Status Chovus Dec 9, 2023
I started with toad man because toad was the lamest thing there, and I was right. His rain attack hit the entire screen so it was good for hitting awkward enemies. Next I did dust man because I figured rain would wash away dust, but that was wrong. He was more like garbage man and his attack shot a piece …
I started with toad man because toad was the lamest thing there, and I was right. His rain attack hit the entire screen so it was good for hitting awkward enemies. Next I did dust man because I figured rain would wash away dust, but that was wrong. He was more like garbage man and his attack shot a piece of junk that could explode off in 4 pieces diagonally. Next was bright man because I figured dust would obstruct the light. Turns out he was countered by the rain so that worked out fine. His weapon froze time just like flash man, and it came in very handy for some of the tricky platforming to freeze enemies. Next I did dive man thinking it was more about diving into the ground rather than under the water and that freezing would stop the diving. His torpedo was the standard homing missile even outside of the water. Next I did ring man figuring homing missiles could go through rings. This was a brutal fight that took a lot of save scumming until I finally figured out the pattern to not get hit by the return boomerangs. This weapon was a traditional boomerang but had much less range than the boss's attacks. Next I did drill man only because I figured pharaoh man might counter the skull. It went all right because the homing missiles owned the drill. The drill shot was decent with an area explosion that could be remote detonated. Next was Pharaoh man who was trivial with the time stop. His ball could be shot up diagonally (but not straight up), and could be charged up to rest a ball above his head, which could be used like a shield. And last was skull man who of course was easy with all other weapons unlocked, and his skull shield was another leaf shield. I guessed quite a few of the weaknesses incorrectly and had to kill almost half of the bosses without the proper weapon.
The ideal order would be: toad, bright, pharaoh, ring, dust, skull, dive, drill.
Ring man was the most difficult due to his low boomerang shot. I found these bosses more difficult than in previous Mega Man games, even with the appropriate weapon, making even the boss gauntlet towards the end still a fair challenge. There were no repeat bosses from the previous games but double the amount of castle bosses at the end made up for it. Some of the bosses were quite creative too, particularly the gun inside the platforming box. Though the hide and seek final boss was more tedious than challenging. I did not use the charge up shot for most of the game as it was faster and simpler to just use the regular shot. The only times it came in handy were during boss fights and against those skeleton robots that could not be defeated with regular shot. The platforming was significantly easier than the previous games, and the stages themselves felt simpler and easier. There were few situations that encouraged the use of special weapons, despite how versatile those weapons were. At the same time this game lacked some of the obnoxious sequences of the previous ones, and was considerably easier. I did not like how the dog jet could no longer be controlled. Overall still an amazing NES game but the quality was down a bit from #2 and 3.
8.3/10
