GAME HINTS

Story

It seems like a pretty typical occurrence when Robot Masters around the world start going on a rampage; however, this time around Dr. Wily disavows any association and blames Dr. Light. Wily even goes so far as showing a false video and asking for people to donate to him so that he can build an army of robots to counter this threat. With the world somehow wondering if maybe Wily is telling the truth for once (when does he ever?), Mega Man decides to go out and tackle the immediate problem: the rogue robots.

Special Features

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This is a downloadable game made in the style of the NES. Thus, while I could call it an “NES” game, it’s honestly not; it’s not available in cartridge form and you need a Wii, Xbox 360, or a PlayStation 3 in order to play it. (Buy it through Xbox LIVE or PSN. It was also previously available through WiiWare. Lacking any of these options, try Legacy Collection 2.)

(Screen shot of Mega Man covered in ink.)
I’m feeling a little gunked up...
This game has several unlockable modes available as separate downloads. Once you’ve purchased the game itself, be sure to check what kind of add-ons you can snag for it. Along with the main game, you can play things such as various time trials, hard modes, a survival mode, and Proto Man mode (which lets you play as Proto Man ala Powered Up, although in this game he has no plot).

Where supported this game also has official achievements; as of this writing, this list for the Xbox has hints and suggestions about how to acquire each one. (Click on each achievement name individually.)

Similarities and Differences

Just a quick list of where the designers borrowed certain aspects of the game and where they diverged from the classics. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but covers some of the highlights:

  • The Item Replicator: This began way back in Mega Man IV. Great to see it back; the Item Replicator is one of this game’s major saving graces.
  • Rush Coil: They chose a good implementation here; I’m glad they didn’t use the Mega Man 5 version for example.
  • Rush Jet: At least Rush Jet is in this game, and is controllable, not like Mega Man 8. The only downside is sadly they used a less useful implementation of it. (For an example of a good Rush Jet, see Mega Man 3.)
  • As a side note, Proto Man doesn’t have Rush at all, which is surprisingly accurate considering he has no plot. The replacement items he gets are new, although the Rush Jet replacement looks similar to Item-2. (And ironically the Rush Coil replacement looks kind of similar to the Carry from Mega Man I although it’s not the same thing.)
  • Mega Buster: Sadly, Mega Man doesn’t have a Mega Buster at all. Proto Man does (though in keeping with previous games his version should technically be called the “P.Strike”—I won’t complain, though, since renaming identical weapons just because it’s being wielded by a different person always struck me as silly); however, it is almost useless because they used the Mega Man 4 implementation for it (well, technically Mega Man 5). Now when Mega Man 4 first came out, I did not hold its substandard implementation of the Mega Buster against them because I don’t expect them to perfectly refine a new feature in the very first game that it is introduced. However, Mega Man 9 is a different story—they had plenty of other games to borrow a decent Mega Buster from, and for whatever reason they chose to grab the worst possible one. For a good Mega Buster implementation, see for example Mega Man IV (minus the kick if you really must).
    (Screen shot of endless enemy respawn coupled with the Jewel Satellite.)
    I think I’ll just stay here until I’ll all full up...
  • Slide: Where is it? Proto Man has one, which is completely inaccurate—in the past he’s always had a dash, not a slide. The slide has always been Mega Man’s own personal unique trademark.
  • Mega Man’s shots go through walls here. This is something that has been with the series for pretty much forever; however, believe it or not, later games have started eliminating this “feature” in favor of something a little more, well, realistic. But being able to shoot through walls just adds so much additional strategy, so I’m rather glad they kept this.
  • Proto Man’s shield only works when he’s jumping, and won’t protect him while he’s standing. This is oddly backwards; all other games (such as Mega Man 7) worked exactly opposite of this. Having said that, you can reflect shots back at enemies with the shield in this game, instead of just blocking them like other games, and that’s pretty fun.
  • Mega Man’s eyes follow your selection on the stage select screen. I always found that to be cute. This is from Mega Man 3.
  • They actually put a UI button on the stage select screen for entering Dr. Light’s shop, rather than relying on you remembering to press Select.
  • Exit Unit: Otherwise known as the Escape Unit. Since you can’t save on the stage select screen, this would have been useful to have in its place. Granted, only a few of the classic games even have an Exit at all, but it would have been a real time-saver.
  • Subscreen: This game has two menus—the subscreen and the system menu. As kind of a weird glitch, if you open and close your subscreen, any weapon shots that you had active on the screen disappear even if you still have that same weapon equipped when you leave the subscreen. This doesn’t happen when you open the system menu, however.
  • Saved games don’t remember progress through fortress. This is one place where I really wish they’d broken with tradition here. Oh well, at least there’s only one fortress.

