zippdementia's Mega Man 3 review

I never really thought of this game as being "bigger" in the sense of bigger enemies and bosses, but now that I think about it, you're right; it <

The biggest fault I have with MM3 is the Doc Robots. Many of them have large, unavoidable attacks, even if you know the pattern. Other Mega Man games reward practice and still, but these bosses get in hits that you can't do anything about. You really need to know the weakness and eat a life or an E-tank on some of them. These are the only bosses in the classic series that I'd call cheap. Given your complaints about MM2, I'm surprised you didn't find more fault in that section of the game.

The final boss is a total snooze fest. Did you try Top Spin? After the giant, walking crab thing, this was super anti-climatic.

Hey, Dagoss, thanks for reading! Did you mean to type something more after your first sentence?

In any case, I totally agree about the last boss and, as you'll notice, the entire last castle. I debated for a long time as to whether to give the castle a 2 or a 3 score. In the end, I realized I still had fun in the castle, mostly because I still enjoyed beating up the larger-than-life bosses, and that they weren't push-overs in and of themselves (a lot of people still consider the first couple Wily forms to be a deadly menace, and Yellow Devil gets some rage, too), but the stages were just a poor answer to the challenge of, as you say, the doc robot levels.

My biggest problem with Doc Robot were the Mega Man 2 aspects. I thought that those bosses were unfairly hard and not fun to fight in Mega Man 2 and had the chance to be even less so here. But I enjoyed the challenge leading up to them an incredible amount and somehow, placed within that challenge, they seemed to fit. It was the perfect endcap to a nails-tough stage. By the time I got to the robots, my adrenaline was high enough that all my senses seemed tuned to the right level to beat them. What I mean is that they weren't a sudden, game-stopping challenge. They fell right in line with the difficulty of the rest of the level.

It's very likely someone will come along and complain that I've been overly generous to Mega Man 3 and unfairly harsh to Mega Man 2, but the truth is that there are differences between the games. To some players, those may seem superficial, but to me they made a world of difference in my enjoyment level.

Dagoss: I did end up dropping one point off the doc robots, after thinking about your points on them. That drops the game by one more point, too.

The Doc Robot stages are one of the worst points in the game, basically just reworked (and cheaper) versions of the familiar standard stages (before you even count the cheap boss battles that don't even feature the proper sprites). Talk about filler! They specifically were one of the things I expected you to not like about Mega Man 3, so it was a surprise to see you singling them out for praise.

And yeah, I'm starting to think that if I wrote down a list of all the things I like about the Mega Man series and all the things I don't like, I could switch all of those items around in reverse and write reviews that match your perspective perfectly.

Actually, I think we might connect on Mega Man 4, having checked out your review for it and having already written half of mine.

I'm enjoying these reviews. I have to enjoy Mega Man games vicariously because I get too annoyed while playing them myself.

Hah! I can completely understand that. I would love to see one of your video reviews on a mega man game, tho.

I tried playing MM 2 and 3 tonight actually, and they both drove me mad. I find them both equally cheap and dickish.

Neither is as bad as the more recent MM 9 though. I can't get past the first jump in the demo. The first jump.

I liked Mega Man 9, but I agree that it's more difficult than 2 and 3 were. It was modeled after Mega Man 1, though, so what was I really expecting? I still like the game more than 1, at any rate.

A few years ago, HonestGamers allowed users to upload videos to YouTube and embed them here. I created a string of videos at that time. Here's my video for Mega Man 9:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMJDBTQUkGs

I'm not nearly as good at Mega Man 9 as I am at the older ones that I've played a lot more, but it gives you a good idea of what to expect from the Tornado Man level of the game. I still need to play through and probably review Mega Man 10. One of these days!

Sam, what level is in the Mega Man 9 demo? I haven't played enough Mega Man 9 (basically I just beat it once and fooled around with a few levels for fun after that) to remember which one might have a tricky first jump. Now you've got me curious!

I'm not certain from memory. Cloud Man perhaps? I'm not sure if it's a particularly tough jump or just my lack of Mega Man skills, but I haven't had that much trouble even with MM1.

Zipp: Now you've mentioned it, I'm actually tempted to record a 'Let's Fail At' series. Could be funny/infuriating.

Zipp: Now you've mentioned it, I'm actually tempted to record a 'Let's Fail At' series. Could be funny/infuriating.

Mega Man is all the rage. One of the most enjoyable parts of reviewing these (four and five coming, btw) has been watching this guy's perfect runs. So far he's done all the games I've played (and I think he's done 1-10); he gets more amusing with each game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxGiy6nzzpg

Sam, what level is in the Mega Man 9 demo? I haven't played enough Mega Man 9 (basically I just beat it once and fooled around with a few levels for fun after that) to remember which one might have a tricky first jump. Now you've got me curious!

It was Concrete Man (Cloud Man is in MM7). I played that demo a few times before I bought the game. I didn't think MM9 was cheapish hard. Like older games, it was very pattern-based.

