Mega Man Powered Up is a 2006 remake of the original NES Mega Man game, only this time with ‘chibi’ style graphics and a host of new gameplay options.

Not least of which is the ability to play the game as any one of Mega Man‘s arch enemies – once you’ve beaten them in a boss fight.

Mega Man Powered Up can be played at one of three difficulty settings, and can be played ‘new style’ or ‘old style’ – old style being the NES levels, presented in 4:3 ratio, and new style being brand new levels, presented in full widescreen.

There’s a Construction mode (for making your own levels and it’s quite complex), and challenges for each individual playable character (available once you’ve unlocked them), as well as the usual story mode.

One cool feature of this game is the ability to cycle through different coloured Mega Man outfits, which basically indicates a change of weapon, although you do have to win these additional new weapons by defeating bosses.

Graphically Mega Man Powered Up is a nice mix of 2D and 3D. The ‘chibi’ style graphics were apparently what Capcom‘s designers wanted for Mega Man initially, but couldn’t because of the NES‘s limitations.

Although the game was well-received by critics and fans at the time, Mega Man Powered Up sold poorly so a planned sequel never materialised.

More: Mega Man Powered Up on Wikipedia