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: 5 November 1993
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:
Capcom made a successful debut on the home console market with the notoriously difficult Mega Man (known as “Rockman” in Japan), a widely praised run-and-gun that spawned numerous, equally celebrated sequels and spin-offs that dominated Nintendo’s consoles. By 1993, Capcom were busy working on bringing Mega Man to the industry-defining Super Nintendo and series artist Keiji Inafune worked hard to come up with new, innovative gameplay mechanics for the Blue Bomber’s sixth 8-bit outing. As before, the game’s Robot Masters were designed by fans, though two were the result of North American submissions and the implementation of the Robot Masters caused some issues for the overworked Inafune. Despite being the last Mega Man title released for the NES, Capcom decided not to publish it outside of Japan, so Nintendo of America handled that aspect. Regarded by some as the best of the original six Mega Man titles, Mega Man 6 has been widely praised despite sticking to the series formula and including some cheesier elements. Mega Man 6 has enjoyed many re-releases over the years and was naturally a part of this Legacy Collection release, which included quality of life features and additional bonuses.

The Plot:
A year after defeating Doctor Albert Wily, the Global Robot Alliance organises the First Annual Robot Tournament to determine the world’s strongest peacekeeping robot. When the mysterious “Mr. X” attacks with eight Robot Masters, the super fighting robot Mega Man to intervenes.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
For his final NES appearance, Mega Man delivers one last 2D, run-and-gun action/platformer that pits him against another batch of eight Robot Masters. Although you can challenge the bosses stages in any order, it’s best to tackle them according to the cheat sheet provided with the Legacy Collection (or an online guide) as each Robot Master has a specific weakness. Mega Man 6 also includes more branching or alternative paths than any previous Mega Man title, with each of the initial eight stages featuring two paths that lead to their boss. Although you’ll still battle the Robot Master and obtain their Special Weapon upon victory, only one of these two routes gives you one of the four Beat Parts to utilise Beat, Mega Man’s robotic bird helper. You can replay any of the previous stages to acquire ones you’ve missed but will lose this ability once all eight Robot Masters are defeated. Mega Man 6 adds nothing new to Mega Man’s basic controls: you’ll jump with X, sliding under enemies, projectiles, and through narrow corridors with down and X, fire your Mega Muster with A (holding A to charge the shot), and rapidly fire with Y. The Legacy Collection allows you to tweak these controls, if required, rewind the game, create save states, and apply special borders and filters to the game. Although the Mystery Tank is gone, you’ll still grab E-Tanks to refill your health and 1-Ups, health and weapon energy from enemies or scattered about the levels, and be gifted these power-ups whenever your robot ally, Eddie, appears. You’ll find more of these by taking alternative paths or utilising the Flame Blast or Mega Man’s new Rush Power Adapter to melt or destroy certain blocks, respectively, and open new paths.

Yes, while Rush does appear whenever you select one of the two Adapter forms, the little robotic canine can no longer be summoned to aid you. Instead, Mega Man fuses with Rush to gain a powerful set of armour that fires a shorter, but far stronger shot. Alternatively, Mega Man also gains a super useful jetpack, perfect to flying to ladders, platforms, or hovering over spikes. These two forms are tied to a meter that limits how much you can use them, but you don’t need to collect energy to fill it (though you lose the ability to slide when using Rush Adapters). Once again, Capcom are hardly thinking outside the box with Mega Man’s Special Weapons, but I appreciated that the Flame Blast and Rush Power Adapter were used to reach new areas and it’s extremely useful to use Centaur Flash to attack all onscreen enemies or Plant Barrier to gain a shield. Personally, I prefer to save the Special Weapons for the boss battles, so I largely relied on the Mega Buster and charged shot, though the speed of the Yamato Spear was appreciated and it’s always useful to hit airborne or oddly placed enemies with the likes of the Silver Tomahawk and Blizzard Attack. Like Mega Man 5’s Water Wave and Charge Kick, the Wind Storm and Flame Burst are great for attacking smaller enemies that rush across the ground, while the Knight Crush’s boomerang-like arc can deal extra hits if shot correctly. Sadly, they’re all way too familiar at this point and still don’t mix up the gameplay mechanics. Rather than expanding upon the Marine Bike and Super Arrows, Mega Man 6 removes them. You do have to hit Pookers with a charged shot to flip them into rideable platforms, but that’s not as fun as the fast-paced sidescrolling shooting offered by the Marine Bike. As mentioned, Beat also returns and is just as difficult to obtain. His ability to battle alongside you explains this, but it was annoying not being able to utilise him without a guide.

