Mega Man 11 was released in 2018 and quickly became one of the best games in this long-running Capcom series. This new game took everyone by surprise since it looked good, played great, and was surprisingly cheap. It even became one of the best-selling entries in the franchise, but Capcom saw all of that success and said “guess we’re making a new Monster Hunter.”
The lack of new games since has been disappointing, because 11 was a treat. Personally, we think it’s the best entry in this series, managing to satisfy the wants and needs of every kind of Mega Fan. Obviously, Resident Evil and Street Fighter still make more money, but some love for the Blue Bomber would be nice to see.
After the 9th and 10th entries went back to 8-bit visuals, Mega Man 11 finally moved this series to 2.5D. It’s not the most visually-striking platformer out there, but Capcom’s Blue Bomber is presented well, as are his supporting cast. Roll, Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and the eight typical bosses Mega fights all have great designs that show off some decent personality.
Speaking of personality, we actually get to explore the backstory of Wily and Light a bit. This game starts with a prologue where a young Wily and Light are arguing about a new piece of tech that can benefit robots in the long run. Light declined this, scarring their doomed friendship forever. Wily used this technology to power-up these new bosses to, once again, take over the world, so Light decides to give this boost to Mega Man.
It’s a simple story and one that leads to Mega Man 11’s biggest feature: The Double Gear system. This feature allows Mega Man to slow things down to make platforming easier and delay enemy attacks or just power through to destroy everything. Overusing this feature leads to Mega Man cooling down, so fans have to be strategic when using this.
Bosses can actually use the Double Gear system against Mega Man, making these boss fights a bit more strategic. Shooting them with their weakness weapons is still the best way to succeed, but fans who want to challenge themselves can just use the Double Gear system. All of the bosses can be killed with your Mega Buster, so fans won’t be getting X6 nightmares of fighting High Max.
click to enlargeMega Man 11 doesn’t limit players to the weapons you get from bosses, as their are upgrades you get from collecting bolts. This fan-favorite feature from older Mega Man games is just as useful as ever, letting fans purchase Energy Tanks for health refills, extra lives, weapon energy, and more. While this isn’t the most challenging game in this series, it’s still pretty tough and buying these upgrades will help.
There’s so much to like about Mega Man 11 and it’s a shame Capcom hasn’t made a new game since. It felt like this game laid down a good foundation for another entry and now we won’t see that happen. For all we know, Capcom could be scrambling to find ideas that make the Blue Bomber fresh again, but it’s been seven years, so that doesn’t seem likely.
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