Author Topic: How Mega Man Exploded in 1994  (Read 2692 times)

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Offline bluelander

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How Mega Man Exploded in 1994
« on: September 12, 2014, 12:33:00 PM »

The Year the Blue Bomber Blew Up!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/38501/how-mega-man-exploded-in-1994

Mega Man's storied history falls somewhere between Mario and Sonic as far as spinoffs and drastic genre shifts. While he hasn't had the same kind of trajectory as the world's favorite plumber, his constant shifts over the years have brought about a few successful changes and kept him in positive favor since his inception in 1987. Capcom's decision to take a chance and break from arcade games ended up being one of the most lucrative decisions of the company’s existence. Inafune, one of the creative forces behind Mega Man, was fresh out of college when he was put on the relatively small team that would create the first Mega Man game.

And the rest is history. The immediate sequels were very successful, and the franchise grew until near yearly iterations of the game became expected of Capcom.

However, as with most iterative sequels, fans became weary of the constant releases. It was time for something new from the Blue Bomber. In 1994, Capcom diversified Mega Man with a slew of spinoffs which proved to be indicative of the series' future. The spinoff games themselves would eventually garner their own following and, in the case of Mega Man X, provide even more material for different smaller series all within the realm of Mega Man.


Mega Man Soccer

Nothing says 90’s video game mascot like…Soccer? Yes, the Blue Bomber also took part in the world’s most popular sport. Mega Man Soccer hit early in the year releasing on February 17 in Japan and April in North America on the SNES.

The game takes place after the events of Mega Man 4, and it’s not just another themed soccer game. Dr. Wily has sent his evil Robot Masters to dominate the field and it’s up to Mega Man and his trusty Mega Bus–er, I mean foot, to stop them.

While the game was certainly a change of pace for Capcom, it didn’t meet with a very welcoming reception. Issues with the controls and slowdown meant that it probably wouldn’t be seeing any sequels.


Mega Man X

Mega Man X was, and always will be, one of my favorite games of all time. It also happened to be my very first Mega Man game. No, it wasn't a very traditional place to start with the series, but it was fast-paced, heart-pounding, and sounded awesome on my tiny tube TV.

Easily the most successful of the spinoffs we’ll be covering, Mega Man X brought the raw ridiculousness of 90’s in-your-face attitude to a tiring series. The bosses were more elaborate, the environments were lively (I’m looking at you, Sting Chameleon!), and the addition of a much more sinister villain, Sigma, made for an excellent package.

The story takes place many years after the Mega Man series and follows Mega Man X and his battle against his newest enemies: Mavericks. Excellent bosses like Storm Eagle, Chill Penguin, and Boomer Kuwanger (what is a Kuwanger, anyway?) breathed new life into the same of cycle of killing enemies and obtaining weapons. Mega Man X’s companion, Zero, also brought a new flare to the series. Zero played Han Solo to Mega Man X’s Luke Skywalker: always swooping in at the last minute to save the day and looking cool while doing it.

Mega Man X was dark, intricate, and awesome. It brought a hard sci-fi edge to Mega Man and properly transitioned the series into the mid-90’s era of gaming. Mega Man X continued for seven more main sequels (not to mention Xtreme and Command Mission), and was spun off into both Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX.


Mega Man 6

Mega Man 6 released stateside on the NES on March 15, 1994. Definitely the least inventive of the games on this list, but continues the iterative sequels that Mega Man fans had become accustomed to. At this point the plots had to be a little more unique and features a strangely Street Fighter-esque plot about contestants in a robot fighting tournament being reprogrammed for evil.

The big gameplay change in this version is the Rush Adaptors, which combine Rush and Mega Man into two new forms: Jet Mega Man and Power Mega Man. The stages themselves were more open than in previous games and offered branching paths for players to explore.

It may be the most tame item on this list, but Mega Man 6 shows that even after five previous entries, Capcom was still able to add something new to the formula. The main series, of course, would continue on to have many more sequels.


Mega Man V (GB)

Mega Man V hit the green screen on July 22, 1994 in Japan and September 10, 1994 in North America. Previous entries in the Game Boy series were mashups of recycled bosses and stage themes ripped straight from the NES games. Mega Man V, however, had original bosses instead of rehashing old ones.

This entry introduced Terra as the new big baddie, and Mega Man is forced to upgrade from his trusty Mega Buster to the Mega Arm to take him out. The Mega Arm itself is just Mega Man’s fist being fired across the screen, but it at least provided some semblance of change from the previous games. This also marked the introduction of Mega Man’s cat Tango to the already huge roster of characters.

Unfortunately, critics at the time didn’t think that unique bosses were enough to differentiate Mega Man V from previous entries in the series. It was praised for its consistency, but dinged for its lack of originality. This would be the last in the Mega Man series on the original Game Boy.


Mega Man TV Series

While not really related to Mega Man’s Nintendo presence, the television series deserves an honorable mention. Released on September 11, 1994, it further emphasized the media blitz that Capcom had created for Mega Man. The show itself follows the game rather closely (much more closely than, say, the Super Mario Bros. Super Show) and featured an oddly adult design for Mega Man. He looks almost like a cross between Mega Man and Mega Man X, with his muscular physique and serious expression.

It was, undoubtedly, a massive year for Mega Man that solidified his place as Capcom’s official mascot and, much to the delight of fans worldwide, gave gamers more of the Blue Bomberthan they could handle. While he currently resides in a state of limbo, it’s nice to look back at his golden age. From soccer to green-on-green Game Boy action, Mega Man spread across the full spectrum of Nintendo’s platforms in 1994.


It was, undoubtedly, a massive year for Mega Man that solidified his place as Capcom’s official mascot and, much to the delight of fans worldwide, gave gamers more of the Blue Bomber than they could handle. While he currently resides in a state of limbo, it’s nice to look back at his golden age. From soccer to green-on-green Game Boy action, Mega Man spread across the full spectrum of Nintendo’s platforms in 1994.


Offline StrawHousePig

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Re: How Mega Man Exploded in 1994
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2014, 08:46:23 PM »
Stink Million!

Mega Man X was da bomb, y'all. Straight up! Or whatever '90s platitudes you want to throw at it.
Old gamers never die, we just run out of quarters.

Offline peacefulwar

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Re: How Mega Man Exploded in 1994
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2014, 12:53:33 AM »
Also, FF6(3), Super Metroid and DKC came out in '94, so it was hard to really care about all those Megaman games.

Offline Mop it up

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Re: How Mega Man Exploded in 1994
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2014, 03:10:12 PM »
I have Mega Man Soccer, it's kind of awful.

Mega Man V is kind of neat though, definitely the best Game Boy Mega Man.

Mega Man 6 may be the least innovative of this list, but the new Rush powers still made it more innovative than Mega Man 5, which didn't really add anything.