AK’s Blueprints - Changes from Mega Man1 (2)

“Mega Man is difficult.” This is something that has been said about the series throughout its history. However, I believe that a difficulty level that children can enjoy does not mean simply making the game easy. Even if it is difficult, if you operate well, or if you solve the mystery, you should always be able to overcome it.

In Mega Man1, I was so busy trying to complete its unique game system that, to be honest, there was no denying that I was working in the dark. Even when the gameplay initially felt only somewhat difficult, if I continued test-playing it over and over again, it became so easy that I could play it with my eyes closed. Since I was adjusting the settings based on that level, the difficulty eventually became very high.

Some of the difficulty in Mega Man1 was intentional, but on the other hand, there were also many parts that I was unable to adjust correctly. However, the fact that the game became easy to play once you got used to it was not necessarily wrong. In the sense that even if it was difficult at first, repeated play would allow you to perform with a high degree of reproducibility, it could also be said that this was the form of direction I had been aiming for.

There is a basic structure, like a common framework, in the stage design of Mega Man. If we assume a beginner in an action game, the idea is to create a situation where Mega Man, who has a large number of life points, gradually loses his health through small enemies and stage gimmicks, and by the time he reaches the boss enemy, he is in a completely battered condition.

Ghosts 'n Goblins has two life points: one for the armor and one for the character wearing only underwear. One of the factors pointed out as making the arcade Ghosts 'n Goblins extremely difficult was that the player's (player character's) setting was too weak. From there, as an idea for a new action game project, we came up with the idea of “increasing the life points compared to Ghosts 'n Goblins to lower the difficulty,” and Mega Man's life points were set to 28.

This setting created a new concept for enemies and obstacles. That was “Life Energy.” By comparing the strength as numerical values rather than counting the number of times the player was hit by bullets or enemies, it became possible to control the strength of the player (player character) in the game. Trojan is also based on this kind of system.

Around this time, the idea of “representing health as a numerical value” had already become widely accepted due to the rise of RPGs. Mega Man itself was also strongly influenced by RPGs. The idea of incorporating role-playing elements into an action game expanded the range of the game and was suitable for making detailed adjustments to the difficulty.

The large and small Life Energy items that had been established in Mega Man1 were also carried over to Mega Man2. The new addition was an item that completely restores energy (commonly known as the E-Tank). The hint for this came from Yashiti, an item that was hastily added because the latter part of the final stage in Mega Man1 was far too difficult, and which completely restored both Life Energy and Weapon Energy.

Although the idea came to me immediately, I was troubled over whether I should really allow such a powerful item to be used freely. It certainly lowers the difficulty, but at the same time, I was concerned that it might also cut the fun in half. As I mentioned earlier, my idea is not to make a game that is simply easy, but that the fun is hidden within the difficulty.

As a way to deal with this, I came up with the following settings: ・fix the locations where they can be obtained ・limit the number of them ・make them disappear when the game is over.

Fix the locations where they can be obtained In other words, it means “presenting the place where it should be used.” By letting the user know that using an E-Tank at this particular place is effective, I would guide them so that they would not use it unnecessarily.

Limit the number of them The difficult points for users are different for each person. Therefore, it would certainly be effective to carry an E-Tank to a difficult place. However, I did not know what kind of influence this kind of highly flexible usage would have on the difficulty and fun of the game. Therefore, this setting was intended to prevent the player from being able to stock up on many E-Tanks and use them anywhere.

Make them disappear when the game is over This was something I struggled with. Perhaps there has not been another setting like this after that. That is how much I was afraid of the existence of the E-Tank. The E-Tank has very simple settings and a very simple concept, but it is also true that it has enough power to destroy the game itself. No matter how cleverly designed the gimmicks or enemy settings are, the E-Tank can break them down. Therefore, so that the player would not intentionally get a game over and replay the game just to preserve the E-Tanks, I also made the E-Tank settings reset so that the number would not increase.

