We're back, and it's time to fully review my favorite Classic game in the series, Mega Man 3. I was especially curious about reviewing this one because despite being my personal favorite, MM3 is arguably one of the most controversial Mega Man games. First it was considered a weaker sequel to 2, then it was considered an improvement, and now more people are calling it a poorly-balanced mess. I wonder if looking at MM3 with a more critical eye will cause me to gain more appreciation for it like I did with the first two games, or if I end up potentially liking it even less. I guess there's only one way to find out.
Intro
- So let's get the elephant out of the room, Mega Man 3 was rushed. The game had some serious balancing issues, and a good amount of stuff was cut, but the thing most fans seem to be broken up about was the lack of an intro. It's a real shame too because Mega Man 3 has one of the better classic Mega Man stories, with a great set-up of Dr Wily pretending to have turned a new leaf and Mega Man setting off into space to take down each Robot Master on their own separate planets. Most of this is still conveyed by the game, of course, but you kinda have to piece it together later down the line with context.
- Thankfully, we at least still have the best title theme in the franchise. I've already raved about it several times before, though, so I won't do it again.
- Like its predecessor, Mega Man 3 has multiple weakness chains, and you know how much I love those. There's nothing on the level of the Heat Man/Item-2 debacle in MM3, but there's still a lot of fun strategy and variety in jumping between chains. Top Man, Magnet Man, and Snake Man are also considered proper starting points, though I like to start with Top Man for a few reasons. First off, it means we can get some of the better weapons in the game fairly early on. Secondly, it means we can secure the Rush Marine for the one section that actually needs it.
Top Man
- The first thing you'll notice with Top Man's stage is that it looks fantastic, Mega Man 3 as a whole is leagues above the first two games in terms of detail and art direction. Top Man's boasts this super detailed terrarium environment with detailed plants lining the glass walls, intricate flashing lights, and my personal favorite touch, spikes that are formed out of shards of glass.
- Top Man is a great starting stage because it familiarizes you to MM3's two biggest new mechanics: Rush and the slide. Rush is basically the new version of the items from Mega Man 2, all consolidating into a single character which helps them feel less tacked-on. Instead of getting random nameless items, you get upgrades for your robotic dog. The most important Rush move is the one you have at the start, Rush Coil, which will allow you to spring up to higher platforms with secrets and alternate paths. Rush Coil alone allows for stages to have far more tucked-away collectibles and branching pathways, of which Top Man has quite a bit of.
- I've raved about the slide in Mega Man a lot already, but I really do think it's a stroke of genius. The slide not only allows for more interesting and varied platforming sequences, but it makes combat more engaging by granting Mega Man a quick dodge.
- One thing I always loved about Mega Man 3 was its unique weapon select. Unlike in the other games, it shows up at the bottom of the screen which lets the player stop and examine their surroundings while they pick a weapon. It's a shame the later games never kept this UI.
- Top Man introduces a stationary enemy that shoots tops at you from the top of a staircase, and I like the way it evolves throughout the level. The first time you see him, you're on a ladder so you can wait in a safe spot and watch his patterns, and the staircase he's on is made up of half steps. The second time you see him, the steps are a lot larger making the tops tougher to dodge. And the final time you see him, you're in a more cramped area need to time your slides to not slide into any of the tops he's shooting out. Good stuff!
- What isn't as good stuff is the miniboss, a robotic cat who shoots out yarnballs you need to jump over. You face this miniboss twice and while he's a fun fight, unlike with the top enemy, I think this boss is easier the second time you fight him. In the first encounter, you're in a smaller arena with less room to avoid the yarnballs, but in the second encounter, you're in a pretty open space.
- The stage ends with a fun setpiece where you platform across spinning tops moving up and down across the screen. I've heard some criticize this mechanic for showing up only once rather than being expanded upon, but I think it works as a fun one-off sequence to end the level on a high note.
- Top Man is a great beginner boss that makes good use of all the basic mechanics you've learned throughout the level. He attacks by tossing homing tops at you that you'll need to slide under or spinning into you on the ground, but these attacks are well-telegraphed so new players shouldn't have too tough of a time with him.
