January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history, “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 and Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000’s birthday on January 12. Accordingly, I’m dedicating January to celebrating sci-fi in an event I call “Sci-Fanuary”.

Released: 24 August 2015
Originally Released: 6 December 1991
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Original Developer: Capcom
Also Available For: GameCube, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series S 

The Background:
In 1987, Capcom wished to move away from producing arcade titles and make their debut on the revived home console market. Thus was born Mega Man (known as “Rockman” in Japan), a notoriously difficult run-and-gun title widely praised as an NES classic, Yet, the developers were only able to produce the vastly improved Mega Man 2 (Capcom, 1988) between other projects and, despite also being a success, it would be two years before the equally praised (and challenging) Mega Man 3 (ibid, 1990) came out. This wasn’t the case for the fourth game, which was quickly pushed into development to capitalise on the franchise’s now-undeniable success. The game’s eight new Robot Masters were the result of fan input; the developers had to narrow over 70,000 submissions down to eight, and the winners all received a special gold edition cartridge of Mega Man 4. The game added a new charge shot to Mega Man’s arsenal and placed additional emphasis on the narrative, elements that were praised and set a new standard for is subsequent sequels, though the repetition of the gameplay formula was criticised. Still, Mega Man 4 has seen multiple re-releases and was naturally a part of the Legacy Collection release, which boasted helpful quality of life features and additional bonuses to introduce new gamers to the long-running franchise.

The Plot:
The fighting robot Mega Man faces a new challenge when Doctor Mikhail Sergeyevich Cossack seeks to succeed where Doctor Albert Wily failed, unleashing eight new Robot masters and striving for world domination.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
As you’d expect, Mega Man 4 is a 2D, sidescrolling action platformer where you again assume the role of chibi­ fighting robot Mega Man and run-and-gun your way through eight levels to defeat the newest crop of Robot Masters. You’re free to choose the order you challenge these bosses, but your life will be made much easier if you use an online guide (or the handy cheat sheet supplied with the Legacy Collection) and tackle the stages in a specific order as each Robot Master has a specific weakness. As before, the Legacy Collection lets you play the US and Japanese versions of the game, enable a turbo feature, and freely configure the button layout, though the basic setup is perfectly viable. By default, you jump with A, fire your currently equipped weapon with X, utilise an autofire function with Y (more akin to a rapid-fire mode), while B does nothing. The Xbox’s Menu button brings up an in-game menu where you can select different “Special Weapons” to equip to Mega Man’s Mega Buster arm cannon. Finally, you can rewind the game with the Left Bumper and manually save at any time from the main pause menu. Mega Man 4 brings back the slide gimmick, performed by pressing down and A, though it’s still somewhat limited as there aren’t many narrow gaps or tunnels to slide through. I did find more opportunities to slide under enemies and projectiles, to be fair. Rush and his three abilities (a spring, jet, and submarine) also return, allowing you to reach higher areas, traverse gaps, and freely blast through water for as long as your energy meter lasts. Similarly, enemies continue to drop health and energy pick-ups, you can still find the odd 1-Up and Energy Tank, and the password system also makes a return.

Players can finally replay any of the eight base stages once they’ve beaten them (though there’s little incentive to do this), and Mega Man’s arm cannon has received a substantial upgrade. Now, you can charge a shot by holding X, unleashing a more powerful blast to deal additional damage. It’s useful, especially when used with an equipped Special Weapon, but I rarely used it all that much except against the game’s tankier enemies. Although Mega Man gains eight new Special Weapons here, long-time players will notice that, again, his new weapons are simply reimaginings of previous weapons. The Flash Stopper is similar to the Time Stopper, for example, the Skull Barrier to the Leaf Shield, and the Pharaoh Shot to the Shadow Blade. Each Special Weapon has its own energy bar, meaning you’ll need to “farm” enemies to keep them all topped up, which can limit their use outside of boss battles. Generally, there’s no requirement to use any of them, however (though the Drill Bomb can destroy certain otherwise impassable walls), depending on how good a shot you are. It can be easier, though, to fire off a few of the homing Dive Missiles or clear the screen with the Rain Flush, and destroy wall turrets with the diagonal Pharaoh Shot. Still, I remain disappointed that they don’t have more utility, like being used to solve puzzles or having certain enemies be vulnerable to certain weapons. Mega Man also has a new ally, Eddie, who tosses him health or energy power-ups when you spot him wandering about. Still, it’s like Capcom are afraid of experimenting with new abilities; everything feels very safe and samey, despite small tweaks like the Dust Crusher exploding on impact and you being able to remote detonate the Drill Bombs. Hell, this time around there were very few instances where I needed to use Rush. You can spring up to ladders or optional paths for goodies, bypass certain platforming sections using Rush Marine, and cross longer gaps, of course, but it’s still disappointing that there aren’t dedicated sections or even levels utilising these mechanics to break up the action with scrolling shooter sections.

Mega Man 4 is very typical of its predecessors, featuring an abundance of bottomless pits, tricky jumps, instant-kill spikes (of varying design), and floaty underwater sections. You’ll drop down shafts, slide through tunnels, and clamber up ladders; jump to swinging, moving, and temporary platforms and blocks; and occasionally take different paths to reach power-ups hidden in precarious sections. Some ladders now have clamps on them that’ll knock you off, some enemies pop out from the background, and more hazards are liable to drop from above this time around. The blackout feature from Mega Man 3 returns, now tied to the 100 Watton enemy and primarily seen in Bright Man’s stage. Destroy these lightbulb-like robots and the background is plunged into darkness, though destroying the firework-blasting Dompans will illuminate the area once more. Mega Man 4 brings back the annoying disappearing/reappearing blocks from the last two games and also debuts some new platforming hazards, such as platforms that sink the longer you stand on them, blocks the sprout spikes from their sides and force you to better time your jumps, coil and rainbow platforms that create a temporary surface you need to quickly run or jump across, and quicksand and rushing water that’ll suck you in and push you along, respectively. Ridable enemies are also included: you can cross spikes on either the grasshopper-like Battan or the shot-firing Hover, often blasting enemies and hopping to platforms or other rides to progress. Toad Man’s stage includes a bit of wind resistance, trash compactors threaten to crush you if you don’t clear a path and slide to safety, and snow and ice will slow you down and cause you to slide along, respectively, in Dr. Coassck’s dangerous stages. The level design actually felt more forgiving this time around; I encountered less instant-kill hazards than before, though bottomless pits, respawning enemies, tricky jumps, and disastrous knockback can still be your downfall.

Presentation:
At this point, it’s obvious Capcom knew what worked for Mega Man and had very little intention of making massive deviations. Mega Man’s sprite is still exactly the same, changing only when you equip different Special Weapons or charge up your shot, which is honestly a bit of a shame considering the continued overhaul to the in-game menu and the abundance of bigger, more detailed enemy sprites. Mega Man 4 does boast an impressive introductory cutscene, however, that recaps the previous games and introduces the new threat, complete with large, chibi-style pixel art. The title screen is still lacklustre compared to Mega Man 2 but it’s a big step up from Mega Man 3 simply for including Mega Man’s helmet alongside the title. Robot Masters continue to be introduced with a fun pre-stage graphic, new sprite art depicts Mega Man acquiring his weapons, and the music is a step up from the last game, in my opinion, being a bit more memorable and jaunty. Sadly, story takes a backseat until you battle Dr. Cossack. The dangling plot thread regarding Proto Man is completely unresolved and the game still suffers from screen tearing, slowdown, and sprite flickering in certain stages or when too many sprites are onscreen at once.

Mega Man 4 ups the ante a bit in its stages, however. While there’s nothing really that new here, with the same combination of futuristic, mechanical, and industrial areas, backgrounds tend to be livelier than before, with fossils, blinking effects, moving clouds, mountains, and hieroglyphics all included. This makes it all the more disappointing when you’re faced with a plain black or blue background, but stages like Toad Man’s (with its honestly impressive rain effects, waterfalls, and rushing sewer streams), the light/dark effect in Bright Man’s stage, and the veritable snowstorm in Dr. Cossack’s stages show just how far the developers have come since the first game. Electrical currents, bubbling lava, pipes and girders, and splash effects are far more commonplace here, with some stages boasting more forked paths that lead to dead ends, goodies, or more challenging sections. Dive Man’s stage includes a rising water gimmick where you need to watch for spikes and mines, and you’ll need to jump at switches to spawn in ground in Drill Man’s cave-like stage. Dr. Cossack’s third stage includes an autoscrolling section where you need to outrace the screen and hop to hazardous platforms, and you’ll need to continuously jump to avoid being sucked into quicksand in Pharoah Man’s stage. Things get a bit garish when you reach Dr. Wily’s stages, with the colour palette not being the most pleasing to the eye, but I liked the rendition of Dr. Cossack and Dr. Wily’s lairs and the use of in-game sprites to advance the story and reveal Dr. Wily’s newest master plan.

