Ranking the Mega Man games according to different factors

I'd need to know the opinion of people who know the six "Mega Man" NES games well enough:

How would you rank the games according to the following factors?

1. Which one is the hardest?
2. Which one was the most popular?
3. Which one is the best?

3, 2, 2.

Thanks. But I was actually hoping for three whole lists.

4, 3, 1, 5, 6, 2 (1 moves to front of the list if you don't use the pause trick when fighting the mud man)
2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6
It's subjective. My opinion would be something like 5, 2, 6, 3, 1, 4

I've only played Rockman 1 and 2. If I have to rate these two I'll always take 1 over 2.
While I understand how most people consider the second game a huge improvement over the first I still think the original game pwned its sequels, because of the following (personal) reasons, in no particular order:

1. Scores. I know that they actually did nothing but removing the whole system made me feel something was missing. The satisfaction of defeating any enemy was lost. Why shoot an enemy if there was no reward? Even though you might still enjoy advancing thru the game by defeating a boss, the absence of scores made defeating a boss just like any ordinary enemy. Also, in the absence of scores when you beat the game, you just... beat the game, and you couldn't, say, compete with your friends with like "Hey! I completed the game with a much higher score than you did!" (I've heard that the score system was heavily bugged in Rockman 2, so instead of fixing it they just remove this feature. This.is.very.unfortunate.)

2. The pause trick. Yes, it was a game-breaking glitch but the Rockman games were just too horribly difficult and I was never that good a player. My life was just made easier by abusing the trick. This made me consider this a trick that provided advantages to players instead of a bug. After all, a player could choose whether to use it. No one forced you to use this trick to get past the game.

3. Elemental effects. These were used to the fullest extent in the first game, and that's what made the game stand out from other action platformers. In the sequels, while the designs of the weapons and bosses might look more interesting(and more eye-candies in the stage decorations), they just looked different and are uninspiring. Bubbles? Ninjas? These are like jokes.

4. Simplicity. Some of the additions in the latter games made things too complicated, like for example the moving springboard robot dog companion.

5. Music. To me, the short tune that played after choosing a stage (the one that played when the boss jumped out) was one of the most memorable tunes in the whole series. In the original game, this tune was mixed with SE of scores adding up at the end. IMO this made the tune much richer and I already considered the SE an integrated part of the tune. In the sequel, because of point 1, the tune sounded like something was missing to me. The same happened to the jingle after you had beaten a boss. The musics in these two games actually are on par with each other but because of this I still take 1 over 2.

I prefer the scores when they don't do anything.

And I consider the pause trick is probably a bug, if it does that.

FWIW, my opinions and sentiments mirror that of Gilbert.

I agree with his points 3 and 4 definitely, and it's true music in MM1 is good but it's even better in MM2. The score however just gets in the way and has no purpose I don't see why you would want them by any extent.

1. I think the first game is the hardest, particularly barring the pause trick. Mega Man III was also fairly tough. All together from hardest to easiest I'd say it goes 1,3,5,4,6,2.

2. Definitely Mega Man 2 is the most popular. I think 4 and 6 might be the least popular of the bunch. I think 5 stood out a bit more than those two. But I think the first 3 are the most popular.

3. That's really tough to say. I think they're all good games. Mega Man 2 is great for a quick play through because it's easy. The music is good too. Mega Man 3 has alot more game to play through though. I think 2, 3, and 5 contend for the best with 1, 4, and 6 being lower than those.

That's my opinion.

So, do Wiiware Megaman games count too? 9 was fun.

1. Which one is the hardest? Mega Man 1. Two words... Yellow Devil. The Yellow Devil is hard enough, add in those moving shooting platforms above instant spike death... that's a hair pulling nightmare.
2. Which one was the most popular? Mega Man 2 for sure. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that once you get the metal blade, the game becomes a lot easier.
3. Which one is the best? Mega Man 3 personally. Something about 3 feels right to me. It's a good balance of new ideas, and old themes tied into one. The sound track for 3 is also very good. And I LOVE that the Mega Man 2 bosses make a come back.

Hardest
I think all three first games are almost equally hard. 1 is hard at times but short, 2 is really only hard in some stages of the Wily Castle, and 3 would be the hardest of them (especially since you need to fight two Doc robots per stage later on) if it wouldn't be for the super easy Wily Castle stages. I haven't played enough of the other games to say for sure but they seem to be about medium hard. 7 is very hard at the end but I guess only NES games count.

