Before I begin this review I want to apologize to our friends over at Capcom. They gave us a copy of Mega Man 9 for review nearly two weeks ago, and the review itself was to be published last week. However, if you listen to The Bender then you know that I’ve been fighting the flu for the past three weeks and haven’t been able to get as much work done as I’d like. With that out of the way, on to the review.

Mega Man 9 is, without a doubt, the ultimate example of fan service that I think I have ever seen. The last true game starring the Blue Bomber (to hell with Mega Man X) was Mega Man 8 way back in 1997. However, rather than continuing the art style from the later games on 16-bit systems, Mega Man 9 decides to go all the way back to the glory days of the NES by giving us a true 8-bit experience.

Frankly, I think the game is absolutely beautiful. No, it may not feature all the bloom effects and bump mapping that has become more than a simple standard in today’s gaming world, but you have to keep in mind that the game isn’t trying to be pretty. It’s trying to emulate the NES, and to that end it performs flawlessly. The art direction is astonishing. The cut scenes are all done incredibly well and with the same kind of detail you would find in later Mega Man titles on the NES, and I challenge you to play this game for an hour and not feel like you’re playing on your old gray box.

The audio also holds true to 8-bit era as well, with most of the sound effects lifted straight from the classics. However, I want to take a moment and make special mention of the games soundtrack. Ever since I started doing this video game writing thing, I have changed my views on a lot of things. But I have always held true to my belief that Mega Man 2 has the single best old school soundtrack ever recorded conducted. After playing through Mega Man 9, I think I may have a new favorite. The music is truly exceptional.

However, all of this fan service would be all for not if the core gameplay were trash, right? Well, I am both happy and angered to report that Mega Man 9 continues the proud tradition of being immensely fun, even if it is one of the hardest, most frustrating games I have ever played. If you think that with time you have grown better at playing video games, I challenge you to sit down and play through MM9 – it will kick your ass. However, if you are like me and think modern games have been dumbed down in order to appeal to a wider audience, you will fall in love. For those of you who have never played a Mega Man title, you’ll be jumping and blasting your way through at least eight levels, navigating your way through ingenious, if not dastardly, level design.

Oh, and you suck for not playing a Mega Man game before.

The game isn’t perfect, though. Although the shop returns in Mega Man 9 I never found myself in need of buying anything. Also, while the boss fights are incredibly tough with the standard blast cannon, once you get a couple of power-up weapons the boss fights will go by in the blink of an eye.

I’ve never been good at these Mega Man games. Over the years I had actually started to develop a resentment towards them because I simply couldn’t get anywhere. However, with time I have grown quite fond of ol’ Rockman, and playing through Mega Man 9 only reinforces my belief that the 8-bit era was truly the golden age of gaming.

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