True that.  I likely wouldn't be able to forgive myself in the end.  IGN says it plainly enough: "If you get the boss order online, you're not really hardcore."

Well, I've made it to Wily's Castle. Started with Splash Woman and finished up with Tornado Man (who has an infuriating stage). Typical with this series, I often started levels, fought my way through them (dying fairly often), making it to the robot master, only to discover that I don't have the needed weapon. And I refused to look up a weakness grid.

Probably making the game even HARDER, I didn't use the shop until the last two levels, and even then, just to grab some extra lives.

Here's the thing - most of the sonuvabitchery in the game is telegraphed before it becomes fatal. In this case, you get both the spider likely to fall through the unusual block, and just before where-I'm-guessing-you-died, the floor-slider that stops halfway. Very solid design throughout. Oh and good job getting what for my money are the two most useful weapons in the game right off.

For my part, I didn't guess correctly most of the way through - I only had the weaknesses for 3 bosses in my inventory when I met them. IN FACT, I tried repeatedly to clear Magmaman throughout my clearing of the first 8 (since his stage is pretty easy compared to some others) and he kept killibg me because I didn't have his weakness and would lose when he was down to two or three bars every time. Wouldn't you know, the one whose weapon rips him apart was the only other stage I hadn't cleared by the end.

All three are confirmed to have Protoman, but he has no story (and presumably no ending), and no effect on the Challenge List. So if you really wanna clear the game right, do it with Blue Boy. Oh, and I turned Legacy Mode off. I played MMAC in preparation to minimize on flicker; I don't consider it integral to enjoyment.

P.S. Jewelman's stage is a beast.

I picked up the PS3 version today.  Damn, does this game bitch slap you with its difficulty right from the start.  I played a little of each of the robot master stages, and all the tricks are there: disappearing blocks, speedy moving platforms, reappearing enemies, enemies that drive you right into other enemies, enemies that are too low to the ground to hit with your buster, enemies that split into other enemies, harsh mini-bosses, tricky jumps, and lots and lots of spikes.  It's like a greatest hits of nasty tricks from the MM series.

Anyway, it's damn good.  I've cleared two bosses so far (Splash Woman and Galaxy Man), and I'm starting to get reacquainted with this type of gameplay and the surprising cleverness of its design.  I hope to put more time in this weekend, but I can only take so much punishment for one night.

I was reading through the list of Challenges, and they're largely insane.  Beat the entire game without taking a hit?  Are they effing kidding?

As for the PS3 transfer, it looks great upscaled to 1080p, and the dual shock controls are sharp and responsive.  Like another person mentioned, I don't see what harm it would have done to let you switch weapons with the L&R buttons, but that option is sadly not included.

P.S.:
Today's Wall Street Journal even had an article about the game talking about how difficult games are making a comeback.  They showed MM9, but they also mentioned Ikaruga on XBLA and Bangaio Spirits on DS.  Never thought I'd see a picture of Mega Man in the Wall Street Journal.

P.P.S.:
Did I mention the spikes?

Cheers to everyone else who DIDN'T look up any boss weakness guides or easiest stage order. 

When it's an old school game, you gotta PLAY it like an old school game! (No FAQs)
Trial and Error for the win (You're SUPPOSED to see a game over screen once in a while, that's why it's there).

Truth, man! Amen to that.

I downloaded it this morning, and after about 45 minutes I finished off four of the robot masters: Splash, Concrete, Galaxy and Hornet. I beat Splash and Concrete and totally lucked out when I accidentally found Galaxy's weakness - the Concrete Shot!. I then took on Hornet Man and found a great strategy for beating him WITHOUT exploiting a weapon weakness: when he shoots off his trio of bees, you can use Galaxy Man's weapon to suck them into the black hole and beat them, leaving him completely defenseless. Then you just buster him up, jump over him and then repeat the whole ordeal until he's dead. Piece of cake!

I'm so glad they didn't include the charge buster in this one. And I have to say - finding out all this stuff on my own makes the game so much more fun. If you use a FAQ for this one, you are not a real gamer. Sorry, folks.

Word up to the old skoolers, mang. You especially, Zane.

This game beat my ass so hard. Concrete Man's stage had me see the game over screen, like, three times 'fore I got halfway.

I have been fighting Wily's third form for over an hour. I will finish this, dammit! Does that part remind anyone of the Megaman 7 final boss? So ridiculously hard, so annoying, so fantastic. Argh!

Oh, and EDIT: I refuse to use any powerups, E tanks or M tanks. I will do this on my own.

Finished, no E tanks or anything else. I beat Dr. Wily's ass to kingdom come this time! Man, that felt GOOD.

I got to him without any tanks left (I went in with 4, in MM2's honor) and kept dying by the third part over and over. So I reset and did the whole castle over in one go. Whomped.

