I’ve been a Mega Man fan for longer than I can remember. Even though the series is often known for its punishing difficulty, I can’t help but love the core gameplay of it all. It’s pure video game goodness. Unfortunately, for a while there, I was wondering if we’d ever see another entry in this beloved series. Things had been quiet on the Mega Man front ever since the release of the retro-inspired Mega Man 10. There have been plenty of spin-offs of the franchise, but none were able to hold my interest, because they were, to put it bluntly, inferior garbage. None could hold up to the simple, pure joy of the original Mega Man series (and the less said of that train wreck rip off, Mighty No. 9, the better… honestly, I would have preferred a game based off of the Captain N Mega Man over that trash…).
Thankfully, Capcom finally decided to revive the Blue Bomber, and brought him into the world of modern gaming retaining that classic gameplay, but also adding some clever, fun innovations along the way, making Mega Man 11 (MM11) one of the best games in the series (yeah, that’s right, I said it, I think it’s better than 2, come at me).
In MM11, the core gameplay is very much the same as it’s always been, and as my old college professor would say, “As Martha Stewart would say, ‘It’s a good thing!'” For those of you unfamiliar, the game at its core, is relatively simple. You play as the titular Mega Man in a sidescroller/action-platformer style game. Using your Mega Buster gun, you run and gun your way through (usually) 8 stages, each one holding a Robot Master boss at the end of the stage. If you beat the robot master, you get a new weapon based on that particular boss. This not only increases your arsenal, making future stages more accessible, but the obtained weapon is (usually) guaranteed to make another Robot Master fight much easier because each Robot Master is weak to one of the other Robot Masters’ weapons.
So, you go through all 8 stages, getting more weapons with each stage, then you’re faced with a final gauntlet of levels comprised of the main protagonist, Dr. Wily’s, latest castle of ridiculous proportions. Finishing off in a final showdown with the good Doctor himself.
That’s really all there is to a Mega Man game. It’s simple. But so is Super Mario Bros. Sometimes the simplest formats work the best. Because with that simplicity of concept, developers are allowed to let the game’s core mechanics shine. And MM11 is certainly no exception. The level design is top notch. The various obtained weapons are unique and interesting, each one playing differently, opening a wide array of possibilities to the industrious player. And the boss fights are all rather clever. So, you might be wondering, this all sounds like just another Mega Man entry, nothing really new. But you’d be wrong. I mentioned earlier that MM11 brought in some much needed innovation, so let’s get talking about that.
MM11 introduces the Double Gear System. A simple to grasp, complex to master, system that enhances the core gameplay in very clever ways. The Double Gear allows Mega Man to either slow down time or to power up his weapons with the simple push of R or L respectively. Both of these abilities are used to great effect in game. There are often areas where the player needs to move quickly, more quickly than they actually can. Well, with a simple press of R the Speed Gear makes that looming death trap becomes a bit more manageable. Having trouble with a pesky sub boss? Activate that Power Gear with L and watch Mega Man turn him to scrap metal with an ultra powerful charge shot.
There are, of course, caveats to the Double Gear System. For one, both work on a heat/cool down mechanic. When a player activates either gear (only one gear may be active at a time [unless the player is at very low health, allowing for a sort of Hail Mary]) it begins filling up the heat gauge (which is shared among both gears). If the gauge fills completely, the gears will short out, and will not work until the gauge depletes completely. It isn’t a terribly long time to wait for it to become available again, and you can manually turn off the gear before it over heats, allowing for quicker cooling, but it is a nice way of balancing out the game. If you could fire off ultra powerful shots all the time, or have the entire level slow down, that would be pretty broken, and not all that fun.
Another deterrent is that each gear has it’s own downside. When firing off a fully charged shot with the Power Gear, Mega Man is knocked back a bit by the recoil. This can be a bit annoying, especially in tight spaces where every inch counts. Similarly, the Speed Gear has its own drawback. Yes, you can slow time, making everything a lot more manageable, but that also includes slowing down Mega Man himself. Of course, there are items you can purchase (more on that in a bit) to negate these effects. But until bought, the player has got to put up with those limitations.
