A Critical Look at Mega Man 3 Stages: Top Man

LanceHeart

August 26, 2012

Bolton appears in front of you, while Notton flies in from behind. After they connect, they’ll begin chasing you slowly like Telly from the last game.

After two of these, Mechakkero enters the mix. He simply hops forward now and then, but his sitting sprite is too low to be hit by normal shots. The combination makes things a bit hectic towards the end of this section.

Komasaburo here is just delighted to toss tops down the steps. After dropping from the ladder, Mega Man will have to shoot through a gauntlet of tops before taking him down. However, this one can also be killed by shooting from the bottom of the ladder.

Rush here is the other new addition to the series. His Coil mode has been available in our inventory from the start, but we’ve had little reason to use him until now. He can launch Mega Man far higher than a normal jump would, which can be used to access out-of-reach goodies and alternate paths. As for how this affects the gameplay, well, we’ll see.

Pickleman Bull here simply moves back and forth and takes three hits, but the vehicle can’t be damaged. We also see the Metall DX on the next screen.

Next, we’re treated to another large enemy, Tama, who warps in and hacks up a couple yarn balls. We’ll have to deal ten damage to him while dodging these. The balls can also be destroyed, but they take eight hits so it’s easier to just avoid them.

We’re thrown into another Tama fight one screen later. The yarn balls bounce offscreen, triggering Tama’s second attack which is to release three fleas that hop around until killed (another reason not to attack them the first time).

Following that is a little more platforming and one last, complex fight with Komasaburo. The last section involves a series of jumps across spinning tops. These are interesting, as Mega Man will move back and forth while standing on them which will scare players into thinking that they’ll be thrown off, but that won’t happen as long as Mega Man is standing still.

This one is also not particularly hard for new players, aside from the last section, but there’s more energy to this one. I think the first section is actually one of the best, as the enemy combination and placement requires some quick shooting or fancy jumping to avoid being surrounded.

The Tama fights could have had a bit more space between them, but they’re at least different from each other. Beyond that, the only thing the player really has to worry about is a couple screens with spikes and those final jumps. Komasaburo is fun to fight and he’s used very well in the last encounter, despite not being very dangerous. The plant and glass scenery, while not at all top-themed, is at least pleasant to look at.