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| Name: Mega Man 3 Year: 1990 Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Genre: Platformer Hours Played: Countless Beaten: Yes, without cheats |
The overall theme of Mega Man 3 seems to be "mystery". There's question mark containers sprinkled throughout levels with random contents. After beating the eight levels, four of the areas are seized by mysterious robots, and selecting one causes a question mark to appear where a robot master would normally introduce themselves. Most mysterious of all is a new character, similar to Mega Man but red, who appears in various levels, sometimes as a miniboss and sometimes to help you out. The most innovative and memorable thing about Mega Man 3 is the way the game reveals who this character is and why he's important without using a lot of dialog or backstory; it pushes you to keep playing the game to find out more about him.
While the sub-plot about the mysterious robot is beautifully told, the game's main plot is a confusing mess. The game starts out with a melodic song where their clearly should have been an opening cinematic scene explaining the story thus far, but there isn't one. Dr. Light shows up halfway to deliver the shocking twist that Dr. Wily (series antagonist) has turned evil - was that suppose to be a surprise? Apparently according to the manual, the plot is that Dr. Wily has renounced his evil ways and was working on a peace-keeping robot (called Gama) with Dr. Light. So the idea is that the eight different levels take place on different mining planets (I guess), each headed up by a robot master who's went berserk, and you have to defeat the robots to get the elements that Wily and Light need for Gama? I think? Except the robots are berserk because Dr. Wily has taken control of them, except he still can't use them to get the elements himself? For some reason?
The levels in this game are a hodgepodge. Staring with Mega Man 2, Capcom would hold contests in Japan to allow people to design robot masters, and then they'd use those designs in the games. The result of this is sometimes having a robot master who is seemingly unrelated to the level they rule over, such as Flash Man's ice level in Mega Man 2. In most Mega Man games, this really only happens for one or two stages, but here it feels like most of the levels and their bosses were paired up randomly. Shadow Man has a fire level, Top Man rules over a greenhouse, Gemini Man rules an ice and water level... but then on the other hand you have Snake Man, who's level is so on the nose (the level is literally made out of robot snakes) that it's probably the most over-the-top level in the whole series.
Series creator Keiji Inafune has stated that after the runaway success of Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3 was rushed to production; unfortunately, the final product shows. The fine-tuning and polish from the last game are missing here. New items (the Rush Jet and Rush Marine) are poorly implemented, and the controls are sloppy (for a Mega Man game). The game will always hold a special place in many gamer's hearts (including myself) for teaching us that a game could convey a story through gameplay rather then exposition, but after the perfection of Mega Man 2, it comes off as just a little bit of a disappointment.
Graphics & Animation: 4 (Excellent)
This was the game in the series that really cemented the oversized enemy sprites. In Mega Man 2, you saw them with minibosses, but here, just regular enemies that used to be 16x16 sprites have been redrawn to be 32x32. It gives the whole game a super colorful, super cartoony look. You can argue that it also makes the enemies a little less menacing then they were in Mega Man 2, but they have so much personality that it's hard to complain.
Music & Sounds: 4 (Excellent)
The music here is once again incredible; the opening theme in particular, both moody and melodic, is some of the best in the entire series.
Controls & Level Design: 3 (Good)
The controls here are still good, but just not quite up to the par set by the other games in the series. Until Mega Man 4, Capcom built a new game engine from scratch for each new Mega Man game, and Mega Man 3's has some funny quirks. You're unable to pause the game and access the menu if any of your bullets are still on-screen, and this can cause some serious problems, especially if you've fired the Gemini lazer (which can bounce around the boss room quite a bit before disappearing) and you need to access an energy tank. Likewise, the level design is also good, but feels just a little rushed. There's never any areas where the Rush Marine can be used to it's full potential, and there's a Rush Jet-heavy level where dying in the middle basically means you're screwed; having the weapon refills reappear would have really made things simpler here.
Story & Presentation: 3 (Good)
The presentation here is good, don't get me wrong, but I really miss the opening cut scenes that all the other Mega Man games (except the first one) have. The sub plot about the mysterious Proto Man is very cleverly told through game play, but the game's main plot baffles me.
Length & Replayabilitiy: 3 (Good)
Mega Man 3 has four more levels then it's predecessor, giving the game an impressive length for an NES platformer. Still, the lack of polish (Mega Man 3 is infamous among perfectionists as the only game in the series where it's impossible to beat the game without taking a hit, due to a couple of undodgeable boss attacks) and no difficulty setting make it a little less enduring then it's predecessor. Mega Man 2 was a game you couldn't wait to beat again and see if you could do better; Mega Man 3 was a game you couldn't wait to finish, see how the story came out, and then be done.
Total: 17 (Good)
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