You really have to hand it to Capcom for supporting the NES long after it had been replaced with newer hardware. They released six Mega Man games on the system after all, and the final 8-bit installment was released in 1994. This was after having already released the first game in their much more popular spin-off series Mega Man X. It takes some guts to return to the base franchise which by then many gamers (including myself) already felt was played out. To my surprise Mega Man 6 is much improved from the previous tired sequels. It moved the series forward by introducing some decent new mechanics all the while fine tuning the level design. Mega Man 6 is easily my second favorite installment in the original series.
The story this time is that, following the peace that followed Dr. Wily’s demise, a tournament has been created to find out who the strongest robot in the world is. This gathering, hosted by a mysterious figure named Mr. X, goes off without a hitch until it is derailed by the host himself. This new antagonist has taken control of every contestant, and is planning to use this new army of robot masters to take over the world. While it seems the developers were at first trying something different the scenario quickly devolves to the old formula, and Wily is once again the focus here unfortunately. The introduction is pretty generic, but the sequence is quite impressive by NES standards and it’s pretty enjoyable.
Mega Man 6, like the previous installments, is a side scrolling action game with intricate platforming and hordes of mechanical enemies to fight through. As with the past titles you begin the game with a level select screen which highlights each of the robot master boss characters. It’s up to you which order you would like to tackle them in, but as per usual there’s a method to the madness. You must confront the robot masters in question at the end of their respective stages, and upon defeating them you are granted use of their primary weapon. Each boss is weak to the weapon of another, and the non-linear approach rewards those who can figure out the pecking order. Some weaknesses are obvious, such as Blizzard Man being weak against Flame Man’s weapon, but others are much more vague and don’t always make sense.
The robot master roster is pretty decent. There are good concepts such as Knight Man, Yamato Man, as well as one of my personal favorites in Centaur Man (a centaurian robot makes the ten year old inside me giddy). Others are pretty disappointing such as the generic Flame Man, Blizzard Man, Plant Man, and Wind Man. The designs for these aren’t particularly interesting, and the concepts are recycled from those in previous games. One of the more questionable choices in my opinion is Tomahawk Man who is obviously based on native Americans, and it’s a little off putting. The weapons are pretty decent this time around. As always you begin with only the pellet shot mega buster (which can still be charged) but the new weapons have more interesting trajectories and patterns than those of at least parts four and five. Blizzard attack is one of my favorites because it’s the only weapon where the projectiles are generated behind your character, and the flame attack is surprisingly useful due to its downward trajectory. The others are a bit generic with the centaur flash which freezes time (like we haven’t already seen that twice before), the plant barrier which creates a boring shield, wind storm which creeps along the floor, the silver tomahawk which gradually moves upward, and the super generic knight crush which is a standard projectile. Most of your weapons here are extremely similar to past ones, but at least they’re functional and there are no real duds.
The big changes come in the form of the rush adapters. Previously Rush had independent functionality such as creating a temporary boost, or transforming into a jet to carry you over chasms, but his role has been changed a bit for this release. Now Rush combines his body with Mega Man to give the blue bomber himself new abilities. Now this allows you to become Power Mega Man which grants the character the ability to punch. This can be used both against enemies as well as to open new areas, but what’s cool is the fact that you can charge this attack for a more powerful effect. My absolute favorite functionality however is Jet Mega Man. This gives you a jet pack that allows you to hover temporarily in the air. What’s cool is the fact that these abilities do not drain energy like a typical weapon, and they recharge in between uses which makes them significantly more useful. This may be a small new feature, but it makes this sequel different enough that it feels downright refreshing. The level designs have also been tightened up quite a lot with less forced slides and reduced empty space. The developers went the extra mile here to create some really interesting gameplay scenarios that require you to think on your feet more than in the past few games. The improvements and changes are extremely welcome after several generic sequels.
Mega Man 6 features small graphical enhancements in the form of larger enemies and more background details, but unless you’re extremely familiar with the previous titles you will hardly be able to notice. This is a pretty good looking game by NES standards and the classic art style of this franchise shines particularly well here. Unfortunately the hardware has a hard time keeping up with the action again. This game suffers from a massive amount of slowdown and flickering. It frequently slows down to a crawl, and this can be frustrating because it’s such a common occurrence. The soundtrack is pretty decent and falls just short of that in Mega Man 2. This game contains one of my favorite themes across the entire soundtrack; Centaur Man’s stage features very memorable music that really fits his stage well. The rest of the soundtrack is pretty standard Mega Man fare, but it’s all very competently done.
It’s unfortunate that so many fans were fatigued on the franchise before having a chance to play Mega Man 6 because it’s honestly one of the best installments in the series. The additions are small, but they go a long way toward making this one feel fresh especially when compared to parts four and five. This is also the first point in quite some time where it felt like the developers actually put in some serious effort into the level designs. Mega Man 6 is highly recommended.