Enemies and Bosses:
Mega Man 4 boasts a new crop of robotic baddies to blast your way past, courtesy of Dr. Cossack, though series fans will recognise the returning, hard hat-wearing Metalls. Now sporting a three-way projectile and the ability to twirl and swim, these little bastards are more annoying than ever. The “Joe” enemy variant also returns, but again completely unrecognisable as Skeleton Joe, a skeleton who tosses bones and will rebuild itself unless you hit it with the right Special Weapons. Robotic fish, rats, manta rays, bats, and bugs are commonplace enemies, as are bizarre gumball machine robots that spit projectiles, flocks of robot penguins, and caterpillars. Robot scorpions burst from the sand in Pharaoh Man’s stage, which also introduces the head-tossing Mummiras (who pop in and out from hidden doors), and you’ll have to slide or jump over the charging Shield Attackers to hit them from behind. Four stages also boast gigantic sub-bosses, similar to those in Mega Man 3. We’ve got a giant whale, a giant hippopotamus, a giant snail, and a giant eye-thing. All of these toss bombs or homing missiles except for the latter, which fires rings and is best held in place with the Flash Stopper. The hippo-like Kabatoncue can be a problem if you’re low on weapon energy as you need to destroy its constantly-regenerating pillar to get it low enough to hit, but the Dive Missile, Pharaoh Shot, and Rain Flush can level the playing field.

Of course, you also have to battle the eight new Robot Masters, who challenge you again in Dr. Wily’s fortress at the end of the game, dropping only health and no weapon energy. It might just be me, but I found the Robot Masters much more durable this time around. Only a handful of them were easily bested by their weakness and I had to do a lot of rewinding and reloaded when battling them. First up for me was Dive Man, who’s also weak to the Skull Barrier; he attacks with a torpedo-like charge and by firing destructible homing missiles that can be a pain to dodge. Though Drill Man is weak to the Dive Missile, he avoids damage by burrowing into the ground and launches drills at you. His Drill Bomb makes short work of Toad Man, but you’ll need to be quick as this slippery bugger hops about and can decimate you if he unleashes Rain Flush. This Special Weapon will dampen Bright Man’s day but, again, you can’t take him lightly; there’s a delay when deploying Rain Flush and Bright Man can freeze you in place and pepper you with projectiles. His Bright Flash makes a joke out of Pharaoh Man, freezing him in place before he can even launch a shot and allowing you to destroy him and keep the time stop going, though again it seems to take a lot of shots to destroy this boss. The Pharaoh Shot is great for taking out Ring Man thanks to it firing diagonally to hit him when he leaps high up, but again he’s pretty difficult thanks to his Ring Boomerang travelling far and snapping back to him, curving upwards to hit you when you’re in mid-air. It’s the best way to battle Dust Man, though, but he’s also a tricky customer since he spits trash from (and sucks you in with) his vacuum-like cannon. The Dust Crusher makes mincemeat out of Skull Man, but you have to account for its slow firing speed and him protecting himself with his Skull Barrier (not to mention hopping over his triple shot attack).

With all the Robot Masters defeated, you’ll storm Dr. Cossack’s frigid fortress, which is home to four additional bosses (including the new big bad of the game). First up is Mothraya, a large robotic moth with a massive hit box that tries to crush you, breaks the stage with its stinger, and fires diagonal projectiles. Its only weak spot is the orb on its chest and you’ll need the Ring Boomerang to have the best chance here. Next up is probably one of the game’s more annoying bosses, the Square Machine. Similar to the Yellow Devil, this appears onscreen in sections. You must hop into the lower section, slide under the middle, and jump to one of the blocks to hit the central eye (avoiding its plasma blast) and attack with the Dust Crusher before it separates again. Its pieces will trick you by flying in faster and the projectile can be difficult to dodge, making this a pretty frustrating boss. After that, you battle the far simpler Cockroach twins. These bulbous, bug-like robots clamber about the walls, ceiling, and floor of a spike-filled arena, firing at you as they go. The Drill Bomb easily rips through them, so your main concern is not slipping to the insta-kill spikes. Once they’re defeated, you’ll battle Dr. Cossack in his Cossack Catcher machine. He floats about, bashing you with his hit box or dropping down on you, keeping you at bay with projectiles from either side. His biggest threat is the claw appendage, which will grab you if you’re underneath, but it’s pretty simple to slide past him, take the high ground, and pummel him with the Dust Crusher. When he’s defeated, Proto Man pops in with Dr. Cossack’s daughter, Kalinka, who reveals that Dr. Wily was behind everything! Shock! Horror!

So, yes, you’re then forced to take on four additional stages in Dr. Wily’s newest fortress, including battling the Robot Masters again and taking on two additional bosses before facing Dr. Wily once more. The first is the Metall Daddy, a giant Metall not unlike the one from Mega Man 3 that hops about, slamming the ground and causing Metalls to rain down. You’ll need to slide under him and attack his big, gormless eyes with the Ring Boomerang or Dust Crusher to defeat him. Next, you take on Tako Trash, a decidedly more troublesome boss. It sits there launching bombs and spitting fireballs, but its weak point is so small and its projectiles so big that it’s pretty tricky to time your shots while riding the moving platforms in the enclosed arena. The same is true of Dr. Wily’s newest machine; the first phase is simple, just stay under the massive fireballs it shoots and hit the skull-like front with the charged Mega Buster or Ring Boomerang. The second phase is much more challenging; Dr. Wily moves erratically, launching fireballs high and low that are extremely hard to avoid due to their huge hit boxes. You also need to perfectly time detonating the Drill Bomb to damage the jewel below his cockpit, which is quite the ask (especially if, like me, you learned far too late about this trick). Dr. Wily doesn’t give up that easy as he flees to a final area, one sadly a simply pitch-black room, and pilots a UFO-like capsule. In this fight, the only way to damage Dr. Wily is with a fully charged Pharaoh Shot and Dr. Wily is only visible when firing his big, charged plasma ball. However, his craft is onscreen even if you can’t see it which, yes, is a hazard but also means you can hit him with your charged shot when it’s overhead or if you can intuit where he’ll be (or abuse the rewind feature to guide your aim).

Additional Features:
There are twenty-four Achievements in Mega Man Legacy Collection and you’ll earn one specifically for beating this game. Alongside different display options (including borders and filters), the Legacy Collection allows you to view a character database and production art and take tough, time-based challenges for additional Achievements in “Challenge Mode”. Here, you’ll be tasked with conquering remixed stages from this game and taking on the bosses once more under specific conditions, with additional challenges unlocked as you complete them. Remixes of Mega Man 4’s stages and gauntlets also appear in this mode, but there’s little else on offer here as there’s still no high score table or multiplayer options.

The Summary:
Mega Man 4 is what Mega Man 3 should’ve been. It not only has the slide and the additional Rush mechanics, it also includes the charged shot at last and expands the narrative to include a new (albeit misguided) antagonist, expanding Mega Man’s lore and cast and attempting (however safely) to expand the player’s arsenal with some new abilities. My only wish is that the developers had combined more elements of the two, such as allowing more use for Rush Jet and Rush Marine like in Mega Man 3 and incorporating rematches against Mega Man 2’s Robot Masters instead of Mega Man 4’s when tackling Dr. Wily’s fortress. It’s disappointing that the lingering question about Proto Man wasn’t addressed here; he only shows up once when realistically I think he should be a playable character or could’ve at least featured in side missions to help mix things up a bit more. That aside, there’s a lot to like in Mega Man 4. The game is about as big as Mega Man 3 but feels like it has a little more variety in the stage designs, enemies, and boss encounters. Bosses were a lot tougher (for me, at least) and stages seemed easier to navigate (again, for me), making for an interesting difficulty curve. The large sprite art used for the opening and throughout the game was impressive, as was the continued use of giant enemies, although it’s a shame Mega Man hasn’t had much of an overhaul. The music and overall more detailed presentation does account for this (I’m seriously impressed by Toad Man’s stage) and I definitely think this was more of an advancement than Mega Man 3. It just feels as though Capcom were afraid to really step out of their comfort zone with Mega Man, which is a shame as there’s some gimmicks and inclusions here with a lot of potential.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

What did you think to Mega Man 4? Did you enjoy the new charged shot? Were you surprised to find Dr. Wily was the true mastermind? Do you agree that the bosses were tougher this time around? Were you disappointed that the gameplay formula remained relatively unchanged four games in? How are you celebrating the science-fiction genre this month? Whatever your thoughts and memories of Mega Man 4, drop them below and go check out my other Mega Man reviews across the site!

