"What's your countdown, man? Have you been in this situation before? @@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@ @@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@@@@@@@@ @@ @@@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @ @@@ @@@@&&%%%%!!!@@@@ @@ @@ @@@ @@@ @@ @@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@&&!!&&@@ @@ @ @@ @@@@@ @@@@@ @ @@@@ @@@@@@@&&&&&&&@@%%!!&&@ @@@@@&&&&&&&&&@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&@@&&!!&&&@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@ @@ @@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&@@&&%%!!&@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@&&@@@@&@@&&&&&&&@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@&&!!&@@@@@@!! @&&&&&&@@&@@ @@@ @@@@@ @@@@ @@ @@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@%%@@!@@@@!! @@@&&@@%%@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@@ @@%%##!@@@@!! @%%@@@@%%@@@ @@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@ @@&&##%@@@@!! #%%!!@@ @@@ @ @@ @@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@ @@&&&@@@@!!!! !!%%!!@ @@@@@@@@@@@%%!!###!!!!!!!!@ @@&&%%&&@@@@@##%%!!%##!!!!%%@ @&&%%%%%%@@@@@@@##%%!!!!!%%@@ @@@@&%%%%&&%%%@@&&@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@&&&&@@&&%%%@@&&&&@@%&&@@ @@@@&&&&&@@@@@@&&%%%%%%%%%%%%%%@@@@@@@@@ @@@@&&&&&&&@@@@@@&&&%%%%%%%%%%&&&@@&&@@&&&@@ @@@@@&&&&&&&@@@@@@@@&&&%%%%%%&&@&&@@&&@@@&&&&@@ @@&&&&&&&@@@@@@@@@@@&&&@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&&&&@@ @@&&&&&&&&&@@@@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&&&@@@@@@@@@&&&&&&&@@ @@@&&&&@@@@&&@@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&@@@@@@@@@@@&&&&&@@ @@@&&@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&&&&&@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@ @@&&&&@@@@@@@&&%%@@@@@@@@@%%&&@ @@@@@@ @&&%%%%%%@@@@@%%%%%%&@ @@@@@%%%%&&@ @@&&%%%%@@@ @@@@@&&@@&&@@ @@&@@@@@@@ @@@@&&&&&&&&&@@ @@@@@&&&@@@@ @@@@@@&&&&&&&&&@@ @@@@@&&&@@@@ @@@@@@&&&&&&&&&&&@@ @@@@@&&&&&@@ @@@@@@@@@&&&&&&&@@@@ @@@@@&&@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@&&&&&@@ @@@@@@&&&&@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@&&&&&&@@@&&&&@@ @@@@@@@&&&&&&&&@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&&&&&&@@@@ @@@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&&&@@@@ @@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&@@ @@@@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&&&&@@@ @@@@@@@&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Ten minutes until your glory now, and we may never see you anymore..." - Stir ================ ASCII Art by Atom Edge ================ Mega Man Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) written by: David "Zoop" McCutcheon e-mail: zoopnova@aol.com version: 10.0 date: 03/08/04 this document is Copyright 2003-2004 David McCutcheon. The only websites that may host this document are GameFAQs.com, IGN.com, Honestgamers.com, and Neoseeker.com. If you have a fan site and wish to use the guide, please e-mail me so we can clarify with my regulations. If you're a web- run business, please send e-mail to the following address: zoopnova@aol.com. We will discuss such matters in private. Thank you. ~ Revision History ~ ~ 10.0 ~ Added some user strategies, and updated the copyright. Enjoy. ~ 9.0 ~ Just a very small update around these parts. Hadn't touched the guide in god knows how long, so I felt I should finally update it and get it over with, yanno? ~ 8.0 ~ Finally updated this one. Added Chicobo's awesome Wily Wars Changes Guide, as it is a very fun read for Mega Man fans. Sorry about the delay, man! ~ 7.0 ~ Changed the format a bit, that way it is more user friendly. Now you can find each section of my FAQ, including the Walkthrough, via the Control + F method for PC users! Yay! ~ 6.0 ~ Updated things. Added a Boss List section, too. ~ 5.0 ~ Completed the Walkthrough. Everything is done! I will leave the version open for spelling mistakes, typos, and user feedback, though. Enjoy! ~ 4.0 ~ Added more to the walkthrough, going up to Dr. Wily's Fortress Stage 3. Also corrected simple typos and spelling mistakes. I'm stoopid. ~ 3.0 ~ I bet Ceejay wants to murder me. Three updates in three days. Anyways, I got all of that pesky first Dr. Wily stage tabbed out, and I started on the second Wily stage. Yay for me. ~ 2.0 ~ Version 2.0 completed. Added BombMan's full stage strategy. ~ 1.0 ~ Just started on this... I enjoyed doing the Kid Niki: Radical Ninja FAQ so much that I decided to write for another one of my favorite NES games: Mega Man. I had no influences for this guide, just pure love of the game. Plus, it's an easy game to write for. ^_^ Enjoy! (NOTE: I wrote quite a bit, but my computer had an error and deleted the file. Luckily, I had a back-up file, but it wasn't updated recently. Please excuse the way the FAQ looks right now, it will all be completed soon.) *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* T A B L E o f C O N T E N T S *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~!~NOTE~!~ If you need to find a certain something in the guide, press and hold Control (Ctrl) and press the F key. Type out the word you are looking for, and search. If you're too lazy to do this, don't bother e-mailing or IMing me. Thank you. Table of Contents: I. Introduction Ia. Contact Me II. Controls/Game Basics III. Walkthrough AA. GutsMan BB. CutMan CC. ElecMan DD. IceMan EE. FireMan FF. BombMan GG. Dr. Wily's Fortress (1) HH. Dr. Wily's Fortress (2) II. Dr. Wily's Fortress (3) JJ. Dr. Wily's Fortress (4) IV. Enemy List V. Boss List VI. Items List VII. Weapons List VIII. CMoriarty's Damage Chart IX. Chicobo329's Wily Wars Changes Guide X. FAQ XI. Credits XII. Disclaimer *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I. INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Well, well, well... It was bound to come down to this. After getting my NES hooked up and fixed, among the first games to put in and play was all six of the Mega Man games. Regardless of what anyone says, no series on the NES could top the Mega Man series, in my opinion. The Mega Man series was THE series I grew up with. Now, at my young, tender age, I have practically seen the downfall of the series... However, we still have the classic six on the Nintendo Entertainment System. And let us never, ever forget that. In case you haven't noticed, a lot has happened since my last FAQ, which took place around five days before I started on this one. I won IGN Writer Of The Week under my IGN alias, ZoopNOVA, and became the first non-prolific from GameFAQs to accomplish that feat. I must admit, I am proud. With this huge honor at my feet, I decided to cover the very first Mega Man game, and possibly more, if the feedback is positive. Plus, what can I say? Capcom NES games rule! The game is pretty straight-forward. I will guide you, step by step, through each stage, as if I were holding your hand, or walking your dog, and point out the weakness of every enemy, and especially the best ways to kill each enemy in every area. I have died in each area several time, and in many ways, to find out everything about this game to the point that my thumbs were throbbing, just to get an edge on the current FAQs for the game up. Keep in mind that you DO NOT need to defeat the bosses in the order I present to you. This is just my preferred order. The best thing about this series is the fact that you get to CHOOSE where to go. The series itself is very non-linear, and if it weren't for this series, you would not have complete freedom of choice in games like Grand Theft Auto today. Represent and respect. Game on! -David *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ia. Contact Me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* If you need me for anything whatsoever that isn't covered in the guide (as long as it has to do with the guide. Sorry, but I don't feel like hearing about how cute your kitten is if I don't really know you, yanno? Actually, kittens are cute..), You can contact me via e-mail, or sometimes IM. I check my e-mail several times a day; so don't hesitate if you have a question! But please read the long paragraph below my contact info. E-Mail address: ZoopNOVA@aol.com AIM: Zoop NOVA Please only e-mail me if it's something you do NOT see in the guide. Try to look for it; If it's not there, feel free to e-mail me. If you don't know how to e-mail me, just simply bring up a new, unwritten mail (this varies with different services. It should say "Write Mail" on the button, though) and write out my e-mail address. For the subject, type Mega Man FAQ. In the body of the mail, write whatever you like, even hate mail! I don't care what you send, but positive feedback is always nice. But if you're into the hate mail thing, I can dig that, too. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ II. CONTROLS/GAME BASICS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* D-Pad Left/Right = Move back and forth A = Jump B = Shoot A + B = Jump Shoot Start = Pause/Weapons Select Menu Select = Change Decision on Title Screen * If you want items from enemies, be sure not to shoot them while they are in the foreground of a platform. This will send the item to the opposite side of the screen. * * As always in Mega Man games, if you need to make a long jump, jump in the air and keep pressing Start over and over again. You'd be surprised how well this works. * * If a boss gets too close to you, be sure to "shove him away" by shooting him. This will send him backwards around three steps. * * Remember if you Pause whilst on a ladder, that when you unpause the game, you will fall off of the ladder. Take caution. * *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ III. WALKTHROUGH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* *NOTE* You do NOT have to complete the Robots and their stages in my order. You can do this in ANY order you choose. Here's the chart of weakness, meaning the weapon given to you after you beat a boss will harm that certain robot. GUTSMAN = Mega Buster (Mega Man) or Hyper Bomb (BombMan) CUTMAN = Mega Buster (Mega Man) or Super Arm (GutsMan) ELECMAN = Rolling Cutters (CutMan) ICEMAN = Thunder Beam (ElecMan) or A Carefully Aimed And Agile Mega Buster (Mega Man) FIREMAN = Ice Slasher (IceMan) BOMBMAN = Fire Storm (FireMan) or Mega Buster (Mega Man) The reason I save the extremely easy BombMan for last, you ask? For smooth sailing ahead, my dear Watson. Let's head to the first stage (and boss), GutsMan. AA. _______ =/\/\==================|GUTS |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| MAN|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Medium Boss Difficulty: Easy Ahhh... Our very first Mega Man stage. The thing about the robot stages in the Mega Man series, especially this game, is that they have a running theme going with them. This stage is no exception. In fact, GutsMan is known for being strong, and I guess a construction worker is the best that they could come up with for GutsMan. Sadly for him, he is NOT Joe Millionaire. You will find construction areas, as well as construction enemies, in this fairly short part of the game. At the very start of this relatively short, but moderate stage, you will see your first two enemies of the same species! Oh, what a happy, joyous occasion! Let's celebrate! Or kill the Shell Shooter. Either one will do. These enemies are classic Mega Man enemies that show up in every one of the Mega Man games, and are often known as "Hard Hats" amongst Mega Man fans. When they open up their shell, you will see their eyes. They will also shoot at you in three different directions: Up, straight ahead, and down, all at the same time. One shot with the Mega Buster will take care of them. After destroying the two Shell Shooters, you will have to jump and climb the platforms, using them as steps, and walk until you reach an area that has a straight line, but nowhere to go. You will have to wait until a lift will come by to pick you up. This may take several seconds, so don't get worried and jump too soon. Wait it out, and when the green lift comes by, jump on top of it and wait. Once you're on the green lift, you will reach possibly the hardest part of the game for most newbie Mega Man players, and something I often had trouble with as a kid: While this green lift is fine, the bottom two aren't so lucky. In fact, there are gaps in the tracks of the bottom two green lifts. You will want to jump onto the second (middle) green lift after it passes the gaps while coming towards you. Once you jump down onto the first unsafe green lift, you will have to remember to jump when the base of the lift (the platform that keeps the lift up, located on the left) hits the gap, as the green lift WILL FALL and send you to your doom if you don't jump. There are two gaps on this line: The first, that you can clearly see, and the second, which is close to the right edge, and remember to jump very quickly twice on this edge. When the time is right, jump down onto the third (bottom) and final line. This one is the most complicated of them all. Not only will you encounter FIVE (yes, count'em, five) gaps, and not only will they be scrunched together, one after another, but you will also have to perform a difficult jump to reach the safe platform. You may die a few times, but remember that if you die twice while doing this, it's pretty wise to die a third time and continue, since you don't want to make it to GutsMan on your last life with four energy pellets left, now do you? After jumping from the green lift to the platform, you better be thankful that you're now on solid ground. So kiss the rubble for a while, then continue along your journey. You will encounter a flying green enemy (a set of three, in fact) that swoop down and grab you. I call these enemies Green Chatters, as they look like they have teeth. One shot for each of them will seal their fate. Continue... Along the path, you will encounter a series of steps that you must climb. No problem climbing thing, unless you can't hit the jump button, and eventually you will find an Energy Refill (Large) tank. Collect it, if you need it, then jump down. You will be prompted into a sturdy battle with three Construction Robots in different areas of the long strip in the "Construction Site" of GutsMan's stage. The Construction Robots are fairly easy, and only block seldomly. They attack much like the Hammer Brothers of Super Mario Bros. 3. They will sling hatchets up in the air, and you must avoid them while shooting them with the Mega Buster. Around ten (10) shots will due him in. After the first, the next two will be located atop the suspended platforms of the construction site area. The second one is right after the first gap, so don't stand back too much, as if you get hit, you could fall into the black pit of doom. Destroy the second Construction Robot, then jump over to find the third and last one over by the ledge to the right of the screen. Dispose of him, and jump down, but read the next paragraph BEFORE jumping! After jumping down, you will very reasonably notice that you will land on... well, NOTHING! That's right, you will drop down straight, and once you do, you will probably fall straight onto those damn spikes, and blow up into a billion pieces. Ouch. So, to NOT die, just hug left tightly, and you will land on a safe ledge, and you will encounter three Green Chatters. Be SAFE when you kill them. Don't let them knock you off carelessly. Jump from platform to platform to kill each of them by mixing up their pattern. After their untimely deaths, you can prepare Operation: Gimme Items. Operation: Gimme Items consists of knowing where to fall, and what corners to hug, to get some sweet items to heal yourself, refill your weapons, or even *gasp* get an extra life! Yowzers! Keep in mind that those pesky ol' Green Chatters will not halt in these areas. They attack in threes, and you must use your techniques to kill them in a clean fashion all the way down. If you fall down on the left, two small Energy Refill tanks await if you hug to the left. Keep in mind that you MUST hug the left, as spikes are at the bottom of this, and that would leave a nasty stain if you hit them. In the middle (the generic route), a small Weapon Refill awaits your arrival. To the Right, there are two platforms: Top, which contains a large Energy Refill tank, and bottom, which contains nothing. Yes, even more choices await you after this. Remember that if you're on the right, you MUST hug the left wall, because nicely laid spikes are on the ground below you. If you hug the left VERY TIGHTLY, you might reach an Extra Life on the top platform. A small Energy Refill tank lies next to the spikes. Make sure you try to get that Extra Life, though, as there's no reason not to, really. Now jump down and carry on. After jumping down, you have a slight problem if you want to carry on... A GIGANTIC BLUE BRAIN HOPPER!!! These things are NO joke, and I only suggest engaging in battles with these things if, A) You have more than 1 life, and B) If you're energy bar in filled to the max. Three hits from this gigantic beast of a robot, and you will be toast, and not the good kind that tastes yummy, either. The... uh... other kind, I guess? Regardless, run through when it high jumps, and don't look back. You will reach the Boss Gates. Quickly enter them before that evil Blue Brain Hopper comes back for you. Once inside the gates, I will predict the future: In your near future, you will walk down this corridor, and you will encounter four Shell Shooters along the way. They will want to shoot at you in the three most forward directions. You can avoid their attacks by simply going in there head-on, shoot rapidly over and over again, that way as soon as they open up, they're dead. Or you could do it the hard way. Either way, go through the second set of Boss Gates to reach... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: GUTSMAN < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* GutsMan. When you walk into the battle, GutsMan shows up, and he looks none-too-pleased with your arrival. With a nice little "pump-up" pose, his energy is filled, and now you must battle with this bone head. Best of luck to you, however, most would agree with me when I state that "you won't need it." GutsMan is, in my opinion, one of the easiest bosses in any game... ever. I know bosses are supposed to have patterns, but, come on, fellas... Give us a challenge, will ya? GutsMan isn't very mobile... In fact, he never walks, much less runs. All he will do to you is jump in the air, towards you or away from you, and when he lands, it will knock Mega Man off of his feet. Since this is, if you're following my strategy, your first boss, the only weapon you have (or need, for that matter) is the Mega Buster. Let's put it this way: I could beat GutsMan with one bar of health EASILY. "How so?" you ask? His pattern NEVER CHANGES. He will hop back and forth, then bounce in one place. A big rock will fall from the ceiling, and he was grab it. Then he will toss it at you. It will hit the rocks in front of him that you will use for a platform, and break into several pieces. Now, the tricky part: The pieces WILL damage you. So do not take them lightly, as they are the hardest part of this boss battle with GutsMan... but then again, that's not saying much now, is it? To avoid it, get in between the two platform rocks, and when he chucks the boulder at you, jump towards the edge of the second platform rock. This should completely avoid the debris. As for destroying him? Just shoot him every single time he jumps, and sometimes (if you get lucky, that is) you can shoot him twice in one jump, if the slowdown works correctly. Avoid the debris from the rocks, and shoot. This strategy will work with no folly. After the battle, collect his power, the Super Arm. You can now lift rocks, much like GutsMan! BB. _______ =/\/\==================|CUT |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| MAN|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Easy Boss Difficulty: Easy Our second robot to smash, bash, and destroy is the ever-so-unlucky CutMan. CutMan's stage is known as a futuristic junkyard filled with scrap metal. Just kidding, however, a lot of gamers feel that the programming and development in this stage was kind of clustered together, and I see their point: This stage is one of the sloppiest Mega Man stages ever. But I still love it just as much as the rest... Well, except FireMan. His stage is cool. Get it? I'm funny. You know you wanna laugh. As the stage begins, you will have to climb the ladder to your left. Climb up, and go right to jump the platform. You will notice a blue enemy robot (three, to be exact) that I will now refer to as a Blue Chatter, as it has huge teeth. Scary. Anyways, one hit will destroy it, so carry on by jumping to the floor. Once down here, you will notice yet another ladder. Hmm, what to do? Oh, I know! Let's climb it! Once atop it, you will be prompted to jump across the gap and skim the platforms above. After crossing the three platforms, jump to the step. Watch out for more of those pesky Blue Chatters, and remember that you CAN shoot through platforms. Nice. Climb up yet again, and carefully jump across that nasty gap right there. Got it? Good. Jump from the high step to the last area of this long area, but please remember that when you jump, to also shoot and take out that annoying Wall Mechanizism. Only one shot, when the hood is lifted, will kill it, so it's worth it, if for the chance of an item alone. There are two more that rest here: Climb the ladder a small bit and hold right, then shoot. This should take out the second Wall Mechanizism. Take out the third, then climb the ladder completely, jump across the gap, and climb the ladder. Once atop the ladder and on the next screen, you will find three more of those Wall Mechanizisms. Keep in mind that if you shoot them while their hood is closed, the bullet will bounce straight off of them. Time this well, knowing that they shoot four times: Once towards the ceiling, twice in the middle moderately, and once below. Jump the gap, and take out the first Wall Mechanizism above the ladder that you just climbed. After doing this, climb the ladder and then jump in the air without moving to take out the second Wall Mechanizism, then jump to that ledge and swiftly remove the third Wall Mechanizism from the premises. Climb to the very top platform, then dart up that lovely ladder. Once you're up here, three more Wall Mechanizisms await your arrival. I bet you're getting sick of them, eh? Well, get used to it, as this area is infested with enemies in the bunches. Walk forward a little bit, then destroy the first Wall Mechanizism across from you. When you're almost up the ladder, face left and start shooting to destroy the second Wall Mechanizism for high score purposes. Climb up completely, then jump shoot the final one. Climb that drastically placed ladder... AHHH!!! ANOTHER SET!!! Yes, even MORE Wall Mechanizisms await your in this area. Halfway up the ladder, shoot the Wall Mechanizism to your left. Good riddance. Now, climb up completely, then cross the gap. Now climb that ladder (I bet you're sick of all of that climbing by now, eh?) and jump shoot the second. Jump over to the platform, then take out the last one, and climb yet another ladder. I bet the local warehouse that Dr. Wily buys from is rich from his ladder purchasing spree. FINALLY! NO MORE WALL MECHANIZISMS! Now that we're done celebrating, you