"My stupid NES"

[Crush Crawfish]

Alright, before we get started, I love my NES. That quote certainly didn't come out of my mouth.

Well, anyway I recently read IGN's reveiw of Megaman X8, a game I am looking very forward to. It was a fairly positive reveiw, saying if anything, it's better than X7. At least that was the main reviewer's P.O.V.

However, there was a second opinion posted in the same reveiw by a different poster. I'll let this drek speak for itself:

Another Take
Wisdom tells me that 8-bit games played like 8-bit games because technology had not yet advanced to the point where they could play like anything else. This is why Predator on the NES was not Half-Life 2. This is why 8-bit games existed over a decade ago. Want to travel back in time to when things were all 8-bit and stuff?

While X8 is an improvement over X7 (in that it offers more stuff), it still boasts the same "retro is cool" design that appeals to pretentious hipsters who spend their nights cuddling Moon Patrol. This is a problem because the retro is cool design describes a repackaged 8-bit game, limitations and all. And I thought we were 15 years past that? Now that we've advanced beyond the confines of cartridges and use controllers with more than two buttons, it'd be reasonable to assume our beloved franchises would also advance. Now why won't someone tell Mega Man to get with the times?

X8 plods along trying to be retro -- trying to remind me of why I liked the series and my youth. It's trying not to change so that I don't casually disregard it as different and forget my A button, B button heritage. Unfortunately, the end result doesn't stir up some golden remembrance of why gaming was once so good, but instead reminds me plainly of why I never play my stupid NES anymore.

I don't care how many polygons are tossed onto the screen, the underlying gameplay of X8 is beyond old, it's dead. Mega Man should advance. Since it has not, I find myself wondering what makes this iteration any better than the 40 or 50 that have been released since the series' conception so long ago. The answer is absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing makes this game better than 40 or 50 other Mega Man titles, so why bother?

-- Ivan Sulic

Ok. It's not the fact that he spews out the same "OMG MEGMAN IS TEH SUCK B/C ITS TEH SAME AS ALL TEH OTHERS!1!11!!!" garbage that I've heard more times than I care to remember. It's his blatant disregard for Retrogaming in general, calling the NES "stupid" and claiming that us retrogamers are just some "pretentous hipsters" who are only clinging to the next fad.

I wouldn't care if this trash was posted on some message board or some little website no one's heard of, but this is a huge, professional reveiw site we're talking about here. If someone just doesn't "get" the type of game, they shouldn't play it, much less review it. For example, I hate FPS games. I'm sure Halo 2 is an excellent game, but I'd never be able to give a legitimite review of it being biased against the entire genre itself.

Whatever. I'm gladly plunking down $40 on MMX8 on release day, and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

- Crush Crawfish, now looking even more forward to X8 than ever before.

[retroman]

f--- him

[FlufflePuff]

I would hardly call myself a hipster, nor do I think it's hip to retro game. It's hip to buy NES tshirts from Hot Topic, but most of those kids who have them probably haven't touched an NES in years. And someone should tell inform the reviewer that the only way that Megaman is going to get any better is to go back to its roots. Each megman game past X has sucked exponentially worse and worse. X7 was really awful so if X8 is embracing retro megaman I am all the happier.

[RockyRaccoon]

And this Coming from the Boss in the third Megaman X game! For Shame we talk about unbiased reviewing! ;D

Alright seriously.

I love Megaman.

I love Megaman X.

If I had a Playstation 2, I'd most certainly will go out and buy it. heck..maybe even if not then..I'll Shanghai my friends Ps2! ;D

~Rocky

[Flack]

I was retro when retro wasn't cool. My pile of old crap ain't goin' anywhere.

If he doesn't like the MegaMan series now, he should pick up one of the 42 billion first person shooters out there and play it instead.

[max 330 mega]

if he wants to know why i play older games, its because of ass holes like this guy. so that when i hear how much he likes his newest xbox game i can tell him i havn't played it because i dont play many modern games, because i dont like 3D games, and then make fun of him that i have games worth twice as much as his xbox itself.
seriously though, fuck this guy he can take his "stupid NES" and shove it up his ass.

[JJNova]

It's hip to buy NES tshirts from Hot Topic, but most of those kids who have them probably haven't touched an NES in years.

What about us old men that buy those Hot Topic shirts (and my wife bought me a Wallet with the NES controller on it) that have two NES's connected to the main Television in the living room. What about us people that have those Hot Topic T-Shirts and still play Super Mario 3 at least once a month, and are playing Crystalis' through for the first time? What am I fucking labeled as? Heh!

Perhaps there are individuals that purchase those shirts from Hot Topic because they are garments that actually reflect something I don't miond supporting. Better than another damn Adida, Nike, Fila billboard walking down the road. Better than having that damn Polo logo on my chest right on my tittie to that it gets rubbed raw. Instead i have some (New and clean smelling) t-shirts with Mario, Link, and Megaman on them. Fuck that stereotypical view of people that buy those shirts. My NES' get's mad play, and I bought some of them.

Oh yeah, and MegaMan X8.....I would have to agree. I haven't really enjoyed a MegaMan game in YEARS!!!! I did like MM8.....but Jimminy Cricket!

"I Beat The 8 Master Robots!"

[JJNova]

My whole point was that I'm not hip.

[Graham Mitchell]

I too have a Duck Hunt shirt from HT. I'm not proud of where I bought it, but I bought the shirt several years ago before the thing had really taken off.

