Ok fine, robot masters they are. And certainly evil as well. Yet one of them has to stand above the others as the best evil robot master of all-time.
We recently ran a series of polls to determine whom it would be. The polls were set up to first find the best evil robot master from each of the “classic” games (Mega Man 1-10, and we threw in Mega Man & Bass as well), and then the winner from each game was put head to head for a final poll.
Let's first take a look at the robots that almost won.
#3. (TIE.) Gravity Man (Mega Man 5), Splash Woman (Mega Man 9) (mouse over to view)
Gravity Man had a pretty interesting stage with a cool gravity mechanic (
which I mention in my review for VVVVVV) that flipped you up onto the ceiling. Can't say the music in this stage does much for me, but then, I felt that Mega Man 5 had some of the weakest music in the early games. And of course the gravity mechanic was part of the fight with Gravity Man himself, making for a pretty interesting battle.
(Watch a playthrough of his stage...)
To be honest Splash Woman wasn't one of my favorites from Mega Man 9, but I can see the appeal. Her stage has some unique parts, including riding bubbles to the top of the water while avoiding spikes, as well as riding on quickly moving, soon to be disappearing water platforms also in the midst of spikes. Pretty cool stuff. The boss battle isn't bad either, and I always like seeing sea bosses controlling sea creatures, even if it is a bit cliché.
(Watch a playthrough of her stage...)
#2. Magnet Man (Mega Man 3) (mouse over to view)
Ah Magnet Man. His stage revolved around... you guessed it... magnets! Magnet enemies that try sucking you into pits, sucking you towards themselves, etc. And of course it had disappearing blocks too. And a battle against Proto Man! This stage had everything! The music was pretty classic as well. Magnet Man himself also tried to suck you at him, as well as jump into the air and shoot magnets down at you. He's pretty dope.
(Watch a playthrough of his stage...)
Alright. And our big winner is...
#1. Crash Man (Mega Man 2) (mouse over to view)
I distinctly remember how much I loved Crash Man's stage when I first played Mega Man 2. It was something totally new to me, an almost completely vertical stage in a video game?! It wasn't just the fact that it was vertical that was compelling, but the real sense of height that it established as well. When you start the stage the sky is bright blue, but as you move higher up clouds start appearing, and as you travel even higher up the sky goes dark and you can see faint stars in the background, which are super bright by the time that you reach the very top. At which point you are basically in outer space. This may not sound especially amazing by today's standards, but at the time it was like nothing I had ever experienced in a video game. The music for the stage was pretty awesome as well. And Crash Man himself well... he jumped around and shot bombs at you. Sticky bombs with drills attached to them. How cool is that? He also looks awesome.
(Watch a playthrough of his stage...)
And now here are a bunch of random pictures of Crash Man, just because.
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