Mega Man 9 - Thoughts On Difficulty And Irony

So far, I’m very much enjoying Mega Man 9, but whether or not you will is dependent very much on two related but ultimately different things: how much you liked the original NES Mega Man games, how you feel about the NES aesthetic itself.

Let me elaborate.  With respect to the original MM series, it probably goes without saying that if you really hated the originals, you’re not going to like #9…  it imitates the originals almost to a fault.  You have essentially the same basic puzzle themes - disappearing or moving blocks, instant-kill spikes, hard-hat enemies, middle-stage mini-bosses, and so on.  The game does manage to come up with some unique uses for these building blocks but since the point is to reflect the earlier titles it doesn’t make the differences too obvious.  And you can’t really fault it for that.

It’s on the second point that I think you need to draw some careful distinctions.  In an earlier comment, Rob remarks that “we started doing much better once we started assuming that, at any given moment, the worst possible thing that could happen was going to happen.”  This is a very on-target comment.  A lot of people have discussed the game’s difficulty - in many respects, I don’t think that it’s actually as hard as they imply if you’re familiar with older NES games.  But the game doesn’t simply attempt to replicate that aesthetic - it tries to pay tribute to it.  The practical implication is that what was tough in Mega Man 1 or 2 is fetishized in Mega Man 9. 

For example, if you recall the original Ice Man stage in #1, you may recall how irritating the disappearing ice blocks could be; it was simply tough to get your character to make the leaps as carefully as you desired to avoid a bottomless pit of death.  The Gravity Man stage has similar pits, but puts an enemy in front of them that launches you inexorably into the pits - or in some places, spiked walls.  There’s no way to know the enemies are there unless you inch forward, bit by bit (or die repeatedly), any time you come close to a pit or spike series, as Rob implies.  This is a perfect example of what I think ultimately will divide the Mega Man 9 haters from the fans.  If you liked Mega Man because it was hard… you will love this game.  If you like it because you really love the aesthetic (art, level design, conventions) of the original NES titles, you will still like the game quite a bit.  (I fall into the last category.)  That’s because it takes what was difficult about the original Mega Man, puts it on a billboard, and strings it with neon so you don’t miss it; it’s retro for retro’s sake, an ironic take on all that was good and bad about NES games. 

That’s why liking Mega Man itself is only partially relevant.  The critical second hurdle is your feelings about that kind of take on gaming.  If you like the sense of irony being displayed, that’s a good sign.  If you don’t, you probably won’t play too long.