Before and After Mega Man X

Note: This post will posted on videogamesbeforeandafter.blogspot.com at the same time it will be posted on screwattack.com, but videogamesbeforeandafter.blogspot.com will have a poll allowing the chosing of the next blog I should do.

This is a blog I've been waiting to do for a while and was requested once I did my Mega Man blog. Mega Man X is the best spin-off of the Mega Man series. I don't care if you don't think it's the best spin-off, it is, okay. Unless you can get 100 people to send me messages saying that there's another spin-off just as good or better than Mega Man X, I won't do a blog post about it. I might give them some honorable mentions just for the historical value of the series, but I'm not going to do a blog entry about that spin off unless the task above is completed.

Before:
Before Mega Man X, there was only the Mega Man games for the NES. With the release of the SNES in 1991, Capcom decided to release Mega Man games for the SNES originally calling them Super Mega Man.

Mega Man 5 was released for the NES a year after the release of the SNES with gamers anticipating the first Mega Man game for the SNES. Mega Man X was finally released for the SNES in January of 1994 with the release of Mega Man 6 soon after initially causing some confusion in the gamer community.

"Is that green robot there the karma chameleon?"

After:
The first installment of the series, Mega Man X, was released for the SNES in January of 1994. The game starts out in the year 21XX and the robot X was discovered by Dr. Cain in the ruins of Dr. Light's former robot research facility and with the help of X, Dr. Cain creates the first ever replicate android or Reploid was produced. A Reploid is meant to think, learn, grow, and feel like a human and soon Reploids were being mass produced.

Since Reploids have free will there are Reploids that cause crime. These Reploids are said to have "gone maverick" causing these robots to be referred to as Mavericks. The government had Dr. Cain form the police organization, the Maverick Hunters, to stop Maverick incidents. The Maverick Hunters help restore damage by the Mavericks and other do other jobs as needed.

For the leader of the Maverick Hunters, Sigma was built. Sigma had an advanced thought system and was built to not have the defects that other
Reploids have. Sigma later went maverick himself saying all humans are inferior and had all of his followers kill all humans. Zero, being the only Maverick Hunter left teams up with X to stop Sigma.

The game play is very similar to the original Mega Man games, but is meant to be more fast paced and harder than the Mega Man games. There are power-ups hat X gains that are hidden in the game and the most notable is the hadouken power-up. The bosses, instead of ending with man and are built by Dr. Wily, are based upon animals and are Maverick followers of Sigma.

"He gets his inspiration from Ryu."

The sequel to Mega Man X, Mega Man X2, was released for the SNES in December of 1994. The game is supposed to take place six months and thirteen days after Sigma's death. X became the leader of the Maverick Hunters and continues to fight the ongoing Maverick Rebellion. X had tracked the remaining Mavericks to a Reploid factory and fought them, but that wasn't the end.

Three Maverick leaders, Serges, Agile, and Violen form the X-hunters and take control of the North Pole. Between the time period of the two games, Serges collected the parts of Zero, who died in the previous game. The X-hunters contact the Maverick Hunters and taunt X with Zero's body which has been split into three pieces and the X-hunters hope this will lure X to them leading him to his demise.

The game play of Mega Man X2 is very similar to its predecessor with with some minor changes. The helmet upgrade allows you to detect hidden items and passages among other things.

"Who's the green biker dude?"

The last game in the series to be released on the SNES, Mega Man X3 was released in America January 4, 1996. The story of the game revolves around Dr. Doppler, a Reploid scientist. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Doppler, he has prevented all the Mavericks from going crazy. The Reploids joined together to formed a society around their mentor called Doppler Town. As was well, until the former Mavericks reverted to their old ways. Doppler was blamed for the incident and X and Zero went out to contain a new threat.

After, X and Zero defeat Dr. Doppler, he realizes the damage he's done and says that Sigma is alive in the form of a computer virus and he corrupted to build a new body for Sigma. Then, X seeks out Sigma and after an intense battle, the Sigma Virus in its pure form chases X in attempt to possess him. After X finds himself at a dead end, two different endings may happen. In the main ending Zero loads the anti-virus on his sabre and rushes in just in time to save X causing Sigma to explode, taking out the lab as they evacuate. However, if Zero was injured during the game, Dr. Doppler would use his own body as the anti-virus and sacrifices himself for the greater good.

This is the first game where you can play as Zero and the last game to feature a password system as the saving device. After this game the series makes a switch in systems.

"Hooray for Zero!"

Mega Man X4 was released for the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn in September of 1997. There are two different story lines to the game. There's Zero's story line and X's story line both complete with horribly dubbed, full motion video cutscenes and on screen text. After the third defeat of the Maverick robot Sigma, Dr. Cain starts the initiative to create another Reploid army to aid the Maverick Hunters called Repliforce. Repliforce is a very strict regime led by General and his second-in-command, Colonel. Six Months after the creation of the group, Cain Labs finds the methods of Repliforce ineffective and potentially dangerous in the Maverick situation. To make things worse, General has been meeting with a "mysterious figure" who plots the Hunters' demise, saying that they are a threat to the jurisdiction of the Maverick Hunters. All hell breaks loose when the floating city, Sky Lagoon, crashes to the ground onto the city below it. The game starts where either X or Zero are sent to find the possible causes of the disaster only to become entangled in a struggle against Sigma to save the world, again.

Mega Man X4 is very similar to its predecessors on the SNES, but with minor changes. This is the first game in the series to feature Iris, Colonel's sister. The graphics of the game are improved, but the game is still in its original 2D platformer style. Mega Man X4 also features sounds that are added to the character when they attack, like grunts.

