So, the word is that Megaman 9 will be released on Wiiware (possibly in the US) by the end of the year and that Chrono Trigger DS will be out in all the territories that are important to the gaming world (sorry Europe, its not my opinion, its just theirs) by the end of this year as well. These two present an interesting case study. On the one hand, we have a game that we're (mostly) happy that it retains its classic look and feel; Megaman 9 will look and play exactly like any of the games its meant to be connected to. On the other hand, we have Chrono Trigger DS, which (while not even believed to be a serious rumor until a day before its official announcement) managed to disappoint most of its target audience by not improving any in the visuals department.
Bit of a double standard eh? The sequel to an NES classic gets praised for not changing a thing while the SNES masterpiece is frowned upon for being the exact same game we all remember (those of us that got it) from a decade ago. So what gives? 2 different audiences? I suppose you could make that argument since its 2 different genres, but I'm not really satisfied with that answer. People expect different things from Capcom than they do from Squeenix? Again, true, but not satisfactory. Plus, look at the visual upgrades Square gave to previous FF games. Last time I checked, FF3 and 4 were not in 3-D upon their initial release. So what gives?
MegaMan is the literal (and spiritual) 8th sequel to the well known (and friggin hard) NES series that helped put Capcom on the map. Blue Bomber's gone through a number of iterations and imaginings, but I think we all harken back to his initial classic introductory form when we think about him. The first few games in the X series were solid and games like Mega Man Soccer were always good for some short play, but really, this series is all about the shooting and platforming. And what platforming it was. Think Mario with a gun. Except a gun that could (and would) be customized with energy weapons reminiscent of the enemies you had bested. The later NES games never deviated from the formula, but added longer levels (with more frequent checkpoints, thankfully) additional moves etc. And of course, the rock-paper-scissors format for getting through the game. Simple formula: Beat boss A. Find out which boss is weak against Boss A's weapon, beat him next. Continue on until all bosses were bested. This isn't a series that needs 3-D...like Sonic the Hedgehog before it, MM suffered badly from the jump to 3 dimensions. Yet at the same time, while its nice to see the spirit of Megaman kept so faithfully, it does disappoint me some that we weren't treated to some updated visuals. Both Megaman 1 and Megaman X were released on the PSP with updates to their graphics. Maybe it had something to do with limited filesize on WiiWare? Honestly, the only part of me that says its ok is the part that figures that Capcom chose to focus on gameplay not graphics and hopefully that's true.
Chrono Trigger, on the other hand, is a game that we already KNOW will be spectacular in the gameplay department. There is nothing being changed here (save for an added dungeon). Yet instead of anything we can see being upgraded, we get the classic title with just a few small additions. Now, for those of you who never played it (what with it never coming to Europe and all), CT is a classic SNES JRPG, which is great, but that also translates to 'sprite city' which by today's modern visual standards, isn't. At least there's a reasonable excuse here for this game not being upgraded; they probably couldn't get the original design team in and thus didn't want to risk mucking anything up. Can't blame them for that, I'm actually grateful for it. But if you're really concerned you won't be able to figure out what Akira Toriyama's characters look like in 3-D, then you clearly haven't watched enough Dragon Ball Z. Is it a huge deal? No, probably not even a deal breaker. But after all the extensive work they did for FF3 and FF4, it really would have been nice to see this great game with improved visuals.
I probably SHOULD be more excited for Megaman over Chrono Trigger (what with it being the NEW game and all, not to mention cheaper), but I think I'm actually more excited for CT. Its a solid title, I know what I'm getting and I'm sure I'm partially looking at it through rose colored glasses, but I remember loving it when I played it 5+ years ago. Don't get me wrong, I'm getting both games. Its just silly to me that on two 'retro' games, there's such a wide difference of opinion as to how to handle the game.
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