3 Things I Love about Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Welcome to Mega Man Month! Every weekday in January I’ll be listing three things I love about the original Mega Man series. Let’s go!
It’s the Super Mario All-Stars of Mega Man
Super Mario All-Stars was so cool. It made the original Super Mario Bros. games into 16-bit games on par with the rest of the games coming out at the time. It’s still shocking to me that fewer games didn’t do this. Capcom did though, in the form of Mega Man: The Wily Wars. It was only released as part of the Sega Channel here in the US, and that’s a huge shame because this game is awesome. If you’ve ever wondered what the first 3 Mega Man games would look like through the lens of a Sega Genesis, this is it. It isn’t just a simple upscaling like the terrible Ninja Gaiden Trilogy either. It’s a full remake, complete with new sprites, animations, backgrounds and more. It’s not quite as well done as Mario All-stars, and the gameplay definitely loses a little something, but it’s still really cool.
Three new robot masters
So, Wily Wars actually has an overarching plot that ties replaying the first 3 Mega Man games together. After you complete them, you get to play through Wily Tower, which features new stages, new music, and most importantly, new robot masters. Their names are a tad unconventional, and their designs are more Mega Man X than Mega Man, but they’re still really cool.
The music is so weird
Music is one of the Mega Man franchise’s defining traits. Some of the most memorable music of the NES era came from Mega Man games. So hearing these classic tunes coming out of the Sega Genesis’s… unique sound system is quite a thrill. I can’t say that any of these songs are anywhere near as good as their original counterparts, but I can say that they’re all thoughtfully done and very impressive in their own rights. Here are a few of my favorites.
That’s all for today. Check back tomorrow for the tragically overlooked Mega Man: Powered Up for PSP.
