Mega Man 10 Defeated:

I must have died hundreds of times during Mega Man 10, but that's still ten times as easy as Mega Man 9.  Thankfully, they dialed back the insane puzzles and gave me enough energy tanks I could drink them like soda.

Unfortunately, the stupid death by pit/spike was still continuous, and this time my weapons were total crap.  Aside from the tri-blades, everything else was virtually unusable.  I have fond memories of doing cool stuff with all my tools in Mega Man 9.  I can't think of any equivalents in 10.

It was just a memorization slog where you figure out every stupid way to fall into a pit, and then do the opposite.  Or jump into every possible spike, and then learn not to jump there.

I think 10 is better than 9 simply because I was able to beat it faster, so it antagonized me for a shorter amount of time.  But neither game was enjoyable like the old classics.  I just don't know what they were going for.  Why did every stage have to be so deadly?  Look at Bubble Man's stage from Mega Man 2.  That's a fun, reasonable stage, where you wouldn't die even once.  Why not make stages like those again?

In any case, I've now beaten all 10 Mega Man games.  It's the closing of another chapter in my life, which I began all the way back on the original NES.  The game served admirably in bridging me over to college football, which starts tomorrow.  And a couple weeks later Utawarerumono 3 will arrive.  Since the collection was only $20, I'm pretty happy with the result.