I had to double-check how long it had been since a new Mega Man game came out, as 2018’s Mega Man 11 felt both closer and farther away than that when I played a series of levels from Mega Man: Dual Override earlier this month. As I bashed my head against the colorful metal wall Capcom had put in front of me, I realized that, despite the Blue Bomber being filed away in my mind as a “classic, ever-present video game icon,” Dr. Light’s greatest creation has been gone long enough that Dual Override could easily be written off as a throwback game for The Olds among us. Still, Mega Man’s brand of tough-as-nails run-and-gun platforming has been the blueprint for many an indie darling, and Dual Override lends some flourishes to the decades-old formula that make it fit comfortably into the modern pantheon.

Dual Override is exactly what Mega Man fans want and anyone who’s ever been intimidated by the series probably fears. I used to play through earlier entries as a kid and I must have had more steely resolve than I thought to have not angry-cried trying to get through them. Dual Override immediately reminded me of how Mega Man can feel like a collage of contradictions. Its constant rotation of obstacles and incoming fire from enemies makes you instinctively tense up as you feel like you have to be on the move at all times, but getting through a boss battle or obstacle course requires a much higher level of patience and pattern recognition than you can pull off by simply running and gunning your way through.

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