The first two downloadable content updates for Mega Man 9 are officially available today. The first, Endless Attack Mode, offers a new, never-ending endurance-style level, for 300 Wii Points. The second, more widely discussed update, adds a playable Proto Man to the game, for 200 points. Proto Man can slide and charge his weapon (though the blast isn't as large as a fully-charged Mega Buster), and he has a shield that blocks shots while jumping, but he also has double the recoil and takes double the damage of Mega Man. Furthermore, he can't use the Shop and he has no story of his own.
Most importantly -- and about which we are the most pleased -- the Proto Man whistle plays at the beginning of every life or every level. You can read more about the details of the Proto Man DLC here, or, of course, you could go download it! Just look in the "Downloadable Content" area of the game instead of somewhere in the Wii Shop. You wouldn't want to feel as stupid as we did.
Remember the Mega Man 9 press kit? Of course you do -- a better question may be "Have you been able to drive the Mega Man 9 press kit out of your thoughts for even a single, restful second?" Well, if you're freaking out about this item, you should take your nervous energy and put it to good use on Capcom's Mega Man forum.
The Capcom Unity staffers are picking worthy fans and handing them redemption codes for free press kits. The item is apparently hidden in the store somewhere, priced exorbitantly, but we haven't been able to find it. If you are in the mood to spend money on one of these, there's always eBay.
Whereas previous Monster Hunter 3media has mainly gawked at the game's environments (which look great), Famitsu's latest spread focuses on the scaly beasts who inhabit them. That's probably a good idea, as monsters have this tendency to play a fairly integral role in a Monster Hunter game.
Typically for the series, most of these are all teeth and scales and based on dinosaurs; this Pterodactyl-like fellow is probably our favorite to date. Hit the "Source" link for the full set of scans!
Looking for a little help tackling those tough bosses in Mega Man 9? Not as skilled a gamer as you thought you were when you were a young'n? Well, you're in luck.
Gamesradar has put together a nice guide on how to take out the evil robot trash, providing basic help for each boss encounter, as well as a good strategy on the order you should be battling each one. So, if you're sick of dying over and over again without getting anywhere, then check it out.
We've come to the conclusion of our latest giveaway, perhaps our greatest giveaway. Why our greatest? Well, even though we've hooked up people with plenty of copies of No More Heroes, Mega Man 9 is a shining beacon of hope that the future could be filled with more of these kinds of games. More retro revivals plz, amirite?
Well, enough of that. On to choosing our winner! It is:
Congratulations, oddfellow. We'd like to thank you all for stopping by our little corner of the internet and we wish the rest of you better luck in the future!
Ugh, I'm so sick with the obsession over Mega Man 9. WE GET IT, IT'S A RETRO GAME. WHOOPEE. No, seriously, I'm sick of my own obsession with it. I still haven't picked up Wario Land: Shake It!, de Blob, or NHL 2K9. That's mainly because I've spent every waking moment enjoying the blue bomber's latest outing. My Wii Fit board is scolding me for its lack of use, my girlfriend is feeling neglected, and apparently my judgment is slipping. But there's something about the game that just won't let go of me. The thing should be illegal for its extremely addictive nature, right next to heroin and Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips.
I usually fall behind on discussing recent games, as I like to take awhile to fully absorb and process the arts and entertainment before I comment on it. But I think my Wii's play log will testify that I've made myself quite familiar with the title. The main quest is conquered, the event challenges are being slowly but steadily checked off the list, and I'm trying my best to climb the leaderboards of the time attack levels. Without any further ego-stroking, here's the top five things we love about Mega Man 9. Then we won't talk about it for a few weeks. Promise! ... maybe.
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.
Resident Evil sure looks familiar, doesn't it? That's probably because this latest Capcom port is just the GameCube version with a dash of motion. That isn't to say it doesn't look good (it does), it's just that this game has been remade, reworked, and re-released a lot.
How many times do we need to replay great games -- particularly when we can already play them on the system in question?
Mega Man 9 is back-to-basics in more than just the graphics. Rush can no longer turn into shoulder pads, for example. There's no charge ability for the Mega Buster, nor are there the shot upgrades available in Mega Man 8's store. You can't even slide any longer. If we were going to get into Mega Man X, we could add the wall-clinging business as well.
Is there one addition to the post-Mega Man 2 world that you miss the most? The Mega Buster? Sliding? Clown Man's voice acting?
We barely need to write anything here this week, do we?
Mega Man 9 -- WiiWare -- 1000 Wii Points
Helix -- WiiWare -- 1000 Wii Points
Strong Bad Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free -- WiiWare -- 1000 Wii Points
Helix is a dance-cum-exercise game from Ghostfire which was deemed above-average by critics, if not exactly essential. Strong Bad Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free falls into the same trap as Super Dodge Ball did in North America, in that it's a great, worthwhile title that was regrettably released the same week as Mega Man 9. And Mega Man 9, well, you know all about that. It's totally awesome and rad. Buy it.