Review

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Play Control: 4
The control is pretty good, definitely getting close to matching the feel of many of the other classic Mega Man games (though putting the subscreen on Select instead of Start really messes me up). In fact, most of the time when you will be cursing the control isn’t actually a fault of the play control itself, but rather because the stage designers seem to have over-estimated Mega Man’s jumping range just about everywhere.
(Screen shot of a ridiculous jump.)
Are these guys nuts?
Graphics: 2
I went back and studied the graphics from previous NES games just to refresh my memory, and I will say the graphics here do seem to fit the overall style fairly well. The only thing that feels “off” to me is the graphics in Mega Man 9 seem to heavily favor the color black, more so than most of the other games. It’s tough to describe, but take for comparison this screen from Mega Man 3, or this one from Mega Man 6. Still, overall the feel of the graphics is pretty close.
Animation: 3
Most of the sprites for the main characters are from previous games. The new sprites do a fairly good job at sticking with the style of the original games in most cases. (Certainly better than my artwork.) Most of the Robot Masters have a number of frames of animation just for when they do their pre-battle posing. (Ironically, the new Sniper Joe in this game is so detailed he almost sticks out like a sore thumb, which is kind of funny.)
Music: 2
Many of the songs are from previous games—mostly Mega Man 2 (though ironically they seem to have chosen all of the really short and repetitive ones from that game). Some of the songs are rather high-pitched and repetitive (Tornado Man’s comes to mind) but the rest of the music isn’t that bad. The opening/ending is pretty nice, for example. A shame it all had to be in mono though.
Sound Effects: 3
Most of the sound effects are taken directly from previous games, though you’ll hardly hear them because the music volume is significantly louder in comparison and tends to drown out the sound effects (at least on the Xbox). The sound for when you pick up a Screw is kind of grating, and so is the charge sound effect for Proto Man, though that’s not a central part of the game.
Plot: 2
There are cut scenes spread throughout the game, which I give them points for. However, I don’t really care for the actual plot itself. It just doesn’t seem to fit into the original series well; I think the writers kind of forgot they weren’t writing for the ZX series here. (Having said that, the ending is awesome, so I can forgive them, mostly.)
Difficulty: 4 (normal to insane)
Actually, the overall stage design is fairly normal for the Mega Man 4 - 6 era. However, every stage has at least one place where the difficulty suddenly spikes through the roof, usually due to some pretty ridiculous design decisions. This can prevent people from actually finishing any stages because they keep getting snagged on these difficult sections, which makes the overall game feel harder than it really is. (Just as a note, if you are having troubles, see some suggestions in the Tips section.)
Replay Value: 3
(Screen shot of shooting through walls.)
You just have to be creative about how you go about things.
This one really depends on the player. Those who have a difficult time finishing the stages will probably lack incentive to ever want to go back to them again. However, people who like a challenge definitely get their money out of this one, so your mileage here will vary.
Polish: 3
There are a couple of extra touches here and there, one of which I want to note here specifically. Later in the game the good guys watch a video taken from the memory of one of the Robot Masters. Because this scene is being viewed through the eyes of the last Robot Master you defeated, the resulting scene shows only the other seven Robot Masters. If you look carefully, the one you just defeated is always the one that’s missing. This is a nice touch. (They did, however, forget to change the “his” to “her” if you defeated Splash Woman last. See, this is why it’s a bad idea to have a female Robot Master!)
Overall: 80%
For a number of reasons, this one is really hard for me to rate. In a lot of ways, it feels a lot like Mega Man 6 to me (but with an Item Replicator, and better weapons, and, well, you know). However, something you have to factor in is the cost. Assuming you already own one of the systems in question and have it connected to the Internet, this game costs less than half that of the NES games in their time, and it’s a full game—not a port, not a remake. So that’s something to consider as well. Overall, I really do think it’s worth the download, but be prepared to be driven up the wall by it at times.

+ Plus:
The weapons are a lot of fun to use; almost every weapon in the game is useful for something besides just defeating bosses.
- Minus:
Your weapon shots go away when you open the subscreen, even if you were just doing so to check your energy levels or pause the game.