"Which one should I play as, awesome or awesomer."

The next installment of the series, Mega Man X5 was released for the PlayStation January 31, 2001. Sigma, who's been revived again by an awful story line, researches the origin and design of Zero and discovers how to unlock Zero's true power, hopefully killing X in the process, which he won't. Sigma attacks the Maverick Hunters intending to lose. Once he does, he spreads the Maverick virus across the Earth, causing mayhem. Meanwhile, a Reploid mercenary awesomely named Dynamo is hired by Sigma to make Eurasia, a space colony, to crash into Earth and the Hunters only have sixteen hours to stop it.

To stop Eurasia from crashing into the Earth, the Hunters have two options. The first option is to fire a cannon called the Enigma at Eurasia vaporizing it. If the Enigma shot fails, which is randomly done by the game, the second option is to pilot a space shuttle into the colony, destroying it. To increase their chances, Zero and X get dispatched to get the parts for the two devices which are coincidentally guarded by eight robot masters and X and Zero must defeat them to receive the parts.

The Enigma is less likely to succeed compared to the shuttle assuming that all the parts are collected. If the Enigma shot succeeds or fails, a new virus will appear on Earth, appearing as the Sigma virus combining with leftover pieces of the colony. If the Enigma or the space shuttle succeeds, X and Zero will hunt for the cause of the virus. If the Enigma shot or the shuttle fails or time runs out, the colony crashes into Earth nearly destroying it and Zero will go Maverick.

In both cases, once the virus' location has been discovered, the Hunters investigate. X and Zero go into a weird underground fortress. In the bizarre fortress, X and Zero cross paths, where mistrust and suspicion leads to battle between our heroes. After the duel, the story changes slightly. If Zero went Maverick, he would sacrifice himself leaving X to fight Sigma alone. If Zero didn't go Maverick, Zero saves X and himself from Sigma and they both are able to fight him.

There are three possible endings to the game. If Zero went Maverick, X beats Sigma but is damaged. A mysterious figure, a hologram of Dr. Light, heals him, but erases all of his memories of Zero. X is then seen three years later with X talking to two hunters and Douglas, Signas, and Alia talking about X's memories of Zero being erased.

If Zero didn't go Maverick, Sigma destroys the Maverick Hunters' base after his defeat. X attemps to save Zero but is taken down by Sigma having both of our heroes damaged in the process. Zero manages to get a final blow on Sigma, causing the endings to diverge. If Zero destroys Sigma, he realizes his true purpose in life before dying. If X defeated Sigma, the true ending happens, he receives Zero's sabre and continues to fight as a Maverick Hunter.

The gameplay of Mega Man X5 is basically the same as it's predecessor, but features the the "Black Zero" armor for Zero if Zero reaches the hologram of Dr. Light first.

"Yay! A back-up plan! If I knew about this earlier I would've kept playing."

The last Mega Man X game to be released for the PlayStation, Mega Man X6 was released for the PlayStation on December 4, 2001. The game begins three weeks after the last game, where Zero has been missing and has been presumed dead. The Earth's surface has also been rendered uninhabitable. A Maverick named the Zero Nightmare, a purely evil Maverick, has been causing havoc all across the Reploid world. X, curious about the Maverick and angered by the use of Zero's name in vain, seeks out the Maverick.

After defeating the Zero nightmare, X finds out Zero is alive recovering from the damage he sustained in the last game. Once Zero has been recovered, they seek out the creator of the Zero Nightmare.

This search takes our heroes to a lead researcher named Gate in his lab. After X beats Gate in combat, he tells X that he has rebuilt Sigma. Sigma then kills Gate and fights X, and like always X defeats Sigma in battle.

This game is different from its predecessors because it puts emphasis on saving other Reploids. Instead of getting one-ups for saving Reploids, you receive power-ups that can be permanently equipped to the character. The amount of power-ups that can be equipped is based on the players rank.

"Thank god for one ending and not a billion different ones."

The first Mega Man X game to be released on the PlayStation 2 and the first game to feature Axl, Mega Man X7 was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 14, 2003. After the previous Maverick conflict the world begins to rebuild, but like always, the Maverick problem still continues. As a new crime wave hits, X is conflicted with problems that have plagued him since he joined the Maverick Hunters. Unable to find answers, X drops his roll from the Maverick Hunters to play a more strategic roll. With X's roll left empty, many groups have formed to fill the void. One of the most notable groups is the "Red Alert Syndicate", growing so large that they are now a dominant force. Red Alert is similar to Repliforce, but mainly consists of vigilantes. The group claims to hunt Mavericks, but apparently they do more than hunting Mavericks. Axl, a Red Alert member, has had enough of the groups "killing" and leaves Red Alert. The groups leader, Red, is angered by this and goes out of his way to get Axl back.

Axl is chased by a mechaniloid to bring him back to Red Alert, and the chase wreaks so much havok that Zero is sent to investigate. After taking down the mechaniloid, Axl is taken into custody by Zero at Hunter HQ. After this ordeal, Red challenges the Hunters. He will release some of the Mavericks Red Alert has in captivity and whoever defeats the most gets Axl. Zero goes into action immediately, and out of remorse, Axl wants to prove he can be a Maverick Hunter. X stays behind, trying to find a peaceful solution to what he thinks is a pointless conflict. Eventually X decides that he is the quickest way to end this battle and joins in. Alia later finds the location of Red Alert's base and inside is a newly built Sigma, no surprise. Sigma is defeated and X promotes Axl to an official Maverick Hunter.

