Unranked: Mega Man VI

Mega Man VI
Nintendo Entertainment System
Capcom
1994
Game Rank

Mega Man VI was another Mega Man game that I did not play until many years later. I remember hearing that Capcom did not even work on it and thinking it must be pretty bad. By then, the Super Nintendo had totally taken over, and I completely missed it until briefly playing the game a few times over the years. Honestly, when the Mega Man Legacy Collection came out, I did not tackle it right away. While Mega Man VI is definitely an improvement over Mega Man V, it is still not up the high standards that early games in this series achieved.

This was a really late NES game. In fact, Capcom did not publish this game in America. Nintendo actually did. It was produced at the same as Mega Man X, and you can see that in some of the graphical cut scenes and interface, which definitely feels more like a Super Nintendo game than a typical Mega Man game. In some cases, this is fairly off-putting, to me at least, and definitely takes away from my enjoyment of the game.

So, the plot of Mega Man VI goes something like this: After the events of Mega Man V, peace reigns until a tournament is created to find the world’s strongest peacekeeping robot. A villain that I am not even going to bother suggesting is not Dr. Wily is the super secret person who brainwashes eight of them to do this bidding.

I have questions: Shouldn’t robots be absolutely terrified at this point of being reprogrammed by Dr. Wily? Do robots go around with like…tinfoil…or whatever…on them? Has Mega Man ever considered rehabilitating them instead of destroying them? It is not really their fault. Is Dr Wily’s brainwashing permanent, like what happened to the Constructicons in that one Transformers episode? Could they be turned good again? We will never know because Mega Man always destroys them. If I were a robot, I would want to get the hell off Earth and go somewhere else.

Another question: The kind of peacekeeping robot exactly is Blizzard Man, who looks like the villain from a 1980s film that takes place at a snow lodge?

This commercial from 1994 is mindbogglingly awful. It is very extreme and zany and all the bad things about that era. Nintendo and Sega, at times, seemed to be neck and neck for who could be more like Poochie.

The cover for Mega Man VI is really weird. At first, it seems really odd because Mega Man is RED. Now, if you have played the game, you know that is because of the jet pack add on that I used fairly liberally during my play through of the game. But if you had been a lapsed Mega Man player, this would have been confusing. When I was in college during the late nineties and going back to check out games that I missed like this one, I definitely put Mega Man VI off because of the red Mega Man. I figured they had done something ridiculous with the series and shuddered at the idea of trying to find out.

One thing Mega Man VI does have going for it is a pretty decent soundtrack. While definitely not my favorites in the series, it is pretty decent for sure. It is unfortunate, as the series goes on, how hit or miss the soundtracks do become though.

I think Mega Man VI is definitely an improvement over the past few games in the series, although I was very frustrated at different parts of it.

The first thing that is cool about this game is Jet Mega Man. This is super useful throughout the game! I tried not to overuse it, but certain levels have so much slow down, which we will get to in a minute, that I found Jet Mega Man to be essential in getting through the levels. I could have done without the animation sequence every time you change to it, but at least there is not one announcing that you are, once again, Mega Man.

The first level I went to was Flame Man. I swear he is different from Fire and Heat Man. A few issues came up right away in this level: Hey, so I think it might be a bad idea to dump oil on fire? Maybe some poor design ideas there from Dr. Wily. I could not complete this level though because there is a barrier you cannot cross without Jet Mega Man. I got frustrated, but then realized, of course, there would be something else in the game. Not knowing much about it, I figured it would be Rush, but, as I said, Jet Mega Man is still pretty cool. I eventually did come back and finished the level later on.

Blizzard Man was a stage that nearly made me give up the game. There is a significant amount of slowdown in this level. This is especially problematic when trying to slide under the sleds. Dodging enemies is made much more difficult, and I got genuinely angry at the game. The battle with Blizzard Man itself is extremely annoying because of the slowdown issues. Mega Man’s jumps are always just a split second too slow, and you never quite catch up. In my experience, defeating this boss comes down to blind luck. That sucks a lot.

Plant Man has a pretty good soundtrack and reminds me a bit of Wood Man’s stage from Mega Man II. The part with the springs is very frustrating. The combination of a need for precision-based jumps and the massive amounts of slowdown, and too many enemies on the screen in general, really hurts this level a lot. When there are more than two enemies on the screen, this game slows to a crawl. Again, the slight delay on jumps in the boss battle with Plant Man makes it harder, but this battle is pretty doable.

Generally, it is almost unfair probably, but no Mega Man game ever holds up to the near pitch perfect play control of Mega Man II, which itself does have flaws too.

Knight Man has a really cool look and is probably my favorite level in the game. I dig his mace ball weapon. This level also has great music. The second half of it is this super fun bounce ball room that takes a little bit of time to get used to, but is pretty fun once you do. I wish this level were in a better game.

Centaur…dude he totally is a Centaur! Centaur Man is pretty cool. You need to watch out for the Bubble Man style spikes in this level. I am not certain why a Centaur is underwater though….?

Wind Man has a pretty solid level that reminds me of Wood Man’s level a lot. It also has a good soundtrack. I love how air platforms are implemented into this level too. The combo of the blaster and Centaur Man’s weapon takes this one out.

Tomahawk Man and Yamato Man also have pretty cool music on their stages too.

In general, Mega Man VI is better than the last Mega Man games, but it’s not up to the standard that Mega Man II and III set for the series. It is definitely worth checking out in one of the collections, but not really essential.

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