My take on Megaman 9

The blue bomber is coming back in all his old school glory. That’s the main premise of the upcoming WiiWare title Megaman 9, scheduled to launch this year on September. This famous Capcom franchise is over 20 years old now, and along those years we have enjoyed great and not so great spin offs of the original concept. Now, Capcom has decided to take back Megaman to its 8-bit roots in a nostalgia driven attempt to revive the plataformer of old.

It is safe to say that this announcement has generated a considerable amount of hype among the long time fans of the series; but it has also created some mixed feelings regarding the direction and overall choice of style for this new Megaman entry.

Many of the “nay-sayers” criticize the graphics and seemingly archaic gameplay mechanics. They argument that producing a game that would be considered actual 15 years ago it’s not a good sign for the videogame industry in general. On top of that, this would be the 9^th installment of what many consider a repetitive and tired down concept.

So, can we really blame all these people complaining about the game? I mean, we do have “Plug Man” and “Concrete Man” on this sequel…

Obviously I don’t expect this game to win any awards on the innovation department, but I have to disagree with the negative perception of the game. The concept and gameplay may be considered a relic of the past, but the original Megaman games were so challenging, fun and addictive that regardless of the graphics and musical style, they have remained fresh for all these years.

New gamers in general don’t know the concept of a “hard” game and a great majority today’s players won’t consider a game if they don’t have breathtaking visuals. This may be the revival of an old formula, but it will be a refreshing title nonetheless.

Megaman 9 promises high quality level design, a charming 8-bit musical score, tight game mechanics and a high level of challenge. Overall it’s a classic Megaman game within today’s quality standards. Hopefully this game will reach both hardcore fans of the franchise and newcomers alike; so they can appreciate that gameplay will always triumph over aesthetics.