This villain is cooler than my hero!

[HYEROS]

Every now and then you come across an enemy and think to yourself, “Whoa, his design is super cool! Cooler than the hero. Why isn’t he the hero?” The first time I thought that was while playing the first Mega Man in 1992—my second game on the NES—when I faced that tenacious, proud sprite that was mostly neon green (I love neon green).

Don’t get me wrong: I love Mega Man/Rockman’s design in his 8-bit form just as much as his 16- and 32-bit versions. But every now and then, you wish you could switch them around.

What about you? Which enemy—aside from massive bosses—gives you that feeling?

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Mini bosses count?

 

[naka_michi]

Couldn't find a single good quality screenshot btw, internet folks are huge plebs and so am I for not having one

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

These look SO MUCH better than you...

 

[Mal]

the classic, the GOAT LUIGI!!

 

[Noon Vitals]

Just got Tales of Graces f a little bit ago and thought Little Queen looked boss.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Spark the Electric Chud: Literal clown

Freom: Doesn't Farm Aura, he expels it (True Final Boss Spoilers

 

[Tsukishima]

Badeline from Celeste is such a simple yet perfect execution of a palette swap. I still love her more then Madeline.

Blew my mind you could unlock a palette swap and technically play as her after going through enough trials and tribulations OR just enter a cheat code.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

That was pretty quick

 

[HydraSavior]

Every now and then you come across an enemy and think to yourself, “Whoa, his design is super cool! Cooler than the hero. Why isn’t he the hero?” The first time I thought that was while playing the first Mega Man in 1992—my second game on the NES—when I faced that tenacious, proud sprite that was mostly neon green (I love neon green).
View attachment 212463View attachment 212465
Don’t get me wrong: I love Mega Man/Rockman’s design in his 8-bit form just as much as his 16- and 32-bit versions. But every now and then, you wish you could switch them around.

What about you? Which enemy—aside from massive bosses—gives you that feeling?

I believe that is "Sniper Joe." Joe is one part of the protagonist team in the rock opera "The Protomen -- Act II," so you're not the only one who looked at Joe and went, "I need more of this in my life."

As for me, it's kinda obvious, but Green Biker Dude from Mega Man X2's intro cutscene. The light that shines twice as bright burns half as long, and he burned so very brightly.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

I believe that is "Sniper Joe." Joe is one part of the protagonist team in the rock opera "The Protomen -- Act II," so you're not the only one who looked at Joe and went, "I need more of this in my life."

As for me, it's kinda obvious, but Green Biker Dude from Mega Man X2's intro cutscene. The light that shines twice as bright burns half as long, and he burned so very brightly.

Mega Man have a rock opera?

 

[BrawlMan]

Some samurai dude crossed with a fire fighter wielding a chainsaw in Ninja Warriors (Once) Again! Jubei even more so! The Dreamrunner is much cooler than DmC_Dante, and is the coolest guy to fight in DmC (2013).

 

[tht009]

Every now and then you come across an enemy and think to yourself, “Whoa, his design is super cool! Cooler than the hero. Why isn’t he the hero?” The first time I thought that was while playing the first Mega Man in 1992—my second game on the NES—when I faced that tenacious, proud sprite that was mostly neon green (I love neon green).
View attachment 212463View attachment 212465
Don’t get me wrong: I love Mega Man/Rockman’s design in his 8-bit form just as much as his 16- and 32-bit versions. But every now and then, you wish you could switch them around.

What about you? Which enemy—aside from massive bosses—gives you that feeling?

I guess somebody felt the same way about the little hard hat dudes that spit at you because there are fan games where you play as one of them. It's called Hard Hat: The Rebellion and I think there's a sequel too.

I feel like good guys have their coolness deliberately nerfed in many cases to make the villain look more badass in comparison. Sometimes it's the rival or mentor who's supposed to be stronger than you, like Mega Man X and Zero, but as the main character you generally aren't allowed to be too cool unless you change appearance throughout the game (and it's near the end of the game) or you get to design a custom character. It's just an implicit rule of gaming: the good guy has to have his coolness under a certain limit.

 

[Rez09]

My man.

That’s my man!

Yeah! Not even a a crushing wall and subsequent trek up a mountain could stop this thing!

And since I apparently have a thing for Blue Meanies, I’ll break it up with …

Seriously, how did Sega abandon this guy?

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

 

[HydraSavior]

Mega Man have a rock opera?

There's a band called "The Protomen" who did a rock opera in three acts, plus some other (semi-canon?) material relevant to it. They don't use the name "Mega Man," but I mean, Protoman, Dr. Wily, Dr. Thomas Light...it's all there otherwise. It's completely unofficial; I guess they're small enough that Capcom didn't want to take 'em down. Capcom is pretty cool about IP use in general, I guess. They put their own spin on the story so it's not like Mega Man is going to be going through six to eight levels and then murdering robots in their garages for their powers.

It's pretty good! Check it on a streaming service or YouTube or something sometime!

Word of warning: you'll need to Wiki the liner notes to the CDs or something to follow the story completely. You can just listen and figure out like 50% of it from the changes in tone and the lyrics, but The Protomen chose not to give direct exposition for the sake of their songs' musicality.