Mega Man: The Power Battle

Mega Man: The Power Battle from 1995 was a cleverly conceived arcade spin-off of the series by Capcom that took the best of the Blue Bomber and served it up in a concentrated gameplay dose. Forget long levels — here it's all about the pure essence of classic Mega Man: boss battles, one after another, no dawdling.

The game let you choose between Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass and sent you into a series of battles against Robot Masters from the classic entries. In keeping with tradition, you gained the weapons of defeated enemies and could deploy them against the next bosses, so the order of the fights and your tactics always mattered. Two-player co-op worked great too, letting players pummel a boss together — something the home versions didn't offer.

Retro fans took to Power Battle precisely for that nostalgic concentration. Anyone who grew up on the NES entries met old, familiar enemies here in sharper CPS graphics and at a faster pace. Together with its sequel, The Power Fighters, it forms a duo that anyone wanting to enjoy the soul of Mega Man in brisk arcade form still reaches for today.