Mega Man 6 also plays it safe when it comes to stage hazards and level design. Sure, the spikes all have a different appearance in each stage and it’s fun to discover new areas, but you’ll encounter the same bottomless pits, disappearing and reappearing blocks, moving platforms, and tricky platforming challenges here (though the Rush Jet makes it much easier to bypass some of these). However, there are some new and clever mechanics to encounter here. Flame Man’s stage is filled with oil that slows you down and bursts into insta-kill flames when ignited by enemy fire. Blizzard Man’s stage also slows you down with snow and sees you skidding about on ice, making jumping to ice columns and platforms a genuine concern. Knight Man’s stage includes a large set of ceiling spikes that threatens to crush or skewer you and bouncy gears that pinball you about, Centaur Man has underwater sections (including a part where you must time your jumps according to the rising/falling water to avoid spikes and pits), and Wind Man’s stage features propellers that enhance your jump and are used to clear gaps and reach ladders and platforms. Many of these gimmicks are recycled for Mr. X (not that one) and Dr. Wily’s stages, with a falling block bridge, reliance on the Rush Jet, flipping spiked platforms, fan enemies that blow you into spikes, hidden drops, and a lack of energy refills making these, fittingly and as usual, the most challenging stages. Each time you clear a stage, you get a password (made redundant by the Legacy Collection), though I found enemies dropped health and weapon energy far less frequently than before, which can make Mega Man 6 tricky at times.

Presentation:
It remains a constant disappointment that, six games in, Mega Man’s sprite remains unchanged since Mega Man 3 (Capcom, 1990), with his sprite simply changing colour whenever he has a Special Weapon equipped, dramatically exploding when killed, and striking a pose when he defeats a Robot Master. I suppose this isn’t entirely true as Mega Man does get a new sprite when using the Rush Adapters, but I would’ve liked to see more detail, a proper idle animation, and a revised sprite to match with the far more detailed backgrounds and environments. As in Mega Man 5, Mega Man 6 uses its resources wisely, limiting the onscreen enemies to reduce (but not eliminate) slowdown and screen tearing and transitioning to a plain black background whenever larger sprites appear. Sadly, Mega Man 6 is a bit of a step back from Mega Man 5 when it comes to narrative; the introduction features large sprite art, but it’s all static and you’ll only see it animate in the game’s ending. However, the stage introductions are vastly improved, now displaying stats for each Robot Master (though not their weaknesses) and a big, animated Mega Man sprite is showcased when you obtain a Special Weapon, with my call for a visual representation of the weapon’s abilities being answered. While Proto Man, Roll, and Doctor Thomas Light are all absent, there is a sprite-based cutscene revealing that Dr. Wily was the true mastermind behind the recent robo rampage and Robot Masters are accompanied by ominous lighting when they drop into their arenas. The more detailed Capcom logo also returns, as do instances of moving foregrounds and backgrounds that appear to be a version of parallax scrolling, though they’re used sparingly (as are instances of flickering lights in the background).

The music is, again, top-notch, if hardly anything groundbreaking. What did surprise me was just how far the environments have come since the franchise’s basic early days. Again, this is why I feel the series would’ve benefitted from releasing games every two years or so, to give the developers time to figure out the NES hardware limitations and combine some of their ideas to appear more innovative with less games. Flame Man’s stage is a veritable oil field, but with an Oriental flavour to the background; I loved the gimmick of the oil igniting and wish the game had done more with it. Blizzard Man’s stage takes place in the snowy mountain peaks, featuring platforms that’ll explode under you if you’re not careful, meltable walls, and a really fun and impressive section where you carefully platform across a submarine, avoiding the spikes overhead and below. Plant Man’s stage was the most visually impressive for me thanks to the dense forest in the background. Enemies even dropped from the trees and hopped out of grass, which was really surprising, and the stage included some quirky springy parts to mix things up. Tomahawk Man’s stage has a distinctly Wild West theme, featuring cacti and a beautiful sunset in the background, while Yamato Man’s is themed more around Japan, featuring a large mountain and traditional architecture, and Knight Man’s is, as you might guess, themed around a medieval castle and dungeon. Centaur Man’s stage is more inspired by Ancient Greece or Atlantis, featuring columns and ruins and animated water, while Wind Man’s stage sees you traversing a cluttered mechanical tower. Mr. X and Dr. Wily’s stages are the usual mishmash of garish colours and mechanical trappings, though Mr. X’s impressed with a surprisingly detailed futuristic city and moon-lit night sky in the background. Being able to see through windows and Dr. Wily’s mixed and matched enemies and hazards from previous stages create another visually interesting obstacle course, though one boasting alternative paths.

