Wrasslin' Games!

Today, I've decided to talk about my five favorite pro wrestling games from back in the day. A combination of watching dozens Botchamanias and watching WWE Raw has resparked my interest in the "sport." There's a part of me that realizes how ridiculous and stupid most of it is, but there's another part of me that enjoys the pure spectacle of it all that I can't ignore. Generally, I don't like wrestling games as much as your average fighting game. For starters, the licenses are usually in the hands of companies like LJN who couldn't sell a game without an attached license. Secondly, I feel like wrestling doesn't really lend itself well to a game format. There's a natural ebb and flow to a good wrestling match. Unless it's a squash match, momentum will flow back and forth between both wrestlers and it will seem like it's anyone's match. When they try to put this into games, it tends just to frustrate me that my opponent, whose butt I've been kicking suddenly breaks out of all my holds and counters my attacks. Finally, there's almost always a lot of button mashing, which I can't stand. Despite their flaws, wrestling games tend to be a lot of fun in multiplayer and they always are a total nostalgia trip with me. Without further ado, here's five wrestling games that I thought were totally awesome. I actually wanted to do a list of the crappiest wrestling games I ever played...but then I realized that would be a really, really long list.


WWF Wrestlefest Arcade, 1991



If there's one Technos Japan can do, it's create addicting brawlers. After all, they made Double Dragon and River City Ransom. The huge, colorful sprites pretty much beckoned to me whenever I was in an arcade.. Gameplay is pretty simple, with a punch and a kick button. Grapples are initiated when you're close, and the throws and submissions are more or less chosen randomly. Though you will pull of your finisher if your opponent is low on life. The roster is pretty much a collection of all the wrestlers from late in the WWF's Golden Era. You've got Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Jake the Snake, Sgt. Slaughter, Earthquake and others. I always chose Hogan and Earthquake. There's only two modes, a tag team mode where you work your way up to challenge the Legion of Doom, and the Royal Rumble. I personally preferred the chaos of the Royal Rumble. With its sublime presentation, colorful graphics and simple gameplay, you'd be hard pressed to find a better wrestling game for the arcade format.

WWF Royal Rumble SNES, 1993



Okay, LJN did make almost universally terrible games based on licenses they acquired, but I have a total soft spot for this. I played this sucker to death during the summer of 1993. It's slow, stiff and clunky, but the roster is sizable enough, and the movelist isn't too bad either. The only thing that really does bother me about the game is that the presentation is really lackluster. I guess you get each Wrestler's theme on the selection screen, but there's no entrances, no trash talking, and everyone is about the same height for some reason. I'm probably asking too much from a game like this, but wouldn't have it been nice to see Tatanka do his stupid dances? Okay maybe not. Anyway, I think my favorite part of the game was how you could "accidentally" knock the ref out, which gave you the opportunity to use illegal eye gouges and chokes! This game came out during the WWF's New Generation era, when they were losing a lot of their old talent and had to bring a bunch of new guys in. It was a pretty lousy time for the company. When your main face is Lex freakin' Luger for a while, then you know you're in the pits. Also for some reason, most of the wrestlers had some sort of side job gimmick. There were wrestling stock car drivers, repo men, dentists and accountants...yeah I don't get it either. On the bright side, it introduced the world to some great talent like Bret Heart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. Personally, I didn't mind it back then, but when you're an 8 year old mark, your standards are pretty low.

Saturday Night Slam Masters SNES, 1994




Normally, a lack of real wrestlers is the kiss of death for a wrestling game in America. After all, one of the biggest draws of these games is the ability to play as the same guys you see on TV. Still, when the game is made by Capcom, it's hard not to give it a chance. Overall, the gameplay is what happens when you combine Street Fighter, Final Fight and well...a wrestling game. There's a few wacky Street Fighter-esque moves here and there, but overall it's fast, simple and is pretty conducive to just button masher as well as more serious players. There's a typical 1 Vs. 1 mode and a 2 Vs. 2 team battle royale mode. The latter is pretty awesome, but the AI of your partner is pretty deplorable. The only character that you might recognize is Mike freaking Haggar from Final Fight. Yes the pro wrestling mayor with striking similarities to Jesse Ventura is the only Capcom alum to make the roster. That's okay though, because the rest of the cast was designed by Tetsuo Hara, the guy who drew First of the North Star, aka the manliest comic ever. Seriously, check out the incredible amounts of testosterone here. The presentation is great too! Each wrestler has their own entrance, theme music and victory poses. The simplicity and fun character design make this a game that's better for nonwrestling fans to play.