will notice a not-so-friendly Cutter Machine. What this thing does is it will produce three Cutters from each side, one after another. Completely avoid them and run through it, then take out the newly introduced Blue Squids. These things are not very nice, so kill them easily in one hit. Carry on. After climbing the platforms, jump across the gap. In this next area, you will find a new source of robot: The Clinger Robots. These things are pretty easy to avoid, and they are usually found in fours during the next few layers of the level. There are three in this area, however. They die in a few hits, so you can A) kill them and rack up points for the high score, as well as get pick-ups that may drop, or B) ignore them. Regardless of your choice, be careful when climbing up the ladder. Once atop, jump the gap and climb the next ladder up. After you're up the ladder, you can prepare for the series of layers that include Clinger Robots, much like the layers of Wall Mechanizism enemy robots you encountered earlier. Shoot the first through the block in front of you to eliminate its threat, then jump atop the block and take out the second by jumping lightly, then shooting. After this, fall down and climb the ladder. Take out the third after climbing the ladder, then destroy that pesky fourth one by jump shooting it. Climb up the next ladder... Four more of those darned Clinger Robots appear. They just keep coming, don't they? Easily take out the simple one (you should know how, by now), and be sure to ignore that nasty second one. No use in trying to waste your energy to hit it. However, you can take out the third and fourth by jumping on the ladder and doing it from there. Afterwards, climb up. *beats head in with a dog's "squeaky" toy* FOUR MORE!!! Oh well. You're bound to uncover some slowdown as soon as the enemies appear. I guess it was just too close to not hit Mega Man with no slowdown, eh? Take out the one directly in front of you. This will highly decrease the slowdown by a mile or two. Ignore the other one going from side to side above you, as it will hurt you more than anything. For the sake of an item, shoot the third from the other side of the box after climbing the platform. Climb the ladder and take out the remaining with your Mega Buster, but be sure to move up if they get too close to your backside. FINALLY! NO CLINGER ROBOTS! But, another Cutter Machine is here. Ignore it, then climb the steps. You better hope you have enough energy left to survive the dangerous onslaught that awaits you: Three Blue Chatters! *big gasp* This will be harder than Dr. Wily himself. Be sure to kick off the first two. As for the third, it hides in the foreground of the stage. Kill it when it charges after you, then drop down, go left to grab the Energy Refill (Large), then climb down the ladder. Once down here, you will notice something quite odd, and awfully peculiar: A shell will appear from the right side of the screen, directly in the middle of the screen in an "up-down" standpoint. Once it reaches far enough, it will open up and spit a bullet in every direction at once! WATCH OUT! I call these enemies Shell Spreaders, so pay attention whenever you see them. Keep in mind that these enemies will come out in a never-ending fashion, so don't stall very long. Now that we have the Shell Spreaders basics out of the way, on with the strategy to get around this area: From the ladder, you will have to go to the end of the platform, then fall down to the next platform. After this, be sure to catch your breath, and kill the next Shell Spreader that comes out. After this, you will want to immediately run to the left and fall to the next platform, and dart down the ladder. Ground spikes and Shell Spreaders, oh my! Yes, this will be the last room with never-ending Shell Spreaders, so don't worry if you think that there will be another three floors of them. ;-) From the ladder, go to the end and fall off the ledge, and onto the next one VERY CAREFULLY. If you land in those spikes, you will die instantly. Be sure to take out one of those pesky little Shell Spreaders to clear the way for your graceful exit. Now proceed to rush to the ladder and climb down. Ahh... Another... WHAT THE HECK IS THAT??? Oh, it's a Red Brain Hopper. These things are pretty annoying, and take 15-20 hits with the Mega Buster to defeat, so go ahead and zoom past it once it does a "tall jump" straight in the air. Once you get under it, keep running and never come back! What's this? Whew, it's the Boss Gates. Go ahead and jump into them, because let's face it, jumping into the gates is a lot more fun than walking into them. In the long Boss Gates hall, you will notice a set of three Shooting Traps. These things are located on both the ceiling, and the ground. Three hits will kill them, easily. Stand your distance from the one on the ceiling, as they are trickier to hit. Be sure, however, to keep your eyes open for when they shoot at you, because they shoot in several different directions. Shoot and kill all three (Floor, Ceiling, Floor). After this, go through the second Boss Gate... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: CUTMAN < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* When you walk into the boss "arena," of sorts, CutMan will pop out of nowhere, and his energy bar will speed up to the time in no time. Oh well, it will be down in the gutter again in a second. CutMan has a certain pattern that he enjoys, and chooses, to use. This pattern is very choice for action-packed gamers, but for those that enjoy sniping your enemy from afar, you might have a little trouble with the cat-and-mouse games that CutMan likes to perform. Not only will this take down quite a bit of energy on your part, but you have to sense when to get out of the way, as well. Remember that the easiest way to kill CutMan relies not in your Mega Buster, but in your Super Arm that you got from GutsMan in the last stage. If, for some reason, you did not defeat GutsMan first, skip to the next paragraph. If you have, however, then I have a great strategy to use. See those two platform blocks that you're standing on in the beginning? Fall off of those, equip the Super Arm, and then pick them out individually. After this, carefully throw them at CutMan. These two blocks will do MAJOR damage against the poor fool. If you do not have the Super Arm from GutsMan, no fear, Zoop is here! CutMan loves getting really close to you, however, you can restrain this patterned ability of his by simply slapping him with your Mega Buster bullets. This will knock him back for a while, and get him off-balanced enough to hit him again. If he begins jumping during this string of Mega Buster attacks, just get atop the platform boulders, and knock him out of the sky. Also, he jumps in rapid succession, so watch out for where he will land, so he doesn't fall of you and smush your head. CutMan has a basic attack that he enjoys using on the Blue Bomber: The Rolling Cutters. This will also be the weapon you collect after the battle with CutMan. The Rolling Cutters attack works a lot like a boomerang, so dodge the attack by shooting him as he releases it, shooting him again as it goes over your head, then putting another bullet in him after you jump over the Rolling Cutter as it comes back to him. Repeat this process while he does this... If he's jumping, take him out like I stated in the above paragraph. After you destroy CutMan and watch him succumb, and turns into a bajillion pieces of robot debris and dust, collect the ability that drops from the ceiling (I wonder if it's the lighting guy that drops those by mistake after the enemy robot explosion?), the Rolling Cutters. Now, you can travel to the hardest stage, and possibly boss, in the game: ElecMan. CC. _______ =/\/\==================|ELEC |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| MAN|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Hard Boss Difficulty: Hard *NOTE* There's a hidden gadget in this stage called the Magnet Beam. You must have the Super Arm, which you get from defeating GutsMan, to collect this gadget. Once you beat this stage, you can NOT go back to collect this gadget. So make sure you have defeated GutsMan before coming to this level! Ahhh.... Good ol' ElecMan's stage. When you enter this stage, you will notice that there are a lot of platforms, and this, as well as the Spiked Swayers which are on them, pretty much describes the stage itself, and the trouble you get in to along the way: Frustrating. In this stage, you will encounter tons of enemies which are made of elecricity, and enemies that will knock you off of platforms, as well. Beware! This stage is known as highly annoying amongst all Mega Man gamers, with very few exceptions. As you enter ElecMan's stage, you will see a series of four platforms that you can reach by jumping from one to the next. On three of these four platforms (the lower three), there will be a set of three Spiked Swayers. These things are pretty damn nasty, as they will attack you with every time you jump on their platform/ledge. In fact, they go from moderate speed to full speed when you jump on their platform/ledge, leaving you with VERY little time to get around. Don't worry, however, as you can shoot the Spiked Swayers and paralyze them for exactly three (3) seconds straight. This still does not leave you with much time to get from platform to platform, but it will definitely help, nonetheless. After you paralyze the first, jump to its platform. Turn right and jump shoot the second, when it goes towards the back of the room, towards the ladder. Jump to its platform. Turn left and hit the third and final one with the Mega Buster once it's towards the back, then jump to its platform. Now you can safely jump to the next platform, as there are no Spiked Swayers here, and safely climb the ladder. Once atop the nice little ladder, turn to your left and you will notice two platforms with Spiked Swayers that go back and forth, looking for their parents. Aww, poor things... So shoot them. HA! Actually, you must get on the left-hand side of the first platform, and jump shoot the first once when it goes to the right side. Quickly jump to the platform it's on, and remember that you only have three seconds to shoot the other Spiked Swayer. So do so, but make sure that it's on the left side, so you can jump on the very ledge. After this, jump to the high platform and climb the ladder. Now that we're up here, you have two choices: You can go over to the right and climb down the ladder to reach a large Energy Refill. Keep in mind that if you climb down the ladder, you will fall to reach the large Energy Refill. If you do this, and while it is wise to do if you are pretty low on energy, keep in mind that you will have to re-do the last part with the two platforms and Spiked Swayers. Regardless if you get the large energy refill or not, you will want to get to the top and climb that ladder, so let's see how to get up there. You will encounter two platforms that have Electricity coming out of the right sides of them. This is a new "enemy" that you will find throughout the stage that you cannot kill. You must simply avoid it, which we will do. Go to the left side of the first platform, much like the last screen with the Spiked Swayers, and jump right after the Electricity stops. Not only will this save your energy and decrease your risk of getting hit, but this will help you work in your own time frame, as going to the right is very dangerous. Now quickly jump to the next platform, and jump up to the ladder and climb up. Take note that you will not die if you're hit by the Electricity, but you will get badly damaged, and the first Electricity pod goes off one second before the second. If you're swift enough, you won't get hit. The next area consists of a big ladder. Yes, just a huge ladder. Well, that and the new robot enemies that you shall encounter. The easiest way to sum up the Satellite Defender enemies is to copy and paste this part from my Enemies Section of the FAQ. Remember to check out these sections, as they're pretty helpful! "The Satellite Defenders pop up every now and then, simply to make me mad. GRRR!!! Anyways... These things are easily defeated in one hit, however, the problem is them getting to you before you get to them. No, this cannot be a lot of fun. If you're on a ladder, you have a lot of trouble, considering they attack in sixes. Three from the top, three from the bottom. They will open their mechanizisms to charge their shot, so lean to the side they will shoot from and start shooting like crazy, that way you hit them before they hit you. On the ground, however, you can easily kill them and jump over their fire." Thanks Me! After defeating them, climb the ladder to reveal... ANOTHER LADDER! Actually, it's the same exact ladder that you just climbed up, but nonetheless, it still lasts throughout this entire screen, so take caution that more Satellite Defenders will attack in a set of six: three on top, three on bottom. Just keep climbing the ladder towards the top, and when they come out, stop, and pull to the direction they are in and unleash a ton of bullets. Ignore the lower ones and dart up that lovely, gigantic ladder. After finally climbing that huge ladder, you will be faced with something that has become a redundant trend in the Mega Man series that we all hated at the time, but loved in the long run: The Magical Disappearing Blocks Of Doom! (tm). The magical blocks (of doom) will appear out of nowhere, some including above your head (thus, you must jump at the right moment to get on top of them), and then around two (2) seconds later, the block will disappear. This will continue forever, so if you miss it, don't fret too much. If you're wondering, here's the pattern for both of the sides that you can reach: The appearing/disappearing blocks move in a very odd manner that the Mega Man series created, thus, if you've never played a Mega Man game, get ready to expand your platforming knowledge. The first block will appear directly above the platform that you reach by climbing the ladder. The second block is directly to the left of the first block, just off of the main platform. The third is one block will be between the ladder on the far right, and the very last block (fourth) is one block over and two blocks above the second block. This may sound confusing, but read it as you watch the pattern. You're bound to understand what I'm getting at. To reach the left side, which will lead to several small Energy Refills and small Weapon Refills, you will jump to block one, to block two, and finally to block four. Jump at the right time to reach the fourth block, as the second will disappear as the fourth appears. Keep this in mind, as you definitely do not want to fall here, since you will take a deep dive down that long ladder again. Ugh. Climb the ladder and get the goodies. To reach the right side, which leads to your exit of the area, simply jump up to block one, then to block four. Keep in mind the exact same thing that I stated in the above paragraph about jumping. While your risk of falling is highly decreased from the path on the left, it still remains there, just silently. After this, climb the ladder. In this next area, you will encounter, yet again, those darn Magical Disappearing Blocks Of Doom! (tm). Don't worry much, though, as this set of four blocks will be quite easy to get around compared to the other set. In fact, the best thing of all is that they will appear in a straight line, one after another. Once one of them appears, walk to it, and walk to the next after it appears. There will be four, so jump to the ladder and climb up on the fourth block. Once up, go up the other ladder to reach the "Continue Point." Now that you're at the "Continue Point," you have the safe feeling that if you die, you will start back here. The bad part, you ask? The upcoming areas are a lot harder than the ones we just past. In this area, you will encounter several obscure blocks (solid ones that will not disappear), so be careful with your jumping. There's also a large Energy Refill that awaits you. If you decide to get it, hug the left so you will land inside of the hole in the platform. Carefully jump to the obscure platform block to get out. Climb the ladder, and you will reach your first "two choices" area of quite a few. Once you've climbed the ladder, you're in your first "Double Vision" room in the game. This is very simple for you, and very complicated for me, as I have to describe both routes. =P Nonetheless, once you reach this area, you have two choices to go: To the Left, which is an opened area, or to the Right, which is a closed area. Before you make your decision, a set of six (6) Satellite Defenders will attack. Don't even bother getting on a ladder; Just take out the bottom three first, then await the arrival of the three from above. Now, those two choices will become more eventful; now you have to decide what kind of route you wish to take for the next few rooms, as there's no way to get to the other side unless noted in this Walkthrough. If you decide to go Left (Open Area), you will encounter a LOT of Spiked Swayers, and you will take a lot of damage, more than like, anyway. My choice, which you don't have to take, would be to the Right (Closed Area). It consists mostly of ladders and Electric Bolt Outlets, much like you encountered way down there. It's your choice. So choose. I will list the Left path in a full paragraph, then the Right path in a full paragraph, so skip the paragraph you are not taking. ON THE LEFT: Once you climb the ladder to the left, you will notice that their are three Spiked Swayers. The main problem that most people have with this is the fact that the platforms that the three Spiked Swayers are on are extremely tiny. This means you will have to jump very carefully to the very ledge of each platform without getting hit by the Spiked Swayers. Jump to the mini platform top the right, then face left. Jump up and shoot the first Spiked Swayer, and jump on the platform that it's on. Face to the right and jump shoot the Spiked Swayer to stall it, then get on it's platform. Face to the left and jump straight up to the ladder and start climbing to exit this area. ON THE RIGHT: This path is fairly easy to remember, as long as you have a brain, anyway. This is a series of ladders and Electrical Bolt Outlets amongst those ladders. All you need to do is, from the start point, go to the right and climb up the ladder here. There's an Electricity Outlet atop of here, so wait until it has stopped. Keep in mind that the Electricity Outlet will shoot all the way across the platform. Right after it has, dart up the ladder and jump to the left and press up to hang onto the next ladder. Stroll up the ladder and quickly jump up to the next ladder to avoid the Electricity Outlet, as well as save some time, to boot! ON THE LEFT (2): In the next area, you will find that there are several platforms available. As soon as you arrival up top, jump to the sub- platform to the right, then quickly jump up to the platform on the left. Stop for a second and await the arrival of six Satellite Defenders. You should take out all six instead of just the three up top. Be sure to be swift whilst doing this, or you could get hit at least once or twice. After this, collect the goods, then jump to the platform and to the ladder, then climb up. ON THE RIGHT (2): Once the screen bounces up, you will be relaxed to see that the area in clear from those darn Electrical Bolt Outlets this time. In fact, the path is pretty clear, and smoothed out for you: Just climb up the ladder that you are on, and then simply jump straight in the air and hold up to grab onto the second ladder. By now, however, there are six Satellite Defenders that just so happened to have come out of nowhere. Destroy the top three of the set, and then you can simply climb up with no problems. Ahhh... The paths are back together at last, just like Mommy and Daddy! But not for long, as you can see that there are two different ladders above: On the Right, and on the Left. Once again, the paths consist of the same thing: The Left is purely those annoying Spiked Swayers, with a spice of Electrical Bolt Outlets. The Right, however, is a closed area with more of those lovely Electrical Bolt Outlets, which are simple to avoid. Take note, however, that you MUST have GutsMan's Super Arm, and you MUST have the Magnet Beam... Hey, speaking of the Magnet Beam... Y'see that item over there to the right of the screen, in the middle? That is the Magnet Beam. This device will come in MUCH handy at our next stage that we must take care of, so you will definitely want it. This puppy will spit out home-made platforms to use--OUT OF NOWHERE! So yes, you will never have to struggle over jumping from platform to platform with spikes or lava below! YAY! Just get out your Super Arm ability that you got from GutsMan, and pick up the three boulders and toss them aside. Now just go over and grab the Magnet Beam. You can equip it by selecting the "M" on the last slot of the Menu Screen. Now choose your path. ON THE LEFT (#3): When you climb up the ladder, you will notice the enemies that I noted earlier: Those darn Spiked Swayers are back again, and when you jump on their platforms, they will want to kick your ass like a shark on wounded prey. Oh well. The first, which is on the right sub-platform, can easily be avoided by simply ignoring it. So climb the ladder right up to the part where you climb up at, then lean right and shoot the second Spiked Swayer (otherwise, you will definitely get hit, unless you're even more swift with jumping than I am, and keep in mind that it CAN reach you while you're on top of the ladder if you're close to it's edge). Hurry and climb up while it's stunned, and jump up to the ladder and rush up the ladder. ON THE RIGHT (#3): If you take the right path, then you will play Shoots And Ladders... er... Bolts And Ladders. Fall off of the ladder, and to the right where the small, solid piece of ground is. From here, wait until the first Electricity Outlet goes off, then quickly jump to the next sub-platform, and to the ladder again. This will save time. Now climb up the ladder, whilst avoiding the second Elecricity Outlet, and proceed. ON THE LEFT (#4): Once you arrive up top, there are no more Spiked Swayers! Yay! However, there are two (2) Electrical Bolt Outlets that go off at completely different times. This isn't much of a bother, though, so just start up the ladder and time every move perfectly. Once you get past both Electricity Outlets, climb the ladder. ON THE RIGHT (#4): For once, the path on the Right is more complicated than the path on the Left. Actually, I'm kidding. heh. Anyways, this path is even simpler than the Left: Just go to the left after climbing up, and go up the ladder. Now stroll on over to the right and start climbing the ladder. There's only one (1) Electricity Outlet on this side, so time it and dart up that ladder, boy! ON THE LEFT (#5): We're back in a section that joins together again! Whee! But not so fast. The section to the Right is blocked off to those whom have taken that path, but as for you, you're a-okay on your Left portion. There's two Electricity Outlets here, one below the platform, and the second above the platform. Time it nicely and pass the first. You will notice a Red Squid that will hop towards you. Stay safe on the ladder until it jumps off, committing robotic suicide, and then wait until the second is done shocking the air. From here, jump straight up to the ladder and climb up. ON THE RIGHT (#5): For once, you have just as tough of a time as the Left side, and this time, I'm not joking. There are two Red Squids in this area; one of them will come after you as soon as you climb up for sure, while the other may wait where it's safe. Either way, rid the cyber world of both of them with one Mega Buster bullet each. After this, climb up the ladder and equip the Super Arm (GutsMan) and remove the block. After this, equip your newly acquired Magnet Beam and jump shoot. This will set up a platform. Hurry up and get on top of it, and then jump out of the hole before it expires. Now go climb that ladder! YAY! We're out of that dreadful "Double Vision" area for good now! Now, I hope you aren't spent from all of that climbing, as you have a replica of the ol' Continue Point way back there, minus the Large Energy Refill inside of the wall. Jump across the tiny, floating platforms and go up the ladder. We're almost to the end by now. Now that we're atop of the ladder, you will notice a strange resemblance of towards the very beginning. There are two (2) Electrical Bolt Outlets up here, and they are lined up with the first (from left to right) being above the second, much like the third room in ElecMan's stage. Go to the left of the lower platform and jump up once the top platform's Electricity dies down, then quickly jump on top of the high platform, and to the ladder. Climb up. In this area, you will notice a very, VERY nasty Red Brain Hopper. This one is very ill-placed, as it can damage you easily here. All you can do is hope that it will not hit you. Rule number one is to NEVER stay on the ladder here, as the Red Brain Hopper will suicide drop on your poor little blue body and crush you (a very possible kill at this point in the stage), so dart underneath it as it hops over you. If it gets too close for comfort, drop down to the lower level and arise again to "Refresh" the enemy's placement. Go through the Boss Gates now. Once inside of the Boss Gates, you will be prompted to climb a ladder. This is very annoying to reach, and with how hard the boss battle is, it isn't much fun, either. Jump up, then climb the ladder (how many times have I said that in this stage alone?). Once up in the second room, there are three Electricity Outlets that will go off as you climb the ladder. The top and bottom Outlets will go off at the same time, with the middle Outlet going off slightly before them. Gracefully climb up to reach the third and final room, which looks exactly like the second. So go along the same gameplay as the last. Now climb up and reach the boss, ElecMan... