The final Mega Man from the original series on the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in March 1994. Developed by Capcom and published by Nintendo, Mega Man 6 closed the door on a series that had seen six releases on the Nintendo. The Blue Bomber’s final mission on the Nintendo would see him take on a “new” villain while improving gadgets like a jet pack. Would the series end on a high note on the Nintendo?
Story:
By now, we know how Mega Man games go. Dr. Wily comes up with a terrible plot to dominate the world. Usually, it involves kidnapping scientists, posing as an imposter, or stealing robots from Dr. Light. In Mega Man 6, Dr. Wily isn’t mentioned so he must be reformed…LOL. More on that soon.
Anyway, there is a mysterious “Mr. X” who is sponsoring a robot tournament. Designers from all around the world including the United States, Japan, and Canada have entered the robot fighting tournament with their robots. The goal of the tournament is to find out who can create the best fighting robot. The tournament comes down to the final eight robots who enter the arena for the final event when Mr. X comes in and teleports the robots and himself away from the arena.
Mega Man is called into action to once again save the world as it turns out Mr. X has evil plans for the top eight robots. Mega Man battles his way through the eight robot masters and into Mr. X’s fortress only to discover a shocking reveal. DR. WILY IS MR. X! OH MY GOD WHO SAW THIS COMING? THIS MUST BE THE GREATEST PLOT TWIST IN THE HISTORY OF STORY-TELLING.
I hope you are fluent with sarcasm. Surprise, surprise, Dr. Wily is behind the whole thing but like every Mega Man game previously, our blue bomber stops Dr. Wily and puts him behind bars where in the credits Dr. Wily is said to rule in prison now. After the inclusion of Proto Man in some of the previous games, I was surprised that he wasn’t involved in the game.
Gameplay:
Mega Man 6 has the best robot masters on the NES. I loved their designs and thought most of them were very unique and loved the stereotypes they represented. Robots like Knight Man, Tomahawk Man, Yamato Man were inspired by human warriors but the designs of Plant Man, Centaur Man, and Flame Man were pretty cool too. The only robot masters that were somewhat lame were Blizzard Man and Wind Man. Let’s take a look at their designs.
Always hitting the Alps. 
Often confused for the penny horses at grocery stores. 
Voldemort’s second favorite turban. 
Is always attached to his ball and chain. 
Loves to be plucked. 
Invented the tomahawk chop for the Florida State Seminoles and Atlanta Braves which is now deemed racist. 
Don’t stand down wind from him. 
Yamato Yamata Tomato Tomata.
One much-needed upgrade to Mega Man was his jetpack. Using his trusty robot dog “Rush”, Mega Man has the ability to hover around and reach higher platforms in this mode. I loved it because it didn’t require energy. The jetpack has limited fuel and replenishes itself as soon as you land making the use of a jetpack convenient whenever you need it. There’s also a “power” form for Mega Man but I never used it and I didn’t know what it was for but as I’m writing this I can recall blocks with cracks in them that you probably could have punched through. So I guess I’m a dummy but that’s just another cool feature for Mega Man 6.
The environments and levels were colorful and I enjoyed running through the castle in Knight Man’s stage or seeing the beautiful blazing sunset in Tomahawk Man’s stage. By the end of the Nintendo’s life cycle, Capcom knew how to get the most from the system in graphics and detail. Another cool thing they implemented was the use of dead enemies. In Flame Man’s stage, there were rivers of oil you had to cross. Some enemies would spit a flame on the river and set it on fire. The only way to cross these rivers was to destroy quick-moving enemies that resemble the Roomba Vacuums. Once you destroyed them they would flip over and land in the fire river and act as a cushion for you to cross. This was pretty cool and I liked seeing the added elements into levels. They also added stats and a small intro for the robot masters before playing their levels. Before the robot masters would do a type of dance or signature pose but now they made it so Mega Man is getting information on them including their power special, and stats for defense and size, etc. It doesn’t affect the gameplay at all but I thought it was a nice presentation.
Memories:
I had beat Mega Man 6 for the first time around 2010. So replaying through it felt fresh again. I didn’t remember how much I liked it but for once I wasn’t so frustrated playing through a Mega Man game. Usually, they drive me nuts either with cheap deaths or levels that are super hardcore. Mega Man 6 was the perfect mix of skill and design for me and I really enjoyed my playthrough this time.
This was the last game Mega Man game I played while working at the hospital during my college years. I have never played any Mega Man games after this so I’m excited to continue the series and see what it offers on the Super Nintendo and beyond.
Overall:
Mega Man 6 sends the series off the Nintendo with a bang. It’s the best in the series on the NES, yes better than Mega Man 2. The robot masters are designed well and while Dr. Wily is ultimately behind the evil plot, I appreciate them trying to disguise him in a new way. Mega Man 6 showed that Capcom could tweak the formula and improve the gameplay with the added jetpack feature. Great work by Capcom on the final Mega Man that would grace the Nintendo.
Mega Man 6 scores an 8.6 out of 10.
Do you remember when Mega Man 6 first came out? Were you still playing Nintendo games or were you already onto the Super Nintendo? What was your favorite robot master from this game? I loved Yamato Man. Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
If you’d like to own a copy of Mega Man 6, you can purchase a used copy of it for Nintendo from eBay for around $48.
Tiger Chainsaw 