Entirely written by Darklink42 AKA Taylor Lake July 2006 Completed July 8th, 2006 Version 1.00 ---------- ---------- ----------- ------------ ------------- -------------- --------------- ---------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- --------- ------------------- ---------- --------- ----------------- ---------- --------- --------------- ---------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ----------- ---------- --------- --------- ---------- --------- ------- ---------- --------- ----- ---------- -------- --- ---------- ------- - ---------- EGA MAN Powered Up! 1.0 07-08-2006 Finished the walkthrough enough to call it capable of being submitted. There are still other things that I want to do with it, and I'm sure there are some things that I missed the first time around. I also still need to get Proto Man, but that might take several weeks, so I'm holding off for now. Prepared e-mail and will submit and wait for this walkthrough's fate on Monday. 0.8 07-07-2006 General walkthrough completed save for the alternate paths for the bosses and the secrets and facts section. Also need to cover boss data on Easy mode with some bosses in the plus section, and re-write some of the enemy data 0.6 07-05-2006 Had data deleted by retarded owner of the PSP I was playing the game on. Went out and got my own, followed shortly by a repeat play through. I don't know that I'll get to Proto Man as all of my hard work in the challenges section has been erased as well. After all the hard fought work, I don't know that I want to go through it a second time. So frustrated.... 0.4 06-30-2006 Finished Oil Man's stage, added challenge names, and the expectations of each. Downloaded Roll, added her to the playable characters list. 0.2 06-27-2006 Organized items, enemies, bosses and such into separate categories for easier access. Finished up chapters 3 and 4. Added small layout changes. 0.0 06-25-2006 started FAQ because there are no other FAQ's out and available at the current moment. Listed bosses, number of packs, characters and info, and basic layout. I Introduction Information II Story III Controls IV Characters V New Style Walkthrough Prologue: Proto Eye (Ch0) Chapter 1: Cut Man (Ch1) Chapter 2: Bomb Man (Ch2) Chapter 3: Ice Man (Ch3) Chapter 4: Fire Man (Ch4) Chapter 5: Oil Man (Ch5) Chapter 6: Elec Man (Ch6) Chapter 7: Time Man (Ch7) Chapter 8: Guts Man (Ch8) Wily Castle 1: Yellow Devil (Wily1) Wily Castle 2: CWU-01P (Wily2) Wily Castle 3: Clone Robot (Wily3) Wily Castle 4: Dr. Wily (Wily4) VI Challenges VII Items, Blocks, and Stuff VIII Enemy Listing + IX Boss strategies X Facts, Secrets, Other things XI Legal Info, Special Thanks, and Royal Salutes I- Introduction Information ------------------------------ Hello, my name is Darklink42 and this is my first walkthrough. I choose to do this walkthrough as my first because of the lack of any other on the most useful website I've found. GameFAQs has been helping me through the rough spots of games for many years, and this game being as difficult as it is, I'd like to give back. So, here's a little on this game. The Mega Man series has been around since the long gone days of the NES. Back then it was famed for its unrelenting difficulty and the precision platforming that made it unique. It told the story of a teenage robot who embarked on a quest to stop a raving madman from using his brethren robots for dire purposes. Since then, many more games in the series have been made, and while the bosses got sillier and the platformer died, the Blue Bomber just keeps coming back for more. This is a throwback to the original, essentially a remix of the roots of the series. And while it may have that cutesy, chibi look, make no mistake this game still presents quite a bit of challenge. And it even throws the original style in just in case veterans of the series want a little nostalgia. So without further ado, here's my walkthrough for Mega Man Powered Up. II- Story ------------------ The year 20XX. With the advancement of science humans are able to create industrial humanoid robots. A helper robot by the name of "Mega" lived peacefully in the labs of the foremost authority on robotics, Dr. Light. Until one day... III- Controls ------------------- Actually the controls are pretty simple. X and O both jump where Square and Triangle shoot by default. Start will take you to the abilities menu and Select will take you to the options menu with the cursor automatically on save. When you do get other character's powers, the two shoulder buttons will let you switch between them with out pausing. So, to recap X, O: Jump Triangle, Square: shoot Right and Left Shoulder: Switch Abilities (Once unlocked) Start: Abilities Menu Select: Options Menu IV Characters ------------------- Mega Man (Mega): Originally a helper robot for Dr. Light in his laboratory, Mega was upgraded to Mega Man to stop Dr. Wily's evil plan to take over the world using Dr. Light's other robots. Mega Man is a kind and caring robot and is the basis for all of the other robots made by Dr. Light. He uses his trademark arm buster cannon to shoot through to victory. It's also modified so that he can absorb the powers of the other robots he's defeated. Once upgraded, it also has the power to charge shots. Signature move: Buster cannon shot/charge shot Special ability: None/slide Rolling Cutter: Sends out a flying pair of cutters in a wide arc that will go through walls. Super Arm: I hate this ability so much...all it does it let you pick up Guts