I'm Making a Mega Man Thread. My fate is sealed. I have... no choice.

wonko the sane?

You may test that assumption at your convinience.
Citizen
Some of us would be cool with wily AND bowser taking a backseat for a while. Not that they aren't beloved villains and antagonists: but variety is nice. Hell, they wouldn't even need to try that hard: wily built a super computer to help create a plan to beat megaman and dr.light: and it decided that wily was his own worst enemy and locks his ass up and then tries to frame him for the latest round of robot masters.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
I think I have slightly more issue with Sigma in X then I do Wily in Classic. Like Classic is basically a Saturday Morning Cartoon world; everythign is bright and colorful, all most all the fodder enemies are "cute", so Wily the mad Scientist being behind everything, doesn't really bother me all that much in the context. X is the darker more mature series, its more muted colorwise, its rare the the fodder look like they walked outta some old cartoon. The series also tackles more mature themes in its stories, even death. Having Sigma always pop up at the last second, feels out of place

Meanwhile, Bowser in Mario does take a backseat occasionally; but usually only in the spin-off games.
 

Haze Arquebus

Cursed Punweaver
Citizen
I could go for Zero doing some stuff, maybe framed as a sort of "Wily got too ambitious and his very early stage project went out of control," tie that into why Dr. Light had X sitting idle for so long undergoing diagnostics.
 

ZakuConvoy

Well-known member
Citizen
Or they could complete that weird Duo storyline with the evil energy.
That could be a fun tangent to go off on. We really don't get a lot of explanation for some of the alien stuff in the games, proper. The Stardroids, Ra Moon, the Evil Energy...the Archie comics and the Megamix/Gigamix manga actually gave us more explanation than ANY of the games did.

Actually, I'm not sure it would. You basically want to take a beloved by fans hero character and make him a bad guy. It MIGHT be interesting, but I imagine more people would whine about it. Of course I'm not sure if X being the bad guy in the Zero series had any fallout either. I also can't remember if they established it was Copy-X from the get go either.

I CAN say that another issue I have is simply the fact that not having Wily be the villain feels wrong. It works for a game here and there. (MegaMan V for the gameboy) But just ditching Wily? That'd be like the next five Mario mainline games don't have Bowser as the big bad. It just doesn't feel right.
Well, Zero being evil in the past is a pretty well established part of his backstory at this point. This would be less "Hal Jordan becoming Parallax" and more "Wolverine back when he was brainwashed as Weapon X". Plus, we don't even know HOW Zero was originally. Was he always a berserker? Was a copy of Wily's mind in control? Was he even ever awake in the Classic Era, or was he basically just sealed away like X right away? There's a few ways they could go with it.

As for Copy-X, I think they revealed it wasn't the "real" X by the end of the first game. So, people didn't really have any time to get TOO mad about it. I think there WOULD have been, though. But, that's a different set of circumstances. That would be tarnishing a hero's legacy. Exploring Zero in the Classic Era would be more about explaining and expanding the history and connections with the franchise. As long as Zero doesn't kill Roll or the animals like Rush or Tango...I think fans would be okay with it. Protoman would be a fair target, though, in my eyes. He's been slowly walking towards his "heroic sacrifice" moment in the sunset for 30 years now. Maybe even Dr Light, since we still have hologram-Light waiting in the wings.

As for Wily being pushed to the side...well, we know from Gameboy Mega Man II that Wily eventually reforms (...then his past self convinces him to steal and modify Rock into Quint and make a copy at the same time creating Rockman Shadow, eventually leading Mega Man to possibly kill his own future self by Gameboy V...do you remember what I said about the timeline being wonky?). Maybe Wily could be a ally in the games where Zero is the villain, making upgrades with Auto. It's not perfect, and we've seen that before, but he could still show up. Or maybe Mega Man needs to save Wily FROM Zero, which would be a interesting inversion.

It doesn't really BOTHER me to have Wily as the main villain. But, it's not really INTERESTING, either. It's just part of the formula, at this point. Honestly, the only way to make Wily interesting is probably to have him be forced into subservience or working alongside some other villain. Kind of like the Eggman/Wily team up in the Archie Comics. It was actually interesting to see that Wily had lines he wouldn't be willing to cross. You could do something like that in the games.
 
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LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
The only one I've played is Mega Man 8. I never beat it.
I'd recommend Mega Man 5 as a good place to start, if difficulty is the issue, or perhaps 10 in Easy Mode. 8 is a bit of an oddball entry with segments that can throw even series veterans. I think the Legacy Collections offer various tools to help series beginners, too.

