MegaMan Difficulty/Help

[SegaAges]

Uh, yeah, I suck at megaman games, but they look fun. I no longer want to be on the sidelines. I want to play megaman. I only own x4. I might buy 1 or 2 games, I might borrow a few games from friends and such. I was told mm2 is easy. Can you guys rate the mm and mmx games for me in difficulty? I am not challenging you, as I am sure that you can do it, but I just want a good scale of knowing which games are harder than which, and then I am going to price the games (don't rate these on price). My only involvment with megaman was mmx4 on saturn and megaman on dos.

[eugenek]

The easiest one by far is Mega Man 3 when the second controller is plugged in and your foot is pressing Right on the D-pad.

Only time I've ever had fun with MM. Yes, I suck at them too.

[Sabz5150]

From hardest to easiest

Megaman I
Megaman IX
Megaman III
Megaman VI
Megaman V
Megaman IV
Megaman II

[SegaAges]

From hardest to easiest

Megaman I
Megaman IX
Megaman III
Megaman VI
Megaman V
Megaman IV
Megaman II

What about the mmX games in the mix as well? I am going to start small, but thinking about picking up mm collection and mmx collection (I can get both for about 10 a piece).

[megasdkirby]

For me, the easiest MegaMan was part 5. The hardest? Part 1 followed by part 7.

[GrandAmChandler]

From hardest to easiest

Megaman IX
Megaman V
Megaman I
Megaman IV
Megaman II
Megaman III
Megaman VI


Here I fixed it for you

[savageone]

To be honest they are all just games of trial and error. If you go in knowing the proper boss orders and what weapons to use during the Wily stages none of them are really THAT hard. There are usually a few frustrating sections peppered through out, but nothing that can't be managed with a little patience. IE. the rock monster in Mega Man 1 or the dual blob thing that acts much like the rock monster in Mega Man 9, both very frustrating at first.. But then you learn the pattern and it becomes fairly simple.

I wouldn't recommend just blowing through all the games all at once, that will lead to some serious mega man fatigue. :P Space them out, enjoy them all on their own merits.

Lastly, do yourself some favors:
- Avoid Mega Man X7 and X8. Avoid X7 _at all costs_.
- Get Mega Man Powered Up for the PSP, it's awesomeness to the max. Shame that there hasn't been more of them.

[SegaAges]

What about mm8 on saturn, is that any good?

Also, where does 7 fall on the list?

this does not have to be nes and mm9 specific.

[TonyTheTiger]

What about mm8 on saturn, is that any good?

Better than the Playstation version but ultimately the same game. It's superiority comes from marginal improvements in visuals and sound, a couple of bonuses, and some extra enemies.


As for everything else:

The first to know is that the general rule is that the X series is for the most part easier than the original series. This has one or two exceptions but for the most part, it's the norm.

This is how I see it:

From easiest to hardest of the original series:

Mega Man 6: Nothing rough here. It's generally an easy game.

Mega Man 5: For the most part it's on the same level as 6 with one or two tough spots.

Mega Man 4: Notice a pattern here? This game is harder than the above two mostly because it's the laziest of the series. The damage distribution is just not in your favor rather than interesting level layout or the like.

Mega Man 8: This game isn't hard for about 85%. Then it's a game of memorization and twitch thumb acrobatics.

Mega Man 7: Had trouble placing this one. It's not that hard but it's not a cakewalk either. I might move it up or down a notch based on how I'm feeling on a given day.

Mega Man 1: A lot of people rank this harder than I do but I don't think it's that much of a pain. It has it's moments (usually due to unpolished level design) but for the most part it isn't that bad. You'll find that the lack of invincibility frames when you get hit by something that knocks you into spikes is jarring and the random movements of the flying platforms on Iceman's and Wily's levels can be annoying but other than that the game isn't that much of a headache.

Mega Man 2: This game has more "moments" than the above ones. It's also one of the best in the entire series (often cited as the best).

Mega Man 3: Some people say this is easier than 2 while I think it's harder. The revisits to the stages after beating the 8 robot masters can be a bitch.

