Given the short length of these games, and the fact that I’ll be playing many of them in a row, this is a thread for the entire Classic series. I won’t be replaying Mega Man 1 or Mega Man 2, but you can follow those links to their respective playlists. Mega Man 3 has its own thread on the forum.
Robot Master Roulette - Let’s Play Mega Man 4
Beware Cossack’s definitely evil robots made for nothing other than combat. Yes, even the one that eats trash.
Dr. Wily may definitely be gone for good, but a new evil scientist has risen to take his place: Dr. Cossack, jealous of Dr. Light’s fame, has sent eight robot masters to defeat Mega Man and prove that he’s the greatest evil scientist in the world. And, uh… that’s it. Go get ‘im, Mega Man.
Mega Man 4 was released around a year after Mega Man 3, and some would say that this is the point in the series where that short gap between releases really starts to show. Despite this, Mega Man 4, like its predecessor, introduced a move that not only changed the Classic series, but would become a staple in just about every other game: the charged shot. Even without a boss weapon, Mega Man can charge his basic attack so that it actually does damage. Ain’t that nifty?
Episode List
Part 3: Not a Good Drill to Die On
Part 12: Dr. Wily’s Perhaps Seventh- Wait it’s Eighth to Last Stand Again
I Knew You’d Risk Yourself For Dr. Light - Let’s Play Mega Man 5
Oh brother, where art thou? (And why did you kidnap my dad?)
Peace has been disturbed, but this time it’s not Wily behind- what, you heard that last time? Okay, sure. But this time he’s definitely gone, and now it’s Proto Man calling the shots! And not only has Mega Man’s own brother decided to attack humanity, he’s kidnapped Dr. Light in the process! As is dueling tradition, Mega Man must face down eight Robot Masters before he challenge Proto Man. Surely, it will be a tragic battle for the fate of 20xx Japan.
It’s Mega Man 5! Once again it released only a year after 4, and this time around there’s no Charged shot to spice up the gameplay. There is, in fact, no particularly big game changer this time around. But, on the bright side, it does look really nice. That’s gotta count for something, right?
Mega Man Escapes to the One Place That Hasn’t Been Corrupted By Capitalism - Let’s Play Mega Man V
See you, space robot.
A new threat has appeared to attack the Earth, but this time it’s not Wily… no but seriously, it isn’t. See there’s this robot named Terra, right? And he didn’t mention Wily once, so there’s no way they’re connected. Anyway, Terra and his group of Stardroids have invaded Earth, and even Mega Man seems powerless to stop them. At least until Dr. Light arms Mega Man with… the Mega Arm. Equipped with this powerful new weapon, Mega Man must square off against the Stardroids and stop their leader, Terra.
The Game Boy Mega Man games (known as the Rockman World games in Japan,) were mostly remixed versions of the NES classic games. They mixed half of one game’s Robot Masters with half of the next game’s, (for example, four Robot Masters from MM1 and four from MM2, the last four from 2 and four from MM3, and so on,) and remixed their corresponding levels. Mega Man V, however, is different. This game focuses on a completely new set of bosses, named the Stardroids. Their themes focusing on the planets of our solar system makes them unique amongst the other boss sets of the series, and really sets Mega Man V on its own compared to the rest of the GB Mega Man games. Which is why I’m playing this game and not the rest of the Game Boy games: I love how unique this game is, even if it isn’t my favorite game in the series to play.
Episode List
Part 3: Lay Down Your Weary Neptune
Part 11: Dr. Wily’s Seventh To Last Stand Again Now That We’ve Added This Game
Roll Call - Let’s Play Roll-Chan 6
Good news: We’ve got a multicultural group of robots!
Bad news: This game was made in 1993.
The First Annual Robot Tournament has been hijacked! Its founder, Mr. X, used the tournament to trick scientists around the world into making robots for him. And to make matters worse, it turns out that Mr. X, who definitely is not Wily , was actually manipulating Wily all along! And so, he does the usual thing and sends out a team of eight Robot Masters to take over the world.
This time, though, Mega Man isn’t around to stop him. Thankfully, though, Roll is here to save the day this time around.