January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history, “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 and Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000’s birthday on January 12. Accordingly, I’m dedicating January to celebrating sci-fi in an event I call “Sci-Fanuary”.

Released: 24 August 2015
Originally Released: 28 December 1990
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Original Developer: Capcom
Also Available For: GameCube, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable, Tiger Electronics, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series S 

The Background:
Capcom was eager to move beyond simply producing arcade titles in 1987, and thus made a dramatic debut on the revived home console market with Mega Man (or “Rockman” in the East), an Astro Boy (Tezuka, 1952 to 1968) inspired run-and-gun notorious for its difficulty. Despite widespread praise and being seen as an NES classic, Mega Man wasn’t successful enough to warrant an immediate sequel and it was only by enduring a great deal of stress that the developers improved upon the original with Mega Man 2 (Capcom, 1988). The sequel was a big hit that many regard as one of the best in the series, but it would again take two years for a third game to emerge. In that time, lead supervisor Akira Kitamura quit Capcom and artist Keiji Inafune noted that Mega Man 3’s development was chaotic as a result. Despite Mega Man’s arsenal, versitality, and lore being expanded upon in the third game, Inafune felt the final product was unpolished and full of begrudging compromises that saw many elements being excised. Yet, Mega Man 3 has continued to be met with praise; reviews noted the continued improvement of the graphics and gameplay and lauded the action and franchise appeal it helped establish. Though criticised for its excessive difficulty, Mega Man 3 sold over one million copies worldwide. Like its predecessors, it was completely remade for the SEGA Mega Drive and ported to several consoles, including this Legacy Collection release that came with quality of life features and additional bonuses to celebrate the long-running franchise.

The Plot:
Shortly after his latest defeat at the hands of Mega Man, Doctor Albert Wily apparently has a change of heart and works with Doctor Thomas Light to build a peace-keeping robot named “Gamma”. However, when eight new Robot Masters go berserk and steal Gamma’s power crystals, Mega Man must team up with his new robotic canine partner, Rush, to retrieve them.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Mega Man 3 does little to break the mould of its predecessors. Like the first two games, it’s a 2D, sidescrolling run-and-gun action platformer that tasks you (as Mega Man) with traversing eight levels and defeating a batch of new (and old) Robot Masters. Although you can still pick the order you challenge each stage (something made much easier with the helpful cheat sheet included with this Legacy Collection, which tells you each Robot Master’s weakness), there’s no difficulty settings like in Mega Man 2. Still, you can choose to play either the US or Japanese versions, enable a turbo mode, and customise the button layout. Not that you really need to given how simple the controls remain. A lets you jump, X fires your currently equipped weapon, Y offers an autofire option, and you pause the game to select another weapon with the Xbox’s Menu button. Mega Man 3 introduces a slide action, performed with down and A, to let you slip through narrow gaps and tunnels and beneath jumping enemies and certain projectiles, though it’s not implemented all that much. Each of the eight new Robot Masters gifts a new Special Weapon upon defeat, and Doctor Thomas Light upgrades Rush with new functions as you progress. Like in Mega Man 2, you can’t replay previous stages but there are some optional paths at times, hidden power-ups such as extra lives, Energy Tanks (great for restoring your health in a pinch), and boosts for your health and weapon energy. Mega Man 3 also offers a password system that lets you continue your progress at any time, or gain additional bonuses, though this is largely superfluous thanks to the Legacy Collection’s save state and rewind features.

While Mega Man’s trusty Mega Buster will serve you well for the most part, your battles against the eight Robot Masters will be made much simpler by equipping one of the new Special Weapons. Each has an energy meter that depletes as you use them so you’ll need to grab Weapon Energy capsules to keep this topped up, often requiring you to “farm” enemies that conveniently respawn when you move offscreen. Although they’re new weapons, some are again similar to the ones seen before (Shadow Blade, for example, is functionally identical to the Metal Blade as you can fire it upwards, downwards, and diagonally), though only the Hard Knuckle has a use outside of boss battles as it destroys certain blocks. The Magnet Missile travels horizontally unless there’s a target above, then it homes in vertically; the aforementioned Hard Knuckle is slow but deals damage on impact; the Gemini Laser fires a laser that ricochets about, and the Top Spin adds a whirlwind spin to your jump but is finnicky to control. I already mentioned the directional Shadow Blade, the Spark Shot stuns enemies, the Needle Cannon rapidly fires needle projectiles, and the Search Snake sends three small snakes across floors, walls, and ceilings. I had little use for most of these, honestly. I used the Magnet Missile the most, followed by the Shadow Blade (which is great for dispatching enemies on ladders), but had little use for the Snake Search or Spark Shot outside of boss battles so I never worried about these running  out of energy. Mega Man 3 also introduces Mega Man’s robotic canine, Rush, who effectively replaces the Items from previous games. Rush Coil springs you high into the air, Rish Jet flies across gaps for as long as your energy meter lasts, and Rush Marine does the same but when underwater. These latter two turn the action into something of a sidescrolling shooter, which helps break up the gameplay a bit, though you need to snag the energy refills as you go or you’re liable to drop to an untimely end.

Mega Man 3 is much bigger than its predecessors, and therefore much tougher as a result. Ladders, tricky platforming, insta-kill hazards like spikes and bottomless pits, and disappearing/reappearing blocks are commonplace, often over huge gaps. Turrets also crop up a lot, as do tunnels for you to slide through (sometimes with the risk of a drill hazard), and some stages feature a lightbulb enemy that blankets the environment in darkness until they’re destroyed. Some stages have more unique elements built into them; Magnet Man’s stage, for example, incorporates a magnetic gimmick where turbines attract you, causing no damage but putting your jumps at risk. Spark Man’s stage includes a moving electrical hazard that forces you to time your jumps to avoid damage (or a drop down a pit) and rising blocks over a bottomless pit with insta-kill ceiling spikes above, and Snake Man’s stage includes giant snake head turrets that spit massive fireballs and make the ground uneven until they’re destroyed. Gemini Man’s stage features underwater sections where your jump is much higher and your progress is blocked by destructible Pole eggs that spawn in Pole enemies when destroyed. Often, you’re tasked with making tricky jumps to small or moving platforms, usually while enemies or projectiles rain down. Sometimes these platforms are temporary, sometimes they’re moving, and sometimes you’ll need to make your own using Rush’s abilities. Four of the stages are remixed into harder challenges once you’ve defeated the eight Robot Masters, adding small cogs to Spark Man’s stage, upping Rush Coil’s use in Needle Man’s stage, increasing the spikes and Pole eggs in Gemini Man’s stage, and adding more spiked shafts to Shadow Man’s stage.

Presentation:
Mega Man 3 offers same 8-bit stylings of its predecessors, adding only a new sliding animation to Mega Man’s repertoire and little else. Sure, his sprite changes colour when a Special Weapon is equipped but the presentation is starting to feel quite samey at this point. Although bigger sprite art is used when Mega Man acquires a new Special Weapon, and in-game graphics are used for the few story cutscenes near the endgame, the title screen is a dramatic step back, being simply the game logo on a plain black background. While many large enemy sprites appear in the game, and the game is much bigger than the last two, Mega Man 3 still suffers from slowdown, sprite flicker, and screen tearing when too much is happening onscreen. The music is still a highlight, with jaunty tunes accompanying each stage and the iconic Mega Man theme kicking in, but again it’s all very familiar at this point and feels like an extension of Mega Man 2 rather than necessarily improving upon it. There’s possibly even less story here than before, at lest until the endgame. Occasionally, you’ll be challenged by Proto Man, who announces his arrival with a whistling tune and opens new areas upon defeat, but there’s no story text about this until you’re ready to track down Dr. Wily. Indeed, if it wasn’t for Doc Robot’s presence in the four remixed sages, you’d be forgiven for not even realising that Dr. Wily was supposed to have repented his evil ways. Instead, he shows up in his UFO and flees to another impressive castle, forcing you to brave six additional stages to track him down. There are a few additional flourishes to this, to be fair: Mega Man 2’s Robot Masters dramatically fuse with Doc Robot before each bout, Dr. Wily’s revealed to be a puppet at one point, and there’s a lingering mystery about Proto Man by the end.

