Ranked: The eight best Mega Man games (Zoey’s picks)

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A long time ago, back in 2013, both our current managing editor, Chris Carter, and former Destructoid regular, Tony Ponce, created dueling lists of the best games in Capcom’s classic and sprawling action platformer series, Mega Man. They were both wrong.

While I can’t apologize on their behalf, there is another way I can set things right: by creating a new, much more definitive list. Just as they do, I, too, have a strong appreciation for the Blue Bomber stretching way back to my childhood when I vicariously played the games through screenshots in a Nintendo Power password book. I’ve even read the Worlds of Power novelization of the second game. These facts, partnered with my massive brain and equally-sized ego, ensure that this will be the definitive ranking of Mega Man games. I’ll also add a few extra entries, just to intimidate my opponents.

Mega Man X2

While Mega Man 2 was an undeniable improvement over the first game in the series, the same can’t be said about Mega Man X2 in comparison to the first game. The subseries that takes place a century in the future of the original run started to slide downhill immediately before hitting a tragically deep nadir. However, with Mega Man X2, you can only sort of see the decay.

It’s still a totally rad evolution of the series. All the dashing and wall-humping of the first game in the X series is retained, along with new vehicles, memorable levels, and the inclusion of the X Hunters, a mysterious group of baddies that can be found scattered around the levels as optional bosses. The soundtrack is no slouch either, keeping up with the series’ consistent quality standards.

However, everything has a bit less shine to it this time around. It’s not a massive step down, and its deficiencies are hardly glaring, but things don’t pop as much as they did the first time. There’s just a smidge less polish overall.

Mega Man 6

The sixth entry in the classic NES series is an odd one. The SNES had been on the market for a few years when it was released in 1993, and while most publishers had moved on from the aging 8-bit hardware, Capcom was still putting out some of its best work (though, 1993 would be their last year on the console). In fact, they were already primed to release Mega Man X, the next evolution in the series, that same year.

But you wouldn’t have guessed that they were preparing to pack it in and move on. While the Mega Man series was starting to stagnate with similar entries each year, Mega Man 6 pulls out all the stops by allowing the Blue Bomber to merge with his dog in the form of various armor. I phrased that strangely, but it essentially replaces the old Rush abilities with something you’re more directly in control of.

It plays great, the graphics push the NES as far as they could go, the level design is some of the best in the series, and there are plenty of surprises for veterans. If there’s a downside, it’s that it’s one of the easiest games in the NES collection.

Mega Man V

The Game Boy Mega Man games were always sort of afterthoughts. They were a way to get the games on Nintendo’s monochromatic handheld. They were typically just bosses and assets from the NES titles reconfigured. It’s not that they were bad; it’s just that they were clearly not the main event. Aside from Mega Man II, that is. That one was handled by a different developer than the first Game Boy title, and they botched it up so badly that Capcom immediately reverted to the original team, Minakuchi Engineering.

But for the last game on the handheld, Minakuchi pulled out all the stops. They created a completely new game featuring unique robot masters and its own narrative with a space theme. More surprisingly, it’s easily just as good as the games on the NES, if not better than most of them. It features some of the most surprising level designs of the 8-bit entries and a unique and varied soundtrack. Also, Mega Man gets a robot cat, Tango, so if you’re a cat person, you’re covered.

It’s just too bad the staff pulled an Alan Smithee and never included their names in the credits of any of the Game Boy games. There’s a possibility that they eventually went on to join Capcom, but I haven’t been able to confirm that.

Mega Man 9

The core Mega Man series went dormant after 1996’s Mega Man 8. Personally, I didn’t really dig 7 or 8 as much as I did the NES games. So, I was thrilled when 2008’s Mega Man 9 went back to basics and emulated the look of the 8-bit titles. It’s as though no time had passed at all, with the game looking and feeling like the originals.

Some changes were made, however. The team decided that things were at their best with Mega Man 2, so things like the charge buster and slide abilities were removed, cutting things back to the basics. However, a store was added where you can spend bolts to upgrade your abilities, coming with the downside that grinding simple enemies is now rewarded.

Aside from the store, it’s one of the more challenging games in the series. However, it’s very rewarding. Learning the flow of the levels feels satisfying, especially when you test your abilities in the time trial mode. Proto Man was also later added, reimplementing the slide and charge abilities while also taking more damage, giving a fresh way to play through the game.

Mega Man 10

Taking the art style back to the 8-bit era was a novel move, especially since it hit around the time that the “retro gamer” identity was still taking shape. However, a lot of that novelty had worn out by the time Mega Man 10 hit in 2010, so it was slightly less celebrated. It’s not necessarily that people were disappointed; it’s just that more criticism came its way.