This game is very strange because its the only game in the series to not have X as a playable character at the beginning of the game. The only way to unlock X is to save 64 Reploids or beat the 8 robot masters. Also, this is the only game in the series to have 3D graphics combined with 2D gameplay.

"Cool! Giant Turtles! I call shotgun!"

The most recent installment in the Mega Man X series is Mega Man X8 and it was released for the PlayStation 2 on December 7, 2004. The story continues with the rebellions of the Mavericks continuing with seemingly no possible end. To escape from these battles, mankind has built an elevator to take equipment and supplies to the moon in order to expand their horizons. This project is named the "Jakob Project" and the Reploid, Lumine, is put in charge of it. Another part of the project is sending a more advanced generation of Reploids to the moon to work on the project. The New Generation Reploids use DNA to change form according to task, making them the perfect workers. Axl, as revealed in Mega Man X7, was built as a prototype for the New Generation Reploids. These Reploids also have built-in subroutines to prevents them from going Maverick.

Everything runs smoothly, until Vile is somehow resurrected and kidnaps Lumine for no apparent reason and it's up to the Maverick Hunters to rescue him, but they don't know that Sigma has returned again for the umpteenth fucking time. Contained in every copy of the New Generation Reploid's DNA database is Sigma's DNA, allowing the "Maverick proof" Reploids to actually go Maverick. Sigma wants to destroy the old generation of Reploids and replace them with a the New Generation Reploids. Once Sigma is defeated, Lumine continues the operation by attempting to kill the Maverick Hunters. After a dramatic battle, Lumine is defeated. However, when Axl walks over to the defeated Lumine's body, he is shocked as a tentacle pops out and damages the crystal on his head. Once our heroes head back down to Earth, Zero wonders if Sigma is gone for good, X wonders if he is truly obsolete, and Axl lays unconscious, with a small fragment of crystal shard glowing.

Gameplay of the game isn't very innovative to the series in any way. The only major change is the feature letting you to shoot Axl's gun in all directions.

"Hold on a sec, I just need to fan myself down."

There are many other games that relate to the Mega Man X series such as Mega Man Xtreme or Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, and also many spin-offs like Mega Man Zero or Mega Man Legends, but these are most notable games in the franchise. The series has come a very long way from it's classic 2D SNES look to the 3D visualizations in the most recent games and hopefully Mega Man X8 isn't the last game of the franchise as hopes of a Mega Man X9 will be coming soon.

"Cross your fingers or I'll shoot you!"

Before and After Wolfenstein 3D

Note: I have this blog posted on screwattack.com under the name MisterBo, so if this looks familiar that's probably why. If you want to see blog posts before I post them on blog spot, they will be on screwattack.com.

One of the best things to ever come from the PC world, the Wolfenstein series isn't as strong as it was 15 years ago, but is still popular. This game has a very interesting story behind its games with the original Wolfenstein being a different type of game from the Wolfenstein today. Also, we can probably all agree that the Wolfenstein series didn't become mainstream until Wolfenstein 3D.

Before:
The company Muse Software was founded by Ed Zaron in 1978. Initially publishing games, the company also produced non-game software such as word processers. In 1981, Muse produced the game, Castle Wolfenstein, for the Apple II and later ported it to DOS, the Atari 8-bit family, and the Commodore 64 thus starting the Wolfenstein series.

“Generic Nazi is generic.”

Castle Wolfenstein is a stealth game taking place during World War II. The main objective of the game is to go around the levels of the castle to find the secret war plans and escape alive. Higher military ranks are achieved with every successful escape starting at Private and ending at Field Marshall. The player is to go around the levels by sneaking past guards, impersonating Nazi soldiers and sometimes even killing opponents if necessary. Castle Wolfenstein was one of the first computer games to have crude, but innovative digitized voices which involved the Nazi guards shouting commands such as “Halt!” (Stop!) and “Kommen Sie!” (Come, you!).

In 1984, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein was released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and DOS in 1984.

“I’m gonna getcha!”

This game is set in World War II during Hitler’s reign as Chancellor of Germany. The main objective is to go around the levels of the secret bunker in Berlin where Hitler is holding secret meetings with his senior staff. The player must retrieve a bomb that the operatives have placed in the bunker and put it outside the door of the room where Hitler is holding his meeting.

The game is basically the same as its predecessor, but with updates. The guards now use a pass system which the guards periodically call the player to show the correct pass (varies by floor), or offer a bribe. If an incorrect pass is shown or the bribe is rejected due to a lack of money, the guard will attempt to activate the bunker wide alarm or attempt to kill the player.

The company of Muse Software shut down in 1987 allowing the Wolfenstein gaming title to be used without copyright restrictions. Thus, inspired by the Muse Software Wolfenstein games, id Software released the father of first person shooters, Wolfenstein 3D was released for the MS-DOS in May of 1992.

“Go kick a Nazi in the face today.”

After:
Wolfenstein 3D has three episodes to it. The episodes mainly focus on William “B.J.” Blazkowicz’s attempts to escape from Castle Wolfenstein and overthrow the Nazi regime. The first episode, Escape from Castle Wolfenstein, B.J., an Allied spy, was captured while trying to find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust, and was imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein. B.J. tries to escape the castle prison while taking on SS guards, he then finds himself face to face with the head prison guard Hans Grosse.

The second episode, Operation: Eisenfaust, B.J. discovers that the operation is real and the Nazis are actually creating an army of undead mutants in Castle Hollehammer. B.J. goes into the castle and confronts the mad scientist, Dr. Schabbs, creator of the mutants. The defeat of Dr. Schabbs signals the end of this biological war.

