Mega Man Anniversary Collection (Gamecube)
Mega Man Anniversary Collection (Gamecube)
Developed by: Capcom/Atomic Planet
Published by: Capcom
The Mega Man Anniversary Collection is a retro gamer’s dream come true. Who needs emulators when you can buy 10 classic games for the PS2 or Gamecube in a cool package like this? It may not be the complete Mega Man library that Japanese gamers were lucky enough to get, but when you consider that it is a cross-platform collection that includes SNES, PSX and even arcade games, it’s still a lot of value for a reasonable price ($40 Canadian).
It’s hard to believe that the first Mega Man is now 20 years old. Playing through the original game (which incidentally is not the best one) nowadays is still a fun experience and doesn’t seem as primitive or outdated as it should. It’s obvious that this is a timeless game, one that influenced many of today’s modern games. If you look beyond the low-rez graphics, you’ll see that all of these games still have substance beyond the nostalgia factor, and gameplay that is vastly superior to a lot of current generation console games.
If you’ve never had the pleasure of playing a Mega Man game, here is the basic set up: they are 2D side scrollers where you control a heroic robot, initially equipped with little more weaponry than an arm blaster. In each game there are a series of levels with different themes that you can tackle in any order. At the end of a level Mega Man must face off against an evil robot boss who has a special weapon related to that theme. When a boss is defeated, Mega Man absorbs the ability to use each weapon himself. After finishing off each of the robots Mega Man heads towards a showdown with his arch enemy Dr. Wily (or occasionally someone else).
The variety of earned weapons and their strategic use in other areas was one of the most innovative aspects of these games, and an idea that many other games quickly adopted. Each enemy or obstacle usually has a specific weakness, but there are often multiple ways to get by a particular baddie in case you don’t have this weapon. The games reward a thoughtful approach to the order of completion as a result.
Still, things have definitely changed in the world of video games. For one, the individual levels are a lot shorter than I remember them being, and they are definitely well under the epic lengths we’ve come to expect nowadays. This does make it convenient to play through the games in short installments however. There are also some things in these games that you would never see anymore, particularly some infuriatingly difficult platform jumping puzzles. The reason I no longer smash my game controllers is not because I’m more older, more peaceful and mature, it’s because they stopped making games like this!
The Mega Man Anniversary Collection contains Mega Man 1 through 6 (all originally released for the NES), Mega Man 7 (for the Super Nintendo), and Mega Man 8 (for the Playstation). As an added bonus, you can also unlock two arcade games rarely seen in the U.S., Mega Man The Power Battles and Mega Man The Power Fighters. These are basically versus fighting games where you take on many of Mega Man’s robot adversaries from past games.
The games are all emulated with precision and are true to the originals. It is important to note these are not remakes in any way, but simply direct ports to new hardware. This means, for better or for worse, you will get sprite flickering and the occasional slow down in some places (although it does seem less prevalent than it was on the original systems). The area where they’ve taken some liberties and enhanced the games slightly is with the controls. Taking advantage of the extra buttons on the PS2 and Gamecube controllers, there is now a button for multi-fire (very handy), a separate button for power sliding, and the shoulder buttons can be used to switch weapons on the fly. The controls adapt very well but on the Gamecube there have been a lot of complaints that the jump and shoot button functions feel like they’ve been mapped backwards. It does take a little getting used to, but it’s not a major problem. It might have been nice to have the option to remap them though.
The menus and interface for playing the different games are also well done. At any time you can stop and return to the main menu from within any of the games, and your progress is automatically saved whenever you complete a level so you don’t have to write down any passwords. (Remember when games actually had password systems? Crazy. I had heaps of scrap papers lying around my house with game passwords all over the place… you’ve gotta love progress.)
If the difficulty of some of the games is driving you nuts, there is also some relief available to you. First of all, you can choose a new, easier difficulty level, which seems to reduce the amount of damage you take from enemies, or you can give yourself 5 lives instead of 3. You can also turn on something called “Navi Mode”, which gives you a clear on-screen display of how many lives you have left, and provides little arrows and indicators telling you which way to go and gives hints on the submenu screen. Hey now, it’s not cheating… just getting a little helping hand where necessary!
