***WARNING: This blog contains spoilers. While Megaman does not have the biggest story of all, nor is it recognized for its story, the story part of this blog contains many, if not all of the spoilers story-related. I've made the choice to explain to people my love for Megaman which requires me to give out every detail of the games, and thus make them understand Megaman at the same time.***
***WARNING 2: Please do not cry when you scroll down the page to see the length of the blog, thank you.***
Today marks a very special day for me, and so it is why this blog was planned for an 11th of March release: Megaman 10 releases today for the PlayStation 3. I haven't been here in the past few weeks and I have yet to finish my series of blog concerning Megaman and today was the perfect day to continue spreading the love. While Megaman 10 was released March 1st on the Nintendo Wii and will be released March 31st on Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 version is the one I will be getting. Therefore, the following blog that you will read is a fake. How is it fake? It's copy-paste from my gedit Text Editor (same as Notepad in Windows, only I'm using Ubuntu) and I will most likely be playing Megaman 10 while you read this, or waiting impatiently for the store to update. With this out of the way, let's make place for love! Oh and by the way, please be aware that this will be a very, very, very long blog, so grab yourself a coffee (make sure to make enough coffee for several cups), open up your favorite media player and play your favorite music, as you will be staying with me for a long time on this one. This is most likely my longest blog to date and I hope, for people's sanity, that I'll never go that long again. NoobFeed should make an emblem for the longest blogs ever written on the site, I'd definitely try to grab it.
Here you can see Megaman playing his very own game. Note that he is not playing Megaman 10, as it was not released on the day this picture was taken.
Megaman, or Rockman, shall I say for the circumstances, was released in Japan on December 17th 1987 on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and still spawns sequels today in 2010. This alone could make Rockman one of the longest surviving franchise in the gaming industry, alongside well remembered titles such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda. What makes the difference though is that there is nearly 100 different Megaman games, excluding the several playable and non-playable cameos that Megaman characters had (cameo, in case someone doesn't know, is an appearance in another game outside of the main franchise. For example, Megaman, Roll and the Servbot are all playable characters in Marvel VS Capcom 2). The game looked beautiful and was very well detailed for an 8-bit game, and the music was quite amazing. While it didn't have the most memorable story, the gameplay had some new mechanics that made this forever growing franchise a success.
Our favorite Blue robot.
The game is played as any side scroller/platformer you could think of out there: You are armed with an arm cannon and travel your way from left to right or right to left, shooting enemies and avoiding deadly pits in an attempt to reach you final destination; The Robot Masters lair (or the boss, if you prefer). Megaman has always been known for its above average difficulty, often considered to be part of the hardest games to have existed. Once you know how to play it though, it becomes a lot easier, still difficult in some parts though, such as clearing spiked gaps in which the slightest miscalculation will prevent you from ever reaching the ledge, thus plummeting to your death. But what exactly did you need to know about the game to make it less impossible?
First, it was one of the only games out there allowing you to progress as you wanted by providing the player with a stage selection screen displaying the bosses, or Robot Masters portraits in boxes. From that point onward, you would choose one of them and fight your way to the end. If you chose a stage which was too difficult, you could simply restart and try out another boss and repeat the process until you find a stage for you. It did, however, have a catch: Some Robot Masters were a lot harder to defeat with the simple arm cannon that Rockman had equipped, no matter the path or order you had decided to go with. That's when another great new mechanism applies: Stealing a boss's weapon in order to use it against the other enemies. Each of the Robot Masters had a weakness to one of the proposed weapons acquired when defeating a boss and it was up to the player to find which weapon is strong against which Robot Master. This became what we could consider as a core feature in the series. Each weapon also had it's own energy meter which, once emptied, prevents Megaman from using it. While the meters refill themselves after each stage, they can also be refilled in-game by collecting blue pellets (they change color according to the weapon currently equipped) which will refill a small or large amount of energy.
Megaman's best friend: His robot dog Rush, who comes and help him when needed.
While all of this may seem very simplistic with nowadays video games, just try and go back to 1987 and look at Rockman the way it would of been perceived back then. Quite amazing, isn't it? Both of these mechanism allowed pretty much anyone with enough patience to at least progress further in the game.. That is, until they meet with Dr. Wily, the all mighty evil villain behind all of the chaos. After defeating all Robot Masters, you are granted access to Dr. Wily's secret fortress, in which several stages take place one after the other with no possibility of coming back. It's you against hordes of enemies and bosses, to finally reach your final destination: Dr. Wily itself, whom you must defeat. The same applies here though, as even the fortress bosses are weak to one of the weapons acquired, allowing for an easier time within the fortress, though in most of the games, the weapon energy will not get refilled in between the fortress stages.
The first Rockman game only had six Robot Masters to choose from at the beginning, while the remaining titles had eight of them, each with the same core mechanic: Steal a boss's weapon and use it against the others. By following these simple rules established early on in the franchise's life, it grew a fanbase for whom the slightest alteration in this mechanism would mean the end of the name all together, as we wouldn't want to see Megaman any other way than it was presented to us when we first encountered the Blue Bomber. Over time, some new features were added such as Energy Tanks (refills health meter), Weapon Tanks (refills weapon energy) and a nice red robot dog called Rush, who will come and help Megaman by transforming into various objects such as a flying jet dog, underwater submarine dog, or get a simple recoil on his back to give Megaman a higher jump. There were more than just these items that got added though, but I'm only here to make you understand the meaning of the blog's title.
