It may not be the best Mega Man game out there, but it got the series started.
Story: Well basically you're a Robot (Mega Man) designed by Dr.Light who is out to stop the 6 corrupted robots, that have been tainted by Dr.Willy. What were you expecting more? This was a classic NES game, who needs story?
Game Play: Alright now this has been a major part of the reasons why the Mega Man series has been so strong. Basically you have two buttons, jump and the other shoots your power blaster. Now this sounds simple enough, and it is, the real challenge relies on pattern recognition, reaction, and downright luck.
Now the interesting thing about Mega Man is you don't play in a level fashion per say, unlike Mario where you progress from one level to the next, in Mega Man you have 6 levels to choice from. Each level has a boss robot at the end. When you defeat this boss robot you gain their powers to use. For example if I go to the ice man stage, I have to get through the snow, however plat forms, etc. Then I have to beat that sucker so I can shoot ice. Once you beat the 6 main robots, you then have to beat a few Willy stages, in these stages they are ordered you don't get to choose which level you want to play.
Although the formula is strong, and it did redeem itself in Mega Man 2, Mega Man however had some big problems regarding game play. For example it had some control issues, and response issues. (Jump does not jump, etc.) Also some of the levels are downright impossible on your first life, which can be very frustrating, for first time player. Fire Man for example there are blocks that appear out of thin air you jump from block to block of one hit death lava. Eventually you make it to a part where the next block appears directly over head. Unless you have played this level before you just lost a life. Also some sections relied on pure luck. Let's take the Ice Man level; you get to a section, where there are floating platforms that shoot. Not only are they floating they move left right and Up and Down in an unpredictable random pattern. So just a little challenge right? Wrong, in fact these are so random I literally stood on one dodging bullets for over 5 minutes, because the platform across from me just stayed really high in the air I could not reach it. So I just jumped off the edge killed myself, did the section again this time I not only managed to jump the platform I couldn't reach previously I made it through several others, and was through the entire section in about 15 seconds.
So with these few annoyances, such as you have to replay a section, and pure luck, that is the end of the problems? No in fact some of the weapons and powers from the bosses in the original Mega Man just weren't exciting, such as Gutsman's power. Also this is the hardest Mega Man from the series so be expected to hear the death sound a lot.
Sound: Now this is what the series is build off, other than Game Play of course. This game as some great "rock" tracks, it may not as great as the tunes in Mega Man 2 or 3 but still great none the less.
Overall: Well Mega Man did have some serious problems, which were later corrected. Would I call this a class, hard to say, with that said Mega Man did launch the series, and that may be the true strength to this game.
Thanks for reading.