And the use of the word "hipster" is totally irrelevant in this case anyway. Real hipsters hate video games. Most of them don't own anything but a mattress and a couple books because they spend all their money on alcohol and cocaine. They all work as "baristas", hang out at the Cha-Cha lounge have haircuts like Conor Oberst, pretend they're rock stars, and talk about how great Modest Mouse is. And if you ask them about any REAL music they have no fucking clue what you're talking about because they don't buy music, they just buy drugs.

Video games aren't "artsy" enough for hipsters. Not like snorting coke; that's the highest expression of one's inner emotion (note the sarcasm).

[JJNova]

... and talk about how great Modest Mouse is....

Does it count if you listenend to Modest Mouse before they had distribution. Like, I have two albums that I had to buy from them, back when we played the same Venues in Berkley and San Francisco

[Pantechnicon]

Bollocks on that guy. I never considered my retrogaming fixation as being "hip". I simply never stopped playing my Atari. You're only young once but you can be immature forever right?

Anyway I fancy myself as more of a "hipster doofus" like this cool cat:

[jetsetradio4ever]

It's hip to buy NES tshirts from Hot Topic, but most of those kids who have them probably haven't touched an NES in years.

Actually, for me, that's not true. For one, I don't waste the extra money at Hot Topic. (But tons do.) They rip you off. I get the same freakin shirt at Target for 1/4 of the price. Second, I still love my NES. Therefore, to some, this doesn't apply.

[Graham Mitchell]

... and talk about how great Modest Mouse is....

Does it count if you listenend to Modest Mouse before they had distribution. Like, I have two albums that I had to buy from them, back when we played the same Venues in Berkley and San Francisco

Oh, I wasn't trying to make an attack at Modest Mouse fans. I'm from Seattle, and I never really dug them myself, and I've noticed a lot of music critics giving the lead singer high praise because he's from Issaquah (which they think is some isolated desert farmland with a population of 20) and writes lyrics the way he does. The truth is that Issaquah is a suburb of Seattle; it's a 15-minute drive across the bridge and you're in hipster central (Capitol Hill). I was trying to make an analogy to that scenario.

But if you like them, more power to you! I listen to The Fall for Chrissakes, which most people think is unlistenable, so I'm no judge of music taste.

[Sylentwulf]

Guess I'm gonna be alone when I say that I agree with pretty much everything he said?

I haven't played the game though, and that's exactly why.... Mega man is mega man. I think I played and beat 3, 4, or maybe even 5 random mega man games throughout the course of history, and if you gave me a screenshot, I wouldn't be able to tell you mega man one from mega man XJ-17.b

[Push Upstairs]

I'm gonna have to agree and side with Sylentwulf.

Mega Man is Mega Man. I can play "Mega Man 2" or i can play whatever fresh coat of paint game Capcom put out this year and its going to be the same experience.

Did we really need Mega Man after part 3? Weren't there 8 orginal MM games? Now there are *EIGHT* MMX games...why?

People on here bitch about endless sequals to "modern" games and then they will turn around and defend Mega Man games???? x_x

[Graham Mitchell]

I personally am not as into Mega Man as some people, but every once in awhile I'll pick one up I haven't explored yet, and it's fun. I liked 8 in particular.

I do feel there's some validity to the author's point about Mega Man, like Push Upstairs and Sylentwulf. I just think this guy dealt a low blow by trying to pin this phenomenon on retrogaming as a whole. I don't think that's appropriate for a professional review, nor is it a very accurate statement. If this guy doesn't like old games, that's fine, but he doesn't seem to respect people who do, which is what kind of upset me about it.

[Crush Crawfish]

@Sylentwulf and Push Upstairs: I'm aware that basically all megaman games play the same, and don't change much from one game to the next. If I said otherwise I'd be lying. But that doesn't bother me. I like my MM games the way they are, and I Really wouldn't have it anyway else.

But that wasn't the point of this topic. It was the fact that the author of that reveiw called the NES "Stupid" and us retrogamers "pretentous hipsters"

Just trying to clear things up a bit.

[it290]

I think the review is badly written, as there is certainly nothing wrong with 8-bit style gameplay, especially in a Mega Man game. Also, as far as changing the series, they have been - Network Transmission, Command Mission, and so on. That said, the X series has been getting pretty bad and I do think it might be time to can it... I don't think anyone can say the newer games are as good as X2 or X4. Wasn't it originally supposed to end with MMX4 or X5?

What I'd really like to see is a new, 2D entry in the original series. Mega Man 9 anyone? I always preferred the originals to the X series anyway -- I just liked the enemy design and general style more.

[dendawg]

I don't care how many polygons are tossed onto the screen, the underlying gameplay of X8 is beyond old, it's dead. Mega Man should advance. Since it has not, I find myself wondering what makes this iteration any better than the 40 or 50 that have been released since the series' conception so long ago. The answer is absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing makes this game better than 40 or 50 other Mega Man titles, so why bother?

Why bother writing the review, then? Capcom has an unofficial motto of sorts: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" It's worked for them since the days of Street Fighter II, so what makes this guy think Capcom is gonna give a rat's ass about a negative online review?

[SoulBlazer]

The whole point of the review was the the game is bad because it's a a tired and weak franchise these days.

Agree or disgaree with it, that's the main thrust.