Megaman (DOS)

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Megaman DOS:

Remember how I keep saying that I've been a big Megaman fan all my life? Well, this time I'd like to talk about a completely different game that I didn't know about until years later. But first I want to get one thing about of the way. Back in the old days when I was playing video games on the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, my two favorite series in the franchise have always been the classic and the X series. I never played the Legends series, and I was completely indifferent of the Battle Network series. As for the Zero series, I didn't mind it too much, but it was a bit too easy for me. I don't know. Those three series just didn't have the same impact that the previous two series had on me. I guess part of that is due to my nostalgia for the older series in the franchise since those are the two series that I grew up with back in the day. But anyway, enough of that. Let's move onto the subject at hand.

As far as records go, every game in the classic and X series was fun and enjoyable. Even though later games in the X series suffered from their fair share of problems. But regardless, the classic and the X series have always stood out for me as some of the most revolutionary games given to us by the once respected video game company Capcom. But there is one game that is completely different from all the others. And that game is of course, Megaman for the DOS, created by High Tech, and released in 1990. Yeah, it was simply titled "Megaman" with no subtitle or anything, which can be confusing since the original game was also simply titled "Megaman". Not to mention 1990 was the year when Megaman 3 was released for the NES. In the late 80s and early 90s, Capcom decided to give the rights to Megaman to High Tech to make some games for the DOS. Though it was still published by Capcom since it has the Capcom logo on the boxart. However, once you start playing it, you'll quickly release this isn't your typical Megaman game. And in a bad way. Not in a good way, but in a very bad way. Not many people know that this game even existed, but if you have, you would most likely consider this game to be the black sheep of the franchise. High Tech did an absolutely horrible job with this one game. But instead of making a direct port of the original game, they decided to make a brand new game altogether that has nothing in common with the original. What you end up getting is a terrible game for the DOS, as you have to adjust to an awkward control scheme, and there's no music to listen to throughout the game, which is one of the key elements of all the previous titles in the franchise. But believe me, this is the least of our problems.

The first thing you'll notice with this game is that the graphics look like crap. Even for its time it looks like crap. Yes, I know that this is an old game that was released for an early gaming system. But bare in mind, the NES was released around the same time as the DOS, and it featured much better graphics in comparison. But sadly, the same is not true of this title. The sprites and backgrounds don't stand out at all. Not to mention the game has such poor sense of color. The graphics in general look so bland, uninspired, and generic, that it makes a children's coloring book look like a work of art by comparison. The controls in the game go like this; the space bar shoots your blaster cannon or special weapons you gain from the bosses. And the "J" key is the jump button. Pretty basic controls. But it's hard to forget the controls you're accustomed to. Especially if you're more used to using a controller instead of a key board. I don't know. Using a key board to play video games just feels awkward for me, and I just can't get the feel for it. It takes some getting used to, and if you can't adjust to playing with a key board, then you are simply screwed. As soon as you start the game, you have an opening level where you have to run away from this robot dog that's coming after you. This dog is a pain in the ass, because it chases you wherever you go, and it jumps at you and attacks like crazy. Not to mention each time it hits you, it takes a great deal of your life away. And even if you do manage to kill the dog, it just respawns immediately. So there's really no point in killing the dog because it will just respawn, and it will hunt you down and freaking murder you. It's kind of like the zombie dog from the entrance of Dracula's castle in Castlevania 4, except poorly done. So all you can do is just run away from the dog and reach the exit to escape from it and end the stage. Whose idea was it to have a respawning enemy that you can't kill? Whose the wise guy who came up with this idea? I want to smack that person around a bit with a large trout!

