The following facts definitely changed my life.
I don't remember exatly how old I was, but I was 5 or 6 (being that, the year was 1989 or 1990). I went to a neighbour's who had rent a few games, and when I got there, he, along with a couple of other people, were trying those out. As soon as I entered the room, I cought a glimpse of a tiny blue man shooting small yellow pellets at some helicopter-like enemies. After that, he reached a ladder and atop of it, there were red enemies stuck to the walls, who shot in all directions and shut themselves close afterwards, protecting from incoming fire. He kept going and things kept getting cooler, passing indestructible cutting blades and waves of weird, one-eyed enemies who moved only in a straight line, but touching them could be deadly. Oh yeah, the touching. For the first time in my life, I saw a hero that didn't die right away upon enemy contact, but he was getting weaker as a yellow line-filled bar in the upper left corner of the screen was being depleted. Then he finally reached a room with a red and white man, who was about his size, with a life bar much like his own, but with a dangerous-looking scissor-like weapon that he used to attack you in a claustrophobic space where, upon entering, the music went from very cool and upbeat to menacing (and ever cooler). And that was it. I was completely blown away by that vision. I remember that after a lot of begging, and after waiting them to check all the other games (which took forever), my neighbour finally let me play that game. I could choose among six stages, but I chose that exact same level I saw them playing. Boy, holes sure are lethal when you're 5 and are used to playing Plaque Attack, Enduro and River Raid (and sucking badly at it, for that matter). Of course, I've never made it to the boss, I suppose I hardly survived the Bladers. Not until many, many years later I would know that this is what those helicopter-like enemies are called. But not too long after that experience, I learned that the really threatening red and white man was called Cutman. And that hero, was well as the game my neighbour was playing, was called Mega Man.
I hadn't got my NES up until I was 8 (that is 1992, if anyone is keeping tabs) and although by then I used to think that Sonic was the coolest thing ever, around the same time I found out that that game which I had never forgotten could be played on my system and back then, my system only. There was a rental shop near my place, but they only had Mega Man 1 and 3, not to mention those were 72-pin carts and my NES only accepted 60-pin carts. To make things worse, the shop didn't have a 72 to 60 pin adaptor, only the other way around. But that didn't stop me. I saved up my allowance and rented a 72-pin compatible system along with Mega Man for a weekend. My parents went nuts, but it didn't matter. I finally had that game in my hands. Just for me. And learned the hard way the whole NES 60-pin /72-pin ordeal in the process, something that seems to allude some of my fellow gamers around my age up to this day.
After that, I was always trying to do it again, but this time, I would rent Megaman 1 and 3, since the folks at the rental shop always said 3 was much better than 1. Back then I always wondered whatever happened to Megaman 2...
Of course, my journey woundn't be a good one if it fell short of hardships. For reasons that wouldn't exist if I was born Japanese, those Mega Man games became scarcely available until the day I never saw them again. A few months later, the rental shop closed its doors and I thought I'd never have the chance to play them again...
One year later...
In 1993 it was getting hard to find NES games to rent. Everyone had moved to Sega Genesis or Super NES, and that was the whole array of systems you could find games available for rental. But then, I found out about a certain rental shop downtown that supposedly had a lot of NES titles. My dad took me there and for my amazement, they had Megaman 1 through 5. And better yet, they were all 60-pin carts! Followed a year that I'd rent games every weekend, and most likely, it was a Mega Man game. I was in heaven. But after a while, my time in heaven was up as the owners of that shop decided to close doors after selling their whole catalog. By the time I learned that, all Mega Man games were already gone...
Time went by and I waged the 16-bit war side-by-side with Nintendo. When Mega Man X came out, I used to consider myself a Mega Man "veteran", opposed to my friends who had barely or never heard of it. It was great to see the series revamped, looking and sounding all cool and "16-bit" but there was a little bit of disapointment that X wasn't Rock, the same robot from the NES. Don't get me wrong, I love the X series, particularly the first game, but even as a ten-year-old it just wasn't the same. And by then I reckoned I'd never play those classic Mega Man games again...
When we were living the apex of the 32/64-bit era, I heard of emulation and what it is all about. I couldn't bring myself to believe my own eyes when I downloaded every Mega Man game for the NES "for free" (I'm not too keen on emulation these days, but sometimes it is all we get. And back in 1998, it was definitely all we got). I even got to play Mega Man 6 which I only had the chance to see in magazines! In all honesty, the game itself is a bit disappointing, but hey, it is the thought that counts!
Nowadays I own all the original NES carts, a couple of official art books (I've always loved Rockman artwork as much as the game itself), the "official" Archie comic books, sealed action figures, and even some official manga is on the way. Not to mention that life long fans - nay - lovers of the series, like myself, were given the most awesome gift 6 years, ago in the form Mega Man 9, and once more a couple of years after that with Mega Man 10. It is sad that since Inafune broke with Capcom the future of the Blue Bomber has been so uncertain and even with Mighty No. 9 as his spiritual successor, it is not the same thing. Heck, they couldn't even sell me X for Rock when I was 10!
Regardless, MN9 is looking pretty nifty and it probably will be a great game but that is beyond my point. Bottonline is: never lose faith. I did, but as history shows, things got turned around. I recently heard that Inafune wants Capcom to keep making Mega Man games. Capcom, as the rest of the Japanese gaming industry as a whole on the other hand, is more interested in shifting towards mobile gaming so nothing keeps Inafune from buying his brainchild back in a few years. Well, maybe except for Capcom itself, but THAT remains to be seen. Never lose faith. Help spreading the rumor that Mega Man 11 is on its way. That outta spice things up!