Die, Führer, Die! is the chronologically last episode. Fighting Nazi soldiers and attacking the bunker under the Reichstag, B.J. finds himself against Adolf Hitler equipped with a robotic suit.

The Nocturnal Mission creates a prequel storyline, focusing on Germany’s plans for chemical warfare (Giftkreig). A Dark Secret deals with the pursuit of the scientist responsible for the development of the weaponry. B.J.’s task is to infiltrate the weapons research facility and take down another mad scientist, Dr. Otto Giftmacher (Poison Maker translated to English).

Trail of the Madman takes place in Castle Erlangen. B.J.’s goal in this episode is to locate the maps and plans of the chemical war, guarded by Han’s sister, Gretel Grosse.

The story finally comes to a close in Confrontation, set in Castle Offenbach. The final battle is fought between B.J. and the leader of the chemical war initiative, General Fettgesicht (Fat Face translated to English).

Each episode features ten levels, or missions, which have to be finished sequentially. The game had some drastic changes made to it when ported to the SNES. They made a downgrade in graphics, they switched all Swastikas in the game with crosses and removed Hitler’s moustache along with many other things.

“It’s not as fun killing regular soldiers.”

I’m going to skip over a couple games in the Wolfenstein series to talk about the most recent game in the series. Wolfenstein was released for all retail platforms in August of 2009. The story takes place in the fictional town of Isenstadt which the Nazis took complete control of in order to mine rare Nachtsonne crystals needed to access the “Black Sun” dimension. As the game progresses, things that happen in Isenstadt become very strange like German patrollers are replaced with supernatural creatures along with other things.

The plot is basically the same as every other Wolfenstein game, shoot Nazis and stop them from doing weird supernatural things. Also, like every other Wolfenstein game it takes every Nazi myth and tall tale and cranks the dial up to 11. The whole game itself is like watching a B-rated movie, it was good but you could have missed it. The graphics are amazing compared to Wolfenstein 3D and shows really how far the series has come, but over the years the series has become less popular and doesn’t have the same fan base that it had 15 years ago.

“It’s almost sad really.”

Before and After Mega Man

Note: I have this blog posted on screwattack.com under the name MisterBo, so if this looks familiar that's probably why. If you want to see blog posts before I post them on blog spot, they will be on screwattack.com.

I just needed to do this. It's a game that has the most spin-offs of any other game and a lot of sequels. Mega Man has nine sequel and eight spin-offs. Since there is so much to talk about, I will not talk about the spin-offs and will probably talk about them in there own separate blog entries because, except for Mega Man X, the spin-offs have nothing to do with the original series, especially Mega Man Legends. The fucking game takes place in the 81st century, 6000 YEARS FROM NOW. When the original game is said to take place in the year 2009. It's a really messed up series.

Before:
On May 30 1979, the company of Capcom was founded. In 1984, Capcom released their first arcade game Vulgus.

"This game makes less sense than Joust."

Later the same year, Capcom released one of their more popular arcade games was 1942, a side-scrolling shooter.

"The planes! There everywhere!!!"

In 1987, a big year for Capcom, the company released the arcade fighter Street Fighter, one of Capcom's most successful franchises.

"Wow! Ryu, I didn't know you dyed your hair red."

The same year, Capcom released the platformer Mega Man for the NES.

"Worst box art ever."

After:
The original Mega Man was released for the NES in December of 1987. The game proceeds the events after the co-creation of the humanoid robot Mega Man by Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. They also created six other robots: Cut Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, and Guts Man. These robots were for industrial use like building and demolition for the benefit of mankind. Dr. Wily though grows disloyal of his partner and reprograms the six robots to aid his plan to take over the world. This game featured a system revolutionary for its time allowing you to choose what level to start out with and after defeating a Robot Master, you get a weapon similar to the Robot Master's ability. Also the game featured a point system and after beating each level, you received bonus points.

"Where's the run away screaming like a
little girl option?"

After the events of Mega Man, Mega Man 2 was released for the NES in July of 1989 and takes place in the year 200X. Dr. Wily builds a new fortress with eight new Robot Masters: Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man. After defeating the Robot Masters, Mega Man fights and defeats Dr. Wily's holographic projection. After Dr. Wily begs for mercy, Mega Man spares his life. Mega Man 2 features the same level choosing and power-up system, but no longer has the point system. Mega Man 2 is the first game in the Mega Man series to feature a password system and the game features power-ups given to Mega Man by Dr. Light.

"This is so not fair."

The sequel to Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, was released for the NES in November of 1990 and also takes place in 200X. Dr. Wily has claimed to reformed his evil way and is working with Dr. Light to build a peace-keeping robot named "Gamma". However, the Robot Masters set in charge of the "mining worlds" a crazy and make off with the eight power crystals. Mega Man is called to save the day with his new helper robot dog, Rush, to retrieve the crystals from the mining worlds. After the crystals are collected, Wily steals Gamma and goes to his new fortress. Mega Man goes to the fortress to destroy Gamma. After Mega Man's final confrontation with Wily, the fortress crumbles and Proto Man appears in enough time to save Mega Man, but Dr. Wily was crushed under the rubble. The game features the same power-up and level choosing system from previous games and a password system. Also, Rush has many abilities like to give Mega Man extra jump height and jet.

"Why is a little blue sperm floating towards me?"