Suggested Order

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It’s difficult to suggest an order because in order to defeat a Robot Master, you first have to reach him—which is sometimes the hardest part. If you can’t defeat the stages in this order, don’t worry too much about it. Just clear whatever stage you can get through, using Energy Tanks on the boss as necessary. The game gets easier as you gather weapons and items, so forget the finesse and use brute force where need be.

Teleporting Hatches

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Counterclockwise from top left corner: Galaxy, Concrete, Splash, Jewel, Hornet, Magma, Tornado, Plug

Bosses

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Magma Dragon:
It flies back and forth across the screen breathing fireballs onto the ground, which then split and go sideways (so jump). You can blow the flames off its body with the Tornado Blow, or suck them up with the Black Hole Bomb. Plant a B.Bomb right in the path of the dragon’s head and it will damage the beast as it flies by.
Elephants:
The first one you can just hang on the ladder and shoot it effortlessly. For the rest, you should see the “expected” pattern quickly—jump or otherwise dodge the ball that the elephant sends out, then run against the pull as the elephant sucks the ball back toward it—remembering to jump the ball again, of course. However, if these guys give you trouble, one unorthodox way to defeat one is to just stand right in its face and blast away. You’ll take damage, but you won’t risk getting blown into the pits and with rapid-fire you should defeat the elephant without taking more than two hits yourself. (Use a special weapon like P.Ball to finish them even faster.)
Flower:
The main challenge in this battle is avoiding the arm that is rotating around the room, not so much the flower (although sometimes it has a nasty habit of coming up right underneath you, and you can’t stand on the same ledge as the flower and shoot it because your shots will go straight through the flower because Mega Man sticks his arm cannon through it). Keep circling the room well ahead of the arm, and shoot at the flower only if you have an opportunity to, but don’t go too far out of your way for it or you may wind up just falling onto the spikes.
(Screen shot of Mega Man saying, 'It was Wily all along!')
And you are surprised...why?
If you keep moving, most of the flower’s petals will miss you. Hornet Chaser works fairly well here because there’s no need to aim it; just make sure not to fire until after the flower appears (or at least just before it will appear) or else you will simply waste hornets. T.Blow is nice as well, but its energy won’t last very long.
Face Boulder:
Welcome to the most irritating mini-boss in the game (and that’s saying a lot). Rocks will fall randomly and rapidly from ceiling, and without a slide it’s tough to dodge them. Try to stay on your feet because when you see the boulder with the eyes on it, you need to jump immediately before it hits the ground or it will stun you and then roll over you. (Just to add insult to injury, the face rock can stun you even if you currently have temporary invulnerability from being hit previously by a boulder. This seems a little inconsistent to me.)

Note that when the face boulder goes back up to the top of the screen, you can watch the bits of dust to determine where it will come down again. If you have a weapon that can hit it up there, you can interrupt most of the boulders and cause the face to fall early. Otherwise, it’s not really helpful to know where it is because the real problem in this battle is all of the other boulders, not the one with the face. If you don’t have a weapon that can hit the face at the top of the screen, P.Ball seems to work fairly well as a substitute, defeating the boulder face in about 2-3 cycles.

Spiked Ball Cones:
This is a bit like a game of tug-of-war. Shoot the spiked balls to move them closer to the four robots by the four doors. When a ball strikes a robot, it destroys that robot and damages the boss’s overall energy meter. Most of the time, more robots will come through the gates to replenish those that you destroy (the red faces tend to be a bit more aggressive than the blue ones); however, once you whittle the boss’s energy low enough, eventually they will stop coming.

The T.Blow can move all four balls at once, but of course you’ll run out of energy for it in no time flat. You are probably better off just rapid-firing the spiked balls. Just make sure you don’t touch them bodily because they will kill you instantly.

Shark Ship:
This boss has three modes. The first mode, the tail end of the ship, involves a panel that opens and releases homing missiles. You can only damage the boss by shooting the missile bay while it is open; the panel opens every time it has to release more missiles—which it does when the previous missiles are destroyed. The L.Trident does decent damage and shoots fast, although you’ll waste energy shooting the missiles while waiting for the flying ship to get into range. Fausk suggests using hornets here, which I haven’t tried yet.

The second mode puts you right underneath the ship. Those are spikes right over your head, even though they don’t look like it. Two hatches release flying fish. Shoot the hatches to damage the boss; I would recommend against jumping because you are too likely to hit the underside of the ship and finish yourself off. M.Bazooka can hit the hatches without jumping, or use B.Bomb to both damage the hatches and suck up the fish. Fausk also suggests using T.Blow to accomplish the same thing. You can stand on the right side of the right hatch without being hit if you don’t jump, but beware of the fish.

