Playing With Power #87: Mega Man 6

Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. And here we are, after five games prior, we reach the end of the NES Mega Man saga. It’s definitely been an interesting, albeit similar journey. And with this being the grand finale of the original 8-bit games. Does this end on the highest note, or with a whimper? Let’s find out for sure with Mega Man 6.

YEAR OF RELEASE: 1994
PUBLISHER: Capcom/Nintendo
GENRE: Action Platformer

Mega Man 6’s development has some interesting twists and turns to it. It was in development around the same time as Capcom’s SNES debut for the blue bomber in Mega Man X. And for the most part, save for some changes, even Keiji Inafune admitted that the franchise was somewhat becoming repetitive after 6 NES installments.  With the 8-bit era of Nintendo waning, Capcom was planning to keep this one a Japan only exclusive. However Nintendo of America stepped in and would release the game as one of the last on the console, originally being a “launch title” for the short-lived NES top-loader.

Nintendo of America actually did what Capcom had done prior before and went to the fans for help. They placed a contest in Nintendo Power to have kids design robot masters for the upcoming Mega Man 6. And the many choices from contestants were interesting indeed. Optic Man, Slice Man,  and even the strange “Weaseletta and Terror Teddy”. Even ones that would later become robot masters like Spring Man, Magic Man, and Blade Man.

In the end, the two winners were Canadian Daniel Vallie with Knight Man, and USA’s Michael Leader with Wind Man. Mega Man 6 hit North American shelves in March of 1994, and was the only one of the original 6 to not have a release in PAL regions. But were the European fans missing out?

COVER STORY

Perhaps the best looking cover of the NES series. Lots of action and robot masters in the background as well as Mega Man, finally looking cosmetically correct (at least for American standards) with his new abilities in full form. The only thing I lament is that because Nintendo of America handled this one, gone is the gorgeous purple border. But that isn’t worth grieving. This is still a quality box that should please any Mega Man fan.

MEGA MEMORIES FROM CM WATERS

As a favor to a good friend of mine, I have invited CM Waters to share his thoughts on these classic titles. You can check some of Chris’ work over on his Watersfall Industries blog.  So without further ado, here’s Chris’ thoughts on Mega Man 6

This game should have been on SNES. Simple as that.

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s actually talk about this game. Whereas Mega Man 4 was the first game in the series I ever PLAYED, Mega Man 6 was the first game in the series I actually OWNED.

Yes, with my allowance money, in the dying days of the NES, I bought a copy of Mega Man 6. And I played the HELL out of it before my NES decided to die on me one time after a thunderstorm.

Mega Man 6 you could tell they were starting to run out of ideas on what they could do with the series on the NES, especially since at the same time they had the Mega Man X series doing gangbuster sales on the SNES. So, once again we use the plot of “different mastermind than Wily”, though you could ALMOST buy this one as a way to explain HOW Wily was about to do the things he did.

But there were some cool innovations to this title that I did enjoy: the Jet and Power suits were different for Rush, and would lead to the nice combo of the two in Mega Man 7 that was a life saver. Add to that the fact that they had certain levels with TWO versions of the boss to fight, and if you didn’t have those suits you wouldn’t get everything and had to play through those levels again, and it gave you more hunting, but didn’t overdo it like I think the Mega Man X series did.

Plus, this game gave the classic series (at least by NES standards, not sure if the Game Boy games did it first) a GODSEND item: the Energy Balancer. I REALLY wish they introduced this damn thing earlier in the series, would have saved a LOT of time in those previous games.

But, I’ve said too much. SO for one last time, Raymond, the floor is yours!

STORY

It’s once again the year 200x, and eight of the greatest robots are competing in a fighting tournament to find out who is the best. But before the competition can begin, the robots go haywire and once again begin to attack parts of the world. Who’s behind it? The tournament’s sponsor by the name Mr. X apparently. He claims that he was the one controlling Dr. Wily all along, and now finds Wily to be of no use, as he plans to take over the world. But of course, if you played the last two, you know where this is going. Either way, it’s up to Mega Man to save the day for the 6th time.

GAMEPLAY

Mega Man 6 is a one player action platformer. Similar to the previous 5 titles, Mega Man must defeat 8 robot masters, and make it to the big bad’s fortress at the end. Controls remain unchanged with the D-pad to move Mega Man, the a button to jump, down+A to slide, and the B button to shoot. Holding B charges the shot. And that’s it. Nothing new to the main move set just like the last game.

However, the one big gameplay mechanic that has been added to the game, other than multiple paths in certain levels (we’ll get to that shortly) is a change to Mega Man’s robotic canine Rush. Gone are the Rush Coil and Rush Jet. Instead the chromium canine has been turned into the Rush Adapter, which can be fused to Mega Man, giving him one of two new abilities. You can learn the power to punch breakable walls by holding the B button with the power adapter, and you can use the jet adapter to fly for a short period of time. It’s especially useful with floating over hazardous pits that your average Mega Man couldn’t jump over.

Mega Man has another gallery of mechanical menaces to face off with. And they are:

Flame Man: In this Arabian oil field filled with enemies that can light the oil floors below you, you will make it to Flame Man. He can shoot fireballs, and shoot up multiple flame walls in the floor. Defeating him gets you the Flame Blast, which can not only make a little flame wall, but it can melt ice walls.

