Mega Man 6 Did Something Incredible...

[@MellyMellouange]

see the thing is, Japan was hit with a very severe economic crash in 1990. so at that point, people just didn't have the money to buy whatever they wanted anymore, and that obviously included new game consoles. That's why releasing games for old consoles was a valid business strategy over there -- it's very safe, as developing for the older consoles was less demanding in terms of budget and you still had a strong install base to sell to. And on the other hand, you have to consider that Mega Man X was also being developed at around the same time as Mega Man 6 -- the two games only came out 2 months appart, so releasing it on the Famicom put it out of the way of the new and exciting "next generation of Mega Man", preventing saturation and competition between the two games.

[@goranisacson2502]

I hadn't really considered how the bubble bursting affected Japanese dev and the internal market- when new games kept getting released and drawing eyeballs over here, it never really felt like anything special was going on.

[@mechajay3358]

Yeah that crash in the 90s really affected Japan's economy to this day.

[@MortimurGrimm]

Thanks for the knowledge drop. I knew about that at the time, but was a teenager and never quite understood until now why this happened. I appreciate you pointing that out.

[@skiIIed]

Plus, back then, Game consoles and the majority of games came out in Japan way.. way before anywhere else in the world.. That has to be a factor in Japanese consoles life spans... What do you think?

[@Crim-kun]

megaman 6 backgrounds are what I think the yacht club devs tried to emulate with shovel knight. between this and classic ninja Gaiden are definitely the pinnacle of nes graphics

[@residentgrey]

Quick Man's design I see is also relatable.

[@bluedistortions]

I definitely noticed an influence as well. As soon as I saw shovel knight, it reminded me of MM6.

[@jaretco6423]

And Kirby's Adventure.

[@Kain5th]

If throw in ducktales 2 as well.

[@dakotaboy80]

Batman. NES. Now.

[@cartoonboy6039]

Mega man six is kinda forgotten and honestly I still think that is it easily the most beautiful looking game on the NES hands down. The game is still good on its own.

[@ChiefMedicPururu]

It's a nice swan song for the console, honestly.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Honestly, I prefer Castlevania 3's art style.

[@ssg-eggunner]

The backgrounds and foregrounds are amazing

[@DIRTYSOUTHSHINOBI]

This is not a forgotten game where you get that logic from??? Its one of the better games in the seris..

[@jaretco6423]

Agreed. It's up there with Kirby Adventure.

[@Brawnstorm]

What I love about Mega Man 6 is that it tries to carve more of its own identity rather than being "another entry" in the series. Capcom was fully confident with its level design, crafting lots of creative stage theming mixed with the level gimmicks (Flame Man and Knight man being some of my favorites). While relatively easy, 6's Charge Shot was nerfed for the better and it brings up a solid set of Weapons, removing 5's problem of "Charge, Move Forward" most levels suffer. The only thing that keeps it below 4, is the controls. More specifically, you can't jump out of a slide, which makes the game somewhat stiff to play compared to previous games. I'm looking forward to your Mega Man 7 video. I have a lot of good things to say about that game. Edit: Another thing I remember fondly about MM6? The 8-Bit Capcom Jingle.

[@stevester9148]

Knight Man was actually made by a Canadian, I remember it actually making it on news here, because........Canada.

[@DarkZero7222]

This happens everytime someone talks about Mega Man 6. Either they aren't aware due to misinformation or there lumping Canada with the US

[@RollingCutter]

I though Knight Man was from England and Blizzard Man was from Canada???

[@cobaltcorsair592]

​@@RollingCutterin the lore, that's the case. In real life, a Canadian fan designed that robot master. A lot of robot masters are designed by fans, actually, but almost all of them are by Japanese fans, so that's one of the few created by someone outside of Japan.

[@stevester9148]

girl@@RollingCutter Clever girl

[@OtherScott64]

@@RollingCutter In-Game that's is their location, he's talking about the winner's of the design contest. Wind Man's creator was from USA, Knight Man's creator was from Canada.

[@rhyperiorhunter7339]

honestly megaman 6 is one of my favorites its globe trotting theme, pretty good special weapons (the flame blast, silver tomahawk, and knight crush are my personal favorites) and new rush adaptors make it great fun to play

[@MidoseitoAkage]

This is also the first time we get robot master made of outside of Japan.

[@shivasthong4924]

Those Rush Attachments are fun stuff.

[@tinkerer3399]

Globe trotting adventures make up so many of my favourite classic games. Ducktales, Quackshot, Castlevania Bloodlines, etc...

[@AoiHeartStranger]

It's fun, but I think it's too easy

[@cosigi]

Has a great soundtrack. the whole game is an a great send off to the NES and makes you excited for whats to come. My fave final wily stage and final boss music.

[@RetroPiero]

Fun Facts: MM5&6 had both their sprite of MegaMan shooting from a ladder updated. His face is hidden more behind his arm cannon rather looking completely to the side now when he shoots from a ladder. While MM4&5 had a unique sound for their charge shot. When you shoot a charge shot in MM6, it just sounds like a regular shot :\ If you look at your original MM6 nes US box. You'll notice there's a curly hair on Mega Man's right, white leg area. Its also on cartridge label but not as noticable.

[@newton4010]

Tx for the facts!

[@Zenocide]

I was disappointed when I first played Mega Man 6 and finding out how "weak" the Mega Buster sounded. I don't remember where I heard it from, but apparently Dr. Light modified it so it has a "suppressed" sound? It's also slightly smaller as J mentioned and it's apparently called the "Hyper Mega/Rock Buster" for this game only. A wiki said that but I also looked at the US manual and didn't see this mentioned. I wonder if it's in the Japanese one?

