Here's a snippet of the interview Gamasutra did with Capcom producer Hironobu Takeshita regarding their upcoming Mega Man 9 WiiWare title.
Gamasutra: You talked about how people were trying to graphically exceed the capabilities of the Famicom, but what about the temptation to exceed some other capabilities, such as flicker, slowdown, sprite limits, and stuff like that? Was it really hard to get people to stay within the confines of what they could have done, if this had come out after Mega Man 6 in 1993?
HT: Yeah, there were some things, like you couldn't have more than three enemies on the screen at once, so we had to make sure that that's how it stayed in our game. In the part with the dragon with the flame, [there should be] flickering, and whatnot.
In the options of this game, you can adjust that, unlike the old games. We purposely put some of those old-school bugs into this game, so it does recreate that feel.
It's clear that this title is really shaping up to be quite the trip down memory lane for 8-bit era fans. As usual, we'll have any more new developments on Mega Man 9 as they become available.
Comments 58
kool though i'll probably remove the flicker.
And we may never see the flicker or even have the option to turn it off, since Nintendo likes to stroke us on releasing stuff.
Haha Capcom is really trying to bring this game back to 8-bit.
It actually sounds like a great idea. Something as simple as trying to keep in a flicker is a great way to keep the nostalga and the best thing about it is that its optional for when you have had enough.
Welcome home nostalgia, I missed ya
I heard abou this on neoseeker first actually and thought it was just some rumor. It's good to learn it's confirmed, they are really trying to make this authentic.
All they need now is to include the Pause Trick somewhere.....
Isn't the pause trick only on the sega genesis version of Mega Man?
I was gonna say that this is lame 'n gay, until I read that you have the option to turn it off. But it raises the question, who in their right mind would want the flicker? Some memories are better left in the past.
^ I agree. It's like when they remake these classic shooters and leave in the slowdown. I didn't like the slowdown the first time around and I don't like it the second time around either.
This is starting to get a bit to ridiculous with the old school feel to the game. At least they're giving us an option to turn it off.
That's retarded. I like retro, but not THAT retro. At least you can turn it off. Maybe they'll also add the option for the game to freeze on occasion or to have to save function stop working after owning the game for a certain amount of time, a la dead cartridge batteries.
OMG Pong Toss is number two on must popular!!! it beat Dr.Mario
sorry off topic
Sometimes I feel like Capcom is taking the retro factor a BIT too far XD. Oh well, it's always nice to have options!
The retro slowdown used to save my friend's and my sorry butts in UN Squadron on the SNES.
@Andy. OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
The last time I looked it was #3! If ths keeps up, it might even beat... M-M-My Pokemon Ranch!
Since this is off topic anyway, I'll save my breath for the weekly sales round-up.
What's a flicker? I never owned a NES, so I woudn't know what one is.
@Andy
That is...sad, to say the least.
Personally, I'll keep the flicker on, so as to complete the retro experience. I want a game that feels like a NES game, bugs and all.
Lol Flicker that is pretty funny that they took it that far
This game is setting the retro gaming bar at a very high standard.
Wow, I find this stupid. It was a good idea to have an option to turn it off. Still, if only SPOGS Racing put this in their press release, gamers would love it for its nostalgia instead of its crappiness (yeah, I couldn't find the right word). I can just see it now:
Buy SPOGS Racing! Enjoy the slowdown of your old shooter games. Revel in the N64 graphics. Let the nostalgia drown you when you see that we brought back Mode 7.
Sometimes the past should stay where it is.
@poisonRamune,
The pause trick works on Megaman 1 for the Nes. I used it many times in the past.
I stand corrected as my memory has failed me twice... The pause glitch was fixed in the Sega version. My apologies.
But any howzit, as I asked on the boards. Does anyone have news on the save/pw system? Whether it will be the old school password systems or the mock save states of vc/true save game stuff..
Not that this will affect my purchase of the game.
"and whatnot"=slowdown?
Sounds like you can control the enemies with scrolling and stuff too, neat.
Also 50Hz PAL confirmed?!
