I just pulled out my old Megaman Anniversary disc (awful emulation made awfuller by awful Xbox 360 emulation) and with a fresh head I got some things to say to the Megaman "insert number" is better than megaman "insert number" and Megaman "insert number" is the best evar crowd.
All the Megaman games are fucking good. All of them. Yes, even 8 is very good.
6 is so underrated and such a solid game. Great music, bosses, fun as hell rush adaptors.
9 is really not much harder than other games in the series, if at all. Hell in a lot of ways it's easier, and less cheap. Seriously if you go back and play some of the games after 10 years, you will be surprised.
2 is indeed worthy of it's pedigree. It really is epic, and if you play Megaman 1 first you will say wow. That said, it still has the crappy Megaman has ice on his shoes all the time control.
Which brings me to 3. 3 was a complete breakthrough in controls. It took them 3 games but they nailed it. 3 is also a quantum leap forward in graphics (or, just better use of color and better pixel art), introduces Rush, Protoman, and the slide... 3 is also the longest and most epic in the series. Oh and fuck the haters, this game is the right kind of difficult, especially the 4 extra stages (so long as you don't cheat!). Still my favorite of all time, and deservedly so.
4 is hard. Very hard. This is Megaman 2 with modern controls, only harder! Some memorable bosses and themes, introduces branching stages and secrets. This game has basically what I call the beta buster. I hate how the megabuster looks, feels... something is just off. Overall a solid entry.
5. Megabuster is perfected, and I swear the controls are even better than 3 and 4. Something feels tweaked, and though I can't put my finger on it Megaman has never felt this good (6 doesn't even feel as good). The megabuster might be -too- powerful here, but I'm having too much fun to care. Just when you bosses were getting lame (hello, 4), they come out with some really inspired robot master designs, and what I feel is the best soundtrack in the series (and that is saying a lot!). To me this is Megaman 3++. I really dug the Protoman angle as well.
7. 7 is awesome! Great themes, stages, amazing graphics. What's not to love? Well, Megaman is too big, and the screen is too cramped (thanks SNES lowest possible resolution), but really if you sit down with this one for a solid amount of time, it doesn't matter. I'll give final thoughts once I finish it (yes, you read that right, I have never finished Megaman 7. Emulators back in the day had trouble with the mode 7, therefor I never got around to it).
8 is another game I am kinda in the middle of. It's a solid action sidescroller, incredible graphics and sound, and hilariously poorly voiced cutscenes. That said, I think this game has too many, often really stupid gimmicks. This make's me appreciate 9's return to the classic, tried and true formula and level staples that much more.
Oh and one observation. If you notice, in Megaman 7, even though it pays homage to the classic robot masters in many parts (including Wily jacking Gutsman from the robot museum), the robots are clearly more "Megaman X" like. So are Bass and Treble. So are the bosses in 8 even moreso. It seemed like they were getting to the point where Megaman was going to converge with X story wise. I really hope that happens.
