Most people agree that the Mega Man series went downhill around Mega Man IV. I'm with 'em. But Mega Man IV, V, and VI are pretty great all the same, which is more than you can say for Mega Man 7. Boy, do I hate Mega Man 7. Some people say Mega Man 7 is good, but they are charlatans with no taste. Everything got cutesy all of a sudden, the music sucks, and the feel is completely off, probably because the character sprites are so big that there's no room to maneuver.
Luckily, some enterprising soul in Japan put his programming (and art and music) skills to the test, and came up with Rockman 7 FC, the greatest thing I've seen all week.
My God. It is beautiful. It takes the raw material of Mega Man 7 and makes it, you know, good. This is pretty much the definition of "for the love of the game" — you can just feel the love here. I can just imagine this guy, overcome by love for classic Mega Man, properly disgusted by Mega Man 7, desperate to see things right. Just like me, except a dedicated craftsman instead of a bitter old crank. Look at the dedication and care that went into these perfectly-styled 8-bit graphics. (My sole complaint: this is actually a Windows-based game, not an actual NES rom hack... but that would be a lot to ask.) And if you want more evidence of the love on display, note that the Shade Man easter egg, which played the music from Ghouls N' Ghosts, is intact — 'cept this time it plays the music from the NES port of Ghosts N' Goblins. I'm almost crying over here. The best part of it? Apparently this same guy is working on an equivalent reverse-port of the equally loathsome Mega Man 8. If you're excited about the retro-styled Mega Man 9, you owe it to yourself to check this out. It's like a classic Mega Man game just dropping out of the blue.
Previous For Love of the Games:
Outcast 2
Street Fighter One
Metroid II Remakes
Related:
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 1
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 2
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 3
Mega Man 9 Goes Back To Your Roots. Way Back.
New Mega Man 9 Trailer: I'm Drowning in My Childhood
Don’t Call It Retro: Mega Man 9 and Design Resurrection