Today, I want to talk to you about one of the video game industry's saddest fallen idols. Mega Man used to be one of Capcom's shining stars. Even as recently as 2010, the blue bomber was making headlines among fans and critics alike. He was even in the running for third party characters people were petitioning to be in Smash Bros.
Unfortunately, over the last two years, Mega Man has become a joke more than a pinnacle of gaming success.
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| "Oh hey!" |
Clearly, the blue bomber is not in capable hands. That's where I'd like my imagination to come in.
Rather than continue making follow-ups to established venues in the various Mega Man subseries, I would suggest that they reboot the series from scratch. There's plenty of great ideas that the first few games laid out, and, to retro gamers, they've aged well. To make Mega Man and the robot masters more welcome to a newer, hipper industry, Capcom has to prepare to move away from the formula they've established.
I'd like to point your attention to two of the lesser known franchise entries in the Mega Man series.
In Mega Man ZX, player's took control of either Vent or Aile, and proceeded along on a very Metroid-like adventure. Throughout the game, players would attempt to defeat bosses and collect bio-metals, which essentially function as the powers of the robot masters of the original series.
Similarly, in Mega Man Network Transmission, the game feels like a later Metroid or Symphony of the Night. The difference with this game is that Mega Man was an executable program that you could equip with various chips to alter his basic attacks.
This is what the series needs. The separate levels of the classic Mega Man series was great for it's time, and it's a good nod to gamers who love the nostalgic feeling, but it isn't pushing the franchise forward. Rather, it's taking you a step back.
Mega Man is a series that could benefit from an open world where you could retrace your steps and collect secret items. The concept could have worked well before Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night popularized it. Every weapon you acquire could have opened up new paths to better equipment. You could bring back the upgrade capsules that Doctor Light loved to scatter around the world so much in the Mega Man X series.
As I said before though, you don't start new. If you want to give fans some love while opening your games to a new audience, you toe the line between old and new. Use the bosses from the first two games, but scrap their levels completely. Redesign all of the characters from the ground up. Mega Man has not aged well at all, and making him a chibi doll with a comically sized head was not his fountain of youth.
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| "Mega Man acquired: Cranial Tumor" |
If you really want to give the blue bomber to someone who will treat him with respect and passion, throw him to WayForward or Retro. Both of these companies have made some terriffic 2D platformers, and they could give him a breath of fresh air that is sorely needed.
That handles the graphics, but how does the game play?
A modern day Mega Man needs to start like the later games in the universe continue to. Don't start on the level select screen (hell, in this hypothetical version of the game, there ISN'T a level select screen). With so many gamers playing these days, you need a tutorial stage of sorts. Throw Mega Man into a sequence that has absolutely nothing to do with Doctor Wily or the robot masters (ostensibly) that will eventually turn against Doctor Light.
Mega Man was originally created as a lab assistant for Doctor Light (names not withstanding). If you want to go that route, explore the origins of the two scientists work. Have humanity's villains trying to steal the work from the laboratory. There's so many avenues that you can go down at that point, but I'll give you one as an example.
At this point in time, Mega Man has not been outfitted for combat. He's specifically meant to handle small tasks around the lab that humans would not be able to carry out easily. Our robotic hero has the ability to survive extreme temperatures on both ends of the spectrum, he can take an obscene amount of damage, and he has an excess of strength - though at this point, he has no real firepower. And to top it off, he's in cryostasis.
An organization of bad guys raids the laboratory, and starts on their plan: transporting the disabled robot masters outside. Doctor Light arrives at the lab to do some voluntary research, and comes face to face with the burglars. They throw a gas grenade to put Light out, but he manages one last act before he succumbs to the vapors. Just before he loses consciousness, he activates the button on Mega Man's cryostasis chamber.
When Mega Man exits the chamber, he realizes what is happening. Step 1 is getting Doctor Light to safety. This portion of the tutorial explains the movement portion of the game. You'll learn how to jump, climb ladders and dodge enemy attacks. Upon exiting the laboratory, Light wakes up, and tells Mega Man that he has to stop the burglars from making off with the robots. If they were able to somehow corrupt the robot masters, they could be used as a force for evil. Of course, with no firepower of his own, Mega Man can't really do too much to slow the enemies down. Light manages to describe the location of an energy blaster he was building for the city's police that runs on a self-recharging energy source. It's in the lab, and it's on the way through the robot storage facility. The map and quest system are described here (the map would be very similar to Castlevania or Metroid, where you'd see rooms as boxes - save rooms and teleports would look yellow or red so the player could distinguish them properly).
Mega Man continues to be on the defensive until he procures the blaster (a hand held weapon at this point). After that, his quest changes. The robots have nearly all been acquired, and they are being shipped out of the building into a truck by the freeway. Megaman ends up giving chase and finally catches up to them outside the laboratory.
At this point, we are introduced to a new villain. This guy is military, and he stole the bots to commandeer the city for ransom. Mega Man moves to stop him, but out comes Guts Man from the back of the truck. He's been tweaked somehow, and moves to attack Mega Man.
Equipped with a measley, underpowered blaster, Mega Man can't do much against Guts Man. This boss battle isn't meant to be won, and once Mega Man loses 75% of his health, he takes a knee, and is forced to watch as the bad guys take their leave, Guts Man and the rest of the robots in tow.
Over the course of the next few hours of the game, you learn that the military guys captured Wily and are using him to augment the robots to secure various places in the city. Light refits Mega Man with new armor, and amplifies the blaster that he uses so that it is a permanent fixture to his arm (his hand could flip and expand inside the blaster, leaving room for the muzzle). The energy source is connected to his processor unit, which allows it to be more concussive and damaging.
Of course, as the game plays on, and Mega Man takes on the 14 robot masters from the original first two games, we discover that Wily is working with the military guy, who eventually is usurped by Wily (now that he's been financially empowered, he can do just about anything - like work on a huge, skull shaped fortress).
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| Sure, it's a little drafty, but the feng shui is awesome! |
The big difference beyond the story is that each of the boss zones are connected by one major overworld level. If you want to fight Metal Man, you have to go to the factory/foundry from the streets for the first time. Once there, you gain access to a save point and a teleporter facility, but that initial exploration is required. If you want to fight Guts Man, you have to go to the construction site. For Bubble Man, you have to go off to the shore. It would really freshen up the game, and give it that modern day feel that the series as a whole has been missing lately.
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