Mega Man 3’s stages are a touch more detailed than before, but again aren’t really offering much new. Exposed wires, pale pastels, and ugly electronics are rife in Magnet Man’s stage, Hard Man’s stage takes place atop and within a rocky mountaintop, Top Man’s stage features a particularly garish blue and green pastel aesthetic that’s barely tolerable with the grass effects in the foreground, and Shadow Man’s stage appears to take place in a sewer, but one filled with red water. Spark Man’s stage is full of gears and conveyors in the background, and Snake Man’s stage has a green scale effect to every surface that makes it seem like a gigantic extension of the titular Robot Master but ends up in the clouds. Gemini Man’s stage is perhaps the most visually striking with its ice crystals, flashing blocks, and underwater coral reefs, and Needle Man’s stage is set in a futuristic city and features girders, drills, and skyscrapers. Dr. Wily’s fortress is your typical mechanical hellhole where you must breach his outer defences before tackling the tight corridors and sewer system within. While most stages have a horizontal progression, it’s not uncommon to find yourself dropping down shafts (often while dodging insta-kill spikes) or platforming across gaps. While the visual identity of the franchise is as strong as ever and the big enemy sprites are impressive, things again feel very safe and very familiar. I applaud Mega Man 3 for avoiding using cliché elemental tropes to differentiate stages, but it would perhaps have helped this title to stand out a little bit more, or maybe if there was more focus placed on the story and the mystery of Proto Man.

Enemies and Bosses:
A gaggle of new robotic foes stands between you and victory in Mega Man 3 but don’t worry, Metall is still here and now they can fly with little propellors and a giant version even acts as a sub-boss. Sniper Joe is not only missing (thankfuller!) but poorly replaced by Hammer Joe, an armoured foe who tosses a ball and chain and can only be damaged when their eyes glow, but are otherwise immobile and easy to attack. For the most part, enemies are stranger and weaker than ever: Poles can surprise you, parachuting Parasyu and annoying Elec’n’s appear at the worst times, and Peterchy’s wander about and drop down from above, but they all die in one hit. Things get a little tougher when Have “Su” Bees drop a swarm of Chibees onto you or the porcupine-like Hari Harry’s come rolling along, or the large, frog-like Bikky springs at you, but by far the most amusing and strangely dangerous for me were the pole-vaulting Bubukans. Large enemies are far more commonplace here with the likes of the Giant Springers, Gyoraibos, Penpen Makers, and the cat-like Tamas appearing often. Like the Giant Metall and Big Snakeys, Tamas act as sub-bosses; though they’re less of a hazard than the likes of Bikky as they’re completely stationary, their projectiles are large and difficult to avoid. Robotic apes, walking bombs, floating orbs, and the spinning top-firing Matasaburo round out the enemies, who appear in multiple stages, and even the Pickelman returns from Mega Man, now driving a cute little digger!

Yet again, you’ll face a Robot Master at the end of every stage and, as ever, the order you challenge them dictates how difficult the battle is since each one is weak to a different Special Weapon. All eight are battled again in Dr. Wily’s fortress, as is tradition, in bland arenas and when you’re at full power, making the rematches much easier. I tackled Magnet Man first, who’s weak to the Spark Shock, Shadow Blade, and even his own Magnet Missile but the Mega Buster will do him in just fine despite his magnetic shield and projectiles. His Magnet Missile makes short work of Hard Man, who blasts you with his Hard Knuckle and stuns you with a screen shaking slam. His Hard Knuckle is the key to besting Top Man, though the weapon is slow and Top Man is invulnerable when spinning; he also fires spinning tops that can be tricky to avoid thanks to Mega Mans large hat box. The Top Spin lets you whittle down Shadow Man, though I found it strangely difficult to use. Shadow Man jumps about tossing his Shadow Blade shuriken and sliding into you, so be sure to attack from the air. The Shadow Blade is great at hitting Spark Man when he leaps high into the air to fire electrical shots in all directions or charge up his big shot. I took on Snake Man next, who’s primarily weak to the Needle Cannon but can be bested with the Mega Buster. It’s a tough fight in this instance though as Snake Man jumps about and fires his little Search Snakes, which are difficult to avoid in the uneven area. The one time I used his Special Weapon was against Gemini Man, a super-fast Robot Master who duplicates himself and fires his ricocheting laser about the room. This Gemini Laser makes Swiss cheese out of Needle Man, despite his rapid-fire projectile and extendable head. As mentioned, you’ll battle all eight of these guys again in Dr. Wily’s fortress, with each dropping some health afterwards (but no energy), but you’ll also battle three Maga Man duplicates. Top Spin is the key here, and targeting the right one (he’ll teleporting the same was as you do).

After you defeat all eight, you’ll play through four remixed stages and battle the eight Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, two per remixed stage, with each one inhabiting Doc Robot. They sport all their familiar attacks and are vulnerable to your new Special Weapons (use Spark Shot against Air Man, for example, Shadow Blade against Bubble Man, and Top Spin against Heat Man). Occasionally, you’ll battle Proto Man, who doesn’t have a health bar and simply runs and jumps about shooting at you; he’s particularly weak to the Magnet Missile and begrudgingly aids you as the game progresses. Dr. Wily’s fortress is also home to two additional bosses, the Kamegoro Maker (simply destroy the frog-like Kamegoro it spawns) and the Yellow Devil MK-II (which is actually easier than its predecessor as its blocks are easier to void, though you do need to watch for its projectiles and deal with the Hard Knuckle’s slow fire rate). Best all of these threats and you’ll finally battle Dr. Wily once more, this time in two two-phase battles. The first is against one of his trademark machines; simply blast the lower antenna with the Spark Shot and avoid his large spinning projectiles, then watch for his pin-like legs and time your Hard Knuckle shots to hit his cockpit when it lowers. When he’s defeated, Dr. Wily will pilot the gigantic robot Gamma, which fires three projectiles from its big, stupid head in the first phase and adds an energy shot and a big fist attack in the second. Just clobber him with Hard Knuckle shots then finish him off with a Top Spin to win.

Additional Features:
There are twenty-four Achievements in the Mega Man Legacy Collection, with one specifically awarded for beating this game. Alongside different display options (such as borders and filters), the Legacy Collection offers a character database, production art, and a series of tough, time-based challenges for additional Achievements. The more challenges you complete, the more you’ll unlock, including additional remixes of Mega Man 3’s stages and even gauntlets that pity you against multiple Mega Man titles and bosses against stricter time limits. Otherwise, there’s not much else to return to in Mega Man 3 thanks to the continued lack of a high score table or avenues for exploration.

The Summary:
Mega Man 2 improved upon the first title a lot, being bigger and better while still retaining the same charm and appeal despite the increased difficulty. This is true of Mega Man 3; it’s a good two times the size of the first game and is definitely bigger than the second, but I have to say I expected a bit more by the third title. Whether that be more creativity in the weapons, more focus on the narrative, or more interesting gameplay mechanics; just give me something to make me feel its unique experience. As is, I felt Mega Man 3 didn’t quite live up to its potential; it’s still a great game, but no better or worse, overall, than its predecessor. I would’ve liked to see more focus on the Rush mechanic, perhaps even making him a secondary character or offering entire sections or bonus rounds where you play as (or on) him. I would’ve liked to see more of the narrative address Proto Man’s appearances, perhaps even make him playable in the boss rematches or show up for the final battle. The slide was cool but it’s poorly implemented, with few chances to take full advantage of its potential. Mega Man’s Special Weapons also feel increasingly useless as gameplay mechanics thanks to the continued linear direction, and I just think things should have progressed a bit further by the third title. Mega Man 3 definitely expands and adds to the formula, the point where I’d say you could skip the previous two and start here, but it doesn’t truly innovate as much as it like a feels like a stop-gap before the next game, especially in terms of its narrative.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Mega Man 3? What did you think to Rush and the new slide mechanic? Do you agree that the formula was becoming a bit stale by this point? What order did you tackle the game’s stages and which Robot Master gave you the most trouble? Would you have liked to see and learn more about Proto Man? ? How are you celebrating the science-fiction genre this month? Whatever your thoughts and memories of Mega Man 3, please leave them below and be sure to check out my other Mega Man reviews across the site!

