This week brought some welcome news with a glut of Mega Man announcements, all of them including the Switch as a platform. Perhaps most exciting was confirmation of Mega Man 11, which is coming to all current-gen systems - and most importantly the Switch! - in late 2018.
It's a while away yet, then, but some snippets of details have come out via Game Informer, which has featured Mega Man 11 as its cover game for the January issue. With the digital version of the cover story live Rockman-Corner and USGamer have picked out some neat details; we've included a few below, but by all means pick up the magazine if you want the full lowdown along with pretty pictures, interviews etc.
- There'll be four difficulty options. "Normal" will be as expected, but "Superhero" should challenge skilful veterans.
- The Robot Masters are former allies of Dr. Light, and this one will allow you to tackle all eight from the start in any order. That's the norm that many are used to, but don't forget that some Mega Man games have split these stages into a couple of tiers, so it's nice to have all eight as targets from the get-go.
- There'll be a weapon wheel applied to the right stick, which could mean quick switches between them if you remember which is assigned to each direction. Also, as you can see in the trailer the slide move is back, but the final controls for that aren't yet decided.
- The gears seen under the health bar in the trailer and screens relate to "an entirely new gameplay mechanic that will impact Mega Man's moment-to-moment action". Not much more is said on that, but we get a glimpse of it right at the end of the trailer when Mega Man is surrounded by some sort of destructive field, with the gears spinning away in the top left.
All good stuff, and we're looking forward to seeing more on Mega Man 11 throughout 2018. Here's hoping it lives up to expectations.
[source gameinformer.com, via rockman-corner.com, usgamer.net]
Comments 43
I'm just hopin' it's as good as its predecessors!
I've always wanted to like Mega man games, but they were always too difficult for me to really get into them. Admittedly, I've only tried 3 and X, but I'm really hoping there's an "easy" option so I can just play casually.
Man I hope this is good. 1-6 were my gaming bread and butter growing up. I like the others too. 7's good, 8's okay and 9 and 10 were awesome. I hope this one, although it looks more like 7-8 or the X games, plays like the original 6. I hope the controls have options. Some will want a single button for the slide mechanic but, I want to be able to push down and jump.
Goodgoodgood.....
"an entirely new gameplay mechanic that will impact Mega Man's moment-to-moment action".
PLEEEEEEZE do not let this in any way be related to microtransactions.
@Muddy_4_Ever Can you give me an idea of what you might mean? Are you suggesting something like paid buffs?
@Link506 The NES Mega Man games were were a bit easy compared to Ninja Gaiden & Castlevania IMO.
So Mega Man & Bass just gets left out?
@NinChocolate yes
All good to hear, especially for us who suck at Mega Man games.
@Link506 Mega Man games are on the whole difficult, but the difficulty varies a lot between the games. As a whole the earlier ones tend to be harder though, (with 9 and 10 going back closer to 2 in difficulty to a degree,) so 5 or 6 might be more up your alley if you ever want to try a Mega Man game again.
@FinalFrog I highly recommend not putting words into the mouths of strangers if you don't intend to tick them off.
Anyways, I'm interested to see what this new mechanics is, but I kind of want to see what the new robot masters look like. None were featured in the trailer.
Nice, at least I know I will be prepare for Mega Man 11 by playing through the entire generation of both MM Legacy Collection.
I love Mega Man, but am completely terrible at all the games, so I'm glad to hear about the multiple difficulties, especially if there is an easy mode in the vein of Mega Man 10 (which is the first one I ever beat without game genie or save states).
Also like the idea of the weapon wheel. Hopefully they add a lot more modern elements like that. Spice up the series!
Let’s Rockman....ahem
I like all that I’ve seen so far. Lots of my friends have wanted a Mega Man 11, but as much as I liked 9 & 10... I felt the 8-bit style games have had their run. Then, Mighty No. 9 showed us how not to move forward. As I play Mighty Gunvolt Burst, I’m happy, but I wonder... is this all there is going to be? Has this style of game really become just a relic of my childhood? Is everything just a homage now? The choice they’ve made to freshen the graphics and add new mechanics for this Mega Man is actually exciting for this 32 year old gamer. This is what made Mega Man X so great back in the day. Maybe this will be start of a healthy new direction for one of my favorite icons. I wouldn’t call it Mega Man 11... if it becomes too good, we’ll have to deal with Mega Man 12, etc. Oh who cares. Final Fantasy doesn’t.
Only mega man game I played was X, and I want this.
As I said before, something about the game gives me a nasty Mighty No. 9 vibe... But I hope the game is awesome and kicks that crap out of my brain forever!
9 and 10 were both superb in my book, and I'm not opposed to a 2.5D art style. PLEASE BE GOOD, and not just "Better then nothing"! I don't want to cry like an anime fan on prom night!
Here's hoping we'll get to play as the robot masters a la the horribly underrated Mega Man: Powered Up.
Every time someone complains about Mega Man's difficulty I know he/she is under 30.
Back in the day you had the time and the patience to learn the game beyond difficulty. A complex, repetitive pattern. One that could give you endless satisfaction.
If you want to get into Mega Man, then you need the mind set of old school gaming. And I'm not saying it was better, it just was what it was 20 years ago or more.
@Link506 Mega Man 2, 9, 10, and I think 8 have Easy modes. But believe me, the games aren't THAT hard if you know which stage is the easiest to do at first, and what Robot Master is weak to what weapon. Plus you should never be stingy with the weapons you have, because some have incredible power that can make tough situations much easier, like some screen-clearing ones, ones that stop time, ones that allow you to attack in very different directions, ones that pretty much one-shot any enemy, ones that shield you from projectiles...
