BACK TO THE INDEX. Volume:17 "MEGA" -By Harold "Hbomb" Price- -Posted 08/12/2007-

First, before I get to my main column here, I would like to sincerely apologize about not writing a column since '06. Well, DMG Ice itself hasn't done much in the span. I actually had one column complete which either didn't get sent or didn't get posted (which is plausible since my "First Wiik" column was held for almost 5 months), but since it was a year in review of 2006, I figured that ship has sailed. This past week, Capcom announced "Mega Man 9" as a WiiWare title. I was never a big Mega Man fan, and the Anniversary Collection frustrated the hell out of me. I just figured if they were going to go with another old school sidescroller, WiiWare was the way to go. I just didn't know how old school they were going at that time. Going with an 8-bit styled title is making a huge statement in the game industry. The Wii is an incredible piece of machinery compared to the NES. Heck, Capcom could've done an awesome game, even on WiiWare, with a whole new level of gameplay beyond previous installments. But that's not the point. The folks at Capcom thought the Mega Man series was perfect back in its 8-bit heyday and that the extra technology would screw things up. There have been several games for Wii that have put me off because they seem too complex compared to their predecessors ("Zelda: Twilight Princess" and "Super Mario Galaxy" come to mind). I loved 2D gaming, and the whole N64/PoS1 generation put an end to that. Sure, "Super Mario 64" was nice, but I thought "New Super Mario Bros." was a lot more fun, and other than "Wind Waker", I never really got into the post-SNES console Zeldas. The "Sonic Adventure" titles fell flat because their 16-bit predecessors were better gaming experiences. The DS has become a bit of a haven for 2D, but MM9's 8-bit look is making a statement. And that statement is "We don't need fancy graphics to make a good game!" Sure, the accuracy of that statement is yet to be determined, but MM9 could be a trendsetter. Graphics aren't everything. Gameplay is. Anyway. I wish Capcom the best of luck, and I may just give Mega Man another shot. -Hbomb is property of DMG Ice, which would explain the layer of dust.- -Property of dmgice.com-