Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)

Happy Together!

So not only have I've been dusting off my old reliable Wii U, I also went through reading this old blog and realised that when I wrote about Smash Bros for 3DS I wrote that I would play the Wii U version, but I never wrote about it, mostly because as noted, I was a bit burned out by the series, and it has actually not been helped with Ultimate. So why didn't I play that instead? Well, I mostly played the Wii U version because it was the last game in the series as of yet to have trophies. And you couldn't transfer data between the version, what a huge hassle.

Cause what is there otherwise to talk about? It's a fighting game and works as much every other Smash game. Didn't help the Wii U that much, but introduced DLC where we finally got Roy back in the fold. As well as Mewtwo that you could get for free if you bought both games and registered it on some Club Nintendo site or such, unfortunately I bought the 3DS version in a Swedish shop meaning it didn't have the code so I had to buy it on the side. Well everything is bought online today so no problem with that anymore.

So I played through Classic Mode with every character, and some on All-Star Mode, but with this many characters it's a real pain getting through it. Also, All-Star mode is fine since it's pretty much the same as it always been, but Classic mode, what a downgrade from the original (now this might be just me playing it on easy since I want to get through it) but I recall Classic mode have different phases with metal Mario, large and small versions and such spicing up the gameplay, here it's just move around the board and choose a group of enemies. And why isn't there any Adventure mode like in Melee or Brawl? At least the 3DS had the great cave offensive or whatever it was called. So nothing special about, works like everyone else and if you have a couple of friends it's a great time, maybe not so much playing alone.

So why is trophies so important? Because it introduced me to a much larger world of games. In Melee you could get trophies from games that wasn't out yet and games that never was released in Europe or the US. The stickers in Ultimate doesn't tell me anything about the games they come from. I learned about Earthbound from the trophies, got me interested in Metal Gear before the Twin Snakes come out and something called the Famicom Detective Club... wait, that came out on the Switch some time ago. And I got it, might be a fun playthrough.

Mega Man X (Mega Man X Legacy Collection) (Switch)

Gotta continue with Mega Man X, hold as the best Mega Man-game for the SNES. Never played it as a kid. Bought this five times now. First time clearing it. A bit miffed that the rewind function from the Mega Man Legacy Collection isn't here. Story is that Dr. Cain, an archeologist discovers a hidden robot facility where Dr. Light have hidden X, a robot that have free will and was put to sleep in order to go through a diagnostic for 30 years that ensured he had a moral compass and such. Pretty much overslept for 70 years. With this Dr. Cain is able to create the reploids, free thinking robots. Some of them goes rouge, and are called Mavericks that have to be hunted down by... the Hunters. 

Dr. Cain then builds another robot to lead the Hunters, Sigma... that becomes a Maverick himself and brings with him a lot of Hunters to Mavericks and Cain sends the Hunter Zero and the awakened X to stop Sigma. Good going Cain. So X is on a highway fighting of a Maverick attack until Vile, a mercenary Maverick appears and Zero saves X. Zero tries to find Sigma and X stops the Maverick hunters. During the game you find upgrades left by Dr. Light that enhance X and with it you beat Chill Penguin, Launch Octopus, Storm Eagle, Armored Armadillo, Flame Mammoth, Sting Chameleon, Spark Mandrill and Boomer Kuwanger. Fun thing is that defeating the bosses effects other stages. Zero finds Sigma and both battle through Sigmas stages until Vile almost kills X, but Zero sacrifices himself so that X can fight off Sigma. 

Since I haven't played it as a kid I'm a bit meh about it. It was hard at times, and without looking it up, certain parts is pretty much impossible to find since they demand you know how to play it very well. One upgrade demands you have the hard hat and perform a perfect jump so that you can climb and destroy it, but you only got that one chance since if you break the lowest blocks without getting to the top, you have to restart the stage since you can't reach it again. And the non-maverick bosses... f***ing cheats. Eyes and noes that you have to hang to the wall with a death trap right below you? God damn. 

It's a bit overhyped for me. I don't actually get it really. Graphics nice and music is probably the best since Mega Man 3. But more than that? It's fun fully upgraded, but heres the thing, I think I played on some sort of easy mode for this version, playing it normally would probably have driven me mad with anger on the frustrating part. Really wished for some rewind.

Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch)

Super Fighting Robot - Mega Man

Though we would go through the whole package of the legacy collection since there is a couple of things that doesn't show up when I write about the separate games. No, it isn't because I need to fill out the weeks since my backlog of 100 hours JRPG:s is getting out of hand (well, maybe). Back to the collection you get the rewind function for the games, a database library for every character in the games. Things like box arts from the three main regions, the japanese instruction manual and posters from Japan and the USA. Small fun things. What caught my interest for a couple of minutes was the music library with the music from the games. Some sketches and such. Sadly no summary of what happens in the games and such, gotta play the game... and read the wikipedia article on what happens.

The other big thing that might have caught peoples interests are the challenges. Clear certain portions of stages, either in a single game or over a couple of games. Boss rushes or 1 single boss (take that Yellow Devil). I am obviously not that good since I was just able to unlock 15 challenges. It also showed my over-reliance on rewind in the normal games since they take it away from the challenges and platform challenges really trips me up when I, a couple of times I might add, just jumps down a hole. Yeah, I'm not that good.

Overall, I would recommend the package, unless you already bought them 5-6 times (with the NES and Sega Mega Drive Mini I got Mega Man 2 six times at this point). 

Mega Man 6 (Mega Man Legacy Collection) (Switch)

Sir-Not-Appearing-In-Europe

The 6th and final Mega Man game on the NES and as that the most polished in graphical and gameplay ways. The story is that the first annual robot tournament have concluded and the organiser, a certain Mr. X takes the 8 robot masters and reprogram them to conquer the world. And as stated in the beginning of the game, apparently is the one behind Dr. Wily. So Mega Man is called in once again to save the world from the robots Flame Man, Knight Man, Blizzard Man, Plant Man, Tomahawk Man, Yamato Man, Centaur Man and Wind Man. This game was not released on the NES in Europe, which is a bit strange since it's the first (and I think only) game where western people could participate in a design competition of the robot masters so Knight and Blizzard Man are non-japanese. 

Rush have been overhauled so there is no rush coil and instead been turned to adapters that enhance Mega Man in certain ways. The power adapter gives you a punch that open up different pathways to finish the stages or beat up enemies that the normal mega buster can't handle. The other adapter is the Jet adapter that gives you a small flight ability. Both are important to reach the alternative boss chamber on certain stages to get letters that spell out Beat and gives you access to him. Didn't have a use for him this time so didn't use him. The great thing about it is that there is no need to refill the power meters, the jet recharge automatically when not in use and the power adapter you have to charge up to use the better abilities. No more fear of running out of rush coils or jet powers so that you are stranded and either have to grind for refills or restart the stage. 

So Mega Man defeats the robot masters and goes after Mr. X and beta him up, and it turns out it was Dr. Wily... shocking! Do the Wily stages and refight the robot masters, yuo corner Dr. Wily and now tie him up and take him in to custody ending on... to be continue? So 5 that ended with him escaping didn't have a to be continue, but this one has? Bold move Capcom, bold move. The adapters are a welcome addition, but there is something amiss when you don't have the coil. Overall, better than 4, maybe equal to 5.

Mega Man 5 (Mega Man Legacy Collection) (Switch)

Revenge of Proto Man

Continued with the 5th game and the cutscenes gets better and better. And now the stages begins to show use of other mechanics. Water was used from the second game on, but now they added a gravity stage and to break up the water stage you get a short water bike section. Interesting stuff. Story is that Proto Man have kidnapped Dr. Light and tries to take over the world with 8 robot masters. Mega Man once again is tasked with saving the world and battle Star Man, Gravity Man, Gyro Man, Crystal Man, Napalm Man, Stone Man, Charge Man and Wave Man. 

