I'd rank the Classics like this:

Mega Man 2
Mega Man 9
Mega Man 7
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 6
Mega Man & Bass
Mega Man 1 (Nostalgia makes me want to rate it higher, but it wouldn't be just)
Mega Man 10
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 8

So MM & Bass is right in the middle. It has its good points, it has its bad, and they even out enough to make it a middling experience in the series.

2 and 9 are indeed the greatest, nice taste bud! Even though it's been a long crazy time since I've played 5 and 6, let alone I never finished them or have even played 7 yet, I'll throw down my list for the rest of the games in the classic franchise.

Mega Man 2
Mega Man 9
Mega Man 3
Mega Man - (Nostalgia plays a big part in this, the boss selection screen music alone sends me wayyy back. )
Mega Man & Bass
Mega Man 10
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 8

MM3 is a tricky one for me to rate....I think it offers some of the best level design and music of the series. the 4 Dr.Wily Return stages were a blast, and who doesn't love Snake man? Yet I didn't quite like the darker tone of the game compared to the brighter, cheery, more colorful and upbeat MM2..And most of the Robot masters...were just, meh. Hard man is easily one of the worst(if not thee') robot master designs in Mega Man history, and I HATE Needle man along with this awful, ugly and incredilby boring bland stage. And don't even get me started on the slow down haha. Still though, it is one of the best in the series, but at the same time it's a dissapointment after playing MM2.

And I explained earlier Why I'm just not a big fan of MM8...The music and voice overs almost destory the experience. Astro man sounds like a cross between a hair dressor and Mr.Slave from South Park which makes me laugh everytime, And I won't bother mentioning Mega Man and Dr.Light since that would be like beating a dead horse. The music has this weird cheesy japanese ambience to it and in no way does it sound Mega Man. Instead it makes me wan't to drop acid, do cartwheels in a garden and slowly drift off to sleep while munching on Cotton Candy while staring at the clouds. lol

The majority of it is just awful and it doesn't pump you up whatsoever, it doesn't say "Come on Mega Man, we gotta finish this and kick Dr,Wily's " instead it makes you wan't to fall asleep. I still remember it being enjoyable...But the sound track ruined it for me.

MM4 is another one of my least favorites....I mean it's decent, but it just felt so stale....I remember being a kid and not really even getting into it, I just didn't really care for it. Yet I went ga ga over MM2 and even MM3 to some degree. And I find the music in MM4 to be very tingy for the most part, Dive man and Dr.Cossacks stage 2(I think that's what it was) were pretty good but the rest was pretty weak.

MM10 is another example of great level design, but it just wasn't on the same level as MM9....Dissapointing and no where near as fun. I remember the first time I played it I was kind of let down, and the bosses were irritating at first. It also carries a more serious, darker and less colorful tone and look like MM3 did. The sound track was easily one of the weakest out of the MM games, and Dr.Wily's Castle paled in comparisons to MM9's. The best thing to come out of MM10, was Solar Man's amazing track. and the awesomeness of sheep man...Although nowhere near as cool as Splash Woman, and Pump man just looks ridiuclous, in an awesome ridiculous kind of way.lol

And the text just keeps coming haha. And as for MM5, I have some fond memories of playing it with my best friend when it was released back in the day, and I really liked that one, even more so than MM3. As for 6, all i remember was hating the uncreative and lame robot masters, the music and ugly stage design.

Favorite to least favorite: MM5, MM2, MM9, MM4, MM10, MM3, MM1, MM6, MM7, MM8

I'll be re-playing through 1-8 within the next few weeks. So who knows? Maybe my order will change. ;D

MM&B is somewhere in the middle to upper middle. You should really just get the Anniversary Collection if you want to play the games.

The time attack times posted are achieved because they know how to use the weapons to get the quickest time. For example, in Enker's stage, instead of hoping across the blocks, just use the Rush Jet and it shaves off tons of time.

