When it comes to passing judgment on what games I consider cool enough to earn a place in my heart, I consider myself simultaneously discerning and lenient where each respective quality counts. Yet there's one series I've always loved with an unrelenting bias: the classic Mega Man series. There. I've admitted it. I'll pick and choose which games I like from other Mega Man series, and some series I don't care for at all, but there's not a game in the classic series I don't find myself labeling at a bare minimum of "good."

Confessing your love for said series is a statement that, once admitted, will often earn you scorn amongst super hardcore gaming circles. Such brazen adoration for a series that’s been panned time and time again by critics for being “more of the same” can easily get you bumped off the list amongst the elite, and grouped in with fanboys and/or those who judge the quality of a game based on nostalgia alone.

Well ya know what? Screw ‘em. I believe what makes the classic series notable is not this “more of the same” allegation that’s so freely thrown around, but rather the fact that Cacpom was able to maintain a steady degree of quality through game after game. Such an idea speaks for itself when you look at the Mega Man X series. Comparing the quality of Mega Man X5 and 6 to the 4 prior games shows a drop in quality that anyone who’s done their homework on classic style action-platforming should be keen to. Well, save for the few younger-generation Mega Man fans who may have started with those games and not tried the early titles until much later in their gaming career. But even in such a case, I think said gamers can pick up on the difference between a labor of love and a shoddy soulless sequel made only with the intention of getting your money… unless they seriously are a part of the aforementioned group who judge a game’s quality only on nostalgia… in which case, see me after class.

But I’m just rambling now. This all boils down to one thing:

MEGA MAN 9.

Am I excited? Indeed. Will I be getting it on day one? You know it. Do I feel the 8-bit style was a low-blow to cash in on nostalgic players? Both yes and no. Here’s where it gets fun. Keiji Inafune, Mega Man’s creator, has said on multiple occasions that he considers Mega Man 2 to be the series high point. He’s also been quoted as saying that every game after it is an attempt to recapture that thunder. He’s also also been quoted as saying Mega Man 9 was intended to be the game to finally trump Mega Man 2. It’s only logical, then, that the game was built not on a clean slate, but from the foundation of Mega Man 2. This includes carrying over both the visual and audio styles. To copy something then improve on it is the most quick and concise way to usurp it. It’s this evidence that leads me to believe that Mega Man 9, like “Powered Up” and “Maverick Hunter X” before it, will be no less than a labor of love. The 8-bit look that fans have been praising and cursing alike is merely a side effect of it, and the nostalgia-seekers it will draw in are just an added bonus.

To get back to those first two questions I posed myself before going into exhausting detail over the last one, I’m totally pumped for Mega Man 9, and haven’t been this excited over a sequel since, geez, well, probably Mega Man 6. I feel like a little kid. Honestly.

TL;DR?

Mega Man classic series is great, you may be dead inside if you think otherwise, and I want Mega Man 9.

On an unrelated note, It’s my birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY I’M AWESOME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.

I’ll gladly accept Wii points and/or Microsoft points as gifts. Send me redeemable codes if you love me.

And yes that’s a joke, but I’m hoping someone is awesome enough to roll with it regardless.

I just found out minutes ago that rumors are raging HARD about Mega Man 9 being a reality. Evidence points to it being a XBLA/PSN release.

Really? A download-only game?

This does not bode well for my status as a fan. The classic series has been all but non-existant for the past 10 years, and everything after X4 has been atrocious. MM9 has some big shoes to fill by pulling the franchise out of the gutter. If this game ends up being anything less than a flawless representation of Mega Man's glory days in the 90's, I'm afraid Mega Man may be dead to me. And the point I was trying to get at in a round-about way is that download-only titles are almost always sub-par.

I'm hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst...