The Five Things I Hope to See with Mega Man 10

The month of January has passed, and that means we’re one month closer to the release of Mega Man 10. Chance are you’re getting your hopes up, because I certainly know I am. So much so, in fact, that I took the time to write down some of my biggest hopes for Mega Man 10 in this here little article. Kind of like I did before with Legends 3, except this time it’s a game we know is coming. Now without further ado, internet opinions!
#1: Endless Mode

Endless Mode was by far one of the greatest things to come out of Mega Man 9. What better a way to increase a game’s replayability than to have a stage that’s always different, and doesn’t end until you do? Endless Mode was easily the best downloadable content Mega Man 9 had to offer, and was so liked that ROM hackers started making their own endless versions of other Mega Man games. Of course there is still room for improvement, as I feel that Mega Man 9’s Endless Mode didn’t offer enough variety. It featured, I would guess, roughly 40 to 50 unique stage segments, not counting the boss rooms. After a while you got to know them all, and that’s just inevitable. But what’s more, it didn’t utilize all the obstacles Mega Man 9 had to offer, like Galaxy Man’s portals, Tornado Man’s magnetic platforms, and Jewel Man’s swinging beams.

Even if it is downloadable content again, I’m pretty confident Mega Man 10 will feature its own Endless Mode. It had better anyway, because it’s incredibly fun.

#2: All New Music

Mega Man 9’s return to its retro roots featured a return to some great sounding chiptune music as well. However, in an effort to relive the wonderment of the renowned Mega Man 2, Mega Man 9 directly borrowed some of its music, and this seemed just a bit strange. Granted, while most of the reused music was little jingles and such, people still prefer something new in all aspects. You can’t recreate the awesomeness of Mega Man 2 by trying to copy it exactly. The worst offender is menu theme, which uses Mega Man 2’s password theme. This little song can quickly get grating if you spend any decent amount of time navigating the menus. It’s especially true when looking up online rankings, which still don’t seem to load that well even a year after Mega Man 9’s release.

I will note that during my hands-on with the Mega Man 10 demo at CES, I did hear that the jingle for the stage start theme is the trademark jingle from Mega Man 2, but it’s a fresh arrangement that gives it some more pizazz. So I am hopeful of the rest of the music having its own unique qualities if it ends up being borrowed from other games.

#3: More Mega Man on Virtual Console

When Mega Man 9 came out in 2008, we didn’t just get Mega Man 9, but the first three Mega Man titles on the Wii’s Virtual Console as well. It was a great way to get people geared up for the new Mega Man 9, and I’d hoped they’d do it for Mega Man 10 as well. I even tried to find this out during my trip to CES, but Capcom’s PR wouldn’t comment here nor there on the matter. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, just as I’m considering this for the article last week, Rockman 4 gets announced for Virtual Console in Japan! And it ought to get to us as well. I’m sure there are also expectations for Mega Man 5 and 6 as well, and while I think those two are kind of weak Mega Man titles, they are still pretty decent NES titles, so I do look forward to them.

Incidentally, do you know what I’d love to see on Virtual Console? Mega Man X. Sure, some of you are probably thinking it’s being held until Mega Man X9 gets announced, but I don’t know if I can wait that long. Mega Man X is not just a great Mega Man game, it’s one of the best Super Nintendo games, period. Get this one out there, Capcom!

#4: A New Kind of  Final Boss

Since Mega Man 4, it’s been kind of a tradition that the last boss of a Mega Man game is the Wily Capsule – an escape capsule-like ship Dr. Wily operates that appears and disappears while attacking Mega Man. I’m all for tradition, but there are some things that I don’t see as needing to be a tradition. While it was appropriate for Mega Man 9, which was more focused on being a revival, I’m hoping we’ll get something a bit new in Mega Man 10, something not so predictable. I’m not saying the last boss shouldn’t be Dr. Wily still – c’mon, you know he will be. But let’s have him try something new for his last-ditch effort to stomp Mega Man. The Game Boy line of games tend to have fairly unique takes on the last battle, so there’s definitely to do something different than the Wily Capsule.

#5: Zero

We know the Mega Man series and Mega Man X series eventually— Hahaha, I’m just kidding you guys.

#5: Doc Robot

One of the most unique concepts of Mega Man 3 was an enemy known as Doc Robot. These guys emulated the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, so it was basically getting to fight them over again, and they appeared in revamped versions of the stages you previously beat. This was a really cool concept, and I’m let down that it really hasn’t been reused in other Mega Man games (except Mega Man V for Game Boy, to a degree). Of course, it’s not so much about Doc Robot itself, but about expanding the game. It would be great to have more stages than the eight Robot Master stages and then Wily Castle. Let’s have some more in between. And how cool would it be to face the Robot Masters from Mega Man 9 again in some form? Or heck, how about various Robot Masters from all the earlier games? If you want to please Mega Man fans, then more stages and more bosses is definitely one of the best ways to go.

You know, while I might sound kind of complainy in each of my topics, ultimately these complaints center around the same thing: wanting more. And when it comes to a video game, that’s the best kind of complaint someone can have!

What do you want to see with Mega Man 10?

LanceHeart