WhenMega Man 9was released in 2008, the game freaked people out with its ability to emotionally transport thirty-something gamers back to the late 1980s. The game’s graphics, music, and design choices were all straight out of theMega Man 2playbook, a playbook that hadn’t been used much in the past 20 years. Experiencing this style of game effectively made me feel like a kid again. The design missteps ofMega Man 7and andMega Man 8were erased from my mind, and my love of Mega Man was back in full force.
With that love rekindled, you’d think I’d be pretty damn excited forMega Man 10. Problem is, I’ve been excited forMega Mansequels before, and I’ve been burned more often than not. Despite being generally well-made games,Mega Man 3,4,5, and6were all disappointments in their own ways. It was easy to imagine thatMega Man 10would join those four amongst my least favorite games in the series. Not only does Capcom have a track record of making less-than-stellarMega Mangames, but withMega Man 10, they can’t rely on nostalgia either. WhereMega Man 9worked to remind me of the games I grew up with,Mega Man 10only reminds me of…Mega Man 9, and it’s a bit early to be nostalgic for 2008.
To justify the existence ofMega Man 10, the game has to do more than remind me of how much I used to love Mega Man. It needs to give me a reason tokeep lovingMega Man, by outdoing the past games in the series, or, at least, equaling them.
Does the game pull off everything that’s expected of it? Hit the jump to find out.
Mega Man 10(WiiWare [reviewed], PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade)Developer: CapcomPublisher: CapcomReleased: June 05, 2025 (WiiWare) / July 26, 2025 (PSN) / July 24, 2025 (XBLA)MSRP: 1000 Wii Points / $9.99 / 800 Microsoft Points
More than any otherMega Mangame in recent (as in, twenty years recent) memory,Mega Man 10becomes more enjoyable the more you play it. UnlikeMega Man 2andMega Man 9, which feel fantastic the first time you play them, but gradually get less exciting after beating them,Mega Man 10only got more fun after the first time I finished it. Part of that has to do with the way the game is paced, but more than anything, it has to do with the need to drop one’s expectations.
What does one expect from aMega Mangame? Well, the answer to that is likely to be different for everybody, but for me, I expect a game that gives me the most powerfully sweet-and-sour experience that it can. My two favorite games in the series,Mega Man 2andMega Man 9, both work to blast the player with as much joy as possible, through both a catchy, vibrato-packed soundtrack and a multi-colored, surprise-filled visual world. That’s the sweet.
The sour comes from the death: the many, many,manykinds of death thatMega Mangames are known for.Mega Man 2andMega Man 9are both unafraid to kill the player. Instant deaths are commonplace, but instead of being frustrating and game-killing, the instant deaths in aMega Mangame should make the player smile and even laugh. If the game is doing its job right, the music, visuals, and design choices should be so much fun that you won’t mind being forced to play through a level again. It should get more and more fun the more you play it, like a pop song that gets more catchy the more you hear it. That’s what I’ve come to expect from aMega Mangame.
Mega Man 9seemed to be made specifically to meet those expectations, even at the risk of alienatingMega Mannon-fans.Mega Man 10goes in the opposite direction. With its easy mode, multiple playable characters, branching levels, and fewer instant deaths,Mega Man 10makes an effort to please those who didn’t “get”Mega Man 9. By proxy, people who did “get”Mega Man 9might be initially taken aback with how differentMM10is.
Level-specific traps and obstacles aren’t asMega Man-centric than those found in9; the music often fails to initially impress, and most of the weapons feel a little boring on the first try. When I first got my ass kicked by the increasingly brutal ball-tossing elephants in Concrete Man’s stage, or heard Tornado Man’s stage music, or used Jewel Satellite to reflect back Uzi fire from a Sniper Joe inMega Man 9, I was genuinely impressed. Those moments don’t happen as often inMega Man 10. Don’t get me wrong: they still happen, but they’re not as frequent. It takes a little more time to find the joy ofMega Man 10.
The soundtrack feels generally less inspired. An exception to that is Solar Man’s stage theme. It doesn’t sound like traditionalMega Manmusic, but it’s still really catchy, like a chiptune crossbreed between Led Zeppelin and a the final minutes of Metallica’s “One.” It’s immediately infectious, while most of the other songs in the game take longer to grow on you. As for the weapons, they grew on me too. I’ve actually found that Nitro Man’s weapon is pretty amazing. Not only can you use it to launch little wheels of death down paths or straight up walls, but if you hold the button down after selecting it, you can use it to go straight up wallsyourself. Level designs are also easier to appreciate after you’ve played them a few times. There is a particularly annoying castle mid-boss in Blade Man’s stage that’s actually a lot of fun to fight after you’ve acquired Pump Man’s weapon, but you might not discover that on the first play-through.
I’ve also had a surprising amount of fun playing through the game again with Proto Man. At first, getting through the game with his abilities was just too hard, even for a life-longMega Manfan like myself. Even though he’s got a shield, a chargeable shot, and the ability to slide, he’s still quick to die, mostly because he takes a lot more damage than Mega Man. Take three hits from a boss like Commando Man, and he’s gone. That didn’t work too well for me the first time through, but now that I’ve had some experience with the game, playing through with Proto provides both the added challenge and gameplay variety necessary to keep things feeling new. In many places, playingMega Man 10again with Proto Man feels like a whole new game.
If you don’t like playing as Proto Man but you still want new challenges, you can always start up a game on the unlockable Hard mode difficulty. In Hard mode, enemies move faster and are placed in more challenging arrangements, and bosses have all-new attacks. It’s a genuinely fresh and foreboding task to try going through the game again on the new difficulty.
Speaking of foreboding,Mega Man 10may have my favorite final castle of all time. It doesn’t have my favorite finalbattleof all time — no, that spot is still held byMega Man 2. However, everything leading up to the final battle inMega Man 10is pretty much perfect. The music, the boss battles, and the level design are all surprising, challenging, and joy-inducing. If you’ve just started playingMega Man 10but aren’t sure if you want to keep going with it, I implore you to get through the last stages before judging the game as a whole.
Probably the greatest source of replay value in the game comes from its challenge and time attack modes. Challenge mode works a lot like the mini-levels found inMega Man Powered Up. They do a good job of both training newcomers to theMega Manseries and giving pros extra levels to deal with. Time attack is like it was inMega Man 9, but now you can upload video replaysandyour best times to online leaderboards. It’s pretty damn inspiring to see some of the tricks and exploits that others have used to rush through the game’s various stages. I’ve watched Not Sure’s run-through of Blade Man’s stage at least three or four times now, both to pick up techniques and for sheer entertainment value.
Overall,Mega Man 10doesn’t have as many high-water moments asMega Man 9, but it is still consistently fun, while providing more overall content than theMega Mangames that preceded it. Though they may be disappointed with some of the music and levels, fans ofMega Mancan’t afford to missMega Man 10. The game includes a little something fromevery gamein the originalMega Manseries (including the oft-forgotten Game Boy entries), and even makes a few references to theMega Man Xgames. Though it puts in more effort to convert non-fans of the series,Mega Man 10is still 100%Mega Man. Its mix of classicMega Manstyle, weird new stuff such as bosses shaped like baseballs, and multiple gameplay options should please just about everyone. The truly amazing moments are fewer and farther between this time around, but this is still a great game.
Score: 8.5 — Great(8s are impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won’t astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.)