Battling through Proto Man's base you encounter the villain, and as you are unable to fight against your own brother, you are taken down to 1 sliver of health, when the familiar whistle sounds and another Proto Man shows up, blast the fake showing the Dark Man robot behind the exterior face of Proto Man. Mega Man finish it off and Dr. Wily reveals that he is the one behind it all and have Dr. Light at his base. Shocking... I know! You defeat Wily and rescue Dr. Light, but as you try to apprehend Wily, the roof collapses and as Mega Man saves Dr. Light from being crushed Dr. Wily escapes, but Proto Man intervenes and saves them so that they can escape. Game ends. 

Bosses was much easier this time around and there weren't that hard reaching them either. The Proto Man stages also had some decent music, but I can't help to feel I've heard it before. Might be that I've played it before on all the other virtual consoles I've have on these games. Added to this game is the star arrow... which I never used and knows what it does special. Also, getting all letters from the stages that spells out Mega Man you get access to Beat, a new robot friend that is a bird. Rush still here, but the mariner is gone. Feel it's better than 4 at least.

Mega Man 4 (Mega Man Legacy Collection) (Switch)

Mega Man... 4

The fourth game in the series and it seems that they upped the graphics a bit with moveable cutscenes. They also added the charge buster to the growing starter arsenal of Mega Man and it it makes certain enemies a bit easier to deal with since you can prepare a shot in advance. Story is that suddenly the Russian Dr. Cossack attacks and tries to conquer the world with his 8 robot masters. Dr. Light sends out Mega Man to fight off Pharaoh Man, Ring Man, Dust Man, Skull Man, Dive Man, Drill Man, Toad Man and Bright Man. Defeating them all you take the fight to Dr. Cossack's Kremlin-like base and upon beating Dr. Cossack Proto Man teleports in with Kalinka, Dr. Cossack's daughter that have been kidnapped by Dr. Wily to force her father to build the robot masters and fight Mega Man. With this knowledge Mega Man take the fight to Dr. Wily.

And I gotta say, this Dr. Wily is hard as hell. Not only is the Wily Machine almost impossible to hit in its second form, then they expect you to fight him in the darkness. Cheating bastard. I had to use all my energy tanks on the rematch with the robot masters and the Wily machines so I was really afraid in the end, but I persevered... and the rewind button worked out rather well. Overall, not as good as 3. The mega buster is a good addition that stayed for the rest of the series. I found it harder than the earlier games, and the proposed "easy" order of the bosses was hard as nails. Pharaoh Man don't screw around so the first energy tank was used to stay alive since I didn't get the pattern down. And while the graphics improves, I can't say the same about the music. Nothing really catches my ears as they did in 3 (and 1 and 2 had some good tracks as well). Don't know if the nostalgia plays in more in this category.

Mega Man 3 (Mega Man Legacy Collection) (Switch)

Loved the box art

The best game in the series... as far as I know since I haven't played 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 (or any of the X-series). Probably something we shall see when I get there. Borrowed it from my neighbour as a kid and pretty much my only Mega Man experience until I got the games on the Wii virtual console so my glasses might be tinted a bit out of nostalgia. Did beat it a couple of times as a kid... by using a password I got from a Nintendo Magazine I had. So not really.

Story is that Dr. Wily have reformed and together with Dr. Light tries to build the peacekeeping robot Gamma. They send out the 8 robot masters Top Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, Magnet Man, Hard Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man and Needle Man to mine for crystals to power Gamma, but they go rouge. During the battles he faces of against Beak Man and afterwards have to fight the doc robots that contains the attack moves off the robot masters from Mega Man 2. After this Dr. Wily steals the crystals the robot masters where mining and takes Gamma with him. Battling through Mega Man defeats Gamma and Dr. Wily, but the lair collapses over them, but Beak Man shows up and rescue Mega Man. Turns out Beak Man is Proto Man, Mega Man's brother. Well, at least according to the wikipedia article that summarises the plot. The game itself is rather bad in explaining why you do that you do. 

