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Mega Man 9 Goes Back To Your Roots. Way Back.

Posted by Nadia Oxford

If you grew up playing the Nintendo Entertainment System, then you also grew up with a persistent blue scamp named Mega Man. The adventures of the little boy robot and his red dog take us back to long hours spent in chilled suburban basements, stuffing our gobs with pizza while eluding Dr Wily's robots.

The Mega Man series has given birth to no less than six spin-off series over the past twenty years, taking us far away from those days of greasy control pads and cherry Kool-Aid. The last entry in the original series (as in, numerical sequels without any extra letters attatched to "Mega Man") was Mega Man 8, released over a decade ago. It was no surprise when recent whispers about Mega Man 9 were dismissed as rumour.

But lo, the August issue of Nintendo Power talks to series creator Keiji Inafune about the phantom game, which is a phantom no more. The original Mega Man is back. Literally. Mega Man 9 will feature NES-style graphics and will be available for download on Xbox Live, Playstation Network and as a Wii Ware title.

These are not "NES-style graphics" as in neon-shaded highlights slapped over old sprites that throb obsencely to pumping music. Looking at the screenshots in Nintendo Power will hit you so hard with memories of Mega Man 2, your teeth will rattle.

The simplicity is a pretty big jump back from the lush graphics of Mega Man 8. I mean, nostalgia is awesome, but dayumn.

Still, maybe this is what the gaming world needs. A budget-priced download that will doubtlessly provide at least a few hours of uncomplicated hardcore platforming. I know I'm due for my fix.

Oh, and what's a Mega Man title without its harem of Robot Masters? Mega Man 9's stable reportedly includes: Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Concrete Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man(!!!!), Tornado Man and Splash Woman(???) .

I don't know what to say about Splash Woman. I guess I wanted to see a female robot master when I was eight years old, but I'm kind of over the gender inequality now. It's a good trade-off for blowing up evil robots.

And the less I speculate about Plug Man, the better.


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Comments

Roto13 said:

It sounds like it really is going to do it's best to be a game that could have come out 18 years ago. I hope that means it'll be cheap, since I doubt it'll have much more content than the original 6 games.

Did I mention I'm amazing excited for this game? I love the original series, expecially the 6 NES games. The inclusion of Robot Mistress works for me. :P

June 26, 2008 3:09 PM

Peter Smith said:

The lush graphics of Mega Man 8 came at a steep price: the reduction of Mega Man from a stoic silent protagonist to a yelping man-child. "Bass! We--are not--enemies!" Humbug.

June 27, 2008 3:46 PM

Nadia Oxford said:

Aww, but who could resist Dr Fudd Light?

At least Capcom atoned for its sins by giving Light an excellent voice actor in Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X.

June 27, 2008 8:02 PM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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