It's historical significance cannot be denied. Mega Man was one of the important games to be released on the NES. For the time, it was new, original, and groundbreaking in many ways. This landmark entry in the series spawned five more sequels on the NES, and also launched a franchise that has graced nearly every console since, and a slew of games for each. The series has come a long way since the original Mega Man, and not necessarily for the better. The first six NES games in the long-running series were clearly the best. There were plenty of other valiant efforts made after those as well, but at least for the past eight to ten years, Mega Man has gone under many different variations. Vintage Mega Man is back thankfully in the form of Mega Man 9 and the forthcoming Mega Man 10, and its roots are set in the original NES experiences.

     Mega Man was indeed a classic game. It mapped out the blueprint for what the series would later build upon. A scientist named Dr. Wright (later changed to Dr. Light), had created some robot masters, but unfortunately, all but one of them went haywire and Dr. Wily, former assistant to Dr. Wright, takes them and changes them to evil in an effort to conquer the world. The sole robot who did not malfunction was Mega Man, and he voyages on a grand adventure to take down each robot master one at a time - and you as the player are given the choice of which order to pursue them. There's a secret in all these Mega Man games is that you can exploit a weakness of some of the bosses by beating them in a particular order, which is pretty cool. Anyway, this is the foundation of all things Mega Man.

     It is classic side-scrolling fare, with some vibrant graphics (some of the best around at the time), some terrific and challenging action gameplay, and the trademark Mega Man soundtrack. All NES Mega Man games had easily some of the best and most exciting gaming music known to man. The soundtrack is wholly memorable, and marks only the beginning of this wonderful trend in the series.

     Mega Man evolved bit by bit with each passing entry in the NES series of games. In Mega Man, there is a high score counter, which is completely irrelevant to the game itself, making it the first and last NES game in the franchise to feature it. Also, when reaching the end of a level, and passing through the metal gate to get to the boss, there was another band of enemies and obstacles awaiting before getting to the actual boss, which was another element that was not present in the sequels (and it was for the better because without the extra obstacles, you get a little breather before fighting the stage boss). Aside from that, it is essentially everything you'd expect from a Mega Man NES game, and that's a good thing.

     Personally, the future entries in the NES series were better than the original in every way. Most of them upped the amount of bosses (from 6 in the original to 8), and the graphics improved, and Mega Man himself would be improved (for example, the ability to slide was added in Mega Man 3). In any case though, the original Mega Man is still a great game and is a marvel to behold. It certainly stands the test of time, and makes for a great addition to any NES collection. This game did so many things right, and is a superb benchmark example of classic vintage gaming - and it would only get better from here.

-Kurt L.

_______________________________________________________