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: ELECMAN < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* When you arrive deep inside (or should I say "atop"?) of ElecMan's dungeon lair of doom (is it a dungeon, anyway?), ElecMan will be waiting for you. Obviously, he's never been to the doctor, since it seems as if he does, indeed, not like to wait. For making him wait, he will now attempt to blow you up. This is not good. Much like CutMan, ElecMan has the same sort of jumping pattern that they both seem to enjoy. In which being, he will hop, over and over again, getting closer to you as time progresses. So watch out, as he will definitely land on your head if you aren't paying much attention. You can avoid this from happening by simply shooting him with your Mega Buster, or those lovely Rolling Cutters that you got from CutMan. As I mentioned above, the Rolling Cutters work extremely well against this agile sucker. In fact, in only a mere three hits with the Rolling Cutters (which you get by defeating CutMan) will make ElecMan go "Big KABOOM!", and with as hard as this boss is, it's a pretty wise decision to kill CutMan and grab the Rolling Cutters for this battle alone. If you don't have the Rolling Cutters, then shame on you! I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Well, if you don't have THAT, then you SHOULD have the Super Arm, which you should have from killing off GutsMan. This won't work wonders against ElecMan, like the Rolling Cutters do, but it still works. Equip the Super Arm and then pick up the two boulder blocks up, and then destroy them against ElecMan's body! HAR HAR! This is also a good strategy to use if you don't have the Rolling Cutters, as it gives more room for a good ol' leveled battlefield. If you're working with a straight-up old school Mega Buster, then I pity you, because they did not make Energy Refill Tanks in this Mega Man game. Oh well. ElecMan will take down a LOT of energy from you, and it's wise to remember this. Don't let him hit you by jumping on you, and definitely do NOT let his attack, the Thunder Beam, hit you, either! The attacks ARE projectiles, and not pure straight lines of electricity. Keep this in mind, as you can jump up and over the electric bolts that he shoots out which go straight. If you get hit, it will not take out all of your energy, but it will do a decent amount of damage to Mega Man. Attack him with the Mega Buster in-between his Thunder Beam electricity attacks, and be sure to hit him every single chance you get when he comes jumping and hopping towards you. Be sure to NOT hop around him, as he will send you back down to the ground by running into you, and this will also take down a decent amount of damage. Remember that it takes a very agile player to beat ElecMan without the Rolling Cutters. After you defeat ElecMan, the Thunder Beam weapon will fall from the sky. Grab the weapon and you will gain the ability to use the very same weapon that the evil ElecMan used on you. Maybe this will help Mega Man mend his wounds? Here's the basics of how this weapon will work: This weapon attacks in three directs: Straight, up, and down. Kind of like this: | ~ M | ~ = Electricity Projectile | = Electricity Projectile M = Mega Man Now that we have figured this out, let's go to our next enemy: IceMan. DD. _______ =/\/\==================|ICE |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| MAN|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Medium Boss Difficulty: Medium Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! The fridget atmosphere of IceMan's stage is very freezing, indeed, but I guess it will work out okay, since your blood pressure will be up so high after reaching IceMan himself that the cold air will cool you down a bit. This stage is filled with VERY nasty Magical Disappearing Blocks Of Doom! (tm), so it will take a bit of patience to sit through this level. You could always skip to BombMan's stage, if you need more time, as you can defeat him easily with just the Mega Buster, but I suggest knocking out IceMan without complaining too much. When the stage starts off, you will notice that you're in the very first "slick-grounded" Mega Man Stage (ala Flash Man's stage in Mega Man 2). This means that when you walk, you will slide quite a bit from all of the ice. They don't call him IceMan for nothing, I guess. As you slide to the right of the screen, you will notice a Robo-Swooper enemy. You can take out the Robo-Swoopers by shooting them in the head once, or you could also shoot them three times in the lowerbody area. Take note that if you do this, the upperbody will detach from the exploding lowerbody, and swoop down to get you (ala Green Chatters). Shoot it once to kill it completely. If you couldn't guess, it's wise to kill the thing from the head to begin with. If you would like more information on these enemies, check the Enemies Section on my FAQ/Walkthrough! Keep in mind that awesome sections are in this guide, NOT just the Walkthrough itself. As you go along, you will notice that there are three more Robo-Swoopers amongst the sub-platforms that you must climb to reach the next area. You know what to do; give them ice cream. er... Kill them, actually... I read the wrong thing. Sorry. After completing this task, you will come to a lake-like area which you must jump into. So do so. You will notice that once you are in the water, your gravity seems a bit higher than on land, but definitely not by much at all. If you've ever played Mega Man 2, you will notice a huge difference, as you go a lot lower in height when you jump in this game (in fact, just barely higher than normally). Use this to your advantage when leaping over areas that have Spiked Swayers in the bottom of them, and you will encounter quite a few of those, mind you. Quite a few, of course, meaning three of the Spiked Swayers in the "pits," of sorts, and yet another one that rests on a sub-platform leading out of the water. But before we reach it, we must reach it. Or something. On the way to the fourth Spiked Swayer, you will encounter another new set of enemies: The Penguin Bombers (boy, I love making new friends). This type of enemy will sway up and down on the screen, and fly towards Mega Man. One hit with the Mega Buster will knock them out cold, so as you go through this area, fire three Mega Buster bullets in a row whilst jumping. This will send three bullets in three different directions, hopefully taking out the Penguin Bombers as they appear. They aren't much of a threat, though, so don't worry. Once you reach that fourth Spiked Swayer on the sub-platform leading up and out of the lake-like area, you will have to freeze it, so slightly jump shoot the Spiked Swayer to stun it, then jump to the sub-platform, then jump over it, and finally jump to the next platform. In a much less complicated sentence that I could use: "Just shoot the thing and get out." Once you arrive atop of the lake-like area, you can carry on with your mission of destroying IceMan and taking his Ice Slasher. You will reach an area, in which below you will see two Clinger Robots going up and down. Drop down into the first hole you see, and turn left. Use your Mega Buster and destroy the one on the left, and avoid the one on the right, if you wish. You can kill it, if you desire. Grab the Large Energy Refill, then go right and fall off of the platform and into the hole to reach the Continue Point, and the first of two annoying disappearing blocks screens. Ugh. When you fall in the pit, you will appear is a small area filled with water up to your waist. Seemingly, there's no way to escape from here, and there is also a Spiked Swayer on the ground to keep you hopping around like a cowboy getting shot at the feet. Ouch. However, you will soon notice that you are in an area with the Magical Disappearing Blocks Of Doom! (tm), and you must climb to get out. What a bummer. The pattern of these blocks can be extremely tricky with the way that they appear, because you will have to make VERY long jumps to each platform. There is one short-cut that you can use to get up a couple of blocks faster, but we will just use the simple pattern that was meant to be used. I will explain this, so in words, it may sound very complicated, but in actual vision of the room itself whilst reading the strategy and locations, you should be able to figure it out. 1st Block: On the left hand side of the middle of the room 2nd Block: On the far left, slightly above the first block 3rd Block: The opposite side of the first block 4th Block: The opposite side of the second block 5th Block: High above the first block 6th Block: Towards the middle of the room, but leaning to the right 7th Block: Much like the sixth block, but to the left and higher above Cross them in that order, and you should be fine, but please remember that you may drop a few times while trying to get the hang of how and when to jump. That fourth block can really cause some headaches, so don't worry if you can't do it at first. An additional strategy can be done, you dirty cheater, you! If you simply cannot make the jumps all the way to the top, you can make a few jumps and then get out that newly acquired gadget, the Magnet Beam, and use it against the left side of the wall to create a long platform, and from here you could either reach the upper blocks, or you could just hop straight out, given that it is high enough in the air, anyway. Once you have dropped below into the next area, you will encounter yet ANOTHER set of blocks... If you think it's hard understanding this, you should try writing about it. ;-) This second set of blocks is a lot more confusing than the first set, and is hands down the hardest set of magical blocks in the game. Don't be intimidated, however, as once you learn the pattern, you can swiftly make it to the ledge safely on your first try! Good luck, though. =P Jump into the water from the dry ledge you landed on, and you will notice a Spiked Swayer. Take note that sometimes, if you move to a perfect part of the screen, a glitch will occure, and the Spiked Swayer will disappear. I don't really suggest trying to do this, though, as it will take up a lot of time (in fact, as much time as it will take to get up to the safe ledge), so it's your choice. If not, then here's how we do this... First of all, I'm not even going to go by numbers, as certain blocks appear at the same time, thus, complicating me explaining this on paper even harder than before. So, what I'm going to do is just give you the 411 straight up. Got it? Good. Okay, after jumping into the water, dodge that pesky Spiked Swayer. Wait until the blocks get very close to the water. There should be two of them that do this. Jump onto the second one that comes close to the water. After jumping on this one, which I will refer to as the first block, a second appears to the direct left and slightly above you. Jump to it. The next block will appear around three blocks to your left, so just jump to it. After this, you will have to ignore the next block that appears, and jump slightly to your right (and above) right before the block you're on disappears. Jump straight in the air to reach the next block directly above you, and now jump around one and a half blocks to your right to reach the final block. Now quickly jump to the safe ledge! You did it! Hoo-haa! In the next area, there will be four Pellet Lifts. These things can be nasty, and you cannot kill them. Not like you should in the first place, anyway. You will need these "enemies" as lifts to take you to the next area. They will shoot from both directions (left-right), so dodge their shots by jumping over them. Be sure not to fall off of the lifts themselves when dodging the others' fire. As I said, there are four, so jump on their "heads" and take a stroll to the next lift. Keep in mind that these lifts move completely randomly, so this is one part of the game that I cannot guide you through, step-by-step. The best time to jump is when your lift is going to the right, and the one you must jump to is going towards you (to the left). Watch out for the lift you're getting on or got off's fire, as it may knock you to your doom. After completing the crossing of the four Pellet Lifts, there's a "half- way point" which features a large Weapon Refill upon it. You're halfway done with the first set of lifts, and there's another four to go. The first Pellet Lift should be a piece of cake to jump on, and once you do, the second should be right around the corner, but don't quote me on that one. While you're in mid-air, you will notice that there are Penguin Bombers on the rise! Red alert! Red alert! Code Red in effect! Or something! Don't let them rain on your parade, just use the three Mega Buster bullet trick that I told you earlier to deal with them. Now you can to dodge the Penguin Bombers, AND the Pellet Lifts bullets! *sigh* It never ends, does it? Once you've crossed the grand total of eight (8) Pellet Lifts, you will realize that you have a little bit longer to go until the Boss Gates. Drats! Go to the right, and you will notice a long tunnel in the wall below which has an Extra Life in it, so fall in the hole and hang left. If you reach it, great! If not, keep on hanging to the left and you will definitely reach a set of three small Energy Refill tanks and three small Weapon Refill tanks on the screen below. After collecting the goods, go to the right and fall, then go to the left and drop down. In this next area here, you will notice a big, bad Blue Brain Hopper! GASP! By now, you should know that whenever one of these things is close, the Boss Gates should be directly up ahead. So you can either take this meanie out, or you can slide underneath it, or you could just let itr hit you until you die, but why on earth would you want to do THAT? Go into the Boss Gates once you have decided what to do with the Blue Brain Hopper. Once in the drastic Boss Gates, you will be prompted to deal with an unlimited supply of Penguin Bombers! Oh no! Don't worry, though, you can take them out like a raging mobster in a movie about the Bronx by just sliding forward as fast as possible and shooting the living hell out of those Penguin Bombers! Simply shoot your Mega Buster, over and over again. Go through the second set of Boss Gates to reach the freezingly frozen IceMan! Mwa ha ha! *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: ICEMAN < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* *shivers* It's cold in here! Gee, I wonder why? It's probably because that ragin' Eskimo IceMan lives here! Which brings us to this conclusion: Is he an Eskimo, or a Robot? My mother is an Eskimo (true story), and she doesn't really look like IceMan... Then again, if my mom looked like IceMan, I'd be kind of scared. Anyways, IceMan will pop out of nowhere and will want to duel. This battle isn't too simple with the Mega Buster, but if you can jump well enough, then you're good to go! Yay! IceMan has a very dull pattern that is kind of complex to dodge, but very easy to avoid. Does that make sense? Basically, what I'm trying to say is that while his pattern is easy to look out for, it is NOT easy to avoid his attacks. In fact, he does not even have that wide of a variety in attacking. It all pans out from one very simple method that he uses, The Ice Slasher. Here is a text version of the Ice Slasher that IceMan will use against you at will, over and over again. < 3 < 2 < 1 ---------------------- < 4 < 5 < 6 ---------------------- In case you're wondering what this chart represents, I will explain: The arrows pointing left are the Ice Slasher waves that he will throw at you when he jumps. You will want to jump over the first (1) and fall down in between the first (1) and second (2). Keep on shooting IceMan with the Mega Buster while doing this, but keep in mind that the preferred weapon is the Thunder Beam that we got from ElecMan. The "---" rows represent the ground, and where Mega Man stands. As for the numbers, as you couldn't already tell, this is the number in which he fires them in. A good understanding of this is to keep in mind that when IceMan jumps, he will not jump like a normal Mega Man boss enemy. Instead, he will do a slowmotion jump (Mega Man will remain in fast motion) and shoot these Ice Slashers slowly (however, they will race to you very quickly). He will remain in mid-air for a second or two, then slowly make his way back down to the ground. The second row, fourth (4), fifth (5), and sixth (6), represent his "coming down" attack. On the second row, as I stated above, you will notice that his line of fire is in the opposite of the first row, in up-to-down fashion. To avoid this line without getting hit, simply wait for both the fourth (4) and fifth (5), then jump up and over the sixth (6) Ice Slasher projectile. Keep in mind that while you do all of this, you will definitely have to keep shooting. Also remember that if you get hit a couple of times not to get discouraged. Slight jumping in between the first (1) and second (2) will be your main problem during this battle. If you just simply get sick of using that damn Mega Buster over and over again, then have no fear, you (should) have a secondary option by now for defeating IceMan. Go to the Start Menu and select "E," for ElecMan. This will equip the Thunder Beam. You can follow the strategy as I stated before, but according to Colin Moriarty's Damage Chart (located in his GREAT FAQ, and in this FAQ), it will only take a mere three hits to blow up IceMan. If that is not simple, then I don't know WHAT is! After defeating IceMan, he will SHATTER! AHHH HA HA HA! ...Okay, it wasn't funny. I'm sorry... Okay. Sorry. I only tried to be funny... Ahem... Grab the icon that drops from the sky to obtain IceMan's lovely weapon, the Ice Slasher. Sadly, this will NOT go in all three directions, and only in one, but it's okay, lil' buddy. Now let us go snuff out FireMan's Olympic Torch with that Ice Slasher! EE. _______ =/\/\==================|FIRE |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| MAN|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Medium Boss Difficulty: Hard OOH! OOH! HOT! HOT! From the freezing settings of IceMan's blizzardy (is that a word?) stage, now to the hell blazing inferno that is known as FireMan's stage. Almost every enemy you encounter in this level will be made of fire! That means that you can whip out your newly acquired Ice Slasher thatcha got from IceMan and let loose on'em... But make sure you have enough for seven rounds that you can launch into FireMan's booty. When the level starts off, you're placed on the lower floor of three, and right smack dab in the middle of the second and third floors on the left are one Shooting Trap per floor. It will take three hits to destroy each one of them, and also a very agile Mega Man to avoid their shots. Pretty much run straight in and start firing at them, as you fire in three shots, it should take them out with one set of Mega Buster bullets. After killing the first, go to the far left and climb the ladder. After climbing the second ladder, you're on the "top floor" of this area. Rush straight in and fire a set of Mega Buster rounds to quickly eliminate the threat of the Shooting Trap up here. After this, continue to your right and you will find another Shooting Trap, so use three bullets of your Mega Buster to kill it, and then right after this you will spot yet ANOTHER Shooting Trap on this floor. You know what to do by now. Eventually, you will reach a ladder. Make haste by starting to climb down it, then hit the Jump button to fall off of the ladder. Now head left and fire a set of rounds to take out the Shooting Trap here. Make haste with the next ladder by jumping off of it once you get on. Run towards the right. In this next area, you will notice a new kind of enemy that originated the annoyances in Mega Man games that come out from black pits and try to knock you out of mid-air so you will fall to your doom. These things are extremely annoying, in case you couldn't guess already. They are called Hot Heads (the term was coined by me, hehe!), and they shoot out from nowhere in packs of threes (3) and eventually fall at a moderate pace back into the battlefield to knock you out of mid-air once again. One shot does each of them in, but the hard part isn't killing them, it's them to begin with. So watch your step once you reach the ledge and await for them to fall from the sky, then take them out, you killer hitman, you. Once you've jumped across the first evil ledge that the Hot Heads attacked from, you're on the first ledge in which you spot a Fire Wall enemy. This thing cannot be killed, so don't even bother... How can you kill fire that doesn't have a face, anyway, silly? However, I do have a helpful tip to share with you: Bring up the Weapons Menu and