Mega Man 3

"Easily the best game in the series, and one of the best games I've ever seen."

Reviewing Mega Man games is tough, because every time you think Capcom can do no better, they go out and do it anyway. Take Mega Man 3, for example. To be honest, I thought no game in the series would be able to touch Mega Man 2. I mean, that game had everything. Hard bosses, cool powerups for the little Blue Bomber, and a slew of difficult Dr. Wily levels once the robot masters' levels were all done and overwith. Add in the difficulty of the levels themselves and the absolute masterpiece that is that game's musical score, and you have a very tough game to live up to. That said, one of the best saying I have ever heard is, 'Go ahead and tell us it is impossible, then step aside and watch us do it'. Mega Man 3 did that, and then some.

The beginning of the game starts out with the same formula seen in Mega Man 1 and Mega Man 2. After taking in the new theme that Capcom decided to use in the title screen, you are thrust into a screen that allows you to choose among eight robot masters. Right off the bat, it is easy to see that Mega Man 3 makes huge graphical improvements due to having its predecessors to work off of. Right on the title screen, Mega Man's eyes follow the cursor around. The background itself also has a pattern on it, rather than a blank color. Capcom paid huge attention to the graphical details in this title, and it shows all over the place.

The robot masters themselves, as well as their levels, provide the traditional challenge seen in previous Mega Man titles, complete with hard-to-kill enemies, innovative puzzles, and an absolute throng of bottomless pits and difficult jumps to make. Mario and Luigi be damned, for they never had to go through half the **** Mega Man has had to endure when it comes to tough jumps. While playing through the game, the variety and mix in which this is all presented is absolutely amazing, and it serves as the controlled chaos seen all throughout the Mega Man series. And that's only within the levels themselves. The robot masters in this game may very well be the best cast of bosses in any video game, ever. Granted there are complete and utter rejects like Top Man and Magnet Man, but every game has rejects. Look at the rest of the cast. Gemini Man and Shadow Man are among the coolest bosses ever seen, and Snake Man, Flash Man, Needle Man, and Hard Man aren't too far behind. Not only is this cast an absolute band of lunatics that rival even FOXHOUND on the badass scale, but they are no pushovers in battle whatsoever. In fact, some of these bosses can be pure hell to take down, especially if you don't know their weaknesses ahead of time. Top Man and Magnet Man may be horrendously pathetic, but try beating Shadow Man with Mega Man's default weapon before ripping your hair out. I dare you. Furthermore, there are two different weakness cycles among the robot masters in this game. That help to make a great game even better, and that's only in reference to the robot masters themselves.

When you're done dealing with the first eight levels, you soon learn that you're only just beginning. Next up comes a rehash of four of the game's levels, only they're even more difficult than before. That means even more enemies, even more insane chain jumping across bottomless pits, and even more challenges to get past. And that's only the tip of the iceberg, because Capcom decided to really kick you in the midsection in this title. After dealing with the first eight levels and realizing that there are four more afterwards, they throw the eight robot masters from Mega Man 2 at you, only you have to defeat them with the weapons from Mega Man 3. That means no Metal Blades against Metal Man, no Bubble Leads against Heat Man, and no Time Stopper against Quick Man. They have an entirely different set of weaknesses, and you may have to give up quite a few lives before figuring them all out. And by the way, dying is a bad idea. You know how in most Mega Man levels, death at the hands of a boss means that you start in the hallway right before the boss? You aren't getting that luxury in Mega Man 3. In the four extra levels, there are two robot masters in each of them, so in essence, each extra level serves as two levels in one. If you die at the hands of a boss, you go all the way back to the beginning of the half-level, not the hallway right before the boss. That may sound annoying to most people, but to me, this idea is pure genius. This game's challenge was a lovely breath of fresh air from the massive amount of spoonfeeding that goes on in today's games, and it was very welcome. Not only was this game nostalgic for me, but it was also a challenge. God only knows why games like this aren't made anymore.

After that gauntlet of pure and unadulterated hell is done and overwith, you are yet again given a swift boot to the ass as the game once again shows you that there si far more yet to be done. Eight robot master levels? Hard, but doable. Bonus robot master levels? Those things were pure hell at times, but now the game turns around and decides throw a whole new set of genius at Mega Man in the form of Dr. Wily's Castle, complete with a set of levels that make even the earlier hair-pulling seem like a cakewalk, bosses that make every other boss in the series before them look like absolute fruitcakes (with a couple of rare exceptions, of course), nostalgia, and a battle with Wily himself that can rip every fiber of your very being away from your very soul if you don't know what you're doing beforehand. And don't go looking at an FAQ for the answers, either. Figure it out for yourself and take in the entire experience for the absolute work of art that this game is.

There are very few, if any, bad things I can say about this game at all. It has damn near everything needed for a game to be able to live forever, and this game is a perfect example of the types of titles we need to see more of. I've always loved games that are hard from beginning to end, as well as games that throw a motherload of tasks at you. Mega Man 3 does all of this, and so much more. Yes, the music won't appeal to everyone, and yes, the weapons are not as good as they were in Mega Man 2. But Mega Man 3 does so much to make up for these faults that it is simple blasphemy to suggest that it should be held down for these things. Who honestly cares that the Top Spin sucks? It serves its purpose in the two fights in which it is needed, dosn't it? Compare everything there is to accomplish in Mega Man 3 to the rest of the series, and most other games in general, and you will find that Mega Man 3 stands up to a whole hell of a lot of other games. I only wish we would see more games like this, because as gaming continues to progress, it only seems like the games are getting more and more easy with every new release. Still, we have classics such as Mega Man 3 to go back to whenever we need something difficult to play, and damn, Mega Man 3 does it better than almost every other game out there.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/04