- Something I noticed about Mega Man 3 compared to 1 and 2 is that the bosses are a lot faster and more aggressive. I think this is because Mega Man now has a slide which allows him to dodge attacks faster, another example of how this mechanic improves upon combat. Personally, I love the boss fights in 3, they feel almost balletic in terms of how fast they are.
- The first weapon we get in this run is the Top Spin and it's... interesting. It's a spin attack move you can use to bounce off of enemies, and it's quite powerful too as it can take out many enemies in a single hit as long as Mega Man is within contact range. The twist, however, is the way energy depletion works. While using the Top Spin, you can only lose weapon energy if Mega Man is in contact with an enemy. This means that you can whiff an attack and not have to worry about losing energy, but it also means that if you don't just barely touch an enemy with the Top Spin attack, you could potentially lose a ton of energy. It's a pretty frustrating oversight that really brings down this otherwise useful weapon, but it can be worked around once you get used to it.
Shadow Man
- I love how weird Shadow Man's stage is visually. It's this golden sewer system with lava instead of water or sewage, definitely giving off an alien feel that fits the story of Mega Man traveling to different planets.
- Sadly, the actual level layout is fairly uninteresting, mostly being focused around basic combat against enemies. It's not bad, it lacks any especially frustrating bits like Heat Man's or Ice Man's stages, but it is my least favorite Robot Master stage in this game.
- However, this is also where you'd meet Proto Man for the first time on this run. I'll talk more about him later, but the question of who this mysterious robot is and whether or not he's on your side is some of the most effective storytelling Mega Man 3 has to offer.
- One mechanic I do actually like in Shadow Man's stage is how it subverts the darkness gimmick in Quick Man's stage. In that stage, taking out those candle enemies caused the screen to go dark. In Shadow Man's stage, the screen goes dark when a Hologran goes on screen.
- Something I never noticed about Shadow Man's stage is that there are no health pickups to be found here, which I think is a good segue into Mega Man 3's health balancing issues. This game definitely feels a bit haphazard when it comes to pickup placement, with the Wily Castle being flooded with recovery items and the first half of the game feeling a bit barren. It's not a deal breaker, but it does show Mega Man 3's rushed nature a bit.
- Shadow Man's stage makes reasonably solid use of the Top Spin, with an abundance of enemies that are either too small for Mega Man to shoot like the Mechakkeros, or enemies that float above Mega Man like the Parasyus. It's a fairly safe place to play around with the move in preparation for the boss fight.
- As for the Shadow Man fight itself, it's pretty damn brutal. He's incredibly erratic in his movement, constantly hopping around at various heights before spontaneously deciding to toss shurikens at you or slide. Your Mega Buster deals chip damage too so fighting Shadow Man legit is pretty tough. But even using the Top Spin is a bit tricky, as his erratic movement makes it very easy to run into him and lose all your weapon energy.
- Thankfully, the Shadow Blade is a great weapon. It's basically the Metal Blade in that it's a fast, multidirectional weapon, but it's a lot better balanced. It has far less ammo, it's got a limited range, and it's not effective on every enemy. It's still one of the most useful weapons in the game, but it's not the only useful weapon in the game.
- We also get the Rush Marine in this stage, but more on that later.
Needle Man
- With Needle Man, we just did our first weakness chain hop. Needle Man is only partially weak to the Shadow Blade, but beating his stage gets us a very powerful tool so it's worth trying to take him out as early as we can.
- One thing that always made Mega Man 3 stand out was its darker tone. The colors used in the stages are colder and the shadowing is a lot harsher, and the music has more of a dramatic and melancholic feel. This is particularly noticeable in Needle Man's stage with how somber his theme music is.
- The start of Needle Man's stage is a perfect place to test out the Shadow Blade, with beefy hedgehogs that shoot out a ton of needles placed on a step diagonally upright from you, which puts them right within Shadow Blade range.
