Mega Man was released for the NES in 1987, a year filled with games destined to become legendary classics in gaming history. What set Mega Man apart from other platformers such as Metroid, Kid Icarus, Castlevania, and Super Mario Bros. 2, however, was its distinct visual style, robotic theme, outstanding music, and open-ended approach to its gameplay.
The challenging platformer differentiated itself from its competition by establishing a few core pillars:
• Players could tackle any of the “Robot Masters” and their stages in any order.
• Each Robot Master granted a “Special Weapon,” which could be selected at any time once obtained.
• Each Robot Master had a substantial weakness to a particular Special Weapon.
These core pillars tied into a larger goal for the game: that it should be completed within an hour but still have players wanting to replay it again and again. That goal seems to have been accomplished, as it formed the template for Mega Man 1–11, as well as the Mega Man X series, all of which have sold millions of copies over the past 30 years.