Nintendo Wii Fanboy

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.

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Gallery: Born for Wii: Mega Man Legends

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.

We're trying to think of words to describe how we felt when we saw the Mega Man 9 screens at Games Radar, but there's just too much emotion to articulate. As if the scans weren't legendary enough with their retro, 8-bit goodness, the screens just make us downright giddy. There's not much else to say, except that we're so in love with Capcom right now.

Games Radar has some delightful details on the game, too, which just add some extra oomph to an already oomph-tastic game. For one, beloved Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune was especially involved in the making of Mega Man 9, even creating the bosses this time around. As for the story, it still revolves around our favorite villain Dr. Wily, but this time he has the public on his side, convincing them that Dr. Light is the bad guy. Silly public.

That's not all, though -- according to Games Radar, this game is hard. Not this hard, but still difficult. We say, bring it. You know what else it has? A lot of music from Mega Man 2, also known as one of the best video game soundtracks of all time.

Lastly (but not least), Games Radar has the skinny on Mega Man 9's bosses, including one that's a woman robot named Splash Woman. Others include Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Hornet Man, Tornado Man, Concrete Man, Maga Man, and Plug Man. Man alive, that's a lot of mans.

Now you can stop reading and look at the screens (just click on the "Source" link or post image, as per usual). You might want to have some tissues handy, because they may just bring tears of joy to your eyes.

[Via NeoGAF]

What looks like scanned images of Nintendo Power have appeared, which are too small for us to be sure if they're real. But we think they are! And if that's true, then Mega Man 9 is a WiiWare game! Not only that, it's a WiiWare game in the 8-bit style of the NES Mega Man games! It would be hard to imagine being more thrilled! Forget E3 -- the game of the year has already been revealed!

According to the accompanying post on the Mega Man Network, the game is being developed by the Mega Man Zero/ZX creators, Inti Creates, and will feature the following bosses: Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Concrete Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man, Tornado Man, and Splash Woman. Splash Woman? We're going to go stand in front of the mailbox now.

[Update: better scans found here.]
[Via NeoGAF]

The appeal of the Virtual Console is obvious: nostalgia. The VC is jam-packed with memories from yesteryear, spilling over with wonderful software that defined our childhoods. But it isn't all lollipops and puppy dogs. Nostalgia can also be very misleading, and some of those packets of data you download from Nintendo's service can end up souring childhood memories.

Personally speaking -- and this will probably sound like heresy in some quarters, so brace yourselves -- I was left disappointed by Mega Man 2, a game I adored as an eleven-year-old, but one that now seems slightly dated, with its repeated leaps of faith and enemies that like to spawn directly beneath you. On the other hand, a game such as Super Mario Bros. 3 still feels like a breath of fresh air, almost two decades after it was released.

Thinking about this some more, we have three questions for you. One: which Virtual Console games don't hold the same magic for you as they once did? Two: have any titles aged better than you suspected they would? And three: have you ever held off from downloading a certain game, concerned that it may ruin one of those precious childhood memories?

When Capcom said that we wouldn't be seeing Bionic Commando on the Wii, that wasn't entirely true. What is true is that the decision is completely up to Nintendo -- but that goes for all Capcom games, not just the retrospectively controversial Hitler-killing ones.

According to Capcom's Public Relations Director Chris Kramer, the company licensed the rights to their games to Nintendo. It's therefore completely up to Nintendo whether and when Capcom titles get released on the Virtual Console -- Capcom no longer has any input in the decision.

That's all fine and good, but at the same time, it makes us a little uneasy. One question we have -- where is the Mega Man series on North American consoles? Why is it taking so long for Nintendo of America to release even one game of the beloved series? Nintendo obviously has plenty of games on their plate that they'd like to release in a timely fashion, but when that stops us from playing some of our favorite Capcom classics, we can't say we're too happy about it.

What about you? Are there any Capcom games that you wish Nintendo would just hurry up with?

While you already know tons of information about the upcoming Smash Bros. game, you should probably know what not to expect. Many of your hopes and dreams have given birth to compelling rumors, but it's time to put those rumors to rest (and never wake them again).

Masahiro Sakurai managed to clear up some things in a recent interview with IGN -- things we may have already known, but didn't necessarily want to believe -- so check after the break to see what's not in store for you this March (or June).

If you're anything like us, you might be hoping that one of the daily dojo updates will drop the bomb that Mega Man will be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Unfortunately, it looks like that isn't happening.