The two arcade games are initially locked, but thankfully it doesn’t take much to unlock them. (You don’t have to beat all 8 games or anything like that.) The other extras take a bit more work. The PS2 version contains a full length animated Mega Man episode “The Beginning”, while the Cube one has the G4TechTV segment, “History of Mega Man”, which contains interviews with the creator of Mega Man. Both versions also have unlockable image galleries and remixed music tracks that can be earned along the way.
The Mega Man games helped define what video games are today, and they still hold up well many years later. If you grew up on the NES system, odds are you played one or all of these games and you’ll love revisiting them now. Mega Man has become a huge franchise and although Capcom has gone off in some weird directions, these are the core of what made the company as successful as they are. Go ahead and grab yourself a piece of gaming history — you know you can’t resist playing these classics again, and for the price you’ll pay it’s all well worth it. — Sean

Every school had one. You know him, he wears out of date clothes and glasses from the early 80’s and he’s the only one who cares about ninjas at age 16. Well now this lovable nobody that everyone knows is at last getting his spotlight and the respect he deserves on the relatively big screen. It’s the new off beat, sarcastic comedy Napoleon Dynamite.
Politics and art have a long history of not only causing controversy together, but also occasionallyspearheading actual movement and change. It’s pretty safe to say that with the kind of success that Fahrenheit 9/11is having, it’s going to have an impact on the world we live in, and not just politically either.Michael Moore is opening doors for all kinds of documentary filmmakers, making the genreaccessible to the mainstream public (even if he has to sacrifice some of hiscredibility to do it).
Perhaps the most impressive thing about this whole movie is all the dirt he managed to dig up.Moore must have had a great team of researchers working with him on this, because not only did hefind some extremely damning evidence that is difficult to refute, but he also found lots of weird andfunny little clips and photos, even from Bush way before he was president. It certainly makes it alot harder to dispute much of what he is saying in this movie.
I first heard Mclusky on the way to see Iron Maidenlast summer. Listening to their previous album”Mclusky Do Dallas” for the first time is quite a rush. For a bit I thought parts of it were recorded live. Mclusky on their albums have been able to maintain a very dangerous, very live, interactive feel. Their music is anarchic, inspired, dirty, and very referenced. Mclusky’s references are very audible: Nirvana, the Pixies, Husker Du. And you know what? They sound punker and scarier than all of them combined. At a different time Mclusky would be huge, and maybe someday they will. The vast majority of their songs are anthems with memorable lines and choruses. And its hard to not like all Mclusky’s songs if you like one, since well, a lot of them sound pretty much the same. Since Mclusky have yet to pick up some real name recognition outside the Pitchforkmedia type community, I was really jazzed at the chance to see this band at a small club. And with Horseshoe’s great sound system, I knew I was in for a treat.
Lead singer Andrew Falkous seems a master at intershow banter, or at least practiced, taking clever potshots at the few idiots (”Axl Rose” Falkous called them) who showed up and paid 10 bucks for no reason than to yell and have their own party at the back. It seemed very weird that this continued through most of both sets, how some jerk just couldn’t get tired of booing for booing’s sake.
As a big fan of Steven Spielberg, i knew when i saw the trailer for ‘The Terminal’ that there would be something about it that i would enjoy. I don’t hate Tom Hanks as much as most people seem to, and i can look past the sometimes naive sentimentality of Spielberg’s films. Much like ‘Catch Me If You Can’, i went into ‘The Terminal’ only knowing that if it were presented by any other person, i probably wouldn’t be as interested in seeing it. In the end, Catch Me If You Can was one of my favourite movies of that year. The Terminal may not live up to that status, but i definitely wasn’t dissappointed.
This film marks the continuing collaboration between Hanks and Spielberg, but more importantly the ongoing relationship of Spielberg and Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. They’ve worked together since Schindler’s List, and guarantee to present a visually creative picture. A story like The Terminal, in the hands of anyone else, would most likely be told with a visual staleness. Luckily the film ended up in the right hands and definitely has benefitted from it. Although a cool looking movie isn’t enough to hold your attention for two hours. Luckily the Terminal provides an interesting look at an interesting situation and Hanks manages to maintain his wack accent without getting too annoying.
