129 Mornings and late replies
Mega Man 1 didn't sell very well in North America and I'm sure the box art had something to do with that. Had Mega Man 2 not sold well, the series wouldn't have lasted after that.
Yup, Mega Man 1 was well received when it came out considering that it was quite different from other games at the time with being able to play the levels in any order you desired. Nowadays, the game is quite regarded for starting the series but uh... it hasn't aged well at all, haha. Neither has Mega Man 2 really but that's not exactly a popular opinion. The later games refined what the first one started and it makes it hard to go back to as a result.
Good thing it avoided that outcome.
I suppose it's only fair. A lot of things start out smaller or perhaps a bit rough. For it's time I'm sure it was great, considering some things you pointed out like being able to play levels in any order at your choice. It is still an older game among a franchise that's been lasting for years and only the very start of something that got a lot bigger, so it only makes sense that substantial improvements to the gameplay and formula would come along the way, as it has with most game franchises that are still going forward.
124
All this talk of bad box art reminds me of a Game Informer article I read comparing modern day box art to box art of older games.
I'll link it here for anyone who wants to read it.
...I don't think I've ever realized just how generic or simple modern game box art has been through the past few years until now. Geez. It'd be nice to see the box art be a bit more creative and give a better impression of what the game is like instead of just slapping a face or a person from the game (or a Sports star in the case of some of the sports game) posing on the front of it. At least some of those later modern entries on the list were more creative and can actually give a good impression of what the game holds, even if there's much less going on in them (in some cases I feel that's not a bad thing, but it's usually better than some generic or unknown character taking up the whole thing).
I was aware of how generic DOOM's cover was however (it became infamous enough to become a meme of it's own, so yeah lol)