In 1993, the SNES was already out and Capcom was about to release Mega Man X, but they just couldn't let themselves to say goodbye to the NES and made one last 8-bit Mega Man game for the beloved system. Mega Man 6 was released so late into the system's life that Capcom decided to not even publish the game in Europe — this 3DS eShop iteration is in fact the first time the game has officially seen the light of day in Europe.
Similarly to that of the previous two games, the villain appears to be someone different than Dr. Wily. The mysterious Mr. X — who has suspiciously Wily-like hair but is totally not Dr. Wily — has hosted a tournament to decide on the strongest robots in the world, but surprise, surprise — he's taken the eight strongest ones and reprogrammed them to do his bidding, and it's once again up to Mega Man to save the world.
If you expected any major gameplay changes here, you're likely to be disappointed — eight Robot Masters, eight stages, you can tackle them in any order, beating a boss gets you their weapon which is another's weakness, and after beating all of them you must fight through a number of castle stages to reach the final boss and beat the game — just like before!
As you might expect, Mega Man's additional moves from Mega Man 3 and 4 — the slide and charge shot — return once again for this game, and he gains another tool as well. Although Mega Man 5 didn't really add anything new, this sixth entry does, the biggest of which is sets of armour — called Rush Adaptors — which basically allow Mega Man to fuse with Rush into new forms.
The two adaptors available are Jet, which allows Mega Man to hover/fly short distances, and Power, which allows Mega Man to throw very strong close range punches that can be charged. While Jet is practically a Rush Jet/Coil replacement and Power might as well have been a Robot Master weapon, these new forms are fairly fun to use and can spice things up a bit.
Another new feature this time around are stages with alternate paths, allowing you to see around three or four different screens, if you so desire. While this is a cool idea that we would've expected to happen much earlier in the series, unfortunately you won't really notice this feature much until you get to the later half of the game — only two of the Robot Master stages have them, while over half of the castle stages do.
The stages and especially the boss fights are quite easy this time around, with the notable exception of Plant Man's stage, which has an incredibly annoying section with springs, pits and loads of enemies near the end. Unfortunately, the one tool that would make this part a lot easier, the Jet Adaptor, just so happens to be the reward for clearing the very same stage it's useful in, which means you'll just have to tough it out without it. Thankfully, save states should make this bit a lot more bearable. An interesting tidbit about the Robot Masters this time around is that this is the only game to have some designed by players outside Japan — Knight Man and Wind Man were both designed by North Americans.
As expected of a NES game released in 1993, Mega Man 6 has some of the best graphics of the series thus far. It obviously still has the same general look as the previous five games, but the stages just have a tiny little bit more detail this time. The soundtrack, while not the strongest the series has to offer, is still up there, with Tomahawk Man, Flame Man and Mr. X's castle having some of the stand-out tunes.
Conclusion
Like Mega Man 5, for the most part, Mega Man 6 plays it relatively safe. It once again follows the same basic idea of eight Robot Master stages followed by castle stages, it doesn't really add any big new gameplay features, and the level design (save for Plant Man's stage), music and everything else are all pretty good. They didn't really go out with a bang with this final NES Mega Man game, but they did create yet another enjoyable entry in the series.
Comments 22
Good review. I've never played this one yet, so I might give it a buy.
I'm still waiting for it to get released on the Wii Virtual Console in the very least.
This is by far my least favorite game in the original NES series. It's just... tired. The weapons are same old, same old. The boss design is uninspired. The story is super lame, after the nice emotional aspect of Mega Man 5. It's still a classic Mega Man experience, so it's worth a try nevertheless. A 6 out of 10 for me.
I just realised something.
The launch of Mega Man 6 on the 3DS eShop in Europe marks the first time MM6 has EVER been for sale in Europe.
It's a good game and deserves a bit more love than it gets, I prefer it to MM5.
The original NES version never saw a European release, and the Mega Man collection on Gamecube never saw a European release either, so yeah the 3DS eShop release truly is MM6's European debut! And it only took 20 years!
@RupeeClock Well, they did say exactly that in the review! XD
i don't get why it wasn't released on the Wii U VC when Megaman 2,3 &4 were released, same with 5, I don't get it...
Man, I waited for years to buy this from Wii Shop... in the end it wasn´t available there but for 3DS on eShop, hahaha.
This is actually one of my favourite Mega Man games on NES. It was little easier than the previous ones but the Rush adapters and other features were fun enough. And Wind Man has one of the best Mega Man themes.
Well I guess since Phil didnt know what he was doing in Mega Man X, he can't be trusted to do the reviews for Mega Man games anymore.
@Drake: Great review!!!
Playing through it right now and loving it. Plant man's stage is one of the hardest stages in the MM series imo, if not the hardest
I hope the US finally gets this on the 3DS tomorrow.
Sorry still not buying until these get 3d'ized. I like the 3d and these would just look awesome. I'm sure the review is right on. I've played them all before and want to see them as 3d classics
@ikki5 its because someone doesn't have a clue when it comes to releasing VC games. Its still an issue **scratches head**
Quite an underrated game. Just as good as the other entries in the series. The music is also exceptional and fits very nicely in each stage.
I've wanted to try this one for a while. I'll use my deluxe digital promo code to get it.
@ricklongo This basically echos my thoughts on it.
I played through all eight robot master stages, and man was it easy. Wily (er...um...Mr.X...) must have run out of good robot designs because they hardly put up a fight at all. But you know what? Somehow, this is one of my favorite NES Mega Mans so far (if not my favorite). It's free of a lot of frustration, it's really fun, and I like the Rush adaptors a lot.
Edit: Now that it's been a couple weeks since I got this I'd have to say this is probably the weakest of the NES Mega Man games. I still like it a lot, but it's not quite up to the standards of the other five games.
I remember buying it just so I can have a physical copy back in '93. I gotta say that this is my least favorite one in the series. The cool aspects of this game is that some stages had you guessing as to which way to go to reach the REAL Robot Master and that two of the Robot Masters were created by U.S. citizens.
But the themes of the Robot Masters were already used in the previous titles and the only time that this game put up a challenge is Dr. Wily himself. Oh well....it's good that it is available on the 3DS VC so that other people can try it out for themselves if they haven't played it yet.
I'm surprised by how much hate this game gets. Having played all 6 of the NES Mega Man games for the first time on the 3DS VC I have to say that this one is one of the best. The Rush suit finally fixed the problem of running out of power for Rush abilities half way through a level and the abilities are all nice. Not to mention by this point the graphics have peaked, and comparing them to the first two games, there's no competition.
3 > 6 > 4 > 2 > 1 In my opinion from playing them all for the first time on the 3DS VC.
this game is pretty awesome and it deserves at least an 8.
I am very tired to see sequences getting low rates while pokemons sequences all get 9s and 10s.
I wish i could erase all the megaman stages from my memory to play them all again - something I usually do each 5-7 years.
@Geonjaha Hey, you forgot to put 5 in your list!
For me: 4>2>3>5>6>1.
@Giygas_95 - I've yet to play 5 through completely. I bought it for the Wii VC so I was waiting for a Wii U release.
@Geonjaha Ah, I see...To me, it's a very good Mega Man game, but it's also very easy so it doesn't present much of a challenge.
You could get the 3DS release of it if you're interested.
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