At the risk of being out of place or something, I'm going to start this thread, because I can't believe nobody did it before, so I guess it's up to me to rectify this.
So, as I'm sure many or all of you already know, Mega Man 9 is being developed for WiiWare. For this one, series creator Keiji Inafune decided to go back to Mega Man's 8-bit roots, and he was dead serious: it will basically be a new NES game! His goal is to top Mega Man 2 as (what he feels is) the pinnacle of the classic series. Personally, I'm ecstatic.
Nintendo Power article with first ever screenshots and interview with Inafune himself:
http://www.rphaven.org/gs/stuff/mm9-1-thumb.jpghttp://www.rphaven.org/gs/stuff/mm9-2-thumb.jpghttp://www.rphaven.org/gs/stuff/mm9-3-thumb.jpg
First ever gameplay footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPwB0q20KkU
Reading the list of the new bosses, many of them reminded me of the old Nintendo Power contest where you were supposed to design a new one. I looked that up, and the old faithful internet found me the list:
http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/megaman-enemies/
And indeed, there are some very similar ones... MM9 on left, contest entries on right:
Galaxy Man -- Cosmic Man
Jewel Man -- Diamond Man
Hornet Man -- Bee Man, Insect Man
Plug Man -- Volt Man, Power Man
Tornado Man -- Storm Man
Yeah, I know they're pretty generic but still it makes me happy
Only Nintendo would be able to rerelease a 20 year old game, haul it as new and have peolpe agree with them.
Anyway, if this is like Megaman 2... Great, worth a playthrough. Like Megaman 4+... Yeah, I'll skip this one.
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
You know what would be double plus awesome? If they actually released this for the NES. The first officially released title in nearly 15 years! I might buy that.
Also, someone is REALLY excited for this.
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Of course, you have to wonder if this was purely Capcom's idea or if Nintendo (who owns Capcom, I know) encouraged it.
It would be interesting if they were coding the game for NES and released it as WiiWare even though it really uses Virtual Console underneath (or is Virtual Console really just a wrapper placed around a game's code when its distributed and not something built in to the Wii console?). But seeing that there is to be additional downloadable content along with the game (at an extra fee most likely), I kind of doubt that...
<ccfreak2k> There is no 'ctrl' button on DeHackEd's computer. DeHackEd is always in control.
On the Wii, Virtual Console games are complete Wii executables. There is no shared Virtual Console programming or data built in to the Wii. Each virtual console game takes up space for its own animated channel image, animated icon, emulator code, the rom, operations guide, etc.
Megaman 9 clearly violates the 8 sprites rule if you look at screenshots, and also clearly violates the 64 sprites rule as well. It even violates the '3 colors + transparent' rule for sprites, instead using some kind of '4 colors + transparent' rule.
However, you can see that they went for total authenticity in the audio department. You can hear that they bothered to limit the total number of sound channels, so when sound effects play, channels drop out of the music.
However, you can see that they went for total authenticity in the audio department. You can hear that they bothered to limit the total number of sound channels, so when sound effects play, channels drop out of the music.
I don't really understand. Hardware was very limited back then, so games went to great lengths to try to circumvent those limits, but it was, naturally, not possible to do so in all cases.
Now those annoying limits are a *good* thing? I don't get it.
(I understand that some retro people might like the square and triangle wave sounds, but I don't understand how even the most consummated retro person enjoys music which breaks every time a sound effect is played.)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Warp wrote:
I don't really understand. Hardware was very limited back then, so games went to great lengths to try to circumvent those limits, but it was, naturally, not possible to do so in all cases.
Now those annoying limits are a *good* thing? I don't get it.
It's a work of art. These days, hardware is extremely powerful and super-cool graphics aren't very interesting anymore. The only way to be interesting in graphics these days is to use a cool graphics style. The same can be said about audio.
(I understand that some retro people might like the square and triangle wave sounds, but I don't understand how even the most consummated retro person enjoys music which breaks every time a sound effect is played.)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Raiscan wrote:
GeminiSaint wrote:
Of course, I wonder if there will still be zipping across ceilings and stuff. Hyper glitched MM9 TAS anyone? :P
Excellent idea, with just two minor drawbacks.
