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Remembering the Mega Man Who Never Was
Plus a quick site update.
Origins of The Mega Man Network
Looking back at how it all began with the man who started it all.
Should Mega Man Appear Human in the Netflix Movie?
CG, or not CG, that is the question.
“Why Does Mega Man Shoot Lemons?” And Other Odd Google Inquiries
Sometimes the only thing stranger than the answer is the question.
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5 Stages: Dr. Wily Stage 1 – The Last Look?
Wily Stage 1 and Music I know these games love to hand out E-Tanks like candy in the final stages, but they really should have gone easier on the M-Tanks. It's not necessary to have weapon refills here like it was for stuff like Boobeam, and they could have taken the...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5 Stages: Proto Man 3
Proto Man 3 Apache Joe is waiting for us as soon as we move forward, and the following Subeil's placement is perfect for tripping up a player that might be hoping to slide past him. This is a fun area for experienced players to try to move through quickly,...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5: Weapons & Items
Mega Buster and Charge Shot Before we get into special weapons, I need to talk about the standard ones a bit. Intentionally or not, enemies in this game get a small degree of invulnerability between shots. This can greatly reduce the effectiveness of the buster...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5 Stages: Gravity Man
Gravity Man's Stage and Music Conveniently, all of Gravity Man's new enemies appear right away. Suzy G sits on the ground and fires shots forward and back occasionally, Graviton drips red liquid that splashes on the floor which hurts us if we walk over it, and Nobita...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5 Stages: Wave Man
Wave Man's Stage and Music The first section of Wave Man's stage is a trap room, with jets of steam that shoot from the pipes as we approach and a swinging ball and chain called Teckyun. There are three of each, with the first two pairs being nearly identical. We can...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5 Stages: Star Man
Star Man's Stage and Music Finally, a new stage mechanic... sort of. This entire stage takes place in space, which is functionally the same as being underwater. It begins with a mess of meteors falling on us as we run toward the hole. Dodging randomized falling...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5 Stages: Crystal Man
Crystal Man's Stage and Music Pukapucker is our first new enemy of the stage. Shooting the feet causes the head to bounce away in the direction it was facing, but taking out the head destroys both. The head is constantly moving and is thus more difficult to hit, which...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 5 Stages: Stone Man
Title Music & Stage Select Music Mega Man 5 gives us a somewhat lackluster intro compared to the last one, this time using Proto Man as Wily's new scapegoat. The Robot Master selection is as ridiculous as always, and Mega Man gets a spot on the screen again....
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Afterword
Mega Man 4 is not a bad game, despite how often I may seem to be calling it such. The main stages flow nicely, the end game stages keep their quality up much longer than previous games, and there were a lot of great new stage mechanics thrown in. We got a full water...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Dr. Wily Stages 3 & 4
Wily Stage 3 and Music This is the path leading to the teleporter room. As you can see, there's not much to it. This is fine, given that we'll be taking on all the bosses with one set of lives, and rewarding us for pressing against the wall on the third screen but...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Dr. Wily Stage 1
Wily Stage 1 and Music Right away, we can see the gimmick for this stage. It is filled with Mets, and only Mets. Despite this restriction, the first few screens offer a good mix of interactions with them. The first two we meet are jumpers. The first one on the next...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Dr. Cossack Stage 4
Cossack Stage 4 The path to Cossack starts off with some refills, an E-Tank, and a nice view of the night sky. Pakatto and Jumbig are easily dealt with by now, and we've already met both in worse situations. Biree makes another appearance here. This time we'll have to...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Dr. Cossack Stage 3
Cossack Stage 3 and Music This stage... is an autoscroller. I'm going to be honest here; no matter what I say about the design, I'm always going to hate this stage because I can't stand this mechanic in platformers. It does raise tension for newcomers by adding a time...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Dr. Cossack Stage 2
Cossack Stage 2 After warping in, we find ourselves presented with a choice of two ladders. It's unfortunate that nothing else of note was done with this room, but the following room is neat. The Minoans will both drop immediately if we take the left path, but Mega...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Dr. Cossack Stage 1
Cossack Stage 1 map and Music Mega Man starts this one waist-deep in snow. The snow decreases his walking speed, but won't affect sliding. We'll soon come to a series of platforms covered in ice, which does exactly what you'd expect it to by now. The contrast between...
A Critical Look at Mega Man 4 Stages: Bright Man
Bright Man's Stage and Music Dompan and 100 Watton here have an interesting dynamic. Shooting Watton makes the room dark, but Dompan lets out a burst of fireworks when shot, lighting it again. Both can be destroyed in one hit, and Watton occasionally fires a bomb...
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