Mega Man: Powered Up

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: March 14, 2006
System: PSP
ESRB Rating: E

In a nutshell: All the goodness of the original Mega Man, now with bigger heads.

0:01 I like the classic video in the intro. Also: Big-headed Mega Man = SO CUTE
0:03 “It may seem rather sudden to you, but I've decided to take over the world.” Thanks, Dr. Exposition... I mean, Dr. Wily.
0:04 New-style mode starts Mega Man out without a suit or a blaster. Interesting. This section is all too brief, though.
0:07 The first boss is a hopping thing that's entirely too simple. Bring on the tough stuff!
0:08 Guts Man should not talk! For that matter, neither should Mega Man! But they do!
0:10 I die three straight times trying to make the very first series of jumps in Guts Man's stage. THERE'S the challenge.
0:13 Glitch alert: You can break through the pick-axe throwers' shields by standing really close to them. Lame.
0:15 More deaths from later tough jumps. Back to the beginning of the level. Sigh.
0:17 This update really captures the old school feel, right down to the slowdown. I hope it's intentional.
0:19 There's a lot of stuff I can't get yet. Gonna have to come back to these levels multiple times, I guess.
0:20 I forgot how annoying these propeller guys were. Now I remember. Turns out, it's "very."
0:21 Game over #3, but I'm getting closer to Guts Man each time.
0:23 Three more quick deaths. Nuts to this, time to try another stage.
0:24 Time Man: “Time's up.” Ugh.
0:25 Swinging pendulums make tough obstacles. Probably wouldn't have been possible on the NES. How far we've come.
0:30 Smart level design. Time Man's stage requires some excellent timing to get by pendulums, appropriately enough.
0:31 I get by the swinging pendulums after many tries, then die during a simple jump for a ladder. D'oh!
0:32 Animation is nice and vibrant, as are the colors. Mega Man kind of squishes when he runs into a wall. The little things matter!
0:34 I die AGAIN on the same ladder jump. ARGH!
0:37 MADE IT! Boss time.
0:38 Time Man: "You're early for your appointment." Mega Man: "Huh? What appointment, Time Man?" Time Man: "Oh joy, by being early you've given us an extra 0.3 seconds." This is supposed to be coherent?
0:40 Thrilling battle with Time Man -- I beat him with one energy left. Whoo! But wait... instead of exploding, he falls down, and Mega Man asks, “You 'k?"
0:41 Dr. Light: “Thanks to your mercy and kindness, I can now repair this robot.” Mercy? Kindness? This is the game where you shoot things, right?
0:43 I decide to try the Challenge Mode I just unlocked. 100 different challenges! Whoa!
0:44 First challenge is a nice little jumping test, with a lot of really tough jumps. You know, the ones where you have to jump from the very edge of the platform? The ones you hate? Yeah, those.
0:45 Precision jumps over pits of deadly spikes. This is what gaming's all about.
0:48 After dying about ten times, I'm no longer sure this is what gaming is all about. But I'm not giving up.
0:50 DONE! The second challenge took five minutes! All 100 is gonna take a while.
0:51 Jumping frog enemies kills me in one hit. Oh, and I can't fire. Eep!
0:58 Eight straight minutes of jumping frogs and I'm no closer to winning. Bleh.

Would I play this game for more than an hour: Yes.
Why? Great, classic gameplay and a ton of stuff to do.