But since when was story important for Mega Man? Here gameplay reigns supreme. And they definitely upgraded how you play Mega Man, first off you get the slide enabling the player to avoid damage and get past certain allowing different routes. Then, Rush is introduced that first only allows reaching higher ground from the get go and then can turn into a submarine and lastly a jet. Pretty much replacing the item's from the 2nd game. You get some cutscenes in game and the music is overall better. Sure, 2 had the Wily theme and the start up theme, 3 has Top Man Stage, Hard Man stage, the Intro theme, Spark Man, Snake Man... I mean most songs are killers. And I think the people behind the collection does as well since several tracks appear all over the menus and such. A sad part is that the best tracks are on the stages that doesn't get revisited while fighting the doc robots. Still find the game enjoyable and replayable... although it has a Yellow Devil so just the robot stages are enough, especially with that soundtrack.

Mega Man 2 (Mega Man Legacy Collection) (Switch)

Mega Mega Mega Man

So finished the second game, plot excuse is just one year later Dr. Wily builds his own 8 robot masters to fight Mega Man, Metal Man, Wood Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Heat Man, Crash Man, Flash Man and Quick Man. Mega Man sets out and during the fight Dr. Light will send you sone upgrades, Item-1. Item-2 and Item-3... clever naming there. Praised as maybe the best Mega Man game. It has better graphics, not as hard and you can choose difficulty so that's nice. Music is definitely better and memorable. They also improved the fact that you can use the robot masters weapon to aid you during the stages and not just killing monsters easily. Well, technically Guts mans weapon and Ice Mans weapon had secondary functions... so I don't where my mind went since it just Crash Man and Flash Man that have secondary functions here. Of course, the item's are better since it's just not find it on a stage with the right weapon, but they are given out after certain stages. 

Overall more fun to play through since I believe they tweaked the item drops since it doesn't take almost a minute to farm energy and life if you find a decent spot. And they also looks like they do in the rest of the series so this is definitely a finer tuned game than the first game... and no damn Yellow Devil.

Mega Man (Mega Man Legacy Collection) (Switch)

Still find the European Box Art rather fantastic.

As my Micro Sd Card of 400 GB is being completely full I decided to migrate all Capcom games to secondary memory card since it's pretty obvious they take the most space, looking at you Resident Evil games that doesn't get a physical release at launch and when they do it's only one out of 2 or 3 games and always the smallest one on the cartridge while the others need to be downloaded. So using the internal storage of the Switch I moved most games, except Resident Evil Revelations 2 that on around 23 GB was too big so I had to download it again, which take ca 4 hours for some reason. So I'm stuck with my Capcom memory card, time for some Mega Man.

Played it before on Wii (didn't finish), Wii U and 3DS (which I finished) and I even got it on my Sega Mega Drive Mini (which I haven't played). Never played it as a kid. As you might see, I only finished it on consoles where you could potentially save scum and such and that's the case, without it I wouldn't get very far cause this game is punishing at certain points. Not the main 6 areas with the robot masters, but the damn Wily stages. Story is that in the year 200X Dr. Wily takes control of the robots created by Dr. Light in a bid to take over the world, Dr. Light takes a household robot and turns it into Mega Man, the last hope of humanity.

So Mega Man jumps and shoots his way through 6 stages to fight of the 6 robot masters, Ice Man, Fire Man, Bomb Man, Guts Man , Cut Man and Elec Man. Pretty straight forward levels where the goal is pretty much survive to reach the boss room, get killed, start from there and just win against the master and get his weapon to use on another robot. Elec Man is recommended to take sometime after Guts Man since you also get a secret weapon called the Magnet Beam that you need to get past certain platform areas. The Wily stages you need to get through on limited resources in what is pretty much 3 stages fighting the bosses all again with some new ones. Lucky Elec Man's weapon have the pause glitch where you press the pause button again and again and the hit registers several times. For bosses like the Yellow Devil there is no other option if you don't learn the pattern that is very specific. I hate that, I'm not a kid with unlimited time anymore. Also, the platforming is rather suspicious since Mega Man feels very slippery and not always as responsive when I try to jump so many times I've fallen to my death for something that feels like me slipping past a platform or the jump not register so I just walk of the platform.

So how do the Legacy Collection add to the game? You can save state like before, but you also got a rewind option by holding down L you can try to avoid mistakes and such. Don't know if there is some max time, but at the boss rush with Bomb, Fire, Ice and Guts Man I stopped going back in time and it could be that I was waiting there a long time and didn't bother rewinding long enough or that I reached a max time it is able to do that. You also get a database with the enemies and what weapons to use and an ability to fight the bosses to try them. There is also some challenges for the collections, but I might not be that inclined to 100 % them. 

