Siliconera: There were aspects of even the late NES titles that were not allowed in Mega Man 9. In terms of gameplay, there is no sliding and no charging of the mega buster. What kind of restrictions were enforced on the soundtrack?

Ippo Yamada: Taking away sliding and charging was a way of returning to the framework of Mega Man 2. The game’s sound effects reflect the same approach. The sound of charging the mega buster blocks out other square waves, so by eliminating charging from the game we could introduce a lot of other sound effects that would have been obscured, such as the enemy laser shots. This one choice opened the way for a lot of freedom in composing the music, which would have been curtailed by charge-related restrictions.

Check out the rest of the interview, and play this game if you haven’t already!

I haven’t had much time with it myself, but so far I’m totally enjoying it. The development team knew exactly what they were doing when they designed this return to 8-bit platforming. It’s as if there was no break between the release of MegaMan 6 in the mid 90s and MegaMan 9 today. It fits perfectly. Tough as nails so far, but fair. Everything is polished and well designed.

For an excellent introduction to Megaman 9, watch Shinya Arino of Game Center CX give it a shot!

If you haven’t yet picked up MegaMan 9, do yourself a favor and do it now! 60,000 downloads on the first day can’t be wrong!

Source: Press The Buttons.

SiliconEra has dissected the official sountrack CD, including statements from the staff (“The staff comments found in the soundtrack booklet all seem to include some variation on the statement: ‘A new Famicom game? This is madness!’”) and a full track list.

Lastly, but certainly not least(ly?), Capcom USA blogger John Diamonon reveals that the official press kit for MegaMan 9 comes in an NES cartridge package:

Even better, they’re kicking around the idea of selling a very limited amount of these boxes online:

When we came up with the concept of a “box art” for Mega Man 9, we thought it was kinda funny, since there would be no real retail box for a dowloadable title. The premise of our marketing concept for the game was to promote this title like it was 1987, complete with cheesy art and game descriptions (read the back of the box) that had little to do with the actual game.

We then started to think, well why not? Why don’t we recreate an old NES package complete with a real NES cartridge? So, here it is. What do you think?

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put the full game on these cartridges (the licensing and legal issues were a headache and not worth the trouble), but I agree, it would’ve been cool. Instead, these carts contain a small CD with artwork, game information and screenshots.

Anyway, we’re sending these bad boys out this week to our friends from the press. Don’t worry, we’re thinking about offering a very limited quantity (200) on the Capcom Store, probably with a PSN or XBLA game voucher.

“Merchandising, merchandising, merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!”

Capcom Japan is adding to the stack of Mega Man 9 promotions. They are producing t-shirts with that wonderfully horrible box art, pressing two CD soundtracks (one original sound version and one arranged and played by real instruments), and now Capcom is introducing a new drink to the Japanese beverage market, simply called “E Can”. And the slogan is awesome:

“‘Rockman E-Can’, use one before you get beaten!”

I almost spit my sencha across my keyboard this morning when I saw this. I have to import a can and have it on my desk! The drink and snack market in Japan changes so rapidly that I predict the E Can won’t be on sale anymore come Springtime.

• Capcom.jp/rockman
• Spotted at Silicon Era