Something something Mega Man goes to Russia, something something Russian stereotype, something something VODKA! Am I funny yet?
Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Thank goodness Christmas Eve aligned on a Friday, otherwise I'd have to post this on Thursday or Saturday, that'd be crazy. And hey, nothing is more Christmas-Themed then "Mega Man 4..." Okay, so this might more of a gift to me.
"Mega Man 4" released in 1992 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and in 1991 for the Nintendo Family Computer in Japan. The "Mega Man" series itself began in 1987 on the NES.
"Mega Man" is developed and published by Capcom, who also made "Street Fighter," "Resident Evil," "Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure..." I'm sure someone will know what a "Zack & Wiki" is.
I'll be playing "Mega Man 4" the same way I played it the first time in 2016, on the "Mega Man: Legacy Collection" for the Nintendo 3DS. It always comes back to the Nintendo 3DS. Now, the reason I'm covering "Mega Man 4" first as opposed to the original "Mega Man" or "Mega Man 2" is for a reason I'll say at the end of the review.
Also, this review will talk about "Mega Man 4" entirely, so if you want your "Mega Man 4" experience to be as blind as possible... I'm so sorry.
A Beginning Retold
"Mega Man 4" begins with an amazing introduction, explaining the origins of Mega Man and the new conflict.
However, to summarize the intro: Dr. Wily and Dr. Light used to be friends, but Dr. Wily's jealousy of Dr. Light caused him to lead an army of Robot Masters to conquer the world. Rock, seeing his brothers used for committing such violent acts, volunteers to become a fighting robot who would defeat Dr. Wily three times for three games.
However, a new mad lad wanting world domination comes out of the shadows, a Russian scientist named Dr. Cossack. With this new threat, Mega Man hops onto a train to Russia to stop Dr. Cossack, Это довольно эпично.
With Dr. Cossack, things are more interesting given we don't know his motives. This is also the first "Mega Man" game where Dr. Wily isn't the bad guy, which I like. It's refreshing to have a new face as the antagonist, and with a fine beard might I add.
Charging, Barging, and Sparging in Some Cases
What is a Mega Man?
A robot.
The Robot M- Just kidding
"Mega Man" is a series of platformers where the player shoots and jumps to traverse levels and defeat the bosses, called Robot Masters. Every defeated Robot Master gives Mega Man a new weapon.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
The "Mega Man" NES hexalogy has lives, where if you run out of lives, the level is restarted. There are passwords to leave the game and get back to where you were at once when you come back, which is nice. However, with the Legacy Collection, save states make the passwords obsolete.
Although that isn't a terrible thing, I mean... I doubt Capcom could predict the future in 1991.
Mega Man himself can do the basics like jump, shoot lemons (according to most lemonalogists), and change weapons. Mega Man can also use the returning slide ability from "Mega Man 3" and the new ability to charge up a projectile shot to deal more damage with one projectile.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
Mega Man's controls are amazing, they're tight and responsive. Mega Man's moveset with his attack, slide. and charged shot allow for great versatility with dodging and damage output. The charged especially feels amazing to use as it rewards accuracy and patience.
Defeated enemies drop ammo pickups that recharge the ammo of your current weapon, health, extra lives, and E-Tanks that restores all of Mega Man's health. Ammo is used for filling up the ammo in the Robot Master weapons. Speaking of...
The Robot Masters and their Weapons
The lineup involves a pharaoh, a vacuum cleaner, a literal drill, a spooky skeleton, a submarine guy, a frog, a weirdly shaped rattle, and a light bulb who is a very good boy.
[Credit for Ring Man, Toad Man, Skull Man, Drill Man, Dive Man, Pharaoh Man, and Dust Man Renders: NSDoodle99. Credit for Bright Man Render: Twilight Man]
In all seriousness, I love these guys and their designs. Their designs are all extremely creative. Their weapons are amazing too, being the perfect mix of practical and fun.
The Rain Flush wipes out every enemy on screen, the Pharaoh Shot can shoot projectiles diagonally and have a charged-up shot, the Skull Barrier is a shield that protects Mega Man from damage, the Ring Boomerang is...
…Well, a boomerang. The Dive Missile shoots homing missiles, the Dust Crusher shoots a projectile that splits into four projectiles that shoot in every diagonal direction, and the Drill Bomber explodes upon impact.
