++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Brian Lundin++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Paltheos@gmail.com+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Version 1.4: 1/3/04++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MMM MMM EEEEEEEEEE GGGGGGGGG AAA MMMM MMM EEEEEEEEEE GGGGGGGGGGGG AAAAA MMMMM MMMMM EEE GGGGG GGGG AAA AAA MM MMMMMM MM EEE GGGGG AAA AAA MM MMMM MM EEEEEE GGGGG AAA AAA MM MM MM EEEEEE GGGG GGGGGGGGGGG AAAAAAAAAAAAA MM MM EEE GGGGG GGGGGGGGGGG AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MM MM EEE GGGGG GGGGGGG AAA AAA MM MM EEEEEEEEEE GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG AAA AAA MM MM EEEEEEEEEE GGGGGGGGGGGGG AAA AAA MMM MMM AAA NNN NN IIIIIIIIIIII MMMM MMMM AAAAA NNNN NN III III MMMMM MMMMM AAA AAA NN NN NN III III MM MMMMMM MM AAA AAA NN NN NN III III MM MMMM MM AAA AAA NN NN NN III III MM MM MM AAAAAAAAAAAAA NN NN NN III III MM MM AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NN NN NN III III MM MM AAA AAA NN NN NN III III MM MM AAA AAA NN NNNN III III MM MM AAA AAA NN NNN IIIIIIIIIIII ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ARM CANNON CHALLENGE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================================== The Arm Cannon Challenge is a game of Mega Man II in which the default weapon, the arm cannon (P on the menu screen), and only the default weapon is used to complete the game. This means no Rush forms, no robot masters' weapons, and, for the hardcore players, no energy tanks. You can use energy tanks if you really have to but keep in mind that you won't get the full experience. This guide will be written assuming that you do not use any energy tanks. There will be three cases in the game in which it is literally impossible to continue the game using only the arm cannon. I will make special note of these in the walkthrough. On a final note, it is advised that, unless you're a Mega Man veteran, you have played through the game normally first before attempting this challenge. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version 1.0- Included rules, boss strategies, special weapon exceptions, legal information, and credits. 9/4/03 9KB Version 1.4- Added some ASCII art ^_^; redid the format. 1/3/04 13KB Version 1.5- Changed mailing address; added a note on the New Shotman in Magnet Man's stage which was supposedly undefeatable without a special weapon. 2/27/05 15KB ============================================================================== ````````````````````````````````````` ` ` ` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ` ` Table of Contents ` ` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ` ` ` ` Section I: Walkthrough ` ` A- First Four ` ` 1- Clash Man ` ` 2- Metal Man ` ` 3- Wood Man ` ` 4- Air Man ` ` B- Wily's Base ` ` 1- Hard Man ` ` 2- Top Man ` ` 3- Magnet Man ` ` 4- Needle Man ` ` 5- Quint ` ` C- Wily's Space Station ` ` 1- Wily Form 1- The Walker ` ` 2- Wily Form 2- The Roller ` ` 3- Wily Final Form- The Dragon ` ` Section II: Copyright Information ` ` Section III: Credits ` ` ` ````````````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section I: Walkthrough ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Because you can't use anything but the arm cannon, it doesn't really matter which level you do first. Therefore, I will cover the bosses in this order for both the First Four and Wily's Base: Upper Left, Upper Right, Lower Left, Lower Right. ------------- A- First Four ------------- 1- Clash Man ------------ Clash Man is probably one of the toughest robot master in the game. He will start by running towards you. Take a short jump into the air and shoot; he should jump and be hit by the attack. Slide under him and try to avoid the Clash Bombs. He will constantly be running after you at the same speed that you can run. Try to quickly turn about and shoot him. Do not get hit by him or his attacks; they do an incredible amount of damage. It may and probably will take several attempts to defeat him. 2- Metal Man ------------ Stay on the left side of the screen when you fight Metal Man. When you shoot, he jumps to fire two Metal Blades. Evade the blades and get off some shots while you're in the air. Even if you get hit by his attacks, they do such negligible damage that, assuming you both start fighting at full health, you can exchange damage until he is destroyed. 3- Wood Man ----------- Here's another easy boss. Most of your shots go through his leaf shield (some shield)! Just evade the leaves from the shield and the leaf shield he fires. He occasionally takes little hops towards you, but you will have probably already defeated him before he even makes it the other side. 4- Air Man ---------- He has several tornado patterns, and four different levels at which he shoots tornadoes. When the second level is open, continually take little hops and shoot. If it is possible, try to jump to avoid the attack. When the first level is open, just stand there and shoot. Then slide under the attack. When he jumps to the other side of the screen, slide under him and repeat. -------------- B- Wily's Base -------------- 1- Hard Man ----------- He starts by firing two Hard Knuckles which have a boomerang effect. They can be difficult to dodge, so it's alright to stand there and shoot while taking the hits. He then jumps into the air above your present position, flips himself upside-down, and crashes into the ground stopping all movement momentarily. Rather than be hit by this, slide out of the way, turn around, and shoot him before he hits the ground. Repeat. 