If that's not the issue, then I strongly recommend the first Mega Man X. In my opinion, it's damn close to perfect, as far as Mega Man platformers go.

Ah, but maybe that's what isn't doing it for you? If platforming Mega Man isn't your flavor of choice, then there are others to try:

- Mega Man X Command Mission (turn-based JRPG {wait, is that redundant?})
- Mega Man Battle Network (real-time battle RPG on a grid with deck building elements)
- Mega Man Star Force (same as above, but battles are in a 3D perspective)

And my personal favorite of the non-platforming Mega Man games...

- Mega Man Legends (3D adventure a la Zelda)

Somewhere in the middle is Mega Man ZX, which largely plays like your platforming Mega Man, but it's more of a Metroidvania.
 

Videomaster21XX

This is how a unicorn comments
Citizen
Again I'm not against Wily taking a back seat for a game or two, but the phrasing of the post made it sound like we should just replace him with Zero for the next several games, and that's my main issue.

Sonic has had a few games where Eggman isn't the big bad, but imagine you just got rid of him and brought someone new in for the next several games going forward. You'd miss Eggman.

I guess it's all a moot point though. Capcom isn't very likely to do such a thing.

I really wish X8 wasn't the last X game, because I want to know if they'd really retire Sigma for Lumine.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Again I'm not against Wily taking a back seat for a game or two, but the phrasing of the post made it sound like we should just replace him with Zero for the next several games, and that's my main issue.

Sonic has had a few games where Eggman isn't the big bad, but imagine you just got rid of him and brought someone new in for the next several games going forward. You'd miss Eggman.

I guess it's all a moot point though. Capcom isn't very likely to do such a thing.

I really wish X8 wasn't the last X game, because I want to know if they'd really retire Sigma for Lumine.
In Zero's case, he's a Wily creation, so Wily pretty much has to be involved, even if by proxy. Much like with Bass or the Mega Man Killers or the Robot Masters, but on a much more significant scale.



In other news, I've spent the last several months working on a new project, and I'm finally ready to present the first fruits of my labor: Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends.

Put simply, it's a fanfic.

You can find the first episode/chapter at The Mega Man Network and on Archive of Our Own, whichever works better for you.

I discuss it a bit more on Twitter here, and you can even get a look at one of the protagonists:


If you decide to check it out, I hope you enjoy it, and maybe share with others who love the series!

With that said, I am wondering, if the Iacon Art Institute forum here is a place for this to go, or if that's strictly for Transformers and related works.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I'd recommend Mega Man 5 as a good place to start, if difficulty is the issue, or perhaps 10 in Easy Mode. 8 is a bit of an oddball entry with segments that can throw even series veterans. I think the Legacy Collections offer various tools to help series beginners, too.

Difficulty was definitely an issue but there was also a lot of times it felt like it was just me sucking at it. I could reliably get through certain stages but get obliterated by the bosses. Even when the bosses seemed like they had a pattern they were just beyond my reaction speed or something.

I could not reliably get through "Jump jump, slide slide". Any time I got through that felt like a miracle.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Difficulty was definitely an issue but there was also a lot of times it felt like it was just me sucking at it. I could reliably get through certain stages but get obliterated by the bosses. Even when the bosses seemed like they had a pattern they were just beyond my reaction speed or something.

I could not reliably get through "Jump jump, slide slide". Any time I got through that felt like a miracle.

Trust me, it still feels like a miracle if I get through it, so it's not just you. "Jump! Jump! Slide! Slide!" is an infamous meme among fans for a reason, and it's part of what sets 8 apart from the rest of the series.

The other part is weapon weakness cycles. The key is taking one guy out, then figuring out who is weak to the weapon you just acquired. Rinse and repeat, that's the name of the game.
 

Haze Arquebus

Cursed Punweaver
Citizen
Downgrade or not, I'd still like to be able to have it in the Collection. (Heck, a third volume of it with all the oddball games, including this would be nice.)
 

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
I'd like to see Bass strike on his own, as a villain or not. He may be cliche but he's still more interesting than Duo.

Also, they should make a Rush, Tango, Beat and Reggae game!

(Then give them X type bodies at the end, muhahaha! Rush Mutt, Tango Stray, Beat Pigeon, Reggae Crow)

And more gosh dang female robot masters! Why the hex was Honey Woman replaced by Hornet Man anyway?!? Boo!
 

Haze Arquebus

Cursed Punweaver
Citizen
Pleeeease be good and survive long enough to give me an Air Man.
 

Haze Arquebus

Cursed Punweaver
Citizen
Ice Man kinda horrifying with the focus on the original art, but Rock and Fire Man lookin' good.
 


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