[@ROMANEMPIRE69]

Actually randomly the charged shot at any level. Mid or full charged will sound like mega man 4. In the anniversary collection they tried to edit the mm4 buster sound into the shot. If u have a good ear you will hear the regular shot under the charged shot sound. 😜

[@DSN.001]

I think there is a charged shot sound in MM6 but it is unused so sometimes in the game this occurs with some glitch

[@domafox]

Coming from someone who grew up in this generation, I never could own a Genesis or a SNES at time cause it was too much still. I only had my original NES to play until 1997, and I was lucky enough to keep trying out these final games of the NES era which includes Megaman 6. While the later games are not as remembered fondly, they are worthy entries still and I consider 6 the best of the last megaman series. So while some generations moved onto newer hardware, others like me stuck around till the very end because of what we had to work with.

[@INFPGamer]

Even though I did have a DOS computer with CD ROM I still continued occasionally playing NES until 97 as well. even getting MM6 from Funcoland in late 95

[@thomasffrench3639]

Yeah, I know a lot of people had that experience, and it's nice that they still made quality games like Mega Man 6 and Kirby's Adventure.

[@TheRavenArchon]

My NES was also my only console till updating to an N64 sometime around 97' or 98'. I think my older sibling already had a Sega Genesis by this point, but I can't remember for sure when they got that, it might have been later. I mostly got video games from yard sales around that time, as the NES was a very popular console to get rid of in the mid 90s, so almost every yard sale trip you could count on getting an NES game or two. I still have that original NES and all my games and it still works - or at least it did last time I hooked it up, which was maybe a year ago.

[@backyarddad4198]

one minor thing that wasn't mentioned in this video: After you beat one of the stages that have BEAT letters in them, the stage gets recolored. this way if you beat the level and get the wrong exit, you can have a little bit of variety as you replay it to get the alternate exit.

[@ModelJames13]

I never knew that!? 👀

[@MisogynyMan]

@@ModelJames13 Well, did you?

[@Zenocide]

I always thought this was a cool feature. Since I already knew which way to go, I never really got to see the new colors in action lol.

[@MaxOakland]

This game came out in 1994, one year before the PlayStation!?

[@M_Alexander]

Nintendo did not want to retire the NES

[@robertlafrance9974]

As the same year as the PlayStation

[@thomasffrench3639]

Mega Man was sort of unofficial NES/Famicom mascot. I say unofficial as there is an official Famicom mascot in Japan.

[@ASecretToEveryone86]

Same year as the Playstation actually.

[@noaht2005]

They were still making fucking ZX Spectrum games at that point

[@CptJistuce]

I only just realized after all these years that Knightman's stage is literally a bouncy castle.

[@BelieveIt1051]

My mom brought this home as a gift for me one day, and asked if that was the one I wanted. I had to tell her no because it was for the NES and I had the SNES. She asked if I could still play it, and I mentioned that we did still have the NES but it was all packed up in the box and in the basement because it didn't work that well anymore. So she had to take it back and get Mega Man X instead. But I felt bad about parting with Mega Man 6 since the cover of the box looked cool.

[@somanymods]

I think my NES broke some time after mega man 4 also.

[@rubenduenas5881]

I LOVED the Rush adapter and how it basically allows you to fly. Fighting Tomohawk Man with the Jet was the best thing ever.

[@WhiteFangofWar]

Ever try fighting Knight Man with the Power Adapter?

[@foxboy25]

@@WhiteFangofWar I would you can just punch right through his shield with it.

[@GoldenJLR]

For people that think it's weird a NES released in 1994 I would like to remind you that Sonic Blast came out for the SEGA Master System in 1997, one year before Sonic Adventure came out on the Dreamcast. The Master System was discontinued in Japan in 1988 and in US in 1991, most of its library is exclusive to Brazil and EU

[@protocetid]

yikes, the SMS outlived the Saturn

[@Ben-jz3mt]

I think you can actually still buy a brand new Master System in Brazil

[@GoldenJLR]

​@@Ben-jz3mt The last real Master System was released in 2006. In 2005 Tectoy (SEGA's publisher) started reselling ATGames Plug N' play consoles. So you can buy a brand new "master system" in Brazil just like you can buy a brand new "SEGA Genesis” that AtGames sells in the US. Quick reminder that the Famicom only stopped being produced in Japan in 2003. The longevity of the 3rd console generation was not exclusive thing from Brazil

[@alexroboto740]

I’ve played this game at least 10 times and not once was I aware that the energy balancer was a thing.

[@Pulmonox]

It was pretty well hidden.

[@ModelJames13]

Once you know you can't live without it. 😎

[@vanesslifeygo]

I only learned about it after the release of mega man 9

[@jaretco6423]

The more you know.

[@ThunderFist1978]

I knew about it thanks to the manual, but it took me a while to find it. Eventually I did find it without any outside help, which I’m quite happy about.

[@OtakuDeCarnitas109]

Fun fact about the Anniversary Collection, the ports of MegaMan 1-6 were based off the aforementioned PSX versions.

[@ModelJames13]

And you can use the shoulder buttons to swap weapons/adaptors.

[@Zenocide]

Sadly, they're watered down ports but at least they're something. No PocketStation extras, GC version couldn't fit all the music for all games on 1 disc (still pretty impressive) and I heard the translations weren't that great.

[@TheMikeyb86]

I remember playing 2 and 3. Imagine my surprise when I saw Mega Man 6 at Block Buster. I remember vividly thinking: not only is there a Mega Man 1, but 4 and 5!

[@jamesk1868]

Same, the only one I owned was Mega Man 2. Rented the rest from Blockbuster.

[@procow2274]

I always thought of this as one of the most advanced nes games

[@FlameSoulis]

Pro tip with the Power adapter: it also goes through enemy shields. This means if a shot is deflected, a charged up one will go right through. This also applies to the floor thruster things.

