Mega Man’s 6 NES games are now out on iOS and Android

The Blue Bomber is on mobile, but a trailer makes it look like they could have used some more time in Dr. Light’s lab.

Capcom today released mobile versions of Mega Man 1 through 6 for iOS and Android. Each game is available for $2 each. The Mega Man games were some of the most popular side-scrollers for the Nintendo Entertainment System, notable for their mix of platforming and shooting action. The games have been ported to numerous other systems, recently together in the Mega Man Legacy Collection for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, 3DS, and PC. Mega Man 2 was also one of the 30 games included in the NES Classic Edition.

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The $36 billion mobile market is an important segment for game publishers. Older companies like Capcom sometimes port its classics to mobile platforms, although it can sometimes be tricky to translate a game designed for a controller to a touchscreen device. For example, Capcom has brought the Phoenix Wright games to mobile, which work well since players were using to touchscreens to control them on the DS and 3DS.

The Mega Man games are famous for their difficulty, requiring precision aiming and jumping. That might make for a rough translation to a touchscreen device. But that may not be the biggest problem with the ports. If you watch the trailer above, the games look like they’re running … awkwardly. They’re just stuttering along. It’s strange to see such old games performing so poorly on mobile.

But it might be intentional. In a press release sent to GamesBeat, Capcom noted, “Each game has been optimized for the mobile devices with adjustments to game speed.” So, maybe the games look so sluggish because Capcom slowed them down, maybe to give mobile players some extra time to adjust their attacks and jumping. We’ll try the ports out for ourselves and let you know how they play in a future story.

Frank Cifaldi, whose Digital Eclipse put together the praised ports of the Mega Man games in the Legacy Collection, noted on Twitter that his company had nothing to do these mobile versions.

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PUBLIC REMINDER WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE https://t.co/Phj0A0Flrz

— Frank Cifaldi (Sleepy).exe (@frankcifaldi) January 5, 2017