Mega Man 9 Review & Repair

Mega Man 9 is my favorite Mega Man game along with Mega Man X. This is probably due to the fact that I've recently beat these two Mega Man games since developing my critical-eye. Regardless, there's a lot to be said for Mega Man 9, a game which just barely qualifies for the retro-evolved genre. The game looks old school and plays just like Mega Man did when I was a kid gathered around TV with all the neighborhood kids trying to come up with a strategy to defeat Gemini Man. Because MM9 is practically an NES, so much of the experience should already be quite familiar to us. For this reason, I only want to touch on a few points in bullet point essay style.

ADJUSTABLE DIFFICULTY

Many claim that Mega Man 9 is a very difficult game. I do not think it is for many reasons. Starting with a base made up of the default weapon, the M Buster, and a few lives, the difficulty in beating the game can be adjusted to a very fine degree. Players always have the option of...

1. collecting lives before going into more difficult stages
2. collecting energy tanks to refill one's health instantly
3. using powers to more easily overcome enemies and tricky platforming sections
4. using the powers that each boss is weak to
5. spending bolts to buy additional lives, energy tanks, M tanks, and other power ups including Beat, Spike Shoes, and the 1/2 damage power up.
   
6. farming enemy respawn points to refill health and weapon energy

Also, the more you play, die, and continue, the more bolts you'll accumulate. With more bolts, the player has more buying power to adjust the difficulty of their experience.

LEVEL DESIGN

The levels in Mega Man 9 are masterfully crafted. They have the perfect balance of difficulty, enemies, length, original elements, simplicity, and organic unity.

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• Each level is very linear and constructed like a sentence with a beginning, middle (mini boss), and end (boss). Each level/sentence represents a simple game idea. Look at Splash Woman's stage for example. The simple game idea is going down into the depths and come back out the other side. The traveling path makes a "u" shape.
  
• To keep things moving forward there are few scrolling sections to each level. Also, the player is prevented from backtracking horizontally. Once you enter a section, there's nothing else to do but keep pressing forward
• Enemies are generally fixed in specific locations within a level and have strict spawn design. Move just slightly off the screen, and a enemy you just destroyed will be waiting to take you on again. Many enemies function as a path blocker instead of chasing the player down. Having to shoot down such obstacles keeps the game focused on shooting instead of running/dodging. This design decision keeps the experience controlled, and uniform across play sessions.
• The organic level design and organic art direction harmonize perfectly in MM9. In Splash Woman's stage (see above) everything is designed and arranged to communicate a functioning water treatment plant. The water in the beginning starts to flow downward, and water mines and octopus robots provide primary security protection (1-3). As the water descends, the spikes filter out unwanted content (5-8). The water the runs through pipe filters that generate air bubbles as waste. This air is expelled through holes in the pipe work (9-12). Next players hit a pocket of air in a pressurized zone where pipe runners run maintenance and security (12-16). Traveling up you encounter a computerized system mixing and filtering sections of water via sliding disks (14-16). And then you're practically at the boss, Splash Woman, who will battle in nothing less than the purest, most highly filtered water technology can provide. Sure it's a little imaginative, but the forms are all there.
• By following through with this organic theme, the placements of the platforms and other level elements were guided. Like in Super Mario Brothers, bricks aren't placed willy nilly just so that Mario has things to break and platforms to jump on. The bricks in Mario are arranged to reflect functional structures; towers, bridges, stalagmites, etc. By following such organic guidelines, MM9 levels are as efficient, clean, and functionally focused as can be.
• Aside from unique enemies, like in Super Mario Bros. 3/Super Mario Galaxy, new level elements are added to the MM9 levels as needed to further develop and define the governing game ideas for each stage. In Splash Woman's stage, the platformable water bubbles (9-12) and the disappearing water sliding sections (14-16) are specific to this stage and add unique gameplay to the level.

POWERS THAT POWER UP

Fleshing out a quality game after starting with a limited core design is a skill that Capcom uses very well. By adding a balance of abstract mechanics, extra modes, and unique level/enemy elements, Capcom is able to develop rich game ideas instead of flopping in undynamic, static redundancy.

