Capcom Highlights: Mega Man 6

With a brand new system out, what do you do with a character whose first three games have become hits?

Well, it’s simple – make more for the old one!

And for Capcom, the development teams had gotten the development down to a science, and as such it was very inexpensive to do more Mega Man games given that the same engine was being used, and this would be no different for the final Mega Man game for the NES: Mega Man 6.

Taking place after Mega Man 5, a coalition called the Global Robot Alliance is formed to counter Dr. Wily’s machinations. One year later a robot tournament is held to see who can be the best peacekeeping robot, with a mysterious stranger named “Mr. X” hosting it. Though Dr. Light doesn’t participate, he sends Mega Man to oversee it. In no time at all Mr. X ends up reprogramming the robots and claims he was manipulating Dr. Wily the entire time. With no time to spare Mega Man and his dog Rush leap into action to stop him.

So what follows is the classic formula one would expect from a Mega Man game – plenty of platforming action, good level design and formidable foes. Rush the Dog is also there to help as he always is, but this time he helps as adapter modes. “Power” allows Mega Man to punch through certain blocks to uncover hidden items, while “Jet” mode allows Mega Man to fly over short distances.

Going into the development of the game itself, Keiji Inafune (or “Inafking” as he is nicknamed) said that while it is rare for any game franchise to have six titles, the advantage to that is players expect certain things to still be present, so that made development a bit easier. Plus he knew that after having had five entries previously, having adaptors to Mega Man’s suit was inevitable. However, trying to get the adapter designs right were more than a bit frustrating to Inafune and in many ways unrealistic.

Still, from this Arcader’s perspective, things turned out well. The game built off of what had come before gameplay-wise, and the design of the adapter suits worked well. As such I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped lay the groundwork for what future suit adapters would be in the X titles.

Plus, in terms of my own personal experiences I rented this game from Blockbuster and not only did I manage to use the password system better, but it was the first Mega Man game that I beat.

(Whether in the desert or in the cold, Mega Man is always up for an adventure)

Thanks to some Mega Man compilations that came out from the GCN/PS2/Xbox era all the way to now, there’s many ways to be able to enjoy this title along with the other ones. While it wasn’t as impactful as the the early ones, Mega Man 6 helped show that the NES still had some energy left in its latter years, and as time went by it too would become a respected title.

So if you haven’t given this game a try, give it a whirl. While it isn’t as classic as the original three were, Mega Man 6 still is a NES game at its peak in terms of design and overall gameplay. And it really showed that the console still had plenty left in the tank, and most importantly, it was still a lot of fun.