Mega Man 10 is, like many other games, another 8-bit excursion. And, just like Mega Man 9, the developers opted to retain only the basics of the game mechanics. Gone is his legendary slide. Gone is his ability to charge up his Mega Buster. A player who has become accustomed to these abilities may feel as though they've been left in the woods without any food, tents, or Xboxes. But without these extra amenities, the player is forced to rely on what they should be relying on the whole time: skill. The true Mega Master will be able to survive using his wits and reflexes alone, not powered-up shots and the like. But, for those who miss these abilities with a passion, there is hope for you yet. Mega Man 10 marks the first time that Proto Man is a playable character. Not only can he slide and charge up his shots, but he also boasts a shield that, while jumping, will protect him from most forms of harm. (Unfortunately, he also takes double the damage, so stay sharp!) Furthermore, thanks to the power of bonus downloadable content, for a small fee (about $2, or one fifth the cost of the game itself), you can play as that mysteriously cocky robot Bass, alongside his trusty canine companion, Treble, whose powers include shooting at seven different angles (making enemies above you a breeze to bring down), dashing, and when he hooks up with Treble, he can fly. Fly, Bass, fly! Having played through with all three characters, I was pleased with how different of an experience each one provides, especially Bass (who makes life so much easier). To make life even more easier for unseasoned players, an Easy mode was applied that reduces damage taken, weakens enemies, adds extra platforms (necessary or otherwise), and even plants Yashichis (old Capcom symbols used in early NES games) all over the place to restore life and weapon energy in times of need. If you can't finish the game on Easy mode, that's sad.

Other staples of the series have survived, including the use of tanks to refill energy. E-Tanks will restore life energy, W-Tanks will refill ONE weapon's energy, and M-Tanks fill up everything (though you can only hold one of these at a time, unfortunately). You can also call upon Rush (or Treble... or Proto Man's animal-free P.E.T.A. version) to give you a boost or a ride to whatever far-off platforms you think are necessary to visit. The Item Replicator (a.k.a. "the shop") makes an appearance again, allowing you to trade Screws you collect in your travels for items, such as tanks, extra lives, an Energy Balancer (to automatically fill low weapons), shock absorbers for those accidental times you step on spikes, Beat tokens for a free air-lift if you fall into one of gaming's bottomless pits, and even a Book of Hairstyles for Mega Man if you think he needs a new coif. I think it's cute how each main character goes to a separate store, particularly Bass, who buys his merchandise from a long-lost Mega Man character, Reggae the robot bird.

The Robot Master Lineup: Blade Man, Commando Man, Sheep Man, Chill Man, Solar Man, Nitro Man, Strike Man, Pump Man

The storyline, if you can bear it, is as follows: all is peaceful until one day when robots all over start sneezing unexpectedly -- including Roll -- and end up contracting a bad case of "Roboenza", the most horrifically-named illness to ever grace robot glands. Just as things seem unable to get any worse, they do: the infected robots go on a rampage and terrorize the city. Damn. Is there no hope? Somewhat unusually, Dr. Wily's saucer crash-lands (sort of -- Mega Man ends up catching it) at Dr. Light's laboratory, where he pleads for assistance. He had supposedly been tinkering with a machine capable of producing a cure for Roboenza (in pill form, complete with a nut wrapped around it -- I really hope it's not a suppository), but insane robots stole the parts. Dr. Wily requests Mega Man's humble aid in hunting down the culprits and retrieving those parts. Oh, poor daft Mega Man... why do you keep trusting Dr. Wily? Anyway, I have a few choice words about this plot. Basically, it's ridiculous. How exactly do robots get sick? I could understand if they contracted some sort of computer virus, transferred via a worldwide network, but do robots really "log on" to the Internet? I'm also thinking that Roboenza later served as a prototype for the Zero Virus introduced in Mega Man X5, set centuries later. Merely speculation, I know, but it's an interesting thought. And of course, what kind of a name is "Roboenza"? The first time I heard that, I immediately thought about how horrible that was. But what could possibly be better? "Robotulism", perhaps? Either way, all this sets you up for the battles with the hated Robot Masters! Get ready for the cold shoulder of Chill Man, the ...pumping action of Pump Man... er... the... uh... warm winter sweaters of Sheep Man, and the... umm... sub-pantaloon nudity of Commando Man? Alright, they are clearly running out of good ideas.

Alongside the main quest of Mega Man 10, you can also play a Time Attack through all the game's different stages, as well as a few additional ones (as paid downloadable content) where the end boss is one of the "Mega Man Killers" from the Game Boy Mega Man games (Enker, Punk, and Ballade). Successful completion of these adds each of their weapons to Mega Man's arsenal permanently in the regular quest.

Graphically, Mega Man 10 is... more or less on the same page as Mega Man 9. The game was purposely created using the NES's legendary 8-bit style, so do not expect to download this game expecting a brilliant work of art. Instead, the graphics are more thrifty and functional than eye-catching, though it's not a hideous game to look at, either. This also marks the first time that Bass and Treble have been playable in 8-bit form, so it's a bit jarring to see them rendered this way, as opposed to the SNES, PlayStation, and arcade incarnations of the dark hero. Everything looks as polished as ever, even in animations: Mega Man sneezing is very cute. There are more cutscenes than before, too, although they weren't always altered to reflect who actually did the work (Mega Man seems to get credit for defeating the first four Robot Masters, even if Proto Man or Bass did it instead). Capcom even was kind enough to reduce the total number of solely black backgrounds in stages in favour of neat patterns. The music and sound effects are also on par with past efforts, although I'm afraid, once again, I cannot really remember any of the tunes I heard. I can recall, however, that the music in Strike Man's stage sounded like it was ripped, to some degree, from one of the Flintstones NES games!