The Blue Bomber still delivers...
I would pay: $30
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Mega Man is one of my favorite game series of all time. Capcom did the world a service by releasing the classics on 1 disc. Though the graphics are dated, and often the sound effects and music are awful, Mega Man still retains its charm after 15 years.
The ports are pretty spot on. The same graphical glitches and the same bad sound effects are still there. The controls are a bit better, if only because there are more buttons available. For instance, you can still press down+jump to slide, but there's also a dedicated slide button. Also, you can alternate between pressing X and Y (on the Xbox controller) to shoot more rapidly. There is a weird sound glitch that I didn't remember from the NES. When multiple instance of the same sound effect go off at the same time, the sound is really loud. It's not a big deal, but very strange.
The presentation is pretty good as well. The menu system is reminiscent of choosing a boss fight in the later Wily stages. It's a minor detail, but pretty neat in execution. It does make it take longer to go from game to game, but it's never a big deal.
These games are just as nasty as you remember them. I got the same urge to throw my controller at the TV after dying on Quick Man's stage about a dozen times. I still missed the same jump on Snake Man's stage. I still got wiped out by Gravity Man for making a stupid jump. There are 10 games in all, including:
Mega Man - The original. I forgot that this game had points, and that getting to the boss' door meant having to go through a few more obstacles before facing the boss himself. The bosses went down pretty quick, even to the Megabuster, but if you could wipe them out with a couple of shots once you got the right boss weapon. This game was a bit easy until the Wily stages, but it's a great launch to the series.
Mega Man 2 - To me, Mega Man 2 was the best in the series. The same basic formula applied, but the stages were much harder, and so were the bosses. The bosses from this game were so cool that they show up again in Mega Man 3. Mega Man 2 introduced a lot of the types of weapons that you'll get in later Mega Man games. The Atomic Fire was the first weapon that charged when you hold down the fire button. The Leaf Shield was the first of the shield weapons, the Flash Stopper was the first time stopper, and the Metal Blades are still the only boss weapon I ever used as my primary weapon instead of the Megabuster.
Mega Man 3 - You could feel a bit of a creative strain when Mega Man 3 came out. The bosses started to get a little stupid, but it was still a great game. Mega Man 3 added the baseball slide (which saves my butt in the boss battles), as well as your sidekick Rush. Add the Protoman to the mix, and you had a sweet game. One of my favorite parts to this game was that after you beat all of the bosses, you have to go back to their stages and face off against the Mega Man 2 bosses.
I haven't tested the infamous cheat, where you hold up on the second controller when falling into a pit. On the NES this gave you a ridiculously high jump and invulnerability. This was one of the few cheats that I remember from my NES days.
Mega Man 4 - Mega Man 4 was the last of the Mega Mans that I really liked, if only because it added the chargeable Megabuster. The bosses really did start to get dumb here, and the weapons weren't very creative. However, it was still fun to play.
The Rest - Mega Man 5 and 6 really didn't hold up against the first 4. The Capcom team were pretty much pumping a dry well. The games were still fun, but not nearly as good as the others.
I never played Mega Man 7 or 8 before this, but they're pretty good. The graphics are much better, but the sound effects are actually much worse (especially on Mega Man 8. Yeesh!) There's some long cutscenes that I didn't like, but the stories followed the classic Mega Man formula.
I played the unlockable Mega Man: The Power Battle as well. Basically, you pick one of three characters (Mega Man, Protoman, or Bass) and go up against the bosses from the first 7 Mega Man games. In classic Mega Man fashion, you get their weapon after the battle. It's an ok diversion, but it's short, super easy, and there's really no difference between the three robots.
All in all this is an excellent compilation. Anyone who has a passing interest in nostalgia games (or is looking for a game that their kids can play) should grab a copy. This goes double if you can find it for $14.