blocks. That's all there is, nothing more or less. And if there are no Guts blocks, you're SOL. Ice Slasher: Fire's an icy shot that will freeze most opponents and also lava shooters. Hyper Bomb: Throws a bomb that bounces three times and explodes. This is still my favorite and most accurate attack. Fire Storm: Shoot a fiery wall outwards, equal to your height. Also surrounds you with a ring of fire. (Johnny Cash kicks ass). Thunder Beam: Shoot three beams outwards, a large one forwards, and two smaller ones up and down. Time Slow: Slow down time. Useful for getting through those hard to reach places Oil Slider: Creates a puddle of oil which can be used as a land mine, or can be rode skateboard style. Roll: Another helper robot, she is essentially Dr. Light's second child. She stays in the lab to assist Dr. Light while Mega Man goes out to fight. She is good at cleaning and fixing robots and has a secret crush on Mega Man. (Roll is downloadable via the MMweb function under Construction. Simply go to Connect, Download, and Special. Scroll to the bottom and download "Roll refuses to lose!" She uses a broom with a special two slash attack. It requires that you get close to enemies but is particularly devastating to bosses if you can get the second swing in.) Dr. Thomas Light: The "father' of all the major robots, he is the head authority on all things robotic. He is deeply devoted to finding harmony between robots and humans. Dr. Wily: An evil genius who studied and graduated at the same school Dr. Light did. He has stolen and re-programmed a bunch of Dr. Light's robots in an effort to take over the world. Not the smartest when it comes to fighting but brilliant with robots. His trademark laugh is feared the world over for its annoying frequency. Cut Man: A robot created by Dr. Light for lumber cutting. The cutters on his head are made of ceramic titanium and can be thrown like a boomerang. He has a strong sense of family. Signature move: Rolling Cutter Special Ability: Wall jump "Cutting it up!" Guts Man: A construction/land development robot, Guts Man is strong enough to pick up huge boulders with just one arm. He is made of a super sturdy alloy, and is dedicated to the job over anything else. Signature move: Super arm Special ability: Guts block Generation "Ready!" Ice Man: Specifically made to explore the South Pole, he then took up a job in a frozen goods warehouse. Ice man obviously has the ability to control ice. He is a dedicated soldier, though he seems to have multiple personalities as he thinks he's both a Commander and a soldier. Signature move: Ice Slasher Special ability: Iced enemy steps "Reporting for duty!" Bomb Man: Another construction type robot, Bomb man is the demolition crew half of the team that was he and Guts Man. He excels at explosives and delights in them whenever he can. Signature move: Hyper bomb Special ability: Precision Bombing "Bombs!" Fire Man: A trash combustion robot, curiously southern accented. He's obviously powered by flames. If the flame on his head goes out, he loses some of that power. He's hardcore about justice and everything he does is oriented on that principle. Signature move: Fire Storm Special ability: Snow melt, unscathed by Lava, weakened by water "Really Cookin'!" Elec Man: Handles electricity in power plants. Quick and nimble, he is also cocky and sure of himself. If anyone in this game is stereotypical in regards to anime, it would be him. Signature move: Thunder Beam Special ability: Elec block power up "Energize!" Time Man: New to this game, he is one of two new bosses that never appeared in the original and can only be seen and played in New Style. He's an experiment in time travel manipulation and can control it quite well. Signature move: Time Slow Special ability: Hands of time "Time's Up!" Oil Man: The other new robot, he is a lubing robot. (Insert your own dirty thoughts). His oil works on any machine. More concerned with style than actual fighting. Signature move: Oil Slider Special ability: Oily Feet "It's showtime!" Proto Man: Found later in the game, he is the basis of Mega Man. Unfortunately, he's terribly unstable due to the nuclear reactor in his core. This makes him weaker than others but he makes up for that with superior firepower. V- New Style Walkthrough -------------------------- ((Please note that for the most part I'm not going to be doing a walkthrough on the Easy mode. If you need help with that, then you shouldn't be playing the game. The only real notable differences are essentially that the harder gaps are made simpler by little first aid type blocks and the enemies are slow, if not downright weak. I will cover the enemies, but that's about it. Easy mode should be for practice and getting the hang of the game. Not hard to get through at all. I also will only briefly touch on Hard mode. It's a challenge that I've only started to scratch the surface of and I think I'll leave it to someone else to write a walkthrough for it In regards to alternate paths, if and when you take one, and need help getting the rest of the way through, simply control-F and search for the capital letter of the beginning of the characters name with parenthesis, such as (C) for Cut Man.)) Prologue: Proto Eye (Lv0) "We've got a problem!" ------------------------------- This is the first mission of the game and it is designed to teach you controls and such. It doesn't matter who you're playing or on what difficulty, the level does not change. The scene opens with the narrator setting the scene. Roll