Mega Man 9: This game is hard. You get the hang of it after just one time through (like every other game in the series) but even then it isn't easy. And the hero and superhero modes push it to #1 hardest easily.

Mega Man & Bass: This game is more annoying than anything else because depending on who you play as, different things will give you a headache. Some things are a joke with Mega Man while they're a bitch with Bass and vice versa.



Easiest to hardest of Mega Man X:

Mega Man X2: Not only the easiest of the X series, but the easiest period. I also consider it one of the best and rank it right up there with Mega Man 2.

Mega Man X4: I don't find this game that hard. The only thing that can be a problem is that one head in the lower left corner during the last Sigma fight and if you know how to handle him even that's not that tough.

Mega Man X1: Again, only the last boss really causes any problems until you figure him out. Feel free to swap this with X4 as I go back and forth with it myself.

Mega Man X8: A moderate game at the beginning. A joke (and probably easier than even X2) once you build up your characters. Also don't let the high number fool you. It's very very good. At least as good as X4 in my opinion.

Mega Man X5: This game isn't hard but it's not easy either. It'll rank somewhere in the middle for most people, I think.

Mega Man X3: This game is hard to rank because with the exception of one or two bosses, it's not that hard where you'd expect it to be. But a lot of the enemies take more shots than you'd expect them to so you might find yourself losing life without realizing it.

Mega Man X6: This is where those exceptions come into play. This game is harder than a few games in the original series but not in a good way. The level layouts and some of the mid bosses are more tedious than anything.

Mega Man X7: Pain...in...the...ass. And in the worst way possible. The game is terribly hard because you never know how far you have to jump so you're constantly falling into holes because of the shitty design. If Mega Man 2 is the best game in the entire universe then this is easily the worst.



I didn't rank any of the Gameboy games but consider that they're all, for the most part, harder than the console versions with the exception of maybe Mega Man 3 (GB) which I think is easier than the NES counterpart.

Mega Man Powered Up is overall easier than its NES counterpart.

Mega Man Xtreme and Mega Man Xtreme 2 both probably hover around Mega Man X1 difficulty.

Mega Man Maverick Hunter X is harder than the SNES game in some places and easier in others but overall I'd rank it about equal.

I didn't mention the non-platformer games for obvious reasons.

If you want recommendations, I'd say of the original series 2, 3, 5, and 9 are my favorites. The X series I'd recommend X2, X1, X4, X8 as my favorites.

[skaar]

Also, there's game genies. You could give yourself unlimited lives - I don't really consider that as MUCH of a cheat since you still have to make it through the boss. It just limits repetition of stages.

If you find yourself throwing lives away though... maybe you should limit yourself a bit ;)

[SegaAges]

Yeah, that was my problem back when I tried to get into mmx4. i action replayed it and just wasted lives.

i will end up going back to 4 first, just because i own it, but you guys are recommending 2.

Tony, that was super in depth, nice.

Plus, I like 32-bit megaman over 8-bit. I know, hisses and boos and blasphemy all around, but I just like him better, but then again, I have only played megaman on dos and the demo for mm9 on xbl (sorta 8-bit).

http://i.neoseeker.com/screenshots/R2FtZXMvUGxheXN0YXRpb24vQWN0aW9uL1BsYXRmb3Jt/mega_man_8_image14.jpg

Yeah.

[skaar]

Mega Man 2 and 3 were the best, imho. The first one I owned was 2, and a beta of 3.

[kupomogli]

Having not played Mega Man 9 other than the demo(and the demo being easy as hell, got through it without getting hit once my third try) I'll just rate the difficulty of every other MM game that I have played and completed. I've only played the opening stage of MMX7 and the opening stage and two stages of MMX8 so they won't be up here(never finished them because wasn't fond of them, but I wonder why I completed the crappy MMZ games.)

I'm actually going to include all the games from Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, and even Mega Man Legends(though obviously the easiest) Even though the MMZ games are possibly the worst in the series, they are also the most difficult due to cheap enemy placement/spike placement(the first one is really good though.)

I'm also going to rate the games on their default difficulties(normal.)

