My thoughts on this one are pretty conflicted. At some points, I was like "best in the series, truly great entry". At others, "I will kill every single person credited in this game with my bare fucking hands."
Visually, the game is definitely a step above 7, but I still think I prefer the later NES games stylistically. Music is pretty good too, very synthy and space-y.
I decided to play with the English VA for the gameplay and the Japanese VA for the cutscenes, to get a good sample of both. English definitely lives up to its reputation, but I won't lie I thought all the robot masters were charming in a G Gundam Dub type of way. Japanese is definitely easier to take seriously, though, so maybe play with that if you can, especially for the cutscenes (just make sure you also find a way to get subtitles).
But the gameplay, oh boy. So, when it comes to the regular Mega Man stuff, it's honestly very good. Jumping and shooting, great stuff. And the robot master powers are probably my favorite up to this point, I found myself actually using basically all of them pretty regularly, which is definitely a first. The fact that you can still use the Mega Buster with one equipped, and the fact that it tells you how many shots you can fire with it, are fantastic additions. It's also far more forgiving than past entries, refilling your weapon energy after a death and allowing you to come back from a game-over at a level's halfway point. There's also the bolt collectables, which let you buy permanent mechanical upgrades, and I'll be honest, I really liked hunting them all down.
The snowboard sections can go fuck themselves. Legitimately horrible, brings the whole game down a point. I hope whoever designed them is dead or suffering.
The Rush Jet shoot-em-up sections, on the other hand, are really fun, like I was genuinely disappointed there wasn't more of 'em. Probably a sign I should check out that genre at some point, actually.
Overall though, I would definitely say I enjoyed this more than 7, despite its flaws, and definitely think it's worth checking out.
Visually, the game is definitely a step above 7, but I still think I prefer the later NES games stylistically. Music is pretty good too, very synthy and space-y.
I decided to play with the English VA for the gameplay and the Japanese VA for the cutscenes, to get a good sample of both. English definitely lives up to its reputation, but I won't lie I thought all the robot masters were charming in a G Gundam Dub type of way. Japanese is definitely easier to take seriously, though, so maybe play with that if you can, especially for the cutscenes (just make sure you also find a way to get subtitles).
But the gameplay, oh boy. So, when it comes to the regular Mega Man stuff, it's honestly very good. Jumping and shooting, great stuff. And the robot master powers are probably my favorite up to this point, I found myself actually using basically all of them pretty regularly, which is definitely a first. The fact that you can still use the Mega Buster with one equipped, and the fact that it tells you how many shots you can fire with it, are fantastic additions. It's also far more forgiving than past entries, refilling your weapon energy after a death and allowing you to come back from a game-over at a level's halfway point. There's also the bolt collectables, which let you buy permanent mechanical upgrades, and I'll be honest, I really liked hunting them all down.
The snowboard sections can go fuck themselves. Legitimately horrible, brings the whole game down a point. I hope whoever designed them is dead or suffering.
The Rush Jet shoot-em-up sections, on the other hand, are really fun, like I was genuinely disappointed there wasn't more of 'em. Probably a sign I should check out that genre at some point, actually.
Overall though, I would definitely say I enjoyed this more than 7, despite its flaws, and definitely think it's worth checking out.