One more comment on the Power Gear, it doesn’t just power up charge shots. Even basic Mega Buster shots get more powerful, and the special weapons acquired from bosses… well, the Power Gear does magical things with those. Activating the Power Gear while equipping one of the game’s special weapons changes that weapon into a much more powerful version of itself. For example, the Tundra Storm weapon, normally, creates a single pillar-like blizzard wherever Mega Man is standing when he fires it off. But with the Power Gear applied, this changes the Tundra Storm into an all powerful, screen encompassing blizzard that will annihilate almost anything in its path. This adds an entirely new layer of strategy to using the special weapons, not only in combat, but also in solving environmental puzzles as well, further enhancing the classic gameplay in simple, but incredibly clever ways.
Of course, it wouldn’t be fair if Mega Man was the only one with a Double Gear, now would it? In an incredibly brilliant move, the devs decided to equip the Robot Masters with Double Gears of their own. Anyone who’s ever played a Mega Man game knows that the Robot Masters have specific patterns, and they stick to them. But in MM11, those patterns break after the enemy has taken enough damage. Once they reach that critical point in their health, they will activate their own Double Gear System, making them either more powerful or much faster (or sometimes both). For instance, when fighting Block Man, he will go from an average sized robot, to a towering behemoth ready to crush Mega Man under his colossal feet.
I absolutely loved this iteration, as it made the boss fights so much more fun and clever. It’s just a simple change, but it’s enough to make everything more fresh and fun. And that’s what MM11 is all about, making the game more fresh. Making it more accessible. Just loading it up with quality of life improvements.
A minor improvement, but one totally worth mentioning is the ability to summon Rush with the press of a button. The Rush Coil and Rush Jet are an integral (and adorable) part of any good Mega Man game, but having to go to the menu to select that ability has always been a chore. In MM11, all you need to do is press X, and Rush Coil will appear right before you. And with the Press of A, boom, there’s Rush Jet. Simple. But oh so nice. I will note though, that this can be done while having any weapon equipped, but calling Rush will revert Mega Man to his basic Mega Buster mode, so if you accidentally pressed the wrong button while trying to use a special weapon, that might throw a wrench into your play.
Speaking of quality of life improvements, I mentioned items a while back, so let’s go into more detail on those now.
Buying items in Mega Man to get a leg up isn’t exactly new. There have been item shops in the series since the unfortunate Mega Man 7. But as with everything else, Capcom really cranked it up a gear (*rimshot*… *crickets chirping*…) this go around. There are so many items available to buy (with bolts collected in levels) that improve the player’s experience. Sure, there’s the standard E-Tanks, spike guards, Beat calls, etc. But there are also new items like special shoes that reduce slipperiness on icy floors, items that allow all weapons to refill when picking up a weapon energy capsule, items that make health capsules appear more often, even items that reduce or completely eliminate the heat on the Double Gear System (the latter is only available post-game, but makes for fun, albeit broken, replaying).
I will say that acquiring the ability to actually buy some of these upgrades can be a bit of a pain. Some upgrades aren’t available until you meet certain conditions, some of which felt unnecessary. For instance, to get the spike guards, you need to first die by spikes (I think) five different times. That one makes sense, I suppose. But to get the item that reduces knock back (which is still a little too severe even with the item) you first need to take 200 collective points of damage. That’s a little extreme, in my opinion. Then there’s an item that only becomes available on Saturdays. As this is not a terribly long game, you most likely would never see that item, unless you happened to be playing on a Saturday (or manually changed the console’s clock).
Frustrating unlocks aside, this new and improved item shop is a welcome addition. There are just so many things that I wish I’d had in past Mega Man games. They all just make for a better, less frustrating experience.
Of course, if you’re a sadist, and love that old school difficulty, then MM11 has you covered. Almost all items can be toggled on or off. And with 4 levels of difficulty, the game has something to offer for anyone. Want to play a casual run through and just enjoy the game?Select Newcomer difficulty, with reduced damage, no spike death, and no pitfall death, it’ll be a breeze. Want a classic tough as nails Mega Man experience? Play on Superhero mode and regret every decision you’ve ever made.
So, yeah, you could say I’m a fan of MM11. It’s the pinnacle of what a modern Mega Man game should be. It’s rare to see any game developer truly embrace the idea of simple innovation (aside from Nintendo), but Capcom seems to have finally gotten it, and I cannot wait to see what Mega Man 12 might bring. In the mean time, if you’ve never played a Mega Man game, or if you’re an old Mega Man veteran but haven’t played since the glory days of the NES, I highly recommend you pick up MM11. It’ll be a fun (albeit not terribly long) time, I’m certain of that.