[@JachymorDota]

You can really see how there is just one or two quality levels between the level art of this game and Shovel Knight. MM6 really brought out everything the NES could do, considering how basic and ressource efficient the first NES games had to be. I wonder how much extra hardware they crammed into the cardridge, then.

[@mechajay3358]

Just shows how much the NES was capable of.

[@generaljimmies3429]

First Annual Robotics Tournament aka F.A.R.T.

[@strengthcolossal5538]

*Megaman:* GUTS MAN!!!

[@sor3999]

2:40 This is assuming the whole market moved onto the SNES which it didn't. The SNES sold less than the NES. Even when I finally got an SNES I still played my NES. It may seem pointless to release 4, 5, 6 when the SNES was out, but even for recent console generations games for that console continue to be released well after the next one is out because not everyone is ready to move on (because of financial reasons, their parents won't get them the next system, etc).

[@MacraDarkstar]

As a kid this was my favorite Mega Man. I remember buying it from Canadian Tire. It was good because some of my friends only had a NES at the time and I could take this game anywhere and know that wed have a good time without needing a SNES.

[@anonamatron]

Does that place sell tires? I'm not Canadian so I've never been to one but it seems like they sell everything except tires.

[@alexh2790]

They sell Tires, household items and fixtures, camping and sporting goods, and used to have an electronics section.

[@ChiefMedicPururu]

I really like Mega Man 6's main idea. Sure, the Mr. X thing is dumb, but I find the game very consistent in quality. Can't wait for Mega Man 7!

[@tinkerer3399]

Mr. X is dumb but it's a classic anime style dumb. Like Jessie and James from Pokémon. Paper thin disguises where you the audience aren't supposed to be fooled are a staple of the genre.

[@TheNezperdian]

13:18: I imagine they could've made a quick menu with the select button to select armor powers and weapon powers. Just a tiny window, where pressing up and down would cycle the armors, and the left and right would cycle the weapons. Pressing B to cancel any change, and A to confirm the changes.

[@ColeFam]

Congrats on finishing the NES series! 6 is super fun, really sad I missed out way back when, but I finally got to play it and I love how the flight feels. I'm looking forward to MM7 and beyond eventually!

[@RefreshingMirage]

This is my favorite in the NES series

[@jaretco6423]

Same.

[@pengwin_]

it's a good one.

[@Fabio-lq7wb]

Well from what I heard, back in the NES era, the system wasn't really popular in Europe, Master System was the stronger console for that market, so Nintendo not releasing this game for Europe at the time isn't really surprising for me.

[@ssg-eggunner]

Surprising considering that the Famicom last till 95' in Europe

[@Fabio-lq7wb]

@@ssg-eggunner Maybe I phrased it wrong, what I meant is that Master System had a better sales and market in Europe when compared to the NES, according to what I read. Maybe Nintendo didn't released this title for Europe to focus on the SNES titles instead on their 8bit system.

[@alexh2790]

Yep, although Nintendo did get a big boon when SF2 released.

[@bigrockerending7711]

Mega Man 6 is probably my personal favorite of the NES Mega Man titles. It may be pretty easy, and admittedly the controls feel a little "sticky" at times, but I think the game more than makes up for it with its great presentation (both in aesthetics and music) and pretty fun shake up with the Rush Adapters. It is weird it was released as late as it was in the NES's life, but it's still a good time nevertheless

[@RodrigoMera]

There was a magazine called Club Nintendo here in Mexico, and by that time they released a competition on Robot Master design too, and they published the best ones in the back of a poster, it was pretty cool to send your designs by mail!

[@Jikkuryuu]

Supplementary to the weapon commentary already in the video: -Wind Man's weapon will pass through Flame Man's fire barriers. -Similarly, the Yamato Spear goes through Knight Man's shield. Also some enemy shields. -Of all weapons, they chose the Blizzard to be the "indestructible enemy killer." The daintiest looking weapon. They're no Super Arrow or "turn the slide into an attack" but MM6 was a half-step towards the MMX games in weapon function.

[@tygamike]

Good to hear some positivity around MM6. It's often overlooked due to the series getting kinda samey after having 6 yearly entries, but it's my favorite NES Mega Man title.

[@ccmonty994]

The Archie comics actually retcons mr x and wily to be different people and mr x actually DOES fund wilys activities in megaman 4 and 5. Until he falls into a time portal or something before megaman 6 where wily proceeds to impersonate him(I promise it makes more sense if you read the comics)

[@Pulmonox]

Sadly, as the comics barely got past Mega Man 3, we were never able to see how it would all play out in the end.

[@MegaDarkness5000]

@@Pulmonox I'm betting that the Wily we known was a robot.

[@CptJistuce]

​@@MegaDarkness5000Wily Man.

[@ccmonty994]

@@Pulmonox yeah that was a real shame. i would have loved more X stuff as well

[@Zandor12]

To add on to what other people are saying, Archie Megaman only made it to right before the beginning of 4; it ends with Cossack declaring his bid for world domination and a filler issue where Dr. Light sees visions of the future so the comic can show off cool art of all the arcs it won't get to cover. The time portal occurs between 3 and 4, (it's actually part of one of the comic's crossovers with Sonic the Hedgehog, and just about the only thing in those crossovers to impact the main story) and ends with the character who will become Mr. X getting flung back in time a few decades which he uses to build a fortune and establish his new Mr. X persona. Why he doesn't use the time chicanery to sabotage Dr. Light and/or Megaman is beyond me, but it's been awhile since I read so maybe there's some timey-wimey reason.

[@Ethan_Schaub_Z1]

I see MM6 as a good game that did well in preparing the way for the SNES transition, with 7 and X1 (which X1 would come only a month later). I personally thought that 6 did a little bit better in terms of exploration than 5, but later games polished it to perfection in the 2 SNES titles. And while most people didn’t like the Rush Adaptor armors, I see them as a good introduction to the armor upgrade concept that would lead up to the Super Adaptor in 7 and ultimately the Light Armors in the X series. So I can definitely agree that out of the 2nd trilogy of the classic series, I like 6. Its soundtrack is solid, the boss art designs has improved, and I love the traveling the world concept in 6.