Enemies and Bosses:
As you might expect, some of Mega Man’s more iconic enemies return in Mega Man 6, such as Sniper Joes now piloting massive cannons, though the Metall’s adopt a disappointingly back to basics approach. You will encounter giant Metall dispensers a few times and one pilots a mech suit in Dr. X’s third stage, but there are now fun new variants and even giant versions here. Slightly tweaked versions of the Dachone, Shield Attacker, shielded Tatepakkan cannon all appear; the Fire Boy is somewhat similar to the Hothead enemies in that they toss fireballs; drill tanks still charge towards you; and you’ll even encounter an evil version of Beat, Peat. Robotic seals, tanukis, pandas, cowboys, fish, bugs, and pelicans (which drop robot fish) make up the quirky list of enemies you’ll face. Skull-faced jumpers, erratic anthropomorphic springs, and speedy curling stones also appear alongside larger enemies. You’ll encounter a few robotic squids that fire homing missiles and ice blocks, brutish Power Slams try to crush you with a boosted jump, clouds transform to submarines, and samurai-like guardians deflect your shot with their spear and toss projectiles. Naturally, the largest enemies act as mini bosses; you’ll destroy a few Metall dispensers, as mentioned, which are more an inconvenience than anything. Gamarn and Gamadayu are a bit tougher in that the large mechanical frog fires lasers from its mouth and his little pilot tosses bombs, but they’re a largely stationary target. Not so for the Gorilla Tanks, which trundle along on tank-like treadmills and spit a spread shot as well as firing their fists at you. All these mini bosses are notably weak to the Flame Blast, though you’ll have to target the Gorilla Tanks’ eyes to take them out.

As ever, Mega Man 6’s latest Robot Masters are fought in enclosed arenas and generally jump about firing their Special Weapon. Like in Mega Man 5, Robot Masters seem to take more hits than in previous games, offering a bit more challenge even when hitting them with their weakness. All are fought a second time, in more generic settings, in Dr. Wily’s fortress and, as ever, their difficulty depends on which Special Weapons you have. I went for Flame Man first, who not only causes flame pillars to burst from the ground but also launches a fireball. The Mega Buster works on him very well, though the Wind Storm is obviously even better. His Flame Blast makes short work of Blizzard Man, who’s fought outside for a change and is invulnerable when charging in his ball form. His Blizzard Attack, which summons snowflake projectiles, is the best way to wilt Plant Man, who utilises a very familiar barrier that both protects him and acts as a projectile. You’ll need to time your Blizzard Attack to hit him in the small window when he’s vulnerable, and similarly time your own Plant Barrier when facing Tomahawk Man, who not only tosses his directional Silver Tomahawk but also fires feathers at you. Yamato Man is a bit nimbler and more versatile, defending himself with his lance and flinging his signature Yamato Spear straight ahead or in a spread. This fast-paced attack obliterates Knight Man, who’s mace/boomerang-like Knight Crusher equally crushes the life out of Centaur Man. Possibly the most creative Robot Master up to this point (at least visually), Centaur Man teleports about and fires an easily avoidable spread shot but will briefly freeze you with the Time Stopper-like Centaur Flash. This Special Weapon makes a joke of Wind Man, who desperately tries to suck you in and fires propeller-like projectiles only to fall with a few hits. When fought again in Dr. Wily’s castle, you’ll again have to endure only having your health refilled after each bout, hence why I like to conserve my Special Weapon usage in stages.