select "I" for IceMan. Unpause the game and you will have equipped the Ice Slasher. Now wait for the Fire Wall to rise, then blast it with the Ice Slasher when it's about half-way to the limit of its length. This will freeze the Fire Wall, making it an Ice Step for the moment. Hop up onto it, and jump up and to the left to reach a large Energy Refill tank. Oh joy! Now carefully jump down to the Ice Step and jump over to the platform, now climb the first ladder. Head right and up the second ladder. Still running low on health? Well, you're in luck, my friend! There are two (2) small Energy Refill tanks that are hiding behind two (2) Fire Walls. Ouch. Touch the flame, and you get burnt. There are two ways to go about this: The first, which is the "Let's Not Use The Ice Slasher This Time" route, in which you climb the ladders and jump over the farthest left Fire Wall, then watch for when the Fire Walls go down and hop back down. The second way to reach those lovely looking small Energy Refill tanks amidst the Fire Walls is to freeze them into Ice Steps, and simply climb. To freeze them both at the same time, climb the first ladder, face to the left, and equip the Ice Slasher and shoot. This isn't good for when you have to use them as Ice Steps, but it will secure you that you will not get hit when jumping to the first tank. Please remember to be careful in this area, as you don't want to lose more energy than you gain. Regardless if you get these or not, climb the ladders when you're finished to reach the next area. Now, this is something that you will definitely need. In this new area, you will be happy to see two (2) large Weapon Refills above you on a tall platform. Yay! Now you can recharge your Ice Slasher! Only one problem, though: Two (2) Fire Walls are protecting them. So equip that trustworthy Ice Slasher and give them a little justice right as the first one reaches almost to its highest level. It's easier to do this on its way down. Now jump to it and jump over to the tall platform and collect those Weapon Refill tanks. Now that you're on top of such a high ledge... Wait... You say you're stuck below and you can't get to the tall ledge? eh, worse things have happened. Just jump over the first Fire Wall and get hit by the second, and walk through the skinny hall on the bottom of the two selected paths. Regardless of which way you take, you will come out with the same result, just a little bit different, such as you will not collect those trendy large Weapon Refills. Either way you come out, you will have to go across at least one of the Fire Electricity Outlets. Yes, you heard me correctly, Fire Electricity. They are a LOT like the regular Electricity Outlets that we have come across in ElecMan's stage, with the slight exception that they spit fire from the base of the Outlet itself, which CAN hit you when it isn't even going off. These things are just plain nasty, I tell you. If you are on the upper ledge, you will only have to cross over one of the two in this direct area. Wait for the Fire Electricity to die down, and then hop onto the ledge towards the right, that way you don't get burnt by the outlet itself. After this, hop over to the solid ledge to the right. If you're on the bottom path, things will get complicated. Honestly, you have to be extremely skilled to get through this path without taking damage. Hop from your platform to the platform in the center of the lower Fire Electricity Outlet. Try your best not to get burnt from this outlet. Before the Fire Electricity starts back up, jump up to the next platform, and get across to the solid platform on the right before the Fire Electricity starts up. Ouch! Hot, hot! In the next area, and after jumping a sub-platform, we're faced with yet another problem that we have just passed: Fire Electricity Outlet. Yes, it's another one of these things. Pass it easily by doing a couple of hops from your platform to the tiny platform to the big platform. That's a lot of platforms. After all of this, you have to look forward to yet another lovely sight: More Fire Walls. Ugh. There are two Fire Walls that you must confront, so bust out that trusty Ice Slasher from IceMan. Shoot the two Fire Walls as the second one begins to rise; this will blast both of them at such a moment that you can cross them easily. At the very end of this area, you will spot a grand total of three (3) small Energy Refill tanks that are inside of the platform that you are currently standing on, and to the left. These things will definitely come in handy after going through those three (3) Fire Electricity Outlets a while ago back there. After collecting those three valuable small Energy Refill tanks, go to the right and jump over to the ladder. Now, climb down. In this next area, you will want to fall down, but hug to the left, that way you will fall into a hole in the structure of the platform. Directly below the ladder is a Fire Wall outlet, and to the left of it is yet another Fire Wall outlet. There is a space between the two of them which is perfectly safe, so fall down and hug left tightly yet again to reach that space. By now, a set of three (3) Hot Heads will arise from the lava ashes. After they are on the air, cross over that second Fire Wall (just as it lowers), and then jump over the black pit of doom so you don't die, and climb down the ladder on the left. As you fall from the ladder, be sure to hug VERY SLIGHTLY to the right, that way you will land on the tiny platform with a Fire Wall. Talk about dangerous. So grab that Ice Slasher out of your fanny-pack and use it on the Fire Wall. Please take note that a set of three (3) Hot Heads has risen from the magma, so do not get caught off-guard from these little devils. Keep in mind that when you freeze that first lovely Fire Wall by jump shooting, it will carry on and affect the second Fire Wall, as well. This can be a bad thing just as much as it can be a good thing, since this will force you to rush to the other Fire Wall extremely fast. You can do it either way, but I prefer shooting them one at a time (shoot the first, then the second whilst on top of the newly formed Ice Step). As I stated before, watch out for that trio of Hot Heads that should be landing by now. You don't want to waste a life on that by falling into the molten lava, now do yee? From the second Ice Step, jump on over to the right on the tiny platform that is connected to the larger, thinner platform above it. Jump up the ladder (as I have stated before, jumping up the ladders saves a lot more time than climbing up them), to go to the far right of the thin platform. You will spot another platform like this one. So jump over to the lower platform, which is a bit of a long jump, and then jump up the ladder and onto the longer, thinner platform above it (much like last time). When you're on this platform, more Hot Heads will appear to your left. They are none too happy that you have made it this far, so they feel as if shooting into the air and making a lame attempt at striking you on the way down will make up for you getting this far. Little do they know, as you have a Mega Buster and an itchy trigger finger. Trail on over to the right of this platform and notice the Fire Walls that reside on the next few platforms. From the second long, thin platform, jump over to the right and onto the platform with the Fire Wall outlet. Remember to hug that left side, since you don't want to become toasty... Well, at least I don't THINK you want to become toasty. Your choice, I suppose. Regardless, get out that Ice Slasher and freeze that baby so bad that it will become an Ice Step. After doing this, hop atop (hehe, that rhymed) of it and blast the next step with the Ice Slasher. Carry on by hopping across the Ice Steps and platforms until you reach solid ground. More Hot Heads appear, but just ignore them and climb the ladder. This next area is tricky. VERY tricky. Once you climb up the ladder, you will notice a very interesting sight: An unlimited supply of flames that pour through tubes and drip into the next pipe below, over and over again. I call this a Flame Sewer. Why, you ask? Because flames run through the place, like crap in a sewer. You happy now? This place is very dangerous, as you cannot freeze the flames, nor can you shoot them. Go to the left and climb up the ladder. You now have two options in which you can take... The first, which is the easiest yet the most dangerous, would be to head to the right, get hit by the first set of flames from the Flame Sewer, then head up the ladder and go left, whilst getting hit by a second Flame Sewer drainage, and then go up the ladder to exit. Or, if you have the Magnet Beam, you can do option two, which is more complicated, yet less dangerous, as you will not get hit even once. Get out the Magnet Beam and set up a platform against the far left wall, then jump up to it, and then jump to your right to reach the highest platform. From here, climb up the ladder. Easier, isn't it? As soon as you reach the next area, climb up the ladder quickly. There will be an unlimited supply of the very nasty, very annoying blue Exploding Bullets. One bullet will do these things in, but keep in mind that they sway up and down on the screen, thus making it both harder to hit them, and harder to avoid them. Use the old technique I taught you about shooting three (3) straight times with the Mega Buster while going about as planned to take care of them easily. Keep on moving by jumping up several sub-platforms to reach a higher ground. The blue Exploding Bullets should stop, or at the very least slow down (unless there is a glitch in the game, which is very possible in early NES games such as this one right here). As you walk along to your right, you will notice a very breathtaking sight... OH MY GOD, IT'S A SPIKED SWAYER!!! Yes, those hellish things from ElecMan's nightmare... I mean, stage, are back, and there is quite a few of them to annoy you this time. The first Spiked Swayer appears up on the highest floor. As you approach it, it will zoom towards you. What you should do is, as soon as it gets very close, jump straight over it and carry on. When you see the first ladder, quickly get on it, then press the Jump button to fall down. This will get you away from the Spiked Swayer a lot faster than climbing down. Don't celebrate just yet, however... Yes, there's another Spiked Swayer up in this area, and he is none too happy (assuming that the Spiked Swayer is a "he") with your arrival. There is a possibility that the Spiked Swayer will disappear due to a glitch, and you better hope that it does, because it is very hard to avoid this Spiked Swayer. A very light tap jump may get you over it without hurting yourself too much. Regardless of what you do, when you go towards the left more, those blue Exploding Bullets will return. Turn around and shoot at them before they reach you, then get on the ladder and press the jump button to fall down. On the final stretch of land with a Spiked Swayer, you can lightly tap- jump over the Spiked Swayer as it comes towards you. Keep running to the right of the screen, and if the Spiked Swayer catches up to you from behind, simply keep jumping. This will slow it down, as it only detects when Mega Man's feet are on the ground. Keep firing at the blue Exploding Bullets, which are yet again on the loose. When you come to the tall ladder, jump up to it, that way you can lose the Spiked Swayer that was behind you. Climb the ladder that you are on and equip the Ice Slasher. Collect the large Weapons Refill tank, that way it will fill up your lovely Ice Slasher, compliments of IceMan. From the top of the ladder, wait for the trio (3) Hot Heads to zoom into the air from the slight right, and jump to the platform below. Cross another platform to find that another set of three (3) Hot Heads appear in the crack between this platform, and the solid one to the right. Wait for them to pass (kinda like driving school, ain't it?), then go on the green light. After you cross all of the platforms which are magically floating over the sea of inferno, you must head straight to the right a little bit to find two (2) Fire Walls that are guarding the Boss Gates. Yes! Finally! The Boss Gates! If you have quite a bit of energy left, I suggest just running through the flames presented by the Fire Walls and into the Boss Gates, but only if your energy is close to full, as FireMan will take quite a bit of life down on your energy meter. Go into the Boss Gates. Now that we are inside the Boss Gates, you can relax and know that you are only seconds away from going up against the Olympic Torch himself, FireMan. However, on the ceilings on this hall, there are four (4) Shooting Traps that will shoot in every direction three (3) times. If you are looking for an easy way to kill them without getting much heat from them, as well, then look no further. Actually, the trick is to jump shoot before you even reach them twice, that way when you do reach them, it will have two hits already gone. Three shots will do these guys in. Now, cross into the Boss Gates to face FireMan. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: FIREMAN < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* When you arrive in FireMan's secret lair of doom, he doesn't seem very happy to have the Olympic Torch atop of his head. So I guess we'll have to extinguish it. HA HA HAR! Anyways... There are two ways to go about the battle, and I can promise you that you will definitely come out of the battle damaged, regardless of which you choose. The obvious choice against this extremely linear boss is to use the very, very helpful weapon of choice: The Ice Slasher. For your sake, I truly hope that you have defeated the silly goose that is IceMan, and stolen his ability to use this nice weapon of his. If you have, equip the Ice Slasher and simply go toe to toe with him, destroying him with it over and over again, much like he does to you with his Fire Storm ability. The best thing to keep in mind is the fact that he only uses his basic attacks, over and over again, to defeat you. So, his pattern is simple to remember... The bad part, you ask? The fact that his pattern lasts the entire match! That's right, kids, he will attack without stopping, except occasional two second breaks to move backwards. So what do you do? Attack him as much as he attacks you. If you have the Ice Slasher, he will easily be dead within seven (7) hits. In fact, he will barely do much damage to you, considering your several second recovery time in between every hit that he lays on you, thus, you can get in a few "cheap shots" whilst recovering. This will definitely work to your advantage with the Ice Slasher... ...But, it works even further to your advantage with the Mega Buster. While the Ice Slasher DEFINITELY does more damage than the Mega Buster, you will appreciate these few "cheat hits" a LOT more with the Mega Buster. My only advice to you if you're stuck with only the Mega Buster is to use your Mega Buster CONSTANTLY. No matter what, keep firing you. This will be a shoot out to the death, but regardless, if you have full energy, you should squeak by with the victory over the redundant and cheap FireMan. Serves him right, too. After destroying FireMan, you will be prompted to grab his goodies that he leaves behind, which is the ever-so-annoying, but ever-so-lovely Fire Storm ability that he used on you all of those times during the classic match-up that you just had. Now that you have this, you can go kill the easy target: BombMan. Derek "Whimsey" McCabe send us this strategy... "As for Fireman, he can be tough, so I kinda cheated. When Megaman fires the Arm Cannon, he cannot fire more than 3. So What I did was I ran into Fireman, full force, and fired. When Megaman takes a hit, he loses some energy, but is temporarily invincible. The cheating was in pausing after each of my hits, so Fireman would lose his invincibility so the next Arm Cannon shot would also register as a hit." FF. _______ =/\/\==================|BOMB |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| MAN|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Medium Boss Difficulty: Easy We're down to the final stage of the six robots. After this, it's just purely linear gaming at its finest. BombMan's stage is kind of like a robotic, futuristic airport. At least that's what I always thought. After all, what are those damn huge pillars in the background for, anyway? This is one of the mysteries of the world, I tell ya. In fact, the first person to e-mail me the answer to this gets a big hug. Anyways, in this stage, you can expect several enemies that are tougher than the norm, such as the Shield Robots, which I will cover when the time comes. When the stage starts off, you will have to go to the right and climb a tower of sub-platforms. The bad thing about doing this is the fact that five (5) Red Squids attack you from these sub-platforms, which is a lot less than too close for comfort. Climb the first couple of steps to get three (3) of them mad at you, then take out the fourth from the sub- platform across from it. Now eliminate the threat that the other three (3) present. After this, climb the rest and fall down the other side. As we continue along our merry way, after a very long stroll, you will come across a platform with two (2) sub-platforms on it. Hop over towards it, and a huge firework-like object will fly into the air, explode at its' peak, and four (4) pieces of debris will fall in four (4) slightly different directions. These enemies are called "Exploding Fireworks." The perfect placement to get in when the Exploding Fireworks go off is on the first sub-platform (second platform in general) in the corner. You will avoid the debris in this position. Note that you cannot kill them, only avoid them. Also be sure to make haste, as they will continue to fly up and explode in unlimited numbers. After dealing with this, you will have to jump over to the next platform, all the way down to the base of the original platform. Now jump up to the sub-platform, and await for the Exploding Fireworks to go off again. After this, jump up to the top of the sub-platforms and jump over. This pattern shall continue for another two (2) repeated frames of the platforms/sub-platforms with the Exploding Fireworks. Just use the method I told you about in the previous paragraph. After you get past the two (2) other platforms/sub-platforms with Exploding Fireworks, you will find a platform that somewhat resembles the platforms you have just crossed. Jump over to it, and follow the path. You will reach a couple of sub-platforms, so climb them. You have two options in which you can choose from when it comes to this path: A) You can avoid a couple of Shooting Traps by going over the top floating platform and jumping to the floating tiny platforms. This is NOT recommended, due to the fact that since you are not killing the Shooting Traps, they will attack you (and there will be three on the ground, anyway, which means fifteen bullets in different directions). The second option that you have is route B) From the platform you are standing on, fall off to the right and follow that path. Use the whole three shot Mega Buster trick as you walk, since it will definitely help you in this area, since it only takes three hits to destroy the Shooting Traps once they come up from the ground to strike. Once you rid the area of the two (2) Shooting Traps, keep tracking to the right and you will notice a third Shooting Trap beyond the tiny floating platforms, so don't let your guard down. Now that the enemies in the area are no longer a threat, you can collect both a large Weapons Refill tank on the far right (on the solid ground area), and a set of two small Energy Refill tanks on a high platform to the left of the ladder. Speaking of that sexy ladder... Regardless of which route you have taken, you will have to reach the ladder above the tiny floating platforms. So do so by climbing. No offense, but if you didn't know how to reach the ladder, you're pretty dumb. =P ...You didn't know? Um... Neither did I... After climbing up the ladder, you will notice that there are four (4) orange Wall Mechanizisms to the left, aligned from up to down on the wall, and heavily armed, as well, might I add. Well, now that we see these evil, evil robots, we can climb up the ladder completely. You will more than likely get hit by the orange Wall Mechanizisms as you climb up the ladder, and it will knock you off. Don't give in, lil' buddy! Keep climbing to the top, even if you are hit by their bullets. Unless you want that juicy large Energy Refill tank that the orange Wall Mechanizisms are guarding. If so, then... You will have to take out some of these orange Wall Mechanizisms in a very sly way. You can take out one (1) of them via the ladder. In fact, climb towards the top of the ladder, lean to the left, and shoot a bullet into the orange Wall Mechanizism that is on top of the top, and closest to the top of the ladder (or, in other words, the second one from bottom-to-top) as it opens up to shoot at Mega Man. You could do this with the one of the very bottom, however, you will more than likely get hit while on the bottom, which will send you all the way to the bottom and knocked off of this screen. After this, climb up the ladder that you are on, and jump shoot the top two (2) orange Wall Mechanizisms to destroy them when they open their "eyes," of sorts. Climb the sub- platforms on the left, and start to go down the ladder. Wait until the orange Wall Mech stops shooting below you, and press the Jump button to fall off of the ladder (it may be wise to hug to the right so that you will not fall into the spiked pit), and then quickly turn to the left and destroy the orange Wall Mechanizism. Now, like a hitman in a crowded club after taking everyone out, play "cool" and collect your large Energy Refill tank very slowly, as if disrespecting those innocent belated robots you have just destroyed. Yeeeeaaaawww. You're cool, skeezix. Now climb the two ladders to exit. In this new area, after you stroll to the right, you will notice a new enemy; The Shield Robot. This little sucker is slightly annoying, and pretty famous in various forms in the Mega Man series. To better describe this enemy, I shall copy and paste its section in my Enemies List. "Starting in BombMan's stage, you will find enemies known as Shield Robots. These things have been in the Mega Man series from start to finish, all the way through, taking different forms throughout the series itself. The most noteworthy being in Mega Man 2, with the whole "Riding On A Huge Machine" thing they did. Very different in form through the years, I tell ya. The enemies themselves will have their shield out for most of the "battle," but will jump from time to time. You can shoot them while they are in mid-air to get a few cheap hits, but for the rest of the battle, once the Shield Robot draws its gun, you can defeat it in between shots. Best of luck with them, as they are not the easiest enemy in the game." After defeating the Shield Robot, you will continue along your journey for quite a while before you encounter any enemies... Hell, you won't encounter anything for a few seconds. Eventually, you will notice a series of sub-platforms that resembles very closely to the ones you saw earlier in the area with the Exploding Fireworks. As you hop onto the first sub-platform, a series of unlimited orange Exploding Bullets that will sway on the screen. This stage