I'd definitely go with 3. It was at that point where all the pieces really fell into place.

I think I've only finished 1 and 2, so I'd have to go with Mega Man 2.

I just recently played all of the NES Mega Man games. To me 2 is the best, followed by 3.

I'd also like to give an honorable mention to 5, I had a ton of fun with it.

4 is the absolute worst.

Mega Man 2 won the peoples hearts', so it will always be the favourite. Mega Man 3 is just a better game, though.

Thanks everyone. Seems like we have some clear winners; I'll start with 2 and 3, then see where it goes from there!

Played the first and could never finish it. Played 2 and 3 and found them way easier. Also the music and backgrounds were much better.

I remember playing a lot of 2 and 3 but couldn't tell you the differences between them

Having recently played the first three, 2 is the best, and it's surprising there is an argument for 3 at all. The music/weapons/bosses/stages are all more iconic in 2, but there are some glaring flaws in 3:

• The boss order/weakness logic is poor
• the plot is worse (not that it really matters, but energy crystals and long lost brother? really?)
• Top Spin is one of the worst weapons ever
• the Blues fights are annoying.

The only thing 3 has over 2 is Rush. That being said, still a great game.

@roomrunner: That's another thing I meant to ask about, actually -- should I look up boss orders for each game or try to wing it first? I'm not opposed to getting in there and figuring stuff out but I don't want it to be like, brutally hard either.

I hold the most reverence for Mega Man 2--it just feels the most Mega Man, you know?--but I honestly like Mega Man 4 a lot. The music, the fortress aesthetics, the frankly stupid bosses are all cool in my book. Not the best Mega Man, probably, but my favorite.

Figuring out boss order for myself has always been a big part of the fun in those games. In some cases, you'll find the way you do it is easier than recommended.

@roomrunner: That's one of the bummers about MM2, the order isn't really all that important (besides the first), given that one of the weapons is clearly better than all of the others.

Funny thing about that. Who to fight first in MM2 was exactly what I had in mind when talking about boss order in my last post.

I always do Metalman first, and I assume so do you. Then when I started meeting people on the internet who also play Mega Man games... boy have I seen some crazy "first choices" (Bubbleman, Airman, Quickman?!?!). While the weaknesses in 2 can be argued as unimportant, I still always use them, and they really do work.

I like the first three pretty equally. While 1 is definitely rougher in terms of its designed difficulty and overall polish, I put a lot of time into learning it. It was just satisfying to take a game so intimidating to a lot of people and realize that once you figure it out, it can be beaten pretty easily. 2 is where they kind of perfected the formula and set the standard, though. While boss weaknesses aren't as important, the feel of the game is practically perfect. 3 was my first MM game, so there's a nostalgia thing there. But it also has great music and some great levels. It just feels a little rougher to me compared to 2, particularly because some noticeable slowdowns depending on how much is happening on the screen.

I would say my order would be 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, and 6. Still, 1 isn't for everybody, and unless you really have a desire to beat a pretty dated challenge and pick apart how the series started, you might want to just jump to 4. I would also say try to grab 9 and 10 if you enjoy the series. Those two games are also excellent.

Oh wow. I knew MM2 was well loved (definitely the one I'm most familiar with) but didn't know it was that far above 3. Doesn't 3 introduce Rush and the slide mechanic? I *still* think of it as "that new shit" in my brain.

Just bought the Legacy Collection for $6 and can't wait to get to the bottom of this contentious subject....

You know, to this day, I'm not sure why people like Mega Man 2? I'm not saying they're wrong, I just never liked it as much.

Mega Man 6 is my favourite, as it's the only one I can clear back to front without getting a game over in.

There should only be one possible selection for this poll. The only right answer. 3. The peak of the series.

I only ever played Mega Man 4 when I was growing up so it wins by default.

Personal favorite 2, I've beat it a few times so it's near and dear. Though I acknowledge 3 is probably a better game overall.

Is 6 the one with Charge Man? I loved his level theme! Shame he looked stupid with a train engine for a head. So, I'll cast a vote for 6 then.

Also, (disregarding the recent megaman collection) why don't more people like 9 and 10? I though they both were really good.

3 is the best, but really this poll should be about what game OTHER than 2 or 3 is the best since 99% of people will pick those.

5 is BY FAR the most overlooked game in the series, yeah its probably the easiest (after 2 on US normal), but it has really cool creative level gimmicks, an excellent soundtrack, and great Wiley stages. To me its a better game than 2 overall. 6 is also great but the fiddly nature of the suit powers (especially the jets) kinda knocks it down from the top for me.

