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Mega Man 4 Guide > Robot Masters > Bright Man

If you like messing around with light and dark, you'll enjoy Bright Man's stage. From the start, head right along the ledges and you'll encounter two types of enemies. The first is a toad-like enemy that rushes along and sends up fireworks. Quick shots will defeat him before he bumps you. The second enemy type is a flying bulb. Shoot it and you'll plunge the level into darkness. It's better to avoid the bulb-like enemy, as well as its spread shots. Otherwise, you can let the toad-like guy send up his fireworks, which light up the area all over again.

As you continue right, you'll soon come to a few pits. Make sure that none of your enemies are on-screen when you attempt any jumps. If necessary, edge closer to the right to cause any approaching enemies to come before you leap. When you cross the second pit, be prepared for another toad-like enemy that will be descending the steps.

Past that opponent, you'll come to a large room. Head right and you'll see a totem pole robot. This guy fires red shots at you. They're easily avoided, but it takes quite a few regular arm cannon shots to take out each totem robot.

Beyond the first such robot, you'll see a cricket-like robot resting on some spikes. Jump onto his flat back after powering up your mega buster, and he'll start leaping to the right. Be ready to take out a totem enemy along the way, and to jump to the next cricket when you come within range. These crickets will carry you across the spikes, and you can jump from the back of the last one to reach a ledge, where a ladder allows you to climb up to the next room.

The robot in this room is a fairly simple fellow. Just stand at the top of the ladder and fire charged mega buster shots across the room to hit him hard. He also lobs red bullets in arcs, so be ready to jump those. Otherwise, it's a pretty simple encounter. When the robot is gone, you can use the Rush Coil to reach the ladder in the screen's upper right corner, which leads to a small nook with a large energy capsule.

You should only grab the capsule if you need it, as doing so will cause the robot to re-generate in the screen below. When you've got the energy capsule and taken out the robot, climb the ladder along the upper left side of the screen. This leads to a new room, where you'll be at the base of a staircase. Top-like enemies drop from the ceiling here, and spin toward you. If you don't take them out quickly, they'll do some damage to your life meter. However, each falls easily enough with charged mega buster shots.

From the top of that stair, continue right and take out the next two enemies, then slide under the gap that leads right into the next area. Here, you'll see a ladder you can descend into a basement area of sorts. There, you should head right along the ledge and you'll see a red platform along an inverted, curved track. Jump on it and it will swing you over to the opposite side of the arc. Once it arrives, quickly leap to the next red platform as the one you just stood on drops out of sight. Keep moving across, until you land on the green platform. This swings over to a high ledge, where you can collect a 1-up icon and an energy tank. Now, look left and you'll see the green platform swinging back and forth. Catch its ride to a ledge to your left, and from here use the Rush Coil to hop over each of the gaps leading back left (time your leaps so you land on each red platform, and then quickly hop to solid ground).

When you reach the other end, climb back up the ladder you originally descended, and continue along the ledge leading to the right. You'll now find another series of spikes with the cricket-like robots you can ride across them. This area is trickier than the last one. There are more totem pole robots, but the real hazard is actually the crickets themselves. They're positioned in such a way that they tend to overlap, and sometimes this can result in you thinking you're on the correct one and finding too late that you're not, that instead you're riding along with a kamikaze cricket who has every intention of jumping to his (and your) doom.

On the opposite side of the series of spikes, you'll find another ladder that leads up into a new room. There's another top-like enemy here, so quickly slide under the narrow gap leading left, then turn and fire shots at the robot, who should have dropped by now. Hit him with enough shots to disable him, then climb the next ladder leading up along the screen's left side.

From the top of this ladder, head right and you'll see a bottomless pit. More of the flying bulb robots are here, and you should take out each as you come across them with charged mega buster shots. As you're doing so, you must hop from platform to platform. Remember that the red ones fall once they reach the end of their arcs. Partway across, you'll come to solid ground in the form of two red blocks. From here out, there are only two more of the red platforms. As you leap from the second, a bulb-like enemy is approaching in the air, and it can easily knock you to your death. Instead of letting that happen, ride the platform down as it start to descend, then jump just before you sink into the pit. Then take out the toad-like enemy that will be approaching at ground level, and proceed to the right.

There's another of the toad-like enemies, and another flying bulb, and then you'll find yourself at the gate leading to the encounter with the area's robot monster.

Bright Man


This battle is easy if only because you have Toad Man's special attack. When you enter, go ahead and fire up one of the weather missiles. Acid rain will hammer your opponent. For the rest of the battle, just wait until each bit of rain has subsided, then fire off another one.

While you're doing that, Bright Man will be countering with attacks of his own. He for the most part takes wide leaps from the right side of the screen to the left, and vice-versa. Also, he fires shots from his own arm cannon, and will sometimes freeze you in the middle of movement so that you can't dodge out of his way for a moment. As long as you send off one weather missile at a time, you'll drain his life at around the same time you run out of shots. If not, finish him off with the arm cannon.

Password: A-1,3,5, B-2, D-1, E-3

NEXT: Pharaoh Man