One of my all time favorite video game series is Mega Man. I bought the original game at The Electronics Boutique with some birthday money I had received. I had already rented and played Mega Man 2 and I was itching to try out the original and I wasn't disappointed.
I thought I'd take a few moments and give tribute to the Blue Bomber's classic series. A look at the evolution of the classic series.....and the evolution of the box art for the games. For better or worse, these pieces of video game art give me the warm fuzzies all over. Let's dive in!
Ah, the original Mega Man. There's quite a difference between the American and European releases of the Blue Bombers first outing against the forces of Dr. Wily's evil Robot Masters. I'm a pretty nostalgic kinda guy so the American release that I grew up up with is
near and dear to my heart.....but the European art is friggin awesome! In the American release, Mega Man looks like an old guy with a mustache....with a crooked helmet. He looks like he means business though! Then there's the European version with a younger looking Mega Man and Dr. Wily is really looking like a mad scientist.
Mega Man 2 was actually the first Mega Man game that I ever played. I rented this bad monkey from Video Paradise back in the day. Alot of people say that the artwork for the first two games is terrible, but I'll tell you what....my twelve year old mind was blown away by the cover of this game. Though I did ofter wonder in my adult years why it is that Dr. Light is apparently hiding behind Crash Man. It doesn't really seem as though he's being held prisoner.....but more looking for protection as he witnesses Mega Man and Quick Man battle it out. The European cover art is just plain bizarre. Mega Man is all chromed out and looks like an extra from an 80's Human League music video. It almost reminds me of the artwork for Atari 2600 games or maybe even Commodore 64. 
Mega Man 3 is where they started to use the more robotic looking Mega Man on the American box artwork. The artwork always sorta bugged me on this one. It's pretty clear that Mega Man is blasting Spark Man here....but Spark Man is looking pretty generic. Apparently this was before Wily gave him his orange paint job. Speaking of which....why in the hell is Top Man green? I'm sure that it's probably due to the fact that the artwork was created before the finished game...and perhaps while still in prototype stage, Top Man was green....but somehow it bugs me. The European art is quite interesting on this one as well. Mega Man takes on more of his (now) familiar anime style as well as the floating heads of the robot masters he must face. But then there's a less cartoony Dr Wily looking pretty damn freaked out. The hair standing on end cracks me the hell up too. 
Mega Man 4 is another cover that looks pretty cool, but when you actually stop and think about what you are looking at you start to really question what the hell they were thinking about when creating the cover art. Here we see Mega Man, either jumping in the air, or sliding down a hill.....in the background we see an onion domed castle with a GINORMOUS Pharoah Man firing his Pharoah Shot apparently at random. Why do I say he's GINORMOUS, you ask? Well, he is standing on top of the giant onion dome of a castle. Judging by the picture I would have to say that Pharoah Man is rought the size of King Kong or Godzilla in this particular piece of art. Why is he standing on a Russian looking building? Well that's because we initially think that the villian behind Mega Man's headaches is Dr. Cossack. Turns out Wily was forcing him to do his bidding by kidnapping his daughter. The European version is essentially the same, with the purple Capcom border missing....and a slightly different expression on Mega Man's face. His look in the European version looks a bit more like a determined resolve to defeat Wily......while the American artwork has him making a face like a kid who's up to no good. I should know....I was constantly up to no good as a kid!
Mega Man 5. Alot of people say that this is their least favorite Mega Man game. The game itself is great...just like all the other games in the series, but I think that the artwork here is probably my least favorite of the original NES titles. No particular reason.....it just.....feels off to me. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's because Mega Man is making an odd face.....which could be due to the fact that apparently he's absorbing an energy shot from Gravity Man. Huh. I dunno. Weird. Proto Man is also in the background firing down upon Mega Man. This is the second game to have the ol' switcharoo....where you think that you're facing a new arch enemy, but in fact it turns out that Dr. Wily was running the show all along. Surprise, surprise.
Mega Man 6 was the last of the original NES games. Some of the Robot Masters were a bit silly in this game, but it's still a fun one. The cool thing about the cover art for Mega Man 6 is that it features Knight Man and Wind Man, which are the two Robot Masters that were designed by North American fans in a contest run by Nintendo Power. The other six Masters were created by Japanese fans....which was nothing new.....there had been several contests to create a new Robot Master in Japan for several of the sequels....but this was the first time that a contest was run in North American. Out of more than 200,000 entries, only 8 were selected. That's a lot of Robot Masters!
Mega Man 7 was the first and only of the "Classic" Mega Man games to appear on the Super Nintendo (The Mega Man X series was the 16 bit systems focus in the series). The box art is so-so....nothing really ever jumped out and grabbed me about the artwork. The background is pretty much monochromatic aside from Dr. Wily and a few assorted mechanical baddies. Mega Man does look pretty cool though in this one!
Mega Man 8. Worst. Cover Art. Ever. Period. 
Mega Man 9. The return of classic Mega man in all his 8-bit glory. Released as a downloadable game on e VC, PSN and XBLA, this artwork is a return to the humanistic look of Mega Man. What's insanely awesome is Dr. Wily's new look! It's like a Darth Vader meets Shredder from TMNT topped off with the obligatory mad scientist look (which of course, he is!). Mega Man is looking like he hit the robot gym and is charging up the Mega Buster for some action. I like how in addtion to his Mega Buster, he's also holding a laser gun. Dig that crazy robot with the buzz saw hands running after him too! 
Mega Man 10 came out in 2010, which could be considred 20XX by Mega Man standards, which is pretty awesome! Anywhoo. The artwork to Mega Man 10 is just as awesome as the Mega Man 9 artwork. This one reminds me a lot of the original Star Wars poster....in this case Mega Man taking Luke Skywalkers pose and Proto Man taking the Princess Leah pose....only he's not clinging ot Mega Man. Because that would be weird. I had always thought that Mega Man would make an awesome movie when I was a kid. 20 years later, I STILL think it would make an awesome film and the posters for parts 9 and 10 absolutely prove it! With the special effects being what they are today, I think that a Mega Man movie is long over due.....and I want Wily to look like he does in the Mega Man 9 poster!
Well, that's it so far for the classic Mega Man games. I truly hope that Capcom will bring the Blue Bomber back for more downloadable adventures.....because quite frankly, I never want this series to end. I don't even care how silly the Robot Masters get, I'll still play. Some said that Sheep Man was ridiculous....I say BAAAA! No more ridiculous than Snake Man, Toad Man, or Centaur Man! I thought they were all pretty cool.....and hey.....they were invented by a mad scientist! What do you expect? Dr. Wiley has had his ass handed to him 10 times thus far and still hasn't given up yet. I've got a feeling that Wily has got more tricks up his sleeves. I can't wait to see what new Robot Masters the future holds for fans!
PS: Capcom, if you're reading this....please, please, PLEASE....I wanna see Cthulhu Man! Now THAT would be a fierce Robot Master! SHYEAH!
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