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Man, I remember those times when I was a kid, buying Mega Man 1, 3, 4, and 5.  Those were the ones I had.  It was me favorite NES series.  I love you Mega Man.  Well, figuratively speaking.

I recently played MegaMan Battle Network 6 in order to review it– you can read that review now if you’d like– and something struck me: Mega Man sure has changed a lot.

Looking at the history of Mega Man games, it’s clear that none of them were particularly groundbreaking. That sounds harsh, doesn’t it? As I looked at each of the series and the time in which it was released, and it was clear each is an example of refined, not groundbreaking, gameplay. If anything 2001’s MegaMan Battle Network was the most original Mega Man title ever made, simply because its battle system was so untested and unusual when it first hit the shelves. Of course, I thought to myself, that’s long since been run over by the countless sequels, but then something else hit my mind:

Mega Man Is The Master Of Change

You must be shouting “WHAT?!� at your computer screen right now. How can Mega Man, who sees eight game releases a year, possibly be related to the word “change� at all, let alone be the master of said concept? I’ll give you a minute to calm down.

…

Okay. What I meant when I said that Mega Man was the “master of change� is simply that he has been reinvented for each subsequent hardware generation. There’s some overlap, but that’s basically a true statement. For instance, while the differences between Mega Man 5 on the NES and Mega Man X on the Super NES were mostly cosmetic, thematically there was a big difference between the two games. The X series was, and has continued to be, much darker than the original Mega Man games.

In the 64/32-bit generation, Mega Man was reinvented yet again, this time in 3D for MegaMan 64 (or MegaMan Legends, if you’d rather). Again, certain ideas were kept the same, but others were changed radically, not the least of which was the overall tone of the story and characters. And, again, these games took a lot of what was already established by first-gen 3D titles for their inspiration. For some reason, these games didn’t take as well as other Mega Man sub-series have.

Probably Because Too Many People Have Poor Taste And Don’t Know Pure Gaming Gold When They See It

Well, let’s not get TOO bitter, okay? Suffice it to say, I would recommend playing MegaMan 64 when it is released on the Virtual Console. Or, I guess, you could find an old PlayStation at a yard sale and play all three of the games in the series on that. I mean, if it wouldn’t make you feel too dirty afterward. Just don’t let Sony get a hold of any of your money, all right?

After some decent ports on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, Mega Man reinvented himself again for the GBA, this time in the Battle Network series. While conceptually inspired by the NES series that started it all, the gameplay was a far cry (no pun intended, Xbox users) from the side-scrolling shooters that epitomized Mega Man’s oldest console outings. Of course, the Zero games did, in fact, epitomize that style of play, and they were also available for old-schoolers who wanted their fixes.

And, looking toward the future, Mega Man has two new series coming for DS, which likely won’t be shattering the mold for interactive software, but which will also likely deliver solid gameplay and will be at least somewhat successful.

“What’s Your Point?”

Look at how Mega Man is constantly reinvented for each successive hardware generation. Change is necessary for growth and survival. Now, truth be told, I can think of one Nintendo character who also embodies this spirit, to a certain extent, and his name starts with “M,� too. If you don’t know who it is, I’ll also tell you that his brother’s name is Luigi, and that he doesn’t like Donkey Kong very much.

The difference between Mario and Mega Man, though, is staggering. Mega Man picks one or two genres at most and sticks with them for an entire generation, seeing an entirely new back story for each reinvention. Mario, on the other hand, has basically the same story every time, but the gameplay is radically different. He hops genres, going from platforming to partying to tennis to, um… RPGing sometimes all on the same piece of hardware. Rarely does Mario have more than one game in any given genre on a system.

Seriously, though, I think my real point here is that ever since Keiji Inafune said Wii would be Mega Man’s most likely next-generation home, I’m just chomping at the bit to see how he’s going to show up on the system. Plus, we’ve got Super Mario Galaxy, too. That’s going to rock.

http://www.nintendojo.com/editorials/view_item.php?1152331584