Mega Man 9 Arrives on Wii

If you are a fan of retro platforming -- and we assume that you are -- you would have be hiding under a mighty big rock to have missed the news of the all-new Mega Man 9. Capcom has developed an entirely original Mega Man adventure for the Nintendo Wii, and it is available now on the Wii Shop Channel. Rather then gloss the game up with fancy 3D graphics, the new title faithfully recreates that old 8-bit feel, with entirely 2D levels that feel exactly the way you remember them. The developers even took care to include things like sprite flicker and pop-in, to keep that retro effect authentic during gameplay.

True Mega Man fanatics will notice that this is the first real release in the series since 1996. The last ten years have seen a lot of releases bearing the Mega Man name, but none of these managed to completely live up to the feel of the real thing.

Just like the 8-bit games of lore, the plot in the new adventure is really inconsequnetial to the gameplay, although it does present a new twist on the established formula. In Mega Man 9, your old nemesis Dr. Wily is back, and this time he has set your mentor Dr. Light up (the bomb). In order to prove the innocence of your master, you must hunt down a new pack of death-dealing robots and exterminate them. The enemy bosses that you will face this time include Concrete Man, Hornet Man, and in a bid for gender equality -- Splash Woman.

Mega Man 9 is curently available for download at the price of 1,000 Wii points ($10).

Some video game enemies don't even need an explanation.