As something of a "hardcore" gamer, I'm ashamed to say I've never beaten a classicly styled 2D-platsormer-shooter Mega Man game. I've played a couple of the Battle Network games for the GBA, and got my ass handed to me by Zero 3 back in 2004 or so, but have never seriously tried to play through any of the original series or classically styled entries in the series. I know, my shame is great.

However, after most of the NES games came to the 3DS and I heard that X was coming to the Wii U, I decided now is a good time for me to begin giving the series a real shot.

My question is: Where do I start?

Should I begin with the original, despite its flaws? Mega Man 2, which is widely considered the best in the classic series? 3, which has all the beasic mechanics together for the first time? Or should I wait until Thursday for X?

2. 9 also works in lieu of 2, from what i've heard. X is somewhat of a different beast.

Start with Megaman and then continue in order. You should be able to beat at least 2 in a day. You'll be caught up in no time.

If you want a challenge, start with the original game. An easy start is Mega Man 2 and a good overall mix is Mega Man 3. Mega Man X is also a pretty chill game, not too difficult but not too easy.

Battle Network series was by far my favorite in everything MegaMan... though its an RPG. For traditional MegaMan I'd say start with X, its leagues better than the original games.

Start at the beginning and move your way up. You may want to skip the games after 4 on NES and jump straight to X like most of us did back in the day.

Start with the original.  Also.  The third game is the best.  People who say Mega Man 2 is the best are just confused.  It's a great game, but second best.  .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJT94JO883E  << Best Mega Man.  Also, shameless plugs because it's part one of my one life run which I failed to complete after dying at a Dark Robot Master.

As a fan of the original series, I think 1-8 are great games.  Mega Man 9 in my opinion though?  Mega Man 9 is garbage and for that I haven't played 10, and even though I have PS+, refused to add them to my account because they're just bad games.  

The Mega Man X series is also hit and miss as well.  Mega Man X, X3, X4, and X6 are great games, while X2, X5, and X7 are pretty bad.  I own X8 but never played it.  Not sure it's good though because Mega Man was going downhill during that time.

Zero 1 is good.  The rest of the series does their best to be bad games.  The Mega Man Zero series is all about cheap deaths.  The first game actually doesn't go for that and is a legitimately difficult game all the way through, but each future title is worse than the last.

Mega Man Legends and Legends 2 are good.  Never played Tronne Bonne.  These games are open world 3D games.  Completely different from the traditional Mega Man, plays like a third person shooter/light platformer.  Great games.

Played 10 minutes of the first Battle Network and never touched another game again.  If there's any fans of these games, could someone explain the appeal?  Depending on on the answer I may give the series another chance.  

I've always been partial to the battle network series with the chips and the internet thing.

Stayed the hell away from the DS ones though. Though I'm looking to start the platformer megamans with X

So far it looks like I'm playing the original first. Then I'll play 2 and 3, then skip to X.

Well, I've never grew up with a nintendo console before, so I've got serious problems remembering Megaman X3 and X2.

I say you should start off with Megaman 8, then, Megaman X4. They are easy, but, they may not be easy to you. I know they're Sega Saturn/PSOne games (capcom can't reach an agreement with the original voice actors, so they're not in the PS Store) so, they may be hard to find. Easy, maybe, but, still good games if you can find them.

Anyway, I don't recommend Megaman 2, because it's hard. I'm going to be honest. 8 bit megaman games I have trouble getting into. Especially with 9 and 10. I bought 9, but skipped 10, because I'd grown sick of the style. Every once in a while, I'll play megaman 2 on vita when I can stand to look at it, it's challenging to me, because I'm doing a buster only run as I do with most megaman games now. (also, because of this, I don't actually know the weaknesses)

And, if you want, I say wait for Megaman X on Thursday. I only played it once or twice back in the day, but, I had the remake on vita, and completed the entire game, (including sigma) with no armor parts, or heart tanks. Sigma was no joke at the end, and did take me a while, but, I did get him.

The original is apparently harder, and probably better than the version I played, but, I bet you'll be using weaknesses, heart tanks, energy refills, and everything else, so you'll still have an easier time than I did.

But, I wouldn't worry about the order in which you play the games, or where you start. Just have fun with it. I owned X4, went back to megaman 8, then forward to X5, X6. Due to theft, X6 and 8 are the only ones I still have. I have a vita now (PSP died on me), so can't play any handheld titles.

I need to get my megaman collection fixed and improved big time, to be honest... -___-