[Credit for all three screenshots: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
These weapons are fantastic and are amazingly useful for wiping out tough enemies, blocking damage from a projectile, hitting an enemy twice with the same projectile, etc..
However, the best Robot Master weapon in "Mega Man 4," nay, the best Robot Master weapon in the entire NES hexalogy, is the Flash Stopper. The Flash Stopper freeze time temporarily, allowing Mega Man to shoot frozen enemies while time is frozen. This is so much fun, it's satisfying to use on difficult enemies and extremely helpful.
However, these weapons are only obtainable after beating the Robot Masters. For example, to get the Flash Stopper, you must defeat Bright Man. Every Robot Master has a weakness to another weapon though, with some being more confusing than others.
For example, Rain Flush being Bright Man's weakness makes sense since rain can short-circuit a light bulb. However, I don't see the logic behind Skull Man being weak to Dust Crusher and Dive Man being weak to the Skull Barrier. Half of the weakness logic makes no sense, while the other half is tough to figure out.
Despite the weakness conundrums, the bosses are genuinely good. Their weaknesses are fun to use and require good reflexes to defeat them. Dive Man's battle is my favourite as it involves maneuvering around underwater.
The only exception is the infamous Toad Man, widely regarded as the easiest boss in the series which... Isn't wrong. If you keep attacking Toad Man whenever you get the chance, he'll never do his unavoidable attack.
I still love Toad Man though, honestly, I love all the Robot Masters in "Mega Man 4" despite a few glaring faults with their fights. Such as how Bright Man can freeze time when his health is at a certain point, which is admittedly cheap. Still a good boy though.
Level Design & Presentation
"Mega Man 4" presents challenging but fair level design that makes for a well-designed and fun time. From the crushers in Dust Man's stage, Dive Man's spacious underwater stage, Bright Man's platforming extravaganza with lights that can turn off and on, and more.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica (First two pictures) and NintendoComplete (Third picture)]
Every level keeps a good, consistent flow. The difficulty is exactly right where it's challenging, but not to the point of being frustrating/unfair. Whenever I died, it was rarely the game's fault.
That's not to say they're perfect, Ring Man's stage has four mini bosses, which is overkill. Some stages also have far too many spikes (which instant-kill Mega Man), like oh my gosh, someone on the "Mega Man 4" team has a thing for spikes.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
That's also not to say "Mega Man 4" is free of unfair moments... SUCH AS THESE GUYS!
This beginner's trap comes up from the pits in Dust Man's and Dr. Cossack's first stage without warning. While it's tolerable in the latter, in the former it's so easy to get killed. If you get damaged by the enemy, you fall into the pit and die, it's cheap.
There are also the rocks in Drill Man's stage. I still have no idea how to dodge these, I just use the Skull Shield to get pass them.
The above was written before getting the picture, now I feel silly. Even if you slide, the rocks are still hard to dodge.
However, the level design despite its few faults is always complimented with amazing, creative, and colourful visuals that make each level stand out. From the depressing atmosphere of Dust Man's stage to snow that gets more tense in Dr. Cossack's first stage as you progress.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
The visuals can cause slowdown though, which can disturb the flow of gameplay. However, it never caused any deaths.
The icing of the cake that is "Mega Man 4's" presentation is its music. Every single song is amazing. Even the Stage Select theme is amazing, a track type I usually don't like in the "Mega Man" games apart from "Mega Man 6" and... Well, "Mega Man 4."
Some specific favourites of mine are: Bright Man's stage theme, Skull Man's stage theme, Dr. Cossack Stage 2, Dust Man's stage theme, and Pharaoh Man's stage theme.
For me, this soundtrack confused me for why it was so amazing at first, not to say the earlier "Mega Man" soundtracks were bad, far from it, they're amazing, but this was something else to me. Then I found out the composer was Minae Fujii.
Fujii composed other amazing soundtracks for "TaleSpin" and "DuckTales 2," and she's easily my favourite NES composer. It's no wonder I loved "Mega Man 4's" soundtrack so much.
Bonus Items
Throughout the adventure, Mega Man can pick up bonus items. Every playthrough, Mega Man starts with the Rush Coil that acts as a spring, allowing Mega Man to reach high places. Also yes, he is also indeed a good boy.