I have the Anniversary Collection for the GCN and the button swap alone destroys the experience. Let alone the sound effects sound flat for the NES ports and the music doesn't sound right....and there's no way in hell I'm using a GCN controller to play it. I'd rather bust out the cash for the actual cartridges and get the real deal than put up with that crap.

You have awaken Tasuki!!!!!!!! just playing of course. I must be tone deaf but I never noticed a difference in the sound effects. I never play the game on Navi and I hear the sfx are different.

Lol Not quite sure what that means but ok. . As for the sound effects yeah in some of the games the higher pitched effects are higher than their NES counterparts. Some examples are the screw gun things that pop up at the beginning of Firemans Stage in MM1. When they shot in the AC their blast noise is louder than every other sound effect and even the music. Also I think its in MM4 but I am not sure, after you beat the robot master and Megaman does his celebratory jump and the Robot masters power flows into him again the noise is a higher pitch then the original one. Truthfully it doesnt bug me to much since its far in between but when I do get to that point it does annoy me.

As for the button swap I have said it many times before it doesnt bother me that much I learn to deal with it. Who knows maybe if I were to play a copy on the NES I might be thrown off.

That's what I meant. We've had the button swap arguement a few times and you're always petioning that it's not that big of a deal, which considering the value of the game, I completely agree.

Ah ok lol. Pretty much its just a case of to each his own. I agree that while its not perfect and there are some flaws in the conversion or whatever you want to call it for the price the AC is worth it. Especially for someone like me who doesnt have a NES anymore. And as I and others said those cartridges at times do go for alot.

It baffles me that you guys can play the classic MM nes games on a GameCube controller. That alone is a deal breaker, the messed up SFX and music is a deal breaker, the buttons swap is a deal breaker. MM7's blurrier graphics and bunked up ending(apperantly) are a deal breaker.

The only 3 good things I can think of is the fact that 1-8 inlcuding those 2 MM Fighter games are all on one disc, the low price and the fact that Color/brightness looks wonderful and as it should be, when compared to Virtual Console Nes games which have ugly washed out dark colors and terrible brightness...But I have another mode on my TV where it's tweaked for NES VC games. Pumping up the color big time, along with the brightness makes a big improvement, yet still not as good as it should be.

Those "Only Good things" are more than worth putting up with minor inconveniences, IMO. In fact, there is nothing that can break that deal. I spent $20 on games I wouldn't otherwise have and loved every minute of, and made me fall in love with challenge, oppening up many doors both in video games and in life. I think that's worth putting up with a button swap and a few minor sound problems, don't you?

Nope.
To each their own. I'd rather spend $5 on an NES MM game, since the experience is perfect ...aside from the darker/less bright VC Nes problem, which like i mentioned you can tweak with on a different mode on your TV. And you get to use the Wii remote side ways Nes style, which even feels a smidge better than using an actual Nes Controller.

Like I said, I'd rather wait for MM5-MM7 to become available on the Virtual Console, OR just nab myself the actual Nes copies. Because I couldn't stand playing the Anniversary collection for those reasons i mentioned.

True. I still find it baffling, though. Probably because I'm willing to save money at the cost of quality. Again, to each their own. I just hope Capcom doesn't get sick of releasing Mega Man games (Like that'll happen ) before MM5-7 are out.

And that's the thing with me, in no way would I wan't to save money at the cost of quality, I'd rather spend much more and 'get' the quality. I'm so anal like that, with everything practically. The price of being a perfectionist and artist muhahaha.

Anyways, at least with the PS2 Anniversary Collection you can use the dual shock controller....Where you can actually use a proper d-pad(unlike the GCN's tiny little and 'stiff' Dwarf pad, let alone it's in an akward place for SideScroller ect ect) AND the PS2 version doesn't have the button swap problem. The only reason why they chose to do the button swap for the GCN version is because they wanted to put the emphasis on the Big 'A' button which was always used as an action/attack button.

But alas, even using the dualshock controller for playing Nes Mega Man games doesn't feel right. I'm too picky.

