Welcome to a new edition Retro Corner and we count down the months to the release of Mega Man 11. Capcom has given an official release date of October 2nd for the 11th installment, so I'm assuming more information will come at E3 this year. Like any new sequel, Mega Man III continued the success of the second game by introducing new features. One of the redeeming things about MMIII is the front cover isn't terrible this time as Mega Man represents himself. Capcom USA finally got it through their thick skulls to use the actual character and not a man going through a mid life crisis. We are also introduced to Proto Man (Blues in Japan) who seems to challenge Mega Man. The theme has Dr. Wily return to his old tricks again as he has plans for world domination. So, how will Mega Man possibly get out of his double trouble predicament between Proto Man and Dr. Wily? Gameplay If you love the last two titles than its three times a charm for you as the gameplay continues the tradition. One of the new features is the Power Slide which lets Rock evade enemies and get through the obstacles. The Power Slide does help speed runners and even during regular play throughs when faced against the bosses. Rush a robotic dog replaces the Special Items from the last game as he functions as both a jet and a spring. There is one feature he can do in certain areas and that's turn into a sub like vehicle. I love the option as it better than the Rush Jet when in the water. It made getting passed the large gap areas submerged in water easier as seen in Gemini Man and Wily Stage 2. The same could be said about the Rush Jet since to some extent felt more flexible in movement compared to the Special Item 2. Another feature when getting the special powers is they can aid the player in certain situations. Being able to use the Spark Shock to stun large enemies helped me get passed them with no problems. After beating the eight robot masters, you must replay four stages of Spark Man, Needle Man, Gemini Man, and Shadow Man. The best part of these levels is their layouts and challenges got rearranged. Each level will have you face the second game's robot masters as a Dark Man bot. Their attacks are the same as they were in the second game but you don't receive their powers. Another point I would like to bring up is I find it hilarious how Top Spin (the crappest special power of this game) can easily beat Wily. In MMII, the Bubble Lead despite being the weakest attack is how what ultimately took him down. I can tell Capcom left this in not only as a gag but a simple trick in easily defeating the final boss. One of the few issues comes from facing Proto Man and his challenge is always the same with him jumping and shooting. It is a lazy design to have a mid boss do the same attack without any deviation. In the last two games, the robot masters will do other attacks most of the times so I don't understand why they couldn't change his attack patterns. Another slight problem comes from facing the Dark Man bots that had the MMII bosses' abilities. The powers you get in this entry do little against them, and the player is really better off using the Mega Buster. The Dark Man bots weren't all that challenging as they had the same attack patterns as before. It would've been ideal to have each one be weak against the current powers of MMIII. For any other problems, I hated how some enemies would spawn too close to the gaps. Of course, these enemy placements weren't that cheap in design but it still caused an annoyance for me. It didn't matter if they were Parasyu parachuting down or the Nitron throwing pillars of fire, they constantly came at you around those gaps. The isn't much problems aside those mentioned, but the quality standard for the gameplay is obviously there. Rating: 9.1/10 Graphics/Presentation The great art style continues from MMII as everything has aged well. The sprites are just as colorful as your typical Mega Man game. The diversity among the enemies got taken a little further and some even have a little more animation. The list included Bomber Pepe, Bubukan that uses a pole to jump, Hari Harry shooting spikes, Parasyu floating down and Returning Monking. Those are just some wacky examples you will run into among others. It makes me wonder if Wily is high when he designs his robots in such a humorous way. As seen in the previous entries, the animations on the environments have the same quality. The best ones come from Shadow Man as I love how it went dark showing stars every time Rock encounters the Hologram device. Even the lava effects of that same environment have great animation of it pouring down. The second Needle Man level had a good night skyline for its background as well. It also shows the difference between before and after as no other level has this change of detail. The theme is the same as the last two but who buys a Mega Man game for that reason. However, introducing Proto Man to this verse made it all too interesting when you find out at the end he was Rock's brother. A few weird things about the stages theme did come across awkward for me. Between Snake Man and Top Man had some of the strange themes they represented. For Snake Man, his level had the theme of a snake; I mean was Wily high or something when constructing these places? Another thing, why make a robot master whose ability is causing him to spin? At least Bubble Man would shoot spears even when his Bubble Lead was a crappy power. Hard Man ind of made sense as he is heavy and has a thick hard metal shell (that was harde...I mean difficult to write). Hard Man should've been called Punch Man because one, his ability is using missile fists and two, the name sounds suggestive. In MMII, the robot master made sense in their theme and even Bubble Man somehow felt like he belonged. The music was off and didn't sound like the masterpiece the second entry is known for. The songs felt generic and often times uninspiring in most areas. It's what I call the Mega Man III Effect and that's when the previous game delivered fantastic music only for the sequel to fall short. The only good tracks were Magnet Man, Hard Man and the Intro theme. Rating: 8.8/10 Features/Content The content felt no different from the last time as MMIII has its standard eight stages and four levels from Dr. Wily's Castle. You defeat the robot masters, get their abilities and face Dr. Wily at his castle. However, there is a change in the formula and after beating the robot masters; the player can pick these four stages in any order. As already explained, the player must face the eight previous bosses from MMII. It was a nice change in the formula and felt interesting to face the MMII bosses using the powers Rock gained in this game. These four levels have gotten rearranged and as before can get picked in any order. The password system remains a staple feature and it uses a grid pattern system. However, the Collection Games from the classic series do make the password systems irrelevant today. The Collections saves every time a level is completed and on the plus side they also offer a hard mode. However, Capcom could have provided a Hard Mode in the original release instead of waiting to put that feature in a collection. Rating: 8.5/10 Final Rating Mega Man III was another hit thanks to Capcom tweaking the formula to help continue the quality standard. The gameplay didn't see much change aside from a few tweaks in the gameplay. With the Power Slide and the bosses' special abilities made it easier to get passed most obstacles. The graphics continue the quality trend the series is often known for thanks to its impressive art style. The enemies and various stages made the environments colorful and lively. The wackiness of these enemies did get a chuckle out of me due to how odd some of them came off. The content is about the same as the last game with facing eight robot masters before tackling Wily's Castle. However, they decided to rearrange the four previous stages and letting the player face off against the MMII bosses. It would only add replay value to an already impressive game with 16 levels instead of the usual 12. There are some issues still left in as Proto Man didn't have a good challenge pattern. Let's also factor in how some of the enemies didn't get properly placed along the level's obstacles. The soundtrack as mentioned already isn't the classic the second entry gave us. With only a few good songs and the rest of the soundtrack coming off bland makes me question what went wrong. Regardless, MMIII falls into "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" formula which surprisingly keeps the quality standard that MMII set. Gameplay: 9.1/10 Graphics/Presentation: 8.8/10 Features/Content: 8.5/10 Final Rating: 8.8/10 Great
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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