Nathaniel Hoover | Guy Whose Website You're Viewing
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Series Opinions
    • Mega Man >
      • Mega Man Classic >
        • Mega Man 1-6
        • Mega Man 7-11
        • Mega Man Game Boy Games
        • Mega Man Spinoffs
        • Mega Man Remakes
        • Mega Man Sports & Arcade Games
      • Mega Man Sequel Series >
        • Mega Man X1-5
        • Mega Man X6-8 + Command Mission
        • Mega Man X Portable Games
        • Mega Man Zero Series
        • Mega Man ZX Series
        • Mega Man Legends Series
      • Mega Man Spinoff Series >
        • Mega Man Battle Network 1-3 + Network Transmission
        • Mega Man Battle Network 4-6 + Battle Chip Challenge
        • Mega Man Star Force Series
    • Star Trek >
      • Star Trek TV Series >
        • The Original Series (TOS)
        • The Animated Series (TAS)
        • The Next Generation (TNG)
        • Deep Space Nine (DS9)
        • Voyager (VOY)
        • Enterprise (ENT)
      • TOS Films >
        • Star Trek: The Motion Picture
        • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
        • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
        • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
        • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
        • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
      • TNG Films >
        • Star Trek: Generations
        • Star Trek: First Contact
        • Star Trek: Insurrection
        • Star Trek: Nemesis
      • Ones That Don't Count >
        • Star Trek (2009)
        • Star Trek Into Darkness
        • Star Trek Beyond
        • Discovery
        • Picard
  • Games
    • Mega Man Fangame Tracker
    • OH JOES! (A Proto Man Adventure)
  • Presentations
  • Writing Samples

Opinions on the Mega Man series.

If you've played one Mega Man, you've played them all. At least, that's my perspective on my all-time favorite game series, and it's one that's helped me to appreciate Capcom's seemingly endless supply of sequels and spinoffs. People who cite Mega Man 2 or 3 as the pinnacle of the series often deride the later games as uninspired and derivative, regarding novelty as one of Mega Man's highest virtues. As a latecomer to the party who started with Mega Man 4, I can tell you that the whole idea of Mega Man is novel enough for me.

A special weapon from every boss? A choice about what stage to visit next? Fluid motion and responsive controls? Varied challenges that are incredibly tough, but actually fair? A rematch against all the bosses, and a final boss that isn't really a final boss? Throw in a catchy soundtrack, detailed graphics, and memorable character designs, and you've got pretty much the only game I'd ever want to play. Looking at the series as a whole—including spinoff series such as Mega Man X, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Battle Network, and so on—these characteristics define what it means to be a Mega Man game. There's plenty of innovation to be found as well, but novelty is more often a nicety than a necessity.

As long as there are new locations, new challenges, new weapons, and new music, I'm generally happy to see a new game refine and maintain the elements that made previous installments good—no need to reinvent the Wheel Cutter every time. At the same time, I don't mind a jolt of radical change every now and again as long as the whole thing works. I've already established that I like Mega Man—you don't have to try too hard to get me to like a sequel or spinoff...but there's a lot you can do to mess it up. It's often the flaws, more than the merits, that shape my opinion of a Mega Man game.

That being said, here's my take on the greater Mega Man series, assigning point values to each of the categories I can describe with some measure of objectivity (with point values being relative to the series, and not video games in general). My scale runs from +2 (exceptional) to -2 (outright bad), with +0 being completely and acceptably average. In terms of overall quality, I think the total score for each game does a good job of expressing approximately where each game stands; but, keeping in mind that it's the flaws that tend to sway me most, and that I can't be entirely objective all the time, you'll probably get a better sense of which games I like most and least by the harshness of my criticisms and the blatant subjectivity of my praise.

In this section:

- Mega Man Classic
- Mega Man Sequel Series
- Mega Man Spinoff Series

SERIES OPINIONS HOME
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.