Set aside a few free hours and get your ten dollars ready, North Americans.  Capcom has finally announced that most of us will be able to play Mega Man 9 as early as this coming Monday. 

The game will be released for download on the September 22 for the Wii.  Playstation Network gets it September 25th, and XBLA will have it October 1!

If that's not enough for you then mark your calendar for the week of October 6, as that is when the first set of downloadable content arrives.  Two dollars will get you a playable Proto Man.

For the most part he plays the same as Megs, though he’s able to slide and charge his blasts. Mega Man could perform those attacks in every game after Mega Man 2, but doesn’t in Mega Man 9. Make sense?  Proto Man can deflect most bullets with this shield, but larger blasts will still cause damage and push him back twice as far as Mega Man. Being struck also interrupts his charge shot. All the Rush adapters change to Proto adapters as well – Proto Sled, Proto Coil etc.

Fantastic!  Now, to get you psyched up for the coming adventure I think it's a good time to revisit that charming Mega Man 9 box and cartridge that Capcom sent out to certain members of the press.  We all saw the box, but have you read the story text on the back of that box?  It too is ripped right out of 1987, and I've typed it all out below with all of the factual contradictions, bizarre sentence structure, and typos intact.  READY?