…………………………………………………

Ranking Mega Man Video Games

Mega Man is one of the most iconic video game series that has stood the test of time gloriously and is still widely enjoyable today. From 1987 all the way to the recent years, the mainline series consists of eleven titled entries and one spin-off installment, making for 12 overall games that I am going to rank in the order that I personally enjoyed them from least to most. This list is very personal, so it is going to be very different from your regular Mega Man top ten ranking, so here we go.

12. Mega Man & Bass

Released in 1998 for the then aging SNES, Mega Man & Bass is the spin-off of the Mega Man series that counts among the mainline entries. It has excellent graphics and sounds while it features some memorable bosses and stages too. However, it is an extremely problematic installment for a number of reasons. One is the extreme difficulty due to overly hard bosses and pretty unfair enemy placement throughout the levels. And the other issue is the fact that the game is meant to be played with Bass while the main hero gets the short end of the stick. It may rank much higher on many other lists, but in my book it gets the last spot.

11. Mega Man 10

Mega Man 10 should be commended for its bosses, which are overall quite good. Some Robot Masters here are quite memorable while the mini-bosses stole this game as they were a lot of fun. It’s a competently made, solid game, but it’s also one of the laziest and most tiresome entries on this list as it lacks originality and fresh ideas. The ninth game was at least difficult, but this one was among the easiest in the entire series unfortunately. The ninth entry reinvigorated the franchise while its successor stalled it.

10. Mega Man 6

Mega Man 6 is pretty solid in terms of score and visuals. It also has some memorable bosses and particularly superb power-ups as the new adaptors included here are better than all the ones that were featured before. It is a competent game throughout, but hardly a memorable one. You see, this was the last NES entry and by this point the franchise has become repetitive and stale, resulting in this game being pretty forgettable. It is uneven in its difficulty and level design. But above all else, it is the least memorable entry in the series.

9. Mega Man 11

Unlike its two predecessors, 2018’s Mega Man 11 featured polished, modern current-gen graphics and a modernized score. The latter was forgettable, but the former was superb and the graphics made the game beautiful to look at. The sound and bosses’ catchphrases were also terrific. As for the gameplay, this was a mixed bag. While some bosses are great and the more expansive stages were at times inventively designed, those stages were also too huge at times and the game is way too difficult. All of these games are demanding in difficulty curve, but this is one of the rare ones that was borderline not entertaining because of that curve.

8. Mega Man 9

Mega Man 9 is similar to Mega Man 10. It has the same issue of lacking in fresh ideas, inventiveness and memorable stages. It brought back the franchise, but it also brought the retro gameplay style and audio-visuals back instead of going forward. The reason why I rank it higher than the aforementioned title lies in its better execution. Some of the stages have interesting gameplay mechanics and a couple of bosses are great, especially those in Wily Castle. It’s a perfectly serviceable, but hardly great installment.

7. Mega Man 5

Mega Man 5 plays out similarly to its successor, but there are a couple of reasons why it ranks higher than the aforementioned entry. One is its immensely creative level design at times as certain stages (Gravity Man’s Stage in particular) are quite unique. Some of the bosses and especially the last ones are superb as well. It’s a very well made, competent game through and through, but minus points go to its extreme predictability and a lack of truly fresh or exciting new ideas.

6. Mega Man 8

In what is clearly a controversial placement, Mega Man 8 lands right in the middle of this list. This game gets a bad rep, but it’s in actuality pretty good and certainly not as bad as most would say. Yes, the voice acting is atrocious. But we get a genuine storyline here with cool anime cutscenes, so how can anyone complain about that? Yes, it is uneven in level design with some crazy ideas that are too strange for the series, but some of those stages were also very strong and overall we get one of the better boss rosters in the franchise. This is also the only 32-bit game in the series, so it has a unique visual presentation for sure.

5. Mega Man 4

Mega Man 4 has some superb stages and bosses. It also features strong sound, graphics and soundtrack, all staples of the series. In many respects, it is a great successor to the first three games. Then why I am ranking it lower than those three? Well, that is solely for its difficulty. That final stage was so incredibly hard to get through that it was one of the most frustrating gaming experiences that I’ve ever had personally. It was unfair and mind-bogglingly infuriating. Most complain about the inclusion of the charged shot in this game, but I was having so much tough time playing this game that this addition actually worked for me and is the least of this game’s problems.

4. Mega Man 7

By far the most underrated entry in the entire series, I just adore Mega Man 7 and it gets the deserved fourth place on my list. The only SNES numbered entry in the main franchise, this game has its flaws (the stages aren’t all that memorable), but it has so many strengths. The visuals are truly gorgeous, the sound is superb and the soundtrack is not just incredible, but it just might be the best one we got so far. But above all else, Mega Man 7 has such cool, interestingly conceived bosses, making for immensely entertaining battles. It’s just a great game that never got the love that it clearly deserves.

3. Mega Man 3

The third entry is the one that introduced the boss system that we know and love today. It took me a while to get used to it, but eventually I’d come to really appreciate this innovation. This game gets the last placement of the original trilogy as it’s just not as memorable as its predecessors and it can be too difficult at times. Still, the bosses are for the most part excellent and the soundtrack is one of the better ones in the franchise. It is a terrific game for sure, but it’s just not my favorite.

2. Mega Man

I absolutely adore the first Mega Man game. Released in 1987, it had level select as an option, which was a huge feat for the time. It also featured incredible graphics for the era and one of the best soundtracks in the history of the series. Most of the tunes here were just so catchy and instantly recognizable. The bosses are also cool and one of the highlights are the stages themselves, which are very well designed throughout. They also have significant portions of true platforming, which is something that the later installments would lack. It is a game that aged like fine wine and that kick-started the franchise with a lot of style and finesse. It never gets the recognition it deserves, but I will fix that by giving it the deserved second spot here.

1. Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2 is the game where everything clicked into its place perfectly. This is the first installment that lets you obtain weapons from fallen Robot Masters, which led to that iconic final stage where you have to use those weapons throughout the level to properly finish it. It was immaculately designed and executed. The bosses were uniformly great and interesting while the difficulty level was pretty much right. The visuals were outstanding and so was the terrific and cool soundtrack. When you take into consideration all of the various game design philosophies and audio-visuals and every other aspect, Mega Man 2 clearly triumphs over all the other games in the series, which makes it the worthy number one choice for this list.