Like Mega Man 5, you’ll have to tackle Dr. X’s four stages, three guardian robots, and the madman himself to unmask the game’s true evil genius. First, you’re pitted against two upgraded Rounders; these spherical craft loop around a track dropping small bombs and are tricky to hit with the Heat Blast. The Power Piston is a much easier target, though you’ll need to position yourself just right so the Silver Tomahawk arcs into it while also avoiding its spread shot and the falling boulders. Although it looks intimidating and fires a big, bouncy shot, the Metonger Z is easily felled by the Blizzard Attack. The X Crusher can be much more challenging as it’s a huge wrecking ball sprite with an equally large hit box; it sways back and forth and drops a purple shot like the one used in Mega Man 5’s finale. However, if you stay in one corner, time your jumps, and attack with the Flame Burst, he’ll be toast soon enough. Dr. Wily’s fortress houses the huge (but entirely stationary) Mechazaurus, perhaps the franchise’s biggest and most impressive boss so far. It’s no slouch, either; you must avoid its fireballs and hop on quick moving platforms fired from its torso to shoot its eyes with the Yamato Spear, which can get quite hectic. The Tank CSII is much easier, despite being a moving target; simply avoid its small and big shots and blast its centre mass with Wind Storm. Your final confrontation with Dr. Wily is a three-phase battle that first seems him trying to crush you in a gigantic skull ship that’s also got a massive hit box. All you need to do is slide to safety and pelt it with the Knight Crusher or Silver Tomahawk, though I’d save that for the third phase. After enough hits, the cockpit is damaged and the ship moves more erratically, relying more on its large spiral shots, but the strategy remains the same. Finally, Dr. Wily again teleports about in his UFO craft and blasting you with four spiral shots. But this is probably the easiest final battle against him as you just pelt him with the Silver Tomahawk and he’ll soon be begging for mercy and finally locked up for good.

Additional Features:
Twenty-four Achievements are up for grabs in the Mega Man Legacy Collection and you’ll snag one for completing this game, and another for beating all six Mega Man games. Alongside the usual display options on offer, you can enable a turbo mode, play the Japanese version of the games, browse a concept and character art museum, and listen to the soundtrack. If you fancy an additional challenge and some more Achievements, you can check out the appropriately named “Challenge Mode”, where remixed stages from all six Mega Man games offer timed challenges. Challenges specific to Mega Man 6 are also included to test your skills, though the only real replay value offered by Mega Man 6 is again in replaying stages to find the secret exits and acquire Beat.

The Summary:
Mega Man certainly finished up his NES days with a bang. While, on the surface, Mega Man 6 is much of the same as before, offering only a few additional features and even missing or not expanding on mechanics from Mega Man 5, it’s astounding how much more detailed the game’s environments have become compared to the first game. While it’s disappointing that Mega Man’s sprite hasn’t evolved all that much, the more detailed sprite art and animations between stages and the new Jet Adapters make up for this. I missed Jet Marine and the Marine Bike, but I loved having a jetpack and the power armour and that they didn’t consume energy when used. As ever, Capcom could’ve done more with these, but it was great seeing them be necessary to access alternative paths and giving you a reason to switch to Special Weapons in stages. While the Robot Masters aren’t all that special, they’re visually very quirky, much like the beautiful stages, and I really enjoyed how big and outrageous some of the boss machines were. It’s a shame we never got a resolution to the Proto Man storyline here, or got to play as him, and that Mega Man 6 focuses more on action than narrative, but the gameplay experience was really solid, with some fun gimmicks. Again, I do think the 8-bit games would’ve been better served releasing further apart and in fewer numbers but Mega Man 6 shows how powerful the NES could be at times and offers a fair bit of innovation compared to some of its predecessors, and even sneakily teases that the series will continue by the end.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Do you think Mega Man went out with a bang with Mega Man 6? What did you think to the new Rush Adapter mechanics? Were you disappointed that the game didn’t better expand on Mega Man 5’s gimmicks? Which of the Robot Masters was your favourite to fight against? Did you guess that Dr. Wily was behind everything again? Were you impressed by the greater level of detail in the stages? How are you celebrating the science-fiction genre this month? Whatever you think about Mega Man 6, comment below and go check out my many other Mega Man reviews.