Most popular
Yeah 2 is definitely the most popular one. It was the first game for many people.

Best
My personal favourite is 3. Cubeboy pretty much nails it. I like the slide move, Rush adapters, even though exploiting the Rush Jet almost feels like cheating, and Doc robots that uses old robots' programming. The music is great, but so is the music for 1 and 2. I would rank them 3, 1, 2, 6, 4/5. I'm not sure which is better of 4 and 5.

Am I the only one who thinks 4 is way harder than 1-2-3 together ?

In most stages, the enemies needs to take a LOT of damage before they die, are you are supposed to use your mega buster, but doing so is slow and annoying. In 1-2-3 the enemies dies after one or two shots. There is those extremely annoying flying enemies everywhere and there is nothing comarable in 1-2-3.

Most bosses of 4 can't be beaten without their weakness as their attacks are fast as lightning and impossible to avoid, so your only hope is to kamikaze and kill them before they kill you using their weakness. Except for some exceptions (such as Needle Man, Shadow Man or Elec Man), most bosses of 1-2-3 can be beaten with the Mega Buster if you're prepared enough.

And the wily stages of 4 are even more hard than the normal stages, especially the bosses which are multi part and it's hard to find their weak point. The last battle is simply ridiculous, you only see Wily for 1 frame and he's invisible 99% of the time, and you can only hit him with one of the weapons. Without save states that one battle alone is plain I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E.

I think 4 is definitely the hardest one, far harder than 7 which is already extremely hard in the Wily stages (but normally hard for the normal stages).
And it's true the yellow devil in 1 is insanely hard, but the rest of the game is relatively easy (except that part in Ice Man's stage where there is no ground), and you can overcome it easily with the pause trick.

2 and 3 are definitely very easy, as you can have plenty of E-Tanks so if you're in trouble you can always refill health.

So, it looks like 2 is generally regarded as the easiest and the most popular one.

Why is the yellow devil in MM1 considered so hard? I haven't played against him myself yet, but as far as I see in the videos on YouTube, isn't this just about evading his body parts? I cannot imagine that this is the hardest thing of all MM1, 2 and 3.

I would say the Yellow Devil requires patience. You need to memorize the pattern, and it's a long battle if you don't use the pause trick. If you can learn the pattern, and can keep up your concentration long enough to finish, I think it's a very easy fight.

IMO, it's hard only if you are unwilling to memorize the pattern.

I always liked mega man 1 better than 2. Mega man 2 has the best music and maybe the best graphics of the series, but there was always something a bit better about the first one for me. I haven't really played past 3 and didn't ever play it as much as the first two. The series kind of loses me after that, with the increasing ridiculous bosses especially.

Mega Man 1 Is definitely one of the good Mega Man games of the series. But also one of the hardest. It's not hard to beat the normal stages unless you the order BombMan, Gutsman, Cutman, Elecman, Iceman, Fireman. After that you head for Wily's Castle. Now it's hard.

Mega Man 3 is easy you just continue giving yourself Energy Pods in the password screen.

Mega Man 2 is one of the best ones out there. Not too hard. Not to easy. But very fun.

I haven't got Mega Man 4,5,6 Yet. I'm not good with money.

But I would say the hardest is MM1
The most popular is MM2
The best? Everyone has an opinion. I say MM2.
But that's my opinion.

Mega Man for NES

1. The original Mega Man is the second best game, but I rank it 1st because it was the beginning of ALL. I love some dramatic tunes there. No energy tanks, spikes are always insta-kill. Bosses are hard, unless you do a trick with the P weapon and a good timing. The Iceman' stage is the hardest one.

2. Mega Man IV is my best. It brings the original feeling in a few moments (like the boss chosen music) and vibrato in various tunes. An improved version if compared with all the others. No idea why people complains about the Mega Buster here, by saying "the best buster is in MMV". Oh well... The music uses some kind of "echoes", making even nicer than ever. It's also hard, a patterned sequence must be followed in order to kill Ringman, for example.

3. Mega Man VI is my third game. I got my cartridge after my Super NES. They've resized the M.Buster and... his shot sound was overlapped by the single shot sound, aww! Anyway, nice tunes and balanced difficulty, I'd say Flameman' stage is one of the hardest in the game. Nice tunes and a few MM2 elements too. The boss chosen screen was overloaded with boss information, kinda crap. Difficulty level is medium.

