Completed as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the Nintendo GameCube.
Boss order: Magnet Man, Hard Man, Top Man, Shadow the Hedgehog Man, Spark Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, Needle Man.
Oh boy, it's more Mega Man! Some would even say it's the most Mega Man since Mega Man 2. Although the formula is very much the same as it was for the last two games, Mega Man 3 does introduce a few new elements to keep things fresh: the slide, Proto Man, and Rush. You know what that means? I finally get to talk about a good Mega Man game.
Although the levels, Robot Masters, and weapon powers are overall less memorable than those of the previous two games, I think Mega Man 3 makes significant improvements to stage design and difficulty balancing. There's much fewer cheap shots taken against the player, some (generally) better checkpointing, and the slide is fun to use both in the context of level design and as a utility move to gain extra momentum on jumps and slip under projectiles. Speaking of things that are just more fun, Rush is a perfect replacement for Mega Man's tools. First of all, he's a big goofy dog, so that's already a mark in his favor. Second, jumping on his back and launching yourself with a spring or riding Rush around like a hoverboard feels better than fussing around with the magnet beam or Mega's stupid little platforms from 2.
Wily's castle is also better than it was in the last two games. Each stage is fairly concise, and the gimmicks therein range from enjoyable to inoffensive. My only real gripe is that getting a game over during the boss rush sent me all the way back to the start of the castle. To be fair, in some bizarre recognition of how shitty that is, Capcom rains extra lives down upon you during these levels, which... I mean, I guess that's one way to address it? My second run went very smoothly, however, and I had so many lives and E-tanks by the end that I was able to brute force my way to the credits. Mega Man 3 also subverts the player's expectation by not sending them to Wily's castle immediately after defeating the eight Robot Masters. Instead, you have to run through four previously completed levels first and take out Robot Masters from the last two games along the way. While this initially caused me to groan, I actually found these remixed levels to be some of the strongest out of the entire game, but maybe I'm just a sucker for "hard mode" versions of levels I'm familiar with. I did buy the hard mode DLC for Sonic 2006, after all. I'm a sick freak.
If I had one thing to hold against Mega Man 3, it's that the rock-paper-scissors design of the weapon powers and Robot Masters is even more baffling than it's ever been. Magnet missiles are useful against Hard Man. Ok, I get that. He's a big guy who is visibly made out of dense metal, so magnets would stick to him. Snake Man is weak to Shadow Blades, though? Is the implication that you could just like, cut a snake in half if you had something sharp? Hey, what do you think shadows would be weak to? Probably the Spark Shot, because electricity can be used to create light and illuminate a room. IT'S SPINNING TOPS!? ARE YOU KIDDING, AM I BEING PRANKED!? WHY ARE TOPS WEAK TO FISTS, THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS TO ME I DONT UNDERSTAND
Anyway, I'm just kinda mad that I had to start the game over because I could not make heads or tails of any of this. That's why my boss order is straight up what the first Google result is for "best Mega Man 3 boss order." The Proto Man fights are also pretty weak, he just runs back and forth taking shots at you with his buster, so a lot of his presence here gets by on how cool his character design is and that dope whistle theme.
Anyway, it's been a long week. If any of you need me, I'm going to be hanging out at Top Man's grow-op.
Boss order: Magnet Man, Hard Man, Top Man, Shadow the Hedgehog Man, Spark Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, Needle Man.
Oh boy, it's more Mega Man! Some would even say it's the most Mega Man since Mega Man 2. Although the formula is very much the same as it was for the last two games, Mega Man 3 does introduce a few new elements to keep things fresh: the slide, Proto Man, and Rush. You know what that means? I finally get to talk about a good Mega Man game.
Although the levels, Robot Masters, and weapon powers are overall less memorable than those of the previous two games, I think Mega Man 3 makes significant improvements to stage design and difficulty balancing. There's much fewer cheap shots taken against the player, some (generally) better checkpointing, and the slide is fun to use both in the context of level design and as a utility move to gain extra momentum on jumps and slip under projectiles. Speaking of things that are just more fun, Rush is a perfect replacement for Mega Man's tools. First of all, he's a big goofy dog, so that's already a mark in his favor. Second, jumping on his back and launching yourself with a spring or riding Rush around like a hoverboard feels better than fussing around with the magnet beam or Mega's stupid little platforms from 2.
Wily's castle is also better than it was in the last two games. Each stage is fairly concise, and the gimmicks therein range from enjoyable to inoffensive. My only real gripe is that getting a game over during the boss rush sent me all the way back to the start of the castle. To be fair, in some bizarre recognition of how shitty that is, Capcom rains extra lives down upon you during these levels, which... I mean, I guess that's one way to address it? My second run went very smoothly, however, and I had so many lives and E-tanks by the end that I was able to brute force my way to the credits. Mega Man 3 also subverts the player's expectation by not sending them to Wily's castle immediately after defeating the eight Robot Masters. Instead, you have to run through four previously completed levels first and take out Robot Masters from the last two games along the way. While this initially caused me to groan, I actually found these remixed levels to be some of the strongest out of the entire game, but maybe I'm just a sucker for "hard mode" versions of levels I'm familiar with. I did buy the hard mode DLC for Sonic 2006, after all. I'm a sick freak.
If I had one thing to hold against Mega Man 3, it's that the rock-paper-scissors design of the weapon powers and Robot Masters is even more baffling than it's ever been. Magnet missiles are useful against Hard Man. Ok, I get that. He's a big guy who is visibly made out of dense metal, so magnets would stick to him. Snake Man is weak to Shadow Blades, though? Is the implication that you could just like, cut a snake in half if you had something sharp? Hey, what do you think shadows would be weak to? Probably the Spark Shot, because electricity can be used to create light and illuminate a room. IT'S SPINNING TOPS!? ARE YOU KIDDING, AM I BEING PRANKED!? WHY ARE TOPS WEAK TO FISTS, THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS TO ME I DONT UNDERSTAND
Anyway, I'm just kinda mad that I had to start the game over because I could not make heads or tails of any of this. That's why my boss order is straight up what the first Google result is for "best Mega Man 3 boss order." The Proto Man fights are also pretty weak, he just runs back and forth taking shots at you with his buster, so a lot of his presence here gets by on how cool his character design is and that dope whistle theme.
Anyway, it's been a long week. If any of you need me, I'm going to be hanging out at Top Man's grow-op.
Reviewed on Apr 17, 2023