[@mr.mystere4999]

13:25 And that is why the PS2 Anniversary Collection is superior. That game allows you to use L1+R1 to swap weapons and either L2 or R2 to change Rush Forms and other gimmicks in MM4, MM5, and MM6. Also, the Complete Works OST slaps hard! I will never forgive the Legacy Collections for omitting these two QoL upgrades.

[@SuperLegendOf364]

This is my favorite 8-bit Megaman game.

[@Victory-in-YAHUSHA]

My favorite 8-bit Mega Man game is Mega Man 10. They are all great games except for maybe Mega Man 1 and Mega Man & Bass.

[@opaljk4835]

@@Victory-in-YAHUSHA megaman 10 is 8 bit in appearance only, unfortunately. You couldn’t actually play it on an nes. It’s pretty close looking, but it couldn’t actually be handled by famicom hardware unless they did some big changes

[@jaretco6423]

@Victory-in-YAHUSHA Mega Man 10 is ok. But unfortunately, it came out after Mega Man 9; which already went back into 8-bit style and even than, it's not quite as good as that or other titles.

[@Victory-in-YAHUSHA]

@@opaljk4835 Well yes, I gathered that 9 & 10 cannot be played on an NES but, mainly the style I was pertaining to. If we are strictly talking 8-bit then Mega Man 5 is my favorite.

[@Victory-in-YAHUSHA]

@@jaretco6423 I have differ on that. Mega Man 10 has more variety of gameplay in terms of characters with their abilities and difficulty settings which in itself already provides more replay value. The level designs in 9 & 10 are both good and equal in value. The music for both games are divided by fans. I personally enjoy Mega Man 10's soundtrack as my second favorite of the classic series. MM10 provides great challenge than most of the other games save for Mega Man & Bass. For me, Mega Man 10 is the complete package.

[@Victory-in-YAHUSHA]

Mega Man 6 is perhaps my second favorite on the NES. I found Mega Man 5 more enjoyable. In MM6 I don't like that slinding stops the character's moving momentum. I also did not enjoy the animations when switching over to a power suit on the weapon menu. Even though it can be skipped, it kind of slowed the pacing for me.

[@Zenocide]

I notice a lot of people saying Mega Man 6 is one of their favorites despite the downgrades in gameplay. I see people mentioning how they like the theming, how colorful the game is, etc. Does that really outweigh the 2 main things I mentioned in another comment (which are the Mega Buster and Slide downgrades) ???? Personally, it could have been my favorite of the 6 if they had kept Mega Man 5's buster and slide, but I wonder if the devs thought it was too OP because that buster really can destroy a lot of stuff.

[@theotakuguy8957]

5's buster is insanely powerful so I think it was the right choice The slide is an issue yeah thankfully there has been romhacks that fixes that issue for many years now Look up puresabe's slide fix hack and keep in mind you need a rockman 6 rom for it

[@tonyt3955555]

thats exactly why it was done, 5 was terrible the only bad megaman game from the six games.

[@BlueAizu_]

Mega Man 6 is one of my favorite installments in the classic series. I love the diverse levels, and how the presentation gets the most out of the NES's capabilities, both its visuals and its audio. I also like the Rush suits and was always a little disappointed they only ever returned in MM7. The Mr. X facade is pretty ridiculous, but no one's expecting NES Mega Man to win awards for its story anyway. I understand why MM6 is a more forgotten entry in the series, but it was a fantastic way to send off the NES.

[@brandonwilliams6119]

Megaman 6 was one of my favorites as a kid probably because it’s kinda the easiest in the classic series (aside from Plant Man’s stage), the game showers you in E-Tanks and lives. However I do agree very much with J that the exploration and collectibles in 4 and 5 were better. Also I just noticed Megaman 6 is actually Street Fighter X Megaman before Street Fighter X Megaman, (J should check that out too), you go around the world fighting robots from different parts of the world like Wind Man from China (hence the Panda enemies), Centaur Man from Greece, Plant Man from Brazil, Yamato Man from Japan and so on and so forth. These would’ve been fun facts to cover in the video.

[@Alan_Chapman]

Megaman 6 is fun, and I play through them all every few years. Megaman 2 was the first game I got a chance to play in the series at my cousin’s, but Megaman 3 was the first game I properly spent time with on my own and is still my favorite in the original series to this day (despite some of the level design flaws and unbalanced difficulty). The stage select music brings back memories. Was glad to hear it used for the main menu in Legacy Collection.

[@rwdplz1]

Everyone talks about the music in Mega Man 2, but 6 was the best Mega Man game.

[@XBladenoJutsu]

You should also talk about Wily Wars. It has some neat original content once you beat the 3 main games. It's also a good excuse to try out the fan made sequel to that game, called Sequel Wars currently in development (and no it's not a romhack of Wily Wars like some people say).

[@protocetid]

Came to the comments to request a Sequel Wars review too, and if he does do the Wily Wars he needs to know that an official rerelease got a small patch. From what I’ve heard the old version of WW has issues that make it an imperfect trio of remakes, I’d really like to know how much the patch improves WW.

[@JRJrsx85]

Mega Man 6 felt like the culmination of what Capcom was able to achieve with the NES hardware 10 years into its life. The backgrounds, sprite work and level design are some of the best of the 8-bit era and the music is one of the greatest technological achievements of that period as it felt like the composers had an incredible grasp of the sound chip and were able to go beyond what the system was capable of.

