Why a retro style works

Mega Man 9 released this Monday and it's probably going to sell very well. Especially to that hardcore crowd and the people who played the originals "back in the day". While a lot of games incorporate a style into their graphics, Mega Man took the graphics (and gameplay to add to that) of their classic games from the 80's era (NES, etc.) and built an entire game to feel like one of the Mega Mans of old. As a gamer, I really hope we see more games like this. I'm not talking about an entire shift in the industry. But bringing back a lot of classic franchise with their original feel would be great. (Classic Castlevania anyone? 16-bit Metroid?) So, today I'll be discussing why I think this kind of style works.

First off, as I said earlier, it appeals to the hardcore crowd. To the kind of people who played NES and SNES games back in their childhood, this is pure nostalgia. Nothing will bring back memories of those days where it was just you and your reflexes better than a game like Mega Man 9.

Secondly, the retro graphics work as a style. Lots of games for for style over raw, realistic power. Some games go the cel-shaded route (Wind Waker) whiles others go a more anime or hand drawn cartoon route (Wario Land: Shake It!). Mega Man 9 adds a whole new route to go in stylistic graphics, and it works.

And finally, though it may not matter to some (especially those buy games on the 360 and PS3), a game like Mega Man 9 takes up very little space in your console's hard drive. I read somewhere earlier today, that Mega Man 9 will only take up 66 blocks of your Wii's memory (which is pretty nice, seeing as some other WiiWare games, LostWinds for example, take up over 200). It may seem minor, but it really does matter to someone who downloads a lot of games onto their Wii, until we seem some form of storage solution from Nintendo.

That just about it for today. Hope you enjoyed the article. Any comments or questions can be left in the comments section.