The third mode is the head of the ship. (The game puts you right underneath it. Do move.) This one fires short lasers, and of course you have to hit the cannon which is only open while it is firing. Once again, L.Trident does pretty good damage, if you have any energy left for it. Be careful when jumping to shoot at this boss because usually you take damage only if you put yourself in the way of a laser.

Yellow Devil Blobs:
You can only damage this boss by hitting the eye while it is in transit. Memorize the pattern of the blocks because they are always the same. The pattern is as follows: Stand underneath 3. Jump the next 2 blobs together, in the center of the room. Then jump the next 2 blobs. Stand under 3. Then the eye will go. Jump 2 blobs; jump another set of 2. Stand under 3. Jump 1 low blob, then jump over 2 together. For the next group of 2, either jump very high over both, or jump the lower one in such a way that the higher one misses you. Stand under the final blob.

That is:

  • Stand (count 3)
  • Jump (2)
  • Jump (2)
  • Stand (count 3)
  • Eye
  • Jump (2)
  • Jump (2)
  • Stand (count 3)
  • Jump low (1)
  • Jump (2)
  • Jump high (2) or jump 1, stand 1
  • Stand (count 1)
While you are standing under the 3 just before the eye, prepare your weapon shot. Use B.Bomb for best results—fire the bomb while standing and if necessary press Up on the controller to get it about level with where the eye will pass through and form the black hole there. If you run out of energy for this weapon, M.Bazooka will do about 2 units of damage per shot and it’s fairly easy to hit with.
Wily 1st time:
You have to keep bouncing the egg bombs back at him. Just keep jumping and shooting them as they bounce toward you. As you knock them up against Wily’s machine, they will crack and eventually explode, damaging the machine.
Wily 2nd time:
Wily’s machine charges forward, trapping you toward the left side of the screen, but there is enough space for you to stand. Whenever the jaw on the machine opens, jump just as it is opening, and the flames that it spews will go right over your head. (The flames are in a U shape; it is sometimes possible to jump them, but it’s easier to stand underneath them when they are high enough.) Also, sometimes Wily will fly into the air and move slowly back and forth. For this, run most of the way across the screen, then turn around and head back to the left side. Wily should drop down somewhere on the right side of the screen. Jump just before he lands because if you are on the ground when he hits down, he’ll knock you off your feet.

To damage the machine, shoot the jaw. You can use either the arm cannon or something like L.Trident or M.Bazooka which is slightly easier to hit with. Additionally, some people have suggested using C.Shot. I haven’t personally tried this yet (seems like it’d be a pain to hit with) but it’s something else you can try.
Wily 3rd time:
Yep, appearing/disappearing saucer routine. When he appears, he has two types of attacks. One sends four energy balls outward and four down simultaneously. The ones going down will hit the floor and move sideways, and the ones going sideways will turn and move down. His second type of attack involves four spheres which come outward quickly, then zip toward you one more time before going off the screen. Position yourself carefully and you can govern where they travel, enabling you to jump or otherwise avoid them. Sometimes Wily will appear and then immediately disappear without shooting.

Hornets are pretty useful here since they don’t have to be aimed, but they don’t track Wily like Beat did, so you have to wait until Wily appears before shooting one. T.Blow is good for easy hits and defense (it blows away his shots) but you only get 4 blasts out of it. B.Bomb can also suck up his shots but it’s hard to hit Wily with it unless you get lucky. J.Satellite will do okay damage on Wily (try flinging it at him) but does not protect you from his shots, so you still have to dodge. M.Bazooka can hit most if not all of his locations.

Feel free to use your M-Tank on Wily if necessary. You won’t need it after this anyway.

Passwords

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This game uses saved games rather than passwords (rather surprisingly, actually, given how much they were trying for the whole nostalgia thing). You have up to 8 slots to save your games in, and saved games remember the number of lives, Energy Tanks, and other things in your possession. However, they do not remember progress through the fortress, so if you save during a later fortress stage, don’t expect to go back there when you reload. Also, don’t bother saving while in the fortress at all if you have used more Energy Tanks and such than you found Screws to replace, because otherwise you’ll just set yourself behind.

I really wish they’d let you save the game off the stage select screen, though. The only way to save the game is to clear or die to a stage, which, lacking an Escape Unit, makes it hard to stock up on items and then save them for use later. (What’s the use of buying extra lives if you have to lose them all just to save the game?)