The next game, Mega Man 4, was released for the NES in January of 1992 and takes place in the year 20XX. One year after Mega Man 3, Dr. Light receives a letter from Dr. Cossack claiming he is the best robot engineer in all the world. Cossack also states that he will release his army of robots as a "test" for Light to see which one is the best. The next game, Mega Man 4, was released for the NES in January of 1992 and takes place in the year 20XX. One year after Mega Man 3, Dr. Light receives a letter from Dr. Cossack claiming he is the best robot engineer in all the world. Cossack also states that he will release his army of robots as a "test" for Light to see which one is the best. Mega Man is sent to destroy Dr. Cossack's Robot Masters: Ring Man, Dive Man, Skull Man, Bright Man, Dust Man, Drill Man, Toad Man, and Pharaoh Man. Once Mega Man destroys all of the Robot Masters, he makes his way to Dr. Cossack's icy fortress. In the middle of the final battle with Cossack, Proto Man teleports in with Cossack's daughter, Kalinka. Dr. Wily kidnapped Kalinka and convinced Cossack to build an army of robots to fight Mega Man. With the plan uncovered, Mega Man must go through the new castle only for Dr. Wily to escape in the end. This game features the same power-up and password system. The game also features Rush and the first appearance of Flip Top Eddie. The game also gives Mega Man the new "Mega Buster".

"Has anyone seen my helmet?"

Mega Man 5 was released for the NES in December of 1992 and takes place in the year 20XX. Proto Man is discovered to be leading an army of robots in a series of destructive attacks on the world. On top of that, he even kidnaps Dr. Light. Mega Man wonders why his brother is doing this, but does what must do to stop him. After defeating the eight Robot Masters: Stone Man, Gravity Man, Crystal Man, Napalm Man, Gyro Man, Charge Man, Wave Man, and Charge Man, Mega Man makes his way to Proto Man's castle. However, the real Proto Man arrives revealing the robot as Dr. Wily's evil robot, Dark Man. Mega Man destroys Dark Man, goes to Dr. Wily's new fortress, and saves Dr. Light as Wily makes his getaway. Same power-up and password systems as previous games and same old Rush. This game though, features the first appearance of the super weapon Beat.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke." *vomits in corner*

Mega Man 6 was released in March of 1994 and takes place after the events of Mega Man 5. A man known as "Mr. X" hosts the first annual "Robot Masters Tournament" to test the abilities of the world's greatest robot engineers. Dr. Light decides to not enter the tournament, but sends Mega Man to supervise. Near the end of the tournament, Mr. X announces he's reprogrammed the top 8 robots to do his bidding in taking over the world. Dr. Light immediately sends Mega Man to stop the madness. Mega Man defeats the Robot Masters: Blizzard Man, Wind Man, Flame Man, Tomahawk Man, Centaur Man, Knight Man, Yamato Man, and Plant Man, and makes his way to Mr. X's fortress. Mr. X removes his disguise revealing himself as Dr. Wily and he makes his way to his new fortress. After pursuing and defeating Dr. Wily, he is finally sent to prison. Same power- up and password system as in other games, but rush is used as an armor boost to Mega Man and this is the last Mega Man game for the NES.

"Why does HE get a big turret gun and I don't."

Mega Man 7 was released for the SNES in September of 1995 and takes place after the events of Mega Man 6. I'm not going to explain the backstory so I'll get on to the plot. Wily always knew that he would be imprisoned someday, so he built 8 back-up Robot Masters: Junk Man, Spring Man, Burst Man, Cloud Man, Freeze Man, Shade Man, Slash Man, and Turbo Man. If the Robot Masters don't receive a communication within six months, they will go searching for their master. It has been six months, so they have been released and go on a rampage looking for Dr. Wily. Mega Man is called into action and gives chase, but is stooped by Bass. Bass has capabilities much like Mega Man and has his own robotic wolf, Treble. After a brief battle, Bass says that they both are trying to stop Wily and teleports off confusing Mega Man, but convinces him that he has a new ally. In one of the locations of the Robot Master's, Mega Man discovers an injured Bass and takes him back to Dr. Light's lab for repairs. Mega Man then defeats the remaining Robot Master's and upon returning home, he discovers that Bass went berserk and took some enhancement parts that Dr. Light was working on. Wily appears on the video monitor and says that Bass and Treble are his own creations and only gained Mega Man's trust to steal the parts. Bass' ambition though is to beat Mega Man in battle to declare himself the strongest robot in existence. Mega Man makes his way to Wily's new fortress and defeats Bass, Treble, and Dr. Wily himself. Mega Man says he is finally going to kill Dr. Wily, but Dr. Wily says he can't hurt humans because he is a robot. Mega Man says he is "more than a robot" and prepares to kill his nemesis, but is interrupted by the fortresses self-destruction. Bass comes to Dr. Wily's rescue and takes him out of the fortress and Mega Man also makes his way out of the fortress also.
The game features the same power-up and password system as the NES games and Rush is the same as Rush in Mega Man 3. The only main innovation is the improved graphics and the boss system where you have to defeat the first four bosses before defeating the next four.

"Let me guess, do you have a little bird super
weapon named Time Signature?"

