So, the fucked up thing is that I have already played this before, around the time it came out actually, and I really liked it then. I remember really liking the robot masters (especially fuse man), and I liked a lot of the weapons, and I thought the game was very pretty. But now that I have this little Mega Man Classic Marathon under my belt, I can say it's up there as my favorite, tied with 8.
The thing I really like about 8 wasn't just how it looked or how it could let you use a buster and the weapon, tho those things helped, but it's that the game's designed encouraged surprise, was able to take advantage of weapons in a way so few of these games can rarely do, and that the way it handled it's upgrade system made you have to decide how you wanted to play Mega Man, whether it was encouraging weapon use, buster only, support, or anything in between with just 40 bolts. It had a lot of aspects that even now I don't really see in a Mega Man game.
What I ended up liking for 11 wasn't the weird but cool stuff that 8 had, but a really good refinement of the ideas the series had been working with from 9 and 10 surprisingly. Sure, yea, they brought back the slide and charge shot, and everything was good, but it's more of what they do to build even further on top of it.
This game introduces the double gear system, a way to empower the player either in strength, in evasion through a stage or fight, or in the rare cases at low hp, both. It's a really cool concept the game gets a ton of mileage out of either with Mega Man himself, or all the major bosses abusing it's power to make them incredibly dangerous with desperation and gear phases after the standard.
This system also applies to the special weapons you get from robot masters, turning them into far more effective versions of themselves at the cost of taking up more energy. It's such a neat way to expand on the concept of these weapons while also making them fit with the mechanics. Even the weapons I don't like as much like the bounce balls or the impact drive still get good use due to the extra effects their power gear versions have.
Something I also really like about this game is how they handle the shop. They of course bring it back with a ton of the stuff you'd expect by this point. The ability to use bolts to buy one ups and e-tanks and ways to avoid getting insta-killed by hazards, stuff like that. But now, that's only one section of three in the shop. The others are equippable parts that can add to Mega Man's abilities like the Energy Balancer, an increase to Charge Shot size, auto charging, increasing the capabilities of the speed gear, stuff like that. And the last one is upgrade parts, which is just increasing capacity of items like e-tanks or decreasing the cooldown time for abusing the double gear system, stuff like that.
That's a really neat approach, though if I did have a criticism, I do kind of wish it would limit you on what equip parts you could take in. A good example is the one case I can think of with them not letting you choose more than 1, and that's the two versions of the energy balancer. One does the thing you'd expect, give energy to the lowest weapon, or the neo version where every weapon refills for free upon getting a weapon tank. While that's not the best trade-off, a system that makes you question what fits your style of play is pretty cool of an idea. I imagine something like this to be a more freeing version of MM8's system, where you weren't locked onto a path of upgrade, but you could only choose a handful of parts that suited your style the best. As the system is however, it's a very ideal step in the right direction.
I should also mention that while I'm obviously really happy about the return of the slide and charge shot, as well as the previously mentioned introduction of the Double Gear System which will sadly probably be a one time thing, I do also like what little quality of life improvements they've done to make navigation of the menus and of controlling mega man through the stages more seamless and comfortable.
For one, they kept the weapon roulette, but they also introduced a quick select with the right stick so you can more quickly go to the ability you want. Sometimes it is easier to mentally reset with the pause screen or roulette, but the convenience is handy in the way the other two aren't as quick with. Also, Rush Jet and Coil have their own buttons now. They take up the same gauge tho, but if you need the buster, you can just double press to summon and unsummon rush to quickly get back to basics. It's a little weird of a roundabout, but it's pretty handy honestly. You also can still use the auto fire or rapid fire if you turn it on in the menu, I just forgot.
They don't make you have to do every wily stage consecutively, and have split up the boss rush and the final boss into their own levels again, making the process much less taxing. I'm not the biggest fan of this game's Wily bosses (minus the final boss), but it's still pretty good all things considered. And of course, the lab is a button away when you're in the stage select, and it's pretty handy when I inevitably needed some lives because I died to something in the stage.
Coming back to 11, I'm really happy to confirm that yes, a lot of these stages, robot masters, and especially weapons are all really good. The gear system really helps in dealing with some of the gimmicks of the stage more easily, like with Torch Man and Blast Man's stages by using the speed gear to outrun certain hazards, or Acid Man's stage with a very particular jump over death spikes. I think the only levels I'm not the biggest fans of are Bounce Man's and Impact Man's stages, only because I got a little more annoyed by their gimmicks more easily, but not enough to hate the levels outright. And my favorites were probably Fuse Man's, Blast Man's, and Torch Man's.
Also, lowkey, regardless of how actually good the weapons are, I love the detail that it also changes Mega Man's design rather than only his colors, it's such a cool touch.
But yea, Mega Man 11 is just a really good entry. It's fun to control, it's really fun navigating some of these stages, and while I prefer some ideas more in 8, I do really like the Double Gear system here, and wish that it returned in some way into the future titles we'll see in... another decade... hopefully. And with that, I've finished playing through all the numbered entries, but there is still one more I want to play before I hang up the buster for now. Til then, here's my boss ranking for this game.
