18th August 2006, 2:39 PM
MM4, to me, was the last truly epic one before they just starting spitting out more on the treadmill. Don't get me wrong, they were all great, but the first 4 to me are the ones that really defined it and the rest just copied it. MM1 started it all, MM2 refined the gameplay to make it truly epic and made the "extra items" really stand out. MM3 added Rush as the source of the "extra item" powerups and further refined the gameplay to epic proportions and is still one of my favorites, with an inclusion called the "slide" which while silly looking wasn't just a cheap puzzle solution but an important instant speed or escape tool you had to use in battle (all future games used this in some form or another). MM4 finished the formula by making the levels a little longer than before, having unique bosses and two different end fortresses, hiding powerups in hidden alternate paths in two levels, and most importantly changed the dynamic of battles throughout this and all future games by adding the Mega Buster to Megaman letting him charge up a powerful blast. MM2 did include a similar feature in the form of Heat Man's weapon but this game made it Megaman's own and designed the whole game around it with enemies that needed that extra power for you to beat them, thus rather than firing shots in bursts you now could either do that or you would go into "survival dodge" mode for a while building up power and waiting for a good moment so you could use that shot without wasting it. When that thing missed, you always felt like you were doomed, due to the extra working in building it up.
After this game, the look of the series went a little more "cartoony" so this was also the last one to have a more serious look to it (not that the later ones had anything wrong with them, they still looked Megaman to me and they did a good job, plus I love the look of Megaman in MM8, though I do hate his look in Powered Up). At any rate, this was the last game to really add something major to the gameplay and it was these first 4 that really defined all later games.
After this game, the look of the series went a little more "cartoony" so this was also the last one to have a more serious look to it (not that the later ones had anything wrong with them, they still looked Megaman to me and they did a good job, plus I love the look of Megaman in MM8, though I do hate his look in Powered Up). At any rate, this was the last game to really add something major to the gameplay and it was these first 4 that really defined all later games.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)