-Mega Man Zero 2
-Mega Man Zero 3
-Mega Man Zero 4
-Mega Man and Bass
-Mega Man Zero
-Mega Man X3
-Mega Man X5
-Mega Man 3(the dark robot masters are why this is higher than the original.)
-Mega Man
-Mega Man 2(JPN. No choice between modes. MM2 Hard was standard)
-Mega Man X2
-Mega Man 6
-Mega Man 5
-Mega Man 4
-Mega Man Powered Up(remake of original.)
-Mega Man X6
-Mega Man X4
-Mega Man Xtreme(GBC MMX/MMX2 combo)
-Mega Man Xtreme 2(GBC MMX/MMX2 combo)
-Mega Man X
-Mega Man 7
-Mega Man 8
-Mega Man Legends 2
-Mega Man Legends

*edit*

The order in which I like the games would be entirely different if anyones curious. Mega Man 3 is my favorite.

[kainemaxwell]

3 is pretty easy considering you can hack the password to start anywhere with a full energy tak supply.

[FlufflePuff]

My 2 Cents:

Hardest:

Mega Man 9
Mega Man 1
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Mega Man 8
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 2

Easiest:

They truly are trial and error games though. You need to find the proper order to beat the bosses in order to advance quickly. Don't get me wrong, they are still fun, but they can also be frustrating as hell. Only Ghosts N' Goblins has had me more angry at a video game in my life.

[darkhades]

From the original Mega Man series the games I found hard were 1,5, and 9. The rest have moderate difficulty, and 3 was fairly easy.

[boatofcar]

Anybody else think Dr. Wily's revenge on Game Boy was hard? I can't beat any of the levels :(

[Sabz5150]

Here I fixed it for you

V wasn't so difficult IMHO. IX is hard, I'll give you that but it still doesn't top the first one. II through VI and IX were all finely crafted pieces of furniture... MM I was the spool you had in your dorm room during college... a bit rough around the edges. II is a cakewalk, and it has the most broken weapon in the history of Megaman. III is the full marathon. Not overly difficult, but LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. If you can make it through the disappearing-blocks-with-sideways-pulling-magnets in Magnet Man's stage without using Rush, you were golden. IV looked at III and said "Hey, they didn't particularly appreciate sixteen master robots, let's give 'em two castles instead!" and the trend stuck.

Those other ones people listed... there are no other ones. The only true Megaman games are the original six, Megaman IX and its bretheren on the Gameboy.

[thom_m]

The ones I actually played, from hardest to easiest: 3,4,5. My favorite one is Megaman 4 - but maybe it's because it's the only one I owned when I was a kid.

[RJ]

I tried MM1 & 2 recently, & the frustration factor was so high I quit & will likely never try again.

[kupomogli]

3 is pretty easy considering you can hack the password to start anywhere with a full energy tak supply.

Well. That's, I dunno, cheating?

Check out my Mega Man 3 videos btw. I make Mega Man 3 look easy, but I'd still consider it one of the harder games(though I am sure there are other people out there that do just as good/better than I do.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJT94JO883E


Anybody else think Dr. Wily's revenge on Game Boy was hard? I can't beat any of the levels :(

I forgot to list the GB games. Haven't played them in so long so I won't bother.

[SegaAges]

Now the trick is going to be getting all of these games on the cheap.

I am guessing my best bet is froogling megaman anniversary and megaman x collection.

By all means, continue to inform us non mm players, I know I am not alone. I just want to start playing, and have been meaning to get mm anniversary and mmx collection for awhile now.

[Oobgarm]

Now the trick is going to be getting all of these games on the cheap.

I am guessing my best bet is froogling megaman anniversary and megaman x collection.

By all means, continue to inform us non mm players, I know I am not alone. I just want to start playing, and have been meaning to get mm anniversary and mmx collection for awhile now.

That's not a bad way to go, honestly. I play on those or emulated on PSP.

Just try to play through without saving once you get the games down somewhat. More often than not, you can take your time to get to know the levels and boss patterns down. It's not often the game puts you in an immediate life-or-death situation.

Personally, I think 2 is where to start. It introduced many of the series' conventions, was tremendous fun, wasn't too difficult, and had great music.

