Mega Man 10 Revealed, Still 8-Bit

Nintendo Power pulled the lid off Mega Man 10, and, well, it looks like every other Mega Man you remember from childhood. Purists won’t like some of the features Capcom has lined up for this WiiWare release, such as the ability to select other characters (Protoman is mentioned, and a third character is being kept secret for now) and a story that requires Mega Man to assemble a vaccine-making device that cures robots of Robotenza. It’s not said whether Dr. Wily is involved, but come on.

The one character we can see in Nintendo Power’s preview is Sheep Man, which looks somewhat cloud-like — Cloud Man was taken in Mega Man 7 — and can turn into four clouds that float to the sky and attack from above. Of course, there are plenty of pits and lethal spikes to deal with, but hopefully they won’t be as downright frustrating as the last game. I like a challenge, but Mega Man 9’s difficulty was in large part due to cheap choke points rather than legitimately-crafted platforming scenarios. If you’re not old-school, Mega Man 10 will include an Easy Mode to help break you in. There’s no word on pricing or release date, but perhaps that’ll be revealed when the January issue of Nintendo Power hits newsstands on December 22. [Nintendo Power via GoNintendo]