In retrospect, however, Mega Man 10 is the better game. While it retains the same high standard for level design, the developers were more willing to experiment with its design. As such, a lot more atmosphere was tied into the production, and there was more variety to be found. Proto Man is unlocked by default, and DLC came out later to add Bass to the mix.

But for me, it’s the soundtrack that really gives the game the edge over its predecessor. It reunited an all-star group of composers, including Yasuaki Fujita, the composer for Mega Man 3. His contribution, Solar Inferno for Solar Man’s stage, is among my absolute favorite 8-bit chiptunes of all time. It’s like ice cream for your ear holes.

It’s hard to argue that Mega Man Legends isn’t much of a Mega Man game. Little of the original formula can be found here. Few of the standards can be seen. The fact that the protagonist wears blue armor and (quite awkwardly) goes by the name of MegaMan Volnutt (the original name of just Rock Volnutt makes marginally more sense) seems like a forced link. There are no Robot Masters or their weapons, there’s no eight-stage structure followed by an ending gauntlet, and it feels more like Zelda crossed with Tomb Raider. But I get to include it in this list because it not only has those rather tenuous connections but also because it’s great.

Mega Man Legends involves a team of “diggers” – explorers who delve into ancient ruins to extract their power sources – as they crashland on Kattelox Island just in time to help it stave off an onslaught of mechanized pirates. It’s there that the game comes to life. The pirates consist of the memorable Teisel, Tron, and Bon Bonne, along with their hapless Servbots, providing a comical but credible threat. A mystery develops as the Volnutts and Bonnes compete to try and find the fabled Motherlode, believed to be hidden on the island.

It’s Kattelox Island, which is the real star. It acts as the central hub of the game’s world, where you return after every dungeon and delve. It’s a warm and familiar place worth solving. The whole game world feels like home, a cozy place that is worth saving.

Mega Man X

The Mega Man games on NES are reliably consistent. They still vary in quality, but they are so pinned to a formula with little change or deviancy. You can generally count on having a good time. But clearly, something needed to change eventually, and Capcom took the release of Nintendo’s new console to really amp things up.

The ‘90s were all about the ‘tude, so it’s no surprise that Mega Man X is essentially a ‘tuded up version of the NES games. But rather than just continue the formula, two important additions had a tremendous impact on how the game was played. Those are the wall jump, which allows you to climb walls by repeatedly humping them, and the dash, which lets you quickly zip across the ground and make longer jumps.

I’m not sure the team even knew how these features would affect gameplay (I’m not even sure the wall climbing was intentional and not just a happy accident). It empowers the player to get themselves out of danger almost too well, making the game less of a precision platformer and more of a fast-paced murder sprint. But while that may sound disappointing, the change in flow is so well utilized that it’s, well, it makes for one of the absolute best action-platformers of all time.

Not only is the action faster and more dynamic, an exploration aspect was added to the levels, motivating players to search every possible nook and cranny to find armor pieces, health upgrades, and energy tanks. It feels so good to break through a seemingly impossible barrier to find a Dr. Light capsule waiting beyond it.

To top it all off, it has one of the best soundtracks on the SNES. No, make that the absolute best. It contains nothing but top-to-bottom hummable tunes that drive the action. Nothing short of astonishing.

Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2 nearly didn’t happen. The first game didn’t sell great, especially over in North America where a box of millipedes would have been more popular. As the story goes, series creator Akira Kitamura had to practically beg to create a sequel, and was only allowed to do so if the team would develop it on the side while doing other projects. Things might have been much different if they hadn’t persevered, but thankfully, we got Mega Man 2, and it took everything the original did well and made it better.

The robot master headcount was increased from six to eight, the level design was tightened, and it added extra items like the spring and hoverboard, which would later become the abilities of Mega Man’s dog, Rush. The soundtrack, which was no slouch to begin with, was heightened from great to unforgettable.

It was a smidge unbalanced. Pro tip: get the Metal Cutter first since it somewhat breaks tradition by having multiple robot masters weak against it. You can also fire it in eight directions, rather than the two of Mega Man’s standard buster. Another pro tip: don’t play on “normal” difficulty. That’s actually an easy mode created for North Americans because of our preference for boxes of millipedes, and yes, you should be offended. “Difficult” is the proper gentleman’s setting and makes it feel more in line with the rest of the series.

Mega Man 2 solidified the formula that the series would follow for years to come. Everything after has essentially just been iterations of it. After all, it’s hard to improve on perfection.

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