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Mega Man 6

by Zachary Miller - June 21, 2013, 10:29 pm EDT
Total comments: 11

7

Things got weird, didn't they?

You could argue that the Mega Man series on NES is extremely iterative. Since the beginning each new game has offered some new power or move; they’ve aggregated over time, and when paired with technological advancement, they inevitably led to Mega Man 5—objectively speaking, the best game in the series. But NES’ star was fading fast: the SNES was already out, and even the best-looking NES games paled in comparison to eye-candy like Super Mario World. In fact, Capcom decided not to publish Mega Man 6 in North America, a decision made by Nintendo of America. In a lot of ways, MMVI is a strange beast that brings a sense of puzzlement, rather than closure, to the NES series.

Things go haywire at an international “Robot Contest” when a mysterious Mr. X (Dr. Wily) crashes the party and Mega Man has to save the day. The intro is told through a cutscene—the first oddity in this game. In another odd departure from tradition, your faithful robotic companion, Rush, is now a transformer who fuses to Mega Man to confer two new forms: one that can break blocks and one with a jetpack. These “Rush Adaptors” recharge quickly so there’s no penalty for use. Four of the Robot Masters’ stages have alternate routes, only accessible with an Adaptor, and finding all four nets you all the BEAT letters. You can revisit stages (gasp) once you’ve found the right Adaptor, and the Energy Balancer is also introduced in this game (though you have to find it).

The Robot Masters are beyond silly. Blizzard Man looks like a giant snowball on skis, Centaur Man is a damn centaur, Yamato Man is a samurai, etc. This is the game where I started to wonder if Capcom was running out of ideas. The bosses are introduced oddly, too, with vital stats and point of origin displayed. Knight Man is from the “Capital of Science.” That doesn’t even make sense. The Mr.X/Dr. Wily stages are surprisingly easy, though they do put your Rush Adaptors through their paces. They’re filled with alternate routes, and the boss fights are engaging but basic. One of the bosses is even a giant robotic sauropod, which made me smile. But overall, the game just isn’t very good, especially after the prominent rise in quality from MM2-5. Personally, I’d avoid it, but the completionists among you have probably already downloaded it.

Summary

Pros
  • Ability to revisit the first eight areas
  • Alternate routes in most stages
  • Rush Adaptors are new
Cons
  • Graphics standard, music forgettable
  • Level design seems largely thrown together
  • Really terrible Robot Masters

Talkback

And this is the game that had two bosses designed by Nintendo Power readers, so they probably were running out of ideas (or saving them for 7/X).

PicoliJune 22, 2013

How is Centaur Man any worse than Top Man or Pharaoh Man?  To me, the Mega Man games have always had ridiculous bosses.  Why should 6 be any different? 

EasyCureJune 22, 2013

Quote from: Picoli

How is Centaur Man any worse than Top Man or Pharaoh Man?  To me, the Mega Man games have always had ridiculous bosses.  Why should 6 be any different? 

Exactly. I mean look at MM2, arguably the BEST classic MM game.. wtf is a bubbleman!? Still love it though. Besides, I still think Centaurman is one of the most bad-ass looking bosses. The story lends itself to more whacky boss designs anyway; no longer are the Robot Masters industrial equipment turned evil (ala MM1) but "the worlds best designs' that were stolen and assumingly weaponized by Wily.

Plant and Blizzard man do look lame though :/.

Oh, and I LIKED rush adapter. if he can become a submarine for you in earlier games, why not become a power suit? Just look at the bad-ass way they combined Bass and Treble in MM8. That was a great boss battle..

love because jetpack

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)June 23, 2013

What is so special about the Rush Jet Adaptor? To my knowledge, none of the stages require it to be completed, so it's really just a crutch to make the game easier (not especially necessary, given MM6's relatively tame difficulty in the context of the series.) Plus, given that you cannot slide or use the charge shot when wearing the Jet, it was hardly worth the trouble to keep equipping it.

I still stand by Mega Man 5 as my favourite of the NES six, no matter how unpopular that opinion is. Mega Man 6 felt to me like the series was beginning to spin its wheels.

Mop it upJune 23, 2013

Overall the soundtrack may be below the others, but there are still a few gems in here. Flame Man's theme is pretty rockin' and can definitely stand up with the greats from previous games. Plant Man ain't so bad either. I actually like Blizzard Man and Wind Man's theme,s though they are certainly quite different from the usual Mega Man fare. And anything that can bring us this awesome remix is well worth it.

