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.