Mega Man 8 released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in February of 1998. The game opens with a battle in space with two alien robots who eventually plummet towards Earth critically injured. Meanwhile, Mega Man and Rush go to investigate strange energy reading on a nearby island. On the island, Mega Man finds Dr. Wily flying away with a strange purple orb, but before chasing him, Mega Man sees a damaged robot and asks Dr. Light to repair it. Dr. Wily then releases four new Robot Masters and after defeating one, Mega Man receives a purple orb like the one Dr. Wily had. Each of the Robot Masters have a strange energy that Dr. Wily has infused them with. After defeating all four robots: Tengu Man, Astro Man, Sword Man, and Cloud Man, Dr. Light tells Mega Man the robot should be fine after some rest. After they leave the lab, the robot wakes up, sees the purple orb, and flies out of the lab enraged. Mega Man follows the robot to a mine shaft on the other side of the globe. After battling the robot, Proto Man comes and tells Mega Man that his new fortress, "Wily Tower", is just ahead, but is caught by one of Wily's robotic creations trying to get there. The robot saves him and says his name is Duo. Duo explains that the purple orbs are "Evil Energy", and he has been tracking down this energy around the universe trying to destroy it before it engulfs the entire world. However, Wily has a barrier around his new fortress, and Duo tells Mega Man to destroy the four other Robot Masters: Search Man, Frost Man, Grenade Man, and Aqua Man, while he destroys the rest of the world's energy. Once the Robot Masters are defeated, the barrier is lifted from Wily Tower and Mega Man makes his way through it eventually defeating Bass and Dr. Wily himself. The "Evil Energy" is destroyed before it spread through the world, and the fortress is demolished with Mega Man inside who is infected with the "Evil Energy". Duo arrives and cures Mega Man of the Evil Energy seemingly getting rid of all the Evil Energy in the world. This game is different from other Mega Man games by having a save system, anime cutscenes, and voiced character sprites. The game though had the same weapon system as in other games.

"I recall Aqua Man not being a big ugly robot."

Mega Man 9 was released for the WiiWare and PlayStation Network in September of 2008 and was released for Xbox Live Arcade in October of 2008. Dr. Light is blamed for a robotic rampage and Dr. Wily apparently has no connection to it. Dr. Wily announces he needs money to complete the robots he built to combat those of Dr. Light. Mega Man vows to fight to prove Dr. Light's innocence and to expose Wily's intentions. After defeating a certain Robot Master, a piece of scrap metal is left behind revealing that the robots are due for recycling. Mega Man eventually receives the last Robot Master's memory chip which reveals that Dr. Wily vowed to save the robots from their expiration date and he reprogrammed them. Before the information becomes public, Wily swoops in and steals the chip in his flying saucer. Mega Man fights and defeats Wily, who immediately begs for forgiveness. Mega Man scolds him by using Rush as a projector to show Wily's begging for forgiveness from previous Mega Man games. Mega Man discovers that Wily is responsible for arresting Dr. Light and that he has fallen ill. Then, Proto Man comes in to warn Mega Man that the seemingly ill Dr. Light is just an impostor used for the news footage. Mega Man takes his chances with Wily, and while he's disabled with Wily's fortress coming down on him, Proto Man swoops in to save him. Wily escapes and Dr. Light is freed returning everything back to normal. The eight Robot Masters: Concrete Man, Tornado Man, Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man, Jewel Man, and Splash Woman, are reprogrammed and work along Dr. Light and his other robots. This game is a throwback Mega Man game that involves saving the game and doesn't use Rush, Beat, or Eddie as power-ups. Also, you can buy Proto Man and use him as a playable character in the game.

"I'm getting to old for this shit."

The most recent Mega Man game, Mega Man 10, was released for WiiWare, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade in March of 2010. A robotic illness known as Roboenza starts infecting robots, making them malfunction, with Roll as one of the victims. A month following the outbreak, a bunch of robots go berserk and try to take over the world. These robots are Sheep Man, Commando Man, Blade Man, Strike Man, Solar Man, Chill Man, Nitro Man, and Pump Man. Dr. Wily comes to Mega Man and Dr. Light saying that he had a machine to develop and make a cure until an infected robot stole it. Mega Man decides to help Dr. Wily to retrieve the machine and runs into Proto Man, who decides to join him. Meanwhile, Bass sets out on his own challenge to destroy the robots to prove that he's the strongest. Mega Man is halfway to finishing his journey when Dr. Wily develops a prototype antidote, and gives it to Roll. After defeating all eight Robot Masters, Mega Man appears to have caught Roboenza. Dr. Wily then appears on television to say that he created the virus and he only developed a cure to bribe other all the infected robots to work for him. Roll then gives Mega Man her medicine and says that she was waiting for "a really sick robot was brought in". Mega Man takes Roll's medicine so that he can defeat Dr. Wily and bring back enough medicine for everyone. During the attack on the fortress, Proto Man comes down with Roboenza and Mega Man gives him an extra sample of the cure that he acquired. A similar incident happens to Bass, but the only difference is that Treble is the one who gives him the cure. After chasing Wily from his fortress to his space base and defeating him once again, our heroes discover that he's ironically very ill. Unable to let him die, they take Wily to a nearby hospital where he is cured and escapes a few days later. Surprisingly, Wily leaves enough of the cure behind to cure all of the infected robots. This Mega Man game also features a save system and allows the usage of Rush during gameplay. Other Playable characters that can be purchased are Proto Man and Bass.

"Why me?"

The Mega Man series has come a long way from it's NES days producing a whole bunch of spin-off series, arcade games in Japan, and remakes. Also as an honorable mention, the Mega Man series even had its own line of game boy games similar in gameplay to the NES games. The Blue Bomber is still going strong today and the only thing that could be the cherry on top of the Mega Man sundae is putting him in a Super Smash Bros. game.

"It could happen."

Also, the series inspired its own cartoon in the 80's, an anime, and fan film that can be found on the website. In my opinion, the cartoon is hilariously bad, the anime is okay, and the fan film gets a thumbs up.

"Yeah, it's that bad."

Before and After The Legend of Zelda

Note: I have this blog posted on screwattack.com under the name MisterBo, so if this looks familiar that's probably why. If you want to see blog posts before I post them on blog spot, they will be on screwattack.com.

