Mega Man 6

Up until recently, Megaman's world had been at peace. The evil Dr. Wily's schemes had not been seen ever since he framed Proto Man for the kidnapping of Dr. Light. In an interesting tournament, a mysterious multi-millionare named Mr. X has sponsored the first ever Fighting Robot's World Championship event. Competetors from all over have sent in their entries, and ultimately, eight robots are declared the best of the best. However, instead of reward the creators of these robots for their ingenuity, Mr. X reprograms them and takes them for his own, announcing his plan to conquer the world once again! Apparently, Mr. X was controlling even Dr. Wily's plans for world domination- and he challenges anyone who would dare to try and stop him.

Enter the Blue Bomber, in his last Nintendo Entertainment System expedition.

The newest addition to the Mega Man series in Mega Man 6 is the way that Rush interacts with Mega himself. After defeating particular Robot Masters, Rush gains the ability to junction with Mega Man. The Rush Jet is an actual jetpack that allows Mega Man to essentially make a second jump upwards and in the same direction; the Rush Power attaches to Mega Man, and while reducing the range of Mega Man's attack, does far much more damage with a cyberdog-enhanced punch (destroying even those annoying Metools when they're hiding under their indestructible little yellow hats). However, with Rush attached, Megaman can't slide, so it's not useful all the time.

The Eight Robot Masters, in alphabetical order:

• Blizzard Man
• Centaur Man
• Flame Man
• Knight Man
• Plant Man
• Tomahawk Man
• Wind Man
• Yamato Man

After plowing his way through the various enemies, Mega Man comes face to face with Mr. X himself- and suprise, suprise, Mr. X isn't really Mr. X, but is really, really, Dr. Wily! Going through the real Skull Fortress, Mega Man finally defeats Dr. Wily- and brings him back to civilization in chains. Wily is thrown into prison, and the day is saved!

Unfortunately, as far as the game itself goes, Mega Man 6 is the last step on the downward slope. The general quality of gameplay seems to suffer- the stages are forgettable, the Robot Masters generic, and the gameplay tired. Then again, it WAS produced in the dying days of the NES- by then, the Super Nintendo had firmly established itself as a worthy game system. Could it be much longer before the next in the series makes its way to the SNES?

Capcom, apparently seeing the end of the NES on the horizon, decided to pass/sell publishing rights of this game to Nintendo of America, and therefore it is Nintendo itself that produced and published the game. This is the only NES Mega Man game that followed that route. Furthermore, since it was produced near the end of the NES's lifespan, it had a limited production run and is one of the more rare Mega Man's to find in this day and age.

As for the game itself, Capcom attempted to punch up the challenge a little bit by adding four fake robot masters to the game. Four stages - Knight Man, Yamato Man, Tomahawk Man, and Plant Man - branch off near the end of the level. One path leads to the true enemy, while another leads to a fake one. Defeating the fake one doesn't actually clear the level. Taking the true path and defeating the real robot master clears the level and earns you a piece of the fighting birdbot Beat.

Finally, on the continuity side of things this is the only game in the series so far in which Mega Man has actually captured and imprisoned Dr. Wily.