Mega Man I – IV (GB) – Simply One other Video Recreation Weblog

As an avid Mega Man fan, it has been my nice disgrace that not solely had I not crushed all of the Gameboy entries, I hadn’t even performed three of them. I accomplished Mega Man V many instances as a child (my brother owned it) and had performed a little bit of Mega Man II, however that was it. So, when all 5 titles made their strategy to Nintendo Swap On-line, I made a decision it was time to mark them off the checklist. Clearly, Mega Man V is lacking from this publish regardless that it’s the one I do know greatest. The rationale for that is that Mega Man V for Gameboy is a unique recreation, whereas the primary 4 titles all pull inspiration from the NES entries. I could, sooner or later, do a publish on Mega Man V, but it surely felt misplaced so as to add it right here.

The Set-up:
You might be Mega Man. Tremendous combating robotic. On Gameboy. Taking a break out of your excursions on the NES, you end up as soon as once more making an attempt to cease the nefarious Dr. Wily. There’s actually not a lot else to say right here.

The Story:
From what I can glean within the video games, the Gameboy titles happen between the NES video games (MM 2 -> MM (GB) -> MM 3 -> MM II (GB)). A fast abstract for every recreation’s story is beneath.

• Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge
  After his most up-to-date defeat, Dr. Wily rebuilds eight of his earlier robotic masters (4 from Mega Man and 4 from Mega Man 2) and as soon as towards sends them after Mega Man.
• Mega Man II
  Dr. Wily steals a time machine and travels into the longer term whereas Mega Man investigates the reappearance of 4 robotic masters from his previous. He ultimately makes his strategy to Dr. Wily’s fortress the place he fights 4 extra of his previous foes.
• Mega Man III
  Dr. Wily takes over an offshore oil drilling platform in an effort to regulate all the Earth’s vitality. To cease Mega Man, he as soon as once more resurrects eight of his earlier creations to battle Mega Man. Frankly, that is essentially the most lifelike of Wily’s plans.
• Mega Man IV
  Dr. Wily makes use of a radio sign to trigger robots to go made whereas sending eight rebuilt robotic masters to destroy Mega Man.

The tales aren’t tremendous attention-grabbing and most, if not all, of the data is discovered within the instruction booklets. To be honest right here, that is additionally true of the NES counterparts, although these do supply up fake villains beginning with Mega Man 4. On condition that these are on the Gameboy, it’s onerous to complain an excessive amount of concerning the simplistic tales.

Whereas these video games do pull bosses from the NES titles, it’s value noting that in every, Dr. Wily creates a “Mega Man Killer” that’s not current within the NES video games. These bosses aren’t the everyday “Males” however have distinctive names. These aren’t precisely story associated, apart from Quint, who’s pulled from the longer term (there’s extra to this, however even with a recreation this previous, I wish to keep away from spoilers).

The Gameplay:
Proper off, perceive that these video games play nearly identically to the NES titles. As Mega Man, you run, shoot, and bounce. Every recreation has a quirk or quirks that make them a little bit distinctive, however not a lot that they play in a different way at a base stage. Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge might be essentially the most distinctive of the Gameboy video games because it doesn’t embody a slide or Rush, as a substitute giving Mega Man the “Carry” merchandise to make use of as a platforming help. Mega Man II sees the addition of Mega Man’s slide together with Rush, whereas Mega Man III provides the Mega Buster. Mega Man IV gives no new gameplay additions, however does add a knockback impact to the Mega Buster that’s extraordinarily tough to get used to. In the event you aren’t cautious, you’ll Mega Buster your self proper right into a pit.

A wrinkle true of all of the Gameboy titles is that the robotic masters are offered to you 4 at a time. In Dr. Wily’s Revenge, the latter 4 can be found by way of teleport hatches, which supplies you a blind selection of boss. Mega Man II carries over the identical blind mechanic with the hatches, however the bosses include a stage. Each Mega Man III & IV give you a selection of robotic grasp. Relating to the degrees, whereas they bear similarities to the NES video games, they don’t seem to be an identical in any respect. There are some distinctive enemies and obstacles not discovered within the NES titles.

The ultimate word I’ll supply about these video games is regarding the problem. Whereas Mega Man II is pretty simple (nearly definitely as a consequence of being developed by a unique firm than the opposite Gameboy entries), the remaining three titles I’m protecting listed below are fairly tough. A few of that is as a result of diminished play space on the Gameboy display, however some is definitely by design. Mega Man III, specifically has a handful of merciless jumps that will have you ever eradicating massive parts of your hair. Dr. Wily’s Revenge likes to throw un-killable reduce blades at you. These are stationary till you method, at which level they arrive in the direction of you, then transfer in a circle. They are often frozen by Ice Man’s weapon, however nonetheless. Mega Man IV isn’t as vengeful as I & III, however the aforementioned knockback impact on the Mega Buster is an unkind addition.

Conclusions:
As I’ve already acknowledged, I’m a diehard fan of the Mega Man franchise. I’m glad that I’ve accomplished these video games, however I don’t know that I’ll revisit them. The primary 4 titles merely really feel like scaled again variations of the NES video games, and I’d slightly simply play these as they’re superior to what’s out there on the Gameboy. This isn’t a criticism of the developer of those video games or the video games themselves. They’re about the very best that might be accomplished on the Gameboy {hardware}. With that in thoughts, they aren’t dangerous in any respect. They’re, for essentially the most half, nicely designed. They sound good. And the graphical presentation is among the greatest on the Gameboy, particularly in Mega Man III & IV.

I consider these video games are damage now by the vast availability of the Mega Man video games as a collective. What I imply by that’s that when these launched, you could possibly solely play them on Gameboy, and you could possibly solely play the NES titles at residence on the NES. In the event you had each, and had Mega Man video games for each, these had been nice to have on the go. However now, you’ll be able to play any of the Mega Man, Mega Man X, and even Battle Community video games on the identical system. Whereas these are gratifying, they now simply make me need to change over to Mega Man 3 or Mega Man 5 (NES). In the event you’ve by no means performed the Gameboy Mega Man video games and are a fan of the franchise, I do extremely advocate giving these a go. However one playthrough could also be all you give them.