Retro Redux: Mega Man 6

Welcome again, folks, to Retro Redux. Last week we got things started off with Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers. This week we take a look back at a game that many people are split on what they think, Mega Man 6

Released in March of 1994, this was the last Mega Man game to appear on the Nintendo Entertainment System and also the only game of that era not to be published by Capcom in North America. They had moved on to focus on marketing Mega Man X and Nintendo took over publishing duties on the continent. It also featured two bosses not designed by someone from Japan. Capcom held a contest for North American children to design two of the robot masters. Knight Man was designed by Daniel Vallée of Canada, and Wind Man was designed by Michael Leader of the United States. The plot for this game centered around a “Robot Masters Tournament” where designers would send entries to participate to see who was the best robot designer in the world. Dr. Light did not enter the tournament, but sent Mega Man as a sort of “police man” to ensure the safety of participants and spectators. The tournament was hosted by the mysterious Mr. X, who at the end of the tournament announced he had reprogrammed the eight victors to do his bidding. Much like the previous games in the series, Mega Man was then tasked with taking down Mr. X, who had revealed himself to be Dr. Wily, and his new minions.

Mega Man 6 did not deviate from the formula set up in all the games before it. You were asked to defeat the eight robot masters before going on to face the final boss levels and ultimately defeat Dr. Wiley. If you knew the correct order to defeat the robot masters, the subsequent boss fights would be much easier to accomplish because of the weaknesses the antagonists possessed. Mega Man also possessed new powers that had not been seen in the franchise up until this point. The Rush Jet Adapter allowed Mega Man to jump up and rocket into the air giving him more height and length to his jumps. The Rush Power Adapter allowed Mega Man to bust through sections of the level to get to previously inaccessible areas. Certain bosses had two entrances to their lair, with one much harder to reach than the other. If you took the harder route you would gain access to a "Beat Part". There were four of these throughout the world and if you collected all four, Beat would do damage to enemies that he came into contact with. Meeting up with Proto Man in Tomahawk Man's stage would also give Mega Man access to the Energy Balancer. This gave Mega Man the ability to power up weapons without having them equipped. The powered up Mega Buster as well as Mega Man's ability to slide were retained in this game and were incorporated into the design of the levels.

As Mega Man 6 came late in the NES's life cycle it also featured beautiful details. The same sprites for enemies that had appeared in previous games were used and Mega Man hadn't changed since the very first game in the installment. New enemies, though, seemed almost out of place as they had more detail to them and a greater range of animations. The worlds themselves were brilliantly colored and full of life. Enemies were able to hide in the background, making them hard to see, and would jump out at Mega Man in a surprise attack. These were the glory days of the NES and developers were beginning to move on -- if they hadn't already -- to the more powerful Super Nintendo. Mega Man would make that jump as well, but not before one last hurrah on the platform that started it all. If featured beautiful levels, tough level design, creative (if odd) bosses, and multiple paths through a number of the levels. It had everything you could want in a Mega Man title.

The Robot Masters, as many gamers would note, were not the most memorable in the franchise and were beginning to border on the weird. You had some of the typical bosses you would expect to see, such as Flame Man, Wind Man, and Blizzard Man, who had appeared in some form or another through many of the games in the franchise. You also had some more bizzare characters, such as Yamato Man, who was named after a country and styled after the Samuari of ancient Japan, or Tomahawk Man who was styled after the American Indians. Centaur Man was, I believe, the first boss to feature four legs. There were very few new ideas in terms of differences from previous bosses. Many of them were seemingly easier than bosses in the previous games in the franchise. Plant Man was more or less a rehash of Wood Man from Mega Man 2. Flame Man was simply another version of Fire Man from the original Mega Man, and Blizzard Man was not much different than Ice Man. The traditional ways to defeat them also applied. You would use Wind Man's power to defeat Flame Man, while Flame Man would bring down Blizzard Man. You just needed to figure out the new guys and then the Robot Masters would be a breeze to get by. You could also use Mega Man's Rush Power Adapter to deal a large amount of damage to opponents. This was not as easy as it took a small amount of time to recharge and if you got hit you had to start again.

The difficulty had also not changed much from the beginning. The levels were still brutally hard throughout the first playthrough, but many players were able to very quickly understand how things worked and the levels became much easier as you learned the enemy placements and behaviors. You could almost guarantee that if you came to a series of chasms between platforms that something was going to jump out of the hole, most likely some form of robot fish. You still had the little guys on the ground that would move faster if you were on the same level as them. The construction robot, Met, was back as well, this time in a dispenser that you had to get rid of before being able to continue on in the level. Every few seconds it would drop a new robot that you had to destroy or be shot by. The difficulty level of Mega Man games has been one that many people who haven't played them before may be turned off by. They were created in an era when games had to be difficult to increase their playtime and justify the expense. If you were really good at the game you could beat it in under an hour, which was typical of the franchise, but the enemy placements and patterns that needed to be learned meant it was more likely to take you three or four hours your first time through.

While the series was not evolving, it was a new Mega Man game, and getting more Mega Man wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Mega Man 6 gets a bad rap for being so generic and unfailingly loyal to the traditions set up before it. If you could get past the same enemies being reused for the sixth time then what you had was another really good Mega Man game. They've always really been more of an expansion on the first game rather than new games in and of themselves and I think that's what really attracts players to the franchise. There are so many different types of Mega Man games out there now that there is almost undoubtedly something out there for everyone. The core games have always been hard at first, but once you understood what you were getting into they became easier and were generally just fun to play. There's always a fine line that developers have to tread when extending a franchise. If you don't innovate and make things new people are going to be upset.

At the same time, if you mess around with something that people are familiar with they're going to say it's not what they wanted. Mega Man 6 simply gave people the ability to play more Mega Man and I don't think that was a bad thing. We would see more of the same in Mega Man 9 fifteen years later and gamers everywhere applauded it for bringing the original formula back. I think the thing that caused many gamers to dislike this game was that it had been done so many times before in a short period of time. If this had been the reboot of the franchise that Mega Man 9 was then it would have been praised more and I think it's a shame that it's not as well liked.

There ya' have it. What did you think of this look back? Is there anything you'd like to see featured in this column? Leave me a comment and let me know, or just let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear from ya.