Now MM10 had a crap ton of cheap moments. They should probably stop making these games now...

Ah. Concrete Man is one of the more difficult stages, as I recall. If it's the one I'm thinking of, getting through it was definitely a matter of concentrating and definitely paying attention to enemy patterns and such.

Mega Man 10 features Sheep Man, I remember reading somewhere. To me, that was an obvious sign that even the recent retro revival of the series is running out of steam. I still hope to enjoy 10 when I play it, but my expectations aren't sky-high.

Also, it seems like Mega Man 10 did mark the end. Capcom is feuding with Keiji Inafune over his betrayal of leaving the company, so they're canceling Mega Man projects out of spite and not moving forward with plans to make any new ones. It's sad, because I would have loved to see more Mega Man Powered Up! games, and possibly a Mega Man X retro revival (with 16-bit stylings) or two. I think those could have done very well and perhaps put the franchise to bed in a satisfying manner.

All of the Mega Man games are hard. None of them are cheap.

Well, maybe 1 is kind of cheap from time to time. I don't really remember. That's the only one I've only finished once.

All of the Mega Man games are hard. Some of them are sheep, though.

All of the Mega Man games are hard. Some of them are sheep, though.

I think only Sheep Man falls under that category.

It was Concrete Man (Cloud Man is in MM7)

Ah, I dabbled in MM7 at around the same time as MM9.

I would definitely have been interested in a Mega Man X revival. MMX is the only one I've felt reasonably comfortable playing (I haven't tried its sequels).

For me, the "is Mega Man cheap or not?" debate is funny. As far as I'm concerned, every damn Mega Man ever made is as cheap as can be.

Difficult and cheap are not the same thing. There's no such thing as an unavoidable death in Mega Man, or any obstacles you need ESP to be able to deal with. Even Quick Man's stage exposes you to the laser beams in a relatively easy room before hitting you with the hard parts.

There's no such thing as an unavoidable death in Mega Man, or any obstacles you need ESP to be able to deal with

I disagree. I wouldn't call the series as a whole cheap, but it definitely has moments that define what you just said. There are plenty of times in Mega Man, every single game, where if you haven't played the stage before, you are going to die because of some enemy placed at the edge of a pit, or a ledge dropping out from under you, or one of those disappearing block sequences, or an instant death spike trap. There are whole segments in Mega Man where you have to fall on the right or left side of the screen and, if you choose wrong, you die.

The problem is that people confuse "cheap" with "not fun." Mega Man is highly fun. It also can definitely be cheap.

I disagree too. Mega Man is designed to try and catch you out in petty, sneaky ways, in the same sort of vein as more recent asshole games like Super Meat Boy. It's not being challenging, it's being a dick.

I wouldn't tell anyone they shouldn't enjoy the games. Personally I find them too frustrating to be fun, but I know that's not a common view. I do, however, have difficulty seeing how they can be described as NEVER cheap.

I think we've reached the point where the argument has become pointless. There's no point in saying "it's cheap" and "no it's not" and going back and forth from there when we can't even agree on what constitutes 'cheap' in the first place! The argument is a straw man and he's barely able to stand at this point, let alone scare away any crows.

There are whole segments in Mega Man where you have to fall on the right or left side of the screen and, if you choose wrong, you die.

Find me one example of this. YouTube has videos of every Mega Man level. Show me this happening one single time.

I disagree too. Mega Man is designed to try and catch you out in petty, sneaky ways, in the same sort of vein as more recent asshole games like Super Meat Boy. It's not being challenging, it's being a dick.

I've only played about a world and a half of Super Meat Boy, but none of the levels I played of that were cheap either. If you can look at a level and figure out how to finish it without playing it, it's not cheap.

Dude, check it. Right at the beginning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zq0tKcGz4w

Zipp, that shaft is easily survived. You fall and steer left or right just slightly. There's plenty of time to react to each set of spikes, as evidenced in the video. As far as I can recall, I've never died in that shaft--even on my first time through it--unless I was doing so on purpose (because that stage is a perfect place to farm energy tanks).

Whatever the case, it's not a good example of the sort of cheapness that your post mentioned. You made it sound like the path splits and if you choose the wrong path, you'll automatically die by hitting spikes. Maybe there is such an area in one of the games (I don't remember enough of 6 to recall) or maybe there's something in 7 or 10 that I haven't seen?

By the way... cool video. I might have to see what else those two have done. They were very easy to watch, not full of profanity and stupidity the way so many of those videos are.

It's a perfect example of what I was talking about. The shaft is easily survived if you know the pattern, which they do. If you go right at the first junction, you die instantly. There is no chance to dodge, even if you know what's coming. The other dodges are easier, but you still have to know what's coming. If you don't, and pick the wrong course by luck, you will die before you have a chance to register fully what's on the screen. I know, because I died here several times before I knew what was on the coming screen. It's not like I'm making this stuff up. What would be the point?