18th August 2006, 3:04 PM
(this isn't a review, just commentary...) I've always loved MM4. It was perhaps the first Mega Man game I played; I know I played it on the NES a few times in the early '90s, and don't remember playing any other Mega Man games on the NES back then, much less the Game Boy games... so nostalgia certainly is a part of why it's my favorite of the classic series. Even without that, though, I agree that it was a great game... I wouldn't say that it was the last MM game before they started all seeming the same -- "Mega Man games are all the same" is a criticism I've heard since at least Mega Man 3 -- but I would agree that after 4 the classic series went downhill. 5 is decent but too easy, 6 is just bland, 7 okay but nowhere near as good, and 8... blah... (Mega Man & Bass is solid, and probably better than 6, 7, or 8, but not 1-4, but it's oh so hard...) Still though, if you include the spinoff serieses, the game system has continued to evolve -- X added the wall-climb, for instance, and X5 has crouching and shots that don't go through walls anymore... Mega Man IV's (remember the convention to use roman numerals for the Game Boy titles and numbers for the NES releases) "money" system was also a major addition to the series, I'd say -- though it was only used in IV, V, 7, 8, and MM&B, I believe... 6 should have had it, coming out after IV, but that game was a complete rehash, so I'm not surprised that it didn't have it...
Anyway, the point. Mega Man 4 is a great, great game. The bosses are awesome, the levels very well designed, and the graphics and music are the height of what is possible on the NES... Mega Man 2 might be the popular favorite, and I'd say that it's the second best classic Mega Man game, but 4 gets my vote. From the bosses (Toad Man, Pharoah Man, Skull Man, Ring Man, and... uh... the other four...), it's my favorite game in the series. { 4 2 1 3 MM&B 5 8 7 6, I think}
Anyway, the point. Mega Man 4 is a great, great game. The bosses are awesome, the levels very well designed, and the graphics and music are the height of what is possible on the NES... Mega Man 2 might be the popular favorite, and I'd say that it's the second best classic Mega Man game, but 4 gets my vote. From the bosses (Toad Man, Pharoah Man, Skull Man, Ring Man, and... uh... the other four...), it's my favorite game in the series. { 4 2 1 3 MM&B 5 8 7 6, I think}