A rocky mountain serves as the lair for Drill Man. Red rock greets you as you beam down to the scene, and you'll walk right across that soil as you begin your mission.
There are numerous enemies that hover about the air here, and they should be familiar to you from Dust Man's stage. They each take about three regular arm cannon shots to fell, and there's also a hardhat enemy between you and the ladder that leads up into the next screen. Move carefully and you should be able to avoid taking any damage up to that point.
At the top of the ladder in the next room, face left and let loose a flurry of arm cannon shots to defeat the chubby, pogo-shaped robot that is moving slowly toward you. When he's gone, go ahead and hop left, the climb the ladder there to the next room above.
The next room is a fairly simple one, inhabited by two more of the flying rotor enemies, as well as two hard hats. Again, you should be able to avoid any damage if you follow the corridor carefully and don't let yourself grow careless. When you reach its end, there's a ladder leading down to the chamber below.
In that room, you'll find three of the bats. There are also a lot of spikes. You can dispatch the bats and then make carefully-timed jumps, or you may prefer to let the bats bump you instead so you can easily cross the spikes during your brief moments of invulnerability. Whichever method you use is fine, so long as you drop down through the pit on the screen's lower right side.
Veer right as you fall there and look left. There are more bats and more spike-filled pits. There's also a 1-up icon, but you might as well just avoid it; recovering the goodie can easily lead to a loss of life, rather than any real gain. Just drop down the pit located along the screen's left side.
From here, head right along the rocky ledges, keeping an eye on the spikes both above and below, and on the rotor enemies that the fill the area. You don't want to make jumps that are too high and long, but at the same time you don't want to misjudge and fall into a pit. Past the rotor enemies, there's a ladder that you will be able to climb up to the next room.
Here, there are three armored cannons sitting at various levels. One is at your level, one is resting on a ledge just above, and a final one is near the top. Take out the middle one first, so that you can safely jump over the shots of the lowest cannon. Next, from that ledge, take out the top one. Then jump to that ledge and from there to the ladder. There's really no need to take out the bottom cannon. Just climb the ladder above it into the next room.
Here, you'll notice an energy tank sitting up on a ledge nearby. You can use the Wire attachment to hook the ceiling (hold the 'up' button and press 'B' to do so) and then drop to the ledge where the energy tank rests. Once that item is collected, go ahead and move toward the right.
This area is filled with the rolling enemies from Ring Man's stage. A few shots from the arm cannon or a charged mega buster shot will dispatch them, but be careful that you don't let them get too close or they'll roll toward you in an invulnerable state. Climb the steps they guard, and move onto the next screen to the right.
Now you should see chimney-like columns in the ceiling, with arrows pointing down from their bases. These chutes will send down large bits of stone debris that will do a great deal of damage to Mega Man if they connect. Slide under them when you find openings, and proceed along the corridor. There are also enemies that glide through the air. If one positions itself above Mega Man, it will try to stomp downward and cause damage. They also are good at knocking you into pits, and you'll find plenty of those as you proceed to the right.
You'll also find switches. Bumping into these will cause extra rock ledge to appear as if from nowhere. The first switch is easily hit, as is the second if you aim for it as you make a leap into nothingness. The third switch presents a similar situation. The fourth one is a little different. Position Mega Man so that you jump forward, tripping the switch almost the second you leave the ground, and just barely landing on the ledge that will appear to your right.
That's the last of the switches. One final rock chute and a flying enemy are all that stand between Mega Man and the gate leading to the area's robot master.
NEXT: Skull Man