2- Top Man ---------- Initially, he fires 3 Tops into the air. Stay on the side of the screen, slide under them when they home in on you, and return to the side. When he starts spinning and then spins across the screen, jump over him to the opposite side of the screen and repeat To defeat him, simply shoot at him whenever he is NOT spinning. 3- Magnet Man ------------- ******************************************************************************* * Eventually, you will encounter a puzzle involving appearing and * *dissappearing *platforms with a spike floor below it. Above it will be a New * *Shotman preventing you from passing. You are allowed to use any special * *weapon to destroy the New Shotman, but, after it is destroyed, you must * *continue normally. * *UPDATE: I have recently received an e-mail reporting that the New Shotman in * *question can be defeated without the special weapon, so, yeah, never mind. * *It's all a matter of timing the shots apparently (more like obviously). * *Anyway, good luck. * ******************************************************************************* Magnet Man can be difficult to fight if you don't know the method to fighting him. He always uses one of two attacks and follows with a small and then large jump to the opposite side of the screen and repeats. He either uses a magnetic pull attack that pulls you towards him or jumps into the air and fires three magnets that individually home in on your present position. You simply need to resist the magnetic pull attack. The three magnets are much more difficult though. The best way to handle this is to get relatively close to him, wait for two of the magnets to start dropping, slide away from him, try to get a shot in, slide under the last magnet and him, and try to get another shot in. It may take awhile, but be persistent. 4- Needle Man ------------- ******************************************************************************* * At one point, you will encounter and defeat a cannon in the level. The tower* *that it was on will be too high to jump over. For this one occasion, you * *may use Rush Coil to give you the neccessary boost to get over it. * ******************************************************************************* Needle Man can be either very difficult or very easy. If he's easy, he'll try to hit you with his spikey head from too far out of range and will continually jump into the wall. Just keep shooting at him, and he'll die. If he's hard, he'll jump into the air, and fire three homing needles one at a time which individually home in on you. They will not be easy to dodge. In addition, he'll use his spikey head on you whenever you get close to him. Shoot him whenever you can. 5- Quint -------- Quint is a joke. Just slide under Sakugarne whenever he jumps towards you and shoot at his head. He doesn't have a health bar but will give up in no time. ----------------------- C- Wily's Space Station ----------------------- ******************************************************************************* * At one point in the space station, there will be a large pool of water. It * *is impossible to pass it without the use of Rush Marine. Therefore, for this * *one instance, you may use Rush Marine. * ******************************************************************************* 1- Wily Form 1- The Walker -------------------------- Wily's first form jumps to your position while simultaneously firing a bouncing ball. Slide to the opposite side of the screen after the jump, walk under the ball, and jump above a ground missile he fires moments later. Just jump and shoot at his head after he fires the bouncing ball, and after he fires the ground missile. He'll run at about one-third of his health. 2- Wily Form 2- The Roller -------------------------- Wily's second form fires two energy balls that are difficult to dodge at you. This is followed by yet another bouncing ball that explodes after bouncing past you sending explosive shards upwards; These are easy enough to evade: just run from them. As before, defeat him by aiming for the head, and he will once again run away at one-third health. 3- Wily Final Form- The Dragon ------------------------------ Wily's final form is actually easier than his second form. He first shoots a missile that always move to the left yet goes up or down based on your position. Try to slide under it soon after he fires it without sliding into him, and try to get in some shots afterwards while moving to the left side of the screen. Then, he'll fling four objects into the air that can be dodged simply by sliding towards the left side of the screen as they pass you on the way down. Then shoot at him some more until he fires the missile and repeat. Eventually victory will be yours. Congratulations! ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Secction II: Copyright Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This section is just some legal information. This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This may be exhibited only within www.GameFAQs.com. ============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section III: Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Capcom and Nintendo for making this game. Thanks to GameFAQs for featuring this Arm Cannon Challenge Guide. If anyone has any questions or comments about this guide, please e-mail me at Paltheos@gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Until next time, this has been Paltheos, wishing you good luck and happy gaming. -------------------------------- Copyright 2003-2005 Brian Lundin