January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history, “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 and Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000’s birthday on January 12. Accordingly, I’m dedicating January to celebrating sci-fi with an event I call “Sci-Fanuary”.

Released: 24 August 2015
Originally Released: 24 December 1988
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Original Developer: Capcom
Also Available For: GameCube, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable, Tiger Electronics, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series S 

The Background:
In 1987, Capcom sought to move away from producing arcade titles and make their debut on the revived home console market with Mega Man (known as “Rockman” in Japan), a run-and-gun title inspired by Astro Boy (Tezuka, 1952 to 1968) that became notorious for its difficulty. Although widely praised and now regarded as an NES classic, Mega Man wasn’t successful enough to justify an immediate sequel. The developers were only permitted to work on a follow-up alongside other projects, creating a great deal of stress for all involved. Still, the small team was determined to improve upon the graphics, gameplay, and music of the original. Scrapped ideas from Mega Man made their way into the sequel, which also introduced support items to aid the player and address the difficulty of the first game. Contrary to Mega Man’s low sales, Mega Man 2 was a huge success, selling over 1.5 million copies and being met with unanimous praise. Reviews lauded the improvements to the controls and difficulty curve and the refined graphics and mechanics, and the game is renowned as one of the best in the series. In the years since its release, Mega Man 2 was ported several times, including a remake for the SEGA Mega Drive, before being released alongside the first five titles with this Legacy Collection release, which included quality of life features and additional bonuses to celebrate the long-running series.

The Plot:
After being defeated by Mega Man, the maniacal Doctor Albert Wily creates his own Robot Masters and constructs a new fortress to strike back at his foe, compelling Rock to once again confront the mad scientist.  

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Like its predecessor, Mega Man 2 is a 2D, sidescrolling run-and-gun action platformer that places you back in control of fighting robot Mega Man, now tasked with blasting through eight levels and defeating a Robot Master in each. As before, the player can pick the order they tackle each stage and boss, meaning Mega Man 2’s difficulty is placed in your hands (luckily, the Legacy Collection includes a helpful cheat sheet) as Robot Masters are vulnerable and resistant to different weapons. Unlike the previous game, the difficulty can be further increased if players select the “Difficult” mode on the title screen, though there is now a password system to save your progress (something negated by the Legacy Collection’s manual save feature). Once again, the Legacy Collection edition offers the US and Japanese versions and options to speed up the gameplay and configure the button layout to your liking, The default setup, though, is perfectly acceptable and exactly the same as before: you jump with A, fire your currently equipped weapon with X and use an autofire function with Y, and bring up the pause menu to select different “Special Weapons” with the Right Bumper. Each Robot Master you defeat grants you a new Special Weapon, and Doctor Thomas Light gifts three additional ones as you progress. Since you can’t replay previously completed stages this time, there’s no need to worry about backtracking for missed items, but certain weapons (such as the Crash Bomber and the Items) will open paths to goodies such as extra lives and the new Energy Tank power-up. You can store up to four of these and they’re great for restoring your health in a tight pinch, though you can still abuse the Legacy Collection’s rewind feature with the Left Bumper. While Mega Man gains some new Special Weapons, his default abilities are unchanged. He still can’t duck or slide, but levels are still created to take advantage of his platforming and shooting skills so this is more of a nit-pick.

As before, Mega Man is equipped with his Mega Buster, but this can be swapped out for a Special Weapon after defeating each of the eight Robot Masters. Each Special Weapon has an ammo meter that depletes with use and you’ll need to collect Weapon Energy capsules to partially or fully refill this, meaning you may need to “farm” the enemies that conveniently respawn right before each boss room. While some Special Weapons are similar to those of the last game (the Crash Bomber isn’t too dissimilar to the Hyper Bomb, for example, and the Quick Boomerang is very much like the Rolling Cutter), they are some of the most iconic in the franchise. Metal Man’s Metal Blade is super useful as you can fire it upwards, downwards, and diagonally, which is great for taking out aerial enemies or when climbing ladders. Wood Man’s Leaf Shield surrounds you in a shield of leaves that blast ahead as soon as you move, Bubble Man’s Bubble Lead drops a heavy bubble that rolls along the floor, and the Air Shooter acquired from Air Man sends mini tornados hurtling upwards. The aforementioned Crash Bomber has a bit of a delay, but its explosion is great for destroying certain blocks and dealing big damage. The Quick Boomerang is a great rapid-fire projectile, and Flash Man’s Time Stopper is essential for getting past the insta-kill lasers in Quick Man’s stage, though you’re left completely defenceless once it’s activated. Of them all, I found Heat Man’s Atomic Fire the most useless; in fact, I don’t recall using it once! The Magnet Beam from the first game is expanded into three additional “Items” gifted by Dr. Light after defeating certain Robot Masters. Used correctly, they’re invaluable for crossing bottomless pits, beds of spikes and rushing water, and scaling tall shafts and Dr. Wily’s tower. Item-1 creates a vertical platform and you can place up to three at once to create temporary bridges, Item-2 carries you horizontally across large expanses on a rocket-powered platform, and Item-3 bounces along until it hits a wall, then it crawls upwards to give you an extra boost.

If Mega Man was challenging, Mega Man 2 is tough! I probably made things harder for myself by playing on “Difficult”, but this was a hell of a challenge. The score system is gone and you get a few extra lives from enemies or within levels, and I’m sure the password system helped back in the day, but I’m not sure how anyone beat this game without the quick save and rewind features of the Legacy Collection. Bottomless pits, respawning enemies, insta-kill hazards, and projectiles are commonplace obstacles, with Mega Man 2 boasting more sprites than its predecessor. Falling, temporary, or hazard-strewn platforms dog your progress as much as vertical shafts forcing you to scale ladders or make blind jumps, often requiring split-second reflexes to avoid spikes or lasers. Conveyer belts push you along or work against you, slippery blocks send you careening towards hazards, disappearing blocks over bottomless pits will have you on the edge of your seat, and enemies surprise you from the foreground and offscreen. In Bubble Man’s stage and the third Dr. Wily stage, you’ll take a dip in water; this slows your forward momentum but increases your jump height, forcing you to rethink even simple jumps. The fourth Dr. Wily stage includes annoying false floors that are indistinguishable from the rest of the terrain and can drop you down a screen, while Crash Man’s stage features a lot of ladder climbing and alternate routes that can lead to goodies or enemies. Thankfully, the rewind and manual save feature can assist you, but it definitely pays to play the stages in an efficient order so you can make short work of each Robot Master.

Presentation:
At first glance, Mega Man 2 is more of the same 8-bit goodness offered by the original. Mega Man’s sprite is exactly the same, with no new animations or expressions beyond changing colour when a Special Weapon is equipped and some new sprites to represent those abilities. However, the game impresses from the start with its text-based story and dramatic pan up a large skyscraper to find Mega Man brooding on the rooftop alongside a far more impressive title screen. The game still struggles a bit when too much is happening on screen; sprite flickering, slowdown, and screen tearing are commonplace issues but, overall, the stability seems much improved and the very fact the game has eight stages, eleven new abilities, two difficulty settings, and a password feature shows it’s built upon its predecessor. One area where Mega Man 2 really impresses is its music; every stage is accompanied by a jaunty or rocking tune, with Crash Man’s being a particular highlight. There’s a little more story here as well; Dr. Light communicates to you every now and then to bestow a special Item and there are more cutscenes of Dr. Wily escaping in his UFO. There are also a few more graphical touches in some stages: Flash Man’s stage is a touch maze-like at times, offering higher and lower paths to take, and Quick Man’s has a lot of vertical drops where you’ll be biting your bottom lip to avoid the deadly lasers. Bubble Man’s stage has an (admittedly ugly) waterfall in the background of the opening section, and there are even moments where the entire screen goes black save for the character and enemy sprites.