- While working your way through Needle Man's stage, you might spot a giant Met peeking out from under a garage door. Take a mental note of that for a bit.
- I love that room in Needle Man's stage where you need to slide under the ceiling spikes. It's a great showcase of the kinds of platforming challenges the slide can allow for.
- It's during this stage that I discovered that not only can the Top Spin take out the hedgehogs in a single hit, but it can even take out the shot puts that the Hammer Joes throw at you? Huh, I was really underrating this weapon, not gonna lie.
- I like Needle Man's fight, it's very projectile-focused as you have to dodge the countless needles he spams out at you. It's still quite tough, but he's not as mobile as Shadow Man so he feels more fair and satisfying to beat.
- Our next weapon, the Needle Cannon is basically just a rapid-fire Mega Buster. It's not the most versatile, but its ammo consumption is deservedly really good, it damages almost everything, and it can be helpful with tankier enemies.
- We also get the Rush Jet which lets you fly around on Rush wherever you want until your energy runs out. It's ridiculously broken, but it's also more fun to use in 3 than it any other game, so who's laughing now.
Snake Man
- Snake Man's stage is one of my favorite stages in all of Mega Man. The snake theming is creative, the coiling floor structure is visually pleasing, and the music is incredible.
- The snake minibosses are very fun to deal with, and make for a good testing ground for the Needle Cannon.
- Snake Man's main weakness is the Shadow Blade, so there's also a fair amount of enemies placed up on ledges above you.
- The pole vaulting enemies are fun to figure out since they require some really complex movement. If you see one, you need to stop to let them jump over you, run to the right to dodge their landing, and then jump over them as they run in from the left.
- I also love the change of scene in the final stretch with you hopping across clouds. This level feels longer than many of the other Robot Master stages due to how much is going on here. I also really like those bullet enemies that launch themselves at you if you shoot them. I always feel the best Mega Man enemies require a bit of strategy to take out, and Snake Man has a lot of that.
- That being said, I'd be remiss not to mention how buggy the clouds are as they can push you off the stage if you're not careful.
- Snake Man is one of those Mega Man bosses with a very predictable movement pattern. He simply runs back and forth across the room, but the uneven floor means dodging him requires a bit of planning and foresight. Not one of my favorite MM3 bosses, but he's certainly a unique one.
- Search Snake allows you to shoot snakes that move along the ground and run up and down walls, great for dealing with the many Mega Man 3 enemies too short for Mega Man's buster to deal with. Many later games would include similar weapons but they'd either try to limit themselves to moving up or down walls, while Search Snake gets to do both. It's not a weapon I particularly love to use, but it is one of the game's better ones.
Gemini Man
- Gemini Man's stage is one of the most interesting from a visual standpoint. Like Snake Man's stage, it has multiple phases to it, an outdoor section and a creepy squelchy interior. I especially like the crystalline surface area with stars in the background, as it's the most obvious clue to the game taking place in space.
- A fun twist in Gemini Man's stage is that Proto Man shows up to blow a hole into the planet for you. This is the only time he's seen helping you in any of the Robot Masters which does a good job at keeping up the mystery.
- Shooting your own path through the tadpole eggs is a fun gimmick, and allows for a good amount of secrets tucked away on higher platforms.
- The Rush Marine is admittedly not very useful in this game, but it gets a bit of time to shine in Gemini Man's stage. In one room, you get to pick between doing a tough platforming challenge or swimming under it all, though you'll still need to resurface often to refill your energy making this a difficult room regardless of what you pick.
- Gemini Man has one of the best and most interesting fights in any Classic game, in my opinion. In a change of pace, he has two phases this time. First, he splits himself in two and starts running from left to right before jumping back to the left. This basically turns the fight into a game of jump rope, but he also stops to shoot when you shoot so you need to shoot right before you jump to not get hit yourself. After destroying his clone, Gemini Man completely changes his movement so that he runs back and forth and jumps when you shoot. It's a tough encounter all around but very fun to figure out, especially in a Mega Buster run.
