Mega Man 4

"What happened, Capcom?"

Introduction
Ever since I first played Mega Man 3 several years ago, I have been a fan of the Mega Man series, and have followed it as it has evolved from the 2D powerhouse that it was on the NES to the 3D game known as Mega Man Legends, for the Sony Playstation. It has always been one of my favorite series, and I have yet to see a truly bad Mega Man game. However, a few games in the series have fallen to the ''average game'' range, and the fourth game in the NES series was one of these games. After playing a great game like Mega Man 3, I expected to find another great game in Mega Man 4. Instead, I only got a barely average attempt at a Mega Man game that just isn't that fun. Darn.

Graphics (9/10)
The graphics in Mega Man 4 are great, and probably represent the only improvement between part three and four. The backgrounds are very colorful, as is most of the game. I liked the Pharoah Man stage, as it was very nicely designed and very detailed (as it had you in the Egypitan Pyramids and featured stuff like quicksand and more). The enemy designs in the game are nice, as most of the enemies in the game look better than I expected them to. I also liked the boss designs in the game, as there was a lot of bosses (8 to be exact) and all of them look great. I like how Capcom has improved on the boss designs with each new Mega Man game. Mega Man himself looks nicely designed also. Overall, the graphics in the game are good and probably represent the only improvement between part three and part four.

Music and Sound Effects (2/10)
What is this? First off, Capcom screwed up the music seriously in the game. I have probbly never heard more disappointing music in my life as I heard in this game. The Mega Man series has always been known to have good music and sound effects, so I expected the music in this game to be decent. Unfortunately, it was horrible, especially when compared to the other games in the series. The Bright Man stage music might be the worst music in the entire series. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Sound effects in the game are still not that good, most of them are your average Mega Man sounds recycled. Rehash at its worst. Overall, the music and sound effects were trully appalling and I was very disappointed with them.

Gameplay and Control (7/10)
Yes, I am giving this category a good score, but that is because the game is still fun to play, even with the horrible music. The innovation added to this game is the fact you can now collect secret items in the stages, like wire and balloons. For instance, in the Pharoah Man stage, you can get the wire by jumping over a lot of quicksand (using the Rush jet). Speaking of the Rush Jet, Rush makes his return in this game, and he can now do more stuff than he could in the third game. Also, the game still has you going through eight stages, killing eight bosses, and each boss still has a weakness against another boss's special weapon. However, there are a lot of stges after the eight main stages, which makes this the biggest Mega Man game yet! Control in the game is solid, as usual. Overall, this is a fun game with good control, but it just didn't have the feeling I would have expected to feel in a Mega Man game.

Replay Value: Below Average
Yes, this is one of the few Mega Man games that I feel has below average replay value. There were so many Mega Man games released over the years, that it comes to the point where you will only want to replay the absolute best ones. And unfortunately, this game is just average, and really is not that fun to play, which means the replay value will suffer a lot. The game does feature a lot of secrets, however, which may help. Overall, the replay value in the game is below average for a few elementary reasons.

Challenge: Medium
This is probably one of the more challenging Mega Man (a series known for challenging games) series mainly because of the extreme length of the game. There has to be at least 16 stages in the game, plus you having to defeat all eight of the bosses again, which increases the challenge right there. Then, of course, most of the stgaes are pretty challenging, which adds to the replay value even more. Overall, this is a pretty challenging game, nothing too bad though.

Overall (6/10)
One of the most disappointing games I have played, Mega Man 4 is still fun to play but it is just not as good as I would have expected. Capcom screwed up on the feeling of the series too much unfortunately, but it still is a somewhat good game. Reccomended for a purchase only if you want to get the whole Mega Man series as a collection.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/00, Updated 07/09/00