Note: After you beat the game, you can make a save game that puts you back at the beginning of the game, but you retain whatever number of Screws you’d had from when you’d beaten the game. I’m not sure yet if anything else changes.

Items

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  • Rush Coil: You start the game with this.
  • Rush Jet: After you defeat five Robot Masters, Auto will build this.
This game has the Item Replicator introduced in Mega Man IV and reused in Mega Man 7 and beyond. You use “Screws” to build things (which are really Bolts). It’s a shame the interface for the Item Replicator is kind of aggravating though.

Tricks and Secrets

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(Screen shot of the item screen.)
So why do we have two digits for item counts when the maximum possible amount is 9?
General Tips
  • If you are having troubles with the game, just enter stages gathering Screws and exiting out by losing all of your lives and selecting “Stage Select” on the game over screen. This will enable you to practice on the stages, but also, once you have enough Screws, go stock up on Energy Tanks. You can wipe out virtually any boss in the game with the application of a sufficient number of Energy Tanks.
  • When you’ve gathered a pile of Screws, build a bunch of items and then save the game (if you can). If you use up the items on a stage but fail to clear the stage, reload from your save instead of continuing, because that way you’ll get your items back. (Since you can’t save after buying items, you might need to just keep your save around that has a high number of Screws, and rebuild the items every time you load. Kind of time-consuming, but it works.)
  • Another technique you can use is to save with 100 Screws and then buy a Guard Power Up. Use it on a stage and if you lose all of your lives anyway, reload instead of using Continue. If you clear the stage, gather 100 more Screws and buy another Guard Power Up before tackling the next stage. This works similar to the Energy Tank strategy, and can be intermixed with it.
  • Make use of your weapons! If a particular enemy keeps knocking you into a pit, for example, try using J.Satellite or T.Blow or B.Bomb to eliminate the threat. Use Hornets to get at hard-to-reach enemies. Use L.Trident to get through shields. You have lots of options. Abundant use of your weapons will make the stages go a lot easier.
Stage-Specific Tips
    (Screen shot of Wily talking to the Robot Masters.)
    (Note: I spliced this screen shot together. Normally the Robot Master you just defeated is not visible.)
  • Galaxy Man’s stage: There are Blader-like things, with arms, that swoop down and latch onto you, then fly horizontally into conveniently-placed spikes. You can jump while in their grip, but honestly, it’s better to just not get grabbed in the first place. When you are in a section where they appear, walk forward slowly, inch by inch. If you aren’t running when they drop down, they will miss you entirely. Slow and careful wins the day.
  • Concrete Man’s stage: There are some fall-through blocks in this level; however, they look different than the normal blocks so they are easy enough to spot. Just pay attention to the patterns on the bricks. Also, there are some invisible ledges behind some of the waterfalls later in the stage.
  • Tornado Man’s stage: Once you have Rush Jet, one full energy bar of Rush Jet will get you past the entire first field of magnet platforms. Just fly low, about even with the low bars. You will have to dodge some spikes but should be pretty well lined up to avoid them.

    During the icy sections, jump straight up in order to stop your sliding motion. In fact, it’s good idea to move by hopping, instead of trying to walk. Do not die on the spikes here because if you do you have to do the whole magnet section again. This is worth using a Shock Guard on. In fact, if you think you might land on the spikes, don’t even bother to shoot the Shield Attackers. Just touch them and walk across the spikes that way.

    In the rainy sections of the stage, note that there are hidden platforms in most of the gray clouds which you can safely stand on. The designers also sometimes hide items back there. At the beginning of the first rainy section, pick up an Energy Tank by using Rush Coil into the big cloud to your left.

    Also note that you can use J.Satellite to protect yourself from the umbrellas, allowing you to concentrate on making jumps.

  • Hornet Man’s stage: In one section there are shielded robots that toss sphere-bombs at you. You need to use their bombs to destroy blocks in the floor in order to proceed. Hit them to get them to shoot at you. Keep moving and their bombs will miss you.

    Use the J.Satellite during the section of spikes with the scissors, and the scissors won’t hurt you.

