After the massive success of Mega Man 2, Capcom decided to make Mega Man a household name, and thus, less then a year later, Mega Man 3 came out. Following up with the universally acclaimed second entry was always going to be quite the task, but this game manages to succeed in that regard. I wouldn't consider it better than the previous entry, but it is pretty close to doing so.
The story differentiates enough to be different from the previous game while also remaining similar, the graphics and art style are still extremely appealing and colorful, the music is once again fantastic and iconic, the control is as tight as before, the gameplay continues to be addicting and fun as fuck, the boss fights are pretty fun and challenging (for the most part), and the new mechanics/characters in the game, such as the sliding and Rush, are very helpful and fun to use.
However, this is where a problem of the series starts to show up: the padding. After beating the main 8 robot masters, you then have to replay four of the stages you just done, only harder, while also technically refighting all the robot masters from Mega Man 2. This does provide more to do in the game, but I feel it's unnecessary, and just an excuse to make the game longer, which I welcome, but it could be done better.
Not to mention, Wily's Castle in this game is the EASIEST in any Mega Man game ever made. Not only are the levels easy, and the bosses can be defeated very quickly, but they also practically shower you with items to where you should never die once while in there. Sure, it is a nice breather, but for the final set of levels in the game, it should provide the most challenge, while it instead does the opposite.
Overall, this is an almost perfect follow-up to Mega Man 2, and while it does have its share of problems, they weren't enough to stop having fun with the game. Also, thank god that the cover art is much better, although, Mega Man's face is now fucked up, so, that's a thing.
Game #46
The story differentiates enough to be different from the previous game while also remaining similar, the graphics and art style are still extremely appealing and colorful, the music is once again fantastic and iconic, the control is as tight as before, the gameplay continues to be addicting and fun as fuck, the boss fights are pretty fun and challenging (for the most part), and the new mechanics/characters in the game, such as the sliding and Rush, are very helpful and fun to use.
However, this is where a problem of the series starts to show up: the padding. After beating the main 8 robot masters, you then have to replay four of the stages you just done, only harder, while also technically refighting all the robot masters from Mega Man 2. This does provide more to do in the game, but I feel it's unnecessary, and just an excuse to make the game longer, which I welcome, but it could be done better.
Not to mention, Wily's Castle in this game is the EASIEST in any Mega Man game ever made. Not only are the levels easy, and the bosses can be defeated very quickly, but they also practically shower you with items to where you should never die once while in there. Sure, it is a nice breather, but for the final set of levels in the game, it should provide the most challenge, while it instead does the opposite.
Overall, this is an almost perfect follow-up to Mega Man 2, and while it does have its share of problems, they weren't enough to stop having fun with the game. Also, thank god that the cover art is much better, although, Mega Man's face is now fucked up, so, that's a thing.
Game #46