My Video Game Library: MegaMan

        The next Christmas after I got my NES, I started an entirely different game series. MegaMan 4.  I had heard about the first three games, from various sources, and I finally decided I wanted to try this one out. I have no idea where it was bought, though. I remember playing it instead of watching either a Christmas or New Year's Day parade. I started the game and got smoked on the first screen on the first level the guides suggested I should start on, RingMan. For some reason, I wanted to stomp on enemies, like Super Mario, only to take massive damage. Getting used to so many projectiles was another thing. It took a long while, and help, but I finally managed to defeat all eight bosses:  SkullMan, RingMan, DiveMan, DrillMan, DustMan, PharaohMan, BrightMan, and ToadMan. (I am pretty sure that MegaMan is one word, but I can't remember about the bosses. So, I am writing them as the same way, for now. Besides, spellcheck clears them.) The Dr. Wily boss levels were trickier, but I made my way through them and beat the game.

    The following years, I would get the next two games locally.  I think they came from the Pikeville Kmart and/or Magic Mart (last location). I remember looking at the games in my car, but not exactly buying them beyond the general locations. I enjoyed to improved features and gameplay. Then, the news came out that the game would finally be porting to the SNES. Sure, a spinoff was already there, but bring the original "Blue Bomber" to the system was terrific. I kept looking out for the game, after I was sure it was in stores, but I could never find it. I either skipped over it when I was on a trip and chose to wait to get it at home, or I just never saw it.  The only place locally that had it was the Coal Run Blockbusters, and it was only available for rent, not for sale. This was the first game that I truly hated missing out on. 

    MegaMan 8 would then be available on the PS, and another system that I never got into.  The two versions would be about the same, with only a few small differences. This time I made sure to buy it when I first say it. I'm thinking the Pikeville Walmart, but I may have gotten it at the Huntington Mall.  Perhaps Game Stop, but I honestly can't remember where I got it.  Anyway, I quickly started playing it as soon as I could. I then hit a wall.  One of the first levels involved an auto-scroll sledding area that I just couldn't get the hang of.  I had to stop playing the game, until I bought a special controller with slo-mo function.  Didn't help, but I managed to beat both auto-scroll sections of the level. I beat all eight bosses, but got stuck on the first Wily level by another sledding section, a much harder one.  I have yet to try and go back to beat the game.

    The last MegaMan game I got was actually the Legacy Collection for the PS2. It collected all of the first eight games in the series, plus a special ninth spinoff game that was never released separately in the US, as well as some other special features that were unlocked by beating the original games.  I finally got to play the seventh game that I had missed out on, as well as the first three games that were out before  I started gaming. While I played each of those four games, I only got close to beating one of them, before I grew frustrated and stopped playing.  I never even tried to replay the other four games as well.  I don't think I unlocked anything worth mentioning. 

    Since then, there have been other games in the series. A remixed version of the original game came out for the Playstation Portable (PSP) that featured a cutesy, chibi style, as well as two new levels with new bosses. MegaMan 9 and 10 came out for systems I never got.  Both were in an 8-bit style similar to the first six games.  Finally, the was even an eleventh game that came out that I never knew about. It featured an enhanced version of gameplay that brought out the best of whatever system it was made for.  I've only seen gaming videos of it in action, so I can't really comment on it beyond saying it looked incredible. [I've been seeing so many gaming videos, that I might be confusing the games I've actually played with those I've only watched.  It is crazy at times, but a lot of them are quite similar.]

    News broke recently that a new MegaMan game will be out next year. It won't be "12," and it will instead have a different subtitle. I think it is still a mainline game, though. Many s