1. We don't have any rerecording tools for the Wii emulator.
2. We don't have a Wii emulator.
Maybe we don't need any lasers. If the game is made as an actual NES game and not just imitating one, maybe someone will be able to hack out the ROM image. Hey, we can dream. :D
However, you can see that they went for total authenticity in the audio department. You can hear that they bothered to limit the total number of sound channels, so when sound effects play, channels drop out of the music.
I don't really understand. Hardware was very limited back then, so games went to great lengths to try to circumvent those limits, but it was, naturally, not possible to do so in all cases.
Now those annoying limits are a *good* thing? I don't get it.
(I understand that some retro people might like the square and triangle wave sounds, but I don't understand how even the most consummated retro person enjoys music which breaks every time a sound effect is played.)
The weirdest thing is, didn't they remove that limitation for the Anniversary Collection games? Even if you agree with Blublu that it's somehow "artistic" to knock out random parts of the music, they're not being consistent with how that style is updated.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Of course, I wonder if there will still be zipping across ceilings and stuff. Hyper glitched MM9 TAS anyone? :P
Excellent idea, with just two minor drawbacks.
1. We don't have any rerecording tools for the Wii emulator.
2. We don't have a Wii emulator.
Maybe we don't need any lasers. If the game is made as an actual NES game and not just imitating one, maybe someone will be able to hack out the ROM image. Hey, we can dream. :D
What Dwedit posted, along with the quality of the graphics in this gameplay video, suggests that this couldn't have been made as an NES ROM image.
Yeah, just because a game has graphics from that era doesn't mean it was made for an old system. Haven't you ever seen people drop old, pixelated game sprites into their Macromedia Flash games?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 4096
Location: Rio, Brazil
The issue here is the gameplay. If megaman 9 has 8 bits graphics and sounds, but is meant to play only once, watch 30 minutes cutscenes, and be very easy, then it will be like a new game with ugly graphics.
On the other hand, if it had WELL thought levels, gameplay that is designed to be fun, responsive and precise, current technology graphics, no cutscene longer than a few seconds and quickly skippable, and challenging difficulty, it would be a great game.
But it would also be expensive to develop. Imagine having to work on the graphics AND refined levels, gameplay and difficulty? They generally don't do that anymore, with very few exceptions because people just don't play these types of games so much, people play once and then forget it. How many times have we played our old games?
And here is where Capcom's strategy comes: Megaman 9 has already won. I think that different is good, but even for some games (the excellent Rez for the Dreamcast comes to mind) just being different doesn't make a hit. It was a very fortunate decision for them to make megaman 9 like this. It will sell because it's not just a game, it evokes issues regarding gameplay and what defines games themselves. Therefore it's very interesting for many people. And since it's "the first", I want to buy it. Who knows if it becomes a trend? I want Super Mario Bros. 3 part two :)
I'd have a 2D Metroid without lengthy cutscenes, anti-sequence-break systems, and dumbed down controls that restrict the player more than help them. This is actually way overdue.
Also, a 2D classic-style Castlevania would be awesome.
Resurrecting Megaman that has already passed through half a hundred iterations is kind of ironic, though.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Well, as I see it this needs to have a few basic things done right to interest me.
a) Price. Yes, it all boils down to this. I expect to see this at a low price since development doesn't take all that much resources. [You could compare to other stuff on for example XBLA]
b) Platform-consciousness. It may look like a NES game, it may sound like a NES game, but it better not be a NES game. I'm with Warp here, ditch the damn limitations, this isn't the 80s anymore.
What I mean is, that I would like to see things in the graphical style chosen which were out of the question on the original hardware due to the limitations. Sprite limits are a thing of the past. Sure, a few purists might whine and throw a tantrum but overall I see this bringing out a better game. Sound channel limitations are in the same category, give the composer(s) some room.
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home."
( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
