Feature: Megaman 9: Hit or Miss?

By Pierst179

More than ten years have passed since the last Mega Man game was released. Mega Man 8 came out for both the Playstation and the Sega Saturn and its sequel has finally been announced. One would rapidly assume that the whole Mega Man fan base would be extremely thrilled because Mega Man 9 is currently under production and its launch may be just around the corner. But one quick glance at the recently released screenshots of the game will allow you to notice the aspect of the game that is bothering many fans: the graphics.

I will have to agree that the decision of using 8-bit technology on a game that is going to be released at a time where high definition and games that are so realistic they could as well be considered movies is very strange and daring. And that is one of the main why reasons you need to love what Capcom has decided to do with one of its main franchises. It will make the game stand out among other current platformers, and playing a new 8-bit game on the 21st century is unique experience.

Creating it as an 8-bit platformer was a decision made because Capcom knows that the best games of the Mega Man series were released during the eighties. According to one of the companies executives, when asking fans which one of the Mega Man games were their favorite most of them would say that Mega Man 2 is the absolute masterpiece among so many adventures. Therefore producing a game that would feature simple commands and just a couple of buttons to be used was a non-brainer.

However, some fans think such a simple game would be a step in the wrong direction. After all, instead of exploring new areas the franchise would be returning to the exact same place it had reached twenty years ago. Particularly I think that Mega Man 9 will be a homage to the series itself, a modern game with an old-school look that will make fans feel like they are once again experiencing Mega Man for the first time in their lives.

It will remind us, and show new gamers, that games like Mega Man don't need fancy effects or a deep storyline to be fun and entertaining for long hours. All it needs is some great level design, and a bunch of exciting tunes being played on the background to get players excited about the adventure that is unfolding right in front of their eyes.

At first it looked like the game would be available to all the current gen platforms, but so far Capcom has only confirmed the WiiWare version. According to them the Live Arcade and PSN versions are false. Sadly I don't think this game will remain a Wii exclusive because Capcom is aware that there are fans of the series supporting all the systems of this generation.

Once again Mega Man will have to deal with eight different robot masters. This time around he will have to prove that Dr. Light - who is being accused for all the confusion - is actually innocent. No release date has been confirmed for the US but I believe we will be playing it before the end of the year.

And what about you guys? Are the 8-bit graphics a bad or a good idea?