This is Mega Man Roll-Chan 6! This is the last hurrah of the NES Mega Man games, though certainly not the last of the 8-Bit series. And although this game came out only a year after the lackluster Mega Man 5, this game does a far better job of ramping up the Classic experience. This game’s weapon set is a joy to use, and even includes a fun new surprise: instead of the Rush Tango Coil, Roll can just henshin with her cat instead. This might not sound like a big deal, but having two distinct forms instead of just giving the player a few different ways to skip platforming changes the game a fair bit. And with some solid level design and great visuals, this was a great way to send off the Classic NES games! … Or at least it would have been, if not for the racism. It’s about Punch-Out levels of racism, so it’s nothing worse than some very unfortunate stereotypes. But that’s not a problem that most Mega Man games have, (unless they’re Powered up,) and I much prefer having cool character designs that don’t immediately make me say “oof.”
And the last noteworthy thing: you’ve probably noticed by now, but this is definitely not the Mega Man 6 you remember, in that Roll wasn’t the main character. Roll-Chan 6 is a sprite replacement hack by Zynk Oxhyde, who has also done sprite swaps of the other NES and Game Boy Mega Man games. So if you’ve wanted to play as Roll, a feature that has been sorely lacking in all of the Classic games to this day, they’ve got you covered.
Episode List
Part 1: Robot From the 20xx Shogunate
Part 6: Blizzards of the Coast
Part 8: Jump and Shoot the Flowers
Super Nintendo Fighting Robot - Let’s Play Mega Man 7
But who does Bass are belong to?
It has been half a year since Roll arrested Dr. Wily. Everyone thought the doctor was done for good, but it turns out he had a contingency plan. Enough time has passed that Wily’s dead man switch has activated, unleashing four robots into the world to break him out of jail. But while Mega Man has his hands full trying to stop Dr. Wily, a new robot makes his appearance: Bass, and his own robot dog Treble, claims he’s also trying to put a stop to Wily’s schemes. But can Bass really be trusted? And at the very least, isn’t he aware the Classic series already has a loner character?
Welcome to Mega Man 7, the first 16-Bit Mega Man game that isn’t a remake! (Sorry Wily Wars.) Boasting fancier graphics and some quality of life improvements, MM7 is a pretty solid entry into the series. That being said, there are some growing pains in this new style, but if nothing else that is preferable to the stagnation that was hitting the latter NES games.
I’m also using a romhack for Mega Man 7 as well! It’s nothing as fancy as the Roll-Chan 6 hack, but check out Mega Man 7 Redux if you want some restored text from the Japanese version, but keep the US ending you might be used to.
Episode List
Part 3: Freezy Come, Freezy Go
Part 4: Mega Man Shoots at Cloud
Part 7: Super Bots and Automatons
Part 9: The Hop Springs Episode
Part 12: I Can Confidently Say This is Dr. Wily’s Fifth to Last Stand
W-Mega Man vs Vague Darkness Powers - Let’s Play Mega Man 8
Bass would fight us sooner, but he keeps getting stuck in six-pack rings.
Following Wily’s near-death experience in 7, things are looking more or less normal. Mega Man fights his anime rival every other week, and Wily’s been working on his next eight robots. But unbeknownst to the regular cast, a new threat is quickly cascading towards Earth: two figures have had a battle and space, and both now find themselves learning how atmospheric entry works. But most importantly, these strange entities give off amazing energy signatures, and it becomes quickly obvious that obtaining them would give one access to incredible power…
Welcome to Mega Man 8! In terms of main series games that aren’t remakes, 8 is the first Classic game on a non-Nintendo console. It’s also Mega Man’s 32-bit outing this time around, and while it’s not technically as big a leap as 6 to 7, 8 still looks amazing. And while special weapon quality is subjective, (they’re the best weapons don’t @ me,) there’s also a few quality of life changes that make the “gun” part of run and gun a lot more fun.
Episode List
Part 10: Fall on Your Sword Man
Part 12: Dr. Wily’s Fourth to Last Stand Provided No Other Game Comes Up
Second SNES Outing and the Bass is Loaded - Let’s Play Mega Man & Bass
This time around, Bass gets to tell at least eight different people to shut up.
It seems somebody has taken over Wiley Wily’s base, so Wily is definitely not the villain this time. Instead, our aggressor-of-the-week is a robot by the name of King. Tired of living under weak human beings, King has declared a robot revolution, starting with a gathering of data from the Robot Museum. Mega Man has been sent to stop King’s menace… as has Bass. We do not have to worry about Bass backstabbing us, since Wily is totally trustworthy this time around. And he’s also a playable characters, so it’s fine!
Welcome back to the SNES! Rockman & Forte was released after Mega Man 8, and while it isn’t a numbered entry of the series, it certainly plays like 'em! There are some differences though, the most notable being a playable character who isn’t Mega Man! That’s right, after his… lackluster appearance in 8, Bass is now playable and is strangely the character who’s better at platforming instead of fighting! Sure, let’s go with that!
