First, I want to point out how ecstatic I was to find out Mega Man was joining the roster for Super Smash Bros. If you look at all the move sets and animation for Mega Man, you'll notice that it's a 1:1 representation of Mega Man from his original games:
I'm pretty sure Mega Man will play exactly the same way in the full version considering the game's already out in Japan and the full game comes out here on Friday. Still, everything I rant about here is based on what I've played from the demo. I will come straight to the point and say "Mega Man isn't very good..." People who have played the demo or the Japanese version of the full game all seem to agree that Mega Man isn't that strong compared to most of the characters or that he doesn't have a good moveset. The main problem is that a lot of his moves puts him in danger more than being the danger. He's his own worst enemy! The other problem he has is kill potential. This is a major problem I had with Sonic the Hedgehog in Brawl (and I'm afraid he might be the same in this one too) in that it was very difficult to finish off a player, let alone trying to damage them. Let's go through all his move sets and take a closer look at his kit:
Note: A = Neutral Attack; B = Special Attack
Ground Attacks
A - Mega Buster (Safe): Mega Man can shoot up to 3 small projectiles that does 2%-2.5% Damage. It's not the best, but it's not bad either. You can recover out of the attack immediately and sneak in some extra damage between every other attack using this. It's not very far ranged.
Forward A - Running Mega Buster (Safe): So like in the Mega Man games, he can run and shoot at the same time. This can be useful leading into a grab or slide.
Up A - Mega Uppercut (Risky): So here we have our first problematic move. It's the uppercut move that Mega Man uses from Marvel vs. Capcom. It does a decent amount of damage (12%) and can KO around 80% or so. The problem is using it. It's an up-tilt move which means you might execute an up-smash or Up-air by accident if you don't do it right. And if you do execute it right but miss, it takes forever for you to recover. You can cancel out of it, you come back down really slow, and you're in the air long enough for the enemy to knock you out. It's a good KO move if you can land it, but there are so many drawbacks on using it that it doesn't seem worth utilizing.
Down A - Slide Kick (Risky): I like this move because you can chain it into or from other attacks. But you can't stop when you start and it's really easy for the enemy to just block grab you since you're locked down to that animation until you're finished.
Dash A - Top Spin (Risky): Much like the Slide kick, you're locked into animation when you start and can easily be block-grabbed. Based on Top Man's weapon from Mega Man 3.
Ground Smash Attacks
Forward Smash - Charge Shot (Risky): The familiar charge shot from the series, it does decent damage (12-20%) and is one of the potential KO attacks. But it has a delay before coming out, is slow, and takes a bit to recover from. It's risky to use unless you put your opponent in a position where they can't avoid it.
Up Smash - Spark Shock (Risky): 15-20% is pretty good for this move, but it's not a KO move. I don't understand why this isn't switched with the up-tilt attack. That would make much more sense. It's also a very risky move. The skill lasts for a good few seconds and takes forever to recover from. Based on Spark Man's weapon from Mega Man 3.
Down Smash - Flame Blast (Risky): This isn't far off from Up-Smash. Rather than an attack right above him, it's two flaming pillars to both sides of Mega Man. It does a good amount of damage (17-24%), but doesn't have KO potential and takes forever to execute and recover from. Based on Flame Man's weapon from Mega Man 6.
Air Attacks
Neutral Air - Mega Buster (Safe): Mega Buster in the air.
Forward Air - Flame Sword (Risky): I like this skill. It has good coverage, reach, and okay damage (5-9%). It has a slight recovery time lag, but I'd much rather use this than any of the other moves. Based on Sword Man's weapon from Mega Man 8.
Back Air - Slash Claw (Safe): This is, hands-down, the best move Mega Man has. It's fast to execute and recover, it has KO potential, and it has decent range. It doesn't have the strongest knock-back power for a KO, but it's the safest one. Based on Slash Man's weapon from Mega Man 7
Up Air - Air Shooter (Safe): This is a hilarious move that can KO an opponent. Rather than knocking them out of the screen at full speed, it carries them up and out of the screen slowly. It's not too risky of a move, but it's very difficult to utilize effectively because of how slow it travels. Based on Air Man's weapon from Mega Man 2.
Down Air - Hard Knuckle (Debatable): I really like this move, as well. But there are problems with using it. It's a downward spike that has very strong KO potential (I'm able to KO the CPU around 24%-32% using this) but is very difficult to land. The D-air is most effective off stage. It takes about .5-1 second for it to execute, so there's a timing issue. Then there's also the fact that the 3DS doesn't have a C-stick, so if you press down too hard and execute it, you'll be locked in animation and fall at a very fast speed to your death. Even if you don't fall off, there's a bit of a recovery time lag before you can do anything else. It's the most satisfying move that Mega Man has in his arsenal, especially when you successfully land it. Based on Hard Man's weapon from Mega Man 3.
Special Attacks
Grab - Super Arm (Safe): Thankfully, Mega Man's grab is really fast. It can lead to some nice setups for damage and KO. Based on Guts Man's weapon from Mega Man.
B - Metal Blade (Risky): Throws a circular metal blade that can be thrown in 8 different directions. It takes a short delay to use, does very little damage, travels very slowly, has no knock-back, and can be grabbed by the opponent to be used against you. What a terrible move. Based on Metal Man's weapon from Mega Man 2. (Looks like there are other weapons for custom later in the full version).
Side B - Crash Bomber (Risky): A slow traveling projectile that sticks to opponents and acts like the Gooey Bomb from Brawl. It also has a short delay before execution and can be used against you since it can be transferred around by just touching. Also a terrible move. Based on Crash Man's weapon in Mega Man 2.
Up B - Rush Coil (Safe): Okay, this is pretty cool. It's kind of like Sonic's Spring where Rush appears and lets Mega Man ascend higher and can be bounced on by anyone. I heard Mega Man can get out of being stun-locked by combos using this, but I haven't confirmed that yet. It's a really good recovery skill and can be used to chase enemies in higher areas for a KO or take out enemies below the stage platform and get back on safely. Based off of the Rush Coil from Mega Man 3.
Down B - Leaf Shield (Risky): You bring up leaves that circle around you that does 1-2% damage for each one that makes contact. Slow to bring up, slow to use, does very little damage, and slow recovery. Another terrible skill. Some have pointed out it might be good for setting up grabs, but using it would give a huge hint to the opponent on what you're going to do. Based on Wood Man's weapon from Mega Man 2.
Final Smash - Rockman Special(Safe): You shoot a black hole and can execute it to stop and grow. If anyone falls into it, the special will go off where 4 other Mega Mans from the series (X [X series], Exe [Battle Network], Volnutt [Legends], Geo Stelar [Star Force]) charge up their blasters along with Mega Man to blast the opponent. Yes, it's a single-target Final smash, but it's pretty cool and a great treat for Mega Man fans.
So let's count: There are effectively (by default, not counting custom specials yet), 8 skills which are pretty safe to use, one that can be argued as being safe or risky, and 10 which are risky by nature due to the vulnerable state that the skill leaves Mega Man in when he executes them. That's pretty bad when more than half of a character's kit is risky to use. Not to mention that most of them don't reap the rewards that come with the danger of using them. I think Mega Man is really fun, and so do many other fans who have played the demo; however, it seems apparent that he isn't as solid as we would hope for him to be as a fighter. I'm still going to try to main him, but I doubt it'll turn out well considering what I went through with Sonic the Hedgehog in Brawl. Hopefully, Mega Man's custom specials make him a bit more viable in a fight. At this point, I don't really care. I just want to play the game! Three more days...
