Archived

Story Positives:

1. As is admittedly usual for the Mega Man series, some good background lore in the imagery of the stages implying and indicating story elements
2. Some legitimately great Doodad utilization across the levels

Story Negatives:

1. Failure to follow through with story elements, interrupted character arcs, and a disappointing ending

Gameplay Positives:

1. In addition to the usual explorative power ups and items, player can improve their toolkit with an in game bolt currency, as an option
2. Excellent variety and distinction of graphics and general spritework
3. Great music… except for the shop song
4. Exceptionally precise controls and movement
5. Dynamic levels based on boss kill order, weapon usage, and player interaction (melting, freezing, powering up, etc.)
6. Level design varies and challenges in new and different ways across the original 8 stages
7. Burst Man’s stage is one of the best ones, with the unique water height mechanic, lots of avoidable spikes, the timer bombs, and enemies that vary based on location
8. Slash Man’s stage has some cool elements // Spring Man’s stage has some fun elements, especially with the.. uh, springs // Turbo Man’s stage has a few fun and interesting jumps
9. Wily 1 has some very fun stuff, especially with the rotating platforms that turn off the lights and periodically throw you off them
10. The Robotmaster fights are good, enjoyable, varied, and challenging
11. As per usual for a Megaman game, great Core Combat
12. Good manually placed Encounter design
13. Good Enemy Variety
14. As per usual for a Megaman… great Enemy Variety
15. Very good Visual Distinction

Gameplay Negatives:

1. Sound design is just awful across the board, but most notably with the charge shot tone
2. Unskippable cutscenes before difficult boss fights
3. Boss refights are boring and barely different, resulting in padding
4. Wily 2 has too many discordant elements in its boss fight, and the result is just lackluster at best
5. The Difficulty Curve is very wonky, especially when you get to the Wily levels
6. Honestly that entire Outro is pretty weak to play through

Story Positives:

1. Aggregate: Lovely backstory and setting building in the gallery // Legitimately good voice acting, which helps sell a somewhat weak plot // The beginnings of actual character development for the franchise
2. A familiar positive for background lore as the game has many interesting visual elements in all its stages which tell a story in their own right
3. Honestly, some really good Doodad design in this one
4. Enough that I’m willing to give it a second positive

Story Negatives:

Gameplay Positives:

1. The level design is as good as it should be, but also properly escalates throughout, is varied, and is just fun
2. Impact Man’s stage is great, containing the usual fun stuff but also Impact Man’s parts themselves adding to the challenge the whole way through
3. Tundra Man’s stage uses terrain, wind, and enemies very well to keep things interesting and fun
4. Torch Man’s stage and the theming, escalating fire wall, tight platforming, and unique enemies is awesome
5. Blast Man’s explosive stage with detonatable terrain, traps, and predominantly standard enemy focus made for great fun
6. Fuse Man’s stage centered around activated and de-activated energy changing when lasers hit and how, or what terrain is active or safe, combined with lots of area denial enemies makes it one of the more hectic stages
7. Bounce Man’s stage deserves special mention for being fun, interesting, unique, and just really well designed across the board
8. Acid Man’s underwater hijinks are decent enough but the way they change up how what chemicals can be depending on enemy interaction, with lots of careful platforming and one of the better minibosses in the game is great
9. Gear Castle 1 does what all Wily Stages should and cranks things up substantially, with lots of varying types of enemies, gear-themed platforming, and great intensity
10. Gear Castle 2 serves as a nice final exam for the 8 stages, using and combining gimmicks and mechanics from almost all of them, often multiple at once
11. The bosses are actually pretty decently designed and use their own Gear gimmicks to make the fights fun
12. Second positive for boss design and enjoyment
13. The mini-bosses, similarly, are also well designed and have a good variety to them
14. The music… is awesome
15. Very tight and responsive controls, even in the non-standard modes of play
16. The Double Gear system is an awesome addition; its use as a ‘heat’ meter of resource management, the way both can be used simultaneously, and how much it adds to the playstyle to be able to use one or the other at will
17. The challenges are great and add good replay
18. The usage of the boss Double Gears as a functional ‘phase 2’ helped make the robot masters better and more interesting than the norm
19. Aggregate: The tutorial power up areas letting you experiment with boss weapon powers infinitely, with gear, and with enemies is a great addition // The increased range of enemy respawns helps prevent ‘Ninja Gaiden’ syndrome // Dr. Light’s upgrades aren’t just nice options, but offer great accessibility (special note to the ‘don’t hold to charge’ one)
20. Animations really help with gauging how to deal with enemies and bosses
21. Controls and shortcuts get a second positive
22. Core Combat, as usual for Megaman
23. Second positive for some of the better classic Megaman combat
24. Good manual Encounter design
25. As per usual for Megaman, good Enemy Variety
26. Second positive for Enemy Variety
27. Positive for general Graphics quality
28. Second positive for Graphics
29. Good usage of Itemization throughout the stages
30. As is usual for a Megaman game, good Kit
31. Some of the better ‘power ups’ of the series, earning a second Kit positive
32. A second positive for Music
33. The Outro is great, as most Wily stages usually are…
34. …but a second positive for some really fun, great stuff
35. Great Pacing in Gameplay
36. Secondary Pacing positive
37. Between variety of weapons and Challenges, the game has nice Replayability
38. Second positive for Replayability
39. Good Sound Design
40. Good Terrain Design regarding platforming
41. Great Visual Distinction

Gameplay Negatives:

1. Boss refights are lazy, like they always are, especially when so much could be done with them
2. Aggregate: Lack of difficulty toggling on the fly, or indeed the ability to change difficulty at all without starting a new save // Unlocks for Dr. Light’s shop are per save, leading to useless unlocks // Checkpoints on normal and up are just awful and way too spread out