WWF Wrestlemania Arcade, 1995



In '95 Midway, the company famous for Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam got the WWF license. Honestly, given their past work, it's a pretty good match. The designers decided to go with a more over the top approach for this game, NBA Jam style. For some reason, your wrestlers develop weapons out of nowhere. Undertaker clobbers his opponents with a tombstone, Shawn Michaels gets a baseball bat, Doink gets a hammer, and for some reason, Razor Ramon's arms turn into blades. Fortunately, they didn't take this wackyness too far and let you lop off arms and spray blood everywhere. Rather, you "bleed" items. Bret Hart bleeds cartoony hearts and Yokozuna drops raw fish. Yeah. Unlike most wrestling games, it's very fast paced which may make it more appealing to some gamers. Just don't expect a pure grappling experience.

WCW/ nWo: Revenge N64, 1998



Developed by those geniuses at the Aki and Asmik, this is one of the best wrestling games of all time, and definitely my personal favorite. The grappling system in this game is incredibly simple, but also very versatile which makes it great for multiplayer. The game takes place at the height of the nWo era, a time that redefined pro wrestling and made WCW kick the WWF's ass in ratings for a year and a half. That is until poor storylines and mismanagement ran the WCW into the ground and forced it to be shut down just a couple years later. You have a whopping 63 wrestlers from all the stables at the time, including a few Japanese wrestlers for good measure. The presentation is fantastic, you can choose different venues, mostly based on different PPV events. Each wrestler has their own unique intro, moveset and mannerisms. Some of them even come out with their managers and valets, who you can beat on if you're so inclined. This game also has run-ins. But who runs in, and who they help is completely random. So you might have Perry Saturn running in to save Scott Hall from Raven or something dumb like that. Make up the story in your head I guess. The game's only real flaw is that like most N64 games, it looks like a blocky ugly mess nowadays. If you can get past that, you'll find it's one of the most enjoyable games in the genre. Aki and Asmik went on to make some WWF games after this one which are supposedly better, but I can't say I've ever played them.

A Guide To Bloomingon Bars or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Drinking

I kinda miss Bloomington at the moment. It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm unemployed, have a disgusting amount of free time on my hands and lack a decent local bar scene. I now realize that I took Bloomington for granted as far as drinking excursions went. In Bloomington, you could meet at someone's house, pregame, hop on a free bus and spend the rest of the evening bar hopping in relatively cheap, smoke free bars. The bar scene nearest here isn't bad by any means, but someone always has to drive, muggings in the area are frequent, the prices aren't as good and I don't know anybody. In Bloomington, no matter where I went, it was guaranteed that I would see someone I knew. Just because I feel like it, I'm going to write about each bar I visited during my lengthy tenure at IU. Obviously, some bars I'll have a lot to say about, other bars...not so much.

Kirkwood

This is where any good night of drinking will probably start. Located on the west side of campus, it's within walking distance of a fair amount of apartments and neighborhoods. Parking is reasonable, especially on weekends. There's lots bars in this area and most of them stand out and are worth visiting on multiple occasions.

Kilroy's on Kirkwood

Also known as KOK. This is one of the most popular bars in town. They also have a decent patio outside that's great to hang out on during a lazy summer afternoon. Kilroy's also has some of the cheapest bar food you'll find around. It's not very good, and it's soaked in grease, but trust me, nothing tastes better than a 50 cent stuffed breadstick when you're inebriated. I would recommended Kilroy's, but I think there's more interesting bars around the area.

Drinks/Specials- The most popular night to visit Kilroy's is Tuesdays believe it or not. You have to pay a 5 dollar cover, but once you're in, all drinks are just two bucks. They also pride themselves on their Long Islands by having dozens of different flavors. I personally find them a little weak, but they're also pretty cheap so I usually order a double.

Clientele-Kilroy's is very popular with the Greek crowd. Don't be surprised to see dozens of sorority girls in here all wearing matching shirts. On Tuesdays, it's incredibly crowded, but the crowd is more varied as well.

The Upstairs

An unassuming little place that's located above a Jimmy John's. To me, it seems like this should be a dive bar that only gets a handful of visitors a night, but it's very popular. It manages to be a blast every time I visit. Definitely one of my favorites.