To understand how the core design of Mega Man 9 is limited, we need to first look at the core mechanics and compare them against Mario and even other versions of Mega Man.

Mega Man's Base Abilities

• No RUN mechanic. Megaman moves at the same instant and constant speed whether he's on the ground or in the air. Because there is no accelerative motion forward, it's not jarring to the player that Mega Man doesn't skid to a stop. It's not unusual that Mega Man can instantly reverse his direction in mid air either. Where Mario uses the RUN mechanic to create momentum (physics wise and game design wise) and increase difficulty by reducing the reaction time window for the player, Mega Man marches on in a relatively simple fashion.
• Mario must get a running start to achieve his maximum jump height and distance. Mega Man doesn't, which makes difficult jumps within a level less dependent on adequate running room. For this reason, Mega Man can create difficult platforming challenges in a very small space.
  

• Mega Man can only shoot straight. To aim, he must JUMP and SHOOT. Because the JUMP mechanic is highly direct in degrees of vertical height, players have the ability to accurately SHOOT at just about anything within jumping range. Fortunately, pullets travel through walls. These properties create interesting aiming situations that mix anticipation, aiming through levels, and platforming in unique ways.
  
• The core mechanics (MOVE, SHOOT, JUMP) aren't very dynamic. You can't jump on enemies. Enemies generally aren't stunned after being shot. Also, the momentum from leading one's shots is diminished somewhat when it relies on memorization or luck.
  
• Unlike other 8-bit and 16-bit Mega Man iterations, MM9 Mega Man can't CHARGE, DASH, WALL KICK, SLIDE, or WALL SLIDE. The acceleration when SLIDING gives players the ability to dodge low flying attacks at the risk of falling off of platforms or running into enemies. As we know, the CHARGE mechanic does all kinds of wonders for gameplay. The WALL SLIDE/KICK mechanics give a lot of vertical definition to Mega Man's movement possibilities. Combining the DASH with the WALL KICK, gives players the ability to leap far off from walls. With these mechanics, enemies, bosses, and platforming sections have more versatility to mix things up. The DASH mechanic when combined with the JUMP mechanic, gives Mega Man the ability to quickly move about any environement. Like Mario's RUN mechanic, moving more quickly also comes with risks. Without these things, MM9 is clearly more limited in the enemy and platforming challenges it can put players through.
  

Ultimately, Mega Man must be able to defeat the vast majority of challenges with MOVE, JUMP, and SHOOT. After all, these mechanics make up the core/base of the game and are inexhaustible. When a game isn't very dynamic (mechanic dynamics, interplay, counterpoint), instead of emerging as a vehicle of expression, such games usually move in the opposite direction toward optimization. While this is true for MM9, the design of Mega Man's (mostly) optional acquired powers give the player a vehicle of expression while dynamically changing the paths and strategies available to the player. It is these powers that give MM9 design layers, dynamics, variation, and depth.

The Powers

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The limitations of Mega Man's moving and shooting abilities are apparent. But with every boss Mega Man defeats, he gains the use of one of their abilities. Each ability enhances some combination of Mega Man's moving, shooting, and defensive abilities filling up a unique design space. Starting at the top middle (12 o'clock) and going clockwise...

• Plug Ball: Travels quickly along the ground, walls, and ceilings. In the air, this attack shoots straight down, which is unlike any other Mega Man attack.
  
• Magma Bazooka: Shoots a triple spread attack. The fastest of two projectile attacks that can travel diagonally up or down. This attack can also be charged.
  
• Hornet Chaser: Up to three can be fired at a time. They will slowly chase down any enemy on screen flying through walls to get to them. These hornets also have the ability to retrieve items from the field and bring them back to Mega Man.
  
• Concrete Shot: A fast projectile that quickly arcs downward making it difficult to aim. This projectile also stops against walls, ceilings, and enemies. Once it hits something, it solidifies into a brick of concrete that players can use as a temporary platform.
  
