RGR018 - Back on Track

After countless failed attempts to manually duplicate the timing of the fated reset during playback, I gave up and started manually editing the recording to try to strip out everything just after the reset. Finally, I was able to get playback to synchronize again from the beginning, and can now move on with the rest of the game.

The second time around, Bright Man was kind of a pushover. I already knew he was weak against the Star Crash, so I just had to be careful about getting hit as he jumped around the room. He's much less prone to using his time stop attack in this version, preferring to use himself primarily as a weapon. I got hit a few times, but had no trouble starring him to death. By defeating Bright Man, I gained the Flash Stopper, which this game calls "Bright Weapon".

Now let's get it right this time...

No more of that buggy cheaty stuff, 'kay?

I'll destroy you with my... little star thingies!

That's not a helpful description.

Arbitrarily Chosen Fourth Boss: Napalm Man

Napalm Man's stage takes place in a jungle-type area, which may or may not be quite culturally insensitive. Robotic tigers try to pounce on you, and are surprisingly adept at jumping over your shots, though I'm pretty sure that's a coincidence based on my bad shot timing. The path then descends into a deep cavern lined with Metool-operated cannons that fire shots that look like bubble gum, along with shrapnel-filled missiles and a few different large humanoid robots. The final stretch is a series of pits with narrow footholds (some of which have become blind jumps, thanks again to the Game Gear's small screen), with vertical rocket enemies poised to knock you out of the air.

Napalm Man attacks with small bombs that explode on contact, and appear to contain no napalm whatsoever (napalm would stick to Mega Man, and keep on burning) as he jumps around the room trying to be as difficult a target as possible. Luckily, he's weak against the Flash Stopper, making most of his movements a waste. Beating him grants the Napalm Bomb, known here as "Bomb Weapon".

Finally, a boss with actual weapons!

Well played, robo-tiger. Well played.

Fear the bubble gum cannon!

Who put this giant meat tenderizer here?

Look! A cleverly-hidden energy tank!

I want a tiny copter like Sniper Joe's!

I should probably do something about the missile.

How do his tiny thighs support his weight?

Watch out for spikes, even if you can't see them.

Hmm... I hope there's something between these.

Just hand over the bombs like a good boy.

See, that was easy.

With the four Robot Masters out of the way, it's time for Mega Man to stage the final assault on Dr. Wily as usual. However, as the image of the castle (Dr. Cossack's castle from Mega Man 4) fades into view, we see that the path first leads to Wave Man, another Robot Master from Mega Man 5.

Fifth Boss: Wave Man

Wave Man's stage is unique and actually very fun, at least as you get closer to the end. The beginning is a gauntlet of big swinging spiked balls and broken pipes venting steam, leading to an area where Mega Man is forced to ride bubbles to reach a platform two full screens up (that's two full original NES screens, so a little over three Game Gear screens). Only large bubbles can support his weight for more than a second, but the small bubbles have to be used as stepping stones in order to cross from one side of the screen to the other, to avoid spiked ceilings. The fun begins after Mega Man reaches the top: an autoscrolling jet ski shoot-em-up! Buoys, jumping fish and other jet skiers attack from both sides, and a giant octopus mini-boss stands in the way of Mega Man's progress.

Wave Man waits on the other side of the jet ski course, brandishing his harpoon gun and tiny waterspouts. His pattern is simple, as he just creates a waterspout where Mega Man is standing, fires a harpoon, and then jumps over and over again. But timing jumps to avoid the waterspouts is trickier than you might expect. He has no weaknesses, though the charged Mega Buster does plenty of damage. Mega Man wins the Water Wave by beating Wave Man.

This doesn't seem quite right...

I guess I'm still hunting bad robots.

Steam or spiky steel ball:
which is more dangerous?

Ceiling spikes? I'm not falling for that again.

Jet ski duel!

Eight tentacles and you just shoot rocks?

Your harpoon... will be MINE!

That's not what I meant!

Fact: water is super effective against robots.

But I wanted harpoon weapon!

Sixth Boss: Toad Man

The path through the castle appears to be halfway done, as the second part leads to Toad Man, from Mega Man 4. The beginning of the stage takes place in a storm with strong winds that push Mega Man back when he jumps. Groups of birds that look an awful lot like flying penguins make dive bomb attempts while other little robots float down on umbrellas to attack. Inside, where it's drier, Mega Man encounters giant snails, waterfalls that interfere with his jumping, and cute little two-legged rat-raccoon hybrid bots.

Toad Man, as expected, spends most of his time jumping, but his special attack is the Rain Flush, a sudden downpour of acid rain that covers the screen and can't be avoided. He's weak against the Water Wave, but hard to hit since the Water Wave moves along the ground, and Toad Man spends most of his time in the air. I was on my last life when I reached this stage, and found one extra life along the way, but it wasn't quite enough, and I found myself staring at my first Game Over screen.

So the castle is just two more stages?

Yeah, keep bringing out the winners.

Caution: Low-Flying Penguins.

It's cute, but what is it?

I didn't know snails could do angry.

Eek! Killer jumpy-fish!

Prepare to croak... yeah, that was pretty lame.

And at the hands of a toad, no less.

I've got my password ready to go, but I think that's enough for tonight. Tune in tomorrow for an extra special episode of Mega Man!

Okay, so there's nothing extra special about it, but tune in anyway.

RGR Game #018: Mega Man

The power of Mega Man in the
PALM OF YOUR HAND!

Aww... look at his cute little dangly feets!