Drinks/Specials- The Adios Mother Fucker, also known as an AMF is a 7 dollar(or 4, if you get the small version) delicious blue concotion that will get your buzz going. I used to chug these all the time, but my tolerance for super sugary drinks has gone down as I've gotten older. Still, it's one of the best deals in town. Still, the AMF should be all you need and if that's not your cup of booze, beer is usually pretty reasonable.

Clientele- Pretty much everyone and a large collection of "normal" people. It tends to go from quiet to packed right around midnight. Despite how crowded it gets, I've never really had a problem getting through the place and I can usually find a nice place to hang out or sit.

Hoosier Knights

Formerly The Jungle Room. This bar is pretty new, so I don't have a whole lot to say about it. It used to be unique because it had a balcony and a (small) dance floor. They took the dance floor out but the balcony is still there. It seems like it'd be a alright place, but the only business they really seem to get is the spillover from The Upstairs. I don't have a problem with it, but it doesn't seem to have a hook that some of the other bars in the area have.

902s

Formerly Uncle Fester's House of Blooze. This is a tiny bar with a focus on live music. I've been here a couple times and the acts they get tend to be pretty low key. One time they had some crappy cover band and it was actually a lot of fun. I don't remember anything about the drinks but I don't think they have any outstanding specials. I don't go here that often.

Nick's English Hut

Ah, Nick's. Probably the oldest bar in Bloomington. Probably. This is definitely my favorite bar in Bloomington. My only complaint is that on some really busy nights it can be hard to find a table. But hey, if you can find a nice table, don't be surprised if you're here for hours. They also have some pretty good food, but I found it kinda expensive for an older bar like this.

Drinks/Specials- The main draw here is Sink The Biz, which is hands down the most fun you will ever have drinking. Many good and many bad nights have started with a couple games this. Overall, drinks are not quite as cheap as some of the other bars, but the older crowd that this place attracts can probably handle it.

Clientele- Lots of people, but you'll notice something that you don't see at a lot of the bars around here- an older crowd. Very popular with alumni and people who come in from out of town. If you wanted to take your parents to a bar, you can't really beat this place.

Alley Bar

A really small bar on the other side of Kirkwood. I've been here exactly once and I got mugged by every person in the bar, and there was nowhere to sit. Definitely a bar for regulars.

Crazy Horse

Another bar on the other side of town. I've only been there a few times, but it seems pretty nice! Beer is relativley cheap and I know they have some decent specials throughout the week. This bar also seems to attract a slightly older crowd. I feel like law students and local yuppies hang out here. Definitely a nice place to chill out.

The Irish Lion

Not surprisingly, an Irish Pub. Has expensive food. I've only been here on Saint Patrick's Day and big shock, I wasn't able to find a seat.

Walnut

So you've warmed up on Kirkwood, now it's time to head out to Walnut and get crazy. Typically, you'll be spending a lot more money in this area. Drinks are expensive and most of the bars have covers. I usually have to be pretty drunk to have a good time in this area, but if I am, and if I'm out with the right people, I will have an awesome time.

The Bluebird

Like Nick's, this is a bar that has been around forever. Hell, my parents both worked there back in the 70's. Supposedly they used to get some pretty good acts back in the day. They still do once in a while, but I would say over half of what plays there now is cover bands. It's definitely an older bar and it has that personality and it attracts it's own crowd. It's a far cry from it's glory days though. There's just too much competition in the area nowadays.

Drinks/Specials- They have cover almost every night, which sucks. To be fair they usually have an act playing, but unless I actually want to see who is playing, the cover scares me(and a lot of other people) away. There are ways to circumvent the cover though(Protip: Find them on Facebook). They have a house drink called The Dirty Bird which is basically an AMF. It's not bad. Drink specials vary wildly depending on the night.

Clientele- People into the bands that are playing pretty much. The cover and atmosphere of the place tend to scare away the Greek crowd. This place also used to be notorious for letting in underage drinkers so they tend to get busted by excise once in a while too.

Brothers

The newest bar on the street is a corporate bar that took up residence next to The Vid. The bar proved to be incredibly popular thanks to the lack of cover and cheap drinks. People love this place. I personally don't care for it that much. I just find it sort of dull. There's nothing particulary interesting or even fun about the bar. I've never had the food so I can't say anything about it.

Drinks/Specials-They have pretty crazy specials on most night. Don't get too excited though, when they say $1 Long Island or $1 Jagerbomb, you're getting about $1 worth of alcohol. Still, double it up and it's not bad.

Clientele- Tons and tons of Greeks. It could definitely give Kilroy's a run for it's money. You'll also find a fair amount of people who are looking for cheap drinks. Hipsters tend to loathe this place so I wouldn't expect to see many of them around.