comes on as klaxons blare and you run over to the giant screen. Wily will appear and inform you of his "sudden" plan to take over the world. He'll blast out of the screen, laugh at you and talk a little trash before flying away. And this is the start of the level. You cannot attack until after you talk to Dr. Light. So for right now you're Mega. Go forward and you'll come to a platform which you can jump over. Soon you'll see your first enemy, a Spine. Enemy: Spine This is a little, spiky ground scooter robot. On easy he'll just go back and forth slowly. On Normal he'll speed up whenever you're on the same level of ground that it is. On hard, it'll constantly go fast. On any difficulty it will be stunned for a while with the buster cannon, and destroyed with any other weapon. Leap over the Spine and there will be another one on a larger set of ground. Run and jump over it as it approaches. If you do get hit, jump up and grab the mini health on the platform and continue on. You'll see a ladder, which you can climb by pushing Up when you're in front of it. Climb the ladder and enter the lab. A cutscene will follow and Mega will offer to help Dr. Light. Mega will be transformed and dubbed Mega Man. Yay! Onward to the second half. Go forward and you'll quickly come upon two new enemy types. Enemy: Octo Battery This is another simple enemy, but one that can be tricky at certain points. They only move in one given direction, either up and down, or left and right. It takes 5 shots by the buster cannon to defeat one. On Hard they will be faster, on Easy and Normal they will be slower and more predictable. Enemy: Beak Here's your first shielded enemy. It only takes one shot to kill them, but they have a shield on. The trick is to wait for it to open and then shoot it. On Easy it will fire two shots, Normal three, and hard four. Also on Hard it will open more frequently. As you defeat enemies you'll notice they drop a variety of things. The items they drop are as follows: Item: Score Ball This item gives you 100 points at the end of the level for each one you pick up. Don't go out of your way to pick them up, it's not really worth it. You'll end up with around ten per level anyways. Item: Small Health This is a little yellow capsule, and will restore around one and a half bars of health. Only go after these if you need the life or it's prior to a boss battle. Item: Large Health These are giant yellow jar capsules. Enemies only drop these when you're low on health and they restore at least six bars of health. Be sure to keep an eye out for these, as they often signal a boss battle or hard spot. Item: Small Power Capsule These are small blue capsules and they are for restoring power to your used abilities when you have them. Confusingly, enemies drop these a lot, even when you have no powers. Again, only go out of your way for them if you need them. Item: Large Power Capsule Same as the large Healths except they restore power to abilities. They are they giant blue jar capsules. Again, look for these near boss battle areas. Item: Life Heart You won't see these too often, but every now and then an enemy will drop one or you'll see it in a level. These give you one extra life. Item: Yashichi I'm not sure what this looks like in the game, I've yet to see one. It restores full health and power though. Shoot the Octo battery until it dies, and then shoot the Beak as soon as it opens. Jump up and wait for the Octo battery to go to the other side and kill it. Climb down the ladder a little but don't jump off. Instead, aim to the right and fire at the beak just off screen. Go forward and kill the next Octo battery. If for some reason you took damage, climb the ladder and get the small health then go back down. Keep an eye on the beak though. Shoot it once you go back down. Wait out the Octo until it goes over head, jump up and shoot it if you want. You'll be right on top of another beak, so wait until it's not firing, jump down and kill it. Climb the ladder, kill the beak, and jump down. You'll see a glowing ball surrounded by a cone of energy. Fret not, for it is a replay flag. Item: Replay Flag This is you're get out of jail free card, so to speak. Should you die at any point in the level after you touch one, you'll return to this spot. But beware, should you run out of lives, you will have to go to the beginning. Look, it's the original 8-bit Mega Man smiling at you, how cute...Anyways, go forward and prepare for the easiest boss in the game. Boss: Proto Eye Get used to that design, you'll be seeing it again in smaller more heavily armored form. For now though, this guy's a push over on any difficulty. He only has two attacks. The first is his jump, but he doesn't aim it, only leaps about in a predictable fashion. If he gets too close, run under him as he goes up and continue. The other only happens on Normal and Hard. On Normal, when he reaches one side of the screen, he'll turn around, charge up, and fire a single ball of energy. Duck it, leap over it, it doesn't really matter. Shame on you if you get hit. On hard, he'll stop at random intervals and fire three, but with the same charge up. Simply get under the eye and you'll never get hit. On Easy he'll just jump up and down in place. There really isn't much for strategy with this guy. Shoot until he dies. The trick though, is that you wait until he's not flashing to shoot again. Even though you're shots don't bounce off, you may be frustrated to find that you're not killing him any faster by spamming buster cannon