Box Art
Game: Megaman 8
First Released: December 17, 1996, Playstation
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation, Saturn, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox
Rated: E, for Cartoon Violence
First Released: December 17, 1996, Playstation
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation, Saturn, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox
Rated: E, for Cartoon Violence
How I Came To Play This Game
Thunder Claw
A long time ago I bought the Megaman Anniversary Collection for the Gamecube which included the first eight Megaman games and two arcade games.
Story
In the year 20XX, two strange beings are fighting each other in outer space. As they collide into each other, they start falling towards Earth. Meanwhile, Bass and Mega Man are fighting on Earth, but the battle is cut short when Roll calls Mega Man. Dr. Light tells them that a strange meteor with a powerful energy signature has fallen on an island, and Mega Man is sent there to retrieve the meteor before it falls into the wrong hands. However, the island was Dr. Wily's current secret base, and he escaped with the extraterrestrial energy from one of the robots. Mega Man found the other robot badly injured in a crater and sends him to Dr. Light to be repaired. Mega Man defeats four Robot Masters that attack various places on the globe and, when he returns to Light's Lab, he brings a mysterious energy found in the robots and finds that the robot is undergoing repairs. Then, while talking to Light, the robot breaks free and heads out into the desert. Mega Man follows him and the fight briefly. Proto Man intervenes the battle and tells Mega Man that Wily's new fortress, "Wily Tower", is up ahead. Mega Man goes ahead and is captured by one of Wily's robots, but the robot he fought before saves him and introduces himself as Duo. Duo explains that the other robot contained "Evil Energy" within it and that Wily was using that energy to make his robots more powerful. Mega Man needed to destroy the energy sources from the barrier protecting the Wily Tower, which was being protected by four Robot Masters. After destroying the second four Robot Masters, he enters Wily Tower and fights against Bass and Treble, and, in the end, Dr. Wily. Mega Man was injured by the Evil Energy in the process, but Duo saved him and left him out in the desert, where Proto Man was there when he awoke and told him that Duo was thankful for his help.
Robot Masters
Tenguman, Clownman, Grenademan, Frostman, Swordman, Searchman, Astroman, Aquaman.
Review
This game is a unique game in the series. Once again, due to being released in a newer console, the graphics have been updated. Now, the game actually looks ike a cartoon. There is even a cartoon intro scene depicting Megaman fighting some old bosses, and some of the cutscenes. The graphics are so smooth looking, and there are all sorts of cool 3D effects such as things moving in the background and things rotating. The gameplay takes what Megaman 7 did. There is an intro stage, four boss stages, a middle stage, four more boss stages, then the Wily Castle this time called Wily Tower. The basic gameplay is kept, however I find it much harder to get through the stages. It seems you always have to figure out things, like the best place to be standing when a boss uses an atack. One boss was annoying because it was inside shafts on the cieling and you needed to use the new Mega Ball weapon, where you kick a ball like in soccer to hit enemies. You can also jump off the ball to jump higher, or do so in midair to do a double jump. You can return to Megaman's house to buy upgrades from Roll uing screws you find throughout the stages. There always seems to be times where you are in a vehicle, like on Rush Jet or a rocket snowboard. The rocket snowboard levels are very tricky because you move so fast. Once again you fight the eight bosses and a Wily Mahine at the end of the game. Wily Mahine No.8 has to be the easiest Wily Machine i existance. All you need to do is dash behind it and use the Laser buster shot to destroy it. The Wily Capsule, called Wily Capsule Great, can be a bit challenging. You really need to use Rush Charger to drop healing items when your health is low. There are no E-Tanks in the game, so right there you can already tell it will be hard. The controls for this game just feel stiff. Megaman moves so slow and even his dash is embarassingly slow. Whenever you get hit by an enemy, you get pushed back, or at least until you purchase an upgrade. The best thing is that there are midway points in each stage. When you make it to the midway point, the game will stop to load the next half of the stage. When it begins, you will have all your health back. Also if you lose all your lives, you'll start at the midway point, NOT the beginning of the stage. Also if you die, you're weapons energy meters fill up again.
Releases
Megaman 8 was first released for the Playstation in 1996. Then, it was ported to the Sega Saturn with some extra features. A compilation, the Megaman Anniversery Collection, included the game and was released for the Gamecube and Playstation 2 in 2004, with an Xbox version released in 2005.
My Rating
I give this game a 9/10. This was another one of the hard Megaman games. However, they fixed a lot of the problems from previous Megaman games that made trying again not so frustrating.