The only drawback is that you can’t find these awesomess men in your regular toys department.

Via & Image: Hisstank | Go Nintendo

Post from: EveryJoe

Mega Man, Custom Made Men In Action

Oh come back, I love you anyway. I just thought you might like to see GameTrailers’ video review for Mega Man 9. Just in case you’re, y’know, undecided. I’ve said it before, but I like GameTrailers’ review narrative.

Get ready for the shortest “Story” category summation you’ve seen in a long time.

Post from: EveryJoe

GameTrailers’ Mega Man 9 Review

Well, aside from using a picture of Captain Rad Spencer to represent Super Joe (and subsequently denying me the latter, which makes me a sad panda), GameDaily’s list of the Top 25 Capcom Characters goes pretty much as expected.

That is to say, Capcom has whipped up a damn fine batch of characters. The company’s always been at the forefront of character design, ever since I was a kid. Sure, Mega Man is basically Astro Boy, but I challenge anyone to tell me that he isn’t unique in his own special robot way.

I wonder why GameDaily chose Tron Bonne over the lovingly flustered Tiesel Bonne, though? Oh yeah, that’s right. Tron’s got tits.

And, to be fair, she balances her genius with clumsy preteen emotions which really makes her endearing.

(Image copyright Capcom, source Gamespot.)

Post from: EveryJoe

The Top 25 Capcom Characters of All Time

Mega Man 9 nears release! Playstation 3 owners, get equipped with September 25th.

“Oh thank God, maybe she’ll finally shut up once this is all done.”

That’s what you think, ignorant background voice!

First, IGN has a review of Mega Man 9 up. I’m going to go ahead and say it’s the first one of its kind. I’m also going to say that it’s going to cause a big stinky stink because it brands the graphics with a 3/10. Never mind that Inafune and his team set out to do something very specific here and that they fully accomplished it, according to the reviewer. Just take your perfectly logical 3/10 and get out.

More Mega under the mega jump. Might be a little spoilerish.

For a nominal fee, you can download and play as Mega Man’s badass brother, Proto Man. He seems to be a good option for wussies like me who will miss their charge shots and slides; he’ll have all that and more. Also, his shield will block small shots as usual and it will function as a sled! Wheee!

(Image copyright Capcom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Your Mega Round-Up Before the Big Day

Hey, lookit what I wrote.

It’s a summary of the Mega Man series and why Mega Man 9 will hopefully be a fresh new start for the Bloo Bomber. It’s…pretty ironic when you think about it.

This article sent me back to some of my old fandom haunts to perform necessary Drama Control. People sure take stuff seriously. Talk about a good way to die early.

I made a small comment about how Mega Man was “too busy playing Power Ranger dress-up” to trash killer robots in Mega Man ZX, which was instantly taken to mean I hate Mega Man ZX. I don’t. I enjoy it. But anyone who doesn’t think that people are partially excited for Mega Man 9 because it’s so blissfully uncomplicated is out of their tree. People love nostalgia. More than ever, they want to be taken back to their childhoods. Model X and Model Z doesn’t take anyone back to their childhoods, unless they had an alphabet block fetish.

I love the Mega Man series. I always have and I always will. I will be screaming about Mega Man’s latest victory against Wily when I’m senile and on my death bed. But that doesn’t mean he’s immune to criticism. Lord, no.

Mega Man knows he’s not perfect. He wouldn’t want you to die early of stress, defending him from toothless old women like myself. Please, think of Mega Man.

Post from: EveryJoe

In Summation: The Mega Man Series

1) Did Zero really “kill” the [Light] family between the events of the Classic Mega Man and X series?

KI: No, Zero did not kill them. According to the way I created him, Zero is not such a person–it is not in his profile.

And the dreams of a thousand Mega Man fanfic writers spiraled to earth, charred, like the failed flight of Icarus.

Keiji Inafune, Mega Man’s creator (who is as cheek-pinchingly adorable as the little blue Astro Boy offshoot he designed) has a small Mega Man-related interview up at Capcom Unity, Capcom’s fan forums.

Gasp at his inspirations! Marvel as he’s asked about Mega Man Legends 3 for the fiftieth time!

Did you miss out on your opportunity to pitch “Tits Man” to Nintendo Power Magazine’s Robot Master contest? You might get another crack at your dream (just don’t propose “Crack Man.” That shit’s my idea).

9) If there are more MM games, is there any chance you will revive the Robot Master community contest where people submit their own Robot Master designs?

KI: If Mega Man 9 becomes a big success and we were to make Mega Man 10, I think our activities with and connectedness to the fans through the internet mean we could certainly bring back this contest.

Ooh! Ooooh! Hey, who stole my pencil crayons?

(Image copyright Capcom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Interview With a Robot Master: Keiji Inafune

That’s my husband narrating, so be especially nice to him. Or I’ll poke yeh in the eye, like.

Post from: EveryJoe

A Totally Non-Biased Mega Man 8 Retrospective

My Playstation 2’s been getting a lot of exercise lately, thanks mostly to the late acquisition of Mega Man X Collection and Mega Man Anniversary Collection. I consider the latter to be vital training in these last days leading up to the release of Mega Man 9.

Oh God, what happened to my lightning-sharp reflexes? What’s become of those summers I wasted away in front of the idiot box? Was it all in vain? If I can’t beat Mega Man 2 in normal mode, it only means Mega Man 9 is going to cook me for breakfast.

As for presentation, why hasn’t the entire staff of Atomic Planet been lined up and shot like dogs bit by sick weasels? Mega Man Anniversary Collection is put together pretty shoddily. A game mascot who survived twenty years and is headlining one of the most anticipated games of the holiday season deserves a bit better.

Okay, we don’t have to kill the staff of Atomic Planet for the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, but they deserve a stern talking-to. The menu interface is bland, for starters: someone couldn’t think of a better idea for game selection than Mega Man walking slowly from grey door to grey door?

Mega Man one through six contains a “Navi” mode that actually adapts Rockman Complete Works, six games released individually released in Japan. Navi mode contains some remixed music and the option to get hints from Mega Man’s pals to get past sticky situations. This is admittedly a cool feature, but the translations are terrible; Roll uses funny words normally heard out of stroke patients, or, I imagine, robots on the verge of breaking down.

One bit of nonsense that Atomic Planet can’t be blamed for is the choice of navigators for each game. Protoman navigates Mega Man 3, for instance, but we’re not supposed to know until the end of the game that he’s Racer X Mega Man’s brother. “Hey Mega Man, this is the part where you fight against me!…Oh wait, you’re not supposed to know it’s me. Sorry. Anyway, tell dad to stop fueling me with cod liver oil or I’m not coming home.”

Even better, Kalinka navigates you through Mega Man 4:

“Toad Man’s rain will damage you if you’re not careful. Wait, you’re only on Toad Man? Can you hurry, please? This cell Wily has me in is pretty cold and a rat bit me.”

Mega Man Anniversary Collection is pretty glitchy, besides. My husband was playing Mega Man 2 and Item 2 suddenly dumped him more than once above a bed of nails.

And you cannot adjust the controls. What the fuck. This is more of a tragedy on the Gamecube version, where the jump button is the fire button and the fire button is for the jumping. Atomic Planet couldn’t axe those student-quality animations at the opening of the game and let us fiddle with our controllers?

If you want all your Mega Man in one easy package you could do worse. It all could have been done a lot better, though. Let us ask for Mega Man’s forgiveness and promise to do better in the future.

(Image copyright Capcom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Way Late to the Robot Party: Mega Man Anniversary Collection

If you’re American, they never did like Superadventure Rockman. Think of it as Dragon’s Lair with more goofy robots and less creative death scenes.

Sony of ‘Murca treated 2D games like flu germs and given that Mega Man is something like the King Jesus of 2D games, he had a hard time on the Playstation. Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4 squeaked by, but a cue-driven “adventure” game where you pushed a button and watched seven minutes of FMV? Uh uh, no way, forget it.

Maybe it was for the best. Superadventure Rockman’s appeal lay in its good old fashioned shonen story and only the Lord in Heaven truly knows how bad the English voice acting would have been. We almost certainly would have received a generic banging of guitar strings in the introduction, which featured a redux of Rockman 8’s “Electrical Communication.”

Incidentally, I really like the fact that this game got Wily off his ass, out of his skull-shaped castles and into some Indiana Jones spelunking. The old man’s got some piss and vinegar left in him, yet! Mostly the former.

Here’s Episode One’s end credits (I’m not sure how the “episodes” were divided). It features some footage from the game and a riveting J-pop song called Brandnew Way (or, uh, “Blandnew Way).

My husband argues that this should be re-released as a WiiWare title or something. I have to admit it’d be intriguing. But then I couldn’t claim that “they” don’t do like this anymore. :(

Post from: EveryJoe

They Don’t Do Like This Anymore: Superadventure Rockman

Damn it, Steaky McSteaklover next door is at it again, barbecuing his dinner in such a manner that its aroma wafts unto me. No, I’m not jealous, I’m merely concerned. All that red meat’s not good for the colon or heart.

Speaking of jealousy, the green-eyed rattler might bite at the hearts of some Playstation 3 owners when they hear that Mega Man 9 will not be seen on their channel. Thus far, the Blue Bomber’s 8-bit adventure will be exclusive to WiiWare.

Are you a bad enough dude to change the future?

GamesRadar has an extensive interview with Mega Man’s pappy, Keiji Inafune. The Interview is certainly worth your perusal; it’s full of fascinating information on the development and inspiration of Mega Man 9.

Regarding Mega Man 9’s no-show on the Playstation Network:

GamesRadar: If there is a XBLA or PSN version in the making, will there be any differences from Wii to 360 to PS3, like online capabilities or galleries?

Inafune: We haven’t announced a XBLA or PSN title yet. Do the fans want them? As a rule, I try not to create differences between platforms. Differences based on platform capabilities may optimize possibilities and gameplay specific to a particular platform, yet that is not necessarily welcomed by the users. Everyone desires what s/he has to be better than the others’ and it will be unfair to create differences in my opinion. To avoid such a situation, I always try to create equality across the platforms and make sure everyone will be happy with our creations.

There you go, Playstation 3 owners. Maybe you haven’t voted in an election since Mrs Pennywinkle chose a class President for grade 2 homeform, but if you want Keiji Inafune to represent you, better start tying demands to bricks and hucking them through his window.

(Please don’t huck bricks through Mr Inafune’s window.)

Image copyright Capcom

Post from: EveryJoe

Inafune: No Mega Man 9 on PSN…Yet.