Don't get me wrong, Mega Man games aren't easy, but compared to most truly difficult games on the NES, they are extremely forgiving and pleasant.
@FinalFrog They are not that hard if you play clever. I even managed to beat Mega Man 2 on diffitulc mode without losing a single life and without using any E-tanks.
I never got why people are not interested in Megaman because of difficulty, and even finding an easy mode as the best selling point. I've played tons of games that are harder than Megaman and found millions of games that just only spoil the player when it comes to difficulty.
@GC-161 I'd say games like Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania relied on extremely cheap difficulty (including enemies showing up out of nowhere, unfriendly jumping movement, and insta-death traps) to extend the playtime. Mega Man, by contrast, offered a challenge while providing a learning curve, excellent controls, and cool ways to get around tough situations (like the weapons and items).
Most NES games haven't aged well in my opinion, but the Mega Man series is a shining example of ones who did.
@CanisWolfred what did finalfrog say that was so bad? What was there to be ticked off about? I must have missed something.
The weapon wheel mechanic sounds good, looking forward to that.
@CanisWolfred Doesn't appear in the trailer but there is artwork of the Robot Master whose ability MM uses in the trailer:
source
Don't think his name has been revealed yet.
Gamexplain has an awesome video about the trailer. Analysis machine was activated!
Mega Man talks? That is weird to me.
Whoa! I like that guys design a lot. At the very least I’m quite happy with the art direction for 11 @FriedSquid
With the exception of the quick switch weapons wheel, this all sounds quite intriguing.
@Muddy_4_Ever
Shh. Please don't jinx it.
@FinalFrog
Gee, thanks for speaking for all of us. I wonder how it is then, that the franchise has such a large, loyal, if slightly rabid fanbase? Not to mention why it has been going on for 30 years and spawned multiple sequels, spin-offs, remakes, ports and merchandise since its so frustrating and annoying that barely anyone likes it?
Ohh wait! Its an extremely popular series, the difficulty varies from game to game, most of which are enjoyablly challenging, but not aggravating and can be beaten by kids And adults. Fancy that!
@SoIDecidedTo - Well, his description didn't exactly sum up my experience with Mega Man, that's for sure. Nor do I care for him implying that his difficulty and disinterest in difficult platforming is the same as others. It's not a big deal, but it was my attempt to hold back "Speak for yourself, noob" that I desperately wanted to say.
They're NES platformers. Of course they're going to be difficult. I never felt they were frustrating, though. The levels are well-designed and aside from a few sections, I always felt like the answer was right in front of me. MM1-10 all gave me a sense of "just one more try!" that I think makes for a good, challenging platformer. It never got to the point when I "accepted it would be frustrating." I just accepted that it would take practice. There's a big difference, since "frustrating" implies that it feels impossible. That was rarely the case for me with Mega Man, though I'll admit those Wily stages marathons might've crossed that line...4 stages in a row with a boss rush section is just brutal if you don't farm for lives and Tanks....
@FriedSquid Good find. Certainly looks more like what I expected considering what that power was. Thanks.
@FriedSquid
im more of a hard man and wood man myself
@Nintendoforlife I have no idea. But anytime I see "new gameplay mechanic" I wonder how powerful that mechanic will be. I then, naturally, wonder if the power associated with the mechanic will be monetized in some way.
I bought and played a lot of games on early iTunes that were wonderful. Microstransactions ruined it (and they are starting to flood Steam, as well). So I've learned to be apprehensive.
@Link506 Yes, there is an easy mode.
@FinalFrog
Well if it isn't the pot calling the kettle black?
@FinalFrog All you're doing is reminding me why I rarely bother being polite anymore. Speak for yourself, noob.
@ricklongo I disagree completely.
To claim Castlevania games and Ninja Gaiden games were only difficult because of how "cheap" they were is a ridiculous argument.
And they also had a learning curve thus why many, me included, beat those games AGAIN AND AGAIN. Not just one lucky time. There was no such thing as luck with those games. You had to GIT GUD or GTFO.
So nah, son. Get outta here with that argument. Those games were more difficult than any Mega Man game. I beat the first 3 when I was 8 ffs.
@GC-161 Well, yeah, those games were more difficult than any Mega Man. Not disagreeing with that.
And since you didn't bother to actually elaborate on why you disgree with me as far as the cheapness goes, and instead resorted to simply being unpleasant, well, I guess we're just going to leave it at that.
@CanisWolfred thanks for explaining. I grew up on NES and there were sooooooo many hard games then. I remember a game that I think was called Deadly Towers. You got one life. You died, you had to start all over. It sucked. But beating it was a great feeling. I beat mega Man 1 through 3. I can't remember past that. I remember them being hard except for 2. 2 always seemed easy.
I get what you're saying, I just didn't find it inflammatory. Just seemed like someone using hyperbole.
Now that I'm older, I like games having adjustable difficulty. I no longer have time to play like I used to. Well other than Splatoon 2 and rocket league. So when I pick up a game, I want an easy seting. I still like developing a skill for a game, but I can't focus on mastering it.
@ricklongo I did explain. You just didn't read.
But let's leave it at that. Those games are the stuff of legends. Megaman couldn't even make it to 3.
@FriedSquid Igloo Man.
You heard it here first. 😉
Tap here to load 43 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...