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: 4 December 1992
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 sought to move away from producing arcade titles and debut on the revitalised home console market with Mega Man (or “Rockman” in Japan), an Astro Boy (Tezuka, 1952 to 1968)-inspired run-and-gun title notorious for its difficulty. Although widely praised and regarded as an NES classic, Mega Man wasn’t successful enough to justify an immediate sequel and, even though Mega Man 2 (Capcom, 1988) vastly improved the gameplay mechanics and was equally lauded, it took two years for the similarly praised (and challenging) Mega Man 3 (ibid, 1990) to drop. This success was seemingly enough to convince Capcom of the franchise’s popularity and Mega Man 4 released just one year later, earning notable praise and setting a new standard for the series. Mega Man 5 was spearheaded by artist Keiji Inafune, who had had major involvement in the previous games and sought to make the game more accessible by lowering the difficulty. In an effort to spice up the gameplay loop, the developers powered Mega Man up considerably, revising development documents from Mega Man 3 to create Beat and again turning to fans to submit designs for the new Robot Masters. Staying on-trend for the franchise, Mega Man 5 was highly praised for its graphics, music, and controls despite continued criticisms of the franchise’s lack of innovation. Like its predecessors, Mega Man 5 has been re-released on multiple consoles, including the Legacy Collection release that bolstered the gameplay with numerous quality of life features and additional bonuses.

The Plot:
Shortly after his last defeat, Doctor Albert Wily strikes back by ordering Proto Man to lead the newest batch of Robot Masters in conquering the world. Aided by his new robotic companion, Beat. the super fighting robot Mega Man heads out to confront his brother and defeat Dr. Wily once more.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Mega Man 5 continues in the same spirit as its predecessors, being a 2D, sidescrolling, run-and-gun action/platformer that sees you back in the role of the super fighting robot, Mega Man, and taking on eight new Robot Masters. These await at the end of eight themed stages, which can be tackled in any order. However, since each Robot Master has a specific weakness, it’s better to take them on in the right order to have the correct Special Weapon on hand. While online guides help with this, the Legacy Collection provides a helpful cheat sheet to point you in the right direction, alongside full customisation of the game’s controls. Not that you really need this as Mega Man 5 is nice and simple to play: you fire your Mega Buster or currently equipped Special Weapon with X, holding the button to charge your Mega Buster for additional damage, and utilising a rapid auto-fire function with Y. A is your jump button; holding it lets you jump higher and you’ll also jump higher in Star Man’s stage due to the lower gravity and the second of Dr. Wily’s stages when underwater. Pressing down and A lets you slide under projectiles, jumping enemies, and through tunnels, often to goodies but sometimes to insta-death spikes or bottomless pits. Pressing the ‘Menu’ button pauses the game and lets you select a Special Weapon, Item, or use an E-Tank to fully restore your health or the new Mystery Tank (M-Tank) for one of three helpful bonuses (filling all your energy, granting an extra life, or turning all weak enemies onscreen into 1-Ups). The ‘View’ button brings up the Legacy Collection menu, allowing you to create or load a save state and apply filters, borders, or enable turbo functions, while the Left Bumper lets you rewind the game if you make a mistake.

While Mega Man’s Special Weapons are somewhat similar to those found in the previous games, I actually found them to be a little more creative and versatile this time around. The Star Crash surrounds you with stars that act as a shield; you’ll lose one each time you’re attacked and can fling them directly ahead with X. Gravity Hold damages all onscreen enemies then sends them hurtling to the ceiling, while the propeller-like Gyro Attack can be briefly redirected once shot to attack airborne enemies. The Crystal Eye fires a big, slow, powerful shot that explodes on impact; the Napalm Bomb bounces a couple of times before exploding; and the Power Stone has three stones circle out from you, damaging anything that they touch. Easily the most useful Special Weapons were the Charge Kick (which adds an attack to your slide and makes you immune to some hazards) and the Water Wave (which sends waterspouts across the ground) simply because they destroy smaller enemies on the ground, like the Mousubeils and Subeils. Defeating Star Man also gifts the Super Arrow, a plunger-like projectile that sticks to walls and creates temporary platforms for you to clamber up. You also start the game with the Rush Coil, which summons Mega Man’s robotic canine companion, Rush, to spring you to higher areas, and acquire the Rush Jet to fly across gaps (no Rush Marine submarine this time, though). Mega Man’s little helper robot Eddie also pops up in stages to chuck power-ups your way and each stage also hides one of eight letters. Collect them all to spell out MEGAMANV and acquire Beat, a little robot bird that attacks anything in sight. If you miss one of the letters, you can replay the stage from the Stage Select menu to get it and this is highly advisable since Beat is very useful against the game’s bosses. One thing I did enjoy was the Marine Bike in Wave Man’s stage, which finally mixes up the gameplay by turning it into an autoscrolling shooter where you blast at marine enemies and hop over them as they come from left and right.