• Black Hole Bomb: A two stage attack that sends out a slow moving target and then activates forming a black hole that draws in enemy fire and enemies. Setting up this attack requires a little patience, knowledge of the level, and timing.
• Laser Trident: This attack fires and travels very quickly in a straight line, and has the ability to cut through enemy defenses because nothing stops it. There are also special obstacles that can only be destroyed with the Laser Trident.
  
• Jewel Satellite: Activating this power creates a shield of jewels that circle the player that reflect basic enemy attacks. These jewels can also completely eliminate weak enemies upon contact infinitely without any additional energy consumption. A collision with a stronger enemy will cancel the jewels. The ring of jewels can be launched as a projectile.
• Tornado Blow: This handy attack sweeps all enemies and their attacks up and off the screen forever. The wind that sweeps away the enemies also floats Mega Man upward extending the height of his jump.
  
• Rush Coil & Rush Jet (not depicted): These two abilities give Mega Man a super jump and the ability to fly a jet around for a limited time. Rush, the dog, can safely stand on spikes allowing players to access some areas safely. When Rush Jet collides with a platform or wall, he disappears leaving Mega Man behind to deal with situation.

On top of the platforming, offensive, and defensive changes these powers bring to Mega Man's basic abilities, they also have decay. Let's face it. The player is quite over powered with access to all of these abilities, but with every use the powers consume energy. Without energy for a specific power, Mega Man can't use it. Use powers haphazardly and excessively, and soon you won't have anything more than the basic abilities.

The decay goes a bit further. When players die and respawn, the energy/ammo they consumed on the previous life doesn't reset. In this way, dying and poor playing isn't completely remedied by having lots of lives. If you use all of a power trying to defeat a boss and fail to finish him/her off, then when you go back to fight that boss, you'll have to battle without that power. This is most apparent in the final assault on Dr. Willy's fortress. Players have to fight through 4 large levels and 11 bosses before getting a chance to fight against Willy's 3 stages. If you mismanage your power at any point in this gauntlet, you'll have a hard time replenishing your supplies.

The way these powers are designed, it's no wonder that enemies drop refilling power pellets less often than energy pellets or screws. It's also no wonder that the shop only lets you by one M Tank which refills all of Mega Man's power supply and health.

The design in Mega Man 9 is so clean and apparent that we all can learn something about game design from it. The game is simple. The controls are tight. And the player can make it as hard as he/she wants. The first play through is long and filled with learning and the kind of refinement that requires a determined will and self discipline. Then each subsequent play through gets easier and easier. With convenient speed running options Mega Man 9 is more concentrated on its best qualities than the other 8-bit brethren.

"With these powers....I have the power... to do it better....to do it faster." ~me

ROBOT REPAIR

Approaching a repair of Mega Man 9 is tricky. After all, the game was intentionally design to reflect the design of the Mega Man games from the NES era. Most of the suggestions I could make for the game would invariably counter its original aim and goals. As with any repair, upholding the spirit of the game is key. It is not the job of the repair man to make a new game, but make the game that already exists better, cleaner, and communicate its ideas more clearly.

With that said, these are just a few ideas that I have for Mega Man 9. Some are repairs. And though some are changes, I think they're interesting enough to post.

• The ammo bars for Mega Man's powers should be quantified for the powers that consume lots of "pixels"/ pellets with a single use. Tornado Blow and Jewel Satellite are two examples of powers that take a chunk out of their ammo/power bar. Because of the way the power bar is divided into pellets, it's difficult to gauge how many more uses of a power are left. This is a simple fix to help player count their bullets so to speak.
  
• Like Bionic Commando Rearmed, Mega Man 9 should contain a puzzle mode or challenges that are short levels focusing on the unique properties, nuances, and intricacies of Mega Man's powers.
  
• Though the random drops from destroyed enemies has been in the Mega Man series since the beginning, considering the possibilities of taking this design element out of the game can lead to some refreshing design alternatives.
• To balance not getting health drops from enemies, it would be interesting if Mega Man could get small health bonuses by destroying enemies with the M Buster at close range. When gunplay is at the core of a game, I always like design elements that define the space between a gun and the target in interesting ways.
  