The Vid

Ah yes, The Vid. If you like this place, you'll swear it's the" only real bar in town, man." Seriously, people who love this bar have a hyooooge pole stuck up their butt about it, just read the reviews on Yelp. Anyway, if you don't like it, you'll be annoyed by the fact it's cash only and by all the weirdoes with beards(which I call beardos) hanging about as well. Yes, you could probably call The Vid the closest thing Bloomington has to a real hipster bar. Whether this has any effect on the overall quality of the bar is up to you. It's definitely something different, so it's worth visiting.

Drinks/Specials-Drinks are reasonably priced. PBR is unshockingly very cheap here. Like I said earlier, it's cash only, so leave your debit card at the door. The lack of cover is pretty nice too.

Clientele- Hipsters and hipster wannabees flood this place. I'm not a big fan of that particular social phenomenon, but at least they aren't assholes. Recently, the bar remodeled and added a downstairs bar with a stage. This piqued the curiosity of some of the regular downtown lushes which led to a more diversified crowd.

Kilroy's Sports

The closest thing Bloomington has to a legit nightclub. It takes a lot to get me to Sports(usually a few games of Sink The Biz and an AMF), but once I'm there, I have a blast. The bar is huge, with two levels, a decent sized dance floor with a DJ always present and a balcony. It's probably the most popular bar on campus, with lines outside the door for a half hour on busy nights. This bar was hit pretty hard by Brothers, so they remodeled a bit and put in a outdoor patio downstairs. It's NICE and seems to have helped their business. The bar starts to get crowded after midnight and stays hopping til closing. It's definitely not made for every night you go out, but get yourself in the right mood and go up there and grind up on some skanks on the dance floor.

Drinks/Specials-I know they have half price drinks on Wednesday, but aside from that you're going to be paying a sizeable amount of money for drinks. I'd recommend going into the bar with a good buzz going, or at least a flask. Also, you will be paying cover most likely.

Clientele-Thanks to the fact it's more like a nightclub, this bar attracts plenty of East Coast people that you don't see at some of the other bars. It can get pretty wild late at night which makes for great people watching. Come here on Halloween for a real treat.

Jake's Nightclub

Poor Jake's. Located about a block down from Sports, this bar never seems to get any love. It's had a bit of mismanagement over the years. The added competition from Brothers hasn't helped things either. Jake's used to be THE place for Thursday nights and it was worth going to on other nights as well. Lately though, they haven't had much business. It's a shame because the place is huge and they have a stage too. From what I understand, they've made lots of efforts to recoup business, but I can't say if that's been successful or not.

Drinks/Specials-The best night to go here is Thursdays. It's called Mug Night and you pay 5 bucks to get in(if you get in late) but beer is only 50 cents, or is it 25? I forget. The beer is pretty nasty, but you get what you pay for. Well drinks are pretty cheap too. Friday afternoons are pretty good too, with half price drinks during Big A's happy afternoon.

Clientele-Like I said, at one time, this place used to get a ton of business, but it's slowed down quite a bit. You may see the typical Sports crowd here but less...extreme?

The Bishop

I haven't been here, but from what I've been told, it's a hipster bar which isn't really my cup of tea.

Other Bars

Of course, not all the bars in Bloomington are on Kirkwood and Walnut. There's a few other bars around town that are worth visiting if you want the full Bloomington experience.

Yogi's

I typically come here more for the food(which is cheap. And great! Try the tenderloin), but they have a pretty sizeable bar here too. They have a lot of TVs here which makes it great for football games. I like it better than BW3s anyway. I can't really say I've actually been on a bar crawl or anything like that though. It's located at 10th and Indiana, which isn't too far from Kirkwood, but it's far enough to keep it off most bar crawls.

Drinks/Specials.-They have specials most nights, but the most interesting thing they have is the Century Club. They give you a checklist with all hundred of their beers on it, and if you drink all the beers in the course of a year, you get a free T-shirt or something like that. Totally making up for the 300 or so dollars you spend in beer.

Clientele-Couldn't really tell you. Usually when I go it's other football fans.

Bear's Place

Located at 3rd and Jordan, it's quite a walk away from the other bars. It's one of Bloomington's older bars. They have comedy shows and occasional concerts including concerts from Dave Baker is a freaking living legend. It's never especially crowded, but I always have a great time when I go there.

