Mega Man 3

"This is one of the longest games in the NES series, not to mention one of the weirdest..."

Mega Man 3 is a very good follow-up to the Mega Man series; but it's also a very strange game, due to the badly translated and convoluted "storyline"...

Graphics: 9/10

Mega Man 3 marks the start of the modern look of the series. No longer are there single or double color, simplistic backgrounds; now, there are multicolor and animated foregrounds and backgrounds. The enemies are more detailed now, and are well animated, although some of them get a little goofy sometimes. Mega Man still looks the same. ^_~

Music/Sound: 8/10

The music takes a step down from Mega Man 2, but is still great. It sounds more modern-ish in a way; this is especially noticeable in Shadow Man and Gemini Man's stages. One of the best tracks is heard in the last stages of Dr. Wily's castle; it's kind of a sad tune, but pretty nonetheless. The sound effects have been changed slightly; Mega Man's "getting hit" sound is more crisp, as is the "enemy blowing up" sound. A lot of sound effects have been added for the enemies, too.

Story: N/A

There's actually a story in Mega Man 3. ^_^ This time around, Dr. Wily realizes he has been wrong all along after being defeated once again at the hands of Mega Man. He pleads for forgiveness, and, Dr. Light, being the good fellow that he is, accepts Dr. Wily's apology and works with him once again. Together, they work on a peace-keeping robot named "Gamma", but it cannot be completed until eight Elements are gathered from eight mining areas. Suspiciously enough, eight powerful robots show up in these areas to guard the Elements and destroy Mega Man - Magnet Man, with the ability to fire tracking magnets; Hard Man, with a body as hard as diamond and the strength to match; Top Man, who is quick and agile and can toss flying tops at his enemies; Shadow Man, an exact duplicate of Mega Man who can jump higher, slide farther, AND throw razor blades; Spark Man, who can fire electrical bolts at his opponents; Snake Man, who can, uh, fire mechanical snakes to bite his opponents; Gemini Man, who can duplicate himself and fire the powerful Gemini Laser; and Needle Man, who can fire sharp needles at high speed. Mega Man's job is to defeat all of these robots so that he can gather the eight Elements and help Dr. Light and Dr. Wily complete Gamma. But is everything as simple as it seems...?

Control: 10/10

Mega Man 3 marks the beginning of an important addition to Mega Man's perfect controls; the Slide technique, done by pressing A and Down at the same time. This can be used to slide under small openings, escape enemy attacks, and speed up slow areas. The Slide will prove to be a priceless addition to Mega Man's arsenal.

Fun Factor: 9/10

This is classic Mega Man, and who can deny that it's fun? Unfortunately, the game gets terribly redundant once you beat the eight Robot Stages - see, after you defeat all eight Bosses, four more stages open up; the "Doc Robot" stages. These stages have you revisit harder forms of Gemini Man, Spark Man, Needle Man, and Shadow Man's stages, and you fight two Bosses in each - two Doc Robots, to be exact, that take the powers of each respective robot from Mega Man 2 (Flash Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Metal Man, Heat Man, Wood Man, Air Man, and Crash Man). THEN, there's the Break Man (mistranslation; Proto Man is the real name) mini battle, and THEN there's Dr. Wily's castle, complete with five stages and the classic rematch with the eight bosses from Mega Man 3. Sure, that amounts for a long and fun Mega Man game, but it DOES get pretty redundant after awhile. Fortunately, there are a few new cool additions that will carry over into all the other Mega Man games; the Slide move, an invaluable move for Mega Man, and the addition of Mega Man's robo-dog, Rush. Rush can take the form of different important tools that Mega Man can acquire from defeating certain bosses; he starts with the Rush Coil, where he uses Rush as a spring board to make mega-jumps. He later gains the Rush Marine, an invaluable tool for safe underwater travel. Finally, he'll get the Rush Jet, the perfect tool for flying above chasms and such. Very cool additions. It definitely helps break the redundancy of the game.

Overall: 9/10

This is a very worthy addition to the Mega Man saga, and, believe it or not, is better than Mega Man 2, largely due to its length and the addition of Rush and the Slide move. You'll have all the fun you used to battling the eight robot Bosses and, finally, your old nemesis Dr. Wily at the end (oh, gee, I gave it away ^_~). And by the way, the Game Genie doesn't muck up the music like it did in parts 1 and 2, so feel free to use it, even though the game isn't very hard anyway. Have fun!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 07/16/01