Street Fighter X Mega Man

Capcom really hasn't treated Mega Man well lately, hasn't it?  From the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 to Mega Man's exclusion from Capcom's Versus series, it hasn't really been a good time for the Blue Bomber.  But Capcom is looking to rectify all that with the release of Street Fighter X Mega Man. 

Street Fighter X Mega Man is a throwback to the old NES era Mega Man games, except instead of bosses like Cut Man and Elec Man, you get Street Fighter characters like Ryu and Chun Li.  The game perfectly captures the feel of those old NES games decorates it with Street Fighter flourishes. You'll run, jump slide and shoot your way through Street Fighter themed levels until you meet It's an old school game with, old school challenges.  

If you're young enough to never have played any of those old Mega Man games, you're in for a shock.  The game is HARD.  Capital H, capital A, capital R, capital D.  HARD.  Probably harder than any game you've played in the recent past (except for maybe Dark Souls).  If you can beat a level on your first try, you're a better gamer than me  But you probably won't.  You will die.  You will die a lot.  This game will take you to the edge of breaking your spirit... but you'll still be compelled to play. 

There are no saves and no codes to continue where you left off, so if you exit the game, you'll have to start all over again.  It can be a little frustrating since, depending on how good you are, the game can take hours to beat.  If you want to beat the game you basically have to clear your schedule, unless you want to start over from scratch.  You do get a limited amount of lives, but fortunately, the game gives you the option to continue... unfortunately, you continue from the beginning of the level. 

In keeping with the game's retro theme, it's best played on a controller of some sort.  Your index, middle and ring fingers just weren't meant to do what the game requires them to do.  I initially tried playing with the keyboard, but it just made a hard game harder.  I plugged in an old controller I had and it just feels right.  Make sure you use a controller you don't care too much about, because you might want to throw it across the room or snap it in half after playing the same level over and over again... 

But for all of controller breaking difficulty, there's a good game underneath. I don't know if it'll have the same effect on someone who hasn't played the original Mega Man games though.  There is a sense of accomplishment that you get after beating a level that you don't get from any other game. 

It's nice to finally see Capcom give one of it's marquee franchises some of the respect it deserves.  (But why does Mega Man still get second billing in a game that's clearly focused on him?)

Rating

Hey, it's a free game.  You should totally play it.  I'd say it's a "buy", but it's a free game.  I mean, if you want to give me some cash for playing it, I'd be cool with that. 

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