Defeating Toad Man and Drill Man will unlock the Rush Marine and Rush Jet respectively; the Rush Marine lets Mega Man drive it underwater to traverse underwater sections, while the Rush Jet functions as a floating platform that continually moves forward with adjustable vertical movement.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
The Rush Jet is amazingly helpful. Unlike in "Mega Man 3" where both horizontal and vertical movement could be controlled, here it feels less overpowered and more balanced while still being fun. The Rush Marine is still useful, but only limited to rare underwater sections, so it's not as good nor fun.
However, if you're cool, you'll go for the bonus bonus items. Unlike the Rush items, these are completely optional and found by exploring levels. The Balloon is in Pharaoh Man's stage while the Wire is in Dive Man's levels.
The Balloon creates a platform that floats upwards. It functions identically to Item-1 from "Mega Man 2," but is shaped like a balloon so it's better.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
I'm uh... Very easily pleased by balloons.
The Wire on the other hand, is A GRAPPLING HOOK! With it, Mega Man can attach to ceilings to reach high places. The Wire can also damage enemies, although the opportunity is rare.
The Balloon and Wire are extremely helpful, helping to reach tougher spots. Also, the satisfaction of finding them on my first playthrough with no guide or even knowing they were in the game is such an amazing feeling.
The Twist
After traversing Dr. Cossack's fortress, you face the mad lad himself in a... C-Claw machine?
Well, it's the first phase so maybe the second phase is better... Or is there a second phase?
After landing enough hits, Mega Man goes into position to land the final blow but Kalinka Cossack, Dr. Cossack's daughter, teleports into the room thanks to Proto Man, to stop Mega Man and tell him the truth.
Kalinka was kidnapped and used as a hostage to force Dr. Cossack to fight for world domination to save Kalinka. Who would do such a thing? Simple, Dr. Wily.
With Dr. Cossack and Kalinka reunited, an enraged Dr. Wily goes to his new fortress. Mega Man chases after him to stop the true mastermind.
This plot twist seriously caught me off guard. On the 3DS version of the Legacy Collection, Kalinka isn't even on the border.
[Credit: VixyNyan (She - Her) (First picture)]
It's also impactful given how much pain Dr. Cossack was in, which isn’t hard to imagine: his daughter was kidnapped, he was forced to try to conquer the world, forced to reprogram his peaceful robots into fighting machines, and fight when he didn't want to.
The Cossack Stage 2 theme perfectly captures Dr. Cossack's pain while being effective foreshadowing that something isn't right. It's not climatic, it's... Sorrowful.
This twist also speaks volumes on Dr. Wily, he went as far as to kidnap a child and force someone to do his world conquering for him. Dr. Wily went too far this time, to the point where I don't even think Dr. Wily can save himself anymore.
I could be looking too deeply into things, but it's also hard not to due to no other "Mega Man" game in the NES hexalogy has Dr. Wily go this far nor hit me with the plot this hard. "Mega Man 4" builds up the stakes to stop Dr. Wily amazingly.
Sure, the Dr. Wily stages are technically padding, but its padding done right. The levels test the player's skills beautifully while being very enjoyable. I didn't mind if they were padding, I was having fun, and that's what matters: having fun.
[Credit: Old School Gamer - Jogatina Clássica]
The bosses are good too, with the final boss, the Wily Capsule, having its own climatic final boss theme, a first for the series. It nails the intense atmosphere of the final fight so well with Dr. Wily teleporting in the darkness.
When you finally beat Dr. Wily, it's so satisfying... Until he escapes.
With the rotating door trick of all things. While that's a bit of a disappointment, it's still a satisfying ending with the Cossacks and Russia saved. The train ride home is also satisfying and captures the feeling of returning after a long adventure perfectly.
Overall (S)
...Okay, so the reason for reviewing "Mega Man 4" first as opposed to the other "Mega Man" games is because it's my favourite game in the NES Hexalogy. It's amazing on so many levels.
The story changes the formula, the plot twist genuinely got me good, the presentation is excellent for the NES, the music is my favourite of the NES hexalogy, the level design is amazing, the addition of the charge attack is wonderful, the weapons are well-designed, and everything about this game is just so good.
There are problems such as one or two unfair moments, the imperfect level design, and the weakness logic is a mix of logical to nonsensical. Still, these problems are easily overlooked with everything this game does right.
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