Mega Bluster

In 1992, Sega followed up its smash Sonic the Hedgehog with a sequel purpose-built to ensure that its new mascot didn’t become a one-hit wonder. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 proved a definitive platformer of its era, spawning countless imitators and influencing even its most confident and established competitors. As Capcom prepared to bring Mega Man to 16-bit consoles, it couldn’t have ignored Sonic 2 - f...

By 1992, Takeru was on its last legs. In the parlance of Jake Taylor, all that was left to do was win the whole thing. In this case, “the whole thing” meant the dying days of the Famicom, and win it did. But as always with Little Samson , we are left to ask: at what cost? Join us as we put a button on Akira Kitamura’s career. Music Used In This Episode Quiron’s Mallets by Abreu Project Walking Wea...

Let’s see if we’ve learned anything. Music Used In This Episode Odyssey Beyond the Falls by Vurez Quiron’s Mallets by Abreu Project Walking Weapons Unit by WillRock Cossack Skies2 by bsolmaz13 Good Night Li’l Man by texxsound Let There be Light by AmIEviL Wonderful Shadows by the Electric Sheep Orchestra by fredrikd All sourced from OCRemix.org and used under its Content Policy’s Terms of Use. If...

As priorities shifted inside of Capcom and the third generation of video game consoles wound down, the company finally faced the inevitable: the Mega Man series simply could no longer continue on the Nintendo Entertainment System because the Nintendo Entertainment System itself would soon no longer continue on. With the franchise’s migration to next-generation hardware (or at this point, current-g...

With two Game Boy Mega Man games under its belt, Minakuchi Engineering had built up enough expertise to feel confident pushing boundaries. Developed in an environment of expanding scope and increased technical sophistication in handheld gaming, Mega Man IV introduces narrative and mechanical flourishes surpassing some NES entries’, while also adding an economy and improving on the game’s presentat...

The first real attempt at a true expansion of the Mega Man brand was a Japan-only board game simulation based on Monopoly starring the least popular characters in the franchise. Like Monopoly , it is not a good game. But it also wasn’t the first or last game to take its inspiration from the time-honored pastime of gathering ‘round the table with the family to roll some dice and move some pieces of...

What is the line between “game” and “fan game”? Stephen Rozner’s return to Mega Man forces us to ask and answer that question with the third game called Mega Man 3 . Mega Man 3 - The Robots Are Revolting actually introduces several concepts that the series would take years to come back to, but it remains hamstrung by the same issues that crippled its DOS-based predecessor. Should you play it? No....

It’s becoming harder to write these Mega Man recaps as repetition becomes the series’s primary trait. But for the purposes of analyzing Mega Man III - the second of three games bearing some variation of the title Mega Man 3 - I’ve decided to adopt the mind of a newcomer. We know that this is our 8th proper Mega Man game, but what this episode presupposes is: maybe it’s somebody’s first? The Game:...

The video game equivalent of a later “Thin Man” film, Mega Man 5 represents Capcom buying time for its once-proud flagship while Street Fighter II sat at the top of its priority list. Despite its repetitive nature, the game is nothing if not familiar and reassuring. And that’s not a bad thing! But at this point in our journey, it’s hard not to wonder what more Mega Man could be if only Capcom were...

Sticking with its guiding principles of “quick” and “cheap”, Capcom handed the reigns of its portable Mega Man series to the creatively named “Japan System House”, which promptly produced the series’s first true retread. Mega Man II for Game Boy is a slice of pepperoni pizza reheated once too often. The Game: Mega Man II , known as Rockman World 2 (ロックマンワールド2) in Japan Original Platform:...

With the franchise fully established and the production team stabilized, Capcom brought Mega Man 4 to the Nintendo Entertainment System, attempting to move forward while also adopting some bad habits that would stick with it for decades to come. Can a came be both good on almost every dimension and yet almost entirely forgettable? You tell me, cowboy. The Game: Mega Man 4 , known as Rockman 4: Ara...

We examine Capcom’s first focused expansion of the Mega Man brand to a new platform. Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge is a remix of previous entries in the series, with just enough new additions to avoid being a rehash. While compromised, it’s a full-fledged games that, unlike some its contemporaries, successfully compressed Mega Man into a 166x144 pixel screen. The Game: Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge...

We examine Akira Kitamura’s final significant directorial contribution to video games - the Mega Man derivative Cocoron , a move-and-shoot platformer that begins to contextualize what isn’t a Mega Man game. The Game: Cocoron (ココロン) Original Platform: Nintendo Family Computer / Nintendo Entertainment System Developer: Takeru Director: Akira Kitamura Composer: Takashi Tateishi Release Date : May...

We explore Stephen Rozner’s groundbreaking heartbreaker, and in doing so explore the flipside of the Kitamura question. If Mega Man 3 asked what happenes when you remove Akira Kitamura from a Mega Man game, then Mega Man for DOS asks what happens when you remove any trace of Capcom from a Mega Man game. The Game: Mega Man Original Platform: Microsoft Disk-Operating System Developer: Rozner Labs Di...

We examine the first significant inflection point in the Mega Man franchise, as personnel turnovers and a tumultuous production process plants seeds that will take two decades to bloom. The Game: Mega Man 3, released in Japan as Rockman 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo!? (ロックマン3 Dr.ワイリーの最期!? Rokkuman 3 Dokutā Wairī no Saigo!? ) Original Platform: Nintendo Family Computer / Nintendo Entertainment S...

We examine the first true masterpiece in the Mega Man franchise, and in doing so, discover the secret roots of the Yakuza series. The Game: Mega Man 2, released in Japan as Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo (ロックマン2 Dr.ワイリーの謎 “ Rokkuman 2: Dr. Wairī no Nazo” ) Original Platform: Nintendo Family Computer / Nintendo Entertainment System Developer: Capcom Director: Akira Kitamura Producer: Tokuro...

We lay the first brick in the foundation of our unifying theory of the Mega Man franchise. The Game: Mega Man, released in Japan as Rockman (ロックマン “Rokkuman”) Original Platform: Nintendo Family Computer / Nintendo Entertainment System Developer: Capcom Director: Akira Kitamura Producer: Takashi Nishiyama Composer: Manami Matsumae Release Date : December 17, 1987 (JP) December 29, 1987 (US) Mu...