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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: Mega Man 3
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:While there is no built in save function, you'll get a password at the end of each level. This will allow you to continue from where you left off. Modern re-releases may also support save states, which allow you to save your game at any time. To pause the game, bring up your weapon select menu by pressing START. Time needed per session:Most of the levels are fairly short, so fifteen minutes is plenty of time to make some good progress. If you want to play through the entire game like we did in the 1980s, set aside an hour and a half. You won't need the entire 90 minutes, but the leeway helps.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | No - this is a great game for Christians Yet another example of robots fighting among themselves - just a routine adventure for Mega Man. |
Screenshots
Screenshots are from the Mega Man Legacy Collection
Game Overview
Mega Man 3 is a somewhat divisive entry in the Mega Man Classic series. Personally, it's my favorite of the NES Mega Man games, but personal bias aside, there are a bunch of obvious problems with this title. Perhaps the most striking example is the graphical malfunction that appears a third of the way down the screen: a specific row of pixels is never drawn properly, creating a glitching distortion. It's more obvious on the Stage Select screen, but it persists throughout most of the game.
An additional problem is the lack of an opening cutscene - if the manual was lost or wasn't included (a common fate for secondhand NES games), then there's no way for the player to know what's going on. Of course, this is a Mega Man game, so the basics (fight eight Robot Masters in the order you choose, equip their weapons, defeat the final boss) aren't going to be hard to pick up.
According to the manual, Dr. Wily has mended his evil ways, and has started working with Dr. Light to build a peacekeeping robot. They've made some good progress, but now they need someone to gather eight special crystals found only on the dangerous mining worlds before they can finish it. But, this won't be easy: there is a Robot Master running amok on each of the mining worlds, and they've confiscated the crystals!
Now, while all of the NES Mega Man games stuck to the same formula, each of them tried to introduce something new that later games would build on. Mega Man 3 introduced four new ideas, three of which ended up becoming staples of the franchise. The first of these was a new way for Mega Man to move: by pressing down and A on the controller, the player could have Mega Man slide to the left or right. Sliding often allows him to slip under enemy attacks or through areas that are too small for him to walk through.
The next two additions were new characters: Rush and Proto Man. Proto Man is Mega Man's older brother, and here he appears to test Mega Man's abilities in various levels. In later games, he's a wild card who randomly shows up to help Mega Man. Rush, on the other hand, is Mega Man's new sidekick. Rush is a robot dog with shape shifting abilities who replaces the special Item weapons from the previous games. Here, he can become a springboard, a jet platform, or a submersible.
Finally, this game introduced the concept of a second wave: when you've defeated the eight Robot Masters, four of their levels become infested with powerful Doc Robots, who use the abilities of the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2. These stages are also more difficult to traverse, as they are now heavily damaged by the Doc Robots' rampages. This idea didn't really catch on though, so don't expect to see it again.
As I stated earlier, this is my favorite of the NES Mega Man games, so obviously I'm going to recommend giving it a go. However, I know it doesn't sit well with everyone, so don't expect perfection. It's not as polished as the others, but it's still fun.
An additional problem is the lack of an opening cutscene - if the manual was lost or wasn't included (a common fate for secondhand NES games), then there's no way for the player to know what's going on. Of course, this is a Mega Man game, so the basics (fight eight Robot Masters in the order you choose, equip their weapons, defeat the final boss) aren't going to be hard to pick up.
According to the manual, Dr. Wily has mended his evil ways, and has started working with Dr. Light to build a peacekeeping robot. They've made some good progress, but now they need someone to gather eight special crystals found only on the dangerous mining worlds before they can finish it. But, this won't be easy: there is a Robot Master running amok on each of the mining worlds, and they've confiscated the crystals!
Now, while all of the NES Mega Man games stuck to the same formula, each of them tried to introduce something new that later games would build on. Mega Man 3 introduced four new ideas, three of which ended up becoming staples of the franchise. The first of these was a new way for Mega Man to move: by pressing down and A on the controller, the player could have Mega Man slide to the left or right. Sliding often allows him to slip under enemy attacks or through areas that are too small for him to walk through.
The next two additions were new characters: Rush and Proto Man. Proto Man is Mega Man's older brother, and here he appears to test Mega Man's abilities in various levels. In later games, he's a wild card who randomly shows up to help Mega Man. Rush, on the other hand, is Mega Man's new sidekick. Rush is a robot dog with shape shifting abilities who replaces the special Item weapons from the previous games. Here, he can become a springboard, a jet platform, or a submersible.
Finally, this game introduced the concept of a second wave: when you've defeated the eight Robot Masters, four of their levels become infested with powerful Doc Robots, who use the abilities of the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2. These stages are also more difficult to traverse, as they are now heavily damaged by the Doc Robots' rampages. This idea didn't really catch on though, so don't expect to see it again.
As I stated earlier, this is my favorite of the NES Mega Man games, so obviously I'm going to recommend giving it a go. However, I know it doesn't sit well with everyone, so don't expect perfection. It's not as polished as the others, but it's still fun.
Points of Interest
More levels
This time, you have the eight Robot Master stages, four Doc Robot rematches, and the final castle levels. This brings the game to a total of 18 levels - more than usual for a game in this series. That said, four of the levels are remixes of stages you'll have already played and the last level is just a very easy boss fight.
Ending Cutscene is especially nice
After the final boss has been defeated, but before the credits roll, Mega Man goes for a walk as the lower portion of the screen shows a list of the original Robot Masters made by Dr. Light (called Dr. Right in the game, a translation error). This segment gives the original six Robot Masters from Mega Man 1 a proper Stage Select style portrait.
There's also a small easter egg if you look at the upper right corner of the screen at the very end.
There's also a small easter egg if you look at the upper right corner of the screen at the very end.
New E-Tank limits
Not only are E-Tanks easier to find than in the other games, this is the first time you can carry nine of them at once. Your password also remembers how many of them you have, which is a nice perk.
Checkpoints aren't great
In a game like this, your progress through a stage is automatically tracked. This way, if you make a mistake and lose a life, you'll only be sent back a little ways and won't have to re-play the stage from the beginning. It's an important system, but it doesn't work too well during the Doc Robot stages - you'll end up getting sent back much farther than usual, which can leave you without the Rush adapter required to complete an area.
Visual bugs
The most obvious bug in the game is the line of incorrectly rendered pixels a third of the way down the screen. Over on YouTube, Displaced Gamers has an in-depth video
about this specific bug if you're interested in the technical stuff, but most people just cite it as proof that this game was rushed to market.
about this specific bug if you're interested in the technical stuff, but most people just cite it as proof that this game was rushed to market.
Top Spin bug
One of the weapons, Top Spin, is notorious for its buggy and hard to use nature. In order to use it, you need to jump towards an enemy and press B (attack) right before you collide. When it works, it's useful, but the main problem is that its buggy implementation can result in all of its weapon energy being drained in a single use. Adding little bit of knockback would have solved some of this, but here we are.
Frequent Lagging
There is definitely an optimization problem here, as it doesn't take much for there to be enough on-screen enemies to slow the action down considerably.
Concerns and Issues
Robot on robot violence
Like the rest of the Mega Man games, you're watching robots fight each other. This time, there's actually a robot made out of refuse that attacks you in the final stages, which is a little sad in a way. Not that anyone cares.