[@paulhart7739]

Capcom actually printed a small run of Megaman 6 before they decided to cancel the US release. They ended up shipping all the copies from this limited run to South America, where a Brazilian company called Playtronic “remanufactured” them. Essentially, they repackaged the game in a Brazilian box, and put a new label on the front and back of the game. Some of the original copies of the game never got reprocessed though, that’s why you occasionally see a Megaman 6 with a purple border on the label. This was the “published by Capcom” version that never actually got published

[@MilenAnessar]

6 was and still is my favorite NES game followed closely by 4 and 2, game design is solid and the boss roster looks the greatest among 6 games with their weapons are quite useful. Fun fact : Did you know that Mechazaurus, the boss in Wily Castle 1, can be beaten by using Rush Power to punch those platforms back to it to deal 1-2 damage each but it's still fast and you'll be in the position to dodge its fireball easier?

[@SQGReviewShow]

Love this game and this review! I remember the Energy Balancer being a game changer for me, because I thought for the longest time that it was something introduced in 7's shop. But then I saw your old LP of 6 and was surprised that not only Proto Man was in the game, but also the Energy Balancer. That alone made it dethrone 5 as my favorite Classic Mega Man game for a long while. I remember you were all like "I told you so" in discord calls, haha. 6 is really that good. Maybe one of the best games of all time, even if it's a bit on the easy side. But hey, if Kirby can have an entire beloved series be considered peak gaming despite being easy, I don't see why Mega Man 6 can't as well.

[@papaG6423]

Definitely my favorite of the NES games and probably my favorite in the classic series (with close competition between MM9 and MM11). From major additions like the Rush Adapters to minor improvements like the Energy Balancer made the game stand out amongst its contemporaries. Plus, the level design, theming, graphics, music, etc. are all superb. I'd go as far to say that this is my favorite game on the system!

[@Judgement456-fr6ju]

Mega man 6 is my favorite of the classic megaman games. The weapons are fun, the stage designs and hidden paths are excellent, the adapters and beat are fun, and excellent music.

[@VOAN]

The fact that Nintendo choose to published this game in the west to launch it with the top loading NES was phenomenal, it was also released same year as Zoda's Revenge: Star Tropics 2, Nintendo's other RPG so that gamers had a good selection to choose from. This also isn't the last time Nintendo does this either, in 1996 Nintendo did it again by publishing Street Fighter Alpha 2 for the Super NES despite Capcom not interested in releasing that version worldwide. Street Fighter Alpha 2 was published by Nintendo in the west just in time for the Super NES Jr's launch alongside Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow (another game Nintendo published), Kirby's Dream Land 3, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble.

[@TNGfan8794]

I had this game as a kid, and ngl, I never beat it because I could never get past Plant Man's level. My child-brain was too stupid to realize how the springs worked and how to jump higher. Happy to say that I was eventually able to beat it on the PS2 Anniversary Collection. I honestly feel like all 6 of the NES MM games have something special about them that makes them fun and unique, and most importantly, still worth playing today. :)

[@corey2232]

YES! Someone that enjoys Mega Man 6 as much as me! I remember being obsessed with this game as a kid, but none of my friends were interested in playing an NES game at that point. I had a weird selection of Mega Man games growing up (2, 4 & 6... only the even numbers), and MM6 ended up being my most played of the bunch.

[@niclaswa5408]

I think Wily should’ve revealed himself in MM4 and 5, making the player truly believe that he actually died in MM3, so when he reveals himself in 6 and explaining he was behind everything in 4 and 5, it would make for a much better impact. “Look how much Silver Tomahawk shreds Wily machine” *shows footage of MegaMan getting stomped*

[@PassportBrosBusinessClass]

Mega Man 6 is fun. Once you have the adapters, you can do anything and go anywhere. The game is relatively easy.

[@fictionalmediabully9830]

An excellent end to a consistently entertaining series of NES games.

[@snappee]

as a european, when i first picked up the megaman legacy collection, I played the lot in reverse starting from 6 just because it was the only one i didn't play out of the NES megaman's. I had quite an interesting time being able to finally play the game as an adult before getting back to my childhood lot with the other entries (with that same experience also giving me a new level of appreciation for 5).

[@alanfinck5595]

This video pretty much comes full circle with me. Because not only was mega man 6 my first ever mega man game, but also we had--and still have--the NES top loader.

[@RetroMaticGamer]

"Mega Man finally captures Dr. Wily! He goes to jail, he doesn't get away for once." Huh? He only escaped in 4 and 5. In 1 and 2, Wily is caught, and in 3 he's presumed killed. Wily only escaped in the end twice.

[@No-vy4jp]

I don't think he really gets "caught" in Mega Man 1 and 2, since both of those games just fast forward to the credits, and presumably, since Dr. Wily somewhat randomly returns in the sequel without explanation, we can assume Mega Man just left Dr. Wily just sitting there. After all, if he is caught, he would probably be sent to prison. But neither the beginning of 2 nor 3 describe Dr. Wily escaping prison, so I doubt he actually got "caught". 3's explanation for the ending is actually on point though and I never really considered that Dr. Wily should be presumed dead.

[@panthekirb7561]

He got caught in 2 for sure. In 1? Likely not

[@BlueAizu_]

In Mega Man 1 and 2, Mega Man does handily defeat Wily and have him in a corner both times. Mega Man believes Wily begging for forgiveness is genuine, so he shows mercy and lets Wily go. It isn't until later games Mega Man gets skeptical (at best) of Wily's begging because of how often he tries pulling the trick, and those times something usually happens to give Wliy a chance to escape.

[@panthekirb7561]

@@BlueAizu_ In Mega Man 2 he gets caught. Thats why he works alongside Dr. Light again between mm2 and mm3.

