Agreed, this is Mega Man the way it should be. I absolutely love this revitalization of old franchises that has been happening lately. Contra, Mega Man, hell even Wario Land in 2D on Wii is a big return to roots. I hope Nintendo breaks out some more old school Mario at E3 as well. The 2D gaming torch needs to be carried, I'm glad Capcom has taken it for at least some stretch.

Also:

State-of-the-Art High-Resolution Graphics

Then why am I prematurely graying? T_T

Apparently, the difficulty is going to be "on part with the NES games".  This brings me hope.

Does this mean no Mega Buster?  ;)  Seriously, the Mega Buster is the worst thing to happen to the series.  At that point the robot weapons became mostly worthless in all but a few cases.  I would love it if they returned to their old school roots.

I could do without the slide, too, but that's no where near a deal breaker.

Yeah, no mega buster would be an interesting return to old-school. I could really dig that.

Screw the Mega Buster, I'd much rather it not be included.

I'm beside myself right now.  Although I somewhat prefer the Mega Man X series, I was a fan from the very first game, and MM2 is one of my favorites ever.  Putting this on WiiWare is GENIUS.

This is awesome news.

Windy, please write a follow-up blog post to this about the recently revealed Castlevania game.

I am excited because I heard it will have more of a story and I'd love to see it link up with the X games.

This is a wonderful development for WiiWare. I've been hoping for games that use a retro style and then let the game design do the talking since we first heard about WiiWare, and this could be the greatest example of that kind of approach yet.

I wonder whether Mega Man 9's visual style has anything to do with why Nintendo of America has chosen to hold back on releasing the NES games on Virtual Console. If that's the case, perhaps NoA will begin releasing them sometime after Mega Man 9 launches in order to capitalise upon the return to prominence of the Mega Man franchise. 

I wonder why we haven't seen more of these retro resurgence games. Space Invaders, Mega Man, Contra 4, Pac Man CE last year, you would think publishers would be milking this cow dry.

Also, Why So Serious 360 controller? nice.

I think it'll probably on par with the difficulty of the ZX games which are roughly on par with the MM games. Eh, as long as it's easier than the GB games... MM1 for the GB was my first MM game, the real MM games feel ridiculously easy in comparison.

The charge buster isn't a problem if done right, of course if the weapons are designed to be more gimmicky than useful a regular weapon that shoots straight is going to be the winner but with good weapons the charge buster's appeal recedes a bit (I guess its availability would still make it more popular though...).

I don't know... I don't like the idea of making the graphics "similar" to the original. I would love to see more modern 2D games, but with enhancements. Sprites could look so good nowadays with the increase of available display colors and resolution, so why not use it?

Nostalgia and space restraints.

Yeah, I feel pretty much exactly the same way.  Mega Man 2 is awesomeness incarnate, but I prefer the X series (especially the first few) for the addition of wall climbing and the dashes and dash jumps.  I love that sort of high octane mobility in a game and it was executed so well in Mega Man X.

Mega Man 9 is very welcome though.

Since they're pushing it as a Wii Ware game, I assume that it will cost 10 to 20 dollars instead of the 5 that an already existing NES game costs.

I also wonder if they're actually doing the program on an NES (emulator), or if they're only going to imitate the limitations of an NES (which would allow them to subtly go beyond the real limitations of an NES in terms of numbers of sprites and things).

It costs a lot more to create art in high resolution and high bit depth (artists of that calibur need to be paid more and more man hours are required).

Goes to show Capcom can't be arsed to make anything new for Wii.

And Mega Man is somehow not deserving of that expense?

Megaman is shit. Always has been

There, I said it.

There are some things that shouldn't be true to 8-bit though:

- Password saves just plain suck. Kill them, give us proper saves.
- Saving during the Wily stages needs to be possible. Hey, you can continue from a game over as often as you want anyway so why not allow a save? I suspect that was done because storing your weapon charges in a password was too much work.
- In Megaman X when you pick weapon energy up and have the buster selected it redirects the energy to a weapon in need. That really needs to be implemented here too, weapon switching before and after every pickup (especially when the weapon is one of the transport items) is just an annoyance.

The Mega Man series has always been one of my favorite series.

I loved the lighthearted approach to Robot Designs and the brilliant level design and game play of those games. 

I felt betrayed when Mega Man went to the X series, because although the game was still Mega Man I felt that the game's new art style and direction took the series in the wrong direction.  The Edgy Cool look was a horrible idea, even though it was the direction all games were going. It just saddened me to see my Mega Man go that direction. 