Mega Man 9 hit WiiWare (and the PS3's service) this week, and is just around the corner for Xbox owners. We won't hold it against you (much) if you're not getting it on the Wii (for shame). We just want to know if you got it (or are going to), and if so, is it all you dreamed of and more? We heard from several people when JC's review debuted, but that was days ago. The way some of you were playing, you're probably now stuck in all-new areas.
What's the best way to show off the fact that you've been spending the last few days of your life being punished severely by a video game? Other than the murderous look that comes from spending too much time in Dr. Wily's Castle, we think that the official Mega Man 9t-shirt is the most effective method of sharing your pain.
Capcom's online store is now taking preorders for the black shirt featuring the American Mega Man 9"boxart" for shipping on September 30. It costs $24.95 plus shipping, which is actually quite a bit more than the game costs -- but it's entirely worth it when you consider that the "proprietary MegaWeave™ technology provides improved gaming performance in Mega Man® 9 and all other Capcom titles." Sorry, Roll's Item Shop shoppers -- Capcom doesn't accept screws!
[Minor update: it appears that leaving an item in your cart and then backing out with your browser's 'back' button triggers a survey pop-up that, when completed, nets you 10% off your purchase!]
We won't be sure until there are scans, because sometimes information that originates on 2ch is erroneous or just plain made up, but according to Wii@Everyday's summary of the latest issue of Famitsu, Capcom is preparing yet another Resident Evil port for the Wii, for release on December 25.
This time, it's a "faithful port" of the GameCube Resident Evil remake. Like Resident Evils Zeroand 4, this is a direct port. Unlike Zero, a bit of waggle has been added (to draw your weapon). The new version will be compatible with GameCube controllers, so it will be entirely possible to buy this and pretend you're playing the GameCube version -- which, by the way, is quite cheap!
[Update: Scans now available at the link! Guess that confirms it.]
You may know this from reading the operations guide or from trying it, but in case you don't, Mega Man 9 does not recognize GameCube controllers -- despite previous information leading us to believe that it would. We had yet to try it, satisfied with the Wiimote and the Classic, until alerted by tipster "fatcatfan." We switched on the Wavebird, kept close by due to frequent Chibi-Robo, and ... didn't play Mega Man 9. Confirmed.
This is especially bad news for people who ordered RetroPorts specifically for Mega Man, or who expected to use the Hori GameCube pad. Please don't let it stop you from buying Mega Man 9.
The retro-styled Mega Man 9 could easily have been a cynical cash grab from Capcom, a hastily-thrown-together game that was just good enough that the NES fans who bought it wouldn't be outraged. But, while it was no doubt conceived as just such a low-budget, high-profit project, Capcom and developer Inticreates went far beyond the Mega Man tribute album it could have been.
Instead of a pretty good game that reminds people of Mega Man, they've created a real Mega Man game that compares favorably to the very best of the series. For ten dollars.
Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man Zero. Mega Man Battle Network. With over 40 games in these series alone, one thing is obvious: there's a lot of Mega Man out there. The diminutive blue-clad hero has shown up on an impressive number of platforms in the past two decades, and often one game led to another, and another, and another, eventually spawning a whole bucketload of sequels. However, when Mega Man took a turn into the third dimension, the predictable half-dozen follow-up installments never materialized.
In 1997, Capcom took Mega Man in a radically new direction with Mega Man Legends, a 3D action-RPG for the Sony Playstation (and the N64 under the moniker Mega Man 64). It's an all-new Mega Man sporting a familiar look, but the gameplay is significantly different -- dungeon exploration, item creation, and weapon upgrading are just some of the RPG staples present in Mega Man Legends. Despite its differences from classic Mega Man, Legends is a fun game that succeeds in shaking up the formula. And with the last game in the Mega Man Legends spinoff now eight years old, this particular Rockman is destined to be Reborn for Wii.
Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Punch-Out!!, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
The first two downloadable content updates for Mega Man 9 are officially available today. The first, Endless Attack Mode, offers a new, never-ending endurance-style level, for 300 Wii Points. The second, more widely discussed update, adds a playable Proto Man to the game, for 200 points. Proto Man can slide and charge his weapon (though the blast isn't as large as a fully-charged Mega Buster), and he has a shield that blocks shots while jumping, but he also has double the recoil and takes double the damage of Mega Man. Furthermore, he can't use the Shop and he has no story of his own.
Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man Zero. Mega Man Battle Network. With over 40 games in these series alone, one thing is obvious: there's a lot of Mega Man out there. The diminutive blue-clad hero has shown up on an impressive number of platforms in the past two decades, and often one game led to another, and another, and another, eventually spawning a whole bucketload of sequels. However, when Mega Man took a turn into the third dimension, the predictable half-dozen follow-up installments never materialized.