@Pong Toss
LOL @ US
@Pause trick
I think its inverted a la MM2
@Mr. Cheez "I like retro, but not THAT retro."
Paradox?
@MasterMario
You might see the sprites(pixel characters) flicker(flash).
@Virus
Mode 7=SNES
@PoisonRamune
Easy guessable passwords i hope
@And to all ya flicker haters out there...
Get an expanded audience title insted of this beast of a game.
@Tull
that's alotta @'s
What's funny is that Capcom actually think it's worth paying people to
a) Write a retro game style game
b) Pay them even more to put in pointless 'features'
c) Actually think that those features will make the game cool.
Wrong, wrong and SO wrong to the point that this game will open the floodgate to a whole load of retro garbage the likes of which only XBLA has seen.
Mii want the retro garbage flood, mkay?
It might impress more than the OMG indie flood we are getting spoon fed atm.
Neither impresses me atm. Outside of the launch titles, WiiWare has been a total waste of space and money and there's nothing upcoming to make me change my mind otherwise.
Did you just judge the retro flood you did not play?
And sorry to hear that nothing announced(I want at least 5...) pushes your happy buttons, but you might consider widen your horizon for future enjoyment.
"What's a flicker? I never owned a NES, so I woudn't know what one is."
Its where the sprite (or part of it) appears and disappears rapidly because of too much action going on the screen at once that the machine can't handle it.
The retro flood needs to be on VC, not WiiWare. In all honesty, there's probably err ... 3 games that might warrant a purchase listed in the WiiWare World 'coming soon' line up: Bomberman (I'll buy the disc version), Alien Crush (which needs to be cheap) and LostWinds 2.
Shantae is almost as much vapourware as it ever has been, World of Goo will end up being disc based only for all regions because I can't see any other possibility that will work, I've lost all faith in Eternity's Child and I doubt we'll see Animales de la Muerte until 2009. I'm not in the least bit interested in Strong Bad and the rest of the games look like the sort of product designed to suck up money for about 1/2 hour's worth of entertainment.
Oh, and I hate Tetris. Not because the game is bad, but because it's been done to death.
I can understand Calculon's point of view. The Mega Man remake may be a funny idea and it was certainly a very popular Jump & Run game in it's era. And now with the flickering sprites, ultrasound graphics synthesis and 8-bit fidelity engine it seems somewhow innocent and adorable to me.
But what if other companies follow this trend? What if everyone wants to sell any old games whether good or bad? I can still remember some games from the 80s where no graphics was used at all- only ASCII characters. Wouldn't it be nice if they are all sold as Wiiware for 1000 points each? Yikes! Rather not.
Capcom+Megaman=Success. Capcom is the best and will always be.
The flicker was always rather harmless... it's not like it lasts but a split second. It's not a big deal either way and shouldn't cause anyone to lose or to be annoyed, but I think it's a funny touch, especially considering that he seems to suggest it only occurs against the dragon.
If they made it so randomly in the middle of the game the whole screen turns blue and you have to reset a few times to make it work, then I might understand the complaining, but this is reasonable and harmless.
@Calculon
You do know that Hudson doesnt plan to release the retail version of Bommerman wiiware in Europe. God knows why they wouldnt, but it had been announced on here a couple of months back.... yeah I wanted retail too, but at least you can still play online together despite what version it is.
If they make this use passwords or no save slate,I will be so, so, so mad. I hate writing down passwords.
Mega Man 9 is sounding better and better. Reproducing the glitches of the past REALLY provides the retro experience for this 'retro'-themed game. I love it!
I have been saying this about the current state of video games for a long time. They need more flicker!
For those of you who do not know what flickering is, imagine you are walking down the hall at work or school and as you are walking you notice a portion of your own body just disappeared for a few moments, thats flickering. The good thing is doctors can treat clincal flicker with medication.
If they were to have the flicker as an option then I'd be happier. If I wanted glitches, I'd get the NES versions.
@WiiloveitOnline
As it reads up there, it is an option. You can switch the flicker off from the options.