The X series almost made me give up on Mega Man...But Mega Man 8 and now Mega Man 9 seems to be heading in the right direction. 

Even after so many sequels I believe that the series can evolve and add new game play to the basic formula.

Here is what I would like to see.

1)Quick Select of Weapons.  Perhaps hold down B on Wii Trigger and selection wheel pops up for weapon selecting.

2)A Double Jump, or slight hover move for Mega Man.  I would love this for boss battles and targeting specific weak areas.  I think the hover might actually be more interesting than the double jump... Just tap Jump again and Mega Man will float for about a second or two.  (He can't move while hovering)

3)I have wrestled with the desire for Mega Man to shoot diagonal for years.  I have come to accept that Although it would be a natural progression of the series, that Mega Man should not naturally shoot diagonal.  Instead, I think the Robot Bosses Sub-Weapons need to take more of this sort of role.  Allowing for players to not just use weapons on bosses, but use their unique attributes in tough situations, like having an attack that can shoot straight up, or diagonal...or even dual shot forwards and backwards. 

4)Finally, I would love  bonus feature where you can actually play as the enemy Boss Robots.  I don't want Mega Man to turn into the bosses or anything...but like beating the game would allow you to run through the game as different boss robots with their unique abilities and skill sets.  Obviously, this could make the game have more replay value and harder as the boss robots wouldn't absorb abilities...and it would be about selecting the right robot for each level.

Double jumping and 8-way shooting is Forte's (Bass) domain, 8 way with hovering is Axl. Diagonal shooting was possible with the metal blades at least, I think the Pharao Beam could do that too.

A completely developed "play as the bosses" mode would probably be too complicated to make since that would require 8 characters with different traits yet enough common ground that they can navigate all stages and all are useful... That's a hard enough task for the main game, to put that much work into a side game would be too much. I think Megaman Powered Up had alternative characters but I don't know how many.

The only MM game I did not like was MM6 which was beyond lazy, most of the levels looked the same and even the special abilities were pathetically generic. If I remember correctly though it was kind of pushed through.

Strangely it seems to run on a different engine from the rest.

KDR:  See, that is cool that all those other characters can do those things, but why not bring SOME of them to actually Mega Man.

Also, I don't see why it would be too difficult to come up with a Boss mode for the game...and I don't think it would be too hard to make the boss robots feel different. 

I think perhaps the easiest way to implement the mode would be to make the game more linear.  Instead of choosing your level...you choose the character you want to use and then go through the levels in a more traditional fashion.  Since this is a bonus mode for the game...it wouldn't be a big deal to change that aspect of the game...and if you need to continue you can save and even switch characters you are using.  The effect will be the same as traditional Mega Man, trying to figure the best Robot to use for the level.

I don't see any reason this couldn't be implemented.  The Castlevania games for DS have been adding additional characters and modes after you beat the game...many dramatically changing the games play system and style.

I think the level design would suffer from having to be traversable by so many different characters.  To avoid that problem, every character would have to move so much like Mega Man that having different characters would be pointless.

\

Well they did a pretty good job of having multiple characters in Mega Man Powered Up.

Yes! I'm loving this news! Mega Man is one of my favorite series, and it's good to see the franchise going back to its roots.

I like the Mega Buster, personally. I also think that MM8 is underrated.

I also keep wishing that Capcom would give us more Powered UP games (PSP). The first one was great, and I was hoping they'd continue the series.

The Mega Buster is a fine weapon.  The problem is it greatly reduces the importance of the robot masters' weapons.  The game no longer plays like Mega Man.  It also kind of sucks because it breaks up the game play as it becomes necessary to constantly pause to charge the Mega Buster for a few seconds after every enemy you kill.

Charging up enemy weapons for the first time was great in X1-X3.

Heck, I knew how to use the boss weapons.  Quick-change on the fly, and blast through the stages without pausing to charge up your regular spitballs.

Why would the level design have to suffer?

You design the levels for Mega Man to go through.

Then as a BONUS mode you can select bosses as playable characters.

They would have their own attributes:

Different jumping/control in water,
Different Attacks obviously,
Different Slides and such,
Possibly Double Jumps.

The bonus mode would be about trying to select the best character to get through the stages...not just the best weapon to beat the bosses.