And before anyone asks, this is the SNES version with a translation patch instead of the GBA version, because I have respect for my time. The translation patch can be found here: Romhacking.net - Translations - Rockman & Forte
Mega Man, Now Featuring Fewer Bits - Let’s Play Mega Man 9
The last three taglines were about Bass, but he’s not in this game so I can’t mention- wait, never mind.
The world has been Wily-free for just a little too long, it seems. Once again, robots have started wreaking havoc out of nowhere. However, for the first time in a while, it’s Dr. Light’s robots that are to blame! And with a timely news broadcast, Dr. Wily has managed to shift the blame from himself to his rival. But Mega Man knows the truth of the situation, and must now fight his turned companions to clear Dr. Light’s name.
Although the Mega Man series had continued its stride since the releases of Mega Man 8 and Rockman & Forte, the Classic subseries had fallen by the wayside. That is, until the Wii rolled around and Capcom decided to give the Classic games another chance. Only this time around, they were aiming to bring the series back to its roots. That’s right, Mega Man 9 forgoes the advances of the SNES and PS1 games, and puts the Blue Bomber back in an 8-bit style. How well did that go? Well, if there’s one thing for certain: they managed to nail the aesthetic just about perfectly. Mega Man 9 isn’t literally an NES game (it couldn’t actually fit a cartridge that size,) it plays almost exactly like anything that came before Mega Man 6. Or even Mega Man 3, because “returning to the 8-bit games” mostly means “let’s try to be Mega Man 2,” because Mega Man has lost his charge shot and slide abilities in addition to his pixel count. Thankfully, Mega Man 9 is a solid enough game that the loss of fairly useful game mechanics doesn’t ruin it.
Boy, This One’s Gonna be Surreal After 2020 - Let’s Play Mega Man 10
Doctor, doctor, give me the news, I’ve got a: bad case of trying to conquer Earth.
A sudden and dangerous disease has hit robots the world over! But Roboenza doesn’t just cause a bad fever for automatons; after prolonged infection, an infected robot will run wild, going on the typical rampage you’d expect any time Wily has a new plan. Except Wily definitely isn’t the villain this time, you guys. He’s just as bothered by the infected robots as anyone else. In fact, it’s while Mega Man and Dr. Light try to figure out a cure that Dr. Wily makes a crash landing in their yard. He had been close to developing a cure for Roboenza, but was attacked by a robot before he could finish it. Go figure. So in an effort to save robots the world over, including his sister Roll, Mega Man rushes off to get Wily’s medicine-making machine back in safe hands. Also, Proto Man is there this time. As is Bass, but he’s DLC so he doesn’t get to show up in the intro.
Welcome to Mega Man 10! It’s the first game in quite some time that I’ve disliked! After the massive success in 9, it’s not the biggest surprise that the developers wanted to try another retro-styled Classic game. And so we got… more of that. But while most of the Classics beforehand typically improved on the previous game, and were usually pretty solid in their own right, Mega Man 10 doesn’t really do anything new or exciting. And that would be fine if the level design and special weapons were on point. Which they’re not. So really all it has going for it is that it’s still 8-bit, which I guess does go over well with the crowd that likes to complain about 7 & 8.
As it turns out, Wily only wound up evil because tech companies are just vehemently against overclocking.
Dr. Wily: A man who will never let any number of setbacks stop him from trying to rule the world. But after the last handful of failures, the doctor has to find a new well of creativity. Or an old well, as it were. After a dream of university days gone by, Dr. Wily has decided to bring back the idea that made everyone call him mad: the Double Gear System. And he’s got the perfect test subjects as well, because it’s checkup day at Dr. Light’s lab, and there eight robots just ready for kidnapping. If Mega Man wants to defeat these now-upgraded Robot Masters, he’ll need to use his own version of the Double Gear system as well.
Didn’t think there’d be a Mega Man 11 after… uh… the whole “Inafune leaving Capcom” thing, did you? Well, eventually Capcom decided to pick up the Classic series torch and add a new entry years after the release of 10. Once again we’re leaving the 8-bit style behind, this time opting for 3D models. And since this is no longer pretending to be an NES game, that also means it doesn’t have to pretend it doesn’t need expanded base mechanics or quality of life features. But most importantly, it introduces the Double Gear System, which allows Mega Man to either slow down time or power up his buster for short periods of time.