I just got to play the game boy games for this title so seeing it in manga form is interesting. Ultimately what keeps it from a higher score is how short the title is though. There are 2 chapters, they have 20 and 18 pages respectively. In those 38 total pages they have to adapt the first two games so as you would expect there isn’t a whole lot of time to really go through the story. Some characters end up missing out entirely and other bosses are downed in a single hit. What this means is you’re sort of seeing an abridged version of the games. I’d have liked to have had a more extended look at the series but at the end of the day I’d still prefer to have an extended version over not having it at all. So in the end I’m still reasonably satisfied here.

The story starts with Wily destroying the city and so Mega Man asks Dr. Light to let him fight. Light equips the kid with a Mega Buster and gives him the iconic Mega Man armor. Now our brave hero is ready to face off against Wily and does so with ease. Cutman and Elecman are the only ones to get real fights as Mega Man gets used to combat. From there he one shots all other opponents as he gets into the zone. Poor Wily is forced to run off and that’s how the adventure goes. It’s a good story but again just so super short.

The second story really follows the same beats here. Only difference is this time Mega Man one shots all of the bosses until he runs up against the alternate, evil future version of himself. This time we get an actual fight as he has to try and win while also realizing that he is destroying his own future. It makes for a pretty good dilemma and also makes the second chapter feel like it has more of an actual story. Wily having to go to the future here is definitely not something that I was expecting the manga to have time to get into.

It reinforces what a genius Wily is and how he will go to great lengths to ensure that he gets the outcome that he wants. He is definitely not the kind of guy that you want to make an enemy out of, that’s for sure. Dr. Light still did good in making Mega Man or at least helping Wily to make him but I wish he would do more during the series. If I saw him being more proactive on a daily basis then that would definitely raise his stocks in my eyes. I want to see him using his own wits to help protect the planet.

The artwork is fairly solid. It’s got more of a retro feel to it with how wide the eyes can be. The battle scenes look good and the pages are easy to follow. Clearly the focus of the manga was not on fights so they are fast but the images that we do get are pretty solid. I definitely didn’t have any issues here, the adventure works pretty well on all accounts. If anything the fact that I think it’s too short shows that this was a quality title since I think there is more they could have done with it.

Overall, Mega Man World is definitely a good manga but it goes by in a flash. The good news is that means you can read is super fast so there’s no excuse not to check it out. Just give up 10-15 minutes of your day and you are all good. That’s not a huge investment right? It’s always fun to check out Mega Man stories and this one was no exception. It’s just a well balanced story all around with a wholesome ending and good writing. If you enjoy this one a lot then you should follow up by checking out Mega Man Gigamix which is still the definitive story for the classic version.

Overall 6/10