Many of the same stage hazards and designs return from the previous games, as you’d expect. Insta-kill spikes are commonplace, both across the ground and down vertical shafts (though each stage sports their unique variant now), as are bottomless pits, meaning you still have to take care when jumping to platforms. Disappearing and reappearing blocks compound these issues, as do moving platforms and narrow columns. Sometimes, you’ll need to use Rush or your Super Arrow to clear gaps and little buzzsaws run along turning gears or small platforms to keep you on your toes. Stages also sport new gimmicks, though, such as a meteor storm in Star Man’s stage, the aforementioned Marine Bike that also sees you battling a giant robot octopus, and a fun gravity gimmick in Gravity Man’s stage that has you running across the ceiling and pressing up to use ladders or your slide. Swinging maces, steam bursts, and rushing water are also present, as are erratic moving platforms that fling you towards spikes and mean you have to think about when to jump. Gyro Man’s stage sees the foreground act as a lift to higher ground, while Proto Man’s fourth stage sees you blasting stone blocks to cause the environment to drop down. Similarly, Dr. Wily’s first stage features a lowering ceiling that will crush you if you’re not careful, while Chase Man’s stage has you running across the rooftop of a speeding train. You’ll also ride bubbles to higher ground and be flung around in tubes in Wave Man’s stage, following snake-like temporary paths in Proto Man’s stage, dodge falling crystals in Crystal Man’s sparkling caves, and take out giant drills in Napalm Man’s underground caves. Overall, while a lot of Mega Man 5’s gimmicks are familiar, there’s finally enough variety and accessibility to make the game challenging but enjoyable and a significant step up from its predecessors.

Presentation:
Mega Man remains unchanged from his last few entries; he still changes colour with each Special Weapon and barely has an idle animation. He does have a dramatic new animation when acquiring each Special Weapon and is showcased spinning around and transforming into his new colour scheme each time (though it would’ve been nice to see an animation demonstrating what the Special Weapon does). Enemy sprites continue to improve, being more outlandish and cartoonish than ever, and the game smartly loads a plain black background for the larger enemies to avoid unnecessary slowdown and screen tearing. These do still crop up but they’re nowhere near as prevalent as previous games; mostly, the game either limits how many sprites appear onscreen at once or renders them far better, though instances will still occur. Mega Man 5 really ups the focus on story, featuring a greater mixture of in-game sprites and larger, anime-style sprite art to tell the story of Proto Man’s attack and Doctor Thoms Light’s abduction. Confrontations between Mega Man and Proto Man, and Dr Wily, are brought to life by the surprisingly expressive in-game sprites and the use of text and text boxes perfectly convey what’s going on, even if Proto Man’s true motives remain a mystery. The developers’ experience with the NES, its hardware, and limitations also saw them craft a more detailed Capcom logo for the opening credits and have some backgrounds move with you in a version of parallax scrolling, as well as blinking lights and flickering effects (most notable in Crystal Man’s stage).

