Mega Man 3 quick review

Megaman 3 highlights

Overall, I think MM3 is a better game than MM2. MM2 is more irregular: it has some brighter moments, but it also has some very low points. MM3 is more cohesive from start to finish and I can´t remember a single instance of a challenge that felt cheap. One clear example of this is the spike falls in Shadow Man´s level (MM3) Vs the spike falls in MM2. In MM2 you had to anticipate them without previous knowledge, but in MM3 there is enough space to move and there are hints, like safe walls, that guide you through the safe path. Another great example is Bubble Man´s falling platforms at the beginning of his level in MM2: there´s no way to know how long they take to fall (there´s really no way to even tell what they do before jumping on one, though they do look a bit fishy). Falling means instant death as they´re located over a bottomless pit, so they are tremendously punishing. In MM3 however, similar platforms are presented first over a solid floor, so the player can (and will) fall if he takes to long, learning how they work without being punished. BTW, these same platforms are later used in another part of the stage in a beautiful evolving sequence.

That said, weapon and item balance is done better in MM2, even taking into acount the superiority of the Metal Blade. Top Spin is a useless weapon (except to instakill a few bosses), as is Needle Spike, Jet Rush renders Rush Coil trivial and can trivialize platform sections and Rush Marine is only useful in 2 challenges (though I really only used it in one). Puzzles requiring items are more common in MM2, it feels like items were an afterthought and some challenges were thrown in just to justify it´s existence.

There were many instances of evolving mechanics in MM3 (even through different levels, like the 4 Doc-Robot levels), all levels were very nicely structured and boss fights are awesome. The inclusion of the slide mechanic adds a lot of depth to the boss fights, even though it should´ve been used more in normal challenges. The returning bosses are a bit cheap and show the tremendous difference between the MM2 and MM3 bosses. For the first time I got that impression of dancing with the boss, letting him set the rythm for the battle until I was able to set it myself. For the first time in the franchise, they felt like proper Mega Man bosses, like those you could fight in the much more refined X series or even Dark Souls. The bosses had clear and understandable patterns, but these could easily be altered depending on the player´s actions. For example, shooting would make Gemini Man stop and shoot as well, which could mess your rythm and get you easily killed. Instead of begin constantly on the attack and shooting to get a lucky hit in, you had to plan precisely when to attack.

The bosses in this game are fantastic, it´s a must to come back to them to get ideas when designing Kitsune´s bosses.

Detailed walkthrough: http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Mega_Man_3_Walkthrough