| System: NES | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Capcom | Sound: |
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| Year: 1993 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Action-platformer | Rating: |
8/10 |
It all starts with a friendly tournament, sponsored by a certain “Mr. X”, gathering the most powerful robots (oh, look, there are eight of them). The introduction sequence doesn’t clarify whether it’s a beauty contest or a Scrabble competition.
Mr. X, who claims to be a rival of Wily, takes control of the cheerful bunch, Mega Man intervenes, and it turns out X is actually Wily, who gets defeated once again and escapes. Oh no, this time he’s thrown in prison!
I’m not sure if the script won any Oscars, but this episode seems to have been a success.
First off, no jet-ski sequences. That’s a relief.
Then, the gameplay mechanics are enhanced by the use of two suits, provided by our dear friend Rush, the trampoline-submarine-flying-skateboard robot-dog, and now, weapon dealer. Good boy! The only thing I can criticise is that annoying animation every time you put on one of those suits.
Suggested order:
Wind Man > Flame Man > Blizzard Man > Plant Man > Tomahawk Man > Yamato Man > Knight Man > Centaur Man
In the first level (Wind Man), some minor bonuses (energy packs, lives) will be inaccessible. If that bothers you (and if you think you’re good enough), start with Flame Man!
While Tomahawk Man is vulnerable to Plant Man’s weapon, I recommend using the mega-buster.
The four robot masters whose names are underlined have two entrances to their lairs. Always choose the more difficult one to reach. Winning will earn you a letter. Once you’ve collected all four letters (which spell his name), you can summon Beat, the little pecker.
When you return to the level select screen, thumbnails appear instead of the portraits of defeated enemies: an empty (black) square means there’s still something to find in that level. On the contrary, a Mega Man head or an icon marks it as fully completed.
We said “thumb” when I’m taking photos!
