Mega Man 6

Mega Man 6's story takes place about a year after the events of Mega Man 5. To counter Dr. Wily's repeated attacks, the Global Robot Alliance was formed, and one year later the "First Annual Robot Tournament" is held to determine the world's strongest peacekeeping robot. The tournament is hosted by a man known only as "Mr. X," the leader of the mysterious "X Foundation" and many strong robots participate. Dr. Light, a pacifist, decides not to enter the competition, but sends the robotic hero Mega Man to supervise it. Before the event can begin, however, Mr. X announces that he has reprogrammed eight of the strongest contestants to do his bidding in taking over the world: Blizzard Man, Centaur Man, Flame Man, Knight Man, Plant Man, Tomahawk Man, Wind Man, and Yamato Man, and tells Mega Man he had been manipulating Dr. Wily from the beginning. Following this, Mega Man and Rush set out to put an end to Mr. X's plan. Mega Man destroys the eight Robot Masters and then goes to Mr. X's fortress. The villain is beaten and quickly reveals himself as none other than a disguised Dr. Wily. ==Gameplay==

to propel through the air, seen in the first stage of Mr. X's Fortress. The gameplay in Mega Man 6 is largely similar to its five NES predecessors. The player takes control of Mega Man littered with smaller robot enemies and occasional larger mini-bosses. The player's primary method of attack is the "Mega Buster" cannon, which can be charged for more powerful shots. At the end of each of the initial eight stages is a boss battle, where the player inherits that Robot Master's unique "Master Weapon" if successful. Previous Mega Man games typically allowed the player to call on the transformable dog Rush or use other support items in order to traverse difficult or otherwise inaccessible parts of a stage. Mega Man 6 instead features a pair of "Rush Adaptors" that fuse Mega Man and Rush into special forms. The first, "Jet Mega Man", lets the player fly upward or hover for a brief period of time, but prevents the use of charge shots. The second, "Power Mega Man", utilizes a powerful, short-range punch attack for destroying large blocks. Collecting all four parts will allow the player to call on Beat to attack enemies. ==Development==

Mega Man 6 was developed at the same time as the franchise's first spin-off, Mega Man X for Nintendo's newer console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Series artist Keiji Inafune, credited as "Inafking", stated that having a video game franchise with six titles is very rare, and one of the advantages to this is that players expect certain aspects of each game to be repeated in the next. Only eight out of the more than 200,000 worldwide character submissions for Mega Man 6 were accepted for the game. The North American cover of the game pays homage to the two designers by featuring their Robot Masters on it. Inafune admitted that it was stressful when the last characters being designed for the game were not meeting with the development team's schedule. He concluded, "For having hit a lot of roadblocks, I feel like we got a lot done for 6. The theme for our designs was 'The world is our stage,' and I really enjoyed bringing what I felt was the unique flavor of different countries into the game." Takehara collaborated with several other composers for the follow-up Mega Man 7 in 1995. A few months after the publication of Mega Man 5, Capcom announced the sixth installment in the original series, as well as Mega Man Soccer and Mega Man X for the SNES, making Mega Man 6 the last title in the franchise to be released on the 8-bit NES. Capcom chose not to publish the game outside Japan. Instead, Nintendo of America published it in March 1994. Before the NES era in North America was about to end, Nintendo of America made a plan to help sell it along with ''Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II and the NES version of Wario's Woods, which were also published by Nintendo in North America during the same time. Their plan was to release the top-loading NES-101 for a retail price of $49.99 to attract consumers to buying the updated version of the original NES along with one or more new titles for the console, including Mega Man 6. The game was also showcased alongside Mega Man X'' at the 1994 Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Mega Man 6 was re-released for the PlayStation in 1999 as part of the Rockman Complete Works series exclusive to Japan. A port of the Complete Works edition was released on the North American-exclusive Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2004 and Xbox in 2005. Mega Man 6 was released on Japanese mobile phones via the i-mode service in 2007. and in North America on August 21, 2014. ==Reception and legacy==

Mega Man 6 has enjoyed a favorable reception from gaming publications and websites. The graphics, play control, challenge level, and added power-ups were generally praised. GamePro was impressed with some of the newer enemies and larger mid-stage bosses, but was displeased with the game's recycling of Master Weapons seen in previous Mega Man games. Overall, the magazine described the graphics, audio, and level design in Mega Man 6 as standard fare for the franchise and called the game a "rock of reliable NES fun" in a series that is as "predictable as the tide". Nintendo Power listed Mega Man 6 as the best NES game of 1993, stating, "His sixth NES adventure, in which he uses two new, Special Power-Ups, might just be his best". Craig Skistimas of ScrewAttack also appreciated these innovations and regretted missing out on the game when it was first released. Mega Man 6 is occasionally seen as "redundant" to the series. GameSpot editors Christian Nutt and Justin Speer labeled Mega Man 6 the "cheesiest" among the NES titles: "If you're looking for mega-laughs, you might want to try this one out." The four members of the Electronic Gaming Monthly review panel all voiced similar opinions regarding the game's familiar 8-bit presentation and its addition to the already repetitive nature of the series. One reviewer commented, "OK, Mega Man was fun and original back in the days when the letters 'N E S' meant something. Now the game is just getting redundant. Oh sure, Mega Man may learn a few new tricks here and there but this series has to end soon." Elements of the game made their way into the Mega Man series from Archie Comics prior to it going on indefinite hiatus. Some notable liberties were taken, such as introducing Dr. Pedro Astil, a creator character for Plant Man, and introducing the X Foundation (renamed the X Corporation) at the conclusion of the Mega Man 3 adaptation. The latter concept notably featured Mr. X as a separate character from Dr. Wily and as a future version of Xander Payne, a character exclusive to the comics who became involved in time travel after being part of an anti-robot extremist group known as the Emerald Spears. A view of the events of Mega Man 6 in the series' final issue prior to the hiatus hinted as Xander's overthrow and Wily's seizure of his resources and alias. The X Corporation's resources also provide Wily with the means of laying the groundwork for other schemes, including the abduction of Kalinka Cossack leading into Mega Man 4. Its membership was shown to include numerous identically costumed grunts and Madame Y, a character based on an "alternate universe" concept by former Capcom and Mega Man artist Hideki Ishikawa. == Notes ==