- The Gemini Laser is a criminally underrated weapon and I'll stand by that. It's absurdly powerful and can take out many tanky enemies in 1-2 hits. Its biggest flaw is that only one can be on-screen at a time meaning that there isn't much room for error, but once you get used to how it bounces off of walls, I think it can be a very high risk, high reward weapon.
Spark Man
- Spark Man's stage is another unique one in that you're basically climbing a tower, and each floor is clearly marked by the background and offers a unique platforming challenge.
- The first floor is pretty simple, having you dodge electric beams and sentient plugs that can shoot sparks at you. Meanwhile, the second floor introduces a very cool platform that shoots upwards. You need to jump off of it before it sends you into spikes, which is a fun and tense challenge.
- I like how midway through, you drop all the way into the basement, which is filled with trash compactors.
- The final section brings back those aforementioned elevating platforms, but also tosses in enemies for you to deal with at the same time. That's the kind of iterative level design I love to see.
- Spark Man is one of the easier bosses to beat with the Buster in my opinion, but a very fun one too. His movement is slow and predictable with wide jumps that are easy to duck under, and the bulk of his attacks are an array of spark-based projectiles that you need to dodge.
- Unfortunately, his weapon is one of the worst in the series. The Spark Shock can freeze enemies, but you can't swap weapons until the freeze effect expires. If you hit a tanky enemy like the Bikky in mid-air, you can get out of the way of them easily, but if you mistime your shot and they block your path, congrats. You just wasted time and weapon ammo.
Magnet Man
- Magnet Man is actually a pretty great starting stage, so a lot of people like to do this one first. It has upbeat and peppy music, a brisk encounter with Proto Man, and is mostly on the easier side.
- The main mechanic of Magnet Man's stage is obviously magnets that can draw Mega Man towards them. It's a fun way to play around with the fact that Mega Man is infact a robot made out of metal.
- However, there is one reason why I don't think Magnet Man is a good first stage and it's the invisible block section. It's nowhere near as hard as the Heat Man one, but it can still be annoying so I like to have Rush Jet so I can skip most of it.
- That being said, I like how it's crafted. The first invisible block challenge is in a safe area, the second one is also safe but now you have a magnet to deal with, and the third one has both a magnet and a pit you can fall into.
- Magnet Man is pretty easy though. His movement is repetitive and basic, and he cycles between two attacks (jumping up and shooting missiles, his magnet field) that are both well-telegraphed. The only gripe I have is that he spends a lot of time not being able to be hit in a Mega Buster run.
- The Magnet Missile is a great homing option that deals a decent amount of damage. The only issues are that it can whiff if it homes onto a moving object and its low ammo pool, but it's usually your best options for enemies far above you which makes it absolutely essential.
Hard Man
- Hard Man's stage has two main mechanics, one I love and one I dislike
- On one hand, I really like those bear traps you need to dodge. As the stage goes on, you need to run past increasingly more bear traps, leading to a really tense chase that caps off the stage.
- On the other hand, those bees are really annoying, especially since you can't destroy the shell containing them like you'd be able to with the eggs in Mega Man 2.
- Don't think I didn't notice that Hammer Joe perfectly aligned to be hit by a Gemini Laser.
- There are also some monkey enemies that hang up above, which are good places to use the Magnet Missile.
- Hard Man's stage has one of the harder Proto Man fights due to uneven terrain which makes for a good last pick as far as the Robot Masters go.
- Hard Man's boss fight is stupid, it's one of the few fights in this game that I don't really like much. He stands still and shoots these incredibly annoying homing knuckles at you, before jumping and slamming into the ground, freezing your movement even if you're in midair. The dumbest part is that Hard Man takes a bit to pull himself out of the ground so his freezing you doesn't accomplish anything aside from dragging out the fight.
- Thankfully, I like his weapon a lot. The Hard Knuckle is a powerful attack that moves fairly slowly. This makes it a pretty poor option for fast moving enemies, but if you can get up close, it deals an incredible amount of damage so I think it's still worth investing in. Also, you can just slightly aim it with up and down so that's pretty neat.