Sorry for the many delays, but it's finally time to move on to the next game, Mega Man for the Game Gear. Though Mega Man built a reputation as a third-party mascot of sorts for Nintendo, that doesn't mean he never tried out any other systems. I mean, he's got a remake of the first three games on the Genesis in Europe and Japan (which is called the Mega Drive in both regions, so it's all so fitting). So here we have the Blue Bomber's one and only Game Gear outing, an awkward mix of elements from the 4th and 5th games in the series. The game was developed by a company called Freestyle, but it's definitely got the Mega Man feel down pat.

Thanks to the superior graphical capabilities of the Game Gear, the backgrounds and sprites benefit from increased color palettes, though Mega Man himself looks a bit strange with the extra shading and that little belly button dot he's rocking. Everything is the exact same size it was in the NES games, but due to the Game Gear's small screen, vertical scrolling was added to keep Mega Man in the center of the screen. This can actually make things tricky at times, since a pit of spikes might not quite be visible until you've already fallen into it. The music is all a little off as well, mostly due to differences in the audio hardware. All of Mega Man's abilities survived the port, so sliding and the chargeable Mega Buster are in, as is Rush the Dog in his Rush Coil form. But I found the Rush Coil to be essentially useless, so the one image of him you see below is the only one you're going to see. I just never needed him again.

The game's intro mimics that of Mega Man 4, with a few scenes removed to simplify the story and make it all less sequel-y. After starting the game, we're presented with a selection of four bosses, rather than the usual eight. And they're not much of a selection, with Bright Man from Mega Man 4, and Stone Man, Napalm Man and Star Man from Mega Man 5. But bad robots are bad robots, so we'll take all comers.

AD 200X? So this takes place in the past?

Yep, those are some... uh... bosses.

Arbitrarily-Chosen First Boss: Star Man

Star Man's stage takes place on a space station with limited gravity, so Mega Man jumps unusually high here. Of course, that means that the ceilings are often lined with spikes, as are the floors in several places. The aforementioned vertical scrolling only makes things tougher, but it's easy enough to learn where the spikes are and avoid them next time. There's a good variety of enemies, including gun turrets, robot walkers, and adorable little rocket Metools.

Star Man himself is easy enough, though understanding his patterns and being able to avoid them are two different things. He usually generates a star shield, jumps toward the ceiling, and throws the shield at you, but he'll occasionally stay low and hop directly at you. And he's quick, so you have to be on your toes. Several charged shots from the Mega Buster will take him down, as long as you wait until he's thrown away his current star shield. Defeating him yields the "Crash Weapon", formerly known as the Star Crash.

Pro Wrestling did Star Man better.

The spikes were off-screen until I fell.

Surprise!

Would you just die already?

High five?

Where's your shield now, huh? HUH?

Yes... come to me, power... NOM NOM NOM

It's not really a crash. Or a weapon.

Arbitrarily-Chosen Second Boss: Stone Man

Stone Man's stage looks an awful lot like Guts Man's stage from the first game, with its metal-on-rock construction. But there doesn't seem to be any construction going on here. The stage has several hidden passages which can be opened by shooting certain portions of walls that look a little different. A few areas also contain false walls you can just walk through.

Stone Man's strategy is simpler than Star Man's; he just keeps trying to jump on you. After a high jump, his body will collapse into a heap of rubble, only to reform a second later. He's only vulnerable when he's intact, so his greatest offense is also his greatest defense. The Star Crash only does one point of damage, so at this point, the charged Mega Buster is the way to go. Just wait until he picks himself up after a collapse, and let him have it. Defeating him earns you the Power Stone, or in this case, the "Stone Weapon".

I should've brought my Paper Weapon.

Kids today...

Why all the robot bugs?

Ooh, a secret passage!

Um...

Too bad I'll never get a chance to use this.

I don't like where this is headed.

Platform-jumping robot... Mega Man!

He's good at throwing temper tantrums.

That is to say, you get a stone.

Arbitrarily-Chosen Third Boss: Bright Man

Oh boy. This is where it all went downhill. Bright Man's stage is fairly interesting, with a couple of areas full of light and dark enemies. Destroying a floating bulb enemy causes the screen to go dark, while destroying a little walking enemy causes a small fireworks display that lights the screen back up. Other areas feature long tracks of spikes that can only be traversed by the robot grasshoppers that stand around waiting for you to hop on their backs.

Bright Man would be a simple enough boss, if it weren't for a silly little bug that can ruin things completely. His special power is the ability to stop time, causing Mega Man to freeze in place while Bright Man opens fire on him. Normally, getting hit would cause you to break out of the frozen state, but an unchecked situation can arise if time is stopped as Mega Man is reeling from damage. In this state, Mega Man is frozen in his damage position, and since there's an invulnerability period that lasts until a second or so after Mega Man regains his bearings, it becomes impossible for Bright Man to do any more damage, and you're stuck with no way to fight back.

Somehow, I doubt it.

I could use a Rush Flashlight right about now.

This kind of makes no sense.

Ooh, it'd be nice to have their spike-surviving power.

Here's the first and last picture of Rush. Enjoy!

Super sliding robot? Mega Man!

Mega Man has no time for fireworks.

Ack, some of my pixels fell off!

Is that your threatening pose?

OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW

Fortunately, I wrote down my passwords along the way, since the game doesn't allow you to continue when you run out of lives, so I was able to reset and try again immediately. Unfortunately, the emulator I was using didn't keep track of the reset. See, I've recently started recording my playthroughs so that I can concentrate on the game, and worry about taking screenshots later. But since the reset wasn't included in the recording, this caused a desync that has taken me entirely too long to fix. I've just about got it, so rest assured I'll be back soon to finish this thing up.