The E-Tank is an idea that is the exact opposite of Mega Man's policy of being a “thinking action game.” Therefore, I was very troubled about whether it should be implemented until the very end.

Mega Man1 had a special item called the Magnet Beam. This was quite a novel setting for an action game, and it was also one of the settings intended to lower the difficulty.

The reason why I created this kind of support item in the first place was, among other things, to prevent the player's motivation to keep trying from being lost by using it in places that were simply too difficult to overcome. To be honest, just like the E-Tank, it was quite a reckless item.

And there was one more reason. It was to avoid destroying the fundamental setting behind the story that “Rock is not a combat robot.”

Mega Man's equipment consists only of the Normal Shot (Rock Buster). This is his only weapon for fighting. The reason why this had to be so strict is because there is a game system that allows the weapons of enemy robots to become available for use. And this setting is precisely what forms the core of Mega Man.

In this blog, I have often talked about the “differences from existing action games.” All of them are related to this setting of using the weapons of enemies. That is how deeply it is connected, from the gameplay to the story.

However, some kind of support was necessary in order to send this extremely weak robot into battle. Having weapons automatically powered up or equipping different weapons, as in the action games of that time, would deny the unique game system of Mega Man. Therefore, I had to think of something that was not a weapon.

The Magnet Beam was not a very good setting, as it could disappear from the screen because of an overload of characters, or it could continue to be produced as long as there was energy. So in Mega Man2, I divided the functions of the Magnet Beam into three separate items.

Item 1It appears as a foothold for a certain amount of time and gradually rises.Unlike the Magnet Beam, it rises a certain distance without having to fire many of them to create a staircase, so there was no longer a need to display a large number of characters (footholds) on the screen. Up to three can be displayed on the screen.

Item 2This is a foothold that moves horizontally. Instead of creating a floor like the Magnet Beam, a single foothold moves to produce a similar effect. Since only one is displayed on the screen, there was no longer a problem of having characters lined up horizontally and becoming unable to display them.

Item 3In Section 1 of the final stage of Mega Man1, there is a place where you must use the Magnet Beam to move forward. This scene is designed so that you use the items you have effectively to overcome it, but because the passage is extremely narrow, it was difficult to use the Magnet Beam, so it was not a very good setting.I also had the idea of creating a similar passage in Mega Man2, so I designed a dedicated wall-climbing machine. However, because we ran out of development time, various concepts had to be abandoned, and this narrow passage was one of them. The idea was that the narrow passage would become like a maze, and you would have to make good use of Item 3 to overcome it without wasting energy.

The names Item 1, Item 2, and Item 3 came from the names (numbering) of fighter aircraft in a tokusatsu hero drama that I had seen long ago. However, in the end, I did not have enough time to think of proper names, so we ended up using the temporary name “Item” as it was.

As mentioned above, Item 2 is used in much the same way as the Magnet Beam. It is mainly a tool for skipping enemies and terrain that are difficult to overcome. From the user's perspective, while they may want to overcome these obstacles with their own technique without using it, I think it is a very useful tool to have as support when they simply cannot proceed any further. From the development side, it exists to prevent players from giving up because the game is too difficult, so its meaning is slightly different from the original difficulty setting.

However, it was important to determine how to put effective and easy-to-use restrictions on this highly flexible tool, and in order to think about those settings, the issue became how long Item 2 should remain displayed.

Then, how long should it be displayed?

If we think backward from the purpose of using Item 2, the appropriate value should become visible. At that time, I was also creating the stage maps in parallel, and I had several ideas for gimmicks. Among them were the “pop-out platforms” that appeared in Mega Man1 and the “moving platforms” in the air. The places where Item 2 would be used were assumed to be difficult areas like these.

Then, how far should it move?

When using Item 2, it must be possible to skip the entire difficult area. Even if the item's energy is at maximum, it would be meaningless if the energy ran out partway through. Therefore, the time required to move through the range of that difficult area would become the display time for Item 2.

