Mastodawn

Solar Bear Mar 16, 2023

Decided to go on a classic #megaman binge. Been way too long since I played these games. Despite having my Steam Deck for 9 months and using it very heavily, I haven't done any emulation on it and it was high time to fix that.

Mega Man 1 and 2 down! Not going for the full achievement grind, just completing the games with hardcore enabled on #retroarch, so no save states, cheats, etc. Mega Man 3 next! Will probably pace myself going forward to not burn out. I want to at least get through all the NES games.

#retrogaming #emulation #rockman

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Solar Bear Mar 20, 2023

Mega Man 3 & 4 down!

MM3 was good in design but frustrating because of the frequent slowdowns and flickering. The Nestopia core options for overclocking and fixing the sprite limit didn't seem to help at all, but maybe that's because I've got hardcore mode on and that's among the things it disables.

MM4 was honestly kinda forgettable to me. None of it really stuck out. I got through it pretty quickly too so it didn't feel too hard.

On to Mega Man 5! Doing a bonus challenge this time, collecting all the letters in order, and I figured I may as well also beat the bosses with the buster only since I won't have the correct power to beat most of them. Not sure if I'll do that for the final stages and bosses after that though. Already having a blast, Wave Man's stage is fantastic.

#megaman #retrogaming #SteamDeck #emulation

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Solar Bear Mar 28, 2023

Mega Man 5-8 all down!

MM5 was the best designed of the bunch. Cool levels, fun boss fights and useful powers. It felt a bit on the easy side, but maybe that's just because I'm coming in hot off 1-4.

MM6 was very forgettable. Level graphics were good, but I did not vibe with any of the bosses or powers. Just kinda flew through it with minimal friction.

MM7 is the first one I actively disliked. It was far too easy, right until the final boss which was unfair and unfun. The powers were boring and so were most of the boss fights.

#megaman #retrogaming #SteamDeck #emulation

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Solar Bear

And then there's Mega Man 8. The game that started it all for me as a wee lad.

The game definitely has some flaws. The maze sections are just annoying. No ability to refund screws when there's not enough to buy everything is just mean. Some of the voicing is just terrible. And some bosses are absolutely trivialized if you use their weaknesses.

But the vibes? The vibes on this game are immaculate and timeless, and I don't think it's just nostalgia. There's something so quintessentially "90s optimism" to it and I think it was formative to my personality. Tengu Man's stage is gorgeous and probably informed my later interest in solarpunk aesthetics.

I mean come on, tell me the vibes on this aren't great.

(Watch full screen or the CRT shader gets funky)

#megaman #retrogaming #emulation #SteamDeck