same box art from Mega Man 3 again? Come on Capcom, I expect this sort of bullshit from certain other lazy developers you pawn your licenses off to, but I expect better from you! What, were you so excited to have a US box art not suck that you just had to keep showing it off?Well at least the American box art. The European box art is original, and so is Japanese box art, so this is a Capcom of America thing. Either way, it still sucks.
Don't worry though, this one is actually good unlike that last piece of shit I reviewed. Dr. Wily's Revenge is the first Game Boy game and holy hell is it fucking hard! Harder than most Mega Man games out there, and incredibly frustratingly so. It's harder than Mega Man 1 by quite a large margin, but really feels like a fair challenge. I'll get more into it as we go on.
Story
So this game takes place between Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3, and Dr. Wily has apparently stopped from being reformed for a bit to try to take over the world again, using about half of Dr. Light's robots, and half of his own. He also goes to the trouble of creating a new robot with a specific function to destroy Mega Man. Designated as a "Mega Man Killer," this new robot, called Enker, is like a robot samurai that wields a sword that absorbs energy, and reflects it back at Mega Man.Eventually after defeating these enemies, Mega Man goes up and defeats Dr. Wily in outer space. Dr. Wily ends up reforming just in time for the start of Mega Man 3. Yeah... story in these games... yeah...
Aesthetics
Its all in black in white, but otherwise it looks graphically superior
to its predecessors. Just take a look at the weapon get screen. Mega Man looks in better form in these cutscenes. The levels are all pretty simple looking, but that will improve with later games in the game boy series. It sill looks good compared to the Mega Man games that were out at the time.Sound
Most of these tracks are just reused from the NES games, although the ending track is pretty catchy. Otherwise there just isn't much to say here. It's not the best sound wise, but the Game Boy rarely puts out much anyway. There just isn't a lot to say here.
Design
As I said, this game is hard. Strangely, it's also mostly fair. The platforming sections are tough, but there is a lot of balance. Enemy patterns are easy to recognize, just placed where they'll do some damage. This is one of the few Mega Man games I play that can kill me by wearing me down through a level, instead of filling the entire stages with spikes and pits and other instant death bullshit.Not to say those things are absent completely. Wily 1 and 2 are some of the hardest stages in a Mega Man game. Wily stage 1 beats you down the entire stage, and has many sections that require you to fall to lower levels, only to have you avoid spike placements as well. This is a very common element in many Mega Man games and it can lead to so many frustrating deaths, but I can't fault this game for that when it's a standard I, and most Mega Man fans know about going into one of these games. I also can't fault it because Mega Man is given a new utility item called "Carry," in which you create a platform below you as you're jumping in mid air. Believe it or not, this keeps the game from having you rely on direct memorization and you can actually use skill to complete these sections, although it is a bit tricky to use at first.
Another section of Wily 1 has the enemies known as moles (the drill enemies) coming down at you in a very cramped hallway. This section is incredibly annoying because you have to go through it slowly, and use a weapon that will take care of most of them.
To the games credit, it actually forces you to make the most of
your weapons whether you want to or not. Most Mega Man games your weapons can just help you, but you can rely on your Plasma Cannon or Mega Buster to do most of the work. Not this game, if you aren't freezing the big eyes, cutting the moles or using Elec-beam to take out the things above you, you're fucked. The good design of this game makes you forget about the tedious elements of it.Wily 2 has the most ridiculous sets of disappearing platforms in any Mega Man game though. It is really really really fucking frustrating! "Carry" can help, but using it while standing on a platform tends to just get it in your way when you need to jump. I died so many times to this section I just about popped a blood vessel, in my eye. Actually, that might have been because I spent too much time in front of the computer, but I did get pretty damned pissed at this section.
The regular stages are tough as nails too. Cut Man's stage has enemies lined up in perfect positions to knock you into pits, Elec Man's has disappearing blocks over pits and spikes, and really fucking annoying electricity spitter things. Iceman has falling icicles, and Fireman has lava. Even though it's possible to beat levels the first time though, it's really unlikely. This game requires practice, even if you're good at Mega Man games.Anyway, there are nine robot masters to fight here, but the game saves five of them for the end of the first Wily level, so you get their weapons only for the last level. That kind of sucks, as this isn't really a long game, but then again, it's so tough it feels like a long one. Still, you have to make use of the weapons you do get time to play with in this game. The weapons function the same as they do in the Mega Man games they appear in, so they have the exact same utility, although Ice Slasher seems to have gotten a slight boost in utility.
We do get a new power from Enker, the Mega Man killer, called Mirror Beam. This game will start the standard that the Mega Man Killer's power must be used against Dr. Wily's machine for the game boy series. It works well enough since you get the power right before the last level usually, and it's pretty much useless otherwise a good chunk of the time. Mirror Beam reflects shots back at enemies, but only a few of them actually fire at you as is, so it's very limited considering you get it only at the last stage. Enker and Wily are fun fights though, so it works out fine enough.
Overall the stage difficulty is some parts insta-death and some
parts wear and tear. Add to the fact that this game has no energy tanks, and it's even harder. I'm a bit confused on a the lack of E-tanks too, as it just seems like an oversight. The previous Mega Man games had E-tanks... the next Game Boy games had E-tanks, in the storyline Mega Man should have E-tanks, and this game would be a million times easier with them.Hard to say what happened there, but the game stands up pretty well despite how hard it is. However, it's because of the difficulty that I can't recommend it without caution. Just be aware the frustration you'll be getting yourself in to and you might enjoy this one.
Playability
Slide is gone, Rush is gone, but Carry is quite handy. The game plays smooth as silk and I can't think of any bugs off the top of my head for it. It's just hard because it's a hard game, not because of any problems in it's engine, and you know that's what the devs were going for when they put some juicy extra lives right at all the check points in this game. Overall this game feels like the original Mega Man but more polished.Extras
- Boss Order: Determine this by deciding what weapons you'll need for the stages, as they are ten times more difficult than the actual bosses. For me, this is Elec Man, Ice Man, Fire Man and Cut Man. Cut Man's stage is a real bitch and Elec Man is toned way down in difficulty compared to Mega Man 1. I like to go into Cut Man's level armed with everything I got myself.
- There are no re-fights in this game. The section with teleporters actually takes you to Mega Man 2 bosses, and you get their weapons after fighting them. The easiest order I found is Bubble Man, Heat Man, Flash Man and Quick Man, but you might run into them in the wrong order as the teleporters aren't exactly labeled, but they shouldn't be too difficult.
- Mega Man games for Game Boy are all numbered in roman numerals. This is Mega Man I, next is Mega Man II, etc. Mega Man games for the NES are numbered numerically, etc Mega Man 1, Mega Man 2. In Japan, the series is called Rockman World.
- The ending of each game takes you into outer space (except III), where you're treated with learning the names of the smaller enemies of the game. This is how most people know what's called what in these games.
- "Carry" is a bit tough to understand at first. It creates a platform directly underneath you as you're jumping, and then it catches you. When you mastered this you'll find yourself able to save some time in the Wily stages.
Playthroughs
Robot Master Mismatches Galore: Let's Play the Mega Man Gameboy Series! by Vprisoner
Speedrun by Philippe 'Suzaku' Henry
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