Then, how should the range (distance) of these difficult areas be determined?

This is where I got stuck. Could I really provide a basis for deciding how large a difficult area should be? I had never thought about such a thing before. In general, the various gimmicks and enemy placements were different each time.

So I decided to observe someone playing next to an arcade game cabinet installed in the corner of the floor. The board was Ghosts 'n Goblins.

Designers from other teams would play it to use it as a reference for graphics, directors would play it to check character movements, or they would play simply to take a break. As expected, Ghosts 'n Goblins was difficult, and everyone seemed to be struggling with it.

There were particularly difficult places here and there in the stages, and regardless of whether they had good technique or not, many people were stopped there. These were what could be called difficult areas. I carefully watched many plays to see how they would overcome those places.

Then I noticed something. In difficult areas, the playing time was almost the same for people who were good at the game and people who were not. The skilled players cleared the area and moved forward, while those who were not good at it gave up there. Their playing times were similar. I repeatedly checked this while holding the stopwatch that I always wore around my neck.

In flat scenes without any particular features, individual techniques become apparent. Some people move forward quickly and efficiently, while others carefully defeat each enemy one by one before moving on. However, when they reached a difficult area, their movements became similar, and they either cleared it or failed.

We can assume that this is because the method of overcoming the area is limited. In some difficult areas, you can overcome them by reading the movement pattern of the enemies and attacking at a specific timing. There is only this one moment when you can attack. Therefore, whoever plays it will make the same kind of movement.

This was extremely useful as a reference. If the playing time is roughly constant in places where the method of overcoming them is limited, then this is exactly what the display time of support Item 2 should be.

However, if the gimmicks and enemy placements in various stages do not all result in roughly the same amount of time required to overcome them, then Item 2 would lose its versatility. Could such a setting really be possible?

For some time after that, I continued watching many plays with a stopwatch in my hand. As expected, everyone seemed to struggle with the same difficult areas. Some people were seriously attacking the game, making sounds like “Ah!” or “Haa…” When I looked at them, they were slightly sweating. I also get sweaty palms when I become absorbed in a game.

Then I thought about it. Why were they sweating? Why would they sweat so much even though they were not moving their bodies or exercising? It is said that people sweat when they become nervous. However, they were sweating so much that this alone could not explain it. Was it because they were excited? Was it because they were concentrating?……

I had been watching the game screen the whole time, but suddenly I began to pay close attention to the players' expressions and the hands they were using to operate the controls. As expected, both skilled and unskilled players were all slightly sweating. I watched their behavior carefully. And finally, I found something that seemed to be the cause!

As soon as I got home, I turned on the Famicom(NES). Then I started Gradius. I held the separately sold joystick and seriously aimed to clear the game.

I moved forward while predicting the movements of certain enemies and controlling the ship delicately. Then I reached the Moai stage, where I was particularly tense. I had no Options. While making fine movements with the controller, I slipped through the tiny gaps in the attacks.

At that moment, exactly what I had expected happened. During that moment of concentration, I had been holding my breath. At the moment when I barely avoided a bullet, at the moment when I slipped between the Moai, I was holding my breath tightly and keeping my body still.

That's it. I was not simply nervous. I was sweating because I was playing while holding my breath. At that time, I did not know the term anaerobic exercise. But this made everything fit together. Not only the sweating, but I also thought this explained why everyone was playing for about the same amount of time in difficult areas.

If you consciously hold your breath while playing, it becomes very difficult and you cannot continue playing. In this way, in difficult areas, you are holding your breath moment by moment while playing, and your concentration gradually decreases. I came to think that the reason people give up because the game is too difficult is that playing while holding their breath makes them tired not only mentally but also physically.

This became an opportunity to determine the direction of the level design, and it also became an important matter that was deeply related to setting the difficulty and the display time of Item 2.

(Automatic translation by AI)