TMMN Talks to The Score’s Arda Ocal About Mega Man

Canadian fans of wrestling– WWE in particular– are probably familiar with Arda Ocal (@arda_ocal on Twitter), who not only co-hosts the post-Raw and post-Smackdown show Aftermath on The Score Television Network, but also the weekly podcast version, which has developed a worldwide following.

Being such a fan myself, it didn’t escape my attention when the show went on the air and Arda was seen sporting a Mega Man t-shirt (seen at right; click to enlarge) for the second time in recent memory. That, plus a tweet during the recent Royal Rumble pay-per-view (“I was playing Mega Man 3 and I thought it would be nerdy and cool to let people know I was”), prompted us to catch up with and talk to the man who has given our favorite Blue Bomber (sorry, Winnipeg— you’re second, if anything) some much welcome exposure.

The Mega Man Network: When did you first get into Mega Man?

Arda Ocal: My first experience was Mega Man 3, so I guess I got into the game later than some. After that, I discovered 2 (for some reason it took me a while before I could find and rent 1), and followed along until 5 when SEGA Genesis came along for me.

MMN: Are you just a fan of the old school NES Mega Man, or do you like newer games as well?

AO: I’m a big fan of the original 6 Mega Man games for NES… any given day, if I’m bored at home I’ll just pop in any one and play them. I’ve always been a fan ever since I was a kid… It was the perfect game for me, and I think it’s because I have ADD and at least the first part of the game doesn’t restrict you to one level you have to beat before getting to the next, which I think has always been one of the best part about the series. (This is before I learned about cycles and what not.)

Later I downloaded 9 and 10 for Wii and enjoyed those a lot as well.

To be honest, I’m not a high level player – you’ll never see me posting Time attacks on YouTube of trying to beat the game over and over, but they are tremendous fun to play. I think my absolute favourite part of the series is the music – I would put the music in the game against any music in any video game… the melodies are off the charts. I actually downloaded a medley of them all and it’s part of my MP3 rotation #ProudNerd

MMN: Any favorite games from the series?

AO: I liked all the games for different reasons – I thought it was funny Mega Man 1 had a points system which in so many video games doesn’t even really matter all that much. Mega Man 2 was the one that started it for me so it will always have a special place in my heart, and Air Man is probably my favourite level music (other than Dr. Wily Stage 1 in Mega Man 9).

Mega Man 3 got rid of that annoying involuntary semi-slide after you stop moving (that Mega Man 1 and 2 had) which was welcome, and was probably the hardest one in terms of levels for me. Mega Man 4 was fun because of the weapon charge. Mega Man 5 definitely had my favourite charge up, because the range was bigger. Mega Man 6 had “Yamato Man” (i.e. we may be starting to run out of ideas).

MMN: Do you like Mega Man Legends? (Sorry, folks; I just had to ask this one)

AO: I actually haven’t explored this yet but I think I will soon – I bought Mega Man Anniversary Collection for Xbox a couple years ago and kind of got into Mega Man 7 and 8 (but prefer the 8-bit graphics, which is why I was happy to see that going into 9 and 10), and the two 2D fighting-style games the collection also came with.

Shamefully, I haven’t explored Mega Man X or Zero or any of the other games in the series, as much as I should. I typically stick to 1–6 and 9–10.

MMN: Which character is your favorite?

AO: To play, Mega Man for sure… my favourite boss is Wood Man, just because he made leaves into a fierce weapon… who woulda thought!

MMN: Any thoughts for Mega Man’s upcoming 25th anniversary?

AO: Just that he’s the best and I proudly wear a Mega Man shirt on national television. 🙂 And I would be a happy kid at heart if Mega Man 11, 12, 13, 14, all the way to 50 were made with 8-bit graphics and awesome cheesy campy music!

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Our thanks go to Arda Ocal for taking the time to talk with us about Mega Man; keep wearing that shirt proudly!

If you’re in Canada and have cable, you can catch Arda (with and without Mega Man) on Aftermath Tuesdays at 6-ish pm EST and Friday nights at 10pm EST, as well as on Aftermath Radio Monday nights from 11:05pm to Midnight, EST. You can also find Aftermath on Facebook, while the Baltimore Sun hosts his column.