has a lot of unlimited series of enemies, and let me tell ya, you will want to throw your television out of the window after this. Whilst shooting the orange Exploding Bullets that just will not stop FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, you will be prompted to jump from the ledge that you are on over to the next platform. This will be safe, as no Exploding Fireworks will pop up out of nowhere to knock you into the black pit of doom. As you are landing, you will want to use that handy little Mega Buster of yours to fire a few shots into the orange Wall Mechanizism that resides here. If you don't land a shot on the "eye" of the Wall Mechanizism, then jump hurry up and jump shoot it when it opens up. That'll teach'em. After destroying the first orange Wall Mechanizism in this area, you can jump over to the next set of sub-platforms. Be careful of those orange Exploding Bullets, as they themselves can knock you into the black pit of doom, or their explosion can, as well, and we don't want that, now do we? Once you land, take out the orange Wall Mechanizism and collect any pick-ups they leave behind. If you are running low on energy, you can destroy the Exploding Bullets once they get close enough for an item to drop on solid ground, which is near you. Hopefully, it will be a small, or even large Energy Refill tank(s). You will have to cross yet another one of these platform areas which is identical to this one and the one before it. Enjoy. Much like the area with the Exploding Fireworks, at the end of this trail, you will spot a platform which is slightly different than the ones before it, being longer in size. Jump over to it, and climb up the ladder. It may be wise to erase the orange Exploding Bullets from the immediate area, that way you do not get knocked off whilst climbing up the ladder. It may also help to jump up halfway at the ladder, climb a little bit, lean to the right and shoot the oncoming orange Exploding Bullets. Once you have reached the top of the ladder, head on over to the right of the screen and you will find that a platform below you carries a nasty Spiked Swayer on it, which only adds to the troubles that you have with the orange Exploding Bullets which are STILL flying in the area. Suicide bombers, I guess. Drop down onto the platform below you with the Spiked Swayer, but be sure to fall as the Spiked Swayer is to the left of the platform and away from your range. Quickly drop down to the main, solid ground right after you reach the platform, and carry on. As you stroll on over to the right like a pimp in a nightclub, you will notice a scary Spiked Swayer coming towards you! GASP! Jump over it and onto one of the tiny floating platforms in the air. Be sure to keep shooting those orange Exploding Bullets while you are in this area, as they just keep on coming. Boy, they never want to stop, do they? Climb the tiny floating platforms in the immediate area, which is a cloned area like the one from before, and shoot the orange Exploding Bullet before climbing the ladder. Now you are in the "Continue Point." Yay. *throws confetti* Good for you. Now that the celebration is over, QUICKLY climb up the ladder. If you waste even a half of a second, you will probably get hit by the orange Exploding Bullets that are coming from the left side of the screen. This is a very hectic screen, so I suggest remaining calm and follow my steps. As soon as you reach the top of the ladder, quickly go to the left and jump to the tiny floating platform. There will be a total of two (2) of the tiny floating platforms, and you will want to jump across them all very swiftly. Keep in mind that an orange Exploding Bullet will chase you from behind, so if you waste even the slightest moment, you will get hit and fall down. The third tiny floating platform will be over a pit of spikes, so make sure you complete your jump to the ladder and hang on, and do NOT let the orange Exploding Bullets knock you off; this will seal your fate. Now, quickly climb up the ladder. Now that you are out of that danger zone, you are thrown into another tough place in the center stage of this place. There will be an unlimited amount of Shell Spreader enemies, much like the ones you encountered in CutMan's stage. In fact, a lot of people say that BombMan and CutMan's stages are quite a lot alike, and I have to agree. Wait until the Shell Spreader stops and opens up, then pump a Mega Buster bullet into his eyes. Sounds gory, I know... Sorry. After destroying the first one, jump up to the first of the three (3) tiny floating platforms on the first shot of the screen, then blast another Shell Spreader as it comes out. After destroying a second Shell Spreader, jump to the other two (2) platforms on the first shot of the screen. By now, the screen has expanded to include a view of a more solid, durable ground, which you can jump to. Continue to watch out for the unlimited amount of Shell Spreaders in the region, which get awfully mad of you stepping on their land. Blast them in the face (My God, that sounds brutal, don't it?) and carry on with your mission. After jumping to the solid ground, you will have to trail on to the right, all the while ignoring or busting up those damn Shell Spreaders. You should encounter approximately two (2) Shell Spreaders before reaching the ladder (at full speed with no stops). Once you do reach the ladder, remember the trick I taught you about killing the orange Exploding Bullets before getting on the ladder a while ago? Use that here by jumping up the ladder, climbing a bit, leaning right, and killing the Shell Spreader. Then climb up the ladder. After climbing the ladder, head to your right a little more. At the very ledge, you will notice something that is quite peculiar: There is a slight gap in the wall to your right. You will definitely want what is inside of this hole in the wall, which is an Extra Life. Sadly, a Shield Robot also guards this Extra Life with its life. If you feel you need it, and I would suggest grabbing it, then jump into the wall on the right. Ignore the Shield Robot by jumping over it, and then grab the Extra Life. After this, you can either kill the Shield Robot, or ignore him. If you need energy, then by all means, battle with him. After you make your decision, jump out of the hole in the wall and fall down. Start running towards the right, as it is the only option available to go to. As you close in on those beautiful, shiny Boss Gates, a Shield Robot will jump out of them and do what it knows how to do the best: Block. Remain on the platform below the Shield Robot, and pop up every now and then to shoot at the Shield Robot when it lets its guard down. Now we're talkin', tiger. After blowing him up, grab whatever he leaves behind (if anything at all) and go through the Boss Gates. Once you are inside of the dreadful Boss Gates, you will see a ladder leading down. Jump over to it. This, much like ElecMan's Boss Gates, are unique because of the different motion in the halls, moving in a up-to- down fashion. Let me go ahead and state that if you have close to full energy, just drop down. You will get hit once, and it will not do a lot of damage to you, either. It will save a lot of time, and you can feel free of the tension of getting hit by the Clinger Robots that rest below. Yes, those little bastards from CutMan's stage. There are three (3) rooms in BombMan's Boss Gates; the first, which we were just at, contains nothing. The second contains four (4) Clinger Robots that go from side to side with no timing. Getting through this will be VERY tough. And the third, which is a near replica of the second room. Good luck getting down. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: BOMBMAN < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* After entering the boss chamber from way above, you will dust off (in your imagination, anyway). BombMan will appear in front of you. If you're following my strategy, the "usually-to-be-picked-first" boss robot is now the last robot to fight before reaching Dr. Wily's evil fortress of hugs and kisses. So get to kickin' his ass already! Regardless if you have the Fire Storm weapon from FireMan or if you're just plain ol' using your Mega Buster, this fight is very anti- challenging. The main problem you face is getting to the gate and not getting hit by the Clinger Robots. You will find that, deep down inside, BombMan is a coward that likes using a weapon from afar in a panic. Thankfully, you can shoot him when he's grounded, or if you're swift enough, shoot at him in mid-air. Arguably the easiest boss in the game, BombMan hasn't much of a pattern that is... well, effective. The first thing that BombMan will attempt to do is throw Bombs at you. How clever! These bombs explode when they touch the ground, sadly, as the weapon you get from him (the Hyper Bomb) will have to wait to explode. The first thing to do when dodging these attacks in to simply jump over the bombs in a forwards fashion before they hit the ground. You can pull this off fairly easily, and don't get upset if you get hit a few times whilst doing this, as it's only natural. In between the jumps, and possibly in mid-air, shoot either the Mega Buster at him, or Fire Storm Another thing to look out for while you have your epic battle with BombMan is the fact that, much like ElecMan and CutMan, he prefers to jump like crazy, which even includes on top of your head! So you better look out for where he's going to land, and quickly dart out of the way before he gets a good stompin' in on ya. After a while, BombMan will die out in battle. The reason I note that is that if he has thrown a bomb at you right before he is destroyed, you must still avoid the bomb. This is a common mistake made by even myself. If you die by this, even after defeating him, you will have to kill him yet again. Collect the Hyper Bomb ability as it drops from the sky, and you're off to the mad scientist himself: Dr. Wily. But many troubles await... Can you take the pressure? Derek "Whimsey" McCabe sends us this strategy.. "Toward the end, I got to meet bombman a lot, being out of Ice Slasher power and all. But I developed a flawless way of attacking him! When you get close to him, he always jumps. If it's a short jump, you should keep walking into him. If it's a long jump, turn around and shoot at him while walking into him. See, he fires his bombs in 3's before he jumps unless you are too close to him, so if you walk into him, his first bomb will miss, and you will force him to jump." GG. _________________ =/\/\==================|DR. WILY'S |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| FORTRESS (1)|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Easy Boss Difficulty: Hard Ahhh... We're finally finished with those damn six robot stages. After this, the rest of the game is purely old school, linear FUN! Since you have all seven of the weapons and gadgets in the game to collect (given that you have collected the Magnet Beam in ElecMan's stage. If not, you can still continue, but it will be a much longer struggle. We can put it that way.) So let us get to the fun of kicking a little mad scientist ass, right on? When we start out in this stage, you will very slowly begin to learn that this is a "training ground," of sorts, that will force you to use all seven (do not forget the Magnet Beam) of your acquired abilities from the six robot masters. Albeit, the other Dr. Wily stages are also pretty much designed to calm down in weapon use after this one, you will still have to use a variety of the weapons you have acquired along the way in your adventure. At the very start of the stage, if you go to the right a little bit, you will se a big Red Brain Hopper coming straight at you. Much like in IceMan's stage, this is purely flat ground, which makes it a LOT tougher to avoid it with no platforms in sight. Try jumping in the air, which may or may not influence the Red Brain Hopper to jump, as well. If he does, run underneath him and dart through to the right. Right as the first Red Brain Hopper disappears from the view on the screen, a second one appears to your right. Once again, the area is purely flat ground with no platforms in the immediate area, so you will have to deal with this scary one alone on solid ground, as well. Like before, try jumping in mid-air several times to influence his actions. If he jumps, run like hell underneath him! After running like hell, you will approach a set of sub-platforms soon after. Stacked like a pyramid, climb the robotic platforms and slide down them. Now, on a second set of pyramid stacked right in front of you lies a big nasty Red Brain Hopper. Yup, a third. This one is a lot easier to avoid compared to the other two (2), since it comes down from a sub-platform. Just hide in the corner of the platform itself, and once he jumps over you, jump to the steps and climb up. Remember, if you get hit three (3) times by these things, you will die. As you climb the second pyramid of sub-platforms and scoot down them, keep on truckin' to the right until... until... OH GOD! WE'RE TRAPPED! IT'S A DEAD END! WE'RE DOOMED! Actually, we are NOT doomed. Bring up the Weapons Menu and select "G" for GutsMan's Super Arm, then go over to the "wall" on the right and lift up four (4) of the five(5) pieces of the "wall." Now that we have that invisible wall out of the way, it is time to go forward a bit and discover a set of three (3) Fire Walls. Yes, I know you hate them. An easy way to get past them is to bust out that hyper cool Ice Slasher, and then shoot them through other platforms to freeze them, and create the very simple, very loving Ice Steps. Be sure to make haste, as you do not want them to defrost and fall into their fire. Hurry up and jump to the ladder already! After climbing the ladder, which will take a while to get up there as the ladder is pretty tall, you will see three (3) separate pits of spikes below, which are broken up by several platforms in the ground. There is also a large Energy Refill tank to the left, in a small cubbyhole to the left of the ladder. Just simply run to the tip of the ledge and jump off, hugging to the far left so you can reach the cubbyhole and grab the large Energy Refill tank. After this, fall down from this platform and hold to the left just a tiny bit to land on the small platform in the middle of the spike pit. From here, jump to the left to land on the next platform, and from there, jump over to the ladder on the left and climb it up. QUICKLY CLIMB UP THE LADDER! If you refuse to, three (3) Red Squids will attack you from the ladder by falling down, thus knocking you down into those spiked pits that we just past, and you do NOT want to fall into those, lemme tell ya. After eliminating the rest of the Red Squids that did not fall into the pit, go to the right of the screen to find two (2) different paths to take; if you want a large Energy Refill tank, then jump on the upper side of the platform and kill the lone Red Squid. There are two (2) more Red Squids in the area above, which is blocked by two (2) Super Arm blocks. To reach the large Energy Refill tank, you must kill the two (2) Red Squids on the upper platform through the Super Arm blocks, and then get out that handy dandy Magnet Beam. Use the Magnet Beam on the right side of the wall, and hop on it. Jump right as it is about to disappear, and quickly equip the Super Arm whilst in mid- air, and even faster you must lift the first block. Throw it away once you land, and get out the Super Arm yet again, and use it on the wall to the right again. Hop up, and hop onto the ledge. Once the Magnet Beam platform disappears, equip the Super Arm and use it on the other Super Arm block. After this, trail to the left and you can FINALLY collect that darn large Energy Refill tank. Regardless if you use that route to collect the large Energy Refill tank or not, you will have to go through the bottom path to reach the exit, anyway. So equip that lovely Super Arm again, and start removing the three (3) Super Arm blocks below, one by one, throwing them to the dust whenever you pick them up. After you complete this, you must equip your trustworthy Mega Buster and go down the ladder. Once you reach the next screen, you will be forced off of the ladder and onto a platform. You will notice in the middle of the screen, from right to left, an unlimited supply of red Exploding Bullets will fly, trying to hit you. Quickly go to the left and drop off onto a platform below. To the right are three (3) platforms in the midst of spiked pits that you must cross to reach the other side, which leads to the exit of the screen. Sadly, crossing the platforms without falling in the spikes is hard enough alone, much less with those damn Exploding Bullets flying our way. Chances are, they will get too close for comfort, and if you kill them, they will explode, knocking you into the spiked pits. As you jump over the platforms, be sure to fire in mid-air, as your chances of destroying those Exploding Bullets will greatly increase this way. After you cross the platforms, fall down to your right, and stroll over to the left, in which you will fall yet again off of a ladder this time. Wheeee!! After you fall down, you will be in an area with several Pellet Lifts. Watch as you fall, as their bullets will probably hit you on your way down. Getting across the Pellet Lifts is enthralling, I must admit. Much like the other Pellet Lifts we have came across, these Pellet Lifts will move randomly, as well. Just keep your eye open for incoming fire, and jump when needed. There is a total of four (4) Pellet Lifts in this area. Be sure not to fall off into the spiked pit, or even jump into the spiked ceiling above you. At the end of the screen, there will be two (2) small Weapon Refill tanks to collect, so equip a low weapon in mid- air, just before you land. After this, climb the ladder. Ohhhh brother. In this next area, there will be nothing of much import, with the lone exception of high walls and one black hole pit thingy of doom. You will need a good Magnet Beam in this corridor. Equip it, go to the right wall, turn, and use it against the left wall to make a platform. Jump on here, then jump shoot the right wall to make another platform, and then quickly jump up to it. After this, turn left and make another platform via jump shooting, and jump up to it. Now you can jump up to the high platform. Now that we have that out of the way, make sure that your Magnet Beam is at least halfway full. If not, go back down and keep collecting those small Weapon Refill tanks in the room below. If it is full enough, drop down to your left and hug that left tightly, like a big teddy bear. After this, you will have to make another series of platforms out of the Magnet Beam. If you succeed in reaching the ladder, jump to it and climb it up. In this next area, you will have the straight up getaway. Good for you. There is nothing in this room except the ladder you're on (and one sub- platform), so you are all set. What you may not know is, in the next room is the hardest boss in the game. That's right, no Boss Gates in the Dr. Wily's Fortress Stage 1, my friends, we're talking straight-to-the- action fun. Or lack thereof. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: ROCK ROBOT < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Be happy, as explaining what to do against this boss is NOT easy, and I am providing you with the most thorough explanation on where to hit him, what to do, and what to watch for, including a full ASCII map of where he moves and at what times he does it. With me as your guide, you just can't go wrong... Well, with the slight exception of when you do, but that is beside the point. =P As soon as you enter the pitch black room which the Rock Robot resides in, head straight toward the right of the screen. You can dodge his very cheap, very early attacks here, which consist of his body moving from one side of the screen to the other, piece by piece. The pieces themselves are around the size of one of the tiny platforms that you would have to jump across during a stage such as BombMan's, or ElecMan's. Let us hope that you have learned enough about dodging attacks, and have experienced far from the first time you went up against a boss such as IceMan. In fact, IceMan is a perfect example of the way that the Rock Robot boss will move. Remember IceMan's Ice Slasher attack that he would use in battle. Remember how you had to jump in between certain pieces of the Ice Slasher attack without getting hit? Well, just imagine doing that again, only instead of six (6) attacks, it will be more like 26 attacks. Yeah, it DOES suck. Let me guess, you want me to map out the entire boss battle for you, right here in this FAQ/Walkthrough, right in ASCII mapping, kind of like how I get with IceMan's Ice Slasher in mid-battle. Am I right? I knew it! You guys are evil. But, because I am a new guy, I will tab it out right here, right now. You should know by now how this works; I will write a number, and that number indicates which piece goes at which time. In other words, 1 goes first, 2 goes second, 10 goes tenth, etc... Enjoy the map. I'll add commentary after the map itself. 