Mega Man 5 is a top contender for best music in the series so far, I’d say. Every stage has a jaunty, catchy theme that goes perfectly with the action and rivals even Mega Man 2 for its appeal. Stages also feel much bigger and are noticeably visually superior to the game’s predecessors. Every stage includes multiple areas, changing significantly as you progress, to showcase Dr. Wily’s influence on the natural landscape. Star Man’s stage has the most detailed night-time sky so far, including stars, the Moon, and giant satellite dishes ahead of a more mechanical, colourful interior. Gravity Man’s stage is highly mechanical, with blinking and flickering tech in the background and a garish colour scheme, but also sporting arrows to show where the gravity gimmick takes effect. Gyro Man’s stage is up in the clouds on some kind of airship; propellers appear in the foreground and the pulsating clouds obscure enemies and platforms to keep you on your toes. Crystal Man’s stage is a beautiful crystal and glass mine, Napalm Man’s is a thick, luscious jungle (where the trees and grass sway with a background wind effect), and Stone Man’s stage is a mixture of rock, metal, and scaffolding. Chase Man’s stage is probably the most impressive stage, starting in a train yard and progressing to have to jump across train carriages, battling inside them, hopping over logs and crates, and even sporting a screen jump to simulate the train going over tracks! Wave Man’s station is a dam or pumping station, featuring tubes, bubbles, and waterfalls ahead of your race across the waves, while Proto Man’s fortress is themed after a medieval castle. Dr. Wily’s fortress is much the same as you’d expect, being an ugly mishmash of colours, pipes, and technology, but it’s suitable ominous and the obligatory teleporter pods now shatter after the defeat the Robot Masters within.

Enemies and Bosses:
A few of Mega Man’s most persistent and iconic enemies return in Mega Man 5, again tweaked with fun new attack patterns and variants. The Metalls are here, of course, hiding behind their helmets and firing triple shots at you. They’ll split into smaller minions when destroyed, man giant cannons, swim about with snorkels, fly about in spacesuits and with jetpacks, and even drive mini trains! The “Joe” enemies also return, now tossing crystal projectiles, piloting attack helicopters, and riding their own Marine Bikes. The Shield Attacker enemy also returns, though you still get around behind it to destroy it, and you’ll encounter somewhat familiar robots that throw bombs or rocks at you. New enemies include a fat chicken that constantly spawns little robot chicks, an ape-like variant that fires homing missiles, two variations of a robotic tiger that pounce at you, a little cannon that hides behind a shield, a catapult-like robot that launches rocks, and weird little vacuum-cleaner-like robots that hover over spikes. One of the more common enemies is the Power Muscler, a large pink or green robot that leaps at you and tries to squash you and is usually easier to slide past than battle. You’ll also have to contend with robots that detach their heads, aerial craft that carpet bomb you, little spherical robots that extend their spiked heads, robotic dolphins, and ballistic missiles that send shrapnel flying. Your fun little aside on the Marine Bike is also interrupted by the Octoper OA, a giant robot octopus that fires shots from its cannon-like nose and which can only be destroyed by shooting the cyan oval on its head.

Mega Man 5’s new Robot Masters are very similar to their predecessors, being fought in enclosed arenas and favouring jumping about and firing their signature weapon, and each are fought again in Dr. Wily’s fortress (though in a more generic setting). The order you battle them determines how difficult the game is as each one is weak to a specific Special Weapon; thus, I challenging Star Man first. Weak to the Water Wave, Star Man protects himself with Star Crash, a spinning shield of stars he launches your way. This Special Weapon is the key to defeating Gravity Man, but you’ll have to time your shots well. Gravity Man constantly switches the gravity around, giving you a small window to fire at him, but only has a standard shot otherwise so he’s not much of a threat beyond his large hit box. His Gravity Hold makes Gyro Man a joke; while this Robot Master hides in the clouds and fires his Gyro Attack, you can decimate him with a few shots of Gravity Hold. Although Crystal Man is weak to the Gyro Attack, he is a slippery devil and his Crystal Eye can split into multiple projectiles. Similarly, the slowness of this Special Weapon can make Napalm Man a little tricky, especially as his missile barrage isn’t the easiest to dodge. The Napalm Bomb is most effective against Stone Man, who just jumps about and spawns floating rocks, but time your shots well as they won’t hurt him when he’s a pile of rubble. His Power Stone whittles down Charge Man’s health bar, but only when he’s not charging at you or raining flaming coal from above. This small window, and the wide range of Power Stone, make Charge Man one of the more frustrating encounters as he’s not easy to jump over. When you battle them again in Dr. Wily’s fortress, they’ll drop a big health refill for you but you won’t get to replenish your Special Weapon energy, so pick your shots well and abuse that rewind feature, if necessary.

