I'm halfway through the GB Mega Man games, and at this point, I think I know what to expect as I get through the rest of this series. BACKGROUND:
Judging by the similarities of the first two games, I'm fairly confident that I get the GB Mega Man formula, and I expect little different here. There's not much else to say that I haven't already, though I will mention that the original Mega Man 3 for the NES is my second favorite game in the classic series. SUMMARY: Once again, we're getting more of the classic Mega Man platforming goodness here. Not much has changed from the general gameplay, apart from one key addition: the Mega Buster now has a Charge Shot, giving you a reliable high-damage weapon at all times. I love charge weapons, so getting the full Mega Buster back made my playthrough more fun overall. The game's structure is largely the same from the previous game: take on the first four Robot Masters in any order, head into Wily Castle for a sort of interlude, play through the second set of bosses in whatever order you choose, then you're off to the endgame where you fight the game's unique boss and a two-phase Wily contraption. Going through this formula again, I definitely feel how Wily Castle doesn't feel as special or challenging as the NES iterations since there aren't as many bosses and there aren't as many levels (at least in terms of variety). I also think I prefer having all the Robot Master stages available as a choice at the start as opposed to having an intermission in the middle. For this game's set of bosses, you get the other four Robot Masters from Mega Man 3 who weren't in the previous GB game (Snake Man, Gemini Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man) plus four Robot Masters from Mega Man 4 (Dust Man, Skull Man, Dive Man, Drill Man). As usual, they behave exactly the same as their original versions, reward you with the exact same special weapon, and have the same weaknesses (except for Shadow Man, who gets a different one since Top Spin isn't a weapon in this game). At this point, the novelty of having bosses from two different games has kind of worn thin, as there's no real need to use weapons other than their original weaknesses. I feel like the idea of reusing bosses would be more fun if the roster were a mix of Robot Masters from more than two games; I mean, you could make five whole games where the six of the eight Robot Masters come from a different NES game. As amusing as it is to immediately know what order to fight bosses the second I see the stage select screen, I think I would have had more fun if nobody had their original weakness and they got new ones depending on the roster. That would mean that I have to figure out who was weak to what all over again despite knowing every single boss. Following in the steps of Enker and Quint from the previous games is Punk, who serves as the penultimate boss and rewards you with the Screw Crusher. I really enjoy the idea of getting weapons from bosses outside of the Robot Masters, but by the time you get these weapons, there's not much game left, and there's only one sensible place to use it. It'd be neat to have a few more levels so you at least get to use the weapon on regular enemies. The level design borrows plenty from the original Robot Master stages from the NES, though I didn't recognize that many sections that were copy-pasted from the originals this time around. I did notice that this game in particular is a bit more challenging since the layouts and enemy placement punished mindlessly plowing forward more, and I did appreciate that. In terms of visuals, the game once again reuses sprites from the NES, but what stood out to me more was how this game used more of the original music over having its own tracks. I have no complaints here, because Spark Man's stage theme is up there as one of my all-time favorite Mega Man tracks. Other notable elements include the removal of the Rush Marine; you only get Rush Coil and Rush Jet, which aren't used all that much for platforming outside of completely optional areas. Eddie also appears in this game to give you the occasional goodie, though I think you only see him two or three times. VERDICT: I'm starting to feel the fatigue with the GB Mega Man formula with Mega Man III. Again, it was fun for what it was (a familiar-feeling remix of a classic experience), but the fact that it's more of the same three games deep did leave me wanting for a more meaningful mashup of existing Mega Man elements as opposed to the established formula we see here. I feel like I'm not going to get my wish as I move onto the last two GB Mega Man games, but there may be a surprise in store for me for all I know. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with this game, but as with Mega Man 2, I recommend playing the NES game before you touch this one. The original Mega Man 3 has way more levels and bosses, all of which offer a respectable challenge, and it's the first game to actually reuse old Robot Masters as boss fights. - end -
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July 2024
Derryck
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