Oh hells yes it’s time for Megaman 9!
Megaman 9 was finally released for PS3 now on September 25th so I had to get it right away and you should too.
If you’ve ever played the old style Megaman for the Nes you should be familiar with Megaman 9. With Megaman 9 Capcom decided to go back to it’s old roots again to celebrate the continuation of the original Megaman saga.
Meaning that the old Nes graphics with the 8-bit sound complete with classical Nes bugs and glitches is back! The screen flickering can be disabled as an option though for those who can’t completely deal with the oldschool gameplay.
Megaman 9 isn’t only a long sought after sequel to a great game series. It is also somewhat of a revival of the series seeing how things only strayed further and further away from the series after Megaman 8 and Megaman X3 which also many fans could agree on.
Being an old style Megaman game, there is no slide move nor a chargeable mega buster to help you on your way. So you will have to put up with a run and gun adventure. =P
New additions in this game is an item store where you can buy several items using screws you find scattered throughout the levels of the game. Examples of items you can buy are:
E-Tanks, Extra Lives, Beat Call and Hair Style if you feel like playing hardcore.
Buying the hairstyle item will remove Megaman’s helm and make you take more damage from enemies. When you have bought the hairstyle item you can buy back your helm in case you feel tired of dying.
There is also 50 different challenges in the game which is best described as achievements. When you meet a certain requirement, a box will pop up saying that you got the challenge and the challenge will be marked by a golden crown in your challenges list.
Each challenge unlocked grants 2% of the total on the list and they vary between killing numerous enemies to completing the game for the 30th time.
To give people an idea about how long time things might take on your first time playing the game assuming you have played Megaman before, here is my current status:
Playtime: 01:53:11
Bosses beaten:
Concrete Man
Magma Man
Hornet Man
Tornado Man.
Items collected:
E-Tank: 9 (MAX)
Extra Lives: 9 (MAX)
Mystery Tank: 1 (MAX)
Screws: 64
Challenges acquired: 5
24: Conqueror - Defeat your 100th enemy.
25: Vanquisher - Defeat your 500th enemy.
34: Hard Rock - Reach a boss’s room without getting damaged.
37: Fantastic 9 - Accumulate 9 lives.
40: Eco Fighter - Defeat a boss with only the mega buster.
I personally recommend playing Concrete Man’s stage first as the stage is pretty easy and it helps you get used to the gameplay a lot before tackling the harder stages that lies ahead.
Also here are 3 tips that might come in handy if you haven’t played Megaman for a while:
1. Don’t get hit by 3 giant fireballs at once in the face. It will hurt.
2.Also don’t jump directly into the boss because it’s stupid.
3. If there are no enemies around a hole, look again.
Remember these three things and they might save your life. Oh and also, don’t die.
Back on track I can say that Megaman 9 really is a great game. It has awesome music that holds true for the series as expected and it really feels like it could have been a Nes game. In fact it’s so close to a Nes version that it almost makes you wonder if you should blow on your PS3/Wii/Xbox 360 or whatever to get the dust out of it so it will start up easier.
And you can also count on stiff fingers and sore thumbs after sitting down with this masterpiece for some hours. I can pretty much promise that you will be mashing those buttons for all you’re worth when you are attacked by a barrage of new enemies.
Conclusion:
I’ll give this game a solid 10 out of 10 with the only thing left for wishes being a limited edition Nes cart which most of us hoped to see. But who knows? If we are really lucky, we might see one in the future.
In my opinion this is just the beginning of a great new Megaman era unfolding.
//Sai
