winds and flying enemies. On top of that, this same level also has dreaded ice physics. A lot of the challenge comes down to memorization, so you'll have to replay stages repeatedly until you get it right. The good thing about the high difficulty is that it helps make the game more memorable, since you'll have to memorize it to win. However, if you can't stomach the difficulty of the old Mega Man games, then you definitely won't be able to handle this one.

This game brings back the shop from Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8, with a few minor modifications. The shop is accessed from the stage select screen, and it's where you'll buy helpful goods. These include the familiar Energy Tanks and Weapon Tanks that restore life energy and weapon energy, but there are a couple other interesting items. There's something called a "Spike Shield," which will protect Mega Man from spikes for one time. Normally, spikes kill Mega Man in one hit, so that's a big help. You also have an item that calls Beat, the robotic bird from previous games, to carry Mega Man out of a bottomless pit if he falls into one. One of the only items that's kept as a permanent upgrade is the Energy Balancer. This conveniently eliminates the need to constantly switch weapons when restoring energy, because it automatically puts the energy into the weapon that needs it most. As for how you buy these items, you need bolts. Bolts are found inside of destroyed robots or simply hidden in the environment. Buying stuff makes the game easier, but the game will be hard no matter what.

Mega Man 9 is fan service to the highest degree. Fans of the old school Mega Man games who felt neglected for so many years are now getting the attention they always wanted. The idea of a brand new, 8-bit game coming out in 2008 is like a dream come true for NES aficionados. Then again, if the 8-bit visual style isn't your thing, then you might not enjoy Mega Man 9. Some fans would have preferred if Mega Man 9 went with a more sophisticated visual style, but all in all, Mega Man 9 seems to have pleased most folk. And despite the antiquated visuals, nothing about this game's design is antiquated; anyone who played the Mega Man games of old will immediately notice the modern design concepts this game has going for it. Years of experience have allowed the developers of the game to make an incredibly polished product. Mega Man 9 is tough, well designed, and thoughtful.

Word Count: 1,636