In fact, while the eight stages aren’t exactly trendsetting for this era of gaming, the levels on offer in Mega Man 2 have far more visual variety than in the first game and better suit their associated Robot Master. Metal Man’s stage is a mess of gears and industrial aesthetics that’s full of drills and weighted spiked obstacles. Wood Man’s stage impresses for the time with its surprisingly detailed forest, which extends underground and to the treetops, as does Bubble Man’s stage (waterfall notwithstanding), which eventually drops you into the sea where you must rethink every jump to avoid death. Air Man’s stage takes place up in the clouds, and even behind them at times, with Mega Man hopping to small, hazardous, and floating platforms to progress, while Crash Man’s stage is a construction site that’s a mess of yellow pipes, ladders, and these little rolling platforms you ride to reach ladders. Heat Man’s stage is either in a sewer or some kind of lava-filled underground cavern, it’s hard to tell the difference, but I enjoyed the rushing liquid and the disappearing block platforms (especially as Item-2 allows you to completely bypass them). Flash Man’s stage has a blue sheen to it and slippery floors, while Quick Man’s stage is more mechanical and almost a prelude to the challenge offered by Dr. Wily’s castle. Yes, after besting the eight Robot Masters, you’ll travel to Dr. Wily’s newest fortress: six additional stages containing recycled and reimagined gimmicks and hazards from the previous levels. These exist alongside new aesthetics, such as the rocky/fortified exterior and lengthy outer wall, the industrial interior with its giant fans, dripping water, and teleport pads, and the final showdown in Dr. Wily’s control room, sadly relegated to the pre-credits cutscene in favour of a bland final battle against the rushing backdrop of space.

Enemies and Bosses:
A whole host of new robotic enemies awaits you in Mega Man 2, though there are a couple of familiar faces here: Neo Metall hides behind its hard hat and fires projectiles like its predecessor but is bold enough to rush you, too. A renewed Sniper Joe also returns, still hiding behind a shield but now staying completely still. However, they make up for this by controlling giant mech walkers that almost act like mini bosses unless you have the Air Shooter or Leaf Shield. Similarly, you’ll encounter gigantic robotic Lantern Fish in Bubble Man’s stage. These perpetually spit out shrimp-like Shrink’s and can only be destroyed by shooting the lure on its head. Another gigantic quasi-mini boss are the Hot Dogs encountered in Wood Man’s stage; while they don’t move, they breathe plumes of fire that are difficult to avoid in the cramped tunnels. Most other enemies can be destroyed in one or two shots and are largely more manageable compared to the first game, though the constant respawning can be a headage. Bubble Bats, crab-like Claws, Tellys, and Springers are all commonplace and good for farming ammo or health, while Crabbots, Robo-Rabbits, and Pierobots can cause some headaches due to their small size, versatile firing range, and suddenness of their appearance, respectively. Enemies like Croaker, Pipi, and Blocky should be taken out quickly to avoid them spewing up smaller enemies or spreading themselves as projectiles. Air Tikkis and Lightning Lords act as platforms in Air Man’s stage, where Fan Fiends blow you back, and Crazy Cannons shoot at you through the environment. I was very impressed by the visual variety and character in Mega Man 2’s enemies, with guys like the speedy Atomic Chicken, Hothead, and Mecha Monkey being fun standouts for their large sprites and toughness.

As before, every level ends in a battle against one of the eight Robot Masters in a specially prepared arena and is accompanied by an ominous boss theme and a helpful health bar. The Robot Masters will be significantly easier to battle if you have the Special Weapon they’re weak to on hand; without these, even the easiest Robot Master is a challenge, so I tackled Metal Man first. Fought on a conveyer belt floor that switches your direction, Metal Man tosses gear-like projectiles as he hops about the arena; he’s weak to the Quick Boomerang and his own weapon, but easily falls to the Mega Buster with enough patience. Armed with his Metal Blade, I then fought Wood Man (though Atomic Fire works well, too), who is invulnerable when his Leaf Shield is up. You need to carefully jump to avoid both this and the falling leaves to attack when he’s vulnerable, making for a tricky boss if you’re low on health. The Metal Blade also makes short work of Bubble Man, who’s fought underwater. While your jumping is restricted and he swims about dropping Bubble Leads, it’s easy to pick him off with the versatile Metal Blade or Leaf Shield. The Leaf Shield also makes short work of Air Man, though it can be hard to land a direct hit thanks to his mini tornados. Similarly, Heat Man is decimated by the Bubble Lead but only when you land a hit. When he’s enflamed or teleporting or you’re stuck in his flame pillars, the battle can go south pretty quickly. Crash Man may be erratic and dangerous with his timed mines, but the Air Shooter takes care of him pretty quickly. Flash Man is also quite easy, especially with the Metal Blade or Crash Bomber that obliterate him before he can even think of freezing you in place with Time Stopper. But Quick Man…he was a tough one the first time. It’s very helpful to farm ammo for the Time Stopper as a fully charged shot will drain half his health, then it’s just a case of timing your Crash Bomber shots, which can be tough as he hops about and fires a lot of projectiles.

When tackling Dr. Wily’s fortified fortress, you’ll rematch all eight Robot Masters before taking on the mad scientist. This time, they’re fought in bland arenas and drop large Health Capsules upon defeat, plus you have all the Special Weapons so they’re much simpler in the rematches. Before you can get to them, you must best four additional boss battles. First up is the Mecha Dragon, which chases you across an empty void, forcing you to hop to small blocks to avoid being one-shotted, then breathes fire plumes and fireballs at you. Fortunately, the Quick Boomerang cuts this beast down, but it’s still easy to fall to your death from knockback. Next, you battle Picopico-kun, which is essentially the walls and floor of a small arena coming to life to attack you, but they’re easily bested with the Bubble Lead. Guts Man returns as the mammoth Guts Tank, a large sprite that tests the game engine’s performance and spits both projectiles and Neo Metalls, as well as attacking with its large fists. By hopping onto its base and making liberal use of the Quick Boomerang, you can bring this foe down without too much trouble, however. The Boobeam Trap is a little tricker, though, especially if you haven’t got full Crash Bomber ammo. You need to destroy the walls protecting the five turrets, so you need all your Crash Bomber ammo for this; you also need to dodge the flurry of projectiles each first, too (though you can rapidly pause to glitch through them). Once you’ve cleared these challenges, you’ll face a two-phase battle against Dr. Wily’s newest machine. In the first phase, he fires projectiles in a low arc; hop over them and target the cockpit with the Crash Bomber or Atomic Fire and he’ll be exposed, adding a more sporadic bouncing shot to his arsenal. After enough hits, Dr. Wily retreats and transforms into an alien that saps your health on contact. The alien flies about firing easy-to-dodge projectiles and is vulnerable only to the Bubble Lead. With patience and well-timed attacks, Dr. Wily’s simulation (and plans for world domination) will be ended and he’ll be left begging for mercy once more.

Additional Features:
The Mega Man Legacy Collection offers twenty-four Achievements, with one being awarded when you complete Mega Man 2. Alongside numerous display options (such as applying borders and filters), the Legacy Collection offers a character database, production art, and sound test for the game. You can also take on tough, time-based challenges for additional Achievements in the game’s “Challenge Mode”, which tasks you beating remixed stages from Mega Man 2, tackling the Robot Masters once more, and taking on challenges set by the developers to prove your mastery of the game. Completing challenges unlocks yet more of these tests, with Mega Man 2’s stages and bosses being remixed into others alongside gauntlets. Otherwise, you may wish to return to Mega Man 2 to tackle the “Difficult” mode, where enemies have altered attack patterns, Mega Man’s attacks deal less damage, and the Robot Masters have more health.