Super Smash Bros for 3DS

I wasn't gonna write about this game until I got all the characters and their trophies in the single player modes, but after a while I realized I would have to play a lot more than I can stomach. Really, I've felt burnt out by the series since Brawl. Could be that I more or less played through Brawl twice, once at my family version and then on my own (had I copied over the save I might not have this feeling). Really, Melee was probably more fun to play with since it actually was me and my three sisters playing it and therefore we weren't burned out getting characters as Ganondorf and such who needed several hundreds of melee battles. Cause really, there is nothing wrong with the game. It's fun and works mostly the same and have the same modes and even some new ones that have my interest... but I don't feel like play it that much and when I do, maybe 30 minutes at the most. Maybe the small screen tires me out.

And really, this is an appetizer for the Wii U version that comes out at the end of November. Hopefully the data I accumulate here can be transferred to the Wii U and unlock things so I don't have to put another 40 hours into basically the same game to gain the same characters. If it isn't I get the feeling that this series will loose me. Another reason I might not like playing it that much is all the talk about playing to hard might break the control stick, which at the moment I don't have the spare cash to replace... or at least wait until the New 3DS comes to Europe. And thirdly... so many other games that doesn't feel like a chore to play through.

Mega Man Classic

 

So I've been playing the original mega man games on my Wii U and 3DS and maybe you want my thoughts on them. First off, I'm not good at these kind of games so I'm using the save state a lot... and I mean A LOT! Secondly, I've only played Mega Man 3 as a kid so there is hardly any nostalgia over this, so my favorites are not gonna be everyone's favorites. First game, many say it's the hardest. I would agree if I wasn't able to pull of the select button glitch (meaning pausing the game while firing the electric weapon causing much more damage than thought out, works well against the Yellow Devil). 

 

The second game, by many seen as the best of them all. Good music. Really, it's not much else to say about them. Same story, Dr Wily causing trouble so Dr Light (Right) sends out Mega Man to stop him. Really, I wouldn't say it is the best, mostly due to Quick Man's stage that feels like cheating with the insta-death beams.

 The third game, and to me the best of the bunch. Awesome intro and stage music and Rush. I don't know if it's due to me playing a lot more than the others, but it also feels like the easiest of the games and more enjoyable. Story is that Dr Wily has reformed so he and Dr Light creates Gamma to keep the peace, but they need some ores from different planets and the mining robots goes hay-wire so Mega Man is sent out to get the ore. Of course Dr Wily is behind it and you have to fight Gamma to get him.

Forth game. Some Dr Cossack attacks the world and Mega Man must stop him. Turns out he was black mailed by Dr Wily who kidnapped his daughter. First time playing I found it boring and hard. Maybe due to being fed up on Mega Man, but a second play through made it rather fun. Decent game that is.

Fifth game. Hardest game, damn robots have punishing patterns that makes it nearly impossible to avoid damage. Most hated are gravity and charge man. Story is that Proto Man has turned evil and caused havoc on the world and only Mega Man can stop him... turns out Dr Wiley used a fake Proto Man. Gotta say that the cut scenes are pretty nice.

Sixth game and never originally released in Europe. Some Mr X is having a tournament for robots and the eight winners starts attacking people so Mega Man must stop them. Turns out Mr X really was Dr Wily. Who knew. Some music tracks are really nice and the rush suits (or adapters) are really fun actually. Also introduced the thing that evenly spreads the energy to your weapons without having to change weapon all the time. Best mechanic ever.

Overall they are fun short distractions with often good music. Favorite one 3 due probably to nostalgia, but probably also due being the one that feels most thought out of the old ones. You have three different forms of Rush, you have the slide and the best stage music in Top, Spark, Snake and Hard Man. Magnet and Shadow Man are OK, but nothing special. After that it would be 4, 2, 6 and 1/5 sharing last place. Why 4 over 2? Slide and charge shot. Really, I'm so used to the slide it's aggravating playing the first two games.