Damn, I did not expect to walk away from Mega Man 9 expecting to call it one of my more least favorite games in the series so far, because I heard mostly good of the game. And you know what, some of that good is really good. I do like the bosses, I like the weapons, I even really like the Wily bosses, they're the most consistently good (though not the absolute highest) they have been yet. I even like the story because it's point about an expiry date for robots is an interesting point I kind of wish was expanded on a bit more.

I just don't like playing this game. And I'm admittedly a bit upset to say that, because i knew some of stuff to expect. I knew this game removed some key tools like the slide and charge shot, and also the ones unique to 8 that I really liked. I heard a lot of good things about the weapon variety and bosses of this game, and a lot of that made me excited to finally see why people like it. I just wish the level design wasn't so dickish.

Each and every level of the game to varying degrees is filled with enemies with annoying patterns that love to potshot you, a plethora of death spikes and other insta-kill obstacles all across the game, and some really frustrating platforming sequences stringing these aspects as well as annoying mini-bosses that just make some levels really not fun. Jewel Man's is the worst, but I don't like Magma Man or Hornet Man's stages either. Pile all of this ontop of feeling overly limited from a lot of the stuff prior games had, especially 8, and you can kind of get why this game just doesn't do much for me.

I do know Proto Man has some of the stuff i'm looking for, like a slide and charge shot, but pile on the level design issues I have with his tendency to take double damage from everything, and no. I'm not doing it.

I'm not saying Mega Man hasn't had hard moments or bullshit level design. I think even some of the games I like a lot like 5 and 8 have some cases of it that you can point to. This one is just more consistently frustrating for all I described.

Don't get me wrong, I think this game does have some cool gimmicks here and there for it's stages, either revisited ones like the bubbles in Splash Woman's stage, or the weather changing in Tornado Man's stage, but also the enemies that create fake blocks you have to remember to stay away from in Concrete Man's stage, the shielded enemies you have to shoot to clear a path in Hornet Man's stage, the Teleporters in Galaxy Man's stage, and kind of the grabby dudes in the same stage. I think there is cool stuff, but not enough to erase the tedium.

This game feels too stripped back for me. I don't think it's intended to be an "evolutionary step forward", more to appeal to people who just wanted a new mega man game, especially those that liked 2 a lot, but even as that, I think it's just let down by how frustrating it is to play overall. Which again, sucks. I love a lot of the characters and bosses in this game, and a mega man game peddling a really interesting point with it's narrative is surprisingly welcomed. But... I dunno.

Either way, here's my boss rankings if you're curious.

8 - Concrete Man
7 - Plug Man
6 - Hornet Man
5 - Tornado Man
4 - Magma Man
3 - Jewel Man
2 - Galaxy Man
1 - Splash Woman

Mega Man 9 going back to the NES roots was something I knew about, but I didn't think I'd like it as much as I do. I honestly think this might be my current favourite Mega Man game since it checks off all the boxes and provides an experience that is both unique while staying true to the formula of Mega Man 2. As someone who adores Mega Man 2, it's easy to say the same for this game. The weapon roster is really fun to use, with the situational weapons feeling a lot more useful and enjoyable while the others felt really good to use if I wasn't feeling the Mega Buster. I'm a little sad that the charged Mega Buster and slide were removed, but I understand the intention and it provided some difficult platforming. Despite reverting to Mega Man 2's style, it still has features from other Mega Man games like 7/8's shop, Rush and Eddie from Mega Man 3, and Beat from Mega Man 5. The platforming and levels are also really difficult, but they feel fair and aren't riddled with many moments that I would call stupid, just difficult. Despite having to redo Wily's Castle since I didn't spend my currency prior, I still found it to be pretty fun and gained more of an appreciation for Wily's Castle in this game. Overall, I would say while this game is one of the more difficult games in the series, I find it to be one of the most fair games in terms of its difficulty and it becomes a lot of fun to play as a result.

In my opinion, the best classic series game. The only problem is that the game design will deliberately to things to kill you when you don't know they're there rather than giving you any chance to react or deal with it, but even then I understand that because this was a "return to form" and most people think of Mega Man as the kind of game that did that. Level design is otherwise fantastic, the enemies are really fun, the boss fights are the best in the series, the music is great, and this is the best set of weapons the series has ever given us. The endless mode existing is just icing on the cake.

9 and 10 are both very complicated. I think the design of these two works MUCH better in 9 than 10, at least with my limited experience of these games. They tightened and limited the move set for this one back to Mega Man 2 mode. It works, as the levels are designed around this idea, but playing all of the games in a row made this one stand out a lot less to me. It is definitely frustrating in parts, and I think that is an homage to 2 as well, which is alright with me. I was able to clear it without any major hang ups, and it was well designed, just doesn't come to mind when I think of the best games in this series, but that may change with more replays.

This is how a NES Mega Man was meant to be experienced.
The game looks great, there's no lag, no flickering, there are save files and it is complete with all the dumb bullshit that a NES Mega Man should have.
The levels are short and sweet and the stages are well-designed.
I had a good time fighting most of the bosses and their powers are pretty useful and distinct from each other.
However, as I mentioned, there is some bullshit in this game. Most of them are platforming sections with pits, spikes or both. Which can get pretty frustrating, but I can forgive that since the game is so polished and fun to play.

Eu não consigo gostar desse jogo... certo, era 2008, e megaman estava sem uma sequência a anos, então o jogo que eles decidiram criar... é um jogo apelando pra nostalgia tirando todas as evoluções que a franquia megaman teve ao decorrer de suas sequências... paia.

Não me entenda mal, eu gosto do estilo de arte dos megaman de nintendinho, mas eles não eram belos, eles eram funcionais em sua época para representar o megaman. A jogabilidade... eu não sei quem foi o retardado que reclamava da capacidade de deslizar e carregar buster, eram mecânicas suaves feitas para deixar a gameplay mais rápida.

Eu não consigo aceitar esse jogo, mesmo que ele seja bom, os anteriores fizeram feitos melhores na franquia, e a única coisa que esse desgraçado fez foi ser competente e apelar pra nostalgia, não consigo aceitar esse jogo.

I'm really confused with this game. Basically, after 8 games they did something I didn't expected: Mega Man 2 2

No, I'm not talking about just the 8-bit graphics. For some reason they decided to literally make this game as equal as MM2 as possible. Mega Man cannot charge/power shot or do the slide, your weapons don't refill after any of the Wily stages, you don't have any of the new items added in MM7 and MM8, half of the bosses have something very similar to some in MM2, some of the songs are exactly the same as in MM2 and you are forced to do all of Wily stages back to back. At least you still have the shop

I don't see much of a point to Proto Man too besides being an extra mode that gives you an achievement on Legacy Collection 2. But it's on the extra modes section, so I don't think is something bad (although I don't like the fact that he cannot access the shop)

It isn't a bad game, far from it. But going back to MM2 (and sometimes even further) after 8 games makes it very underwhelming for me

I still intend to complete Proto Man's campaign, but I'll do this another time since I have some other games on the franchise to complete