And so after you get past the indestructible killer robot dog, you are then given a stage select screen with all the bosses to choose from. I mean after all, this wouldn't be a Megaman game without a stage select screen now would it? But there is one problem though; there's only three Robot Masters to choose from! In most Megaman games, there's always a total of eight Robot Masters who you have to kill and gain their weapons before you head on to Dr. Wily's castle. But in this game, its different; there's only three bosses in the game. I guess High Tech didn't have time to come up with five more bosses, so they only made three. And these bosses are uncreative, and look like they were thought up by a freaking five year old. Although to be honest, the bosses from Megaman 9 and 10 aren't very creative either. So sue me. But still, the fact that there's only three bosses in this game only adds to the disappointment that this game brings to the player. And their designs are especially lacking. Anyway, the three bosses in this game are Sonicman, Voltman, and Dynaman. I can only assume that the "Dyna" in his name is short for Dynamite. Once again, there's no music in this game. All you hear are the same five sound effects throughout. It can be a real chore to dodge all the hazards that are in this game because the controls are so awkward and stiff, that I thought something was wrong with my key board. It's especially hard to kill the enemies since most of them take more than one hit to take out. And also, Rush doesn't exist in this game, and you can't slide or charge up your buster. Yes, that's right. Even though Rush is featured on the box art, he's not in the actual game. So all you have is just your regular shots. Some of the enemies and stage hazards include electric eels, mosquitos, hornets, bats, bees that drop bombs at you that explode into debris that can also hurt you, and flies that shoot at you. Whatever happened to the Sniper Joes? Where's the Metools and the mechanical animals? The enemies in this game are so uninspired. But not that it stops them from being irritating. As you would guess, the enemies are relentless, and they will stop at nothing until you're dead. But what separates this game from all other games in the franchise is that Megaman is a lot tougher than people give him credit for. Let's take the classic Megaman series. Those games featured smooth controls and solid gameplay because Capcom designed those games with more care. Sure, you're always likely to die from cheap hits and stage hazards like pitfalls, lava streams, and spikes that kill you instantly, but at least you're more capable of defending yourself against the annoying as hell enemies the more you get accustomed to the controls and how the game plays out. But in this case, it's very hard to defend yourself due to the stiff controls and bad mechanics. You also have to deal with disappearing and reappearing platforms, which is another staple of the series. The levels are pretty long and are full of hazards. The game isn't too hard once you know what to do and work your way through the enemies and stage hazards, but the inept design of the game will still make it a chore to get through.

As with every other game in the franchise, each boss is weak against another specific boss' weapon. And since there's only three of them in this game, this shouldn't take you too long to complete it. Voltman is weak against Sonicman's weapon, Dynaman is weak against Voltman's weapon, and Sonicman is weak against Dynaman's weapon. And after you're finished with those guys, you must then fight them again in Wily's castle. But another thing that's disappointing about this game is that there are no castle bosses. You know, like the Mecha Dragon, the Gutsman Tank, the Megaman clones, the Yellow Devil, or even the blocks that merge together and come at you. No. There's none of that here. There are no castle bosses aside from the bosses you previously defeated. Which means that this game is VERY short. And so after having to go through repeated bosses which you should have no trouble getting past once you've figured out their attack pattern and exploit their weaknesses, we then must face Dr. Wily himself. But believe me when I say that this final boss battle is so ridiculously EASY! This final boss posses no threat whatsoever! Before you reach the boss chamber where Wily awaits you, equip yourself with Sonicman's power, and replenish your weapon energy with the weapon power-ups you'll find down the corridor. You will also find health power ups in case you've lost some health from the bosses you fought against previously. Go into the final boss' chamber with Sonicman's power equip. All the boss does is walk towards you, and fires projectiles at you. That's it! The projectiles don't do a whole lot of damage to you, but the boss himself can do damage if he runs into you. So just avoid him at all costs, and fire away with Sonicman's weapon until his health is depleted. Once you've blown off the top, his health will replenish, and you get to see Dr. Wily at the controls of the robot. He'll just repeat the same tactic over and over again. But once you've run out of energy for Sonicman's weapon, use Voltman's power to drain Wily's health until he goes down. But sadly, the ending in this game is not much of an ending whatsoever. All you get is a plain blue screen with Dr. Wily cowering and bowing down in shame before Megaman, accompanied by text that reads "Dr. Wily has surrendered and Megaman has saved the world from destruction! But will it last?" We also get the credits, and they do credit Capcom since they created the franchise that the game is based on. But they also give us the names of the people behind this game. And their names are quote; Steven Rozner, Joel Pambid, and Ron Santillano. Yeah, that's right. Apparently only three people made the entire game. Which perfectly explains the game's lack of quality.

So there you have it. That's my review for the worst Megaman game ever created. Again, I still remain a fan of the franchise to this very day. But to think that there would exist Megaman games that are complete garbage like this, is just mind boggling. Because again, most of the other Megaman games that Capcom has made in the near 30 years were all great games. But sadly, the same cannot be said for this rotting pile of crap. Megaman on the DOS is by no means a good game by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, I know this was made for the DOS, but even so, you'd expect a hell of a lot better from Capcom. Or High Tech in this case. You'd think that they would put some effort into this game before releasing it. But sadly, they did not. It especially doesn't help that only three people were involved in the making of this abysmal train wreck of a video game. My advice is, stick to the classics. Because believe me, every other game in the franchise is much better and more fun to play than this hopeless excuse for a Megaman game.

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Melody-Marigold's avatar
And for me to think X7 was bad enough...NES Punk - Sarcastic Smile