GAME POWER! :: Mega Man

 

That's right people, it's May, so that could mean just one thing: Mega Man! Every Mega May I like to replay a few Mega Man games throughout the month to celebrate my all-time favorite video game character. This time I am starting from the very beginning and playing Mega Man 1, released all the way back in the monumental year of 1987; The year of my birth.

Here we are introduced to probably the most iconic of Mega Man's expansive roster of foes: Cutman, Gutsman, Iceman, Bombman, Fireman, and Elecman. Each with its own special ability that you can steal and then use against the next one in a paper-rock-scissors fashion. Part of the fun of playing a new Mega Man game for the first time was figuring out the correct path to taking down the robot masters/mavericks.

Of course, while there IS a set path to fighting the bosses and always one that is easier to bring down with the regular buster than others, players - myself in particular - have through no other reason than shear willpower and later just pure stubbornness to deviate from the norm, have come up with their own paths, which you'll definitely see from me once I hit the X series.

But that isn't a thing with the OG series as I didn't grow up with these games, so we sticking to the most efficient weakness route.

BOMBMAN

Not to be confused with Bomberman; Bombman attacks by throwing, you guessed it, big meaty bombs at his once fellow robot buddy. 

GUTSMAN

Obviously, you wanna hit Gutsman with the power you obtained from Bombman and blow the big lumbering construction robot to pieces.

CUTMAN

I feel like Cutman could also be taken on as the first boss, followed by Elecman, but I personally like to save him for third. No particular reason why.

ELECMAN

Elecman is easily my favorite of the original six Robot Masters, all of whom are perfectly designed and memorable in their own right, but Elec Man wins as the best of the bunch. I had and still have his figure from the 2-inch Bandai line that was based on the Ruby-Spears cartoon. 

ICEMAN

Ice Man and his firey counterpart are two of the most difficult non-Wily Castle bosses in the game. Their attacks move fast and are quite a bit tricky to avoid.

FIREMAN

Another one of the RMs that I owned a figure of from the Ruby-Spears line of Mega Man PVC figures. 

I absolutely love the original lineup of Robot Masters, but my first interaction with them was funny enough NOT through Mega Man 1, but instead from the first Mega Man World game, titled Wily's Revenge, on the Gameboy. I begged my parents for it one night while shopping around at Super K-Mart, and somehow I won the fight and ended up with the last copy they had of it. I stayed up insanely late playing it that night. 

Now on to Wily's Castle!

YELLOW DEVIL

The first big boss you face in your assault on Wily's stronghold is the infamous Yellow Devil; Notorious for having a weak spot that is only exposed for a few short seconds, followed by a lengthy period of the boss disassembling itself and then reforming on the opposite side of the room. I've only ever beaten it once without the pause trick.

COPY ROBOT

I applaud Capcom for taking the clone fight route so early in the series. I don't think they ever revisited him either outside of the comic series.

CWU-01P

I hate this boss and any boss like it. It's just not fun to fight.

WILY MACHINE

The first of many to come. Wily's first battle machine had very little in the way of armaments, but they were still difficult to dodge if you weren't prepared. 

And with that, the day is saved!