Doc Robot
- Okay, time to defend the Doc Robot stages. After beating the Robot Masters, a mysterious all-purpose robot named Doc Robot shows up and starts hijacking half of the stages. You'll have to go back into the stages and fight him twice in each of them, with him using the boss movesets from Mega Man 2.
- I actually really like the reworked Doc Robot stages. They allow the developers to take mechanics from those original stages and expand on them further with tougher arrangements, and it allows them to introduce segments that take more advantage of moves like the Rush Jet and Marine knowing that you're guaranteed to have them.
- The Doc Robot fights, on the other hand, I could take or leave. I don't think they're as bad as some suggest, though. Trying to figuring out which Mega Man 3 weapon works best against each Mega Man 2 boss is fun, and the fights themselves are roughly on par with the Japanese version of MM2, if a bit easier at times due to you know having a slide. The one really big issue here is contact damage. Doc Robot is big, and Mega Man's hitbox is bigger than in any other game, which makes it a lot easier to accidentally get hit. The Wood Man fight is the biggest culprit here.
- Needle Man's stage is my favorite Doc Robot stage and a perfect example of why I think these stages are great. It takes every single mechanic from Needle Man's stage and expands on it, delivers some strong visual storytelling, and introduces concepts that you couldn't get in the Robot Master stages. The hedgehogs are harder to take out, the sliding section is brought back but with more spikes to dodge, and a very fun Rush Jet section. But on top of that, it's nightime rather than daytime, and the giant Mets that were tucked away in the original stage are brought out to act as minibosses which blew my mind the first time I played this game.
- Shadow Man's stage really is just the original stage but harder. The initial drop has spike walls to dodge, the blackout section has pitfalls and platforms that can open up if you stand on them too long, and the parachute section has more varied kinds of enemies. Personally, I prefer this stage to the original as well since it has more going on, with the only major issue being the fairly annoying Doc Robot variants. Oh, and there's actual health pickups in this one.
- Spark Man's stage is another really good Doc Robot stage, introducing even more fun platforming obstacles like the spinning wheels and making pre-existing sequences like the drop down to the basement and the trash compactor segment more difficult. I especially love how the fencing in the basement is in tatters compared to the original version of the stage. That being said, I do somewhat prefer the hazards OG Spark Man's stage had, so it's the only Doc Robot stage where I prefer the original.
- And finally, Gemini Man's stage is just Gemini Man but better in almost every concievable way. There are more complex arrangements of tadpole eggs that requires more thought to dig through, a mandatory Rush Marine segment that gives you much more room to move around, and a very fun setpiece where you have to dodge endlessly spawning bugs that run down ladders.
- The Gemini Laser also proves itself to be the perfect weapon for Hammer Joes as it flies right under their Shot Puts, so that's another reason to love this weapon.
- The Doc Robot stages cap off with one last Proto Man fight, as we learn that, surprise surprise, Dr Wily was bad all along. Sadly, it's hard to understand the cutscene where this happens if you didn't read up on the manual which is once again a very real shame.
Wily Castle
- So, the Wily Castle in Mega Man 3 is pretty interesting. Almost as if Capcom was trying to apologize for Doc Robot, they made a Wily Castle that was really easy and generous with its recovery items. It's definitely a step down in quality from the rest of the game, though personally I'd rather have a piss-easy Wily Castle than what Mega Man 2 had, and there is still a decent amount to like.
- Wily Castle 1 spawns you right next to a wall hiding an extra life. This immediately establishes that the Wily Castle in this game is going to have a lot of hidden secrets, many of which will be locked behind your weapons. The heavy emphasis on exploration is probably the best thing about this castle.
- As a matter of fact, I think Wily Castle 1 is actually pretty good. Taking place in the sewers, it's got a good amount of variety ranging from a Rush Marine segment, to a few secret areas locked away by Hard Knuckle gates, to invisible blocks, to a Hammer Joe room that's perfect for the Gemini Laser. The boss is also a fun if easy time, being a turtle maker that you need to take out by destroying all of its turtles.
