When I wrote up Where Is the PSP a few days back, I left out the fact that I’m largely responsible for the neglect of my own little Sony portable. Not because I haven’t been buying games, but because I haven’t taken the time to properly equip the thing to take full advantage of its potential. Up until yesterday, I had been using the same 32MB memory stick that came with my launch PSP back in 2005, pretty much cutting me off from any and all downloadable content available and, more often than not, limiting my ability to even update its firmware. Well, thanks to some good ol’fashioned Black Friday scavenging, my PSP has eight honking gigabytes to play with. I updated the firmware (I was a full version behind apparently), browsed the recently launched PSP PSN store (functional!), and grabbed some demos (Syphon Filter lives up to its reputation). But once the house cleaning and redecoration was finished, I moved on to the real impetus behind the upgrade: finally exploring Mega Man Powered Up’s DLC and user-generated levels.
This remake of Mega Man’s original adventure is really the unsung harbinger of the current gaming zeitgeist. Not only is it a lavish remake of a two-dimensional classic, not only did it lay the groundwork for Mega Man’s triumphant 8-bit rebirth, but it boasts one of console and portable gaming’s beefiest level creation tools. You can make all sorts of devious challenges, chock full of all the killer platforming, shooting, and bottomless pits any proper Mega Man needs, and then upload them to Powered Up’s easy to navigate web portal. Sure it sounds like a rote addition to any flagship game here at the end of 2008, but keep in mind that Powered Up came out almost three years ago. This is long before folks were singing the praises of Halo 3’s Forge, a solid year before people even knew Little Big Planet existed, and it’s all on a portable. The available levels, and there are many, are pretty swell after a random sampling. There’s even a token Super Mario Bros. 1-1 recreation.
Powered Up is also something of a cautionary tale. Capcom supported Powered Up with regular and free DLC, including asset packs for level creation (Ghosts ‘N Goblins level tools rule) alongside all sorts of extras like unique challenge course levels for every character in the game (every robot master is playable in every part of the game) and a plethora of, um, costumes for Roll (sexy kitty Roll? Sheesh, Japan…). But, after months of DLC, Capcom stopped because no one freaking bought Mega Man Powered Up! The lesson here is that, no matter how great your game, no matter how well you support it, no matter how great its ongoing features, it doesn’t mean people will play. Here’s hoping Media Molecule’s initial success holds for longer than a single year.
You can pick up Mega Man Powered Up for $12.00 on Amazon. Go. Go buy it now. If you do and make some levels, shoot me an email at johnc at Hooksexup dot com, and I will play the bejesus out of it before posting the goodness right here.
Related links:
The Five Greatest Enhanced Remakes - And Five That Weren't So Great, Part 2
Mega Man's Nightmare: A Hard Hat With a Strategy
Games We Will Never Get to Play: Mega Man Mania AKA Game Boy Anniversary Collection
Mega Man is a Dick
The 61FPS Review: LittleBigPlanet - Part 2
Four More Games That ARE Awesome Remade In LittleBigPlanet