Proto Man’s medieval-style castle houses four additional stages boss battles against Dark Man (not that one!), a versatile Robot Master who takes on different forms, all vulnerable to Beat’s attacks as well as specific Special Weapons. Dark Man’s first form is a tank that blasts at you with its cannon and trundles back and forth; the second is humanoid that charges about and is protected by a revolving energy shield; and the third sports a Galvatron-like arm cannon that fires three shots from high in the sky and briefly freezes you with Time Stopper. At the end of the fourth stage, you’ll confront Proto Man in a cutscene where it turns out he was a fake! The real Proto Man saves you, replenishes your health, and then leaves you to battle Dark Man’s fourth, more demonic form that sports a faster version of Dark Man’s electromagnetic barrier, which it fires outward. You’ll have to overcome Dr. Wily’s final defences before facing off with him, with the first being a stationary column that rains enemies onto you. You must hit its spiked body parts with the Mega Buster to hop on them, then attack its head with the Crystal Eye, which can get tedious since you need to keep going in and out of the menu and must time your jumps right. The Circring Q9 is pretty tough, too, since it’s got a big hit box and floats about firing projectiles. You must use the platforms to hop up and fire the Gyro Attack when the central core is exposed. After this, Dr. Wily tries to crush you in his UFO-like craft. Watch out for the insta-kill spikes in the middle and jump out the way, blasting his cockpit with Star Crash or a charged shot to make him flee. You’ll then face him in a two-stage battle where he pilots a massive, skull-faced tank that tries to crush you, fires a bouncing shot from its main cannon and a needle from its lower one. The Super Arrow is great here, but you’ll need Beat or the charged Mega Buster to finish him off when he switches to his capsule. Like in Mega Man 4, he disappears into the darkness so you must anticipate when he appears to attack. He charges up a purple orb that drops and splashes across the ground and circles around the screen, though it’s not too difficult to avoid this and send him fleeing in a panic.

Additional Features:
The Mega Man Legacy Collection includes twenty-four Achievements, with you earning one after completing this game. As with the other titles included in the collection, you can set different display options, enable turbo mode, and even play the Japanese version of the game and listen to the awesome soundtrack. There’s a museum mode, a character database, and production art to view as well, if you fancy it. Additional Achievements await in the “Challenge Mode”, where stages from all six Mega Man games are remixed into timed challenges. There are also challenges specific to Mega Man 4 included here that will test the abilities of even seasoned Mega Man players. Sadly, there’s still no multiplayer options though there is a bit more replay value on offer here with the collectable MEGAMANV letters hidden in the eight main stages.

The Summary:
Mega Man 5 was such a breath of fresh air. Just to clarify, I’ve been playing these games one after the other and, honestly, it’s been frustrating how minor the changes have been to the gameplay formula with each one. To me, it’s almost like Capcom could’ve made only three or four Mega Man titles since the differences between them have been so minor, but Mega Man 5 felt like it was doing a lot more with the hardware. Stages were far more varied, including new gimmicks and hazards that brought the levels to life. The graphics were also far more detailed, allowing for little touches and better management of screen tearing and slowdown. The Special Weapons finally felt unique for the first time since Mega Man 2, having diverse effects and being useful outside of boss battles, though this aspect could still be expanded upon. Where Mega Man 5 really impressed me was with the Marine Bike section, which finally does what Rush Jet and Rush Marine should’ve done from the start and introduce a new gameplay style into the run-and-gun action. I also enjoyed the increased focus on the story, the mystery of the fake Proto Man, and the expansion of the final act into an additional four stages. Given Proto Man’s significance to the story, it’s still a shame you don’t get to play as him through remixed levels, but I really enjoyed Mega Man 5, which expanded upon the stale Mega Man formula in fun and visually engaging ways and impressed me with the way it pushed the limits of the NES hardware.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Do you agree that Mega Man 5 was a significant improvement over its predecessors? What did you think to the new Special Weapons and the Marine Bike section? Were you surprised to find that Proto Man was being framed by Dr. Wily? Which Robot Master was your favourite to fight against? What did you think to the new visuals and stage gimmicks? How are you celebrating the science-fiction genre this month? Whatever you think about Mega Man 5, share your thoughts below and check out my other Mega Man reviews.

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!