Game Boy, Capcom realized they might actually need to put effort into a Mega Man game for it to be good, and Mega Man III is actually good.It's also very very VERY fucking hard. Mega Man III is full of so many tough jumps and stages that just wear you down by the time you finish them. I said Mega Man I was difficult, but I forgot about this game. Mega Man I is manageable given the relatively small stages, and trust me, Mega Man I's stages are dwarfed in size to Mega Man III. One of the stages is renowned by many fans as the hardest in the entire classic series.
From this point forward, the Game Boy series really takes off. Each iteration following this one is a jump up in quality which is a bit strange as other Mega Man games in all the series actually deteriorated as they went along. These games have a pretty good excuse about making use of the hardware available too, as nothing really
competed with Nintendo in the hand held market. Sure there was the Game Gear, an expensive, under developed, clunky piece of hardware that played mostly Sega Master System ports. Other hand helds at the time were either in development, or Japan exclusive. The biggest jump forward the Game Boy would receive would be the game boy color in 1998, and that's a long way off as well.So really, Mega Man is at the height of hand held gameplay for a long time, and really that continues to this day. Hand Held Mega Man games seem to have a higher overall quality compared to the console games, all series included. While Mega Man I was decent, Mega Man III really starts this trend.
New Features
- Mega Man has the Mega Buster! (Charge Shot)
- Rush Marine is gone, cause it's useless. Weird considering this game is supposed to take place on off shore platforms.
- Eddie shows up as well. He's still mostly useless.
Story
This happens between Mega Man 4 and Mega Man 5. Wily has sent 4 Robot Masters to various off shore oil platforms to take them over, presumably so he can have more oil to help him build more robots? Mega Man goes off to investigate and takes down the robots, of which none of the stages they reside on even remotely resemble an off shore oil platform. Mega Man heads off to Wily's drilling station and encounters four more Robot Masters which of course also have stages not at all resembling oil platforms. After defeating them, Mega Man heads to Wily's sea fortress where he meets a new Mega Man Killer named Punk.
After defeating Punk Mega Man faces Dr. Wily
blowing up his fortress and sending Wily into a gigantic crying skull-shaped mushroom cloud, which there is no way Wily could have survived, except he does for Mega Man 5 obviously.I think the best description I've heard lately for story in Mega Man games is that they are poison. Don't think about it too much. I mean the story is so buried in this game I had to go look it up.
Aesthetics
Remember how Mega Man II looked like ass? Mega Man III looks fantastic! It's amazing what you can do with 4 shades of gray and a little practice. His sliding animation is fixed, the cutscenes are very good looking and each stage is vibrant and lush with detail.Remember how many of the backgrounds were just plain white in Mega Man II? That kind of laziness is scrapped and Mega Ma
n III actually has some unique and great looking backgrounds. Sure, most of the stages are more or less ports of the originals, but for the most part they are more detailed. In fact, some of them look even better than the originals. Mega Man is really one of the best looking series for the original Game Boy and that standard starts here.Sound
Oh my god, so much better than Mega Man II. I hate to just harp on how bad Mega Man II is, but play them side by side and you'll understand how big of a jump it is. The songs are mostly remixes of the original stages from Mega Man 3. I'd prefer a more original soundtrack but the quality is still there.There's a few original sounds in this game too, even though most of it is recycled from previous games. Oh is it so much more cleaned up and less staticy though. Whatever it was that plagued Mega Man II so bad, it seems those days are over! Hallelujah!
Design
The stages are similar in concepts to their originals, but generally a lot longer and a lot harder. A great rule when it comes to design in these games that a player with enough skill and reaction
time should, theoretically, be able to beat any stage on their first try, and Mega Man III plays like that. The stages are tough, but not so much because of pure bullshit traps that require strict memorization as much as it is straight up skill. Most instant death area's are usually over come with some practice and enemy placement is generally put in area's they can be most effective in hampering the player. It never gets overwhelming and generally when you get past a certain area you won't have problems with it again if you have to restart from dying from a new challenge.It's not perfect though. Some jumps are really frustratingly tricky, an example being one of the first jumps in Spark Man's stage, or one of the last one's in Dust Man's stage. It can get really frustrating getting to the end of a level to be knocked off into a pit right before the boss shutters.
Weapon wise the only thing worth a damn is the Mega Buster. Even some of the bosses are finished off quicker with it. I really wish they had more utility, but what do you expect when you're stuck with the Gemini Laser?Power ups are placed much more carefully this time around. Expect a lot of E-Tanks to be positioned in areas that put you in a lot of danger to get to. Risk versus reward. Strangely enough I tend to need the E-tanks for the stages instead of the bosses this time.
This game feels a lot more like a port of the other games than Mega Man I or II felt because the stages are so similar in appearance. But it's like those games took some steroids, because they really pumped up the difficulty. Dust Man's stage in particular is merciless, long and brutal. The bastard also is the one who drops Rush Jet for you so you have to do all the platforming in it. Good luck is all I have to say here.
Playability
The only thing that really sticks out here as an issue play wise is
the knock back from getting hit, and you'll only notice it because it'll fuck you up. Especially when climbing a ladder, as you will plummet many floors down, so you really have to take your time with this game. This is a very methodical Mega Man. Don't speed run it, take your time and plan your each move or you will get knocked off a platform and fall to your death each time.Extras
- Boss Order: Really unimportant with the Mega Buster this time, but take out Snake Man first if you want Rush Coil early on to collect some out of the way E-tanks and 1ups. Dust Man has Rush Jet, but it's the hardest level in the game. Since the weapons aren't particularly great, don't be afraid to jump around a bit and try different levels after getting beaten down on any particular stage.
- Try to have at least one E-tank in reserves for the bosses. This is kind of a no-brainer in any Mega Man game, but here it's essential, because a lot of time you'll be walking into the shutters with zero lives and low energy. The levels are too damned long to redo once you get to the boss.
- Punk and the final boss are jokes compared to the rest of the game, but Wily's final stage is not. You will not want to fight through the stage more than once as it is a pain in the ass. Here's a simple strategy for Wily's robot forms. His first form always attacks the ground from the diagonal direction from where he starts to move. Attack the eyes on the robot, then run under him and he'll avoid you completely. The missles are pretty easy to dodge this way too. His second form is pretty easy to dodge if you take your time and and be ready to jump out of the way more than aggressively going for the damage. The second form is a bit long but you need to stay cautious here if you want to win the game.
- Just an interesting note, Punk is the only Mega Man Killer to be featured in a Battle Network game, but we'll get to that much later.
Overall Mega Man III is a good entry in the series, but not the best because, believe it or not, the next game raises the bar, and the next game after that raises it even further! This is one of the toughest Mega Man games out there though so give it a shot if you're looking for some tough kicks.
Playthroughs
Robot Master Mismatches Galore: Let's Play the Mega Man Gameboy Series! by Vprisoner
Welp that's done, what's next on the list... Mega Man 3... again? FOR PC!? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...
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