Carlos

When Mega Man 9 was announced, I was estatic. I was happy.

I love Mega Man to death, anyone that knows me. Know this.

But the minute the company employees started talking about the game, about its direction. That direction was to be putting Mega Man 9 in all of the 8bit glory.

It surprised the industry like no company has done since, I donno. Those franchise revivals, those triumphant mascot returns, and favorites' returns.

I reserved my judgement until I play the game. Thing is, this isn't the Mega Man 9 we've been waiting for since 1997. Oh, I understand that Capcom is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Mega Man. And they plan on honoring it.

But Carlos! Its 8bit in the Next Generation gaming world. This is fucking 2008! Wake up! Geez, chill out, man. It just so happens that I have a back catalogue of NES carts in my disposal. I ran through most of the games in my collection, asking myself this question: What made 8bit so....enchanting?

What am I looking for?

The reason why I started gaming, was because I enjoy the challenge. It wasn't all graphics back then. And even today, its nostalgic. The reason why I dived harder into the industry with passion. The harder the games get, the more I want to play.

I think that after re-playing the Mega Man games, ESPECIALLY the most sought after game of its series of games. Mega Man 2. I have found not just one answer. Many, in fact. The first one is obviously the difficulty [and the lack of thereof]. Mega Man 2 was easy once you know how to get around the levels. How to defeat the bosses. For me, it was easier, thanks to the Nintendo Advantage stick.

The other reason why Mega Man works on 8bit. Charm. You heard me. You don't need all this graphics in order for Mega Man 9 to look good. Guess what, for what's its worth. It actually looks good for its time. Just like Ninja Gaiden did for NES back in those days. Mega Man 2 was the first time that I saw that clever sprite-work done in Heat Man's stage. Yeah, that 3D-looking background? Nice touch.

I guess I need to make a point here. I think we've ALL forgotten what gaming is about. Today, we have a market plattered with hundreds of FPS'es on the market, like Call of Duty 4, which happens to be PSN and XBL's most played game online. On top of that, while we've progressed further in the technology spector. We've taken cartoons to its backseats. Companies and consumers aren't communicating anymore.

There isn't any breathing room for exploring new things, new franchises. The mainstream isn't responding to cartoons today because they suck. But what's worse is that there isn't motivation for creating new things, if people stop watching cartoons today, then there isn't a future for "family-oriented" games, or party games for that matter. The only reason that Microsoft and Nintendo are pushing that envelope is because they want to breath new life into their respective consoles.

Companies today are taking the safe "tried and true" tactics. They go for the generic, "oh, me too!" approach to gaming. That's why the current dominance by FPS'es, is equal to the past's Action dominance. We don't even have freakin' mascots anymore to define a console. No. Sonic is dead as we know it. It'll just become another franchise.

The only reason why Mario STILL exists today, is because parents will eat it up, their kids will eat it up the day its announced, released in stores.

As much as I would love nothing more than for Capcom to take Mega Man 9 and spin it into a giantic 2D sequel. I can see that going back to 8bit will just garner more attention than its worth. If there's one game that can capture a media frenzy right now, its Mega Man 9. Why is everyone talking about it? When Virtual Console is on the market, when Microsoft is allowing retro titles.

Tell you why. Its a brand new game, a brand new, from the ground up retro title. Not a backcatalogue game. The fact that its going backwards than forward, is causing much talk. This is something Capcom needed for a while now. On the other hand: The game industry must take notice of Mega Man 9, and realize its message.

Its message is that companies FORGOT about what their respective companies came into this industry for. Additionally, they forgot how important brand loyalty really is. They all forgot what makes a high-quality game shine. MGS4 did just that, and its a message for gamers and companies alike. Companies need to start thinking about the consumers of their games. Do they want an easy game like Mario easy, or Call of Duty 4 complex and hard? Companies are starting to create community sites other than their company stores/profiles. If they want to know these questions, they need to be active on the company board, blog, or e-mail. They also need to go to public boards, and I mean, BIG boards.

The bottom line is, Capcom wants to garner attention from everyone, not just kids, not just former mega man fans, not just current fans of the series, they want everyone. Most people want simplistic games. And Mega Man is familiar enough to pull that off.

This article is a copyright of CarlosX360 Co. Ltd., any use of this article without the author's permission is liable for a lawsuit.

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FinalFanXtreme

I love this game. It is very fun.