A Beautiful Whuppin'

Ah the weekly Playstation Network update. Always a few things worth downloading there, but this week is actually worth writing about.

First off, I snagged the demo for the nostalgia fueled game, Mega Man 9. For those of you not familiar with the "blue bomber" the Mega Man series began years ago on the first Nintendo system - the NES - here in the US. (It's called the Famicom in Japan, for "Family Computer".) Known for high difficulty and massive amounts of sequels, the series has evolved somewhat over the years. Now Mega Man 9 is pretty much a throw back to the original NES version.

When it launched on my PS3, I was greeted with the bleeps and bloops associated with that first Nintendo system. The graphics matched that quality as well - except it lacked the classic flicker of NES games.

While I do own a NES now, I never had one during the heyday so there were no stirring of emotions there.

So I hit start and went into the demo level, "Cement Man". (All Mega Man bosses are named the same with Yogurt Man* being my favorite.) The controls were simple - left, right, jump, shoot. But the gameplay went - right, right, get-damaged, jump, get-damaged, shoot, die.

Okay, maybe I'm a little rusty.

Right, right, jump, get-damaged, shoot, jump, right, jump, fall-down-pit-and-die.

Now I've played bullet-hell shooters, but this is something else.

Right, right, jump, get-damaged, shoot, jump, right, die, "Quit Mega Man 9?", yes.

Wow, that was painful and humbling. Glad I didn't drop the ten buck to buy the full game as I know it would just end up gathering virtual dust on my PS3's hard drive. Some flashes to the past are not worth the price of admission. Especially the cost in ego-damage alone.

So instead I put $20 up to download WipEout HD.

While the Wipeout series is newer than Mega Man, it still has a history. As one of the marquee titles on the orginal Playstation, the concept of futuristic racing sleds had major appeal to me. Released in 1995 for the Sony Playstation it had a techno sound track, weird in game ads (Red Bull billboards were present, although the product did not hit the US until 1997.) and speed, speed, speed. This was my kind of racing game.

Thirteen years later, I kicked off the install, cranked the volume and waited for what was rumored to be one of the most graphically intense Playstation 3 experiences yet.

First off, I had to accept the three page warning about the potential for siesures - which I had read was a reason for it's delay in release. Next I selected a vehicle. Finally, my retinas melted into a pile of fanboy goo as the race was about to begin.

My first race did not go well. Part of the time I was running into walls trying to remember how to play the game. The other portion of my brain was repeating, "My god it's full of stars." over and over again. The game played fast, looked amazing, and did not let up until I finished that third lap in 5th place.

I wiped the drool from chin and sat back amazed. This was quite possibly the game that all others had to go up against from here on out.

There may be a few later nights this weekend as my reflexes are put to the Wipeout HD test. Well worth the price of admission, even though I suspect there are a few blows to the ego ahead of me.

Be seeing you.

* Actually, as far as I'm aware there isn't a Yogurt Man in the Mega Man series. However, they do have Plug Man who is "A line inspection robot at a television set factory. He carries out the final check on the products with a sharp eye." Just as weird in my book.

Wipeout HD - www.wipeouthd.com
Mega Man - http://megaman.capcom.com/index.php