|
Post by Sarge on Mar 7, 2023 15:24:34 GMT -5
I played a couple of SMS games last night. The one I actually put any decent amount of time into was Predator 2. It's an overhead shooter, and one with a semi-forced scroll to the right. I got to the third stage, and got absolutely wrecked at the boss - it's hard to fend off all the enemies and get your shots in on the boss. Life meter drains fast. I think most of the issue is that I was playing on the Pocket, and it's hard to get it to stay on a diagonal direction for firing when not actively pressing a direction. A lot of d-pads have this problem, but it feels particularly pronounced here.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Mar 7, 2023 15:50:45 GMT -5
They just love stiffness. Mega Man not being able to crouch was indeed an instance of induced artificial difficulty. Later MM games let you slide to dodge shots, and some even allow crouching (Dr. Light figured out how to make knees): megaman.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_actions#CrouchI absolutely adore the MML games' world aesthetic. For me it's cheerful in a way that's not cloying and twee (the worst kind). - I think I'm going to make March my SMS month and April my NES month. We're already a week into March! I gotta get to playing something.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Mar 7, 2023 15:53:47 GMT -5
The not being able to duck thing was something that used to bug me - as a kid I always hoped they would add it - but now it honestly doesn't bother me. I think they finally added it in... MMX5?
MML absolutely nails the anime vibe they were aiming for. And we're talking about the good kind. Even if the game itself is pretty clunky, those games have aged incredibly well from an artistic standpoint. The facial expressions in particular still delight.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Mar 7, 2023 16:38:56 GMT -5
To elaborate, I do find MML impressive graphically. The city looked great, too. It's the main character's designs I don't really like. Mega Man is Astro Boy with a funny helmet in a blue sentai costume, and while I respect Astro Boy as a pioneering anime and manga, he and Mega Boy are still two skinny robots boys. There are worse characters, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't do anything for me. I just never thought he looked cool. Yes, he looked a million times worse on the American covers. Please don't post them again, lol. I don't like the chibi robot bosses either. Shrugs. It's just a matter of taste.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Mar 7, 2023 16:51:20 GMT -5
he looked a million times worse on the American covers. Please don't post them again The European MM1 & 2 NES covers are arguably better than the USA ones: He's screaming because his hips are breaking.
He's scared because he has no idea what he's doing.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Mar 7, 2023 17:00:55 GMT -5
Haha, I don't love the MM2 box, but the MM1 one is legit.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Mar 7, 2023 17:09:16 GMT -5
I'd be scared too if I had to ride a hoverboard for the first time and I had only had one leg. "I got a new red body for you, Mega Man! You're gonna have to hop, though!"
I like the composition on the first one overall, the castle with Dr. Willy's sinister image in the dark skies and all.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Mar 7, 2023 19:06:27 GMT -5
Crouching is a waste of time in Mega Man. I can't stand that it was added into X5-X6. Just slows me down. That said, toei : Maybe you should indeed just jump over to MM3 or MM4, since it has the slide. Which actually puts Mega Man lower than some projectiles. So maybe that's half of why I think crouching is stupid in Mega Man, with the slide/dashing (X), you can maneuver under and around bullets in better stylish ways.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Mar 7, 2023 19:30:23 GMT -5
The other thing MM4 does is substantially change how the series plays with the charge shot, for better or worse. Sometimes I enjoy getting off perfectly-timed shots, but it also deemphasizes boss weaknesses since a charge shot does so much damage (three per hit).
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Mar 7, 2023 20:52:04 GMT -5
Mega Man 5 | 1h24m
- Going through MM4 again, I was seeing some hints of ideas they'd later implement in MMX. Same deal here with stuff like a new full blown vehicle section in the water stage. Very cool. - The first one with the most collectibles, a letter per stage to fill out "MegaManV" and unlock the robot buddy bird Beat. Who seems kind of useless, lol. - My least favorite version of the Rush Coil. Instead of launching you up high, he jumps up like a normal height you would and then you can jump off. Just isn't quite as satisfying. - The Mega Buster is better here. It has the iconic more rounded out sprite, Mega flashes more blue than green, and you lose the charge when you get hit. Kind of balances things out better but MM5 is by far one of the easiest. The bosses here are pretty dang easy. - That said, the levels rock. They feel a bit longer and more fleshed out than previous games. A lot of them have an awesome gimmick, one gravity reversing stage, another with low gravity, etc. - Graphics are INSANE! Came out in 1992, so it shows being a very late NES title. Going through these again and seeing how much the boss details level up, they could have changed Mega Man's sprite perhaps. But don't fix what ain't broke... his NES look is so iconic, so that's probably why they stuck with it.
|
|