Bionic Commando recently interviewed Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man, who had this to say regarding Brawl: "Well, I really do love Super Smash Brothers. It's a great series...but, Nintendo hasn't asked me yet if they can use Mega Man in their game. I'm still waiting...we have a little bit of time left, it's not coming out for another few months."

Somebody, call the man! But in reality, it seems too late to add the lovable blue robot if they haven't already (the game comes out next month in Japan). Is anybody as bummed as this blogger, or are you glad that Mega Man won't be involved in Brawl?

[Via GoNintendo]

Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.

We were driven into a melancholy by the news that Australia (and probably Europe) was getting a Virtual Console version of Mega Man 2 while we have yet to see a download of the first game. Many of you correctly noted that it was stupid to wait for a VC version with the Mega Man Anniversary Collection disc available so cheaply and plentifully. But we actually have the disc and the cartridge. It's a simple matter of wanting every game we like to be available through as many conduits as possible, to get into the most hands as possible. A Virtual Console release, as well, allows a game to come back to the attention of the gaming community, sparking discussion once again. We want that for Mega Man 2 forever. Our memories of Mega Man 2 are 110 million, after all.

The existence of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection still makes any included game too easy to play on the Wii to be Virtually Overlooked material, even if, by doing so, it limits discussion. There's no real reason to wish for a game that you can just go buy for less money. That renders Mega Man 1-8 off limits (good luck playing 8 on a Nintendo system any other way!) as well as The Power Battle and The Power Fighters. But we still want to talk Mega Man, so we went scrambling for an appropriate game. Mega Man X? No, it is also available on a compilation. Rockman Battle & Chase? No, it's on the same compilation! Rockboard will have to do, then. It's got the benefit of being the weirdest Mega Man game yet, and we can keep Mega Man Soccer saved up for a bit.

The culture of gaming (and especially comics) is chock full of hypothetical battles, often ending in heated geek debate. And this browser game is no different. But, seeing as how we're celebrating something here this week, we felt compelled to share this game with you.

The controls aren't the best and you actually control Mega Man the entire time, but it's still got enemies and areas from the original Metroid title.

We've been asking about your favorite entries in big Nintendo franchises (and we probably will again!), but we thought we'd ask a more macro-scale question. What's your favorite franchise on Nintendo consoles? You've got your Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, obviously, but there's also Sonic, Resident Evil, Mega Man, Street Fighter, and years and years of other series throughout history. And don't forget about the comparatively newer series like Super Monkey Ball and Phantasy Star Online!

As for us, it's definitely Castlevania. We have been faithful to Konami's pseudo-horror series since the very start.

It must have taken a lot of work to make the NES Kung Fu game look cool, but Mission Accomplished. Mission so accomplished. Thomas from Kung Fu takes on pretty much every other NES character (and Zangief) with the help of his massive arsenal of special moves stolen from other games. We hate to spoil it, but Thomas doesn't make it all the way through the video. It is Kung Fu after all, and a violent death is inevitable.

The second half of the video follows Mega Man as he faces the same kind of pan-gaming gauntlet, but with much more loss of (his own) life. Get equipped with E. Honda-Launching Pipe and check out the video after the break!

[Via NeoGAF]

MESSAGE FROM DR. LIGHT.

MEGA MAN DOWNLOAD COMPLETED!

GET YOUR WEAPONS READY!

Need we say more? Today on the European VC:

• Mega Man -- NES -- 500 Wii points
• China Warrior -- TurboGrafx -- 600 Wii points

Virtual Console pricing got you down? Not to fret -- there are plenty of GameCube compilation titles available at a budget price. Racketboy recently took an in-depth look at a few of these game sets, offering readers a detailed look at what's included in each ... and some answers to the question of whether or not they're worth your $10. For instance, he reports that the Namco collections play well, but Midway Arcade Treasures seems to feature a few games with below average controls. But even with a few duds, the pricing on most of these sets is just right for gamers on a tight budget who need to get their retro fix.

None other than Keiji Inafune, well-known in the gaming world for his excellent contributions whilst at Capcom, has confirmed to Japanese magazine Dorimaga that he has started work on a title for the Wii.

He did not provide any other details regarding the exact nature of the title and how it is to utilize the Wii's control scheme, but word that the man who's past titles have been just so excellent is working on one for the Wii is enough for this blogger. Color us jazzed!