The Summary:
There’s a good reason why Mega Man 2 is considered one of the best of the classic Mega Man games. It takes everything that worked in the previous game and expands upon it, adding new abilities to Mega Man’s arsenal (if not his base moves), more visual variety, and an absolutely kick-ass soundtrack. The difficulty may be cranked up a little, but the game does compensate for this: the password system, for one, and a slightly more linear progression system where the player doesn’t have to worry about backtracking. Unfortunately, you can still hit a wall if you don’t challenge the stages and Robot Masters with the right Special Weapons. My first time through, I couldn’t get past Quick Man and ended up starting over and saving him for last, for example. Insta-death hazards are far more aggravating this time around; those laser beams offer no quarter, forcing you to drain your Time Stopper ammo to survive and then farm mech-riding Sniper Joes to replenish it enough to battle Cut Man. Though the Legacy Collection mitigates a lot of these issues, I do wonder how gamers survived Mega Man 2’s challenge back in the day. While the stages are much richer and more detailed and I appreciate the added emphasis on story and the new enemy sprites, I think Mega Man 2 played things a little too “safe”. Sure, it’s technically bigger and runs a lot better and the visuals are tweaked and improved, but it feels like Mega Man was a proof of concept for this game, and this is simply Mega Man 1.5, adding minor improvements here and there. There are no additional playable characters, for example, and the stages didn’t feel longer or much more than expansions on what came before. I think I’d rather play Mega Man 2 than the original, for sure, though. It feels much more refined and laid the foundation for the games that followed and has earned its reputation. But, by repeating a lot of the same beats of the first game, I feel it doesn’t deserve to be rated any higher than its predecessor, despite being a noticeable improvement.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy the improvements made to Mega Man 2 back in the day? Do you also consider it to be one of the best of the classics or do you prefer a different entry? What order did you tackle the game’s stages and which Robot Master gave you the most trouble? What did you think to the game’s difficulty and the new Special Weapons? Were you surprised when you fought an alien in the finale? How are you celebrating the science-fiction genre this month? Whatever your thoughts and memories of Mega Man 2, please leave them below and be sure to check out my other Mega Man reviews across the site!

January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history, “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 and Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000’s birthday on January 12. Accordingly, I’m dedicating January to celebrating sci-fi with an event I call “Sci-Fanuary”.

Released: 24 August 2015
Originally Released: 17 December 1987
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Original Developer: Capcom
Also Available For: GameCube, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series S

The Background:
Prior to 1987, Capcom was primarily known for their arcade titles and Mega Man (or “Rockman” as it was known in Japan) was specifically conceived to be their first venture into the home console market, which was seeing a resurgence thanks to Nintendo’s efforts. Inspired by Astro Boy (Tezuka, 1952 to 1968), artist Keiji Inafune designed Mega Man’s iconic, chibi­-style look that was absolutely butchered when Mega Man released in the United States. Mega Man was developed by a team of only six people and incorporated a “rock, paper, scissors” methodology to its bosses, which would be vulnerable to specific weapons. Despite its reputation as one of the hardest videogames of its era, Mega Man received critical acclaim. It’s widely regarded as one of the all-time NES classics, largely because of the challenge involved, and spawned a popular and sprawling series of videogames, comic books, and cartoons over the following decades. Over the years, Mega Man has been re-released several times: it was completely remade for the SEGA Mega Drive in 1994, rebuilt into a 2.5D PlayStation Portable-exclusive title in 2006, and finally came to modern consoles alongside its first five sequels with this Legacy Collection release, which included quality of life features and additional bonuses to celebrate the long-running series. 

The Plot:
In the year 20XX, the kindly Doctor Thomas Light’s robots are turned into malevolent “Robot Masters” by Dr. Light’s rival, Doctor Albert Wily. In response to this threat, Dr. Light’s assistant, Rock, volunteers to become the fighting robot Mega Man, defeat the Robot Masters, and confront Dr. Wily in his dangerous robot factory. 

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Mega Man is a 2D, sidescrolling run-and-gun action platformer in which players assume the role of the chibi­ fighting robot Mega Man (despite what the atrocious American box art would have you believe) and blast your way through six levels to track down and defeat the six Robot Masters. You can freely select the order you want to play these levels, but you’ll have a much easier time if you consult an online guide (or the handy cheat sheet that comes with this Legacy Collection version of the game) and tackle the stages in a specific order as Robot Masters are extremely vulnerable to certain weapons so it makes the game a lot easier if you plan out which order you’re going to tackle its levels. The Legacy Collection release lets you pick between the Mega Man and Rockman versions, speed up the gameplay, and freely configure the button layout, but the basic setup is perfectly fine for gameplay. By default, A jumps, X fires your currently equipped weapon, Y enables an autofire function that’s more like a rapid-fire mode, and B does nothing. The Right Bumper brings up the in-game pause menu where you can select different “Special Weapons” to equip to Mega Man’s Mega Buster arm cannon, the Left Bumper allows you to rewind the game if you make a mistake, and you can manually save at any time from the main pause menu. Mega Man is a little limited in his abilities here; you can run, shoot, and jump and shoot and that’s about it. There’s no slide, dash, or wall jumping here, just the basics, but that’s enough to get through most levels if you’re skilled and patient enough. 

However, Mega Man’s abilities increase as you clear stages and defeat the Robot Master. Each victory adds the Robot Master’s signature ability to your Special Weapon list, providing additional means to traverse stages, defeat enemies, and easily dispatch subsequent Robot Masters. Unlike the Mega Buster, the Special Weapons have finite ammo; each has a bar that depletes upon use and you’ll need to pick up blue Weapon Energy capsules to partially or fully refill the meter. Since each Special Weapon has its own ammo, you’ll need to switch between them to fill each up, though smaller Weapon Energy capsules are often dropped by enemies easily defeated with the Mega Buster. Enemies also drop Life Energy cells to refill your health, and you’ll find larger variants of both and the odd extra life hidden in each level, usually near a death trap. Still, six Robot Masters means six Special Weapons: Cut Man’s Rolling Cutter sees you toss out a pair of boomerang-like scissor blades, Elec Man’s Thunder Beam fires electrical bolts above and ahead and is great for clearing large blocks out of your way, and Ice Man’s Ice Slasher fires arrow-shape ice projectiles that can freeze enemies and flame bursts to create temporary platforms. Fire Man’s Fire Storm blasts out a fireball and temporarily protects you with a flaming shield, Bomb Man’s Hyper Bomb sees you throw a large bomb that’s slow and takes a while to explode but deals heavy damage, and Guts Man’s Super Arm allows you to pick up and throw certain blocks. There’s also an additional power-up hidden in Elec Man’s stage; once you have the Thunder Beam or Super Arm, you can clear away the blocks to snag this item, which creates temporary energy platforms. Luckily, you can replay any level at any time to challenge the bosses again or acquire this item if you missed it the first time, and you’ll absolutely need it to clear Dr. Wily’s stages. 

Mega Man is not a game to be taken lightly; every stage is full of bottomless pits, tricky jumps, annoying enemies with erratic attack patterns that respawn the moment you edge off the screen, and other hazards designed to sap your health or whittle away your lives. Every enemy you defeat awards you points, though these appear to be completely useless. If you exhaust all your lives, you can choose to continue as often as you like or return to the stage select screen with all your progress saved, which is helpful, though I’m sure it was exhausting back in the day having to replay the tougher stages right from the start. The Legacy Collection’s rewind feature circumvents that but Mega Man is still tough. You’ll be climbing up and down ladders, hopping to blocks that vanish almost immediately, dropping down shafts and avoiding instant death spikes, and taking out flying enemies to buy yourself enough time to make a jump before the next one pops up. Wall and ceiling turrets, slippery ice in Ice Man’s stage, flame bursts in Fire Man’s stage, electrical currents in Elec Man’s stage, flying platforms that also shoot projectiles, and riding broken tracks on platforms that drop under you in Guts Man’s stage can all be difficult challenges to overcome. Pretty much all these gimmicks are then recycled in Dr. Wily’s gauntlet at the end of the game. Here, you’ll have to plough through four additional stages, each with an abundance of instant death pits and hazards and rematches against the Robot Masters (and battles against other bosses) in even more restricted arenas, which all put your skills to the test. Truthfully, I was always intimidated by Mega Man because of its notorious difficulty, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought, though I wholeheartedly put this down to me making liberal use of the rewind feature. 

Presentation:
Obviously, you’re going to need to temper your expectations for Mega Man; it’s an 8-bit title that originally released on the NES, a console not exactly known for its processing power. Still, everything is bright and colourful here; backgrounds aren’t always the most detailed and Mega Man is a pretty simplistic character sprite, but simple often works best in these types of games. Mega Man has a great deal of personality with his exaggerated head and arm cannon, blinking when left idle, wearing a look of agony when hit, and dramatically exploding into a shower of pixelated circles when killed. Every time you equip a Special Weapon, Mega Man’s sprite changes colour so you know what you have equipped (red for Fire Storm, yellow for Thunder Beam, etc) and he hops around with just the right level of control and dexterity, only really being unwieldy when skidding about in Ice Man’s stage. His hit box is quite large, though, as are those of his enemies, so there’s very little margin for error when battling enemies up close. Additionally, the game struggles a bit when there are a lot of sprites on screen. Screen tearing, sprite flickering, and collectibles quickly disappearing are commonplace and the action will slow down if too many sprites appear at once even with the Legacy Collection’s performance boosters.  

