We feel bad for our old friend Mega Man. It looks like, in spite of being both a boy and a robot, he has somehow started to lactate. Why do we say that? Because Capcom is milking him for all he's worth. This Thursday, three new pieces of DLC will be available for this ever-growing retro-styled game. Will fans continue to shell out their dough?
Hard Mode – Dubbed Hero Mode in Japan, this mode enables you to play the entire game on an increased difficulty level with alternate enemy distribution and spawning points. Hard Mode is not compatible with Rankings or Challenges Modes.
Expert Mode – Dubbed Super Hero Mode Japan, this mode represents the apex of Mega Man 9 difficulty settings and is not for the novice Mega Man 9 player. This mode triples the level of difficulty from the default Mega Man 9 game. Expert Mode is not compatible with Rankings or Challenges Modes.
Special Time Attack Stage – This DLC gives you an additional stage for Time Attack Mode, complete with an all new level and Robot Master Boss, "Fake Man." Similar in difficulty to the Willy Stages, players will have a fun time tackling this time sensitive competitive stage. Special Time Attack Stage is not compatible with Challenge Mode.
We told you last month Proto Man was headed for Mega Man 9 as a selectable character via DLC. Now we've got some screenshots of the guy in action. As a reminder, here are the future DLC modes for Mega Man 9, as initially revealed through the Wii version's manual:
Endless Attack (estimated price: $2.99): "Test your skills on a stage without end. Try to break the record for getting the farthest. Results will be displayed in the Rankings. Not compatible with Challenges."
Proto Man Mode (estimated price: $1.99): "Play the game as Proto Man. You can use the shield while jumping. Some of Proto Man's abilities may differ from Mega Man's. There is no story for Proto Man. Not compatible with Rankings or Challenges."
Hero Mode (estimated price: $0.99): "Play the game with a more difficult level of enemy distribution. Not compatible with Rankings or Challenges."
Superhero Mode (estimated price: $0.99): "Play the game with a super difficult level of enemy distribution. Not compatible with Rankings or Challenges."
Special Stage(estimated price: $0.99): "Gives you another Time Attack Stage to try, including a new Boss at the end! Results will be displayed in the Rankings. Not compatible with Challenges."
Prices are estimated based on their cost in Wii points. Check out all 16 screenshots of Mega Man's predecessor in action in the gallery below.
Having trouble with the retro throwback title Mega Man 9? The blue-bomber's latest outing has more than a few gamers frustrated with its old-school difficulty. Fortunately, GamesRadar has you covered. They've created a video walk-through of each stage, beginning with Splash Woman all the way through to the bitter end with Dr. Wily. Some gamers consider the order you fight the Robot Masters to be spoilers, so we took the liberty of blocking out the order in the above picture. The videos, which are after the jump, ask you for your age before you are allowed to view them, but there is no inappropriate content in them.
Cue the fireworks. You ready for another awesome PSN update? Four full PS3 games, two PSP games, three demos, plenty of add-on content and the usual smattering of videos and wallpapers and themes. By now you should be turning your PS3 on in order to get WipEout HD downloading immediately. It has full trophy support, as do Geon Emotions and Burnout Paradise, so you'd better get cracking -- that's a lot of trophies to collect. Here's the full release list:
Playable content
WipEout HD full game ($19.99)
Burnout Paradise full game ($29.99)
Geon Emotions ($9.99)
Mega Man 9 full game ($9.99)
Mega Man 9 demo (free)
NBA 09 The Inside demo (free)
NBA Live 09 demo (free)
Untold Legends full PSP game ($14.99)
Puzzle Quest full PSP game ($14.99)
Add-on content
Buzz! Quiz TV "National Geographic: Safaris" quiz pack ($7.99)
Are you ready for the best PSN update you've ever seen? Until the US update occurs later today, that is. We had no idea it was coming to Europe, but Burnout Paradise is now available at the ridiculously affordable price of £25/€30. Definitely worth picking up if you don't have it, especially after today's trophy patch. WipEout HD makes its triumphant debut today as well, alongside Mega Man 9 and two Burnout titles for the PSP. Blimey. There are also more demos, add ons, videos and themes (including a Bioshock one which we're looking forward to seeing). Stop reading this blurb and check out the full list of content:
Want to perform a slide tackle or charge shot in Mega Man 9 this Thursday? Sorry, you're out of luck. Mega Man seems to have lost those abilities in his transition back to the NES era (even though he had those abilities from Mega Man 3 onwards, which was a NES title). There may still be a chance, though. GamesRadar is reporting that Proto Man will be a downloadable character and will have both of these abilities. You'd better get your nickels and dimes ready, though, because he's not going to be free.
He should be arriving on the US PSN store during the week of October 6th and will cost you $1.99. Think of him as an "easy mode." From what we've played of Mega Man 9, by October 6th, you'll be screaming for an easy mode.