Blizzard Man:  This snowy level has plenty of icy traps and enemies to deal with, complete with a submarine area that goes up and down. Making it to the end you’ll face Blizzard Man, who will send killer snowflakes at you and turn into a giant rolling snowball. Defeating him gets the Blizzard Attack, which will release several snow shots at enemies.

Plant Man: This lush forest level is filled with robot frogs, and giant robot gorillas. There’s also some spring sections to deal with, which can be tricky with the jumping fish that can take you down. Plant Man is a flower robot that shoots a flower shield. You get the Plant Barrier for the game, which is as expected, the stock shield weapon of the game.

Tomahawk Man: This wild west level has gunman robots and some fine desert imagery. You make it to Native American inspired Tomahawk Man, who shoots his headdress feathers and tomahawks at you.Defeating him gets you the Silver Tomahawk, which will damage in a upper diagonal angle.

Knight Man: This castle-themed level is filled with bouncy floors and lowering spike ceilings. Knight Man’s main attack is a chained mace that he shoots at you like a boomerang. Defeating him will gain you his Knight Chain, which shoots around and returns to you.

Yamato Man: In this Japanese dojo inspired fortress, you’ll face robotic pandas and ninja robots that throw spinning spears. The samurai robot Yamato Man throws his spear at you, picks it up, and throws it again. You earn the Yamato Spear with is a powered spear shot.

Centaur Man: This water based level has rising water that requires perfect platforming as the water flows upside down, meaning that you have to get perfect jumps in when it comes at the lowest.  Centaur Man at the end can teleport and fire a shot that splits when it hits a wall. He also uses a flash attack that can freeze you in place. You earn the Centaur Flash from defeating him, which will freeze enemies for a short amount of time.

Wind Man: the mechanical tower that rises to the sky has flipping platforms and wind turbines that can push you up and down faster if you aren’t safe.  Wind Man shoots two dual wind blades, uses fans to pull you back to him and tries to drop on top of you. Defeating him gets the Wind  Storm, that shoots a mini tornado.

Other than the Rush Adapters, there aren’t any real new items to find with the exception of an item you can find in Tomahawk Man’s stage that will automatically add energy to any weapon without switching to it. This is most useful in the final levels of the game where you’ll usually be switching to new weapons constantly for the multiple bosses.

Beat the bird returns, and once again you have to obtain him through each level in the game. In each of the levels that contains a Beat part (Tomahawk, Yamato, Knight, and Centaur) there are two paths you can take. Usually to get to the right path requires the use of a Rush Adapter. Once you beat the robot master like normal, you will get your power up, and the parts for Beat. Beat plays the same as the previous game, destroying enemies in Mega Man’s path, with his own little energy bar that can quickly run out.

Once you make it through the 8 robot masters, you head off to Mr. X’s base, and defeat his level bosses. Once you face off with and defeat Mr. X, you learn that Mr. X was… get ready for a surprise… Dr. Wily all along! Yep, this series really did the same twist ending four times in a row. Four times we were led to believe that Dr. Wily had either gone straight, or was the pawn of someone else. And in the end, hey, it was Wily all along. Either Mega Man is really gullible, or Capcom just can’t think of anything better. Either way, once you beat Dr. Wily for the 6th time, you do the most sensible thing this series has done so far. You actually put him behind bars for once.

The game controls the same, has no real hit detection issues, and has a similar difficulty level from the last few games at least.

GRAPHICS

I honestly feel this is the best looking of the six Mega Man games. In terms of sprites, it’s about the same. Mega Man has been unchanged, and most enemies look the usual. But the more worldly approach on the robot masters is actually a pretty neat touch, albeit a bit on the stereotypical side. In terms of level design, the backgrounds in several of the stages looks excellent. The best example is a certain area in the Tomahawk Man stage, where you’ll see the sun setting among the red sky. Looks really nice and feels perfectly fitting in an old west style level. So, chalk this up as a perfect looking NES game.

MUSIC

The music is once again solid, as all Mega Man levels are. The songs for the Robot Master levels do feel like they have a more worldly approach to them as well. For example, there’s a bit of a wild west sounding tune for Tomahawk Man’s stage, and a definite Arabian vibe for Flame Man. My personal favorite song in the game goes to Tomahawk Man, as it really feels the most epic. Capcom makes it six in a row for excellent sound.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Mega Man 6 is the final NES Mega Man, and honestly in my opinion, a solid way to end this era of the franchise. Even if six games for any series on any console is a bit much. Despite the annoyance of cribbing to the same idea pool as the last few games, Mega Man 6 at least feels like there was some neat enough ideas in it, the inclusion of an American and Canadian created robot master was a really cool approach, and graphically the game may look the best. It all makes for a very satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest series of games ever.

And while the franchise moved on to bigger and better systems, it’s still the NES Mega Man games that are the most memorable and easily the most beloved. And it’s not hard to see why. They show the full potential of the NES console, and its ability to make games that are a total package of gameplay, sound, and graphics. They are a solid part of the backbone to the console’s legacy, and definitely among the most nostalgic classics. Mega Man, and all of its sequels are solid gold, and must be played by anyone who wants to see the roots of a classic character,  as well as those interested in the undeniable proof of the greatness of the NES.

MY RANKING

1: Mega Man 3
2: Mega Man 2
3: Mega Man
4: Mega Man 6
5: Mega Man 5
6: Mega Man 4