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

What is so special about the Rush Jet Adaptor? To my knowledge, none of the stages require it to be completed,

A couple of the Mr.X/Wily stages require it, plus it's used to find a few secrets.

Excuse this post if it gets on the testy side. somebody decided it would be a good idea if the Backspace key on a keyboard should make a browser go back when I'm trying to proofread my forum posts. I also am trying to get over the kneejerk reaction I had to this review.

I'd like to preface everything I am about to type with the fact that I cannot offer an unbiased opinion of this game. It is very near and dear to me as the first new game I ever bought and took out of the shrink wrap, and the only case of this with an NES game. I've probably put more time into Mega Man 6 than any other game in the series. Yes, this includes any given Battle Network title or Mega Man X Command Mission.

If you have read my contributions to the Mega Man 3 retroactive thread, consider the gravity of that statement before treading into the belly of this post



I really find it funny that you, Zachary Miller, hold Mega Man 5 up on a pedestal while totally denouncing the equally good if not BETTER sequel. The Mega Buster-fest that is Mega Man 5 is a game unto which the boss lineup includes Thomas the Tank Engine, a brown recolor of Protoman without the shades but sporting a star-point codpiece, and a Robot Master so pathetic that the mere act of JUMPING makes him fall to pieces.

Not 1 , Not 2 , Not 3 , but 4 totally useless and ineffectual weapons, with 3 more being impossible to argue over using the Mega Buster or the Gravity Hold!

Not to mention you have level design like Wave Man's stage that not including the boss himself, has exactly 1 enemy you can even attack with robot master weapons. the first half of the level has no enemies and traps placed in spots that nobody in their right mind would run into, the bubble platforming, and then the second half of the stage a long auto-scrolling enemy box with a mini boss in the middle that has 1 frame of animation. Or Crystal Man's stage, where after you learn the timing gimmick with the crystal traps that seem to have no pattern loses all challenge due to the rather poor placement of the Crystal Joes, rendering them an almost superfluous enemy. An enemy that may I remind you, they designed SPECIFICALLY FOR THAT LEVEL. It's not like they're not a good enemy. I've seen Romhacks that have put them in very good spots that make them difficult to kill or dodge their crystals.

Mega Man 5's innovations include bumping the Mega Buster's charged shot's up in size and power, an Item 2 reskin, Gravity Man's level, and Beat. Beat is pretty useless as he just randomly attacks enemies on screen slowly and consumes weapon energy based on how much health that enemy has. you have to find hidden widgets in all 8 levels if you want beat, so thankfully he's not nearly as much of a bother in the sequel he makes his reprisal in!

I'm not going to bring up music because that's possibly even more subjective than complaining about robot master ascetics. I like Mega Man 5's soundtrack. heck, I like Mega Man 5 on the whole! I'd wholly recommend people play it!


But I'd recommend Mega Man 6 tenfold over Mega Man 5.

Mega Man 6's World tournament story allowed the Robot Master designs as well as the stages to borrow from the same sort of national stereotypes that something like Punch-Out! does, and does so in an elegant manner.

With the exception of Plant Barrier, I can think of uses for every single Robot Master Weapon. Flame Blast is actually really powerful and has a crazy rate of fire. you can kill most mini-bosses in a matter of seconds! Blizzard attack is a great way to get rid of the cyber gabyzoall enemies that patrol the floors and ceilings of most levels. Yamato Spears pierce through shielding enemies defenses. Knight Crush is like if you combined Shadow Blades and Quick Boomerangs but cranked down the rate of fire. it really is great for getting hard to reach enemies and does so with far more immediacy than Gyro Attack. Silver Tomahawk hits hard and travels in a parabola which lets it hit a number of enemies that you wouldn't be able to even get to with the Knight Crush. Centaur Flash is every bit as effective as Gravity hold, and Wind Storm is a Bubble Lead weapon done right!

Mr. X's Stage theme is one of my top five favorite Video Game tracks of all time along with the likes of Red Soil Brinstar, Burning Town from Shantae, Big Bad Baby Bower from Yoshi's Island, and the Chrono Trigger Theme. The Wily Castle stage theme is kinda this somber and melancholy theme that works as the perfect send-off to not only Mega Man on the NES, but the NES on the whole! I've had Knight Man's theme stuck in my head for the past 2 weeks. Blizzard Man's D&B remix on the Chiptuned Rockman album is my favorite on that whole album! I could go on and on and on about how much I love the music in Mega Man 6, but I shall spare you all.