The Beastie Boys have been making records for a long time now and while they’re not quite over the hill, they’re certainly seeming more and more like the 3 white wise men of hip-hop these days. With the lengthy waits between albums, every time they release a new one it almost seems to mark a new era. No matter what the current trends are, their music always seems to integrate smoothly into the public consciousness. Whether it be the 80’s excess and decadence in Licensed To Ill, the start of social and political awareness on Check Your Head, or the sci-fi futuristic undertones of Hello Nasty, there has always been a feeling of progression to their music. And with all the pop culture references they drop in their lyrics, each album manages to capture the essence of a particular time period. To The 5 Boroughs is clearly a tribute to New York City and a commentary on the Bush administration, but more than anything it feels like they’re officially putting the 9/11 era to rest and urging everyone to move on.
Believe it or not,Canada has a pretty good reputation for putting out solid rock and roll albums. Names likeDanko Jones, Tricky Woo, and The Smugglers have been delivering raw, sweat-soakedrock action for years before the so-called rock revival trend hit (and incidentally,is that over yet?). Toronto’s Maximum RNR seem poised and determined to join the ranksof these legends, and although their debut 6 song EP does not immediately vault them upto the same level, it is a step in the right direction.Truth be told, they would probably rather be seen alongside the likes of The Dwarves andThe Dictators anyways.
Having never heard of the Secret Machines before two weeks ago it was surprising to see that they were playing a show so soon after appearing in several small publications. More surprising was the fact that they were the opening act for Fire Theft and the fact that Fire Theft were getting no publicity for a show they were supposedly headlining. However the fact remained that Secret Machines were a recent hot ticket and Fire Theft were ex Sunny Day Real Estate so why not check it out.
By the end of the Secret Machines mysterious set it felt like we were only shells of what we once were but really we just needed more to drink. With a couple of saucy little concoctions refueling our high running emotions it was now time for the final act of the evening (and I do mean evening at 9:30pm) Fire Theft. I was vague on The Fire Theft’s music before entering the show other than knowing that they were comprised of ex-Sunny Day Real Estate members Jeremy Enigk, William Goldsmith and Nate Mendel. So it was basically Sunny Day with a new name. If you didn’t already know the bassist from the Foo Fighters, Nate, headed up half the rhythm section in Sunny Day and it was extremely surprising when he walked out on stage with the band not knowing that he was in Fire Theft at the time. All the attempted suicides who were into emo in 1994 were probably wetting their pants and ruining their vegan skate shoes. The unsurprising part was that they sounded a lot like the mid-nineties punk influenced alt-rock they always played, but hey who doesn’t like that huh? This wasn’t an all ages show though so everyone in attendance remembered 1996. What else can be said about the Fire Theft though; their music had a good edge to it with some pop sensibility but I can’t say that the Secret Machines didn’t upstage them a bit. The two bands didn’t really belong together on the same bill; the dynamic was too different, from 1960’s psychedelic sound to 1990’s post skate punk. All the bands had a good sound, some fresher than others, but who cares, everyone at the show was hammered wearing their black hoodies and beards having a good time. — Jackson Main
Are you sick of all of those annoying nerds that, when not quoting the Simpsons constantly, talk about how much they love Bruce Campbell and the Evil Dead movies? I don’t know how many times I’ve been at a video store and overheard this discussion: “Have you seen the Evil Dead? It’s fuckin’ hilarious! ‘GROOVY’ ahahahha The third one isn’t as good though.” Don’t get me wrong, I love the Evil Dead movies and Bruce Campbell as much as the next guy, I just hate other people that like it. Well now there’s a whole new reason to hate: Bubba Ho-Tep.
With the triumphant return of Brett Gurewitz to the line-up, Bad Religion produced one of their most solid efforts in years, 2002’s The Process Of Belief. While many naysayers had written them off ever since they signed to a major label, their reunion with Mr. Brett and Epitaph had suddenly given them back their street cred and all was forgiven. It should come as a no-brainer then that their latest album would be just as urgent and intense as the last, if not moreso considering the current political climate and the band’s penchant for politically-charged songwriting. Oh, except for one thing. It’s not.






