4. Mega Man II is the next one. First time I played it (in 1990), I was "shocked" because it hadn't a score! At anyway, it was a classic. A very good game, starring the password system and E tanks (max. of 4), nice tunes and colors. Bosses are medium-to-hard, I'd say Quickman and Crashman are the hardest ones. Dramatic ending and tune!

5. Mega Man III is also the "incomplete game". In his release, it was very cool to listen the new sound effects and the new music style, less dramatic. Rush Jet was unfinished, so you can fly around freely. Bosses are picky, specially Needleman. It has classic tunes, but in another style. It's the first longest MM game - after beating the 8 bosses, you revisit 4 revamped stages and bosses from MM2! Ay anyway, average only.

6. Mega Man V is the last one on my list. A poor weapon system, a few MM3 elements... nice graphics, but not so fun like the others. Music is just ok. People say this version has the best M.Buster, bigger and cooler. The castle bosses are pretty poor. New elements include smaller boss doors, Beat bird (you need to collect medals M,E,G,A,M,A,N,V in the game to unlock it), new M.Buster, Charge Kick is activated by sliding.

7. Mega Man VII (Super NES) is, in short words, a toy-like game. Game elements were oversized - Mega Man is too big, everything was increased. Springman' stage is like a toy paradise. Weird. Good because "it's a MM game" - just don't take it true for MMX7, ok?

MY MM LIFE

- I'm sure that I played Rockman 1 around 1989, thanks to a neighbor boy that has the cart and we trade them for a few days. Next was Ducktales, then Rambo. Thanks to him, I could play classic NES games. I got Rockman 2 a few months later in a supermarket. All the games weren't originals, but made by NTDEC for a NES close console named "Top Game", most of them were japanese copies. Yup, a couple of other NES clone consoles were popping up with the time! As I said, when I played Rockman 2 for the first time, I wonder about the missing score system. I did a big "MEH", but later... a lot of fun! The other MM games were got thanks to school boys. We bought magazines (no internet that time), we rent pirated copies (heh), I played with friends in their houses... and found Super Pitfall, another "bad, but classic" game.

Patience is definitely the key.
Even memorizing the pattern isn't enough for most players (including me, but I eventually do get it). It's easy to get frazzled while working out the pattern... jumping a little early, or not jumping high enough one time can through everything off. Next thing you know, you're on your last life and you waste half of you energy getting back to the yellow devil, die, and have to start the level over.

Ranking Mega Man games is like asking for my favorite craft beer. It's a hard question because they're all different flavors of good! Trying to pick a favorite probably depends on the given day and my particular mood at the moment you ask me.

I'm surprised by all the love that Mega man 2 has gotten over the last several years as one of the greatest NES games ever. I loved it as a kid because it was the easiest. Honestly I don't think it's aged as well as MM3 or MM6. The "rock paper scissors" mechanic is flawed because several Robot Masters can easily be beaten with the standard gun, and the rest are cake once you get Metal Blade.

MM3 seems to be the best overall, and certainly the longest one to beat. The Rock Paper Scissors mechanic isa lot better, creating a pretty logical sequence in which you beat the bosses (every Robot Master has one weapon they're really vulnerable to.) The Rush adapters and slide move added a lot to the Mega Man series. It's important to keep in mind that even though MM1 & 3 are held up as the "hardest" Mega Man games, the MM games were considerably easier than the sadistic difficulty level in many popular NES games of the era. MM3 feels like a cakewalk compared to Battletoads!

As far as the other NES games go, MM1 seems like a rough draft of the original Mega Man vision. Maybe it's because elements like the corridors filled with shooting enemies before a boss battle were dropped by MM2, and all the other games largely stuck to the MM2 formula. MM4 seemed like more of the same after MM3, with the charge shot and Eddie not adding that much to the MM formula. Same goes for MM5 and the addition of Beat.

After the formulaic nature of MM4 & 5, MM6 was a breath of fresh air for the series. The new Rush adapters made for some new gameplay mechanics, the graphics were top-notch, the music was 8-bit perfection, and alternate branches in certain levels certainly added to the replay value.

So if you put a gun to my head and asked for my favorite Mega Man games, I'd say 3,2,6,1,4,5. Also worth a mention is Mega Man 8. Seeing Mega Man rendered in beautiful cartoony animation with anime cut-scenes was a dream come true (despite the annoying voice acting.) Memory cards finally eliminated the tedium of writing passwords down. And the game was pretty darn fun to play, even if the snowboard sequences were stolen from Donkey Kong Country.