@Bass X0 - More precisely it's caused by sprites overlapping on the same scan lines. The game engine can't display both sprites because the hardware lacks the necessary outputs. This led to a trick originally developed for the Atari 2600 whereby the sprites would take turns being displayed each frame. (Anyone remember Pacman fro the 2600? The ghosts flickered madly because the 2600 didn't have sufficient sprite hardware to display them all.)
As a result, flickering is actually a feature of the software. (Yes, I did just say, "it's not a bug, it's a feature!") Without that feature, the game wouldn't be possible in the first place. Of course, some games have so much flicker that it makes you wonder if they should have been ported in the first place. (cough*TMNT2*cough)
At the end of the day, though, I agree with Corbie. Flickering was a necessary evil, not something to celebrate. I'll be leaving that option in the solid "off" position.
@Tull. "Paradox?"
Nope, don't see it.
@Bahamut. Agreed. Passwords blow, Especially when they're 20 digits long.
If the save system was passwords, I wouldn't mind as long as they'd save the pass for you like in some games. . .that'd defeat the purpose I suppose but it gives it the nostalgic look still. I'm all for nostalgia but I can't say I'd honestly be pleased having to fill out a big password every time I played. A small one wouldn't be too big of a deal though.
''Legend of the Mystical Ninja'''s passwords are horrible...
http://www.vc-reviews.com/games/snes/legend_of_the_mystical_ninja
LOL. Capcom appears to be taking this 8 bit retro theme quite seriously. At least there is an option to turn the flicker off. Maybe Capcom should release a retail version of Mega Man 9 for the NES. It will be the first NES game out in about more then 10 years! LOL.
EDIT:Please at least no passwords! At least Kirby's Adventure has an auto-save feature.
If this has passwords "nostolgia" it's really cause they were too lazy to put in a save slate, and they could use it as an excuse. Besides, aren'tthe 20 digit friend codes for everything enough?
I appreciate the thoroughness, but will pass on enabling said feature.
"Capcom+Megaman=Success. Capcom is the best and will always be."
Except for Soccer.
I dig it
I heard there was no save option. I don't know if it's true.
Haha, that would be quite amusing if you were forced to go by the password system again! I remember the days well when I'd rent a Megaman game only to have to dig through my gaming cabinet for one of many sheets written with passwords all over them. That would be a nice touch, though I hope they use numbers instead of red dots or enemy pictures... those are a bit tedious to transcribe.
BassXO
I have never played Megaman soccer on snes before but i have heard its bad. but that is the only megaman game that i have heard of is bad. The Megaman games i have played so far has been good.
@Rockman 90
You mean of the original series, right? If not, then I can list a heck of a lot of bad ones.
The games i have played and think is good is Megaman 1-8 and x,x3,x4,x6 and Megaman z,zx. One game i came up with right now that is bad is Megaman X7 on the Playstation 2 it was a bad idea to do the game in 3D. I know Megaman has been in a lot of games in total so it would not come to me as a suprise if some of them are bad.
Wow, you liked X6? It was my second least favorite of the series, no offense. You should try Mega Man & Bass, I thought it was pretty good. Also, in my opinion, X8 almost makes up for how bad X7 was.
Sounds great, hopefully this sells good enough (and beats that *** pokemon ranch and pong toss game) to make a Megaman 10 in the near future. I hope they keep the bug where you can jump really high by pressing buttons on the 2p remote like they had in Megaman 3. I wonder if this game was programmed using whatever program they use for wiiware of if it was programmed so it would work for the NES and is run through an emulator on the wii like all the other VC games.
What kind of platform is megaman and bass on (if im right i think its on the snes, megadrive if so i will wait for it on the vc). I am gonna buy and try megaman x8 sometime i now the reviews has been good for that game.
@Rockman 90
Actually, they made a remake for the Gameboy Advance, so you won't even have to wait!
@dr.mario
They said they were making it more like Mega man 1 & 2, so I doubt they're going to put in bugs from 3, but you can still hope. And yeah, I think they're using the NES emulator for this game.
Gladly it's optional. so if I get a total stuck I can just turn it of instead off blowing onto my Wii Remote to simulate blowing onto a Nes Chart
I'm glad you can turn it off. The game still looks amazing .
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