8 12 17 4 7 13 15 2 5 11 16 19 1 6 10 14 3 9 18 -------------------------------- Keep in mind that the "---" lines indicate the flooring. The row above it, while it does not resemble it in the ASCII map here, is directly on the ground ("Sweeper Pieces," as I like to call them. Get it? It's like they are sweeping the floor! Hehe!), and will hit you if you are just standing there, so watch your ass, as Tupac would say. Now that we have the map itself out of the way, we will have to go along with the boss itself. Try looking at the map very carefully. The pieces from the Rock Robot will transplant themselves into the right side of the wall first, and after all 19 of them are planted, they will form the actual Rock Robot itself. As I said, look carefully at the map and realize that these pieces will dart across the screen so fast that they will be coming three (3) pieces at a time. That is close to four (4) pieces per SECOND. Yeah, now you get my drift. You will have to jump over and through the pieces on the first row and the second row, unless you want to get hit, which I highly doubt. Avoiding these sweeper pieces will take a LOT of effort, and dodging the ones above them will take a talented right thumb, since you have to hit the jump button in such a fashion that you will shoot up in the air with enough speed, yet land very lightly. Good luck here, as it just takes talent, not advice. Also take note that pieces numbers nine (9) and ten (10) are a tough duo to avoid, but it won't be that tough to avoid them, once you get the hang of things. Just simply wait for the one on bottom to zoom right near you, then perform a huge, long jump in the direction that the pieces are flying towards you in to jump over both numbers 9 and 10. While jumping through the "hoops" that the sweeper pieces, and the pieces above them, create may be the showcase of this eventful battle, the actual moves that will defeat the Rock Robot do not even rely within avoiding his dastardly darting. No, no, it lies within shooting the clay-ish rock's eyeball after it has formed on the right or left sides of the screen. You could try to perform this with the Mega Buster, if you truly wish, but good luck doing so. Besides, you have absolutely no reason not to use a finer weapon on the poor soul. That's right, instead of shooting this beast of a futuristic robot with that old Mega Buster of yours, trade it in for a much better, stronger weapon in this case, which would be the Thunder Beam. Once you try it, I know you will read this and want to smack me, as the Thunder Beam does very little damage, but believe it or not, it IS the best weapon for the job. Once the poor sucker lands and forms his body, shoot him in the randomly generated eyeball before he shoots you with it. After you shoot the poor old robot in the eyeball (you sicko, you), you will have to go through the whole "Dodge this, avoid that, WHOA! That almost took my head off" process again. This is what makes the battle itself so hard, definitely not the eyeball shooting at you, but avoiding those damn pieces of the Rock Robot over and over again. After you destroy the Rock Robot, you will be warped to the second stage. Hooray! You have beaten the hardest boss in the game! Relax and enjoy the ride from here on out! Derek "Whimsey" McCabe has sent in his two cents, so enjoy! "I went to the far end of the room (where he will go), minus 3 of his "blocks". I thn kept an eye on the bottom 2 rows. Whenever I saw a block come from those spots, I jumped, and moved forward slightly. Finally, when his foot is complete, I made my way to the other side of the room (where he came from), and prepared to fire." HH. _________________ =/\/\==================|DR. WILY'S |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| FORTRESS (2)|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Medium Boss Difficulty: Easy Ahhh, finally, we're in a different setting, which just so happens to be a large tower within the Dr. Wily Fortress. In this tower, we will find a whole lot of things that shoot at you constantly. Yup, it's going to be a long ride, I tell ya. The Mega Buster is choice here, and you will also encounter a few old friends along the way to a very familiar boss in this stage. Looks like Dr. Wily is up to his old tricks again, which include failing miserably. When we start out on top of the very tall tower, you will notice that there isn't much of an option on where to travel to. So, simply go to your right and fall off the large floating platform. KIDDING! Kidding. When you go to the right, you will notice a Green Chatter has appeared, as well as a platform much like the one that you are on now, only to your right. Kill the Green Chatter with one shot of the Mega Buster, and then jump over to the next platform. When you start to jump over to this new platform, you will notice another two (2) Green Chatters to fill out the trio of the one that you had just killed. Poor little booger. Anyways, trail on over to the right and jump over to another slim floating platform. When you reach it, another trio (3) of Green Chatters appear. Stand still and keep shooting three Mega Bust shots in a row to hit all three (3) of them. Now, if you need a slight bit of energy, there is a very small Energy Refill tank below the platform that you are currently on top of. You can reach it by trailing off to the right and hugging to the left. After you get it, hop back up to the platform to the left (the one you were just on, in fact), and from there, you can jump straight over to your right and onto the next platform. On this next platform, there will be absolutely nothing of interest. No enemies, no pick-ups, no nothing. So go ahead and walk to the right and jump over to the next platform, where yet ANOTHER set of three (3) Green Chatters will want to attack you very, very viciously. They isn't very nice, is they? So now destroy each one of them, and hop over to the next platform. We're jumping a lot today, aren't we? As you go through the black tunnel, keep in mind that the floor will drop out, of sorts, so you cannot reach those two small Weapon Refill tanks unless you use the Magnet Beam. After you fall into that hole in the ground, you will notice a familiar foe. It looks as if that silly goose Dr. Wily is up to his old tricks of cloning his robots again, because an exact clone of CutMan is dead in front of you. You should know exactly how to take care of him, since you have defeated him before, and sense copy and pasting my original boss strategy would be silly, I will copy and paste the CutMan info from my Enemies Section. Here it is: CutMan is your basic, simple robot. He grew up without proper education. Actually, I'm not sure WHERE he grew up, or if he had an education, but judging by the way he moves, it doesn't seem like he did. CutMan, the white/red character with a big Cutter atop his head, likes to hop around, and use his Cutter as a Boomerang. Hit him in between his attacks. Using the Mega Buster is a choice option, however, in CutMan's stage you can use GutsMan's Super Arm to pick up the blocks and throw them at him. If you are up against the clone, take his ass out with the trusty Mega Buster in between his Rolling Cutters attacks. After defeating the cloned version of the fairly simple CutMan, you may ponder where the exit to this area is. There isn't a door, and you don't get transported, so where is it? Remember that area above, where you fell in from a magical hole in the flooring? Bingo. Just go towards the left of the screen and fall into the invisible hole, and you will land on a timely platform on the screen below this one. Now, we are back out in the open, where the skies are blue! I feel like singing Annie songs now! Don't worry, I won't. I promise. From here, you can spot a small Energy Refill tank on a tiny floating platform, where a nasty ol' red Shooting Trap also resides. This won't be pretty. Hop over to the next platform, which should trigger the awakening of the red Shooting Trap. Quickly jump to the platform, and then equip the Thunder Beam as "E" on the Weapons Select Menu. Jump above the red Shooting Trap and let off a Thunder Beam to hit and destroy the Shooting Trap. Now you can grab that small Energy Refill tank. After you grab that small Energy Refill tank, hurry up and jump over back to the platform on your left and above. After you reach this platform (otherwise known as the one you just came from), jump across to the next platform. Now that you are over here, there will be another red Shooting Trap on yet another platform below the one you are on. Dodge the bullets, and once it goes inside of the platform, jump over to the platform next to it. Ignore the red Shooting Trap and head straight into the black area. You know the drill: There's two small Weapon Refill tanks across the invisible pit (yup, another one) that you can only reach by getting out that lovely Magnet Beam of yours. Whether you collect them or not is your choice, but regardless, fall into the invisible pit to duel with another robot clone. This time, it is the very smooth ElecMan. Here's the recap on him: You know what I wonder? If Mega Man (1) had a seven character limit to their robots' names. Think about it. GutsMan, BombMan, FireMan, ElecMan... Not to mention it's obvious short for Electricity... Actually, it could be ElectMan, as he does resemble Bob Dole... Anyways, ElecMan is black with yellow zig-zags of color, which pretty much does point out that it's Electricity Man. He jumps around, and tends to get too close for comfort. It's best to kill him with the Rolling Cutters attack that you get from CutMan, and to pretty much use the same strategy as you did against CutMan, as well. Dodge his attacks and hit him with the Rolling Cutters for best results. Electrifying! The exit is to the left, in another one of those invisible pits. When you land, you will be on a fairly long, thin platform, which is floating in the air. Yeah, it looks pretty much identical to the others that you have been on in the past. Boring. Anyways, to your right, you will notice something very devastating: Exploding Fireworks! That's right, boys and girls, the Exploding Fireworks from BombMan's stage are back with a vengeance. Between this platform that you are standing on, and the one to the right of it, is where the Exploding Fireworks will fly up from. To get over there without getting hurt (well, too much, anyway), you will have to walk over to the right of the platform after the Exploding Fireworks go off (and dodge their fire when they do go off, as well), and then jump over to the next platform. On this platform, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself, fool. You will have two (2) sets of unlimited Exploding Fireworks bombing you from both directions, so you are toasted... Unless, of course, you can manage to avoid their debris by jumping in between them at certain times of their periods of exploding. This is a good strategy to use, until you figure out a good pattern of when it's safe to jump. Once you feel that it is safe, then you can either jump over to the next platform, or fall down onto the tiny one floating below you. If you decide to fall down and collect the tiny, small Weapons Refill tank, then go slightly left once you are on the small platform and collect it with the weapon of your choice equipped. After this, you can jump straight over to your right once the Exploding Fireworks have went off, and then you will have to go farther to the right to reach another platform that will have two (2) sided Exploding Fireworks going off closely together. Ugh! Will it ever end?? After you get done with dodging the debris, head to the right and you will notice another faintly resembling small floating platform with a small Weapons Refill tank on top of it, resting ever so peacefully. After grabbing it, await the explosion from the Exploding Fireworks that are above and to your right. After this, jump over to the next platform on the right, and carry on. Trail over to the right once you are on this long platform, and head down the ladder once you reach it. Ahhh... Good old Clinger Robots are cramped in this room, kind of like how they were back in CutMan's stage. Remember that? Ahhh, the memories... Anyways, what you will want to do here is to take note of the Extra Life that is hanging over to the left side of the screen. Fall down to the platform below you, and lay waste of the Clinger Robot which is going up and down to the left of you in about five (5) shots. Now, grab that sexy Magnet Beam out from your Weapons Select Menu, and slightly jump shoot out a platform leading to the Extra Life. Jump up and reach it. After this, jump back over to the long platform. (NOTE: If you are low on health, and you have more Magnet Beam energy left, go ahead and die. This is the Continue Point room, and the Extra Life will reappear if you die, so consider this a chance for "free energy," of sorts.) After jumping back to the long platform, you will want to go to the right, if you want to continue. Fall down onto the tiny blocky platform, and look to your left very slightly. Get out your Mega Buster now, and shoot the Clinger Robot that comes up towards you every so often. Whenever it comes up towards the platform that you are currently on, jump shoot it a few times to take it out. You might need two trips from the Clinger Robot to take it out, but there's no rush, anyways, right? After you take out this Clinger Robot, you will have to take care of the one below, which you will probably get hit by, regardless of what you do. Unless you have a VERY itchy trigger finger, anyway. After this, climb down the ladder. (SECOND NOTE: If you have a lot of Magnet Beam left, and you do not want to lose any energy, you can jump off and fall into the pit below the Extra Life. There is a pit of spikes, two in fact, below you, but chances are that you won't hit them if you slightly fall off. You can get away from the Clinger Robots in the first room using this method. After you land, make a "bridge" with the Magnet Beam over the spiked pits and quickly run across it.) In this next area, ignore the spikes to the left, as they serve no purpose unless you went with my Second Note, located above. As for your general strategy in this area, here's what I suggest: Go to the Weapons Select Menu, and equip the Hyper Bomb. Hop on over to the safe part of the platform to the left, and throw a few bombs. This will (eventually) take out the Clinger Robot which is swaying up to down by going through the platform and injuring the Clinger Robot. As for the ones going backwards and forth, I suggest using the same strategy. One hit will kill the one on top. However, the one on the bottom will still remain, no matter how many Hyper Bombs you throw to hit it. Nope, it just ain't gonna get hit by the feedback of the bombs themselves like the other two (2) Clinger Robots did. So simply equip your Mega Buster and watch the remaining Clinger Robot's pattern, and once it hangs to the right for a longer period of seconds, quickly bust a cap in it's ass, to put it bluntly. After this, it is now safe to climb down that ladder down there. So get to it, already. As you go down and into the third screen, do NOT hold down to fall off of the ladder, nor should you press the jump button to fall off. As you can see, below you there are three (3) Clinger Robots that will sway from side to side of the screen. Instead of killing them all off, the best way to get around this problem is to carefully watch their movements, and then fall off of the ladder quickly by pressing the jump button, and then dash for the ladder and climb down, making haste all the way to the ladder and down. In the next area, do NOT move. Not even a tiny inch. There are four (4) blue Wall Mechanizisms, which are very carefully placed so that you cannot get hit by their several shots in the air ~IF~ you remain still, that is. Wait until they halt their fire, and then very quickly jump down by tapping the jump button, and then just as fast as before, climb down the ladder. Of course, there's that large Weapons Refill over near that ladder on the left, but what's the use? Just make sure you have some of the Thunder Beam left. Other than that, you should be fine on weapons. Once again, when you reach this next area, you MUST NOT MOVE AN INCH ON THAT LADDER! Listen to me, folks: There's only one (1) blue Wall Mechanizism on the wall to the left, however, it will knock you off of the ladder if you move, which you do NOT want, considering there are two (2) Clinger Robots that go from side to side directly below you. Ouch. On the floor with the blue Wall Mechanizism, there's also one (1) Clinger Robot that will sweep from side to side, as well. What you want to do here is to watch and wait for the two (2) Clinger Robots below you to get on the opposite sides, with the top Clinger Robot on the right wall, and the bottom Clinger Robot on the left wall. Now, hop down and stroll to the left, and jump over the bottom Clinger Robot as it flies towards you, all the while avoiding the shots given by the blue Wall Mechanizism. All of this action is quite enrapturing, non? Fall down onto the lower floor, and you will want to take out the blue Wall Mechanizism on the left wall. Teach him not to be shootin' at the Blue Bomber. Yeaw! That's what I thought! After you get done with the Wall Mech, you will probably want to direct your attention towards the Clinger Robot that will be zooming towards you by now. Bust out the Mega Buster and bust his butt. I have never used the word "Bust" as much as I have in that sentence. After this, head towards the ladder and take it down to reach the Boss. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: CLONED MEGA MAN < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Ahhh, yes, a cloned version of the Blue Bomber himself, Mega Man. Like all of Dr. Wily's inventions, he is bound to fail, as it is his destiny, you see. The thing to remember about going up against this Blue Bomber clone is that he enjoys, and prefers, mind you, to use the same weapon as your Mega Man does. This makes for a very annoying battle, considering their weaknesses are alike, obviously. Okay. At the start of the battle, the Cloned Mega Man appears and gets prepared to blow up after your battle, much like all of poor Dr. Wily's robots. Regardless, this Cloned Mega Man is absolutely no joke. While I do not consider him what of the toughest bosses in the game, I do believe that he is a tough cookie to go about, given that his speed is just as fast as Mega Man's, and his weapons are around the same in strength. Oh, and don't get distracted by the disco wall in the background, either. =P Once the battle begins after the weird things drop Cloned Mega Man off across from you, he will instantly begin to shoot at you with his Mega Buster. Cut him off during most of the battle by shooting right back at him. As I mentioned before, whatever weapon you decide to use, Cloned Mega Man will also use that weapon, and since both of you two have the same weaknesses, this is a double edged sword here. While the double edged sword is a very dangerous weapon to pull the strings with, it is, however, a worthy opponent against the Cloned Mega Man, if you know what I mean. So, get out ElecMan's very nice Thunder Beam and prepare to aim your shots well against the Clone of yourself. The bad and things about this is the fact that the Thunder Beam is VERY hard to avoid, and they take down a decent chunk of energy. The worst thing about the Cloned Mega Man is not his reflective weapons that he enjoys using on you, nor is it the fact that he hops around and dodges all of your weapons' shots. The hardest parts about him are both his speed, and the fact that he enjoys getting too close for comfort by hitting you with his body. That is one thing that Dr. Wily improved with the Cloned Mega Man: When he runs into things, he hurts THEM, not HIMSELF. *kicks Dr. Light in the butt* The best advice I can give in this battle is to remain agile and very stealthy throughout the entire battle. Every time he goes to shoot you with the Thunder Beam, jump forward and over it whilst giving him a nice little "Wake-Up" zap to the forehead. Be very careful of his jumping towards you, as this does a ton of damage to your Mega Man. After the lengthy battle, get prepared for a very short stage up ahead. II. _________________ =/\/\==================|DR. WILY'S |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| FORTRESS (3)|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Easy Boss Difficulty: Medium A new stage, the same trouble. In this stage, we will encounter a bit of refreshing foes that we fought earlier in the game (none of the four remaining robot masters... yet, anyway) in a new sense of gameplay, which will take us through a tunnel that will make us zoom through it. Whoa, talk about fast. But first of all, we have to eliminate the gameplay elements we've grown to love (or hate, for that matter). When the stage first starts off, you will notice that coming down directly on top of you will be a pesky Clinger Robot that sways from the top of the screen to the bottom. Easily avoid it by walking to your left. There are three (3) of these Clinger Robots in this room alone, and it truly is best to take them out in hopes of filling up your Thunder Beam before you reach the boss in this Dr. Wily Fortress Stage. After destroying two (2) of them, it is very difficult to kill the third that sways from side to side, and it just plain ol' in your best interest to leave him be. After all, he's never hurt nobody. So go ahead and jump straight into the pit below the swaying little chubby booger. If you hug to the right of the room, you can land on a small platform connected to the right wall. This is not very helpful, unlike in most other stages, and you should just drop down, face to the left, and start shooting to eliminate the sweeping Clinger Robot that will charge towards you once you land and rest. There are three (3) Clinger Robots in this room, in total, including the one you just killed. The other two (2) Clinger Robots are of no importance to you, as much like the one in the room above this one, you cannot hit them without putting up a struggle, and it is simply not worth it. Let us not forget the fact that the dastardly Shooting Trap on the ceiling will be giving us a lot of problems, as well, by shooting at the top of our skull. So ignore everything in this room by trailing over to the left side of the room, dodging the Shooting Trap's bullets, as well as the Clinger Robots going from side to side on the hall, and jumping right in. Once you fall down to the next area, hug and hold to the left so that you will land on a platform connected to the wall on the left. This is a fine point to do this in the stage, as you can observe what is going on below you. And you will spot the following from up here in the bird's eye view area: One (1) red Shooting Trap, and three (3) Clinger Robots, two (2) of which are in the area you will be at when you land, going from side to side. So go ahead and drop down to the solid platform below, knowing full well that you will be attacked eventually by the red Shooting Trap, as well as they two (2) Clinger Robots that will come and go past you. Keep your Mega Buster by your side, and as soon as you fall down to the platform, start pumping those Clinger Robots full of bullets. After you destroy the Clinger Robots, dart over to the right and fall in, hugging the right wall so that you will land on the platform to the right of the screen. In this area, you will have to be a lot faster than the other times that you were given a chance to go through these tunnels. So look at your surroundings very carefully, if you know what's good for ya. You will notice a very nasty couple (2) of red Shooting Traps that will like to hit you as many times as possible. These things are what makes this room so nasty, in fact, besides these two (2) Shooting Traps, there isn't much to note, really. There's a pair (2) of Clinger Robots that you cannot shoot, since they are going from side to side on the tunnel passage that you will need to go through. So quickly jump down once the bullets have stopped flying, and run over to the exit tunnel and jump down! Yes! We have finally reached the lower part of the water tunnels! Yay for us! Now, instead of climbing up, or going down, we will travel over to the right a little bit. Shall we? La-La-Dee... Dee-Dee-Doo... AHHH!!! THE WATER IS WASHING US AWAY!!! The important thing to remember once the water starts flowing through the tunnel that that if you continue walking forward, you will go EXTREMELY fast. I'll leave the pace up to you. To slow down, stand still, or just walk backwards. When traveling through the tunnels filled with water, we will encounter some of us old foes that I mentioned earlier: Penguin Bombers! Yes, those huggable little Penguins from the North Pole that have Bombs strapped to their chests are back, and ever-so-lovey. Actually, how the hell did the Penguin Bombers get here, anyway? I thought they didn't like it inside of robotic mansions? As you travel through the tunnels that are filled with those cute little Penguin Bombers, you will have to blast your way through them. It's sad, I know. Just keep the Mega Buster ready, and shoot as many times as your little heart desires. Instead of jump shooting, you can just shoot while standing still, or walking. Either way, the choice is yours, and you can defeat the Penguin Bombers in either of these ways. After around six (6) of the cute little Penguin Bombers have been mowed down by your insane fire over and over again (you big meanie) you will have to slow down instead of speeding through the tunnels. Just stand still once the Penguin Bombers stop coming, and keep your Mega Buster fire at a steady pace. Why, you ask? Because a bunch of Exploding Bullets are next, and they want to play. If you rush through this area, chances are that you won't even hit them, and if you are lucky enough to connect, the explosion will damage you. See? Only you can prevent forest fires. After reaching the end of the very long tunnel, you will see an opening. Walk inside of it to start the Boss battle. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: GROUP OF WEIRD BUBBLES < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Jeff Chan (aka Atom Edge) coined the name, so all eyes go to him in light of the very, very fitting name for this very, very annoying boss. Kudos. This boss has a very continuing pattern, which was also used in Mega Man 2 on the "Wall Shooters" boss, in which the boss is not made up of one single thing, but rather a bunch of that one single species rolled all up and into one. Sounds confusing, doesn't it? When the battle starts, equip GutsMan's Super Arm ability, and then climb the Super Arm blocks. After this, grab the top block and throw it at the first bubble. Now, grab ElecMan's Thunder Beam (but be sure to not hit the Super Arm blocks with it), and await the arrival of the Group of Weird Bubbles. As soon as it comes out, jump shoot it with the Thunder Beam weapon to eliminate it. Our game plan here, for those whom are keeping track, is to destroy the Group of Weird Bubbles halfway on their energy supply with pure Thunder Beam attacks, and then throw that group of cluttered Super Arm blocks at them with... well, the Super Arm. The Group of Weird Bubbles themselves, however, move in quite an odd fashion. Some of them will come after you, some of them will not come after you. The thing to remember about this boss battle is that you can never let your guard down, and you must watch for each bubble's movement very carefully. If it seems that you are going to get hit, jump out of the way. Which reminds me of something very important regarding getting out of the way with this boss. While you duel with the Group of Weird Bubbles, you will notice that Mega Man cannot jump high enough on his own to jump over any of the bubbles, especially as they begin to come out faster and faster. The thing to keep in mind here, and the main reason we are not using the Super Arm blocks yet, is due to the fact that you can use these Super Arm blocks to get a boost, just so high enough that you can jump clear over the bubbles as they get near you. As I stated before, with the more bubbles that you destroy, the faster they will come out from that hole on the right side of the wall. Obviously, the object of the battle is to eventually destroy every single bubble that comes out. This is a lot easier said than done, as you can probably imagine. The Thunder Beam works wonders against them, however, once you have defeated around five (5) of them, you can start using the Super Arm to pick up the blocks and throw the rest of them at the Group of Weird Bubbles until the rest of them are defeated for good. Now, we're off onto the last stage in the game, where old enemies await, as well as an epic confrontation with the Doctor himself... JJ. _________________ =/\/\==================|DR. WILY'S |===================/\/\= //\/\\=================| FORTRESS (4)|==================//\/\\ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Stage Difficulty: Medium Boss Difficulty #1: Easy Boss Difficulty #2: Easy Ohhh Yeah. You know where we're at? We're at the final stage in the entire game. Make sure you have at least three (02) lives left, and if you do not, jump into the spikes until you have to continue, unless, of course, you believe that you can make it on whatever number of lives you have (I highly suggest at least 01 on the life counter). The more lives, the better off you are. Now that we have the warning out of the way... In the first area after the "Ready" text goes away, you will notice two big spiked pits to your left and right, and a bunch (4, to be exact) of tiny floating platforms in obscure places. You will also notice a tall ladder to your left, which you can reach by climbing the third, second, and first tiny floating platforms (from left to right), and then jumping to it. But before you do that... You will have to battle it out with a set of six (6) of those nasty ol' Satellite Defenders, which will come three (3) from above, and three (3) from below. I HIGHLY suggest taking them out before you go along with your epic journey up the ladder of doom. Bust out the Mega Buster and eliminate their existence with one (1) bullet each. Now skip across the tiny floating platforms, and jump over to the ladder. Climb it up. In this next area, you will notice that the big, tall ladder continues all the way up on the left side, with a suspicious looking hollow center to the right. All of this space, and no enemies... What gives? Actually, right as that thought enters your mind, you will be forced to fight off with another six (6) Satellite Defenders, with three (3) coming from atop, and three (3) coming from the bottom. It's best to stay in the middle of the ladder and destroy them like this, holding to the right. After you eliminate their threat, climb up the ladder. In this new area that you have came across, you will encounter a set of three (3) Super Arm blocks that are blocking your way, with a large Weapon Refill tank sitting atop of them. Bust out the Super Arm and throw it all away to reveal your path. If you want the large Weapon Refill tank, then simply take out the middle Super Arm block, and stand on the bottom one. Throw away the Super Arm block in your hands, and run over to the ledge, jump out of the area, turn back to the left and grab the top Super Arm block. Throw it away, select the weapon of your choice, and grab it. After you get through with the Super Arm blocks, you will encounter the GutsMan halls. Why do I call these halls the GutsMan halls? Look towards the ceiling. There are prototypes of GutsMan all along the ceiling. Do not worry, however, as they cannot harm you in the least. They are simply a part of the background. In the GutsMan Halls, however, there are a set of blue Shooting Traps that will desperately shoot towards you with very little stopping in between. There are a ground total of six (6) on the ceiling, and only one (1) on the ground. It would be in your best interests to simply dart through the GutsMan Halls, ignoring all of the Shooting Traps that await you, and dodging their fire when need be. In one of the final corridors in the game, there will be two ladders. Climb up the first, or the easier way to go about things would be to jump up in the air to climb the ladders. When you reach the second, stand there and wait for an hour. Kidding, kidding. Climb up. Hmm... Let me get the bad movie horror music going real quick... *turns the music on* DUHN-DUHN-DUHN-DUHN! Yes, I know it's scary for the sight that you see... ...Which just so happens to be one of the lifts that fall out, which we encounter all the way back in GutsMan's stage! SCARY! I know you are dreading this, but don't worry too much, as it's not that hard to do. I was worried to death the first time I ever saw that thing, and trust me, it doesn't live up to the hype. Jump over to the tiny floating platform above the spiked pit (gasp!) and await the arrival of the lift. Once the lift reaches where you are, jump over to it. Just seconds after you reach the lift, you will have to perform an extremely long jump over to a platform hanging above the lift and in the center of the corridor that you are in. The platform you jump to is a tiny floating platform, so be ready to make a very careful jump. After this, wait for the lift to get back on track to the right, and then hop back on it. There's two items that you should snag. The first is an Extra Life on a tiny floating platform. What you will want to do is to wait on getting this one first, and settle for grabbing it second. The next item that you can find on the second tiny floating platform is like no other that you have spotted to date. It is an odd looking Spikey thingy. In case you are wondering what it does, it fills up all of your energy, as well as your weapons, to the max. After collecting this, hop on the floating platform and get the Extra Life, then quickly climb the ladder and go into the pod to the right. In this next series of pods, you will encounter the remaining four (4) robot clones that you had fought in their respective stages. If you ask me, I think it's time that we killed them once and for all. The first robot you will go up against will be BombMan. What I will do is give you the info from my Enemies Section to refresh your memory on what to do. BOMBMAN This guy was known as the "kinda chubby" Robot of Mega Man, kinda like me... Poor ol' guy... actually, robot... *sniff* ...Nonetheless, he is obviously picked on severely, considering how easy he is to defeat. Just watch for the bombs, and blast away with the Mega Buster. If you are going up against his dastardly cloned version, I highly suggest jumping over the explosions of his bombs and using the Fire Storm ability on him. Best of luck, you won't need it. At least I hope not. FIREMAN Hmm... Well, Fireman is awfully moody, and he has every right to be. Hell, the Olympic Torch is in his head!! Nonetheless, I find Fireman to easily be the hardest boss in the first Mega Man, even though the majority points to ElecMan. He will rapidly shoot fire shields at you without fail, over and over again, until you're close to dead. You will DEFINITELY want to use IceMan's Ice Slasher on him. Otherwise, you better hope that you're agile enough to hop over all of those hot treatments he sends your way! ICEMAN IceMan looks like an Eskimo. I know because my Mom is from Alaska. Not to mention he DOES look like the stereotypical Eskimo. It makes you wonder if Capcom got any crap for doing that? Anyway, he's not too hard to defeat... Whenever he attacks with his six layers of plastic-looking ice, jump over the first and last carefully, whilst shooting him with the Mega Buster or the Thunder Beam. Thunder Beam is preferred for the three (3) shot kill. GUTSMAN GutsMan has a funny name. Enough said. Okay, okay, so maybe I will go into detail more. GutsMan is arguably the easiest boss in any game ever, and I may agree. Just shoot him when he jumps, then dodge his attacks by jumping over ("over" being the keyword) them. For an arguably quicker death, why not try throwing Hyper Bombs (BombMan's weapon) in the middle of the battlefield for best results. And who says that muscle men aren't a little dim? Oh wait... After GutsMan, go ahead and get into the pod that's on the right. You will be taken up to the very top level of Dr. Wily's Fortress. Finally! The final corridor you are in right now will be your Boss Gates area, so if the Doc kills you, this is where you will resurrect. Equip the Fire Storm weapon and collect the large Weapon Refill tank, and then step into the next area for the final boss battles... *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: DR. WILY (FIRST FORM) < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* What? Did you expect the old man would fight you one on one, in a fair and square fight? He's like a hundred years old! What? Do you like beating up old people or something? You sicko. Well, needless to say, Dr. Wily's robotic weapon definitely has the upper hand in this fight, but who says that underdogs can't win? Haven't you ever played Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!!? And one last question... How the hell is that little fan of a propeller holding up that big robotic machine?? This, my friends and readers, is another one of Zoop's Mysteries Of The World (tm). The thing about Dr. Wily's First and Second forms is the fact that they require little strategy. Normally, I would have at least five or six paragraphs for a boss, but this boss is so simple that it only requires a few. When Dr. Wily first starts off, you will notice a round object that is connected to him, towards the front of the robotic vehicle that he is riding in. As you watch him come forwards, inching closer towards you, the round object will start spitting out heavy bullets. In case you are curious as to what the heavy bullets really are, the best and only way I can describe them on Mega Man 1 terms in the way of the old Construction Robots that threw the hatchets up in the air back at GutsMan's stage. These bullets will fly up in the air, and heavily come back down on top, or close, of/to Mega Man. In other words, this attack just simply isn't pretty, but you can avoid it fairly easy. To destroy Dr. Wily's First Form, you will need to bust out that ultra cool Fire Storm ability that you got from FireMan. After equipping it, watch out for the heavy bullets that Dr. Wily's machine will send up in the air towards you, only to land atop of your head. Take that lovely Fire Storm weapon and shoot the round ball that has the heavy bullet cannon on it a grand total of four (4) times with this weapon. Keep in mind that the round ball with the heavy bullets cannon inside of it will follow you no matter which way you go, so losing the homing cannon is nearly impossible. After the four (4) shots of Rum... er... Fire Storm, you will be prompted to go into battle with Dr. Wily's Second, and final form. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* > BOSS: DR. WILY (SECOND FORM) < *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* After you destroy the first form of Dr. Wily with the round ball featuring the heavy bullets cannon, it will blow off, revealing a loopy gun. The loopy gun is a charged up shot that will sway towards Mega Man in a counter-clockwise fashion, and to fool you, it will start off as clockwise for a half of one second. Keep this in mind. The weapon of choice against Dr. Wily's Second Form is the Rolling Cutters. You can probably manage to get in quite a few really good hits on Dr. Wily's Second Form before it can reach you with either the machine itself, or the counter-clockwise loopy gun. The technique to use during this battle is to remember that the Rolling Cutters weapon is much like a boomerang, and thus, once you throw it, it will definitely come back to you. So use this to your advantage. Jump up and shoot the loopy gun, and quickly fall to the ground. Once the Rolling Cutters attack is coming back into your loving arms, jump up in the air at the correct time, and hopefully it will connect with the loopy gun to hit it twice in the same attack. Something else to do to speed up the battle would be to release another Rolling Cutters attack as soon as it comes back to you. After around twelve (12) shots of the Rolling Cutters attack (one hit, not the duel hits), Dr. Wily's Second Form will crumble, and the poor mad scientist will fall out of the old dumpy machine before it completely falls apart. He will bow to you whilst begging for mercy. With Dr. Wily out of the picture, Mega Man, Roll, and Dr. Light can finally rest knowing that their world is safe, and mad scientist-free... Until the sequel! Congratulations! You have beaten Mega Man. Now that you are more prepared for other Mega Man adventures, try Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IV. ENEMY LIST ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Here is the compiled list of enemies. Enjoy. ~!~BLUE CHATTERS~!~ The Blue Chatters are one of the enemies that was most recognized when the game came out. These are the flying set of teeth with funny eyes that would attempt (poorly, might I add) to strike you. One shot will destroy then, but beware, as they travel in packs of three. ~!~BLUE BRAIN HOPPER~!~ The Blue Brain Hopper, which also has a cousin in the Red Brain Hopper, is a very tough enemy that takes a good 15-20 shots from the Mega Buster to defeat. Some of them you find in "open fields," of sorts, while others are in tight spaces. Three hits is all it takes to kill a fully healthy Mega Man. Be cautious when dealing with these nasties. ~!~BLUE SQUIDS~!~ Easily killed enemies. Just shoot them one before they get near you. They have a really bad habbit of lounging at you at full speed. If you've got a platform in front of you, no worries and shoot through it. If not, oh well. Kill them anyway. ~!~CLINGER ROBOTS~!~ Okay, so I used this name in my Ratchet & Clank FAQ, too, so sue me. Nonetheless, these robots go from side to side, and up and down, in the areas they are found. They are dirty fighters, and they enjoy playing poker. A few shots of the Mega Buster will end their meaningless robot existance. ~!~CONSTRUCTION ROBOT~!~ You only find these enemies in GutsMan's stage, and only for a brief time, at that. They tend to block your bullets with their "Construction Shield." Just shoot them whenever they remove their shield. It takes around five hits to finish them off. ~!~CUTTER MACHINE~!~ Found twice in CutMan's stage, the Cutter Machine is a nasty little puppy. It will spit out six cutters in a row, with a very brief pause in between after three have been released. Trust me, and avoid them at all costs. ~!~ELECTRICITY~!~ Ahhh, yes... Good ol' Electricity. These enemies cannot be destroyed, killed, or stomped on. You just have to simply avoid it. Time it well, and jump within the second that it doesn't strike. OUCH! Note that Electricity is often referred in my guide as "Electricity Outlets," and also "Electrical Bolt Outlets." Why? Because it simply sounds better, silly. ~!~EXPLODING BULLETS~!~ These things are NASTY with a capital NASTY. They will go from towards the top of the screen to the bottom (whilst in the middle of the screen), and if you strike them, they will explode, destroying everything around the area that they are in. ~!~EXPLODING FIREWORKS~!~ These Exploding Fireworks enemies can be found in BombMan's stage towards the beginning. These suckers will fly high up in the air, and right at their peak, they will explode, sending several small pieces of debris in four directions. Talk about hot headed. HA HA HA! So funny... heh... ~!~FLAME ELECTRICITY~!~ You will spot these only a handful of times in one stage, which is FireMan's. The Flame Electricity works an awful lot like the regular Electricity. There's no way to kill it, you just have to avoid it, so time your jumps carefully, boys and girls. ~!~FLAME WALLS~!~ These thing are found in FireMan's stage, and boy, are they annoying or what? These things will come up from a metal plate in the ground, in which ignites them to set your ass afire. They are placed in awkward positions, so I highly suggest taking caution if you need to land on their platform, and you're near a ledge that would send you straight into a molten magma pit, because you'd fry like a piece of chicken at KFC very fast. ~!~GREEN CHATTERS~!~ Yup, they are absolutely the same in every way to the Blue Chatters, only a light, pale green color. They will swoop in and attack you at will, so be careful. One hit takes'em out. You'll find them in several different areas of several different stages. ~!~HOT HEADS~!~ These enemies are a grave annoyance in the "Knock You Off Of A Ledge And To Your Doom" kind of way. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. You can find these enemies all throughout FireMan's annoying stage, and boy, does that word sum it all up. They will shoot from the lava and into the sky, then come down in sets of threes. One hit destroys them easily, but avoiding them from hitting you whilst jumping is the tough part. Take caution. ~!~ORANGE WALL MECHANIZISMS~!~ These babies haven't much style, but they have tons of flare to dress up any party. Yeehaw. Fairly easy to avoid, and very, VERY easy to destroy (unless they are up high), you can kill them in one hit, as long as their hood is opened and in "shooting" mode. ~!~PELLET LIFTS~!~ These things, while they cannot be killed, are extremely useful. You can use them as platforms to get across areas that are dangerous, such as spiked flooring. Be aware of the fact that they can, and will, shoot you dead on the spot. Actually, it won't kill you, but work with me people! =P ~!~PENGUIN BOMBERS~!~ These things can be found in IceMan's stage, as well as Dr. Wily's Stage 3. They prefer to move up and down whilst zooming towards your head! AHH! Don't worry, though, as they can hurt you much if you kill them right away. In the areas they are in, just shoot three bullets in every direction as you jump and come down. ~!~RED BRAIN HOPPER~!~ The Red Brain Hopper is a lot like the Blue Brain Hopper. It has only a couple of "attacks," in which it hops low, or hops high. Regardless, three hits with full health will destroy Mega Man, and it takes 15-20 hits to kill it. You also find them in cramped areas. Ignore them, as it's for the best. ~!~RED WALL MECHANIZISMS~!~ These babies haven't much style, but they have tons of flare to dress up any party. Yeehaw. Fairly easy to avoid, and very, VERY easy to destroy (unless they are up high), you can kill them in one hit, as long as their hood is opened and in "shooting" mode. ~!~ROBO-SWOOPERS~!~ Their only appearance is in the very beginning of the cunning IceMan's stage. These things are not very friendly, and they do not like boxes of chocolates. The best thing to remember here is to take out their upper body, or just shoot towards their head. If you decide to take out their lower body, it will take three hits to the legs/abdomen to destroy the lower body. Remember that the upper body WILL swoop down on you to getchu if you decide to take this route. ~!~SATELLITE DEFENDERS~!~ The Satellite Defenders pop up every now and then, simply to make me mad. GRRR!!! Anyways... These things are easily defeated in one hit, however, the problem is them getting to you before you get to them. No, this cannot be a lot of fun. If you're on a ladder, you have a lot of trouble, considering they attack in sixes. Three from the top, three from the bottom. They will open their mechanizisms to charge their shot, so lean to the side they will shoot from and start shooting like crazy, that way you hit them before they hit you. On the ground, however, you can easily kill them and jump over their fire. ~!~SHELL SHOOTERS~!~ Also known as "Hard Hats" by players throughout the years, the Shell Shooters are the little cute guys that have shown up in Mega Man titles for years upon years. You can only hit them once their eyes are showing, and it only takes one hit. But stay alert, as they shoot bullets at you in all three common directions: Up, straight, and down. ~!~SHELL SPREADERS~!~ Much like the Shell Shooters, these things do about the same thing, in terms of attack and vulnerability. They will come from the right side of the screen and will open up once they are in the right place, then shoot bullets in every direction at once. Needless to say, the Shell Spreaders are a lot more dangerous than the Shell Shooters. You can kill them once they open up their shells. One hit will do! ~!~SHIELD ROBOT~!~ Starting in BombMan's stage, you will find enemies known as Shield Robots. These things have been in the Mega Man series from start to finish, all the way through, taking different forms throughout the series itself. The most noteworthy being in Mega Man 2, with the whole "Riding On A Huge Machine" thing they did. Very different in form through the years, I tell ya. The enemies themselves will have their shield out for most of the "battle," but will jump from time to time. You can shoot them while they are in mid-air to get a few cheap hits, but for the rest of the battle, once the Shield Robot draws its gun, you can defeat it in between shots. Best of luck with them, as they are not the easiest enemy in the game. ~!