[TonyTheTiger]

For the most part the collections are a good bet provided you steer clear of the GCN version of Mega Man Anniversary Collection. I'd recommend against the GCN version of the X Collection as well but that's mostly because the controller itself is just not ideal rather than there being outright flaws.

Just know that the collections are giving you...modified games. The emulation isn't perfect and while in most cases it's negligible (higher pitched sound effects or similar oddities) in certain games like Mega Man 7 there are things missing that should have been there. You know...like the ending. The games in the Mega Man X Collection survive the translation much better. But unless you're a purist there's no reason to not spend the $25 for 17 Mega Man games (Mega Man Battle & Chase sucks ass, though, and the two arcade games are really forgettable) rather than multiple times that amount for all the individual cartridges and discs.

[Sabz5150]

Personally, I think 2 is where to start. It introduced many of the series' conventions, was tremendous fun, wasn't too difficult, and had great music.

And if you use a (cheap) third party controller, you can enjoy the bug where you fire a metal blade that doesn't move.

[SegaAges]

wow, makes me glad you said something, those were the versions i was gunning for. i love the cube controller.

is it just the cube version with stuff cut out, or all of the versions?

[MarioMania]

isn't Mega Man Anniversary Collection based on the PS Ports that was release in Japan not the NES version..

[kupomogli]

wow, makes me glad you said something, those were the versions i was gunning for. i love the cube controller.

is it just the cube version with stuff cut out, or all of the versions?

The PS2 and GCN versions are the same when it comes to the games except the PS2 version has a cartoon and the GCN version has an interview.

However, the main problem with the GCN version is that shoot and jump are switched around. So instead of shooting with B and jumping with A, you're shooting with A and jumping with B and there is no way to change the button config. I think that's why he says the GCN version was ruined. It's pretty bothersome regardless when pretty much every platform game has B for attack and A for jump

MMX Collection has this problem fixed because you can end up changing your config in each game.

[TonyTheTiger]

isn't Mega Man Anniversary Collection based on the PS Ports that was release in Japan not the NES version..

Yeah. In fact, some of the games show this. The U.S. version of Mega Man 6 had different music in the intro but in this collection it has the Japanese music. I think Mega Man 3 has the picture of Mega Man on the right of the title screen as well which was removed in the original NES version.

[Bloodreign]

Yeah. In fact, some of the games show this. The U.S. version of Mega Man 6 had different music in the intro but in this collection it has the Japanese music. I think Mega Man 3 has the picture of Mega Man on the right of the title screen as well which was removed in the original NES version.

Yes Mega Man 3 on the Anniversary pack is indeed the Japanese version with Mega Man on the side, a nice touch the US version didn't have (yeah yeah, it's a minor quip, but I like it this way).

[AB Positive]

I have only played megaman on dos and the demo for mm9 on xbl (sorta 8-bit).

Ummm...

Megaman on DOS = not made by Capcom. In fact it has nothing at all to do with the NES games other than it's called "Megaman". There's a site that goes over the *vast* differences between DOS and NES and it's not happy. Wish I could remember it.

Basic point, try Mega Man on the NES and realize just how different it all is... heh.

[Oobgarm]

However, the main problem with the GCN version is that shoot and jump are switched around.

For those of us who've played the series for a long time, this is a deal-killer. I bought the GCN version and gave it away in favor of the PS2 version for this specific reason. Brain could not adapt.

Even if you're not "seasoned" with the series, I urge you not to learn the controls that way and go with the PS2 version of the collection.

[Sabz5150]

For those of us who've played the series for a long time, this is a deal-killer. I bought the GCN version and gave it away in favor of the PS2 version for this specific reason. Brain could not adapt.

Even if you're not "seasoned" with the series, I urge you not to learn the controls that way and go with the PS2 version of the collection.

I played MM2 on the FC Mobile (which has the buttons reversed) and my brain damn near exploded. Gotta agree with you on this 100%

[SegaAges]

So for a person that has never even beaten a level of any megaman man without an action replay (for mm x4 on saturn) and has never even beaten any megaman game ever, would it really matter?