Congrats, man. Whatcha got on Challenges? Sounds like you got No Coffee Break, at least.

P.S. Isn't it rad how in the ending they recreate all of the previous games' Willy Surrenders in 8-bit form with the right weapons equipped? Inti knows its friggin' history.

Nope, it was the floor-slider one that got me.  But you're right about the signs of warning; I just failed to notice it the first time since I was just trying to charge through.

Oh, I had every intention of playing through with Mega; I'm just looking forward to using the P-Man's gameplay assets.  Judging from the IGN video, it looks like they at least went with the quieter M. Buster charger. 

Agreed.  After Tornado Man, Jewel's stage took me the most tries to get down.  Those fraggin' momentum lifts - and I actually had to count the number of boulders that fall for the midboss.  (It's ten, by the way.) :p

'Grats to Zane indeed.  I also beat the game going in with four tanks and none remaining.  Ending spoilers: Cool Bass reference.  Mega Man is such a naive douche.  And the artwork of the robot masters being good again is awesome; Splash Woman is teh sexy, the shot of Tornado Man and Mega Man together was particularly cool, and I was greatly amused with Concrete Man chasing after Wily. 

I'm really hoping that the Arrange Soundtrack version of Staff Roll will turn out great.

I was considering doing that, but there was no way in hell I was going to go through the part in Wily 1 where you need to "freeze" the horizontal lava beams with the Concrete Shot again. I died seven times in a row on that segment, and when I ran out of lives I went back to the checkpoint area and shot dudes until they dropped some extra lives.

I don't remember specifically, but I ended up with 32%. I got 6 out of the 8 boss challenges, as well as most of the normal ones like killing 1,000 enemies, beating a boss with only the Buster and, for some reason, the one where you have to beat a level without stopping (I am an animal!). I didn't get No Coffee Break, though - I used an E Tank on Plug Man trying to learn his pattern when I went in sans Jewel Shield-a-ma-thingy... and he still beat me before I could take him down with just my Buster!

Absolutely. I was laughing so hard during that part. So good!

Overall, here are some quick key points that have stuck with me until after the game:

Pros
- Great challenge, great fun
- Awesome NES graphics and music;
- The levels were very well-designed;
- Finally, a female Robot Master. Ironic how she is less feminine than Top Man;
- Hornet Chaser, FTW. Gimmie those hard to reach power-ups, you little buggers!

Cons
- Wily 3 was a total bitch (but that's part of the challenge);
- I was disappointed by the main bosses in Wily's Castle. All of them;
- There is no way I am ever going to get 100% Challenges. Damn you, Capcom!
- Some of the Robot Masters patterns were too simple: Come on, Hornet Man, do something else!

Overall, I thought MM9 was an intense and awesome experience. I am a total supporter of Mega Man 10 if Capcom ever decides to put that out. Maybe next time they'll use SNES sprites and music...

Heh, one of my friends had the same exact problem with that part.  I'll help you out like I helped him: Once you get by the screen with the one beam, go up the ladder, then immediately use a Rush Coil to jump over to the middle ladder that takes you up to the left-most right side of the next screen.  If you wait for the beams to start, they'll never stop.  They give you that two second delay for a reason!  Anyway.. go past that one beam there, get to the double ladders (you'll be on the left one).  Climb up a bit, use a Rush Jet, fall on it, and let him take you one inch over to the correct ladder (the right-most one) to get to the proper spot on the next screen.  Enjoy.

I just finished the game myself.  Daaaaamn was I impressed.  Gameplay, style, music, difficulty, everything.  So good!  And as SonicPanda already pointed out, props to Inti for paying attention to detail in the previous Wily surrender scenes.  I can't wait to see what they offer in terms of downloadable content!

-Mike

Damn, good advice! I didn't even think of that... once I figured out my way through the room, I was determined to finish it the way I had planned. And I did. Although... I won't let that stop me during my next playthrough, heh.

After making my way through Wily's castle no less than THREE times, I finally beat the game! Very satisfying, certainly one of the best in the series. And the challenges are a brilliant idea. Some of them are masochistic but even going through the game normally, I ended up getting almost 30% of them.

The music remains merely adequate to me. The tunes are perfectly serviceable in-game but when I've finished playing, I can't remember a thing about them, a problem I certainly don't have with MM2/MM3's music.

Beat the game early Monday morning after a five-hour marathon session that started Sunday night.  I still hate how they don't let you save your progress after you get to Wily's castle.  I thought there was one of the NES ones that let you do this, but I can't remember which one.

