Games | Nintendo Entertainment System | Game Boy | Mega Man Series | Elec Man
Article by wumpwoast | November 8, 2007
For anyone to write about Mega Man with authority, they first have to pass a singular litmus test: beating Elec Man using only the default pistol. This process guarantees separation of the men from the boys; it takes twenty-eight hits to kill Elec Man, but only three lightning strikes before you're taken down Emperor Palpatine-style.
Keep moving, and get the Magnet Beam. Or pray the Big Eye misses.
Looking at the Mega Man series as a whole and starting with Elec Man is like starting with an electrode in your brain, followed by consumption of velvety chocolate truffles. The level begins innocently at the tower bottom, and most of your time is spent on the climb or on the jump, scaling ladders, mastering some disappearing blocks, and jumping a couple wide-span pits.
At least the theme is compelling -- being a robot surrounded by various methods of lasers and lightning feels perfectly natural. Animated electrical foreground scenery shows that Capcom's artists put in a little extra effort and care, particularly for 1987. And this stage is the first instance of the kind of climbing vertigo that Mega Man level design excels at.
As previously mentioned, Elec Man is as much Jedi Master as Robot Master. Expect to get lit up ten or fifteen times if you're man enough to challenge the litmus test. Nobody in their right mind goes after Elec Man without the Cut Boomerang -- that evens the odds to three hits a man, making the boss fight something of a cowboy-style duel.
Moving from the NES game to the Game Boy, we see that Capcom substitutes the lost TV screen space for more obstacles and enemies, although the green eye-orb fellows have gone missing. Fortunately we're left with cloud platforms (nicked from the NES Mega Man 2 no less), and a surplus of disappearing blocks. The stage feels shorter but no less satisfying, with slightly more diverse scenery and enemies.
Upon completion of the stage, the player obtains the crowning truffle among Mega Man's extended arsenal -- the wide-hitting, tri-directional Thunder Beam. It hits above, hits below, and hits the bastards at your toes.
Continue: Chilling with Ice Man