To tell the truth, I've never beaten a NES Mega Man game in my life, mostly because I could only rent it back then and even then the furthest I've gotten was the beginning of Wily's castle. In fact, the very first Mega Man I've beaten was Mega Man X, which in perspective, it's far from to something to be proud of, since I felt the X series are much easier than the regular series.

That being said, to call a Mega Man game bad just because you suck at it is, well, childish. Hell, it's just as bad as saying that an electric guitar sucks because you don't know how to play it.

Second, people tend to ignore that these games were designed for a GENERAL audience, not a specific age group like people are doing as of late for the wrong reasons (mature gamers: more gore and tits! Kid games: more rainbows and Elmo!).

Third: simple characters doesn't always mean lazy writing. Technical limitations aside, what else you need to know? He a good robot fighting bad robots and the evil scientist controlling them. You want a rock opera out of it or something? For that matter, is it that important to the gameplay? Would had changed your outlook on Metroid forever if you knew from the start that Samus was a girl? Or care for that matter? Good simple characters work on the principle of inmersion: The experience that it's you who's kicking ass in the game. There's a reason the Doom Marine doesn't have a name; you're supposed to fill in that blank. Even if said character has a personality of sorts, good ones are set in such a way that their actions are what define them and not what they say (Mario, Link, Gordon Freeman, etc.)

Back to Contra. The characters had names; who here who has played (and beaten) the games cared about their names or at least griped of how their gaming experience is ruined because you never knew their names?

Finally, you're not the center of the universe. You don't like Mega Man? Fine, that's your opinion and that's about it. Don't expect everyone to agree to what you say. Just keep on mind that if it weren't for people creating "childish" games, you would had never had your precious Halo.*

* Refer to the 1983 Game Crash for more information.