I'm gonna try ranking them too. It's been a fair while since I played many of them, so this is going on feeling and memory more than what I'm 100% certain I think. The lower part of Classic is fuzzier than the higher part!
Classic series
- MM3
- MM7
- MM5
- MM4
- MM2
- MM9
- MM1
- MM6
- MM8
- MM10
- MM11 (Unfair because I haven't finished it, but I wasn't too keen on it when I tried it)
The Classic series biggest sin is simply how the later 8-bit entries blend together simply because they're not as early, so a lot of the better parts gets muddled together with them not being as memorable as earlier titles by virtue of not getting as much attention. 5 is excellent though. 7 was my entry-point for Megaman (aside from playing the first one at my aunt's house when I was 3 years old), so in a way it's like the quintessential "look and style" for me.
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X series
- X1
- X2
- X4
- X5
- X8
- X3
- X7
- X6
X1 is one of my top 5 games of all time, but the worst part of X is how they're such a roller coaster in difficulty. Some of them are way too easy the entire game through (X5, X8) while some are relentlessly difficult it starts getting unfun (X3, X8 unless you play on Easy). I'd say the best balanced ones are X1, X2 and X4 (particularly the X mode. Zero mode is both harder and easier at the same time in different ways iirc)
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Zero series
- Z3
- Z2
- Z4
- Z1
I'm simply too much of a shitter for the general difficulty of these games. I think the story is cool throughout and in some cases more memorable than the gameplay, but I seem to remember having the most fun with 3. Z4 was the only one I beat on my own as a kid, so it's probably the easiest?
When Zero 1 released I thought it was the coolest game ever made, hands down. I wanted to
be Diaper Zero, and remember imitating the way he jumped and swung his sword when playing at school. Megaman is like the single series where I think it gets cooler when it's stupid-edgy (even though my favorite setting overall is Classic), which is probably why I like the Protomen albums so much, since I'm usually not into that sort of fan work. The MMZ collection on DS is one of my most precious physical games I own.
The only
Battle Network game I've finihsed (and played more than the beginning of) is 2 so I can't rank that series, and I've never played
Legends or
ZX so I have no clue about them.
I should replay Zero.