[@hajimemightflex5185]

Was on a megaman marathon and when i got to the classic series (started with x and zero) i thought every single game was just better than the last until i got burnt out on 8. Super surprised to find loads of people don’t like the later entries 😅

[@mrme.484]

I like the second half of the MM nes games more than the first half. This game (Mega Man 6) has the second best weapon selection in the nes. I like how beat is in this game more than MM5, less letters needed and beat one shots any enemy if beat has the energy for it. Power Mega Man is fun, despite being slightly slower in its run speed. It penetrates shields, cancels boss attacks, and knocks the wrecking ball away.

[@mrme.484]

Jet Mega Man is also fun, but less interesting since it’s just Mega Man in MM2 but with a jetpack. I wish the jet armor had a dash movement to make it even more agile. Sadly, the tank system regresses in this game: back to just 9 basic e tanks. Stages are the easiest in the NES games, but still fun and interesting to play through with many secrets hidden in the stages.

[@mrme.484]

Ultimately, Mega Man 6 is my 2nd favorite in the NES games, and my 4th favorite overall (Under Mega Man 4, Mega Man 7, and Mega Man 8)

[@MarMaxGaming]

That’s a SUPER hot take. I like this diversity in opinion

[@Protoman85]

I quite like megaman 6, but I realize only now that I've never heard anyone here in sweden talk about how it didn't come out officially until the wii u, because I think we all emulated it long before anyway

[@christianhall3916]

As a hobbiest game designer, whether it's better to lose your charge from getting hit or not is the kind of decision I can spend far, far too long thinking and talking about. The short version is that while it makes more mechanical sense to lose the charge because you just got stunned, I feel like the player engages with it more if they get to keep the charge, because keeping it requires identifying that you're about to get hit and holding the button down rather than releasing it to shoot, because if you release it when you're stunned you'll lose the charge with no shot coming out, so your input and skill has more of an effect.

[@thomasffrench3639]

It just annoys me, a person who already has a hard time with charge shots.

[@residentgrey]

MM6 brought all the developments of the series come together in a whole package smoothly. It also bridged the gap between NES Megaman and X.

[@enigmazero8624]

All the bosses being functionally different is a bit of a stretch. Five of them have the exact same slow, floaty jump. You also cannot jump while sliding. Once you slide you are committed to the full length of the slide, which is maddening because the controls in MM5 were perfect.

[@timtanium7074]

This NES Mega Man retrospective has been on point, I really like how you took the time to go over some of the more niche aspects of each title and also put them in historical contexts in how their art changed, localization differed, etc. I actually went and replayed MM3 again their other day bc I was thinking about how much I liked that one but man... idk how I didn't see it then but oh boy it's clear this one was rushed and definitely unbalanced in places (I will hold it has the best Mega Man soundtrack hands down tho). As for Mega Man 6, I also really liked this one. Definitely on the easier side overall, rush jet adaptor was really fun to use too. Also home to my favorite stage select theme, it's so good. Idk if it was planned this way but I always thought the whole "Mr. X barely making an attempt to not look like Wily" thing was like a satirical jab at how repetitive the Mega Man stories have been up to this point, seeing how 4 and 5 right before this had Wily as the "twist" villain.

[@thomasffrench3639]

I totally agree even with the fact that I don't really agree with his opinions and conclusions about the quality of the games.

[@jasonjones7461]

I love megaman 6. The new rush adaptors were fun to use, esp the jet pack.

[@leandronc]

The second trilogy (4-5-6) had some of the best NES games that get overlooked only because they're more of the same, a silly reason, especially decades removed as we are now. I collect SEGA Genesis cartridges and I'm really looking forward to Mega Man Sequel Wars, the fan made remake of 4-5-6 in the style of Wily Wars.

[@misterkeebler]

I have some nostalgia for this one because it was the only NES mega man I ever got brand new as a christmas present. I eventually bought MM2 on my own with Funcoland trade-in credit, but i didnt even know mega man 6 existed until opening my gift that morning. I definitely played it a lot and thought the rush adapters were a cool change of pace. Even though retrogaming communities sometimes see 4, 5, and 6 as more of the same, i always saw them as more polished entries that were just as fun.

[@NyBasim91]

Honestly I'm glad they did release it, it was my first game I played as a kid. MM6 I played for years until we finally got the snes

[@Veylon]

13:29 "There weren't any other buttons to work with for a quick swap." Excuse me? What about the SELECT button!? They could've had a thing where you hold Select, the game freezes, and then you push other buttons to choose a weapon. They could've let you assign certain buttons to certain weapons or cycle them with A and B or whatever. Then you let go of Select and the game unfreezes.

[@No-vy4jp]

I don't think that would have been at the top of a game developer's mind at the time. The select button is mostly untouched in games overall and is typically used as a "quick pause" that also would mute the game's music (Such as Mega Man 1 and The Legend of Zelda). The thing is that suddenly making it have value, especially at the end of the NES era where everyone assumed that the select button does nothing, will garner almost no attention at all. Assigning buttons to weapons would be impossible to implement without creating a bunch of new tiles and such, which takes up memory. It's not Mega Man 9 or 10, it still has legitimate NES restrictions. Speaking of which, you also can't assign the Power Adaptor nor the Jet Adaptor to the quick weapon swap, as I have seen some ROM hacks implement this, but result in a blue power/jet adaptor and a red normal Mega Man (if you charge while switching). There will definitely be a ton of bugs, especially with holding select rather than using select as a toggle. Plus, if we keep the adaptors, what happens if you are sliding? Does it just skip over the adaptors? What if there are projectiles on screen? Does it delete them, which would make the game seem a lot more unpolished? Using the select button as a weapon switch just wasn't feasible for the NES. Especially for the time, nobody really cared, and it just wasn't worth it.