Drinks/Specials- Two Words: Hairy Bear. This drink is a witches brew of various types of alcohol with a little fruit juice and a lime thrown in. Nothing in this world is as sad and depraved as a man on a Hairy Bear binge. It may end up being the worst night of your life, but DO NOT leave Bloomington without trying this drink. This drink alone makes a trip to Bloomington worth it, trust me.

Clientele-A "normal" crowd more or less. I've seen people study in here too which is weird.

The Office Lounge

Another old bar. This place is located wayyyy out on E. 3rd Street. The biggest draw for me is the fact they have Karaoke every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I don't do Karaoke myself, but it's a lot of fun to watch. The food is decent too.

Drinks/Specials- Honestly, I'm not really sure, all I know is that it's pretty cheap for the most part.

Clientele- Lots of locals, you'll see them and occasionally a few college kids interested in some karaoke. The locals are pretty friendly for the most part and don't seem to mind young kids coming in and singing terrible karaoke.

Fighting Game Music (part deux!)

King of Fighters

SNK's main competitor to Street Fighter is a series that I'm not really familiar with. The games just play so weird compared to Capcom games. Not bad, just different. Anyway, the series has pretty good music and Japan team's theme "ESAKA" is considered one of the best songs in the series.



I also like the theme to the New Hero Team in KOF '99.



Samurai Shodown

I love this series. It was the first weapons based fighters to more or less do things right. Great character design(an Andrew Jackson expy anyone?), solid gameplay and a fair amount of gore makes this a pretty awesome set of games. The music is only okay as far as I'm concerned, it's often too atmospheric to really kick butt, but there's some decent tracks.



Fatal Fury

Rounding out the SNK games is Fatal Fury. It's always had solid gameplay, but has consistently been overshadowed by KoF. But it did introduce Geese Howard, the baddest motherfucker in fighting games. PRADICTABLE!



The final boss of Fatal Fury 2/Special, has a suitably epic theme that is actually based on a real piece of classical music!







Tekken

One of the first 3D fighters. Tekken was unique in that there was a button that controlled each limb on the fighters. It also attempted to incorporate as many characters and unique fighting styles as possible. The series is up to it's 6th installment, but I think my favorite is Tekken Tag Tournament.







First of the North Star

This game, based on a really famous and really awesome anime was done by the fine people at Arc System Works who also did Guilty Gear. I almost included Guilty Gear on this list, but honestly, it's probably deserving of it's own article.



Mortal Kombat

Finally, we have Mortal Kombat. I like the music in the first game of the series the best because I think it captures the supernatural Enter The Dragon idea that they were going for.

Fighting Game Music! (part 1)

The recent release of Super Street Fighter IV has rejuvenated my interest in the fighting genre, so I thought I'd focus on fighting game music this time around. Enjoy!

Street Fighter Series

The original Street Fighter has pretty unremarkable music, but the sequel gave each character a theme that not only matched their ethnicity very well, but was also well composed.

Out of the original 8 World Warriors, I always liked Guile's theme the best.



I'm also a fan of Balrog's flashy theme, especially this remix.



But in my opinion, few songs in the series are as well known and iconic as Ken's song.



Street Fighter III more or less ditched having ethnic sounding songs for all the characters and went for a jazzy soundtrack with some hiphop and techno thrown in. Your mileage may vary, but I like it.



Street Fighter 3 was really hit and miss with it's character designs. Dudley is one of the better ones.





Street Fighter 4 has alright music. The theme songs kinda sounds like it was done by a late 90's boy band. They got rid of most of the individual character themes and had stage themes instead. I don't care for most of them, but I do like the vocoder-riffic theme for the overpass stage.



Super SF4 brought back the character themes, and most of theme are remixed really well. I actually like Hakan's theme, especially the version they play in the trailer that introduced him. Looks like eets time to oil up!



Akuma's remix is pretty good too.



Finally, rounding out things is Ryu's theme from IV, which I think is the best rendition of this song.



That was a lot for just one game series...check back next time for King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, Tekken and more!

Moar Gaem Muzak

Yeah, I wanted to make y'know a real post with some real content, but instead I thought I'd just post some more game music! Enjoy!

Gitaroo Man

This came out before "music game" became synonymous with "expensive plastic instruments." I've never played it and it looks really, really Japanese, but I dig the music.



Mad World

This spiritual successor to Godhand had an indie hiphop soundtrack...something you don't see a whole lot nowadays, it has a few decent tracks.





