#43 - Mega Man
(41 Points) 4 of 18 Lists - Highest Ranking - #10 Asbestos Bill, Gunflyer
Commercial:http://www.youtube.com/v/AjkyQOYg8VI?version=3&hl=en_USRelease Date: 1987
Just the facts/Stuff I wiki'd:Mega Man, known as Rockman in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the first game in the original Mega Man series and the entire Mega Man franchise. It was released in Japan on December 17, 1987, and was localized for North America in December 1987 and for Europe in May 1990.
The plot begins the everlasting struggle between the heroic, humanoid robot Mega Man and the evil scientist Dr. Wily. The game establishes many of the gameplay conventions that would define the original Mega Man series as well as its multiple subseries. A standard action-platform game, Mega Man features a somewhat non-linear setup whereby the player can choose the order to complete its six initial stages. With each "Robot Master" boss defeated at the end of a level, a unique weapon is added to the player's arsenal to be used against enemies. Mega Man was developed by a small team of people, which included significant involvement from artist Keiji Inafune. The game was produced specifically for the home console market, a first for Capcom, who had previously focused on arcade titles.
Mega Man was critically well-received for its overall design and has been noted for its high difficulty. Although it was not a commercial success, the game was followed by an abundance of sequels and spin-offs that are still being released to this day, many of which utilize the same graphical, storyline, and gameplay setups instituted by the 1987 game. Mega Man has since been included in game compilations and has been re-released on mobile phones and console emulation services.
The plot for the English localization of Mega Man entails the events after the co-creation of the humanoid robot named Mega Man by the genius Dr. Wright (named Dr. Light in later titles) and his assistant Dr. Wily. The two scientists also create six other advanced robots: Cut Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, Bomb Man, and Guts Man. Each of these robots is designed to perform industrial tasks involving construction, demolition, logging, electrical operations, or labor in extreme temperatures, all for the benefit of mankind in a location known as "Monsteropolis". However, Dr. Wily grows disloyal of his partner and reprograms these six robots to aid himself in taking control of the world. Dr. Wright sends Mega Man to defeat his fellow creations and put a stop to Dr. Wily. After succeeding, Mega Man returns home to his robot sister Roll and their creator Dr. Wright.
Mega Man presents the player with six stages designed in the side-scrolling platformer genre. The stage select screen allows the player to freely choose from these six stages, which can be replayed if they are cleared. The player, as Mega Man, fights through various enemies and obstacles in every stage before facing a "Robot Master" boss at the level's end. The player's health, represented by a gauge on the left side of the screen, can be replenished by picking up energy cells randomly dropped by enemies. Upon defeating a Robot Master, the player assimilates the Robot Master's signature attack (or "Master Weapon") into Mega Man's arsenal for the rest of the game. Unlike the standard blaster, the Robot Master powers have limited ammunition which must be refilled by collecting ammunition cells also dropped by defeated enemies. While the player is free to proceed through the game in any order, each Robot Master is especially vulnerable to a specific weapon, encouraging the player to complete certain stages before others.
Besides the weapons taken from the Robot Masters, the player is able to pick up a platform generator item known as the "Magnet Beam" in Elec Man's stage. Mega Man also features a scoring system for defeating enemies. Extra points are earned by collecting power-ups from fallen enemies and a bonus is awarded for clearing each stage. When all six Robot Master stages are completed, the seventh and last stage appears in the middle of the stage select menu. This stage, known as the "Wily Fortress", is a chain of four regular stages linked together, each containing at least one new boss. During these final stages, the six Robot Masters must also be fought again in a predetermined order before the final confrontation against Dr. Wily.
Mega Man garnered moderately low sales upon its release, although they were higher than Capcom had anticipated. With little press coverage save for a full-page advertisement in Nintendo Fun Club News, the game established itself as a sleeper hit with overseas fans thanks in part to word of mouth. Inafune blamed its North American cover art for the game's lack of initial prosperity in that region. This box art contains virtually nothing that can be found in the game: Mega Man himself resembles a middle-aged man rather than a boy, his costume is colored yellow and blue instead of being entirely blue, and he is holding a handgun instead of his arm cannon. Over the years, the cover art has become infamous in the gaming community. It has been considered one of worst of game covers of all time by publications including GameSpy, Wired, and OC Weekly.
Pak's Thoughts - You know those games where you played them and loved them as a kid, and then you play them again in your adult life and realize how awful they were? This is not one of those games. I played through the title that started it all as recently as 2 years ago, and still had a blast doing it. If you can beat that rock monster without using the pause trick, then you never have to feel inadequate about being a gamer. :^)