I absolutely loved the 8-bit era. There was nothing better than sitting at home on a lazy Sunday with a bowl of Cap'n Crunch and a killer run of Xevious. Naturally, I was pretty stoked about the idea of the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade when I heard about the ideas. Here was my chance to easily collect all of the old games that escaped my grasp as a young collector. But with the announcement of Capcom's Mega Man 9 came plenty of praise and skepticism. I sought out to understand why some where skeptical while others like me were jumping for joy.

The first thing that was brought to my attention was the fact that Mega Man 9 going back to 8-bit graphics was a little on the strange side. To understand this statement, one must look at both Mega Man 7, Mega Man 8, and Mega Man and Bass(Rockman & Forte) for SNES, Playstation, and Gameboy Advance(or on the Anniversary Collection if you're lazy like me – Mega Man and Bass absent from collection). These games played in the same manner as the original games. Mega Man still gains the robot master's power when the boss is defeated, Rush is available, the Mega Buster is present, robot masters are weakened in a "rock, paper, scissors" format, and the final battle is against the infamous Dr. Wily. Is there any legitimate reason to return to 8-bit for this game other than to use the nostalgia factor in order to get sales from those obsessed with nostalgia and oldschool collectors?

After a writer that I deeply respect pointed out the lack of grounds for 8-bit I decided to do a little bit of research. Nintendo and Microsoft both have been testing the waters for some time on whether people are willing to pay for 8-bit stuff, and I believe it's safe to say that consumers are willing to pay around $8-10 depending on the game. Nintendo has released such classics as Ninja Gaiden and TMNT II; The Arcade Game while Microsoft released the actual arcade port of TMNT and took it upon themselves to publish Ninja Gaiden II a couple of months ago. If this isn't blatantly working off of one another's demographics, then I don't know what is. One releases one version of something to see if holds interest, and the other follows up with an alternate version to cash in on the existing hype.

But it seems that Capcom took the initiative and cashed in on the reformed 8-bit hype that both companies had created. Younger gamers were astounded by some of the titles they missed out on due to age, and the older crowd was wishing for another crack at the 8-bit era. Capcom decided to meet demand, and a new adventure starring the Blue Bomber was announced and sported oldschool graphics rather than the more polished, less outdated graphics from Mega Man 8. Now they can stand back and watch the cash flow in.

Can we blame Capcom for blatantly filling a demand and providing a less polished product because they know what sells? I don't believe that would be fair. People can and will argue that games should not be made simply for a nostalgia factor, but they will be made for this very reason as long as somebody wants it. Supply and demand are not "bad words," and profit is the very word that ensures future titles for us to purchase and enjoy.

As I mentioned in my last From the Shadows* entry experts are predicting that the success of Mega Man 9 will cause a wave of new oldschool games such as possibly Bionic Commando. As cool as this idea sounds, I'm with the crowd that would like to see fresh ideas and new titles rather than 8-bit sequels to older titles. I don't believe that anyone would be brave enough to try this, but I'm crossing my fingers. Besides, would it not be pretty sweet to play a Halo game that resembled Contra? Now I know that I'm dreaming.

In closing, I believe that we should respect Capcom's noble attempt to create interesting in continuing the classics. But, at the same time, we shouldn't be deceived into believing that they're doing it simply for the fans. It's fairly obvious at this point that Capcom is attempting to tap into a fresh, untapped market and draw in some large dollar signs. From a business stance Capcom is doing nothing wrong with these actions, but a standpoint of morality would beg to differ. The only thing that the nay-sayers can do is continue to speak their opinion on the matter and boycott the product to prevent its success.