If it is reversed, I won't mind that much, but I am going based off of what u mm peeps say, because you guys know far more than I do about it (plus I like my cube more than my ps2, I said it, thats right)

[TonyTheTiger]

It would matter for two reasons. First, if you learn the GCN controls the way they are you'll end up being comfortable playing the series only on the GCN version of the collection. Second, because the controls on the Mega Man X Collection are set up properly, you won't be able to play that right unless you change those controls to suit the screwiness you've been practicing with. Besides, it's just not worth it. It's completely counter intuitive. Imagine playing Super Mario Bros. with the buttons switched. Regardless of whether or not you're good at the game, it just makes less sense so you'll have a harder time learning how to play.

[kupomogli]

Yeah seriously.

Here are are a few examples. Super Mario Bros Fire Flower, B shoot, A jump. Contra. B shoot, A jump. Castlevania. B attack, A jump. Adventure Island. B attack, A jump.

Literally every game I can think of played it like this, so even if you've never played another Mega Man, the entire feeling it has regardless will still bother you.

[SegaAges]

Ok, sweet.

I will start shopping for those on ps2.

Now here is something, which do you enjoy more:

regular or x series?

[Sabz5150]

The X series is blasphemy.




But that's just my opinion.

[TonyTheTiger]

I like both differently...but equally. As a series, Mega Man X has more blunders (X6 and X7) but it still has some of the best entries in the entire Mega Man saga (X1, X2). One thing about Mega Man X is that because of the additional control you have it is more "fun" in terms of in-game acrobatics. You can do a lot provided you're good at manipulating 3 buttons at one time and that can be pretty entertaining by itself. In fact, I'd say that's the #1 contributor to why Mega Man X is an easier series as a whole.

[Bloodreign]

I'm more a fan of the original series myself, never got into the whole X universe, but seriously you can't go wrong with either series if you're a fan of the Blue Bomber.

[Nirvana]

I found Mega Man 2 really hard in the end. I kept running out of energy tanks and stuff.

[SegaAges]

Well, more and more is leading me to start off with mm x4 since i own it.

maybe mm8 for saturn (i might as well pick it up).

and then i will get into the rest.

now here is something:
the x storyline, will i miss stuff if i start at x4?

maybe something happened in a previous one and story-wise i will be confused about it (yes, i pay attention to the story in games too)?

[Sabz5150]

I found Mega Man 2 really hard in the end. I kept running out of energy tanks and stuff.

I'm guessing you're referring to the droplets and the final boss. The trick to the droplets is to push Megaman all the way to the right as far as possible while you are falling, then book it across the screen after you land. You'll stay ahead of the droplets which are expecting you to be in the center :) You won't be touched by any of them :D

The final boss is all timing.

[TonyTheTiger]

Well, more and more is leading me to start off with mm x4 since i own it.

maybe mm8 for saturn (i might as well pick it up).

and then i will get into the rest.

now here is something:
the x storyline, will i miss stuff if i start at x4?

maybe something happened in a previous one and story-wise i will be confused about it (yes, i pay attention to the story in games too)?

You can't go wrong starting with X4. It's a great game. Don't worry about the story. It's effectively non-existent post MMX5 anyway. Certain things get "spoiled" in X4 that are merely hinted at in X2 but outside of that it's all the same "Robots go berserk, go kill them."

[Draven]

In MM1 (NES) you can press select repeatedly while fighting the rock monster causing multiple hits if you're using the ElecBeam (haven't tried it, but that's what my copy of Nintendo Power said). Wish I would have had that issue 20 years ago...

[Sabz5150]

In MM1 (NES) you can press select repeatedly while fighting the rock monster causing multiple hits if you're using the ElecBeam (haven't tried it, but that's what my copy of Nintendo Power said). Wish I would have had that issue 20 years ago...

Select was the pause button (which they quickly removed because of this). When you paused, weapons that would penetrate the enemies (Cut blade & Elec beam) would stay "inside" the enemy, but the few seconds of invincibility would wear off. Unpause and pause real fast and you'd score another hit but neither the weapon or robot master would move. Lather, rinse, repeat, kaboom.