Alright, I take the bait just for shits...
1. The remixed music sucks. I was hoping for some badass Genz-style techno remixes that take 4 minutes to loop, instead I get some annoying crap with shitty J-Pop/rock instruments that last no longer than the original track. And WHY THE HELL aren't all the tracks remixed? What fucking stupid worthless POS forgot to remix Metal Man? What about Quick Man? Flash Man? If these tracks were remixed, I didn't notice, which tells you something about the "remixes"!
I'm curious, did you happen to listen to some of the later games (particularly Megaman 4)? The arranged soundtracks presented in 4-6 are extremely good. They remain faithful to the original tunes while reaping the benefits of higher quality sound hardware. I would agree that MM1-3's lack of a fully arranged soundtrack is disappointing, but at the same time, it is obvious that they were not given the talent necessary to produce this music.
2. The stages aren't small. They're microscopic. I know it's been a while since I played the original games, but I remember them being something remotely substantial. When you can blast through 4 or 5 stages in an hour, what's the point? I went through most of the stages and was like "That's IT??? You have GOT to be kidding me!" I can't believe I used to like these games. Man, how our heros come back to Earth.
What exactly is wrong with that? They are small and can usually be conquered within a handful of minutes. However, each stage presents a unique challenge with plenty of variety per area. Let us take your time frame at face value and say that it takes an hour to blast through 4-5 stages. For the time period, a two hour game (by today's standards) would have been huge! For all the complaints aimed at modern day game length, people sure seem to forget just how short games USED to be. In THIS time period, however, this collection presents 8 different games all designed in a similar fashion. Each game offer 8 main stages with additional boss stages. We'll round off your number at 4 stages/hour. With 8 stages + ending stages, we'll say that a single Megaman title can be conquered in 2.5 hours. That's 20 hours of gameplay -IF- you can finish each one in 2.5 hours, and the addition of MM7 and 8 suggests that you will not be able to do so.
I have just finished playing The Chronicles of Riddick recently, and while I enjoyed the experience quite a bit, it only took a grand total of 8 or 9 hours to finish. So, when you get back to the point at hand, I fail to understand just how "short stages" are actually a problem.
3. Whoever put these stages together must have gotten their degree from Joe Bob's House of Level Design. They are filled with shitty gameplay. For example, in Crash Man's stage, when you're SLOOOOOWLY climbing up those damn ladders, and those freaking birds drop those eggs filled with little birds, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, because Mega Man is a pussy who can't shoot worth shit. So you can hit and fill back into the next screen, then you climb up again and the same shit happens, until you get lucky and they manage to drop the birds in a place you can shoot.
First of all, your bird + ladder example is almost an exception. You DO find situations in each stage that might require a specific weapon to successfully complete without taking damage...but that is NOT the rule. Most actual stages can be completed with only the buster in your arsenal. On the whole, the stages are challenging, fun, and offer a lot of variety per area (ie - challenges specific to the type of setting you find yourself in).
In this case, it sounds to me that you posted this not long after playing that section. You found yourself annoyed by the inability to cleanly finish the section and, as such, that remained fresh in your memory until you posted this topic. As I noted above, a situation requiring a specific weapon is more of an exception than a rule and it just so happens that you did not have the weapons required to pull it off.
I also like how Mega Man slips off platforms like there's grease on his shoes, and how fucking enemies hit you from afar with shitty collision detection. Fun, please? Any fun here? Have you seen fun? Earth to fun, COME IN PLEASE!
False. Megaman does not slide along platforms unless the surface is designed to cause such an event. You are actually incorrect here.
Regarding "shitty collision detection", I'm not so certain how that applies here. Shitty collision detection generally implies that objects do not properly make contact. We could even stretch it so far as to include instances where an object causes an interaction with your player character despite the fact that it appears to have missed. In both cases, Megaman remains not guilty. When you are shot, the projectile responsible for the damage will ALWAYS have clearly hit your character sprite. So, I'm at a loss...just what are you suggesting is the problem here?
Oh, and fun is always and has always been completely subjective...
I also like those crappy bosses like that shitty yellow cyclops in MM1. Skill? Nah, I don't think we'll be using any of THAT. Just memorize those fucking pieces as they go across the screen. Wake me when I've memorized this shit, it's frightening to think all games used to be like this.
That is an accepted type of gameplay design, though. Games such as Ikaruga and Contra SS still employ this model today and many people enjoy them. It isn't that the idea is necessarily flawed...it is simply a case of you disliking that idea. That is, YOU are at fault here...not the game. The design is sound (specifically when you consider the time period for which these games were made), you just don't care for it.
4. I this worth $30? I think not. We've evolved past this shit. I bought this game out of a misplace memory of what these games were. I remembered them being good. Maybe they were in 1990. In 2004, they suck. And Atomic Shitty Planet screwed up on the music, the bonus features, and the fucking manual is black and white. In short, this sucks. I want the treasured memories of my youth back.
We have evolved past it, but that doesn't mean that it can't remain enjoyable. It's a shame you feel the way you do, but your opinion is not something which everyone shares. Atomic Planet certainly did make some mistakes, but it isn't nearly as big of a problem as you make it seem. Oh, and virtually all modern day Capcom titles (with a FEW exceptions) use black and white manuals. It is something Capcom is now famous for, like it or not.