• To refill the ammo for powers, it would be interesting if Mega Man could interact with specific enemies and/or the environment. How about standing under a rushing waterfall to refill Splash Woman's power? Switch to Magma Man's power and draw in energy from lava pools or flame attacks. Having more unique interaction with the level would give players more reasons to travel back to old levels while preserving the conservation design of the powers that already exists in Mega Man 9.
  

The (possible) Source of Classical & Western Game Design

As I was thinking about Classical game design the other day, I came upon a realization. After I had watched the new Hulk movie with all of the B.E.S. members, as is our custom, we conducted a rousing and thorough discussion of the movie. Without getting into the details, the new Hulk movie was disappointing for us. Like so many super hero movies that seem to have caught the attention of main stream America, the screenplays writers have no idea how to write "action".

All in all, action in a film is very similar to mechanics in a video game. And when writing a super hero film (or any action film) connecting the action to the core themes/characters/and ideas of a story is essential for creating a cohesive product. The first Hulk movie (which is to this day my favorite super hero movie) is an outstanding example of linking action/super abilities with the characters. In this case, Banner had a problem with his anger and himself (as a character). Using the Hulk as the symbol for power and anger, as well as employing a set of poignant visual metaphors, the Hulk/Banner grows (literally/metaphorically) as a character. At the climax, Hulk/Banner embraces himself and gives up his power/anger to overcome the deep seeded oppressive force of his father, who was the source of Banner's trauma from childhood.

Respecting the action/form/function of the characters that are in a story means taking the care to harness and bring together the action with the characters and their purpose. So, in the climax of a film we can understand that the main character isn't simply fighting in a boxing match. He's fighting for his family. Speed Racer isn't racing for the corrupted businesses within the racing circuit but for the thrill of the race. And Neo isn't sacrificing his life against an unbeatable enemy, but he's fighting because of how others believe in him and for the freedom of mankind.

Thinking about the mechanics of action in film reminded me of anime and Asian film. In the free wheeling fun spirit of most animes, the character's unique abilities are fused with their purpose, back story, and themes of the show. And what may be even more clever is, anime finds ways to shape characters/plot through interactions contained completely within their unique actions. Obstacles characters must overcome are represented by concrete forms that take on actions, functions, and even personas that interact with the main character in a very specific and personalized way.

Though I'm no expert on Japanese culture and history by any means, I do wonder if the pattern of a deep, respectful connection between people and actions that pervades the Japanese from their zeal in hobbies, their anime and film, to their game design stems from the way of the samurai.

Think about it this way, being a samurai was more than a hobby, job, or even career. The way of the samurai was a way of life that demanded a warrior to discipline their mind, body, and spirit. To live in such a way was much deeper than swinging a sword at one's enemies.

To see through the eyes of a samurai, to know what life is like for them is only possible (I can imagine) from following the way of the samurai and becoming one. For how can anyone know what it is truly like to train every day, to sharpen one's resolve, and to use a sword as a weapon to kill people. Perhaps the only way to know the relationship between person and action and how they can be one in the same is to take part in that action. This idea is reflective of the core of Classical game design and how video games can become art forms.

On the other hand and the other side of the world, we have America. We all know (or should be familiar) with the basic history. We were once oppressed and controlled by the motherland, so we fought for our freedom and independence. Once we got it, our culture glorified and grasped on to a few themes and ideas: Romanticizing nature, the American Dream, and freedom of all kinds are just a few of them.

Perhaps these ideas that are embedded in our culture are the source of Western game design. The lure of nature might have translated into the trend of making open world games. Perhaps Western game designers want to create a world that's open for the player to explore and conquer like the Americans did way back when. Perhaps the American Dream developed into how players can go from rags to riches by accumulating in game wealth, properties, and items. Even if the value is nothing more than points that can't be used for anything (achievement points), the attraction to get as many as possible no matter how difficult the challenges are or how bad the game may be (Avatar) is very real. Perhaps both of these ideas are about creating a sense of freedom for the player: freedom to change the controls, freedom to move the camera around, freedom to choose who to interact with and how a story unfolds. The more options, the more freedom even if the options don't have a substantial effect on the gameplay.

These were just a few ideas I had the other day. I haven't done any real research, nor do I plan on doing so. But do keep an eye out for where the games we play come from.