Anyways! So uh...Where's my MM11!? you know it's going to happen!

Turantula man, and Rainbow man I'm calling it!

Playing through the first 8 MM games to find my true favorite order. I just finished MM1 and it was as average as I remembered. I'm gonna skip to MM3 now, since I've already beat MM2 before. (I'm playing this on the PS2 anniversary collection, by the way. )

Good luck getting a copy of MM7 in cartridge form. Last time I checked they were going for a minimum of 60 USD but that was like two years ago.

@Kingbuilder - Why did you feel MM1 was average? What are your thoughts on MM2?

MM1's biggest streangths are the music and classic Robot Masters, other than that it is pretty decent yet at the same time there's just something special about it. With me, It was the first Mega Man game I ever played back when it was released in the 80's. And everytime I hear the Boss selection menu it just takes me wayyyyyyy back. I'll never forget being totaly captured and amazed by it when I was 5 years old...And ahh that classic music. it was just so different and Mega Man at the time wasn't like anything anybody has ever seen before. Let alone if you watched Captain N around the same time like I did, then you got to see MM1's robot masters make their way in one of the episodes where they all tried to take on Mega Man.

Really though, if I had zero nostalgia to it, and if I were to play it for the first time now I'd definitly rank it in the middle area. I don't know, I just wasn't crazy over the level design for the most part, it also looked bland...And dear lord I absolutely HATE Elec man's theme, along with his stage. Utterly annoying and ear grating. It remindes me of Crash's mans stage in MM2 which is another one of my least favorite MM stages and the same thing goes for the music.

And I'll always remember selecting Bomb Man as my first Robot Master. For me, he definitly had the greatest track in the game.

@Waveboy: I understand where you are coming from on the whole anniversary collection thing. As you said to each their own. For me though it was the price that drew my attention. At the time I was so wanting to play the Megaman games again but I dont have an NES. You add up the price and you can be spending hundreds of dollars for a NES, SNES PS2 and all 8 games. Yeah there are a few differences but I would rather pay the twenty bucks for all 8 games rather than a few hundred. I dont know about you but I just dont have that kind of money.

And honestly I dont see what your problem is with the GC controller I think its a pretty well made controller. But once again to each their own.

I don't have a problem with the GCN controller, unless we're talking about it's stiff tiny d-pad. Other than that I think it's the greatest modern controller period. Beats out the 360 and PS3 controller if you ask me. The button lay out was unique, fresh and fun, the control stick was an awesome upgrade, the design and feel of the controller was fantastic, and the entire controller FELT next gen, unlike the PS2 Dualshock which was exactly the same as the PSOne Dualshock, which was a complete dissapointment.

heh, I still have my GCN. infact I'm actually staring at it right now since I keep it in my TV stand. i have all of the Nintendo systems aside from the N64.

Anyways, don't forget about the Wii's VC, MM1-MM4 would cost you $20(Although that's more expensive than the AC considering you're missing out on MM5-8 and the 2 power fighter games) and there wouldn't be any Button swap BS, using the GCN controller to play the games, or the sound/music problems...Just the horrible colors and darker image. And I'm actually thinking about just dropping the $50 and getting MM5...After all, it was one of my favorites growing up based on what I kind of remember, so it would be pretty awesome to have in my collection. MM7 is another buy as well....But I'll be skipping on MM6, and I'll most likely get it on the VC.

but again, what in gods name is taking Capcom so long to release MM5 on the VC!?

^Well, the thing is, VC came out waaaaay after the Anniversary collection. Not to mention there are tons of extras on the AC that are not on the VC versions, such as remixed music, art, and Navi Mode which makes things easier for new comers. Hell, there's even a rapid shot button that lets you mow down your enemies with ease, and there are certain sections of the game that I wouldn't be able to, or at least wouldn't want to, beat without it. To me, it's actually better than owning the originals. Again, to each their own, but still, I can't see how it would be worth paying $60+ for 10 games I already own, especially considering the time it'll take for the remaining 6 games to get released.