So Mega Man 10 is pretty much the hardest game ever…

…and I don’t know how I feel about that. It’s difficult to judge, really, but I’m fairly certain MM10 is much more difficult than MM9 was. I couldn’t even make it to the boss doors in half of the stages. In some cases the mid-point boss was tougher than the robot master was. I’m sure practice, weapon experimentation and pattern recognition will mitigate this somewhat on replays…

…but man. The soccer ball monster in Strike Man’s stage? Ridiculous.

Standing on its own I really had a blast with the game. Many of the levels did wonderful things I hadn’t seen before in a 2d platformer, let alone a Mega Man game. The ideas in Sheep Man’s level alone left me with a huge grin on my face. A few stages left me shaking my head wondering, “Why would they do that?” but I think most of those areas will smooth out as I get better at the game.

Maybe not Wily 3. That stage is just mean.

Inevitably, though, the game must be compared to MM9. And… MM9 was better in almost every way that matters. The weapons are more fun, there’s less blatantly dickish level design, and of course MM9 has Splash Woman. They were aiming for a gold and they got a silver-and-a-half.

One novelty I noted was the tendency for special weapons to have a duality to them. Weapons in the Mega Man series often have multiple phases to them; Mega Man throws a bomb which then explodes, or fires a laser which splits into three separate shots. MM10 continues this tradition, but now the different phases are meaningful. As in, if you hit a boss with the correct weapon but the incorrect phase, you won’t score critical damage. This made it far more difficult to actually find the proper strategies and weak point weapons than was probably intended.

I still don’t really know how Blade Man’s weakness is supposed to work.

The Challenge Rooms are an interesting idea, but most of them just consist of fighting all the bosses again. Ho hum. I’m not saying I want Horrible Spike Gauntlet Deluxe, here, but… maybe something that I can’t get just by replaying the main game?

Favorite boss: Sheep Man
Favorite weapon: Triple Blade
Favorite stage: Wily 1
Clear time: 3.5 hours

Here’s to dozens of joyous replays!

7 comments to So Mega Man 10 is pretty much the hardest game ever…

  • Tanto

    I still don’t really know how Blade Man’s weakness is supposed to work.

    You have to hit him with the explosion. The bomb is no stronger than a plasma shot; it’s the explosion that does the real (ridiculous, is most cases), damage. The problem is that it’s difficult to aim the weapon on the fly, which is why I don’t like the weapon very much.

    I actually have this problem with most of the weapons… the Triple Blade and the Water Shield are the only really intuitive ones, because they’re Mega Man cliches.

  • dtsund

    Some day I will play this. Hopefully someday soon.

  • AndVon

    Brickroad? Trouble with a Megaman game? I’m gonna need to see a let’s play of this, eventually.
    Keep up the posting!

  • Lys

    Did you have your fill of Endless Mode in MM9, Brick? Because I *loved* it. I was terrible at it, but I really, really liked how *designed* it was. I had just expected random rooms, but the way it strung together individual designed sections was very pure Mega Man. I hope they don’t change anything for MM10’s Endless Mode, when it arrives.

  • RT-55J

    The boss challenge rooms are useful for memorizing patterns. I’ll definitely be using them if/when I play through hard mode.

  • Brickroad

    @Lys: My record in MM9 endless mode is 404 rooms. Then I jumped onto some spikes for no clearly defined reason.

    @Tanto: I had figured that was the case. In the end it’s just easier to rapid-fire Blade Man to death.

  • EatSleepChuck

    It took me about 3 1/2 hours to beat as well, and definitely one of my favorite classic-style MM games. Not the hardest, but it’s up there for sure. Wily Stage 3 had me shell-shocked and weeping in the corner of my room after a few tries…I think that’ll be the most memorable part of the game for me looking back on it later in the years.

    I agree with what you said about the mini-bosses, too. I found them tons more fun to beat up than most of the robot masters, most of which folded like cheap tents to their “weakness” weapon.

    One thing I didn’t see you mention was the superb soundtrack. Probably my absolute favorite in the series, with Solar Man music being an instant classic. Much love.

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