Mega Man 2 & 9 Rant

SolarBlaze

SolarBlaze

Guardian of the Sol Emeralds.
Retired Wiki Staff
Recently, it's come to my attention that Mega Man 2's been rated number four on IGN's "100 Best NES Games of All Time" list, above Mega Man 3, of all games. Honestly, WTF? I don't know about anyone else, but am I the only one who thinks this is one of the most overrated Mega Man games of all time? Just about everywhere I go, whenever the subject of that game is brought up, I see people acting as if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, and like the other games in the series don't even matter, or shouldn't even exist. As a result, this ended up influencing Capcom's decision while Mega Man 9 was in development; they only took into consideration what all those Mega Man 2 fanatics wanted, instead of listening to the rest of the fanbase.

For example, they decided to remove the charge beam and slide kick abilities, simply because of the fact that they weren't in that game. In an interview, Keiji Inafune (Mega Man's creator) suddenly, out of the clear blue sky, decided that those techniques were "unnecessary", even though they've been established in the series for OVER TEN YEARS. What's worse, is the fact that they didn't even bother coming up with a story-related explanation as to WHY Mega Man couldn't use them. Instead, they just flat-out acted as if he's never had them. Seriously, what's the deal? Did they honestly think people were just going to magically forget about them, as long as they've been around? Yeah, I know; Proto Man had those abilities, but it wasn't quite the same (since he had the weaker Mega Man 4-style charge beam, rather than the one that was in Mega Man 5 and onward).

Another gripe I have with Mega Man 9 is the lack of Bass and Treble. Why they decided to exclude these two characters (despite how huge their fanbase is), I'll never know. I've heard so many lame excuses as to why Bass wasn't in it, such as:

-"He didn't have any relevance to the storyline.": Yeah? Well, neither did Proto Man. In fact, he didn't even HAVE a story, even though he was a playable character, so why couldn't they do the same for Bass? There's really no excuse for this one whatsoever.

-"He wasn't in the 8-bit games.": Oh, and I suppose Auto was?

-"Mega Man and Bass' rivalry can't be properly represented in 8-bit.": This one, next to the one I listed above, has got to be the lamest I've heard yet. What does the graphical style have to do with anything? That sure didn't stop Mega Man and Proto Man from fighting against each other in Mega Man 3, so why should that have been an issue in this case?

Before anyone says anything:

Yes, I know that Bass' blueprints were in Mega Man 9's ending: Supposedly, he was getting "upgraded" by Dr. Wily, even though he was fine just how he was.

There's also some things about it that don't add up, such as:

-The fact that Bass has an ego the size of a planet, and already feels that he's capable of destroying Mega Man on his own. And not to mention that he's already told Dr. Wily that he's only cabable of making "junk", so it really made no sense whatsoever for him to be accepting an upgrade from him.

-At the very beginning, during the intro of Mega Man 9, Dr. Light mentioned that Mega Man hasn't had to fight in a while, meaning that it's been a long time since he's had to fight Bass, so why is it that Dr. Wily was JUST now starting that upgrade, when it could have been done ages ago?
So, and with that said, that's clearly some sorry last-minute excuse they came up with. So many people, including myself, were really looking forward to seeing Bass and Treble in an 8-bit game, but then they completely blew it. Instead, they decided to add a lame character like Fake Man to use in the Special Stage, when they clearly could have found a spot for the two of them.

Now, going back to the subject of the "Greatest NES Games of All Time" list, Mega Man 3 is definitely the superior game. It's better than Mega Man 2 in almost every way, and yet it doesn't get NEARLY the recognition it deserves. Aside from the addition of the slide kick ability, it also had better music, more levels, better level designs, and so forth. It's quite a shame that there aren't very many people who see this, and that Capcom is more focused on pleasing Mega Man 2 fanboys than anyone else.
 
MM2 gets all the hype it does because it made vast improvements over the first game. It also introduced many series staples such as 8 Robot Masters, E-Tanks, Password, WEAPON GET sequences, and a Wily Castle map. Despite all those, I don't think it's the best one ever, I'm partial to MM4, myself.
 
Dr. Evil said:
People love Mega Man 2 for the Metal Blade. It's the best weapon in the series.
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The Rain Flush from Mega Man 4 and the Astro Crush from Mega Man 8 would like to have a word. :P
 
To be, Mega Man 2 had the best music in the series, and some of the best Robot Masters, but yeah, I see what you're getting at.

As for Mega Man 9, I'm still stuck on trying to beat many of the stages in the game, though I know what happens in the end.
 
This is kinda off topic, but I don't like Mega Man 8.

Mostly because it's the only game in the Mega Man Classic series (save for remakes and rereleases) not on a Nintendo system.
 
Togepi said:
This is kinda off topic, but I don't like Mega Man 8.

Mostly because it's the only game in the Mega Man Classic series (save for remakes and rereleases) not on a Nintendo system.
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Wow, just...wow. THAT right there is a PRIME example of fanboyism.
 
SolarBlaze said:
Togepi said:
This is kinda off topic, but I don't like Mega Man 8.

Mostly because it's the only game in the Mega Man Classic series (save for remakes and rereleases) not on a Nintendo system.
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Wow, just...wow. THAT right there is a PRIME example of fanboyism.
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Oh, no, it's just that it feels right to play the classic ones on a Nintendo.

On the other hand, I'm faced with a dilemma, I love the 16-bit music from The Wily Wars, but prefer the graphics to the NES versions of MM1, MM2, and MM3, WHAT DO I DO?
 
Ah, okay. I see what you're saying now. As for Wily Wars, that game is okay, but it never really appealed to me much. I guess it's mainly because of its control scheme. I'm just more used to their NES counterparts.
 
What's so bad about the Rain Flush? That ability happens to be pretty useful, particularly at the Wily and Cossack stages. For example, at the first Cossack stage, there's a part with those wheel robot things (from Ring Man's stage) that open and close, and they'll stay closed and keep moving cloer to you, and Buster shots will bounce right off of them. The Rain Flush can kill them (and any other enemy that's on the screen) instantly. It also works pretty well against those skeleton heads that fall from the ceiling. The Rain Flush can eliminate them at the source, so that they won't come back. You want me to tell you what's worse than the Rain Flush? The Top Spin from Mega Man 3. That is single-handedly the worse weapon in the entire series.
 
I've never been a huge fan of Mega Man, but whenever people talk about it they tend to bring up 2, so... Yeah.
That said, the only Mega Man game I've really played much of was 9(which I've never even beat), which was great.
 
Piraka Wario said:
I've never been a huge fan of Mega Man, but whenever people talk about it they tend to bring up 2, so... Yeah.
That said, the only Mega Man game I've really played much of was 9(which I've never even beat), which was great.
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<insert Splash Woman joke here>

On-topic:
I've only played 1, 2, and 9. They're really good to me. :-\
 
Ah, it's Chaos Ninji. It's nice to see you again, but this is no charade, I'm afraid (no rhyme intended). That's my honest opinion.
 
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