  • Plug Man’s stage: You can’t use the Rush Jet to avoid all of the appearing/disappearing blocks in this stage; however, you can use it in select sections to avoid certain portions of them. There’s an Energy Tank a bit later in the stage that’s easy to reach with Rush Coil.
  • Magma Man’s stage: As an amusing aside, if you stand very close to a lava beam, little sparks are shown flying off your character’s shoulder. This has no effect on anything; it’s just a cute little touch.
  • Fortress Station 1: Use J.Satellite during first part for ease of passage. Use the Tornado Blow to raise the propeller platforms, and use the Concrete Shot to freeze the magma beams. You can avoid the first beam altogether by just using Rush Coil. For the set of three, you want the ladder on the far right in order to progress. If you want to get the Energy Tank (not that you should need it), skip the C.Shot and just use Rush Coil as you are climbing the ladder into the room (make sure Mega Man is facing right), and then jump on Rush as soon as you come off the ladder, and you should bypass the beams entirely and reach the leftmost ladder.
    (Screen shot of using Hornet Chaser to snag a 1-Up.)
    Come forth, my faithful ally!
    At that point you will need to use C.Shot or Rush Jet to get to the next ladder, then L.Trident to break the blocks in front of the E-Tank.
  • Fortress Station 2: The blocks that the projector robots “create” are holograms. They aren’t actually there. Memorize the pattern of the blocks when you first enter a room, or destroy the projector robots quickly before they do their work. You can also use the P.Ball to test for holes in the floors.
  • Fortress Station 3: During the upward-motion tunnels, you propel yourself by shooting your arm cannon. Blasting the Yellow Devil eyes is counterproductive so just avoid everything. When you shoot, you will keep moving without slowing down until you hit something, or until you turn around and shoot in the opposite direction (or switch areas). Each successive shot in a single direction moves you faster.

    During the second tunnel, you can avoid the first two sets of spikes from the position where you start; however, the designers ever-so-thoughtfully put an enemy right on that path, so you’ll have to move out of its way just to have to move right back to where you started again. Fire exactly four times to get through the first diagonal section at the top of this tunnel, then when you are high enough to clear the spikes, just turn around and rapid-tap the fire button to fling yourself back toward the left.

  • Fortress Station 4: Use C.Shot to block the lasers, or just walk through them if you want—they damage you but don’t kill you, and you get an energy refill later.

Ending

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When Dr. Wily is defeated, a part falls from his ship and Wily runs off. Mega Man picks up the part and follows him. (As an aside, the room they go to has a screen showing schematics for Bass, very similar to the screen in Power Fighters. Yet the press release for this game says it takes place after Mega Man 8, so Bass certainly exists already...)

At any rate, Dr. Wily begs for forgiveness, and Mega Man calls Rush and tells Wily, “I want you to see where you went wrong!” He then proceeds to show Wily projected images of all of Wily’s major defeats in the past. (If you’ve ever complained, teasingly, that you haven’t seen Wily beg enough, this game certainly makes up for it!) What’s really clever about these scenes is they show Mega Man using the “proper” weapon against Wily, based on what colors he is. (The ninth image is from Mega Man & Bass.)

At any rate, Wily admits his defeat and informs Mega Man that he used police robots to capture Dr. Light under the pretense of arresting him. Dr. Wily claims that Dr. Light fell ill and needs to be taken to the hospital. He then leads Mega Man to a cell guarded by police robots with the captive scientist lying inside.

As Mega Man moves to free Dr. Light, Proto Man teleports in and warns him that it’s a trap, that the Dr. Light inside the cage is the robot that Wily built to create that fake video from all the way back at the beginning of the game. But Mega Man says he has to check and make sure either way. So Proto Man leaves him to it, and when Mega Man goes over to the bars of the cage, the fake Dr. Light starts sparking and zaps Mega Man flat.

Wily gloats that Mega Man will be destroyed along with his castle. Personally, I think dropping a castle on his head is a somewhat expensive way to finish him off, but hey, whatever. Wily and his police robots leave. On the floor, Mega Man lifts his head for a moment and comments, “I’m glad it wasn’t Dr. Light, but that poor robot...” (This fits his character but totally contradicts earlier plot points in the game where Mega Man seemed fine with Robot Masters being scrapped...)

Mega Man goes thud, alarms blare, and Proto Man reappears, commenting, “Looks like I have to save you...again.” He then teleports the two of them out.

Interestingly, this game does not actually show Wily’s castle blowing up from the outside like most games; instead, it cuts directly to the epilogue (Dr. Light was cleared of all charges, but Dr. Wily escaped and disappeared), then goes to the credits.

The credits sequence is worth watching because it contains images of the various Robot Masters (apparently they were rebuilt) along with Dr. Light, Mega Man, Roll, Auto, and the rest of the gang.