{"id":3459,"date":"2015-11-27T01:57:37","date_gmt":"2015-11-27T01:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=3459"},"modified":"2015-11-27T01:57:37","modified_gmt":"2015-11-27T01:57:37","slug":"sometimes-i-guess-there-just-arent-enough-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=3459","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes, I guess there just aren’t enough rocks…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mega Man series is one retro gamers look back on fondly, but there\u2019s a lot of talk about the quality of the fourth, fifth and sixth installments.\u00a0 Depending on who you ask, you might hear them say \u201cohhh you could tell they were running out of ideas at 4\u201d, or \u201cthings really started going downhill with 5, and I didn\u2019t even bother to play 6\u201d.\u00a0 Whether it was a lack of originality or simply a time when gamers were moving onto other things, those last few games didn\u2019t get quite as much love.\u00a0 But\u2026 why?<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m a glass half-full kind of guy, but I\u2019m of the impression that all six games really have something going for them.<\/p>\n

The first game is tough to go back to after playing the sequels, but it still has that Mega Man charm to it.\u00a0 It\u2019s tough as nails, but once you crack that hard outer-shell, you\u2019ll see that the inside is full of fluffy 8-bit goodness.\u00a0 Obviously not as good as 2 or 3, but that goes without saying.<\/p>\n

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\"These<\/a>

These guys were jerks.<\/p><\/div>\n

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4 was what some fans call the \u201cbeginning of the end\u201d, and I couldn\u2019t disagree more with that statement.\u00a0 The addition of the Mega Buster was an obvious upgrade, and I really liked how every stage had a unique obstacle; the rain and waterfalls in Toad Man\u2019s stage, Bright Man\u2019s grasshoppers crossing spikes and tricky swooping platforms, Dust Man\u2019s giant trash compactor with chunks you had to destroy to make it through, and so on.<\/p>\n

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\"Ring<\/a>

Ring Man’s platforms were also a fun challenge!\u00a0 Vibrant and colorful, too.<\/p><\/div>\n

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5 was a lot like 4, except slightly refined and tuned on, while 6 added branching paths and completely re-vamped Rush to have him morph into a body-suit with some really cool new abilities.\u00a0 Sure, a couple of the bosses and weapon upgrades were pretty lame in those last two games, but they were still tons of fun to play!<\/p>\n

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\"Jet<\/a>

Jet pack!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Power<\/a>

Power punch!<\/p><\/div>\n

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These days, if anyone popular ever says something bad about a game online, what generally happens is that their legion of followers will pipe up in agreement.\u00a0 It snowballs into a \u201cgeneral consensus\u201d, and it almost becomes taboo to go against the grain and say something favorable about it.<\/p>\n

However \u2013 if you were to absolutely have me choose a weakest game in the series, I guess I would have to go with Mega Man 5.\u00a0 That\u2019s somewhat odd, considering I owned it as a kid and played it a TON.\u00a0 I also remember exactly what I did on one of weekends I rented it.<\/p>\n

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\"1992<\/a>

1992 (Capcom)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Whenever my mom would let me rent a game, it would often be with the understanding that I would allow her to run errands without having me complain about being bored.\u00a0 I was lucky enough to never have to take the bus after class because she worked at the school library, but I always hated those stops at the grocery or department stores.\u00a0 Renting a game was her way of coaxing me into being patient.<\/p>\n

Mom had to stay at the library a bit late one Friday, and to make things worse, she had a hair appointment immediately afterwards.\u00a0 If I was bored walking the aisles of the supermarket, imagine me waiting for her to get her hair done!<\/p>\n

She offered to rent me a game, and obviously I agreed to it.\u00a0 I chose to rent Mega Man 5 (which I had played before), and from Blockbuster Video we went straight to the hair salon at the new strip-mall on the corner of Smythe and Prospect Streets\u2026<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>

The salon-salon used to be where I now get pizza-pizza.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Waiting at the salon wouldn\u2019t be all bad.\u00a0 My mom\u2019s hairdresser had twin daughters who were my age and in my class.\u00a0 I was only about 12 years old at the time, but I had a HUGE crush on one of them that everyone in my grade knew about \u2013 probably even the teachers.\u00a0 It was just a silly and juvenile thing, but I just thought she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen.\u00a0 I would often ask people if she had a boyfriend (as if those things were serious business in Grade 6), and I would sometimes talk about her when she wasn\u2019t even relevant to a conversation \u2013 no wonder people knew about it.<\/p>\n

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