[@Veylon]

@@No-vy4jp You are inventing reasons NOT to use the Select button out of thin air. None of these are real issues and could fairly easily be dealt with. Please give developers at least a little bit of credit in their ability to program. For instance, that objection about projectiles on screen? They had to deal with that with having an onscreen menu in first three megaman games. They've already solved it. You know that. You're being silly by bringing it up. I'll agree that nobody really cared, but the idea that this was some kind of technical hurdle is absurd. Heck, the cutscene where Mega Man swaps into one of the adaptors or having the sun waver in the background was more technically challenging than anything I'm asking for. As you said yourself, ROM hackers were able to patch it in afterwards.

[@No-vy4jp]

@@Veylon Projectiles on screen is quite the legitimate reason. In 1 through 3, you can't pause if a projectile is on screen. It definitely made the flow of the game worse, and likely culminated with the Gemini Laser making you a sitting duck if you miss. That is why in 4 through 6, projectiles are deleted when you pause, but you can now pause whenever you want. Now while projectiles are deleted when you switch, it is covered up by the weapon select menu (note how 4 is the first one to have a full-screen weapon menu) so it sometimes isn't even very obvious. However, with a quick swap, it would be very clear that your projectiles are literally disappearing out of thin air, which I highly doubt they would have liked. The other option would be to revert back to the 1 - 3 system, but with two games already having the new pause system in place, I don't think they would have wanted to do that. Not to mention a one-way cycling mechanism would be the easiest thing to do, but I presume they would want it to either be two-way or not implement it at all. As for the ROM hackers, there were bugs when implementing, and if there was a way to fix them, they would have. Also, while I do agree that the adaptor cutscenes are cool (I actually think they are really underatted, and there is even a unique intro for those cutscenes when switching between the adaptors rather than from normal), the start of the cutscene is pretty much just a replica of the start of Mega Man 3's stage select (though without that glitchy thing on Shadow Man's box). The many sprites have also been done somewhat at the start of Mega Man 2, with a large amount of sprites being used when Mega Man puts on his helmet. Though actually, I think I should have rephrased my argument to say that it more so would disrupt the polish of the game, rather than the NES actually not being able to. A fast swap would additionally change the colour of E-Tanks and extra lives right then and there, which would make the game seem very unpolished. Future games that implemented a quick swap (like Mega Man 7) didn't have E-Tanks or extra lives change with the player's colour, so they were in the clear. So there would not have been a good way to implement a fast swap without ruining the polish of the game.

[@zenksren8206]

That's what quite a few ROM hacks have done

[@gspgabesstudioproduction4265]

Megaman 6 is great, i still prefer 4. But i enjoy the levels and weapons in this one. (I was confused why they turn Rush into armors!)

[@NetBattler]

This is the only box art that they did justice 😂

[@CeleryX5]

Nice to see you showing MM6 some love. It's not the most challenging entry, but it's very underrated and quite well-rounded.

[@Cool-fr8dv]

I kinda see the charge mega buster going away when you get hit as being a more risk reward thing. Like, you get this powerful weapon but you cant get hit or it stops, imo its a good way to balance it out and can reward skillful play

[@DisasterSquad]

I found this game to be shockingly soulless. The level theming is barely there, its easy as dirt. It felt so phoned in

[@SpiralPegasus]

Mega Man 6 is the best Mega Man ever. And your video is as great because it acknowledges in detail almost everything that makes it great. Two exceptions. First: Power suit MM can connect a jab that will send enemies _flying backwards so fast they die upon colliding._ And second: no mention of the music?? Plant Man's theme is one of the best compositions I've heard in my life, Mr. X's theme is fittingly sorrowful for a last hurrah, Flame Man and Tomahawk Man's were very fitting with it's arabesque progressions and marching snare beat respectively. Centaur Man's was mellow and sweet for ancient ruins, and the ending did what I loved most about the finales in Sonic music: a kebab with all the themes in a single roll. It's not a stroke but an entire goddamn calligraphy book of GENIUS. Magnificent job!

[@WhiteFangofWar]

6:11 'It's time I told you the truth: I have been manipulating that handsome stud Dr. Wily from the beginning!' Textbook example of sequel stagnation and I don't like the music much, but a lot more fun to play than Mega Man X6. There's actually a lot of links to the start of the X series here with armors, branching paths and the Energy Balancers, which are built-in by the time of X.

[@nataliemacqueen822]

Crazy that they opened the robot master contest to the US for the first time, put 2 of their designs in, but wasn't going to actually release it to the US.

[@MortimurGrimm]

Honestly, I never get tired of you reviewing the MegaMan franchise. There’s just so much wealth of content in all these games. Plus, it’s my favorite franchise. I’m looking forward to seeing you covering the next titles.

[@TurquoiseStar17]

6 was great. The second-easiest game after MM2 imo, the adaptor was a welcome upgrade to Rush, a nice sendoff for the NES era overall. But yeah, it feels like the entry where they should have jumped consoles. Graphically, the SNES hardware would have allowed them to do more with the international theme.

[@TheJadeFist]

The alternative armor power ups were a cool idea, but kinda clunky in execution. The jet pack does not make Rock feel nimble at all, he still feels like a giant slab of metal being pulled down, barely thrusting up before running out of fuel. The boxer one would have been cool if he just punched enemies sending them crossed the screen, having to charge up the punch to break thing that takes too long for what little range it has that it doesn't feel good use as a combat option and only useful when you need it to break a block. Honestly the jet is the same way, but it is slightly useful out side of the few times you're expected to use it reach a ledge or w/e, and one of the end game levels It helped get around all the bounce pads. I would have loved for these to be more a game play choice than a tool crafted for specific select instances. Granted it's not something you really get out of the Rockman series in general, some boss weapons in the series are just terrible and only get used on the one thing weak to it or ignored because trying to hit Tomas The Tank Engine with those stupid orbiting rocks combined with his invulnerability stance, screw it using buster is easier. Can't hold it against the game too much, unfairly expecting something foreign to the series up to that point, but as the gimmick for 6, the armor wasn't all that useful.