Probably one of the best video games on the NES, The Legend of Zelda is another masterpiece produced by the video game master Shigeru Miyamoto. The series itself is great, but the time line in really confusing. Mainly I'll talk about the original The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Before:
With the Nintendo's success of Super Mario Bros., Shigeru Miyamoto and his team were to create an adventure game different from Mario. His team came up with ideas and put them into two catergories, Mario and non-Mario. Inspired by his childhood adventures of traveling through the forests of Japan, Shigeru Miyamoto came up with a non-linear adventure game using the non-Mario ideas. Also, he thought of the first name of American author F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, "Zelda" Fitzgerald as part of the title. The game is now known today as The Legend of Zelda.

"In video games, Link = Shigeru Miyamoto."

After:
Every The Legend of Zelda game has basically the same goal. Go through dungeons, collecting items, and save the Princess Zelda, but every game has a different place in the time line with different game play, a different Link, and a different Zelda. The first The Legend of Zelda was released for the NES in 1987. In The Legend of Zelda, you play as Link traveling around different dungeons collecting the pieces of the Triforce of Power, defeat Ganon, and save Princess Zelda.

"I'm sorry Link, but your princess is in another dungeon."

The only Zelda game released for the SNES, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, was released for the SNES in 1992. In this game, Link saves Princess Zelda and travels around the Light World to receive the three magic pendants, but Zelda is kidnapped again and sent to the Dark World by the evil wizard Agahnim to break the seal to free Ganon because she's one of the seven descendants of the Seven Sages. Now, Link must go to the Dark World to save the seven descendants of the Seven Sages, battle and defeat Agahim and Ganon, and restore the world to the way it was before Ganon.

"Looks like link has a big white cock."

The next and probably the best game for Nintendo home consoles is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is the first 3D Zelda game and was released for the Nintendo 64 in November of 1998. You start out as Young Link in the Kokiri Village and is sent the fairy, Navi, and is summoned by the Great Deku Tree who tells link that me must stop the "wicked man of the desert", or Ganondorf, from taking over the world. Now, Link has to collect the three spiritual stones, the Kokiri Emerald, the Goron Ruby, and the Zora Sapphire. After collecting the spiritual stones, Princess Zelda is seen pursued on horseback by Ganondorf and teaches Link the Song of Time telepathically and gives link the Ocarina of Time. Link places the spiritual stones in the Temple of Time and plays the Song of Time and Link opens a door recieving the Master Sword. Then, Links wakes up seven years in the future as Adult Link and Link is told by one of the sages to awaken the other six sages with the assistance of Sheik. Once Link awakens five of the sages, Link fights and defeats Ganon and the Seven Sages seal him. Also, Sheik reveals she's Princess Zelda and the seventh sage and send's Link back seven years so he can live out his childhood.

"Now Link has a big white cock in 3D."

The most recent installment of the Zelda series for a home console is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and it was released for the Gamecube and Wii in November of 2006. In this game, you have to save your friends and Princess Zelda from the Twilight Realm. While in the Twilight Realm, Link turns into a wolf and is followed by Midna who leads Link to the Mirror of Twilight. After a series of dungeons, you have to battle and defeat Ganondorf and then the Mirror of Twilight is destroying the last gateway between the Twilight World and the Light World.

"It's better than polygons."

Now, gamers are anticipating the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the newest game announced for the Zelda series. I know I've ignored the hand held games and the games featuring Toon Link, but I want to show how far the series has come story and graphic wise.

"Link, in technicolor!"

Before and After Final Fantasy

Note: I have this blog posted on screwattack.com under the name MisterBo, so if this looks farmliar that's probably why. If you want to see blog posts before I post them on blog spot, they will be on screwattack.com.

Just being clear, I will talk about the Final Fantasy series as a whole, but mainly covering the best games in the series in my opinion. These games are Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy III in the US, and Final Fantasy VII. This is going to be a shitload of games, so if you need to use the bathroom, I recommend you use it now.

Before:
There isn't much of a before to Final Fantasy because it was less than five years between when Square started and when Final Fantasy was produced. The company of Square was founded in 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It was originally a subsidiary of the company owned by his father, Denyusha, which was a powerline construction company. They originally made computer games such as The Death Trap.

[COMMAND] : take piss *enter*
*computer answers* do not know how to take piss.

Originally, Square was reluctant to produce games for home consoles, but they decided to do it. The first game they produced for home systems was Thexder and was only available for the Famicom. The first game square produced for the NES was 3-D Worldrunner.

"It might be 3D but it ain't no Avatar."

The company also produced the more popular game Rad Racer.

"If you're racing aqainst against VW Bugs
of course you'll win!"

Even though the company the company was very sucessful, the had a rush of bankrupcy in 1987 with Rad Racer and 3-D Worldrunner barely keeping the
company afloat. So, as a final farewell, Square game designer, Hironobu Sakaguchi, decided that this would be his "final" game and it would be a "fantasy" hence the name Final Fantasy. The game was released in Japan in 1987 and was released in 1990 in the US.

*Sings Final Fantasy fanfare.*

After:
Final Fantasy featured a new type of battle system letting you battle up to nine enemies at once instead of one at a time like in other RPGs such as Phantasy Star. Also, after defeating an enemy, you are rewarded with experience points, gold, and sometimes items. The combat system is menu based allowing the player to make a selection of an attack out of various options. At the beginning of the game you have the option of choosing four out of six characters that have their own job or class. These classes are fighter, thief, monk or black belt, red mage, white mage, and black mage. Your characters will later be upgraded based on your character choices. Fighters become knights, thieves become ninjas, monks become masters, red mages become red wizards, black mages become black wizards, and white mages become white wizards. The mages and wizards can learn different spells based on which one you choose. The object of the game is to go around the country playing as the fabled light warriors defeating the four fiends to restore the four orbs that each represent a simple element, earth, fire, wind, water, from their current dark state. After restoring the four orbs, a portal opens taking the light warriors 2000 years in the past and they discover that the four fiends sent Garland (now the archdemon Chaos) to the past to create a time loop allowing him to live forever. Now your objective is to fight and defeat Chaos ending the time loop.