From the looks of the Mega Man 9 opening, we can conclude at least two things: Dr. Wily thinks people are pretty gullible in 20XX and a certain policewoman has apparently switched careers. In the 8-bit tradition of the rest of the game, Capcom presents to us the opening introduction to Mega Man 9. It is quite cute (or cheesy, depending on your POV) and filled with references, with our favorite being Dr. Light's warning to Mega Man: "Be careful out there! You haven't done this in a while!" Trailer after the jump.
In other Blue Bomber news, IGN unveiled three of the new Mega Man 9 bosses for us. Honestly, it's a little hard to keep track of all the bosses over the years. Yet another fire-themed boss is shown above; he is known as Magma Man, who carries the weapon Magma Bazooka. Concrete Man and Tornado Man's weapons are Concrete Shot and Tornado Blow respectively, and sprites of them are after the jump. The artwork for each villain and their weapons on Mega Man are in the gallery below. Check it out.
Capcom has admitted they are letting in a few optional features for the upcoming downloadable MegaMan 9 that cause us to scratch our heads. Hironobu Takeshita sat down for an in-depth interview with Gamasutra, but we're going to focus on the added features relevant to the game itself.
The old MegaMan games didn't allow more than three enemies on-screen at once without the sprites starting to flicker to support them ... this also resulted in slow-down. While we're not sure if the slowdown will be an option to turn on, Takeshita said "you can adjust [sprite flicker], unlike the old games. We purposely put some of those old-school bugs into this game, so it does recreate that feel." At least the sprite flicker option is just that -- an option. We're not sure why you'd want it on, but it's there just in case.
[Editor's note: We played the Wii version of this game. If you're worried about the graphics being different for the PS3 version ... you're probably looking at the wrong hands-on article.]
Mega Man 2 is my earliest truly memorable gameplay experience, so it's a bizarre feeling to be getting hands-on time with a game that looks identical fifteen years later. Make no bones about it, though. Mega Man 9 looks identical to the old NES games from the series. Capcom said they were taking the series back to its roots, and that's what they've done; difficulty included.
If you've never played a NES Mega Man game, firstly -- shame on you! Secondly, you'll probably be confused by Mega Man 9's graphics. These are pixelated 8-bit sprite graphics at their finest. In fact, the game looks like it borrows assets from Mega Man 2. Particularly the forest level, where the background looks almost identical.
Speaking of levels, there were only two available and they were both hard as nails. Mega Man 9 is going to make you weep like no modern game has done in years. During the levels I played, Mega Man doesn't have any particularly special abilities. No charge beam and no slide tackle. Rush returns with a spring in his back, letting you reach higher ledges, but that's it. There's no indication whether you'll be able to pick up these skills later in the game or not, but I'm hoping so. Even Mega Man 4 had the charge beam.
Look familiar? Those of who were alive at the time the original Mega Man came out might remember this particular cover. See the resemblance? We doubt the Mega Man 9 artwork above invoke anything but nonchalance from gamers -- you either love it or hate it.
In celebration of Mega Man going backwards in time, Capcom got I Am 8-bit artist Gerald de Jesus to create a cover for the blue bomber's upcoming outing. Fortunately, the game will be distributed digitally, so the cover will never see the light of day. That is, unless you plan to buy one of the t-shirts Capcom will be releasing shortly for sale. Nothing says "chick magnet" better than this, baby!
"Classic Mega Man is back!" So begins this debut trailer for Mega Man 9. Finally confirmed last week to be coming to the PSN, the latest Mega Man adventure reverts back to NES-era graphics. Everything looks as they should, 8-bit goodness and all. Even Rush is back! Keeping up with the times though, employer and criminal mastermind Dr. Wily has hired his first female robot employee, Splash Woman. You can see her outline at the 37-second mark.
The Blue Bomber's retro-styled return to gaming was originally announced for release on WiiWare. Rumors of a potential PSN version spread through the internet ... and now IGN has confirmed that the brand new 2D shooter will be gracing the PS3. The Wii version is priced at 1000 Points ($10), and we're expecting it will be the same on PSN. Now, all we have to do is wait for a release date.
Posted Jun 16th 2008 4:00PM by Majed Athab Filed under: News
You guys remember the OFLC right? They're Australia's version of the ESRB and the guys who had GTA IVcensored. However, this time around news is positive concerning the OFLC as a filing with them revealed the possibility of Mega Man 9. Of course, don't be fooled by the relatively small "9" on the end there; there has been so many Mega Man titles that in reality it's really something like Mega Man 112. The OFLC shows that the name was registered last Friday and will be a multiplatform release.
We wonder: why was the title registered specifically with OFLC? Perhaps Capcom knew there were many eyes watching the ESRB and wanted to keep this one super-secret by sneaking down under first. It looks like that tactic didn't work out.
