Welcome to the 32-Bit era for the blue Bomber! And while this game isn't talked about often among the fanbase, I think this game is a gem in the franchise. 8 is a refinement of everything Classic Mega Man was to this point, while trying to build ideas to try to move the jump n' shoot design forward, while also being a fun adventure with Rock.
Mega Man 8 really doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. 8 robot masters, 4 Wily's Castle stages, boss rush, bust Wily, save the day. So what makes Mega Man 8 so special compared to the other 12 times this formulas been done?
The answer is this feels like the most actualized vision for Mega Man's world yet, from characters, visuals, music, uh 'story' if you want to consider that. There's a passion behind Mega Man 8 wasn't quite felt in 7 or many of the later NES releases. Like this game looks as gorgeous as it does and it came it a little over a year after Mega Man 7, and it ended up looking this gorgeous.
This game's sprite work is some of the best on the console, and honestly aesthicly, this game is peak Mega Man. The enemies are vibrant, colorful and expressive, with some of my favorite enemy design in the franchise. The robot masters are unique and expressive, they animate very well while being packed with personality, aided by (very cheesy) voice acting. Seeing more of Mega Man's retro-futuristic world is just...really neat in a way I can’t express properly. The world of Mega Man really pops in this game.
I haven't even mentioned the music, composed by Shusaku Uchiyama. He composes of some of the most memorable music in the fn the Classic franchise in this game, and it helps sell the colorful, airy vibe this game has.
What about that gameplay? As I said earlier it’s a Mega Man game, you jump, shoot and slide and it feels good. Everything’s scaled better this game and platforming feels less clunky than 7 out the gate, which is great. Level design is on point, mostly what you expect from a Mega Man game. There’s a complaint to be made for some of stage gimmicks dragging for too long, such as the infamous Jet boarding sections or the SHUMP sections, but honestly most stages flow extremely well to the point where even the sub-bosses were fun for me. I even enjoyed the idea of adding a labyrinth, even if it is a bit clumsily handled.
Also, the game tries to add fresh ideas to both Mega Man and remixing a few old ones. For starters, in the intro stage Dr. Light gives Mega Man the special weapon the Mega Ball, which allows Mega Man to spawn and kick a ball that ricochets off of walls and objects, which is neat, but as a hidden gimmick Mega Man can jump off the ball to give him a pseudo-infinite jump so long as he has the weapon energy. And I love that kind of shit in games, it promotes skill expression and adds a bit of depth to the game. 8 in general seems to flirt with the Special Weapons more for level design. On top of all being pretty well designed and useful for the challenges MM8 asks of you, quite a few interact with Mega Man, the enemies and level design itself that really promote exploration and experimentation with the weapons. To reward this, The Bolts, which were random item drops in the GB games and 7, are now hidden collectibles, and now the shop gives Mega Man more permanent upgrades. It’s not anything groundbreaking in terms of a game play loop, but it was a nice, simple fresh take in the Classic formula besides just finding the Rush/Beat parts and beating the robot masters, while not just being the armor system from MMX.
Finally, I should mention the fact that this was the first game designed with It's the first game designed with Animated cutscenes and a story that is in the backdrop of the game and it adds absolutely nothing and is very pointless and predictable, and doesn’t really go anywhere. It's a basic plot where there's a dark energy that Dr Wily uses to power up his robot masters and also introduces Duo, A mysterious alien robot who strongly believes in justice. It it really doesn't do anything novel storytelling wise but it's still a big part of the charm of Mega Man 8, even with its comical voice acting.
I had no intention of talking about Mega Man 8 this long. And I still have a lot more I want to say, but I think it’s best to conclude with this game super cool to me, and I don't get to say that a lot about the classic series. I think it does a lot of things that are really interesting for classic Mega Man and it's a shame that classic series didn't get more love and attention like this, as I feel it was on the cusp of doing more for the classic formula. I very much recommend Mega Man 8 to Mega Man fans and platformer fans alike.
Mega Man 8 really doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. 8 robot masters, 4 Wily's Castle stages, boss rush, bust Wily, save the day. So what makes Mega Man 8 so special compared to the other 12 times this formulas been done?
The answer is this feels like the most actualized vision for Mega Man's world yet, from characters, visuals, music, uh 'story' if you want to consider that. There's a passion behind Mega Man 8 wasn't quite felt in 7 or many of the later NES releases. Like this game looks as gorgeous as it does and it came it a little over a year after Mega Man 7, and it ended up looking this gorgeous.
This game's sprite work is some of the best on the console, and honestly aesthicly, this game is peak Mega Man. The enemies are vibrant, colorful and expressive, with some of my favorite enemy design in the franchise. The robot masters are unique and expressive, they animate very well while being packed with personality, aided by (very cheesy) voice acting. Seeing more of Mega Man's retro-futuristic world is just...really neat in a way I can’t express properly. The world of Mega Man really pops in this game.
I haven't even mentioned the music, composed by Shusaku Uchiyama. He composes of some of the most memorable music in the fn the Classic franchise in this game, and it helps sell the colorful, airy vibe this game has.
What about that gameplay? As I said earlier it’s a Mega Man game, you jump, shoot and slide and it feels good. Everything’s scaled better this game and platforming feels less clunky than 7 out the gate, which is great. Level design is on point, mostly what you expect from a Mega Man game. There’s a complaint to be made for some of stage gimmicks dragging for too long, such as the infamous Jet boarding sections or the SHUMP sections, but honestly most stages flow extremely well to the point where even the sub-bosses were fun for me. I even enjoyed the idea of adding a labyrinth, even if it is a bit clumsily handled.
Also, the game tries to add fresh ideas to both Mega Man and remixing a few old ones. For starters, in the intro stage Dr. Light gives Mega Man the special weapon the Mega Ball, which allows Mega Man to spawn and kick a ball that ricochets off of walls and objects, which is neat, but as a hidden gimmick Mega Man can jump off the ball to give him a pseudo-infinite jump so long as he has the weapon energy. And I love that kind of shit in games, it promotes skill expression and adds a bit of depth to the game. 8 in general seems to flirt with the Special Weapons more for level design. On top of all being pretty well designed and useful for the challenges MM8 asks of you, quite a few interact with Mega Man, the enemies and level design itself that really promote exploration and experimentation with the weapons. To reward this, The Bolts, which were random item drops in the GB games and 7, are now hidden collectibles, and now the shop gives Mega Man more permanent upgrades. It’s not anything groundbreaking in terms of a game play loop, but it was a nice, simple fresh take in the Classic formula besides just finding the Rush/Beat parts and beating the robot masters, while not just being the armor system from MMX.
Finally, I should mention the fact that this was the first game designed with It's the first game designed with Animated cutscenes and a story that is in the backdrop of the game and it adds absolutely nothing and is very pointless and predictable, and doesn’t really go anywhere. It's a basic plot where there's a dark energy that Dr Wily uses to power up his robot masters and also introduces Duo, A mysterious alien robot who strongly believes in justice. It it really doesn't do anything novel storytelling wise but it's still a big part of the charm of Mega Man 8, even with its comical voice acting.
I had no intention of talking about Mega Man 8 this long. And I still have a lot more I want to say, but I think it’s best to conclude with this game super cool to me, and I don't get to say that a lot about the classic series. I think it does a lot of things that are really interesting for classic Mega Man and it's a shame that classic series didn't get more love and attention like this, as I feel it was on the cusp of doing more for the classic formula. I very much recommend Mega Man 8 to Mega Man fans and platformer fans alike.