Mega Man Collection 1

I love Mega Man, even though my backlog habits have stopped me from really getting out of the Classic and X series. So the American cartoon has been on my list for quite awhile. When I finally came across the first season at my local game shop, I threw down the money for it, even though I was truthfully not expecting much from it. This was an early nineties cartoon after all, and a licensed one at that, and these tend to be good for a few laughs, but not up to the standards of modern animation.

I vaguely remember seeing this on TV as a kid, but the only episode I remembered was the one where Mega Man and Snake Man switch bodies.

There are changes from the games, of course. Proto Man is unambiguously evil, since this was before Bass was invented and there needed to be an anti-Mega Man. Dr. Cossack doesn't seem to exist, all his robots are Wily’s, and Beat seems never to have been built. You really have to forgive these changes, there natural with an adaptation

The art style is pretty typical for action cartoons around this time, meaning it's passable, but it wasn't the kind of thing that could hold my attention back in the Nineties when I was eight. All of the characters have undergone the usual American Kirby treatment, their designs are more mature looking. Mega Man looks like a teenager than a child, as does Roll. I guess I can't blame this decision, and honestly it doesn't bother me.

You'll all be pleased to know the characters make this transition well. The main ones, at least. They all look fine, with maybe one or two nitpicky things that I hardly think is worth bringing up. The only one I really went "Huh?" at was Eddie, but apart from being green he doesn't look that different, and he showed up so little I didn't care.

The Robot Masters, too, looks pretty good. Most only show up in one episode (more on that in a minute) but are designed well. Any discrepancies you'd likely need the game art to really notice. (Pop Quiz: which is more pathetic: people who would whine about small redesigns, the fact that I had the Robot Master Field Guide next to me to check for changes, or the fact that I own the guide at all?) Only two really stood out to me. First, Air Man. I mean, seriously, look at him compared to his game art.

Seriously, what? I think they were going for a hardcore design, but even not comparing him to the game art he looks stupid. But he got off easy compared to Toad Man.

I mean, really. Upon reflection, it's not that different, but he looks so stupid and out of place compared to the other characters. Then again, whenever I even hear his name I think of the Bob and George version of him where he's the loser Cossack Bot that no one liked.

Also, I love how they had to give Wood Man a new weapon because his game weapon is useless.

So anyway, onto the series itself. It's filled with the usual cliche plots: an episode where Mega Man shrinks, and episode where Mega Man swaps bodies with an enemy, the most pathetic Paper Thin Disguises working (seriously, see that screenshot to the right? Seeing it bigger makes it even more obvious), and, as per usual for Merchandise Driven shows, boatloads of characters that only show up once. In this case, however, the one episode characters were usually Robot Masters, which I already knew from the games, so it wasn't so bad.

The plots were usually well written, containing no stupidity until the very end, with the last two episodes. Seriously, in Future Shock, Mega Man had time to send Dr. Light one minute into the future, but not enough to just pull him out of the way? And Dr. Light was blown clear but no one saw? And in The Strange Island of Dr. Wily, I’m pretty sure radiation doesn’t work that way. Then again, I could just be stupid. But even with these, I can forgive the rest, especially Future Shock, which was a great, if somewhat badly paced, episode.

This didn't seem to fall into any truly tight formula, though there was a hint of that. Dr. Wily causes trouble with Proto Man, Cut Man, Guts Man, and the fourth (and sometimes fifth and sixth) Robot Master of the week, Mega Man and company take care of it, everything turns out okay. There still is enough variety that I can forgive this. There seemed to be this running theme in three episodes where the group met someone who seemed nice, only for him to turn out to be a robot made by Wily, or working for Wily, or Wily himself. I worried this would become a thing, but luckily not.

You might notice I’ve mostly said negative things about this series. This doesn't mean I think the series is bad, just that I have very little to say about it. It’s passable, but I don’t think I can give a recommendation unless you’re a hardcore Mega Man fan like I am.

Final Score: 7/10