Roll, only wishing for her brother's safe return. Though I do not mention her in the blog, this is Roll and is considered Megaman's sister. The reason she is not mentioned is that she serves no real purpose other than "Rock and Roll". Add "Blues" to this for Protoman, "Beat" as the little bird..
Now that I am over with the simple, yet enjoyable gameplay as the core elements for the success, Megaman does have a story which could be considered never ending. It is ironic to call this the classic series as it does follow quite a classic plot of always defeating the same villain who is trying to take over the world over and over again, but to see this happen, let's make it clear as to what started the epic, never ending battle between Megaman and Dr. Wily.
In Rockman, Dr. Light had created robots to help the world achieve simple tasks, but his robots were then altered by the evil Dr. Wily in an attempt to take over the world (how surprising). In order to stop Dr. Wily, Thomas Light altered one of his first robot named Rock, whom he loved like a son, and made him into what we now know as Rockman (that's when you realize that the name "Megaman" is strange.. while Megaman is still called Rock, just imagine if they decided to call him "Mega" instead).
The ever so nice Dr. Light, always ready to help the world and wishes for humans and robots to coexist.
That's it, end of the story. Of course, Megaman succeeded at defeating Dr. Wily, but as with every other evil doctors, Wily returned in an endless number of games, namely Megaman 2 to 10, all in which he also appeared in Megaman & Bass (Rockman & Forte). It doesn't stop there though, as the original Game Boy had it's own share of the classic series with Megaman: Dr. Wily's Revenge, followed simply by Megaman II, III, IV and V, some with all new bosses to face only to find Wily in the end. These Game Boy games are also known Rockman World in Japan, just why they didn't call it Megaman World over here is something I do not possess the answer to. For now though, let's concentrate on the classic NES series, one of which appeared on SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and PS1 (PlayStation) / Sega Saturn.
In Megaman 2, Dr. Wily is back with 8 new Robot Master out of his own creation to challenge Megaman again and take over the world, once again. Megaman 2 was the turning point in the series. First, you could now choose between 8 Robot Masters instead of only 6, but the same mechanics applied for the rest. It did, however, had some new features implemented such as Item 1, 2 and 3 and Energy Tanks. The items were awarded to the player after specific stages were cleared, and they would help Megaman on his journey. Item 1 was a simple platform floating upwards, Item 2 was a jet-platform, allowing Megaman to cross the entire screen from left to right or right to left, and Item 3 is a platform that attaches itself to a wall and climbs up, to then go down after jumping off of it or when it reaches the maximum height of the wall. Some of you may recognize these utilities, as in later games, the Items in question soon became Rush, the good old morphing red robot dog who became Megaman's best friend. The Energy Tanks, as explained previously, are used to fill the health bar back up when needed. This made the game easier compared to the first title, and the incorporation of a Pass Word system definitely helped in that department as well.
The second game had it's own little twist here.. To the surprise of everyone, after defeating Dr. Wily yet another time, we find ourselves in a new stage. A simple stage, one corridor, no music, red drops falling from the ceiling and damages you (blood? fuel? unknown substance?), with a door at the end. What is this? Is something bigger than Dr. Wily out there? Was he being controlled all this time? Prepare yourselves as you meet one of the longest and most annoying bosses in the Megaman series: Alien. That's right, an Alien and his name sure is Alien, according to the Official Complete Works. Alien flies in a specific pattern and shoots one bullet at a time aimed at your current position. It all seems simple once you can time your jumps, up until you shoot him. The arm canon does not do any damage and only the Bubble Lead, a weapon acquired from defeating Bubbleman, can damage him and it poorly does so by taking away one bar health pellet with each shot (if I remember well it only does 1 damage, but in case I'm wrong, it could be 2). After this tedious battle, the starry night sky dissolves and the alien turn out to be nothing else but an holographic image controlled by Dr. Wily. End of the story.
Dr. Wily in all of his "evilness". What can be more evil than a deranged scientist trying to take over the world?
As you can see, Dr. Wily is the main villain and is to be expected in every single game. With these two title's story, I won't spend 20 lines explaining the remaining games because this would make the longest blog to have ever existed in the history of blogging. Instead, I'll simply tell the main story as it goes without specifying any of the games as this will make the blog less frightening.
After the unfortunate events that occurred in Megaman 2, Dr. Wily has been reformed and is now working alongside Dr. Light on the creation of a new robot: Gamma. As the creation is nearly completed, a disaster strikes the world as something strange is happening to the robots created to gather a crucial energy source needed for the creation of Gamma on an outer planet. As we should expect, Megaman is sent to investigate the incident and save the world. Of course, Dr. Wily was behind all of it, he even stole Gamma to use it against Megaman. He also created 4 Doc Robots which serve the purpose of carrying the "souls" of the Robot Masters from the previous game, thus Megaman not only has to defeat the 8 bosses from the outer planet, but he must defeat a remastered version of those from Megaman 2 as well. Through his journey, Megaman meets with a mysterious robot known as Protoman (Blues in Japan), but just what exactly is his purpose has yet to be clear. He seems to aid Megaman in his quest, though he will also attack him at the same time.
