Leger vs. Rockman: Mega World (Mega Drive)

Competing with the memories of one of my most fondly remembered christmas is not such an easy thing to do.

Waking up early in the morning, following a red thread from my bed passing through the entire house until finally reaching an end where a present was to be found.

Just to keep me occupied all day long, this Mega Man.

Another year, over and over again reading Nintendo Magasinet and its Power Player addendum exclusive to subscribers where Mega Man's second adventure was presented with pictures and information making it seem like the best follow up to a game ever.

For a while I thought that was the case.

And then, finally, that day when a friend of mine wanted some help with this game he and his brother had gotten hold of from Japan.

It just happened to be Mega Man 3 and they could not for the life of them manage to beat Shadow Man. They thought I could, and I thought I could, but I could not.

But what I could do was to get Shadow Man's theme stuck on my mind repeating it over and over again until the game reached the Swedish shores and I not only got hold of a copy but also managed to beat it.

This was that very time when I secretly used a cassette recorder to get the music from the game stuck on tape while being caught in the act by some friends that realised that very thing while we were playing.

Back then this was not a cool thing to do.

To conclude: The early Mega Man defined me as a gamer.

Mega Man: The Wily Wars (or, Rockman: Mega World since I have been playing the Japanese version), on the other hand, did not really do much at all to me since I did not play it until many, many years after its release.

In theory it is a compilation for me to love, since it updates three of my favourite eight bit NES games of all time into sixteen bit glory.

New graphics, more colours, soundtracks adapted to the bass heavy and extremely electric sounding sound chip the Mega Drive is known for and a completely new mini adventure with three new robots masters and a Wily Tower to ascend after the main games are beaten.

But this is not really the case, that this is a compilation that I love.

Rather, I find it disappointing and very much so.

Outsourced to Minakuchi Engineering and having a troubled development according to Keiji Inafune of Mega Man fame The Wily Wars never reached North America in any other form than a digital release through the Sega Channel while Europe and Japan got a physical release.

Considering the completely insane prices it fetches today it seems a small print run, poor sales, extremely high demand on the second hand market or a combination of everything mentioned could be the case... but a modern physical rerelease (with some problems fixed) and inclusion in the Mega Drive Mini console have made it somewhat less out of reach for the masses.

And that is a good thing, even though the collection comes with its fair share of problems.

Mega Man: The Wily Wars is very much of a remake, not a remaster, and as such it does not really seem to bother about staying true to the original experiences.

While not really offering anything new and staying true to the original stage designs it is in the details things start to feel off.

The most apparent thing of all is the insane slowdowns which at times are so extreme that it borders on rendering the games unplayable.

A good thing, some might say, since the Yellow Devil in the first Mega Man no longer teleports himself all over the screen in such a fast fashion that people will have problems avoiding his bits and pieces, but in most cases it just feels like sloppy programming since nothing happening on screen seems like it would push the Mega Drive down on its knees.

Then comes the fact that Mega Man no longer can shoot projectiles at a high speed and often finds himself unable to fire his cannon because too many bullets are on the screen. This makes the games feel slow and full of lag, just to add to the insult of the already extreme slowdowns. Sections on the NES where rapid shooting while moving could eliminate enemies coming ones way now on the Mega Drive often brings the tempo of the game down to a halt.

Another thing that have changed is the collision detection where Mega Man now actually can move off a platform and turn back again in the air and get back on it instead of falling down. This makes trying to avoid the beams on Quick Man's stage way harder than it should be just because it takes much more time to fall down, change direction and keep moving to get away from the beams crossing the screen.

Combined with many of the other changes, small and big ones, The Wily Wars just feels off... like it completely lacks the understanding of what made the original trio of games so good... and while some of the graphical changes makes for a more colourful and vibrant experience, others just completely kills the great vibes of the original aesthetics (look at Top Man's stage, for example, where the green plants in glass containers now have been mostly replaced with boring metallic constructions).

And... while always keeping in line with the original soundtracks the music never really do that much with the hardware available and lacks the pure intensity, power and punch of the original versions of the songs; The presentation just feels a tad... generic.

What I am trying to say is that the tracks are so great by default that the way they are sometimes lackingly presented do little to harm them. But few, very few, manages to reach the heights of, say, Quick Man's theme, which actually can take on the NES original without it being completely run over.

The new adventure, Wily Tower, underscores the above mentioned problem, the generic aspects of it all, rather well... because the three new robot masters and their stages do not really feel all that Mega Man.

One almost looks like it could be a Mega Man-version of Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog. Not really, but... almost.

A nice little touch is that all the weapons and special items from Mega Man one to three can be selected when preparing for the challenge. Not all at once, just eight weapons and some three special items, to use on each stage but it does mix up things quite a bit and heightens the value of replayability.

But the new adventure is a short and easy little experience (besides the horrible three part final boss which is presented with so much slowdown that it feels like the hardware is about to break) and is in no way more than a curiousity for those that actually bothers to get hold of this compilation of remakes.

A shame, really.

Becuase it could have been so much more.

Actually, the only way for me to appreciate The Wily Wars is to not compare it to the superior NES games it is based upon.

Then, and only then, they do offer a couple of hours worth of quite charming but somewhat flawed action platforming experiences.