How To Write A Critical Video Game Review

Writing a video game review can become very difficult for a number of reasons. A limited amount of time for a reviewer to beat a game can put a lot of pressure on that particular reviewer's gameplay experience. Word limits can be constraining. Games can be massive and/or segmented so that simply describing the game can take pages. And the lack of developed competitive communities can put a freeze on any accurate assessment of game balance. Throw in issues with embargoes, review codes, and lock boxes and you a royal mess that is the current state of video game "journalism" (sometimes more aptly referred to as the video game enthusiast press).

To the people who write game reviews, I want to express up front that many reviews contain real nuggets of insight even if such treasured content is buried in a sea of feature lists and a plethora of other redundant content.

For the most part, however, game reviews and the scores/ratings that accompany them are bunk. Many have already gotten away with reviews filled with bold, brash, and unsupported statements with a scores to match, and many have cried out for a change. And it was this reason, among others, that I started the Critical-Gaming blog. I felt that there was a need to develop a language and establish some theory to elevate the discourse of video games. Though other critics from other media don't respect video games, it is up to us to set the standards first. How can we expect them to take us serious, when we don't take ourselves seriously? For months, this blog has been devoted to developing that critical-eye. Now, finally, enough of the groundwork has been laid out.

To tell the difference between a good/insightful review from one that will so quickly be drowned with the forgotten, I've created a list of topics reviews often cover. Because this list also features the kind of analysis that should support each topic, the list also functions as a sort of checklist.

• pacing: To discuss a game's pacing, which includes everything from the incorporation of new game ideas/mechanics to game difficulty, variation must be used. For narrative pacing refer to "story."
  
• game depth: The opposite of game complexity, to discuss game depth interplay (the mechanical counters that yield push-pull gameplay) and counterpoint (the coming together of game elements and game ideas to create an emergent whole) should be used.
  
• controls: One must consider the mechanics and how they are connected to the inputs/controller . Considering the mechanics also factors in the game's forms.
  
• story: Visual metaphors, mechanical metaphors, plot lines, interactive plot lines, themes, characters, scene construction, overall structure, etc. Discussing a game's story can become very complicated requiring a strong background in narrative/storytelling/and game design. Avoid plot spoilers and paraphrasing. Use any of the critical theory from this blog to help structure one's approach discussing a game's story.
  
• gameplay: It's important to only use the word "gameplay" to refer to the interactive game experience as a whole. Use of the word in any more specifically requires clarification.
  
• experience: One shouldn't use their experience as an end in itself, but use it to describe how one experienced the game and how that experience can be tied back to all the other parts of the game/the review.
  
• intuitive: One must take into account the controls -> the mechanics -> the forms.
  
• balance: If discussing how the various game elements/ideas work together in harmony, then use interplay, counterpoint, and/or variation. If discussing a competitive multiplayer type of balance, one should be careful to only speak about what seems to be unbalanced or balanced. Without having access to a developed competitive community who have spent countless man hours to iron out the game, it is very difficult to come to any kind of accurate definitive statement about a game's balance.
  
• emergence: One should consider if the nature of the emergence stays true to the forms of the game and/or how it affects the game positively or negatively. Support using counterpoint.
  

Of course, it would be unreasonable to expect reviewers to use the same terms and language that I've established here on the blog. However, the mentalities and the methods behind these terms are sound and quite reasonable. The language isn't meant to confine, restrict, and alienate others, but to hold them accountable for themselves and their writing. Plus, agreeing to the same definitions helps keep us on the same page.

A review should have something significant to say about a game so that it doesn't end up being a list of "what's in the box." By zooming in and being specific, the reviewer should reveal something otherwise hidden about the game. Avoid spoilers if you must. And even if one doesn't have enough time or space to really go into detail, the least a reviewer can do is point the reader in an interesting direction.

The tide of the hardcore gamer may be swayed by the full 10/10 review score that has been rolling onto the scene far to frequently in past months, but the number can't tell me what a game is. We need writers to step up their game. And for the ones who refuse, we need to be able to express/explain why they'll soon be forgotten.