I understand, that it wouldn't work perfectly...that is why it is a bonus mode.  And if you are worried about selecting the wrong character for the level...another means they COULD do it, is by doing it in a Challenge mode.

There would be several individual challenges within levels after you beat a game.

Like, get through a part of a stage without taking damage.

Other challenges could be to beat specific levels with a boss character...and then the designers are putting that boss character in the level KNOWING, that character can make it to the end of the level.

Problem solved...and replay value enhanced.

A challenge mode like that would be a lot of extra work. For Contra 4 it made sense since it's full price and has to offer more, for MM9 they can get away without any large extra modes. If the extra modes let you pick characters that can't complete a level that'll get them points docked in a review. Plus a stage could and should contain a combination of elements that require every ability Megaman has so the selected character would need to have at least Megaman's abilities. The extra modes in Cv games always have characters with abilities at least equal and often exceeding those of the main character.

KDR:  You are right.  I would never expect that out of Mega Man 9.  Actually I would not expect any of my ideas out of Mega Man 9...since it is a WiiWare Title that is thriving to meet the appeal and feel of the classic series...which is why I didn't bring these topics up in the Mega Man 9 thread.

This thread to me, was about Mega Man the way it should be...and these were the ideas I had as a very devoted Mega Man fan, that loved the original story, and ascetic of the original series...and would love to see more in that series.

Sad, has no one here played Mega Man Powered Up? While not all the extra characters worked perfectly in the levels they still were fun to play as without having to tone down the design for Mega Man.

I don't have a PSP...that game depressed me because Capcom should have put it on DS, maybe we can get a Wii Ware port or sequel of it.

Powered UP is a great game. The only character who sucks is Oil Man, because his attack does jack sh*t. I like the level editor, too, although I'm never happy with my designs. :-(

I will be honest (and await the inevitable food flinging). I've never played a megaman before.

So i'm looking forward to this.

Plugabugz:  You have missed a great series, but honestly, it is not a series you have to play every game on.  It is interesting everyone has their favorite.  For me 3-5 are the best Mega Man games.  But others I have heard love 2.  Many feel 6-8 were just re-hashs not really adding much game play, but I still love those games.

You will be in for a treat if you play Mega Man 9, since you have never played Mega Man before...because it will be a fresh take on a classic series, and I am sure the level design in this new one will to top notch.

Mega Man 7 was awesome.

PROTO-SHIELD

Hey, I loved Mega Man 8.  I have loved all the traditional Mega Man series games...

I always hated the X series because every game had one of those auto scroll levels where you had to react split second to beat the level and it was insanely hard...and annoying.

I also thought that although the animal robots looked cool, they did not have the charm and silliness of the original robots. 

X1, X2, and X3 did not have auto-scroll levels.  Where've you been?

And MM8 had some auto-scroll slide platform thing portion (in fact, why were these so prevailent in the 32-bit games?  Cuz Capcom was lazy, just like most other aspects in those games).  Negative love points.

R&F had an autoscroller in the cloud stage IIRC.

My excitement has really diminished after hearing that the Mega-Blaster  AND sliding are not going to be in the game. I could somewhat handle the Mega-Blaster not being in it, but no sliding? That is a core Mega Man feature past Mega Man 2. It feels like the game should be titled "Mega Man 2 Part 2".

No sliding? That's kind of lame. I am happy about the Mega Buster being absent though.

Opinions from people who love MGS4 don't count though. Duh!

Sliding didn't add much anyway.  It was only useful for those hallways that forced you to slide to get to the powerful.  Occationally, it'd be useful to slide under a jumping boss, but if they change the height/trajectory of the jump, it should be easy enough to accomplish the same thing by running under him (or her).

Oh...you know I guess I was wrong.  I just remember playing one of the later X games and it had some incredibly hard game that was just annoying.

And I like Mega Man's difficulty. 

Difficult doesn't have to be "awful", which those auto-scroll stages were -- poor excuses to not develop clever and creative platforming stages, otherwise "JUMP AT RIGHT TIME TO AVOID MASSIVE DAMAGE."

Exactly.

Which is why I love the other Mega Man games...because they usually are not too difficult or cheap.  You just have to get into the Mega Man groove.

Mega Man 1 was pretty cheap in places, but that was mainly because of the glitches (like those green duck looking platforms that shoot). MM3 had some glitches as well and was IMO, the most difficult MM game.

Glitches? In Megaman 1? No way!