Anyway, what a great, if masochistic experience.  I don't think I've ever really appreciated the level design so much in an MM game.  They really make you work for it, and you want to keep going rather than snap the cart in half (stupid Rockman & Forte is still the only regular MM game I haven't finished... not counting the Mega Drive one which I've never even played).  I spent several of those hours just replaying Wily Castle Stage 3 over and over and over until I could get to and beat the boss without using an E-tank.  Those robots that zoom out of nowhere to slam you into the spikes are cheap as shit though (it's cheap because there's no way to know they're coming the first time you hit the area).  Wily himself I didn't have any real problems with once I made the commitment to start burning my precious E-Tanks.  I guess I got lucky in that I correctly guessed which special weapons to use against his second and third forms.  Made them both a piece of cake.

The ending was fun, but I really wish they would have put the enemies' names alongside their pictures.  I still remember back to some of the GB games that did this, and it was really cool finally learning what they were all called.

Despite the countless profanities that I shouted at the screen during this experience, MM9 is great fun, and the $10 price tag still amazes me.  I'm very pleased with Capcom right now (horrible 3D Bionic Commando box art notwithstanding).  Bring on SF4 and RE5.

Got it myself just 3 days ago on the Wii.

The stages are more challenging than the bosses are! Granted, I thought Plug Man was a real bitch, raining sparks at you from the floor and from above...and hell, I'm going for some of those challenges, i.e., defeating all of them only using the Mega Buster (acheived!) and not using any Energy Tanks or other items. Most of Mega Man II's bosses were IMPOSSIBLE going in with only the Mega Buster (like Air Man; had to kill him before you killed you).

Some of the robots adhere to a strict pattern they don't deviate from (Hornet Man, Galaxy Man, Tornado Man, Splash Woman), others depend on your actions and counter your actions, and for the most part, tend to chase you (Concrete Man, Jewel Man, Plug Man, Magma Man).

I'm working on Wily's Castle, now...I always thought it was harsh how you had to complete all the Wily stages in one sitting, and you couldn't get a password or save to continue from a point midway through the castle. Gotta set some time aside for that!

Jewel Man's level theme is stuck in my head...it's so sexy...and that's I believe the first time I ever used such an explicit word! Tee-hee. Definitely getting the soundtrack...

You could also just pause and let the Wii idle while you're not playing. That's what I did the night I beat the game - I just paused, walked away for an hour or two and then came back to it.

Capcom sells new Rockman 9 goods @ TGS

Strap with 3 rockmans aligned in a Shoot-Run-Jump Sequence. Nice!

Tshirt featuring the 9 bosses on the front and a sprite of Rockman taking damage on the back.

In other Capcom news, Angela's dream of being a coffee-slamming addict like Godot can now be fully realized, with an official Godot Blend No.107 Coffee Cup

I am so picking the keychain up.

this game was pure crap compared to the greatness of Megaman 2 and 3.  Personally, I thought the music was terrible.  the poor level design killed it...and I found it really odd they didn't let you slide

How do I get it?  Must... have... now...

"Ha!"  You've obviously never seen me late for work on a Monday morning.  Chug the mug, slam the mug, and I'm out the door.

Cool cup, though.  Too bad the package doesn't contain a real No. 107 blend; I've always imagined the flavor to be akin to a mixing of Kenyan and Columbian, with a dash of Hazelnut.  Mmm.....

For sale at TGS for 1000 Yen, though I don't know if they'll offer any additional stock through the e-capcom shop afterwards. 
http://www.capcom.co.jp/tgs2008/goods_gyakuten.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9wVCVksme4

Just watching others play (and fail) this part over and over makes me laugh so damned much.  It wasn't nearly as amusing when *I* was doing it, of course, but I bounced the stage off an old gamer buddy (a hardcore MM fan), and when he kept getting blasted off the mortal coil, I was in stitches.

Nevermind. I'm just an idiot.

So, has anyone picked up any DLC for Mega Man 9 yet?

I had 500 Wii Points in my account leftover, so I picked up Endless Stage and Special Stage. Special Stage was just OK, but Endless stage is a blast! It keeps things fresh and has some really unique challenges (along with some stage reprises - Heat Man, anyone?).

So far just Protoman, until I buy another Points Card since I was all out.

But I'll probably get a few DLCs though, saw a screenshot with a new boss that looks like a robo-policeman called Fakeman, so maybe that's from Time Attack...

Same here.  I refuse to get anymore DLC until I finish the game with Proto.  Wily's Castle is just kicking my butt.

All of it, on Wii and PS3, including the premium themes that initially wouldn't download that I crabbed to Sony about. I've only fiddled with Endless so far though, as I'm working on beating the game proper in both versions sans helmet & tanks.

Hey, anyone see this? Amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOKbeqg3 … re=related

Nice technical achievement in the video, but I'm still pretty down on this particular do-over.

No idea that was underway. I just assumed someone took the Megaman 8 OP and set it to 8 bit for the hell of it. I was impressed.

I was impressed at the ERECTRICAL COMMUNICATION!

-Mike

I gotta find that song. I really loved it back then.