For an early NES game, this may have been pretty good, though to be honest, it definitely aged. I don't think it's a bad game per se; overall, I'd say the game is just ok. From a visuals standpoint, Mega Man looks quite good. They also did a pretty good job making all the powers feel useful in some way, which made it a lot of fun to experiment, like using the ice slasher on the Big Eyes to freeze them mid-air, or blasting the elec beam as you please or using the rolling cutter to take out some of those annoying airborne enemies like Bladers. Being an NES game that doesn't spit you all the way back at square 1 when you game over is also a big plus, instead allowing you to just continue from the beginning of the stage you were on. Being able to challenge the robot masters in any order you please was revolutionary for the time, and helped set it apart, as most games had a more linear progression system at this time.

Now onto the flaws. Mega Man himself feels slipperier in this game than the later titles, which combined with his mach 5 fall speed can make parts of the platforming feel janky (looking at you, Guts Man and Ice Man platforms). The shooting platforms in Ice Man's stage are particularly bad, and them reappearing in the first Wily stage made me… sad, to say the least. Like, I had a feeling they'd come back, but I was hoping they wouldn't. Another thing I wasn't a fan of was how the magnet beam was left in Elec Man's stage as if it were some secret little optional thing… only for it to be required in the first Wily stage. They probably should have made it something you get after say, 3 robot masters defeated, or after defeating Elec Man, or something else so that it's not as easy to miss. This same stage also has the Yellow Devil, so um… remember the pause glitch if you don't want to go through 8-bit hell.

In the end, it's an alright game, but I'd rather play most of the future titles instead.