A Doc Robot. These are the carriers of the previous Robot Masters' souls.
Once Megaman has taken care of Wily again, a few years (I assume) pass without anything big happening. One day, a new challenge is presented to Megaman as a certain Dr. Cossack emerges and sends his 8 Robot Masters after our little Blue Bomber. Like Dr. Wily, Cossack is after the world domination. Thus, armed with a new Mega Buster allowing him to charge his shots, Megaman is on the run to restore peace in the eight different cities that has been seized by Dr. Cossack. Later down the road, we learn that Dr. Cossack has been forced by Dr. Wily to exterminate Megaman if he wants to see his daughter again, who has surprisingly been kidnapped by Wily.
What is Dr. Cossack fighting for?
Two months after terminating Wily's plans of world domination once more, Protoman shows up with an army of mysterious robots to lay siege on the city. Not only does Protoman take control of the cities, but he also kidnapped Dr. Light! While wondering what is happening, the epic battle between two brothers begins. Who will it be? Megaman, or Protoman? Further down the line on his way through Protoman's fortress, Megaman discovers the truth: This robot was not his brother at all, it was a fake copy all along created by Dr. Wily! Protoman was not evil and had no plans on defeating his younger brother, nor the cities. As Megaman fights for his life against Darkman, Protoman comes and saves the day, allowing the Blue Bomber to continue his journey and fail Wily's plans again.
Protoman in all of his "coolness".
Several years have passed, it is now the year 20XX and the "Global Robot Alliance" has been formed to battle against Dr. Wily's never ending plans of taking over the world. A year later, after the Alliance was formed, the very first tournament was held to determine the biggest peace-supporting robot. Disaster strikes again.. A mysterious man appears, calling himself Mr. X, who is a strong supporter of the Alliance, and steals the tournament robots in order to execute Wily's long sought goal. Mr. X claims he was the one behind Dr. Wily all of this time, and now, he comes out by himself to carry on the plans and defeat Megaman for good. Who exactly is this Mr. X? Where does he come from? That is something Megaman will discover on his journey through his fortress, to once again, save the world.
Who exactly is this Mr. X? Doesn't he look quite familiar?
After beating Mr. X, who turned out to be none other than Dr. Wily in a disguise, Wily was finally arrested, captured and thrown in jail. Peace lasted only for a few months before 4 robots, programmed to awaken if Dr. Wily went missing for a set period of time, help Dr. Wily to evade from his cell. As soon as he could, Megaman rushed on the field only to find Dr. Wily already escaping in his classic UFO type of transport. Dr. Wily had to be stopped once again, and so the journey begun. Throughout the journey, Megaman meets a new comrade who claims being a friend, Bass. After letting Dr. Light fix Bass up due to the damage received while fighting Megaman, Bass destroys Light's laboratory and turns out to be none other than a creation of Wily meant specifically to test and destroy Megaman. Will he be strong enough to defeat our little hero?
Bass: Is he friend, or enemy?
Up to this point, the story somewhat made sense, but then came Megaman 8. While Wily was once again stopped in Megaman 7, there is no real mention of where Wily comes from in the 8th title. A robot of justice and one of evil were in the heat of a battle in space. After a humongous shot, both robots fell to earth. Dr. Light had readings of a strange energy on a nearby island and sent Megaman to retrieve that energy. Upon arriving on the island, Megaman discovers the secret base of Dr. Wily, who has retrieved the evil energy and created 8 more Robot Masters. Megaman returns home with the justice robot and fixes him up. During that time, Megaman is on his way to Dr. Wily's secret base and further down the road, the justice robot named Duo will come and help his new friend.
Who is this "Robot of Justice" exactly? And why is he helping us?
I will not speak of the stories within Megaman 9 and 10, as they are fairly recent and available to everyone. This will mark the end of my Blog of Love for Megaman regarding the classic series. Every single thing you read in there is why I love Megaman and is why the fans like him. He's Megaman, there's nothing else to say. I could speak of a lot more things, but this is by far way longer than I expected in the beginning, so there's no need for me to add anymore to it. I would love to talk about the music, but since the music is an overall experience that sticks with every single series, I'll make an entirely separate blog covering such aspects, combining the elements of every games. You will notice that I skipped titles such as Megaman & Bass and the Game Boy series, but that was simply to make the blog much shorter. I already had to cut in the story department because I had twice the length in text than I currently do. For the Game Boy games though, I unfortunately never could get my hands on them as they are pretty rare and I do not trust eBay resellers, therefore I lack the experience with them. Expect to see similar blogs for my next in the series!
Thanks for reading, I hope nobody cried when they saw the length, because I sure did.
Megaman, Rush, Beat and Eddie fighting together for everlasting peace!
