Mega Man on the NES Remains an All-Time Classic!

In what hopefully would evolve into an entire franchise review (or at least the first six NES games for now!), we look back on the tremendous debut of none other than Rockman himself!

We’re gonna divide segments of this review into an experimental format that’ll hopefully be used in eventual Mega Man reviews! The format will highlight each particular robot master stage and its quirks, finishing off with a segment talking about Wily and the game overall. So sit back, and have fun reading!

So what is this game about?​

It might sound silly to ask this about Megaman but given how even some devs of the actual games later on (Inti Creates!) fail to grasp the core principles of the classic series, I’d say this calls for a brief rundown.

Basically, Megaman is a Run ‘n Gun platformer, but the goal isn’t to mindlessly navigate the levels and just “get gud”, the games ask a certain level of observational skills on your part. Are you able to analyze enemy patterns to successfully deduce the best route and method of play throughout the level? Then Rockman is the series for you!

There’s not even a high skill ceiling. The games only demand the most fundamental level of understanding of its core levels.

Now the Rockman series is incredibly unique in the sense that there’s not only multiple stages to pick as your start, but multiple routes that are considered valid. While we would love to explore each, this format limits only to one route to discuss. So for the purposes of this review, we’re going to analyze game from the route most people pick and that is the Cut Man route so without further ado, let’s get on the show.

Cut Man​

Cut Man is the first stage on our selected route. There is thankfully little to worry about here in terms of gimmicks. The first few enemies you encounter here might be nice to take down with Fire Storm or Thunder Beam but we don’t have those yet. Aside from Big Eye at the end who takes a third of your health bar via contact damage, this stage is a breeze.

For Cut Man himself, there’s a reason why he’s an excellent first choice. Not only does he take additional damage from your buster, much like Bomb Man and Guts Man but he flinches back a bit. Maintain a rythm and he’s down before you know it!

You Got - Rolling Cutter!​

The Rolling Cutter is now yours to command! With Elec Man’s stage being next on the way, this will come in handy a few times. You can use it to take out enemies you can’t normally defeat with your buster such as the three Gabyoalls at the start of Elec Man’s stage. Rolling Cutter unfortunately loses its usefulness somewhere around the mid-game once you obtain weapons like Ice Slasher.

Elec Man​

Elec Man’s stage is not too terribly difficult. Take advantage of the tips above and you’re gonna be fine at the start. However, be wary of Watchers as they’re quite tricky to take out if you’re not familiar. Make sure you take them out as soon as their eye is out as that’s when they’re vulnerable.

Besides that, there’s a Big Eye at the end but you can take pot shots at him with Rolling Cutter.
Elec Man himself is not too terribly difficult with his weakness but be careful as his Thunder Beam takes out a third of your health but otherwise he flinches when hit with his weakness making him easy to take down.

You Got - Thunder Beam!​

Now that you’ve obtained what is arguably the most handy weapon in the game, you are free to either go on with the weakness order or backtrack to get the Magnet Beam. Alternatively, you could also take out Guts Man prior to visiting Elec Man’s stage which is what a lot players do. There’s not much to say here other than that, hot take, it’s better than the Metal Blade, but we’ll save that discussion for the (hopefully) eventual Mega Man 2 rant review!

Ice Man​

If you’ve already obtained Magnet Beam, this stage is a cinch. If not, be wary of Crazy Razys as their weakness is their head, not their torso! And Foot Holders may give you trouble alongside the infamous disappearing blocks. But Ice Man himself won’t be an issue since you’ve obtained the Thunder Beam.

You Got - Ice Slasher!​

We now arrive at a point where you’re comfortably set for the remainder of the game. Not only do you have two of the three most powerful weapons in the game, but said weapon is more handy-dandy than people give it credit. Ice Slasher freezes everything and everyone, with a generous timer too. Not convinced yet? You can switch to any weapon you want and hit the still-frozen enemy with it.

And seeing how Mega Man 1 seldom has more than one or two enemies on screen at a time, this arguably makes it more useful than even Flash Stopper (Bright Man’s weapon) within the context of Mega Man 1.

Fire Man​

You’d be surprised by Fire Man being a legitimately healthy solid first pick. There’s actually a fantastic no-damage strat for the guy but so far this route is great because you get to use Thunder Beam to take out a couple of Screw Drivers early on.

Besides that however, the stage is merely a test of your platforming knowledge. However if you already have Magnet Beam, you can trivialize challenges in this game more than Metal Blade can in its own game. (Another pot shot at MM2 coming through!)

You Got - Fire Storm!​

While Thunder Beam was stated to be the game’s most useful weapon, Fire Storm is this author’s favorite and one of their favorite weapons in the entire series as a matter of fact! (Sorry again, Metal Blade!)

The small arc and shield it has around you just gives it so much personality and upgrades it from a useful to a really memorable weapon.

Bomb Man​

With the toolkit you’ve built up so far, you’ve got quite a lot at your Beck and Call. A repertoire as useful as this will carry you throughout Bomb Man’s otherwise relatively basic stage.

There’s a reason some people pick this as their first although I’d only advise against it simply because there’s no real gain. Unfortunately, Bomb Man’s weapon is the second least useful so you’re better off going the way around to make this stage more fun with what you’ve acquired so far.

Sniper Joes can be handheld with the Ice Slasher.

You Got - Hyper Bomb​

It’s been said already that this is a really difficult weapon to utilize. While you may think the issue lies with lack of contact damage, the surprising main culprit here is the aiming aspect. Simply put, Hyper Bomb will never go where you want it to go, and that is a big shame. Apparently Mega Man Maker fixes this is, however.

Guts Man​

We arrive at our final robot master, there’s actually a huge fun aspect to saving Guts Man for last. Not only does his stage get trivialized thanks to no small part on the behalf of Thunder Beam, Fire Storm and Magnet Beam, but you can use Ice Slasher to freeze Picket Men in their place and take pot shots at them with your other weapons while they’re still frozen!

You Got - Super Arm!​

Alright, being harsh on Super Arm is a beaten dead horse, but it can’t be understated how useless it is in the most literal sense. There’s only rocks for you to throw around a total of 4-ish times in the game, give or take. Sometimes you don’t even have an enemy to throw it which is mighty silly!

Final Notes ​

Disappointingly, we’ll have to end it here. The 20 image limit makes it tricky to cover every single minutia in this game, as much as I would love to do so. This format is also not static and is still being worked on and thus is in an experimental phase still. It will be messed around with in future Megaman reviews with things shifted around to see what sticks. At the end of the day, this is a review and not a Bible so it can’t cover every conceivable detail. I hope you understand that and you’ve enjoyed reading thus far. We now move on to the score. We hope you had fun. Have any memories with Mega Man 1? Blast your way through the comment section and leave them down!

All image credit goes to StrategyWiki.org. For more information, about the game, please head over there. ​

 

[Kobu]

The one that started it all! Its a bit rougher around the edges than its sequels but its still a solid entry. The remake on the PSP was damn good and even added two new bosses to complete the traditional set of eight.