I nearly forgot that today was the great day when my childhood returns in the form of Mega Man 9!

Some backstory: I was always late to gaming, got my 360 around it’s 1 year anniversary, and never even had an NES until after the Super Nintendo had come out… my first NES game other than Mario/Duckhunt was Mega Man 3 – to this day I still have that original game cart. To this day I maintain that it is the best Mega Man in the series.

Like many, when Mega Man “X” came out, my friends and I called it Mega Man 10, it was logical, but there weren’t 9 Mega Man games before it. Something needed to fill the gap! Even without playing it, yet, I believe that this game will fill the gap in the Mega Man saga, and look forward to the challenges it will bring. I intend to try the demo tonight, and will probably end up buying the game (possibly along with the Protoman “add on” {rip off!}, I need the slide mechanic!). Going through way too many MSPoints lately, and will keep going, at least until SSFIIHDR comes out!

First: 8-bit? Really? I’m with Nintendo Wii Fanboy’s opinion that 8-bit game design is an art. I can appreciate that. But why does it seem so impossible to design a game with that classic platformer gameplay and do some cool graphics? Even using the Mega Man X “engine” (was it considered an “engine” in the days of side-scrolling sprites?) would be a nice little improvement. But it seems that every time somebody wants to gloss something up, visually, then they get side tracked trying to makea 3-D as well. Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is one of my favorite good examples of combining old school play with more contemporary graphics and design.

Based on just a few screenshots, the experienced eye might guess that this Mega Man 9 will be loosely based around the Mega Man III (3) engine. I could be wrong – after all, I never got the Blue Bomber to “duck” or flatten-out like the screen shot above. Plus each of the Mega Man titles used to play just a little different, but if my prediction is right, you can get your reaction time fine-tuned by going back and playing the third installment.

My next gripe… er… question, comes along the lines of controls. If the game launches for Xbox Live Arcade, it seems pretty straightforward. But on the Wii? If they’re going with the classic game-design style, they simply must go with a classic control scheme. Holding the Wii Remote like a classic NES controller and going to town on it. I hope! If I have to wave my arms around like I’m Harry freakin’ Potter, I’ll be quite disappointed.

With all of that on the table, I’m still looking forward to Mega Man 9. It will be a great return to something classic, and I have confidence that, if anyone, Capcom can do justice to bringing back a classic franchise without malforming it “because they can” (are you listening, Nintendo? Mario doesn’t always need gadgets like water jets and star guns!). The saddest part about this article? We’ve still got months before we’re going to know anything more!