Topic: Mega Man 9 to Include Screen Flicker and Slowdown Options

[Nick DiMola]

The developers are challenging themselves to faithfully recreate the 8-bit experience, including limiting number of enemies on screen and making 8-bit music.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=16526

 In an interview with Mega Man 9 producer Hironobu Takeshita, it was revealed that the team behind the game has included options to enable screen flicker and slowdown to truly evoke the classic feeling of the title.    

Players looking forward to Mega Man 9 can expect a fully classic experience in this brand new game due to some self-imposed restrictions in the development of the game. The title, like the classic NES titles, won't include more than three enemies on the screen at once, and when the screen is full of enemy sprites and projectiles the classic screen flickering and slowdown will kick in if you have enable the option.    

The interview also revealed that the game has been redone visually at least once because the presentation was simply too complex for what the NES/Famicom could have done. According to Takeshita, developing the music was also a challenge because the restriction to 8-bit was not done by any sort of hardware: it was entirely self-imposed. Though the game is entirely 8-bit in presentation, it isn't being made as an NES ROM and would not be transferrable to a cartridge that would run on any sort of Famicom or NES hardware.    

Finally, Takeshita mentioned that with Mega Man 9 they are making it as if it is "the new Mega Man 3, because we wanted to surpass what we did in Mega Man 2." After putting out Mega Man 9 Capcom will be evaluating fan reaction to "give [them] an idea of where to go from here."

[Nick DiMola]

Awesome. Capcom give these guys a raise.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Every Wii developer out there deserves a raise. They include slowdown and flicker without the need for options.

[Ceric]

Ever Wii developer out there deserves a raise. They include slowdown and flicker without the need for options.

lol

But in all actuality, I'm sort of dismayed to hear that they had to change the visuals because what they were doing was to much for the NES even though it was still 8 bit...

[Enner]

I would be laughing if Capcom makes Mega Man 10 after this and ignore any preconcieved notions about how a Mega Man 9 would be a bridge to Mega Man X.

[Ian Sane]

Little details like this show that these guys really care about they're working on.  You can tell they really like Mega Man and want to do the series justice.  I like that a lot.

How many people are honestly going to use this slowdown stuff?  Probably not much but they're still putting it in.  They're going that extra mile just for a small group of hardcore nuts.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Little details like this show that these guys really care about they're working on.  You can tell they really like Mega Man and want to do the series justice.  I like that a lot.

How many people are honestly going to use this slowdown stuff?  Probably not much but they're still putting it in.  They're going that extra mile just for a small group of hardcore nuts.

I always thought poorly optimized game engines on NES were stellar. Heck they are even going the extra mile to limit the amount of characters on screen. Capcom is SOOOO hardcore now. They gimped the graphics just for us. In fact Dead Rising for Wii is the tip of this hardcore love, they cut down the enemy count as well, and it is all for the gamer. Let's worship them now.

[vudu]

I hope there's a trick that allows easy boss fights by rapidly pausing the game. 

Also, Takeshita shouldn't be so hard on Mega Man 3.  Personally, I like it even more than MM2 (although, it's probably because I played both MM3 and MM4 before MM2).

[UltimatePartyBear]

It's a nice touch, but I was looking forward to the prospect of playing a game that looks 8-bit but does things with the formula the NES couldn't, like sprite scaling and rotation or large groups of enemies.  I like what Capcom is doing here, but I'm still holding out hope for a game that uses an 8-bit presentation to mess with players' expectations.

[Ian Sane]

I always thought poorly optimized game engines on NES were stellar. Heck they are even going the extra mile to limit the amount of characters on screen. Capcom is SOOOO hardcore now. They gimped the graphics just for us. In fact Dead Rising for Wii is the tip of this hardcore love, they cut down the enemy count as well, and it is all for the gamer. Let's worship them now.

I think there's big difference between intentionally adding optional slowdown and limiting the characters on screen to recreate an NES game feel and cutting back on things in a lazy cash-in port.

[Halbred]

Holy ****, I'm excited. WHEN WILL I GET TO DOWNLOAD IT?!?

[NWR_pap64]

Um...I appreciate the detail, but who would want to play a buggy game?

If Megaman 9 was a normal, standard release game people would crap on it for allowing slowdown in this day and age of high end gaming.

[Arbok]

I'm sorry, but I will refuse to buy this title unless they recreate the experience of blowing in the cartridge to try to get the game to work

[NWR_pap64]

Thinking further about this, if this game becomes the biggest hit of the year I will laugh my ass off...

Really, we live in an era of high end consoles, beautiful graphics, incredible 3D worlds, cinematic presentation and crap ton of features. Yet, the most anticipated game of the year is a downloadable title that looks and plays like an NES game, complete with screen flicker and slowdown.

It goes to show you that both the industry and the fans are full of it, and need a game like Megaman 9 to slap some sense into them.

[WindyMan]

they are making it as if it is "the new Mega Man 3, because we wanted to surpass what we did in Mega Man 2."

Yes.

Yes.

YES.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Can they top Metal Man's musak?

[KDR_11k]

I really think truly obeying the NES restrictions is silly, do what you have to. Having 8 bit sprites is enough to fool most people.

[Ceric]

I'm sorry, but I will refuse to buy this title unless they recreate the experience of blowing in the cartridge to try to get the game to work

That's will be the DS version and the first use of WiiSpeak in a WiiWare game...

[EasyCure]

Um...I appreciate the detail, but who would want to play a buggy game?

If Megaman 9 was a normal, standard release game people would crap on it for allowing slowdown in this day and age of high end gaming.

The slowdown and flicker are optional though so people can turn that off.

[Morari]

That's retarded. Why redesign the presentation to make it look dumbeddown? We don't need "new" 2D games that look like old crap, we need new 2D games that make use of nice, big, crisp sprites and fully animated backgrounds!

[DAaaMan64]

That's retarded. Why redesign the presentation to make it look dumbeddown? We don't need "new" 2D games that look like old crap, we need new 2D games that make use of nice, big, crisp sprites and fully animated backgrounds!

Kinda like Wario Land? I agree

[KDR_11k]

That's retarded. Why redesign the presentation to make it look dumbeddown? We don't need "new" 2D games that look like old crap, we need new 2D games that make use of nice, big, crisp sprites and fully animated backgrounds!

I disagree, retro graphics are cheap and allow for risky projects though I do think emulating flicker is just stupid. Maybe if it affects the collision like in the GB version of R-Type... (the tail of the first boss couldn't touch you because it would always flicker out of existence if it was at the same height as your ship)

[IssunZX]

I don't have a problem with 8-bit graphics, that was never an issue for me, but I don't understand why people would want flicker and slowdown? I am (slightly) annoyed to see it when I play my favorite Virtual Console games, but I'm willing to accept them because they are emulating the hardware and that's just how it is. But why would I want to see that at all in a brand-new game?

[KDR_11k]

I could understand slowdown, I think Kenta Cho's games simulate it whenever a large number of bullets are in play but that seems to be more to let the player play more precisely.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I'm sorry, but I will refuse to buy this title unless they recreate the experience of blowing in the cartridge to try to get the game to work

Maybe they should port it to DS so they can utilize the mic for this feature.