Warning: The Watercooler is the best thing you will see on the Internet today, mainly because it is the best thing I saw on the Internet yesterday. Be advised that these Watercooler stories are not necessarily videogame related (they usually won’t be), and are often silly, controversial, and/or not safe for work (NSFW). If this type of content frequently offends you, please be aware that I just warned you — if you still click through and get offended, it will be your own stupid fault. Otherwise, please continue…

Today’s Watercooler features a happy little music video about how difficult it is to beat Air Man in the various Mega Man games. To be honest, I don’t recall ever having that big of a problem with Air Man. Yellow Devil, on the other hand, that’s one bad mo-fo. Still, I can see how some people might be frustrated by Air Man and how much he sucks and blows (tur-hur!)

Watch it! Read more…

The retro awesomeness you are about to witness is titled “Megaman 9 – Rockin in paper” and the creation of Nicolas Ménard. It pits a paper Mega Man in a real world adventure made up of everyday objects such as legos, cereal boxes, and a giant paper cutter. Brilliant.

Maybe this will inspire Capcom to create their own LittleBigPlanet type level editor for the blue bomber. Hit the jump to see paper Mega Man in action. Read more…

Bust out your Wii (don’t go there) and download some retro Mega Man action. I have been waiting to play this game for a few months now, and after giving it a go at E3, I was quickly reminded how hard some retro games can really be. Don’t kid yourself, in addition to being nostalgic, this game will be challenging as well.

My download has started and my checklist has been double checked for retro compatibility. Zuba pants, check! Michael Jackson “BAD” playing in the background, check! Dr . Pepper, check!

Official Capcom press release after the jump. Read more…

After ten years in the making and jumps from the PS One and Gamecube to the Xbox 360, Too Human is finally coming out this week and we’ll get to see if the game was truly worth the wait.

Other highlights of the week include Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty for the PS3, Two Worlds: Epic Edition for PC and I’m pretty hyped up for the original Mega Man for the Wii, via the Virtual Console. Read more…

I wanted to get an update out to everyone who entered the Mega Man sketch contest. We will be reviewing the entries made before the contest deadline and deciding on a winner shortly. Thank you for entering.

Chad-

Mega Man is hard. No doubt about that. Mega Man 9, supposedly, is going to be the hardest one since the classic NES titles of yore, which is pretty fitting considering the game’s neo-retro graphical style. Back in the day when you downed Quick Man without taking a hit, all you could do was tell your friends, and hope they believed you.

Now, with these recently released Mega Man 9 Achievements, you can have concrete proof of your bona fide Mega mastery. Good luck getting them though, because well, they’re almost all completely insane, from “Gamer’s Day”, which tasks you with beating the game 5 times in a single day, to “Peacekeeper”, which requires you to beat the game while defeating “as few enemies as possible” – nice of Capcom not to give us a specific number. Hit the jump for the full list. Read more…

Those who hunger for retro Mega Man goodness will be happy to know that Mega Man 1 hits Nintendo’s VC this Monday, and the much anticipated Mega Man 9 will be available in September. The quoted portion below is directly from the official Capcom blog.

To prepare all you Mega Man fans for the release of Mega Man 9 in September, we’re going to offer you the opportunity to play the game that started it all. The orginal Mega Man game returns on the Virtual Console this Monday, August 4, 2008. Yes, that’s right. Brush up on your old school skills and prepare for some cool contests we have in store. We also plan to re-release Mega Man 2 in early September as well.

As great as this new sounds, there’s one thing that will make your Mega Man experience even better — some original Mega Man art by the man who created him. Don’t forget to sign up for our Keiji Inafune Mega Man art contest before it’s too late.

Source: capcom-unity.com

Hey readers! Andrew and I were lucky enough to get this one-of-a-kid Mega Man sketch by the original creator, Keiji Inafune. We will be giving you a chance to win it over the next few weeks.

All you have to do is leave a comment below (one comment per reader) telling us why you think this piece of retro awesomeness should be yours. Prove your love for the blue-bomber and win the perfect compliment to Capcom’s upcoming Mega Man 9.

Contest will end at midnight (12:00 am PST) on August 17, 2008. Check out the video of Inafune working his Mega Man magic below. Good luck. Read more…

I’ve been waiting for the next real Mega Man game for quite some time. And no, I’m not talking about one of the dozens of spin-offs that have come out in recent years. I’m talking about a real Mega Man game, without all the X’s and Z’s added to the titles.

The last real Mega Man game to hit the U.S., excluding 2003’s Game Boy Advance title Mega Man & Bass, was 1997’s Mega Man 8 for the original Playstation, which was one bad-ass game. Read more…

Little known facts about Capcom: Their name is pronounced Kapukon in Katakana, the writing system designated for foreign words in the Japanese language. Megaman is actually referred to as “Rockman” in his native Japan. And the name Capcom is actually a partial acronym taken from the company’s original name, Japan Capsule Computers. Read more…

This is what we have all been waiting for … a battle for the ages, and the time is now. We have assembled 32 of the finest video game characters that have ever called a console home, and a five round single elimination tournament of speed, skill, strength, and determination stands between them and being named pixel for pixel the baddest that ever was, the “King of the Game”.

Can Marcus Fenix roadie run his way through a bullet blazing, one liner laden, no holds barred battle with the one and only Duke Nukem? Will Metal Gear’s main man Snake slither his way to victory against the Splinter Cells triclops, Sam Fisher? Metriod’s Samus Aran, or the combat evolved Master Chief? The king of cold: Sub Zero or the queen of hot: Lara Croft?

We here at ripten have been working for over two months, researching, arguing, and eating lots of junk food, all in the name of bringing you an accurate account of each characters quest for video game immortality. Read more…