- Wily Castle 2 is also quite fun, if short. It brings back those collapsing platforms from Shadow Man's stage and uses them in a platforming puzzle that can net you some more collectibles, brings back the Hard Man beartraps for an even tougher chase, and caps it off with one last Rush Jet segment. The stage even ends with a rematch against the Yellow Devil, which smooths over the issues that the original had. There's no pause glitch, but his defense isn't as high, he boasts a few more attacks, and... well... he also looks infinitely uglier in this game...
- Wily Castle 3 is also solid, though it also feels pretty short. It brings back the blackout machines, but this time, they hide away secrets that you can only see by destroying them. I also quite like that part with the moving platforms near the end, that's a legitimately fun challenge. Unfortunately, the boss fight is another weak one. The main jist is that three Mega Man holograms spawn and you need to find the right one and shoot at it, but it has a similar issue to the Boobeam trap where they all shoot at you at the same time in a fashion that's hard to avoid, making this fight feel like more of a battle of attrition.
- Wily Castle 4 is the boss rush, but it at least starts with an entirely original section with you needing to fight off these legitimately tough garbage enemies. It also actually gives you weapon energy at the start of the stage and isn't immediately followed by a boss which is an obvious improvement over Mega Man 2's approach.
- Wily Castles 5 & 6 are just the last two bosses, but the fact that they actually thought to give the player weapon energy before each battle is such a massive step-up over the previous game. Wily Machine 3 is a decent fight, definitely the first Wily Machine to actually look unique. The first phase has you dodge cannon shots that spin around, while the second phase asks you to aim your Hard Knuckle to hit Dr Wily at the very top of the robot.
- The actual final boss, though, is sadly a massive let-down. It looks awesome, having to fight a giant robot is certainly a unique concept for the series, but both phases are way too easy. The first phase has you dodge pitifully small and slow bullets while wailing away at the cockpit with your Shadow Blade, and while the second phase adds more projectiles and a giant spiked fist that can one-shot you, it also goes down in one-shot with your Top Spin.
- However, despite the final boss, Mega Man 3's ending is fantastic. Proto Man saving Mega Man from getting crushed, the Dr Light lore harkening back to Mega Man, and of course, the big reveal that Proto Man is Mega Man's brother. It really is still such a well-done twist, you can even argue this was the "Darth Vader is Luke's father" of the NES.
- Honestly, the Wily Castle wasn't as bad as I remembered. The first three stages, while certainly on the easier side, are still really fun and offer a fair amount of setpieces that take advantage of Mega Man's full arsenal. And while the second half is exclusively boss fights, the fact that Capcom learned from the previous game by not leaving you deprived of weapon energy was a big step up in my opinion.
Conclusion
Mega Man 3 is very obviously a rushed and flawed game, but I think replaying and analyzing it only made me love it all the more. Sure, it's fairly buggy and laggy. Sure, the weapon arsenal is an acquired taste. And sure, the difficulty in the second half is somewhat lopsided. However, I think MM3 is a game that's greater than the sum of its parts. The more dramatic soundtrack, inventive art direction for the stages, and more involved story allows for a classic Mega Man game that really feels like a grand adventure. It fixes the weapon balancing issues that Mega Man 2 suffers from and evolves the formula massively with the introduction of Rush and sliding, the latter of which allowing for some of the fastest and most fun boss fights out of any of the Classic games.
Mega Man 3 is a game with its fair share of issues, and I do find myself wishing the game wasn't rushed and was properly finished so that I could say with 100% certainty that it's the best Classic game. However, even in its current state, none of MM3's issues ever felt deal-breaking for me compared to my other favorite Classic games. MM5's weapon arsenal really is that bad, MM7's bad final boss leaves me with a crummy taste in my mouth, and I can't really shake MM9's regressive philosophy, but Mega Man 3 leaves me completely satisfied every time I play it. And taking the time to analyze it allowed me to gain an even greater appreciation for the game's level, boss, and weapon design. I can actually say I kinda enjoy using the Top Spin now, so that's certainly something.
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