I kinda really like the more exploratory elements given to the stages and the general ease of the game. it's a relaxing and catharic game to me, and one that does have strong enemy placement and fun platforming segments to go through even if you aren't using the Jet Megaman adapter as a crutch. Heck, I remade Yamato Man's level on Mega Man Powered up when they released the really japan-y tileset for the level editor! Regardless, we'll have to agree to disagree on level design, Zach, because I really think things like the fans in Wind Man's Stage, the bouncy room in Knight Man's stage, the spring platforming in Plant Man's stage, and the upside down water section of Centaur Man's stage have a HECK of a lot more imagination and thought put into them than Mega Man 5's "Let's blow our entire load on Gravity Man's Stage" design put into it.

Speaking of the Jet Adapter, holy COW! <3 you wanna talk about a proper way to put a sort of super guide-esque element into your game? You do a mostly optional Jetpack that leaves you on the offensively weak end of things. because there isn't weapon energy, it doesn't feel like the game is penalizing you for Rush Jetting over a tough section too early, and it eliminates the psychological barrier between the player wanting to conserve it while at the same time making them want to do the regular platforming as normal because it's not quite good enough to fly you over a bunch of enemies and it's certainly not the most efficient way to deal with enemies.

In closing, I'd like to say that the real part of this review that upsets me is the fact that you dissuade people from playing such a superb example of the NES library. you gave the game a 7! That should be a message carried with a recommendation  -ANY- of the Mega Man games are better than about 97% of the NES library, but you flippantly disregard this game's appeal out of some sort of strange Mega Man fatigue that's set in. As a matter of fact, I recommend this game to more people than I would most Mega Man games because it shows the iterative learning opportunities this series is known for while offering a feature to make the game not as harsh on beginners! Mega Man 6 is the perfect game for people to get INTO Mega Man and then graduate to the other games in the series from there!

I also feel it's worth mentioning that this is the first time the game has been available in PAL regions outside of the questionable emulation quality of the anniversary collection! For that -ALONE-, this should be recommended to at least all european fans of the blue bomber!

Well, that's another opinion of the game. I actually know a few people who hold MM6 in high regard--I'm just not one of them. I would've gone into my reasoning more in the review, but we've been limited to "around 300 words" for Review Minis, so I did what I could in that small space. I will say two things here: I think the most memorable music is from Tomahawk Man's stage. It feels like a genuine MM theme to me, but the rest seems underwhelming. Nothing compares to Snake Man's stage, Wily's first two MM2 stages, or Skull Man's stage. Or Pharaoh Man! Second, none of the areas felt completely unique. The tilesets for Wind Man and Yamato Man's stages are basically the same. The environments aren't as atmospheric. The exception is Plant Man, who's stage does look like a jungle (although Napalm Man did it just as well, and with better music...and tigers).

So Ithink we have to agree to disagree here. Having played all five games (screw MM1) back to back so recently, it was interesting to see which games held up to me. I really do think the series hit a high point with MM5!

Fair enough. Napalm Man is probably my favorite Robot Master from a aesthetic angle, and I can understand some of your trepidation with the game. I just am kinda slain by the fact that your feelings are so strong about this one in particular that you'd go so far as to try and steer others away from making a purchase of what is still a fine and polished title on the NES.


Also, I feel that Mega Man 1's roughness can kinda be shaved off with Save States a bit. :B

Mop it upJune 25, 2013

ClexYoshi, you go through all that and don't even mention Flame Man's theme? Awesome post nonetheless, but still...

Quote from: Mop

ClexYoshi, you go through all that and don't even mention Flame Man's theme? Awesome post nonetheless, but still...

... I was Tired and am deeply apologetic for that... especially because Flame Man's Stage is the first one I always hit up because I love the music. and how Flame Blast evicerates Mini-bosses. And punching through the faces of Metalls with the Rush Power Adapter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prOolg6AmY8 < Please accept this as an apology.

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Genre Action
Developer Capcom
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Mega Man 6
Release Jun 20, 2013
PublisherCapcom
RatingEveryone
jpn: Rockman 6: Shijō Saidai no Tatakai
Release Dec 12, 2012
PublisherCapcom
RatingAll Ages
eu: Mega Man 6
Release Jun 11, 2013
PublisherCapcom
Rating7+
aus: Mega Man 6
Release Jun 11, 2013
PublisherCapcom
RatingGeneral

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