Battletoads and Double Dragon

I played through this the other day and DAMN I was impressed with the music, especially on the SNES version. Nearly every track in the game rocks.







Phoenix Wright

One of the most bizarre games out there. You play as a defense attorney and you examine evidence, cross examine witnesses and all that stuff. The games in this series tend to have lots of dramatic pointing and pretty good soundtracks!



The Terminator

The Terminator game for the Sega CD was a pretty standard 16-bit action game, just like most CD games back then that weren't FMV disasters. The big difference is seen in the soundtrack which is kickass redbook audio. Serious! Listen to this!





Dracula X: Rondo of Blood

Speaking of CD audio, this previously Japan only Castlevania game has some of the best music of an already musically awesome series, as well as great remixes of older songs in the series.







Kirby

I don't know really what to say about Kirby except it has really epic music for a game starring a pink puff ball.









That's all sports fans, check back next time for an all fighting game edition!

Game Music I Like (Part Deux)

Journey To Silius
This is a depressingly average game. If you've played any Mega Man or Contra game, you've played something better than this. There is one exception though, the music is amazing. Oh yeah, this was originally going to be a Terminator game until the licensing deal fell through.

Here's a rocking cover of the Stage 1 music done by The Onion Knights.

Dragon Quest VIII
I'm not a big fan of the DQ soundtrack. Though they're always full of nice songs, I don't really find a whole lot of moving songs like I do in Final Fantasy soundtracks. There's a few exceptions though like this beautiful piece. Special props goes out to the American version of the game for getting a fully orchestrated soundtrack.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Jake wanted to know why I didn't have any Mario music on here. Even though I love Mario music, everyone knows Mario music and I feel like talking about great music that everyone already knows and loves is a little boring. So. Here's one of my favorite, lesser known pieces from the series.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
The TMNT games always had good soundtracks. There's something that so distinctly 90's Konami about this song that I can't help but love it. It reminds me of the days when anything from that company was guaranteed to be a classic.

The final boss theme is pretty awesome too.

Final Fantasy
Yeah I know, Final Fantasy hasn't gotten any love yet. But here goes! Clash on the Big Bridge is probably the best track in Final Fantasy V.

As for Final Fantasy IV, I always liked the Red Wings theme.

And finally, there's Dancing Mad which is a fucking operatic masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. Make sure you listen to both parts.

Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Rounding things out is Double Dragon II. Nothing special here really, just really solid music.

Mega Man 10!

So, Mega Man 10 came out earlier this week. For those of you who don't know, a little over a year ago, Capcom released Mega Man 9 as a downloadable title for Wiiware, XBLA and PSN. The game was developed by Inticreates who made the brilliant decision to make the game in a faux 8-bit style. Aside from instantly appealing to dorks like me, it also showed smart game design. Mega Man was at his best when his games had simple, tight gameplay. The retro design, combined with over 20 years of hindsight created a pretty damn good game, right up there with Mega Man 2 or 3 in my opinion.

So Mega Man 10 was announced a few months back and I found myself surprisingly skeptical. Early previews had dull music and the gameplay didn't look so hot either. Still, I kept my hopes out and when the game came out I downloaded it immediately.

I can't lie, I'm a little disappointed. Though the 8-bit design and sensibilities are still there, it's just not as fresh as it was with Mega Man 9. Don't get me wrong, this is still a great game, but it's more in line with some of the later Mega Man games like 5 or 6 than say 2. Some of the stages, like Sheep Man and Chill Man's stages have some nifty platforming puzzles, but other levels like Pump Man's are simply infuriating. Graphically, it's nice, but the colors are darker and uglier this time around and the portraits of the Robot Masters just don't look right. The music is kind of dull too considering Mega Man 9 had a fantastic soundtrack.

The plot is once again vintage Mega Man. A disease called Roboenza infects a bunch of robots, including Roll and it's up to Mega Man to find a cure. Naturally Wily denies his involvement, but you find out it's him all along. Pretty standard stuff, but the ending just sucks! It's a really short cutscene, then some no-frills credits. I'm not expecting much from a faux 8-bit Mega Man game, but at least 9 had nifty pictures to go with the credits.

I'm bitching a lot, and I feel like there's a part of me that wants to dislike the game, but I just can't. I beat the game yesterday and I started another playthrough immediately, so Inticreates is doing something right. A slightly disappointing Mega Man game is still better than 90% of the crap out there. The only thing I would advise Capcom to do is to wait a few more years before making another sequel. Let's not see the series fall into the same trap as it did in the 90's.