People who pick Mega Man 4 are absolute monsters. It is by far the worst in the series, the stages are a mess of ok ideas badly implemented and the soundtrack is pretty much garbage save 1 track.

People love 9. 10 has a more mixed reception as its clearly inferior. I think it all comes back to purity at some level. 9 is a fantastic game but it really wasn't a NES game even if it was made exactly in that style. It is also hampered a bit by ignoring improvements that were made after MM2 which is just a shame. 9 and 10 should have had the slide in them at least.

YES! People should adore 5 but they don't (id bet they never actually played it). 4 is bad.

Mega Man 3 is the best in the series, followed by 2. I think 3 has better levels, more interesting boss fights (even if their names are stupid; "hard" man).

1 is my least favorite, with its obsession with jump puzzles and extreme varying difficulty on bosses.

4 is okay. It's the first game with the charging Mega Buster, but it's very by the numbers.

5 tries to do some interesting things. It has the gravity level where you run on the ceiling, the outer space level which actually screws with gravity, and that boat sequence. My problem with 5 is its difficulty, or rather lack of difficulty. It's by far the easiest game in the series.

6 is good, even if the bosses look progressively more ridiculous. This game suffers the most from the series saturating, even though it tried to do a few new things.

9 is really good. It has great levels and bosses, and gooses nostalgia in the best way possible. 10 is harder, with more ridiculous bosses and I don't like it as much overall.

Not at all surprised to see 2 winning, but glad to see a lot of love for 3 in here. Such a slidey, slidey boy!

Always 2. Almost solely due to the music. It has the best video game sound track ever made. Every single track is balls-to-the-wall awesome. Some of the other games might have a standout track or two, but none can come close to Megaman 2's consistency of excellence.

I'm playing 4 right now, and enjoying it more than I usually do. The game looks great. The stages look really cool and have some neat gimmicks and branching paths (I really like Ring Man's and Bright Man's stages). Surely 4-6 are the forgotten trilogy, but I feel 4 is a victim of diminishing returns more than anything. (I've been dying in frustrating ways, but blame the GC controller and the GC collection's awful button config).

3 and 4. 4 also adds the dash slide which is a MUST.

3 wins in my book, extremely closely followed by 5, on the merit that 3 might be one of the most interesting, memorable and challenging titles without resorting to endless spike mats or bottomless pits, with just enough mechanics between Rush and the sliding to be interesting and challenging in a new way, but without feeling stuffed with gimmicks and one-shot systems... but unfortunately it has a few very severe problem spots that hold it back a lot. To the point of almost being unforgivable. Almost.

So that lets 5 catch up, and that is, in my opinion, a nearly perfect game. Yes, it's quite easy, but since when is that a bad thing? It's a bright and cheerful game much like 2. It has consistently great music... Not the best of the series, but none of the series' worst tunes, either. I'll gladly hum along to any one of the robot master stage themes, and the Protoman's Castle theme is an underrated gem. And yeah, sure, Charge Man is a train and Stone Man is Hard Man but made out of stone, but I still feel like there's enough personality in there, and most importantly, it's just fun to play all the way through. I also enjoy what they did with the plot, as little of it as there is. Come to think of it, since Proto Man was a big deal in 3, didn't show up in 4, and was made the focus again in 5, I guess it makes sense that I feel like 5 is somehow the true sequel to 3... I'm left wondering if 5 gets consistently rated so low simply because of being such a late entry in the series, and specifically coming out after 4 wore everyone out...

4 and 6 tie for last place in the NES series in my list. 4 feels unusually nonsensical even for a Mega Man game (Toad Man? Pharaoh Man? RING MAN??? Oh yes, ring man, you know, the guy with the rainbows.) and in spite of that, it can't help but reuse gimmicks and boss powers from earlier games, more so than 5 or 6 do. On top of that, there's a very high concentration of insta-death rooms with pits and spikes, and those challenges just don't feel engaging to me. Meanwhile, 6 has arguably better design overall but I guess in an attempt to bring the difficulty curve back up after 5, everything just feels sluggish. Too many enemies take too long to kill, stages go on for longer than they probably should, and none of it just feels very interesting. Uninspired, I suppose. Possibly the blandest game in the series, in spite of solid ideas, gameplay and stage/boss design, so even when it plays well, it just doesn't feel very fun.

Don't ask me about 1 or 2. I can never make up my mind about those.