~SHOOTING TRAPS~!~ These things are lethal, in more ways that one. They will shoot in three different directions, once you get close enough, and can be killed in three hits with the Mega Buster, as well. Keep your eyes open at all times around them, as they pop out from the flooring or the ceiling and shoot you without mercy. ~!~SPIKED SWAYERS~!~ The Spiked Swayers are one of the most complicated enemies in the game, as they can't be killed, and they are at their most annoying in ElecMan's stage, when almost every platform you jump on while you're on the left side of the screen, they will be there. You can, however, shoot them to stop their movement for a few seconds. Sadly, whenever you get on the platform in which they rest, they will attack you even faster. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~ V. BOSS LIST ~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* In this section, I will list alternative wordings for the Bosses in the game, with a brief overview of the Bosses themselves. Enjoy. ~!~BOMBMAN~!~ This guy was known as the "kinda chubby" Robot of Mega Man. Poor ol' guy... actually, robot... Nonetheless, he is obviously picked on severely, considering how easy he is to defeat. Just watch for the bombs, and blast away with the Mega Buster. If you are going up against his dastardly cloned version, I highly suggest jumping over the explosions of his bombs and using the Fire Storm ability on him. Best of luck, you won't need it. At least I hope not. ~!~CLONED MEGA MAN~!~ Ahhh, yes... Every good game must include a dastardly clone of the main character which was created by evil forces, or, in this case, a mad scientist, and is half as strong and twice as weak as the original main character itself. This battle is no exception. The best thing to use is the Thunder Beam, as you can avoid it easily when he uses it on you, and it does a decent amount of damage. ~!~CUTMAN~!~ CutMan is your basic, simple robot. He grew up without proper education. Actually, I'm not sure WHERE he grew up, or if he had an education, but judging by the way he moves, it doesn't seem like he did. CutMan, the white/red character with a big Cutter atop his head, likes to hop around, and use his Cutter as a Boomerang. Hit him in between his attacks. Using the Mega Buster is a choice option, however, in CutMan's stage you can use GutsMan's Super Arm to pick up the blocks and throw them at him. If you are up against the clone, take his ass out with the trusty Mega Buster in between his Rolling Cutters attacks. ~!~DR. WILY (FIRST FORM)~!~ Ahhhh, good old Dr. Wily. Dr. Wily is known as one of the most idiotic super villains in video game history, because of his lack of research in the field of "Winning." Poor old Wily makes the same mistakes in every Mega Man, and bless his heart for it. This version of Dr. Wily is simple, just use Fire Storm on his "upperbody" area until this part blows up. ~!~DR. WILY (SECOND FORM)~!~ Much like the first form, Dr. Wily's Second Form is very, very easy to be a last boss. In fact, when I first beat this, I couldn't believe that this was it. Oh well, regardless, this battle shouldn't leave you too weak for words. Get out that trusty Rolling Cutters ability and shoot towards Dr. Wily himself. Good luck! ~!~ELECMAN~!~ You know what I wonder? If Mega Man (1) had a seven character limit to their robots' names. Think about it. GutsMan, BombMan, FireMan, ElecMan... Not to mention it's obvious short for Electricity... Actually, it could be ElectMan, as he does resemble Bob Dole... Anyways, ElecMan is black with yellow zig-zags of color, which pretty much does point out that it's Electricity Man. He jumps around, and tends to get too close for comfort. It's best to kill him with the Rolling Cutters attack that you get from CutMan, and to pretty much use the same strategy as you did against CutMan, as well. Dodge his attacks and hit him with the Rolling Cutters for best results. Electrifying! ~!~FIREMAN~!~ Hmm... Well, Fireman is awfully moody, and he has every right to be. Hell, the Olympic Torch is in his head!! Nonetheless, I find Fireman to easily be the hardest boss in the first Mega Man, even though the majority points to ElecMan. He will rapidly shoot fire shields at you without fail, over and over again, until you're close to dead. You will DEFINITELY want to use IceMan's Ice Slasher on him. Otherwise, you better hope that you're agile enough to hop over all of those hot treatments he sends your way! ~!~GROUP OF WEIRD BUBBLES~!~ Much thanks to Atom Edge for this extremely weird name for this confusingly strange boss. As you can tell by their Energy Bar, every time you destroy one of these Bubbles, a chunk will go down. The best way to do this is to use your Mega Buster in the beginning, and use the throwing boulders as a ledge to jump and avoid attack on the ground. After getting their energy bar over halfway down, use the boulders with the Super Arm to take care of the rest. ~!~GUTSMAN~!~ GutsMan has a funny name. Enough said. Okay, okay, so maybe I will go into detail more. GutsMan is arguably the easiest boss in any game ever, and I may agree. Just shoot him when he jumps, then dodge his attacks by jumping over ("over" being the keyword) them. For an arguably quicker death, why not try throwing Hyper Bombs (BombMan's weapon) in the middle of the battlefield for best results. And who says that muscle men aren't a little dim? Oh wait... ~!~ICEMAN~!~ IceMan looks like an Eskimo. I know because my Mom is from Alaska. Not to mention he DOES look like the stereotypical Eskimo. It makes you wonder if Capcom got any crap for doing that? Anyway, he's not too hard to defeat... Whenever he attacks with his six layers of plastic-looking ice, jump over the first and last carefully, whilst shooting him with the Mega Buster or the Thunder Beam. ~!~ROCK ROBOT~!~ This is the ill-fated boss from the first of the four Dr. Wily stages. Truly a revolutionary boss in gaming, as it will break up into pieces and go across the room (while hitting you in the process), then reform. The weak spot is the eyeball that randomly appears after it builds itself, and the weapon to use is the Thunder Beam. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VI. ITEMS LIST ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Here is the very, very short list of items you can get in the game. Wide range of items, eh? Enjoy. ~!~ENERGY REFILL (LARGE)~!~ The Energy Refill (Large) is black and white-ish, with a tad bit of tan in the white. This is much larger than the Energy Refill (Small). ~!~ENERGY REFILL (SMALL)~!~ The Energy Refill (Small), much like the Energy Refill (Large), is black and white, with a bit of tan in between. This is significantly smaller than the Energy Refill (Large). ~!~EXTRA LIFE~!~ This is Mega Man's head. Simple enough, but kinda freaky... Why is Mega Man's head laying out in the open? =\ ~!~PELLETS~!~ These pellets will add to your high score, I believe. Other than that, I don't believe there's much use for them, but correct me if I'm mistaken. Thanks. ~!~SPIKED LOOKING FUNNY OBJECT~!~ This thing is found only once, at the middle of Stage 4 of Dr. Wily's Fortress on the side opposite of the Extra Life. This will refill your weapons to max before those epic four robot clone boss battles. ~!~WEAPONS REFILL (LARGE)~!~ The Weapons Refill (Large) will refill any weapon you have equipped by quite a bit. The color of the pick-up will change with different equipped weapons. ~!~WEAPONS REFILL (SMALL)~!~ The Weapons Refill (Small) will refill any weapon you have equipped by a tiny bit. The color of the pick-up will change with different equipped weapons. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VII. WEAPONS LIST ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Here is the ever-so-cool, ever-so-important Weapons List. This will list every Weapon you can get, what they do, and who they work well against. ~!~FIRE STORM~!~ Fire Storm is the very highly useful weapon you get once you pick a fight with FireMan, and proceed to kill him. You're not very nice, are you? What is nice, however, is igniting BombMan until he explodes (figuratively) with this weapon, so definitely use it against him. Even better, this is the best weapon to use against Dr. Wily's First Form. As you could have guessed, this Weapon is the same thing that FireMan uses relentlessly on you in your HEATED (huh huh, pun) battles. ~!~HYPER BOMB~!~ The Hyper Bomb is the hyper cool (hehe, I invented a new "cool" word) weapon that you get for battling with and defeating BombMan (Wow! Who would've thought that BombMan would give you Bombs!?). With this weapon, you can easily defeat GutsMan ("But I thought all weapons killed him easily?"), and several enemies by sniping them. It takes a few seconds to explode, so keep that in mind before going crazy with it, pilgrim. ~!~ICE SLASHER~!~ Ahh... The wonderful Ice Slasher, which you obtain from that thick skulled Eskimo, IceMan, is a great all-around weapon that especially works well against FireMan. It is a ice shard that will fly across the screen, much like IceMan uses against you in your two battles with him, only a lot faster than his slow-motioned version. Use this against a few of the tougher enemies in the game, but avoid it with most bosses, as it could be more trouble than it's worth. ~!~MAGNET BEAM~!~ You find this weapon on ElecMan's stage. This is the only weapon, besides the Mega Buster, that you do not earn in battles with the Robot Bosses. You will find this weapon hidden away, and very visible, around halfway through ElecMan's stage. You will need GutsMan's Super Arm ability to lift the boulders that guard it, then you shall reach it. It creates temporary platforms that Mega Man can use to walk on, but be careful, as they will fall in due time. ~!~MEGA BUSTER~!~ This is Mega Man's basic weapon that he starts out with in any game... Hey, ever wonder why Mega Man steals all of these robots' weapons, yet, in the next game, he doesn't have them anymore? What's up with that?? This weapon is choice for everything in the game, but works well against CutMan, GutsMan, and BombMan. ~!~ROLLING CUTTERS~!~ While it may not look like it, the Rolling Cutters weapon that you get after defeating CutMan is one of the most useful weapons in the game. Not only will it kill ElecMan, arguably the toughest boss in the entire game, in three hits, but it will also cut Dr. Wily's Second Form down to size easily. hehe, I used a funny pun. You can also use this on regular, "hard-to-reach" enemies that you just can't seem to get a hand on. Or bullet on, for that matter. ~!~SUPER ARM~!~ This is the ever-so-useful weapon that you will add to your collection after fighting and defeating GutsMan. This weapon isn't that useful IN battle, but out of battle it can prove to be quite worthy. You can pick up boulders that are in your way, which might lead to short-cuts, or even a secret weapon with the Magnet Beam in ElecMan's stage (read walkthrough for info). You can use this well against CutMan, and the Group Of Weird Bubbles boss from stage 3 of Dr. Wily's fortress. ~!~THUNDER BEAM~!~ You get this awesome weapon from that crazy kook, ElecMan. This weapon will shoot straight up, right down, and dead ahead. This is good to use in an area with a ton of enemies in all directions. Just jump, use it, and carry on. It's best used against IceMan, and the Rock Robot boss from the first stage of Dr. Wily's Hangout. It's also pretty standard against Cloned Mega Man (Dr. Wily Stage 2 Boss), so use it against him. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VIII. CMORIARTY'S DAMAGE CHART ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Thanks to Colin Moriarty for permission to use his amazing Damage Chart in my FAQ. Thanks a bunch, Colin. -Zoop "Before we go onto the damage charts, there are two things I must explain. First of all, I'll explain how I got these figures, and then I'll explain how to read the chart. How these figures were obtained: These numbers and whatnot on the chart were obtained via careful calculation. I simply fought every Robot Master with every weapon, including him own. I then saw how many hits with each weapon it took to kill that Robot Master, and put the figures on the chart. A -- symbolizes that the Robot Master is immune to that weapon and that it doesn't effect him in any way. To read the chart: Simply line up the name of the robot master on the left side with the robot master weapon you want to beat him with on the top. There is a key below to read the symbols." Key: MM = Mega Man BM = Bomb Man GM = Guts Man CM = Cut Man EM = Elec Man IM = Ice Man FM = Fire Man Chart: Robot Master MM BM EM GM CM FM IM Bomb Man 14 28 13 -- 13 07 -- Guts Man 13 03 28 28 28 14 -- Cut Man 11 14 28 02 28 14 -- Elec Man 28 14 28 07 03 28 -- Ice Man 28 07 03 -- 14 14 28 Fire Man 14 28 28 -- 14 28 07 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IX. CHICOBO329'S WILY WARS CHANGES GUIDE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Here is a list of changes that were made from the original Nintendo Entertainment System cart and the Sega Genesis "Wily Wars" version of the original Mega Man, as composed by Chicobo329. Thanks man! "Here they are. More changes/speculation to come: Megaman 1 NES-Wily Wars changes list Summary: Megaman- The Wily Wars was a remake of Megaman 1, 2, and 3 and was one of two(?) Megaman games released on a Sega console (Genesis/Megadrive 1994, the other was a port of Megaman X4 on the Saturn sometime in 1996 I think). The graphics and sound are greatly improved; there's actually backgrounds in some stages! :^D There's also a welcome addition of a battery save feature. You can save your progress in all three of the games in up to three save files. There's also a new game, Wily Tower that is unlocked after beating all three of the games (something I haven't done yet). Still, there are some differences, some of them are good, others are bad, and some don't really affect the game at all. I've had the opportunity of playing both the NES version and this version of Megaman 1, and there are some changes. I'm excluding the obvious graphic and sound changes, so these listed here affect gameplay in some way or another. *Gutsman takes 14 hits from the Mega Buster instead of 13. Verdict: Whoop-de-doo! :^P Mega Buster is still the most effective weapon against Gutsman anyway. I think the other bosses take about one or two more hits, but it's generally not that important. *Cutman takes about 28 hits from the Mega Buster instead of 11. Verdict: Yikes! Hope you started at Gutsman's stage; Cutman still takes only 2 hits from the bricks located at the left of the room. *The Magnet Beam remains in Elecman's stage if you forgot to pick it up the first time. Verdict: Much better for people who prefer to fight Gutsman after Elecman, though I prefer Zoop's order best. *Some enemies move slower than normal. Verdict: A good thing for annoyingly fast enemies, except for the fact that most enemies move at the smae speed. I've only noticed this on the Blue and Green Chatters and the Clinger Robots. The Chatters are slower when they swoop towards you and the Clinger Robots take a little longer to move after touching a wall. Just before fighting Bombman, you'll see a lot of these Clinger Robots, but since they move slower, you can simply fall down without using the ladder, and (as long as you fall in the center) you won't get hit! *Megaman can walk on spikes without dying as long as he's flashing after getting hit from an enemy. Verdict: The "Knock You Off Of A Ledge And To Your Doom" is a frustration among many Megman players, but as long as you fall to your doom over a pit of spikes, this might help. The flashing effect doesn't last long, though, so quickly find a way out of the spikes (Magnet Beam helps). *The pellets that are tallied up for score at the end of each stage are rarer. Verdict: It's no wonder this is the only Megaman game in the numbered series that keeps track of score - it's utterly useless! At least in Sonic games you get extra lives for every 50,000 points, but not here :^P Unless if you're one of those people that love to play for score (and rarely I, myself do so), this is no real problem. *The eye on the Rock Robot always appears in one spot. Verdict: A little better graphic wise (though it was funny in the NES version :^D), but doesn't really affect the boss fight too much, if not at all. On a side note, I think the eye appears for a less amount of time than in the NES version, but I haven't confirmed that yet. *There's slowdown during some boss fights. Verdict: A curse and a blessing at the same time. The slowdown is useful for quick bosses like Elecman, Cutman (only when he jumps), Iceman, the Group of Weird Bubbles and especially the Rock Robot when it breaks up. Some boss fights don't have have slowdown like Gutsman and the Dr. Wily fights (I think), but it appears that more bosses have this problem. However, slowdown isn't all that bad when used in the right situations, so use it to your advantage when you can ;^)" *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~ X. FAQ ~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Here are a list of simple questions and answers that I frequently get in the ol' inbox. Enjoy, and submit your own! Q. When was this game released? ~ A. December 17th, 1987 (Japan). Q. How many Mega Man games are in the series? ~ A. Eight. Mega Man, Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, Mega Man 4, Mega Man 5, and Mega Man 6 were all on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Mega Man 7 was on the Super Nintendo, and Mega Man 8 was on the PlayStation. Q. When did they stop making Mega Man games in classic numbers? ~ A. After Mega Man 8. Boy, was that game horrid. Mixing HORRIBLE Robots, like the idiotic Clown Man, and the spunky Tengu Man, with new gameplay "elements." Plus, the graphics were freshly done from ANIME! Yes, just kill the series now, please. Anyways, enough of my ranting... So yes, after Mega Man 8. I hear they're making another Mega Man X game, too... When will they realize that the series has been milked dry? *sigh* I vote for the release of a Mega Man compilation on the PlayStation 2! Q. I'm having trouble with a Robot! Help! ~ A. Try reading the Walkthrough. ;-) Seriously, though, keep in mind that EVERY Robot in this game can be killed with the basic Mega Buster. Try going after CutMan, BombMan, or GutsMan first, which is definitely recommended by most all of the FAQs. These three can all easily be killed with the Mega Buster, given the fact that you have full energy. Q. Is this game anything like the Mega Man Legends series? ~ A. Definitely not. Never. Ever. Nuh uh. No way. Nada. NO. Q. Is this game anything like the Mega Man Battle Network series? ~ A. Nope. However, that series isn't too bad compared to the other crap that poor Mega Man has had his precious name on. Q. Okay then, what about the Mega Man X series? ~ A. That's the closest thing we can get to Mega Man games that are like this series, so yes, very much so. Q. Why is it that on the cover of the game, Mega Man is holding a gun, yet in the actual game, he has the Mega Buster attached to his hand? ~ A. *blink, blink* I never noticed that. Nor do I have an answer to your question. Q. Does Capcom plan to re-release this game anytime soon? ~ A. Probably not. If it is released, it would be in a compilation of Mega Man 1 through 8. And I'd definitely buy it, regardless of price, as I'm a true blue fanboy. Q. How much should I pay for the Mega Man series on the NES, just so I don't get ripped off very much? ~ A. I suggest around $15 for each game is a fair price. That may seem costly, but they average $18 a piece. You might be able to find them at a GameStop for $5.99 each, as I have seen this before. You will have to be extremely lucky to catch the series at that price, though. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~ XI. CREDITS ~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* BEFORE ANYONE ELSE IS THANKED, I have got to thank Deflux and Joni Phillips. My file for this game got corrupted, and they both saved my file up to halfway through FireMan's stage, which was around 2 weeks worth the work for me. I owe these guys a lot, and you guys seriously have NO clue how much I appreciate that. Seriously. Thanks. Massive thanks to the master of Game FAQs, and the site GameFAQs, CJayC. Awesome guy that actually cares. Big thanks to Stephen Ng and Jon Robinson over at IGN.com's FAQs Section. Check out their stuff as soon as possible, and check my Interview under the Writer Of The Week section, while you're at it! I had an agreement with my girlfriend to add a line about this in my Mega Man FAQ, so I will. When I was around six years old, my mother recorded me on a camcorder, and I was quoted in saying "I would like to thank Mega Man for making Capcom. I also hope Yoshi has lots of babies" right at the end of the video. I would like to share these very deep thoughts with you, as they hold great knowledge. Big ups to Atom Edge for the great ASCII art, as usual. Much like he said, every good writer has to cover a Mega Man game in this hobby. Much thanks to my lovely girlfriend, Valerie, too. She's so pretty. *big hug* She also makes AWESOME Ham & Cheese loaf sandwiches. Thanks, Love. Thanks to my family, as well (Mom, Gran, Booie, Gee, Matt, Don, and Cous) Huge amounts of graceful thanking to the man whom is notorious amongst the FAQing hobby, Colin Moriarty, for letting me use his Damage Chart. With all due respect to the other FAQs' Damage Charts, Colin has the best, and the easiest one to read. I'd tell you to check out his work, but if you know GameFAQs, you pretty much know who CMoriarty is. And SPELL HIS NAME RIGHT FOR ONCE, YA BUM! IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO SPELL! Regardless, thanks Colin. I owe ya one. Mega thanks to my boy Dan Reed for being a Mega Maniac, as well. We both grew up with this stuff, and boy, these games remain just as magical. Get an NES and buy these games already, dude! Big ups to Chicobo329 for his awesome Wily Wars Changes Guide, to Derek "Whimsey" McCabe for his great strategies, and to feitclub for his correction. This FAQ goes out to one of my new favorite musicians, Jason Mraz. I've been obsessed with this guy whilst recording my FAQ Progress in this little file here. What an awesome piece of talent, taking vocals and mixing emotion beyond compare. Great music that you should definitely listen to. Speaking of great musicians, I know of a group of guys that cover great old NES music with a rockin' tone! Their name is the NESkimos, and not only do they capture the beauty that was Mega Man 2 in their music, but they also rock out to Contra, as well! You know you're good when Dr. Wily is in your band. ;-) Here's the URL, you should DEFINITELY check them out: http://www.unf.edu/~hend0008/NESkimos.html *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ XII. DISCLAIMER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* This document is Copyright 2003-2004 David McCutcheon. It may not be reproduced nor retransmitted in any form. It may not be altered, published, sold, given as an incentive to buy, etc. without advance permission from the author. Violation of the above terms can and will result in a lawsuit. Thank you.