8. - Impact Man
7. - Bounce Man
6. - Acid Man
5. - Blast Man
4. - Tundra Man
3. - Torch Man
2. - Block Man
1. - Fuse Man
The thing I really like about 8 wasn't just how it looked or how it could let you use a buster and the weapon, tho those things helped, but it's that the game's designed encouraged surprise, was able to take advantage of weapons in a way so few of these games can rarely do, and that the way it handled it's upgrade system made you have to decide how you wanted to play Mega Man, whether it was encouraging weapon use, buster only, support, or anything in between with just 40 bolts. It had a lot of aspects that even now I don't really see in a Mega Man game.
What I ended up liking for 11 wasn't the weird but cool stuff that 8 had, but a really good refinement of the ideas the series had been working with from 9 and 10 surprisingly. Sure, yea, they brought back the slide and charge shot, and everything was good, but it's more of what they do to build even further on top of it.
This game introduces the double gear system, a way to empower the player either in strength, in evasion through a stage or fight, or in the rare cases at low hp, both. It's a really cool concept the game gets a ton of mileage out of either with Mega Man himself, or all the major bosses abusing it's power to make them incredibly dangerous with desperation and gear phases after the standard.
This system also applies to the special weapons you get from robot masters, turning them into far more effective versions of themselves at the cost of taking up more energy. It's such a neat way to expand on the concept of these weapons while also making them fit with the mechanics. Even the weapons I don't like as much like the bounce balls or the impact drive still get good use due to the extra effects their power gear versions have.
Something I also really like about this game is how they handle the shop. They of course bring it back with a ton of the stuff you'd expect by this point. The ability to use bolts to buy one ups and e-tanks and ways to avoid getting insta-killed by hazards, stuff like that. But now, that's only one section of three in the shop. The others are equippable parts that can add to Mega Man's abilities like the Energy Balancer, an increase to Charge Shot size, auto charging, increasing the capabilities of the speed gear, stuff like that. And the last one is upgrade parts, which is just increasing capacity of items like e-tanks or decreasing the cooldown time for abusing the double gear system, stuff like that.
That's a really neat approach, though if I did have a criticism, I do kind of wish it would limit you on what equip parts you could take in. A good example is the one case I can think of with them not letting you choose more than 1, and that's the two versions of the energy balancer. One does the thing you'd expect, give energy to the lowest weapon, or the neo version where every weapon refills for free upon getting a weapon tank. While that's not the best trade-off, a system that makes you question what fits your style of play is pretty cool of an idea. I imagine something like this to be a more freeing version of MM8's system, where you weren't locked onto a path of upgrade, but you could only choose a handful of parts that suited your style the best. As the system is however, it's a very ideal step in the right direction.
I should also mention that while I'm obviously really happy about the return of the slide and charge shot, as well as the previously mentioned introduction of the Double Gear System which will sadly probably be a one time thing, I do also like what little quality of life improvements they've done to make navigation of the menus and of controlling mega man through the stages more seamless and comfortable.
For one, they kept the weapon roulette, but they also introduced a quick select with the right stick so you can more quickly go to the ability you want. Sometimes it is easier to mentally reset with the pause screen or roulette, but the convenience is handy in the way the other two aren't as quick with. Also, Rush Jet and Coil have their own buttons now. They take up the same gauge tho, but if you need the buster, you can just double press to summon and unsummon rush to quickly get back to basics. It's a little weird of a roundabout, but it's pretty handy honestly. You also can still use the auto fire or rapid fire if you turn it on in the menu, I just forgot.
They don't make you have to do every wily stage consecutively, and have split up the boss rush and the final boss into their own levels again, making the process much less taxing. I'm not the biggest fan of this game's Wily bosses (minus the final boss), but it's still pretty good all things considered. And of course, the lab is a button away when you're in the stage select, and it's pretty handy when I inevitably needed some lives because I died to something in the stage.
Coming back to 11, I'm really happy to confirm that yes, a lot of these stages, robot masters, and especially weapons are all really good. The gear system really helps in dealing with some of the gimmicks of the stage more easily, like with Torch Man and Blast Man's stages by using the speed gear to outrun certain hazards, or Acid Man's stage with a very particular jump over death spikes. I think the only levels I'm not the biggest fans of are Bounce Man's and Impact Man's stages, only because I got a little more annoyed by their gimmicks more easily, but not enough to hate the levels outright. And my favorites were probably Fuse Man's, Blast Man's, and Torch Man's.
Also, lowkey, regardless of how actually good the weapons are, I love the detail that it also changes Mega Man's design rather than only his colors, it's such a cool touch.
But yea, Mega Man 11 is just a really good entry. It's fun to control, it's really fun navigating some of these stages, and while I prefer some ideas more in 8, I do really like the Double Gear system here, and wish that it returned in some way into the future titles we'll see in... another decade... hopefully. And with that, I've finished playing through all the numbered entries, but there is still one more I want to play before I hang up the buster for now. Til then, here's my boss ranking for this game.
8. - Impact Man
7. - Bounce Man
6. - Acid Man
5. - Blast Man
4. - Tundra Man
3. - Torch Man
2. - Block Man
1. - Fuse Man