[@commentercommenting6963]

1:34 ad ends

[@mrNobody100]

when talking about the charge, don't forget to note THEY DIDNT EVEN BOTHER TO GIVE THE CHARGE SHOT ITS OWN SOUND EFFECT! like they focused all on graphics and everything else was just going through the motions- which is what playing this game feels like, and i revisit it least for this reason (its down with 1 as the NES ones i forego the most.) oh well... 4's my fav, but that's mostly nostalgia and the 1st one i played. if i started on 2 for instance, i probably wouldn't like 4 and 5 as much as i do.

[@zalden2565]

Nobody ever talks about this!! I always thought it was strange even when I first played it

[@darkdragonmedeus705]

While Mega Man 6 might have been when they were showing signs of staleness, I feel it's still underrated. What it will be remembered for however is that it really pushed the limits of the NES. If only it had better challenge though.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

End of an era, this is. Would see how the debatable 7 and 8 come along. Guess we're not gonna have 9 and 10 for the time being.

[@CysmaWinheim]

What a franchise. I'd love to play something like a Mega Man randomizer that chooses a roster of 8 different Robot Masters from across the franchise for each playthrough, although I can't imagine how you would account for weapon weaknesses for each one.

[@ReeseyPuffy]

I enjoy Mega Man 6 but I honestly prefer 4 and 5. 6 is incredibly creative but also perhaps a bit too easy for my liking. I find myself going on autopilot whenever I play it, even if I still have plenty of fun.

[@CeruleanHee-ho]

To me, both 5 and 6 are just okay games to me. They're not bad by any means, I'd just much rather play almost any other classic Mega Man game. In the case of 6, I think part of it is because of the Rush adapters they added. I do like the idea, but I feel like they take away from the weapons, which I already didn't think were the most interesting or useful in 6. I also think the adapters in this game were a little much, hence why I prefer how 7 combined them into one adapter, nerfing both abilities to some degree. On that note, I can't wait for Mega Man 7's review as it's one of my favorite Mega Man games in terms of both nostalgia and the game itself.

[@RollingCutter]

If only you could jump out of a slide in this game then it would be my favorite of the NES six.

[@RE-vy4wn]

I always had a soft spot for Mega Man 6. I mean, it's not the best MM game in the history of the franchise, but I think it takes unnecessary flack for being bad when it isn't as bad as some people think it is. For Instance, people who complained about the scrolling from screen-to-screen forget the same thing happened in Mega Man 4, and they also forget that said game also had the boss life bar fill that took FOREVER, and luckily that didn't happen in Mega Man 5 or 6. Great video, I'll be checking the previous entries that you did in reverse order lol. By the way, are you Pat from Console Wars, cause you sound just like him.

[@calvinmatthews1527]

Six games that came out bi-yearly on the same console and they were all solid? Gamers had it so good back then.

[@jakieboi1117]

Random thing of note in 6 is that the slide is actually different in that you can’t jump out of it like in 3,4, and 5. It doesn’t matter too much but it does annoy me a bit.

[@jaretco6423]

I didn't notice that. Than again, I guess it's not an big deal considering Mega Man 6 is more of an easier game than the others.

[@BenOlsberg1995]

I always loved Knightman's design. The idea of having a Robot Master whose primary weapon was a comically giant morningstar flail that was so enormous only a machine could effectively wield it was always appealing to me. Sadly I didn't play 6 all that much when I was younger but once I get my hands on it I want to give it a much more charitable run so I can properly appreciate it.

[@ryanchurchill5081]

Kinda like they did with sword man in mm 8. Willy had to counter balance the weight of the sword he got.

[@BenOlsberg1995]

@@ryanchurchill5081 Oh for real? That's pretty cool, where'd you pick up on that? I love learning little tidbits of background information about fictional characters like that in franchises I'm invested in. Doesn't hurt that Sword Man gives you one of the coolest special weapons in the franchise in my opinion.

[@ryanchurchill5081]

@@BenOlsberg1995 I honestly don't remember where I learned that info. It makes sense that a giant ancient sword would be heavy and need to be used by someone or something strong enough to use it.

[@BenOlsberg1995]

@@ryanchurchill5081 Yeah good point. It's typically an unspoken assumption that robot weapons would likely possess significantly more weight than their more contemporary counterparts, be they melee or long ranged.

Easily one of the best hexology Megaman games (i know going to 11 if you watch only MM serial, but back then in 1993 threre was 6 MM games)

[@LawrenceAaronLuther]

Mega Man 6 was one of the only two NES games I was able to buy brand new (I think the other was Yoshi's Cookie). I remember seeing it in Toys R Us and couldn't believe my eyes- I had never seen a new NES game, only used in game shops.

[@geo-fry6372]

MegaMan 6 is the classic series game I come back to the most. It’s probably my favorite of the series. Also, MegaMan 6 has Metonger Z, so it’s automatically the best one.

[@jaretco6423]

Same here. I guess it's the most tolerable Mega Man game considering most Mega Man games are difficult in many ways. While MM6 is easy, but still fun to traverse though because of the well balanced level designs, great selection of weapons and the Rush Adapters that has all the fun factors.

[@StarWolf5298]

To think the NES is still home to the majority of the mainline classic series to this day.

[@AzureOtsu]

Where did you get the arranged mixes that you used as bgm? they are such good renditions of those songs.

[@asteroidrules]

MegaMan 6 was easily my favorite of the NES MM games. It's really what convinced me that pixel graphics could be impressive, its environments and characters are well designed, and the Rush adapters are some of my favorite special weapons in the entire series. Capcom knew the NES era was coming to an end and they went out with a bang.

[@ChaoticHoly]

Mega Man VI and Zoda's Revenge made 1994 awesome.

[@tonyt3955555]

zoda's revenge is the 2nd best game on the consol and its never talked about.