A nostalgia filled adventure that shows us all that next gen isn't always best gen!

User Rating: 8.5 | Mega Man 9 WII
I remember when I was a kid, going to the mall on my birthday and asking my mom to buy me Mega Man 2 for the NES. A couple days before, I had gone to my cousin's and we had rented the original Mega Man. It was so very hard that one... but still, it made me want more so for my birthday, I asked for the sequel. It took me a while to finish it and I remember I was so jealous when one of my friends managed to beat it before me! But that only spurred me on and when I finally beat that game, I was sooooo happy!

Many Mega Man games came out since then. Most though failed to elicit the same reaction as the 2nd one though. Sure, I loved the first Mega Man X game but most of those that came about didn't feel quite the same. Each installment seemed to give newer and newer moves and abilities to the Blue Bomber, made the game more and more complicated and ultimately brought the series farther and farther away from it's roots. At it's best the series isn't about the flash, it's about skill, your skill against the world!

This installment not only goes back to these roots in an audio visual sense, it goes back to it's core mechanics! Gone are the flashy moves, the powering up mega buster, the extras that made other installments a chore at times. All that is left is you against the world! Well, almost… you can go and buy a few items in the game, ranging from extra lives and energy tanks to new haircuts! The helpful items are helpful but don't change the core gameplay in drastic ways. Like, having an extra energy tank isn't going to be that helpful when you're trying to jump from one appearing/disappearing bloc to another!

The audio/visual aspects of the game are all retro 8-bit area stuff, but then again you already knew that. Something that should be mentioned though is the just campy enough "cutscenes" where the story unfolds! I'm not going to spoil anything but there's just something special about the two line, stop and then another two line text presentation that makes the whole scene ooze with nostalgic charm that no CGI cutscene could ever truly compare with!

If you're looking for a game that will blow you away with it's technical prowess, you should look elsewhere. If, instead, you're looking for a game that will challenge your hand-eye coordination like few games today can, then look no farther!