While each level is aesthetically very similar, primarily being composed of a series of mechanical platforms and surfaces, they do have unique elements and colour palettes to separate them. Elec Man’s stage focused more on vertical progression, for example, with different ladder-based routes offering different enemies and hazards to bypass, while Guts Man’s stage takes place in a mine, with mine tracks and a rocky aesthetic punctuating this. Ice Man’s stage is fittingly covered in slippery snow and ice and even features water-based sections where your movement speed is dramatically hampered, and Bomb Man’s stage features large gold spherical buildings in the background. Dr. Wily’s stages are probably the most impressive, with lots of blinking lights and mechanical trappings emphasising the danger of his lair, while boss battles take place in enclosed arenas fitting for their inhabitants. Mega Man’s story is only related in the ending, which shows Mega Man returning home to Dr. Light and shedding his armour, though it includes some of the catchiest bit-tunes of its era, so it’s nice that the Legacy Collection includes the complete soundtrack on the disc. 

Enemies and Bosses:
A whole host of robotic minions will dog your progress in Mega Man, many of which spit projectiles either right at you, in a spread, or in an explosive burst, and some of which even shield against your attacks or can only be destroyed with specific Special Weapons. Enemies like the Bunby Helis, Kamadomas, Mambus, penguin-like Pepes, and Bullet Bill-like Killer Bombs will fly, float, and rocket across the screen to screw up your jumps, turrets sit on walls and ceilings, and the Adhering Suzies make traversing narrow corridors a massive pain as they wander back and forth and up and down. Mega Man so debuts some of the franchise’s most recognisable enemies, the Metall, a little robot who hides under a construction helmet and peeks out to spit projectiles at you, and Sniper Joe, a pistol-firing marksbot who hides behind a shield and requires the use of the Hyper Bomb to defeat. The Hammer Bros.-like Pickelman also carries a shield but tosses an endless supply of pickaxes at you, often hopping between platforms to up their annoyance factor, while spherical Watchers slowly float up and down, shooting projectiles and knocking you from ladders on Elec Man’s stage. Ice Man’s stage is also home to the wacky Crazy Razy, a robot who can detach its head from its body! Many stages also include a sort of mini boss, the Big Eye, a large robot that jumps about trying to crush you. Multiple versions of this enemy are found in Dr. Wily’s stage and they can take a lot of hits to defeat for very little reward, so it’s easier to simply run underneath them when they do a big hop and avoid them entirely. 

Each stage culminates in a battle against one of the six Robot Master’s. Before battling them, you usually have to bypass a Big Eye and a corridor full of enemies, hazards, and a few power-ups before you’re locked into an arena, the awesome boss them kicks in, and the bosses health meter appears onscreen. The difficulty of the Robot Masters is entirely based on what Special Weapons you have on hand. f you don’t have the weapon they’re weak to, they can be quite tough but, with the right weapon equipped, they become a joke. With this in mind, the first Robot Master I fought was Cut Man, who runs and jumps about tossing his boomerang-like scissor blades at you. You can easily avoid this and defeat him with the standard Mega Buster, and then use the Rolling Cutter to decimate Elec Man, whose three-way Thunder Beam is as nothing to this weapon. Similarly, while Ice Man fires three freezing arrow-like projectiles, the Thunder Beam will do him in in no time. His Ice Slasher makes quick work of Fire Man (though he’s still quite tricky thanks to his erratic movements and flaming shield), and the Fire Storm is the best way to take out Bomb Man, who jumps across the arena tossing large bombs. Bomb Man’s Hyper Bomb is the key to taking out Guts Man, who’s probably the most difficult of the six Robot Masters. He causes the screen to shake when he stomps, leaving you stunned, and tosses massive boulders at you, and the Hyper Bomb takes so long to go off that it’s easy to miss your target. All six Robot Masters are fought again in Dr. Wily’s stage, in new arenas with less room to manoeuvre, though you can simply use the same tactics to defeat them. 

Alongside facing off with the six Robot Masters in Dr. Wily’s stage, you’ll also battle three other boss robots before confronting the mad scientist himself. The first of these is the now iconic Yellow Devil, a massive blob-like monstrosity that can dismantle itself to appear on either side of the arena. These blocks can be difficult to avoid, even with the rewind feature, and you only get a split second to attack its one, small weak spot (the eye, which also fires shots at you) before it dismantles itself again. Thankfully, there’s a brilliant exploit where you equip the Thunder Beam, fire it at the Yellow Devil’s eye, and rapidly pause and unpause the game as the shot hits its target, which will obliterate this boss in record time. Next, you must face an exact duplicate of Mega Man, who copies whatever weapon you have equipped and has all the same abilities as you. I found the best method was to equip the Fire Storm, hop over his attacks, and blast away, whittling down the doppelgänger’s health with the weapon’s shield ability. Finally, you’ll battle a series of CWU-01P robots underwater; these appear from one of three parts of the arena, rotate in a clockwise pattern, and are shielded by a bubble. You’ll need to jump over them and blast at their central cores to destroy them, though they get faster and faster the more you destroy. Once you’ve triumphed, you’ll face off with Dr. Wily, who attaches his flying saucer to a gigantic machine that slowly lumbers side to side firing projectiles in an arc that can be as hard to avoid as the machine’s hit box. Equip Fire Storm again and attack the giant gun arm on the front to expose Dr. Wily and begin the second phase, where the machine fires balls of energy in a spiral pattern. The weak spot is now on the top of the craft, so equip the Thunder Beam and blast away, doing your best to not get boxed into a corner, and you’ll soon have Dr. Wily begging for mercy. 

Additional Features:
There are twenty-four Achievements available in Mega Man Legacy Collection, with one awarded specifically for beating this game. In addition to different display options (including borders and filters), the Legacy Collection allows you to view a character database and production art and take on a series of tough, time-based challenges for additional Achievements. “Challenge Mode” gives you six minutes and thirty seconds to conquer remixed stages from this game, five minutes and thirty seconds to defeat the Yellow Devil, and battle all six Robot Masters in a boss rush without the use of Special Weapons. The more challenges you complete, the more you’ll unlock, including additional remixes of Mega Man’s stages and even gauntlets where you play through multiple Mega Man titles and against the game’s bosses against stricter time limits. Otherwise, there’s not much else to return to in the base game. There’s no high score table so it’s a bit pointless to try and outdo your higher score, though it’s a fun enough game to play through again so you can always come back for that (and for the nostalgia factor). 

The Summary:
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Mega Man series, despite never really playing any of the games. Until I got the Legacy Collection games, I’d only finished one Mega Man title and I’d always wanted to play more but was put off by the difficulty factor. Thankfully, the Legacy Collection includes a rewind and save state feature, making Mega Man much more accessible to someone like me, who grew up playing SEGA’s consoles and largely avoided some of Nintendo’s more infamously difficult titles. I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed Mega Man; I can see how it would be frustrating and tricky to play through without modern quality of life features, though the infinite continues and various hidden checkpoints throughout the stages is a benefit. While the levels are mainly defined by a few gimmicks and their steadily increasing difficulty, I liked the freedom of choice on offer. You can make the game much harder or easier depending on which order to take on the Robot Masters and nothing ever felt spitefully unfair, with hazards and enemies being a question of trial and error more than aggravation. Mega Man is a visually appealing character and I enjoyed utilising his Special Weapons, especially to cut through the Robot Masters, who also exhibit a lot of personality in their little introductory cutscenes. Dr. Wily’s final barrage of stages and bosses is a definite uphill battle but exploits and memorisation definitely swing things in your favour, and I was really enjoying the jaunty tunes that peppered the game’s stages. There’s some additional challenge and replay value added in the Legacy Collection version with the time trials and boss gauntlets, which will test seasoned players, so I’d absolutely recommend picking up this collection to experience the most accessible version of this original game. 

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Was Mega Man a staple of your NES library back in the day or did you first play it on a different console? Which order did you tackle the game’s stages in and did you also have to replay Elec Man’s stage for the Magnet Beam as I did? Which of the Robot Masters and Mega Man’s Special Weapons was your favourite? What did you think to the difficulty of the game and the quality of life features included in this version? Which Mega Man game is your favourite and would you like to see more titles released in the franchise? How are you celebrating all things science-fiction this month? Whatever your thoughts and memories of Mega Man, feel free to leave them below and be sure to check out my other Mega Man reviews across the site!