Inside PlayStation Network - Mega Man 9

The digital delights of Sony’s scrumptious PlayStation Network service know no bounds. Aside from letting punters compete in online gaming, stream films, browse the Internet and more, its premier attraction rests in the copious supply of downloadable games ripe for the picking. From PSN exclusives to PSOne Classics, minis and plain old add-on content, Sony’s online space is chock full of goodies battling it out for your hard-earned digital dollars.

Welcome back to another installment of Inside PlayStation Network, where every Monday – Friday we’ll pluck a PSN release—be it new or old—and put it in the spotlight for a thorough dissection. Fancy getting a new PSN game but don’t know what one to plump for? Perhaps this feature will help. Didn’t realize that a game was available in your region until now? We've got you covered. Or, perhaps you were musing over what those lucky Japanese folk were tucking into over in the Land of the Rising Sun? You can be sure our coverage will extend to those rare regional exclusives as much as those firmly embedded on the public consciousness.

Today, we shine the spotlight on retro-flavoured platform romp, Mega Man 9.

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Developer: Inti Creates/Capcom
Region(s) available: North America, Europe, Japan
Players: 1

Sometimes game developers do actually listen to their fans, and nothing perhaps exemplifies this more than Capcom’s recent revival of Mega Man. Indeed, fans of the blue bomber had reason to celebrate a couple of years back when the Japanese giant released Mega Man 9, a retro-fused outing that proved a stellar hit with long-time followers and casual gamers alike. And the good news? It’ll still as teeth-grindingly tough as it’s always been.

Mega Man 9 sees the little blue fellow out to exonerate his benevolent creator Dr. Light, after false accusations linking Light to a dastardly ploy appear on national Television. In terms of core mechanics, the game adheres firmly to the groundwork laid down by Mega Man 2 – in other words, you’ll be bathing in nostalgia from the very moment you pick up the pad and play. Capcom wisely sticks to the barebones here, so Mega Man can simply run, jump and shoot. That’s it. However, it works just as great as it always did, proving there's no need to fiddle with a classic formula.

A total of eight stages are on offer, each one culminating in a duel against a robot master and subsequently awarding Mega Man with an extra weapon. Furthermore, the robots themselves are weak against each other’s weapons, so you’ll have to exploit their vulnerabilities in order to gain the upper hand. It’s harder than you might think, too. Our titular hero isn’t free of weaknesses either; Mega Man possesses a fear of heights, doesn’t like getting up close and personal with other robots and has a habbit of blowing up when near heat blasts or spikes.

Naturally, the game exploits these weaknesses to the max, packing copious amounts of enemies and environmental hazards into each stage in order to test your platforming credentials. As mentioned, Mega Man 9 is tough, more so in fact than any of its predecessors – and those weren’t exactly a stroll in the park, either. Outside of making it through each stage in one piece, Mega Man 9 also throws in a number of challenges – 50 in total – that you can tackle if you are feeling particularly confident. These include tasks such as neutralizing a boss with just the mega buster or finishing the game without taking any damage. Elsewhere, you can also obtain bolts dropped by defeated enemies to invest in extra lives, energy tanks and other helpful items.

Beyond the obvious charms of Mega Man 9’s retro-flavoured aesthetics and appropriately MIDI-style audio, the game also offers up online leaderboards, as well various downloadable content including extra characters, new difficulty levels and an all-new stage complete with a fresh boss fight against Fake Man. And when that’s all said and done, you can tuck into the follow-up, Mega Man 10. Fans never had it better.

Join us again same time tomorrow for another glance Inside PlayStation Network.

Source: psu.com