Mega Man 10

I began my journey by stared intensely into that rubix cube looking grid. It had become so comforting to me over the years. It was a place where I could collect my thoughts; escape the ruthless lands I had to overcome. But I knew going into this adventure whom I would conquer first; the one that I was going to rip out their robotic soul and make them a lifeless pile of scrap metal.  It knew it from the moment I saw that fluffy little trouble maker; Sheep Man was going down.

The first thing I was glad to see in Mega Man 10 is that it does not take itself seriously. Most people who play Mega Man do though because its tremendous difficulty leads to its cult status. With a boss like Sheep Man, I think they should know what they are getting into. My first impressions, lead me to believe that Mega Man 10 was going to be a lot easier than last year’s classic Mega Man 9. Being that it is essentially modeled after the first 6 Mega Man games that were release about 20 years ago on the NES, I knew it would be hard but had no idea just how difficult. Just like Mega Man 9, the game still has many influences from modern game design. The level design, for one, is just as punishing as the classics but never cheap like the Willy stages in Mega Man 3. You never get stuck because you do not have enough of a weapon’s energy or power up to get by an obstacle, but I digress. I defeated Sheep Man my second time battling him. I found this surprising. Was I much better at Mega Man than everyone in the world? Was I some kind of super hero? Should I have a country named after me? The answer was no.

With almost impossible odds, I must have selected the easiest boss first. This is the boss that does not even require its weakness to defeat without much trouble. The next several stages I traversed I did not even get close to the boss my first try.

I do not know why I like classic Mega Man so much. There is something about that moment where you get to point your middle finger at the screen and scream at the top of your lungs in victory that I live for. I have defeated half of the robot masters now and have not reached my breaking point yet. The level design is not quite up to par with Mega Man 2 or 9 but still is quite good when compared to the average platformer. The only level I have a problem with is Nitro Man’s level, which repeats this gimmick with trucks driving across for almost the whole level. I know I still have a couple more hour of fun before the torture of the Willy stages. I love this classic revival in games. Only a few come out a year but I personally hope it never ends. I will likely change my mind though when the Mega Man games get boring and dry again in a few years like they did in on the NES in the early nineties.

Jeff Silva
Pierce Arrow Blogger