The U.S. cover for Mega Man 3 gets closer...but it's still quite awful.
Well, strep hit my house this week, which was bad. But it gave me a lot more free time to play video games, so I've got about a week and a half of What I'm Playing to catch up on now, including one non-Mega Man game!
But on with the Mega Man reviews, for now. Mega Man 3 represents the last big leap forward in Mega Man innovations, in my opinion. This doesn't necessarily make 4, 5, and 6 bad games, but I think the formula was mostly set by 3, and it set an extremely solid foundation to make some super fun games, so I don't hit 4, 5, and 6 as much as others do.
The third game in the series introduces two big new changes. First, Mega Man can now slide using down+a, enabling quicker travel, the ability to go through narrow gaps, and most importantly, more maneuverability against bosses. And boy, will you need it!
Second, Mega Man 3 introduces us to the character of Rush, Mega Man's robotic canine companion, who can turn himself into a jet, a submarine, or a trampoline to enable Mega Man to reach otherwise impossible locations. This is a nice change, as it changes the boring and lifeless items 1,2, and 3 from Mega Man 2 with a nicely animated and lifelike character with which you can identify as a friend and ally.
Besides these gameplay functions, the third game improves on the second in several ways. First, the game's difficulty is so much better balanced than the second. While the second is genuinely easy (not just easy for a Mega Man game) with the right boss order, Mega Man 3 gives bosses invulnerability for a second after being hit so that you can't shoot them repeatedly and kill them before they have any chance of retaliating. The game is also more conservative with its placement of healing items, and enemies drop them less frequently. The stages are also much more difficult, and introduces the requirement to go back to four old levels once you've beaten the first eight, only these four old levels are now much more challenging. In these levels, you'll get to fight old friendly faces from Mega Man 2, a nice nod to the second game.
The visuals in Mega Man 3 are also much better. The backgrounds are now fully detailed and beautiful, with enormous and fantastic sprites that represent some of the most beautiful animation on the NES, although 4, 5, and 6 all surpass it in that area.
The storytelling approach of Mega Man 3 is also improved, featuring a new character, Proto Man. Proto Man appears and challenges you at various stages along your journey, and you can't quite help but wonder if he's holding back on you, and if he's a friend or foe. His intertwining story with the standard "beat robot masters, beat Wily Castle, beat Wily, accept false repentance from Wily" storyline helps to add a fresh spin on the entrenched Mega Man approach.
Mega Man 3 has its weaknesses, however. The soundtrack is again excellent, but really can't compare to the second game. Gemini Man's theme, however, is one of the best 8 bit tracks ever.
The enhanced visuals of the game are accompanied by the worst slowdown (and flicker) in any Mega Man game, and it frequently happens at times which make precise shooting, dodging, and platforming extremely difficult. This is a bug that makes the challenge much greater, and not in a good way.
The robot masters also lack the panache that made the Mega Man 2 masters so memorable, and some are downright boring, or feel like lame retellings of the robot masters from the first and second games.
Rush also at times feels overpowered, particularly the Rush Jet. Using the Rush Jet enables you to simply fly over challenging situations, and you have enough ammo to power the jet that you can use it repeatedly throughout the level to avoid some of the challenge. As the levels are themselves very challenging, this can be relieving to some, but I find it to take away some of the thrill of completing the levels.
On net, I would argue that Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 each get a piece of the puzzle right, and I would have really liked to see the best parts of the puzzle combined into one perfect gem of a game. But I do think that due to the gameplay improvements, appropriate difficulty, and improved storytelling, Mega Man 3 is the superior game, by a hair. I'll give it a 9.6/10.
Mega Man 4 is up next!
-TRO
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