"Imagine what Chaos looks like in 16-bit."

The game was very popular in Japan and was released in the US three years later because of the popularity of Enix's Dragon Warrior in America. But because of the large time gap between the release of Final Fantasy in Japan and the US, they already had Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III released in Japan but decided not to release them because Square thought it would cause to much confusion. So, to release Final Fantasy IV in America, they put it under the name Final Fantasy II in the US.

"IT'S FINAL FANTASY IV NOT II!"

After Final Fantasy IV, Square produced the sequal Final Fantasy V intending to release it as Final Fantasy III in the US, but the project fell through because Square thought the game didn't appeal to the average gamer.
The sequal to Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, was released in the US as Final Fantasy III. Final Fantasy VI uses the same battle system as the original Final Fantasy, but you get gil instead of gold. As an addition to the combat system, there is an Active Time Battle system or ATB that times between a charaters attacks. This system was introduced in Final Fantasy IV and is now a Final Fantasy game regular. Also, characters can be equipped with various items known as "relics" that changes a characters status or applies a magical spell in response to being near death. In addition, characters can equip magicite which allows the character to receive Magic Aquisition Points (Magic AP for short) after battles to recieve spells specific to the magicite. One thousand years before Final Fantasy VI, there were three gods known as the Warring Triad were the source of all magic and start the war known as the War of Magi. This released magical enery into the world that turned any person who touched it into an esper, who were the soldiers of the gods. After repenting the war, the Warring Triad turned themselves into stone and gave free will to the espers. Their only request to the espers were to keep their power sealed so it couldn't be misused again, so the espers went to a hidden world taking the statues of the gods with them. About 18 years preceding the game, Emperor Gestahl and his general Kefka discover a weakening in the barrier between the world and take advantage of it by attacking the esper's land eventually capturing several espers. In the game, Gestahl experiments infusing humans and machines with magic by using the espers as a power source. This resulted in Magitek. Kefka was one of the first people infused with magic becoming a prototype for the Magitek Soldiers. This experiment was still in its prototype phase and impaired Kefka's sanity giving him the most hilarious laugh. The Empire is on the verge of discovering magic's full potential, but a group of rebels, known as the Returners, want to overthrow the Empire freeing its territories.

"Final Fantasy even has an opera version"

Final Fantasy VII was originally intended for the Nintendo 64, but lacked the capacity of storage space the game needed so they released it for the Sony Playstation. The game uses rendered polygons instead of 2D sprites and scaled battle sequences to make it more realistic.

"How does he hold things? He has no fingers!"

The story of the game revolves around a claimed formal member of SOLDIER and mercenary, Cloud Strife, who helps several others of the group AVALANCE to stop the corporation Shinra from draining all the planets energy. The antagonist of the game, Sephiroth, is a former member of SOLDIER and reappeared after several years after disappearing in battle which he was concluded to have died. The series continues today with the most recent installment of the series, Final Fantasy XIII, and the recent announcement of Final Fantasy XIV the series is still wildly popular in both Japan and the US. Square eventually merged with Enix to create SquareEnix and they have re-released Final Fantasy through Final Fanatasy VI in america placing each game in its proper order in the series.

"They should release the games for the Virtual Console."

Added 6/19/2010: By request, and I thought it was a great idea, I amgoing to talk about Fianl Fantasy XIII to show how far the series has come. Final Fantasy XIII is the highest selling game in the series to date, but was criticized for being too linear. The game primarily focuses on the world of Cocoon which is a sphere that floats above the suface of Pulse. Both worlds are controlled by mechanical beings with godlike power called the fal'Cie.
They are based around a crystal created by the Maker, a godlike figure. The fal'Cie have the ability of marking the humans that live on Cocoon and Pulse making them their servants, called I'Cie. They are given a "Focus", a task to complete. If the task is completed in time, the I'Cie are turned to crystal. Otherwise, they become mindless monsters called Cie'th. The I'Cie aren't told what to do, but are given visions to interpret. If the I'Cie falter in a quest, they are sent upon by a large mechanical monster called an Eidolon. If the I'Cie defeats these things in battle, the Eidolon fight for them. The I'Cie's transformation to crystal isn't permanent because they can be turned back to human at any time and are given another task by the fal'Cie. Cie'th can be transformed into a different kind of crystal from which other I'Cie can learn their focus and complete it. Both worlds are at war, though at the opening of the game, there hasn't been anyone from Pulse or Cocoon in centuries sincce the last time Pulse invaded. The aftermath of the war left a large hole in Cocoon, which was repaired by pieces of Pulse by the fal'Cie. Cocoon is controlled by the Sanctum goverment, which encouragees the hatred of Pulse. The fal'Cie don't control the humans directly, but make their wishes known by the Sanctum. The Sanctum oversees two military branches known as the Guardian Cops and PSICOM. These special forces deal with anything having to do with pulse. The fal'Cie have given the humans advanced technology, though magic still exists. Tht humans don't have access to the magic that the I'Cie and fal'Cie have, but use distilled chemical forms.

"Look at how far we come."