Top 5: Mega Man Games

by Kaes Delgrego { Sep 22nd 2008 at 12:38PM }

You know, I told myself (and others) that I wasn't going to do this. But I can't ignore it. Today is the day that Mega Man makes his glorious return. Like a modern V-day, the blue bomber is coming home and completing his duty of pleasing the hardcore enthusiasts. With a rarely-seen level of excitement and anticipation being dispersed by the gaming community, we might as well have Mega Man slowly ride the streets through a ticker-tape parade seated on top of a convertible. I didn't want to stir the pot by declaring what the best Mega Man games are due to some sacred cows surrounding the topic. But ignoring honesty for the sake of peace and comfort would be committing a great disservice to us all.

We decided to take a look at the highlights of the Mega Man series. Any title in the expansive universe was acceptable. But let's be honest: there's only going to be games from the original and X series (as if Mega Man Star Force stood a chance). And with any luck, today's release will find its way onto this list.

Here's a heads-up: you might not agree with these choices. I did my best to provide arguments of why every game belongs on this list and in the order that it does. In the interests of intelligent debate, please do the same in your rebuttals.

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The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.

Tags: capcom, joystiqfeatures, mega-man, mega-man-2, mega-man-3, mega-man-9, mega-man-x, nes, psx, retro, snes

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Xoviet chiK @ Sep 22nd 2008 12:49PM

Loses all credibility for mentioning Rockman X4 and Rockman 6. Rockman World V, Rockman X2, Rockman DASH / DASH 2, and Rockman Powered Up! are definitely more worthy of a mention.

Numbers 3-1 on the list... not bad at all :D

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:09AM

Since you only disagreed with 2 out of 5, how about I only lose 40% credibility? :)

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:20AM

Ooh, also, I didn't count either of the PSP ports. The level editor, infrastructure mode, and bonus content really did make that an even better title than the original, but I decided to stick by the originals. If I had, it might have made it onto this list.

sketchampm @ Sep 23rd 2008 8:57AM

Losing credibility for mentioning great games is silly.

Joe H @ Sep 22nd 2008 2:00PM

For the record, the ZX games on the DS are pretty good too. Maybe not the best, but they're far better than the battle networks, and the star forces.

Scotty @ Sep 22nd 2008 2:02PM

Bold move calling Mega Man 3 better than 2, but you had good arguements. For me, it was the little things that made 2 just a touch better. The amazing soundtrack was much more memorable, the variety of environments would try to be re-re-re-replicated for almost all games from here, and other little touches, like a Wiley boss where you literally have to die once to kill it and come back to finish it off (the wall shooters). Amazing.

WhatIsThatThing @ Sep 22nd 2008 4:31PM

Hah. No dying necessary. All you need is Crash Bomb and Item-1.

Joaaa @ Dec 22nd 2008 12:32AM

Pfft if you wanna talk music, megaman 3 is far superior to megaman 2, starting at the title screen.

Joe H @ Sep 22nd 2008 2:03PM

And am I the only one who saw the "Legendary" part and youtube link and was thinking of Weeds?

Warning: Probably not safe for work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teNaIAZlWc4

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:11AM

I'm quite happy to say that autoerotic asphyxiation does not come to my mind when thinking of the word legendary!!!

sketchampm @ Sep 22nd 2008 2:06PM

HUGE respect points for mentioning Mega Man X4 and Mega Man 6. And despite my fondness for MM2, you provided a very worthy argument for MM3's superiority. Great list!

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:12AM

Thanks so much, sketchampm!

Roto13 @ Sep 22nd 2008 2:14PM

"To be fair, I'm sure that a large amount of people have played through the entire series and concluded on their own that 2 is the best of them all."

*raises hand*

Except as of today, I still have one game to go.

Morning Toast @ Sep 22nd 2008 4:32PM

I have no problems with this list. I remember when Mega Man 3 was released. The countless tag-team hours spent killing mecha-snakes and so on. To this day I cite Mega Man 3 as a game that made a difference growing up in the NES era. I would also stack MM3 over MM2 any day...but sadly (and slightly embarrassed-ly), I never spent any time with Mega Man post-NES days. Only recently with the Wii have I been able to visit the SNES titles I never owned.

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:14AM

No shame there, but be sure to pick up Mega Man X once it comes to the VC. I would recommend the Mega Man X Collection (which can be played on the Wii obviously), but the GameCube controller doesn't quite do it for the X series. The classic controller will be your best bet.

TX2 @ Sep 22nd 2008 9:22PM

I would have replaced X4 with X3, But I'm one to favor level design over everything else.

thesoiden @ Sep 22nd 2008 9:27PM

I'd consider Megaman X5 better than X4. I liked the story of X5, and the music was better too. I really think Megaman X5 was better than X4 just like you consider MM3 better than MM2.

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:17AM

Very fair. X5 was one of the few Mega Man games that I ever neglected for a very long time. I didn't get to play it until the X Collection. Perhaps my experience was hampered by the GCN controller, as I said to Morning Toast. Maybe I should give X5 another shot, either on a PS2 or PC.

Flaken2000 @ Sep 24th 2008 8:14AM

When i saw that you had put Mega Man 2 in 2nd position, i thought maybe you had put Mega Man 9 in first position... :)

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 24th 2008 9:46AM

Unfortunately, I hadn't had the chance to play it when I wrote the column. But I've spent a lot of time with it the past two days, and it just might alter this list!

Yourself @ Sep 24th 2008 5:51PM

Solid list. X4 is definitely great and hugely underrated, though I'm disappointed to see the Zero/ZX series missing here. My personal list:

1. Mega Man X
2. Mega Man ZX Advent
3. Mega Man 4
4. Mega Man 6 or 9, 9 seems great so far but I'm not done
5. Mega Man X4

How you put MM3 on top is beyond me, though. Sure, 2 was too easy, but 3 was hard in all the wrong ways. Pixel-jumps, enemies that you couldn't get under, undodgable boss attacks, and a return to the terrible implementation of vanishing block puzzles as seen in Ice Man - the game was just a pain in the ass. And Gemini Man? Gemini Man? That stage is a how-to of terrible stage design. There's nothing there. You just shoot the eggs and walk through. Until you get to the part you can't beat without Rush Coil.

And though slide was there and helpful for bosses, the developers didn't seem to have much of a handle on it, as oftentimes there were simply passages you had to slide through just to establish "yes, I know how to press Down+A" It wasn't until 4 that the feature was actually well-integrated into gameplay.

Yeah, I'm a Mega Man nerd. Wanna fight about it?

Zeke @ Sep 25th 2008 2:50AM

Good choices all. I'm particularly pleased to see MM6 make a critic's list; I've always considered it underrated.

But your point about questioning the general gamer assumptions applies just as well to your "as if Star Force had a chance" line. I don't know whether you've played the more recent MM series, but I know that a lot of people who insult them have never bothered. There's a lot to be said for the Zero, ZX, Battle Network, and Star Force games. It would be hard to fit them into a list like this -- partly because you're being appropriately old-school and partly because they're all such different animals -- but I hope you were/are/will be open to the possibility of enjoying them.

Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 25th 2008 9:49AM

Thanks for respectfully challenging me! It's important to ask questions and debate, and you bring up an excellent point.

I did play the ZX games (though I only made it halfway through Advent). They were very good and the metroidvania style gameplay was refreshing, but overall I think that linear levels work best for Mega Man games. I appreciated that they tried something new, and it was fun for what it was. Yet I feel that the action sequences work best when you just blow through them in one shot, as opposed to retracing old steps. But that's just a matter of preference. :)

Thanks again!