shots. The truth is, he only takes damage, as with every other boss, when he is recovered from taking damage. After that, he's simple. Shoot him anywhere on the body and he takes damage. Avoid his leap and his pathetic energy shot, and he'll be gone in less then a minute. Tada! You're done with the first level! Go grab a drink and celebrate. Or just watch as Mega Man finds himself back in the lab with Dr. Light and Roll. They'll inform you that the others are going nuts and ask you to help them. A screen will come down and you'll be presented with the option of choosing who you want to take down first. From here on out it's up to you where you want to go, but for reasons that will become obvious, I always go after Cut Man first. Chapter 1: Cutting Up, Breaking Down. (Lv1) "I'll take care of this!" When you get into the level, you'll see two guts blocks right in front of you. Don't worry about blocks like this, they are movable, but not at this point in time. I'll describe them and their use at a later point in time. Anyways, head forward, hopping on top of the blocks and then up onto the higher platform. Be careful because as soon as you reach the end of this platform, you'll be encountering a new enemy. Enemy: Blader Bladers are one of the most annoying spawnable bad guys next to Pengs and Killer Bullets (Both of which are featured in later levels). Fortunately they are predictable and easily dealt with. They will spawn at a determined point on the edge of the screen and move straight forward until they see you. At this point they dive down directly at you, usually at an angle from above. They only take one hit to kill, but don't miss as they are not the easiest enemy to dodge thanks to the height advantage they have on you. The thing about these and other flying enemies is that if they miss you, they will crash into a wall behind you and obliterate themselves. These, however, are unique in that they will follow you if they can. At least on Normal and Hard modes. Shoot straight ahead, leap down to the next platform and shoot again to get the drop on the next Blader. Repeat the process with the next set, only this time when you jump down, watch out for the Blader that will appear above where you landed and then the next one shortly after that from the same height. Leap up and over the Guts Blocks ahead of you and shoot the beak as it fires. Go to the ladder and climb it, or shoot the beak aiming at you then climb, which ever you prefer. At the top of the ladder are two more beaks, and a Guts block. Jump onto it and fire at the top beak first, then the lower one. If you time it right, you can get both in the same jump. Climb the ladder on the left. Here you're going to want to shoot the beak on the lowest level first, then the next highest one, even before you go across the gap. Once that's done, shoot the third one. If for some reason you got shot, jump from the very edge of the second step across the gap and you'll be able to get the two small healths on the platform. Don't worry about falling into the gap, it will just take you back down a level and you can climb back up. Head for the ladder to the right. Up the ladder one screen you'll catch a glimpse of your very first construction pack. Item: Construction Pack/ Scenery Pack These packs are extra items new to the game. They give you new tools and sets to work with when building your own stage. Collecting them is a challenge in its own right and will require the help of the other robots at times. For now, you can't get at this one so skip it and head farther up the ladder. When you first get into the screen, stop and shoot the two beaks from the ladder, then proceed to the left and up yet another friggin' ladder. (Get used to them, there are a lot more where these came from. Cut Man does cut trees for a living you know.) You'll see yet more beaks here, so stay under the ledge you just climbed under, and try to shoot the beak straight ahead of you. Then, cross to the other side, and shoot the one attached to the ledge, leaping over its last shot as need be. You don't need to shoot the third one if you don't want to, but you can if that's your thing. Climb the ladder again, and you'll be at the top of this tree. Right in front of you is a curious looking machine, and it's in the background. Is it harmless, will it attack? You're darn right it will. As you walk towards the machine, it will proceed to spit cutters at you. Enemy: Cutter Machine Though technically not an enemy as it can't move or hurt you by touching it, it can attack none the less. As long as you are in a certain range, this machine will spam cutters at you and will take a good chunk of health per hit. The cutters will also bounce on higher difficulties and even give chase for a time. The trick here is to let it shoot one cutter, walk under that one as it bounces, and then keep walking forward. It will fire a second, and possibly a third if it's not off screen fast enough, but it's pretty easy to dodge them once you're moving. Keep heading right and you'll see the first replay flag of the level. Hit it and jump up and over the Gut's blocks. Do not fall in the hole, this is a pit. Leap over the gap and stay on the higher level. Study the layout of this area before moving on, as there will be two more just like it, only with enemies. Leap up to the top the steps and you'll be very close to yet another new enemy. Enemy: Flea These are the most annoying little buggers anywhere. They will single minded leap at you for as long as they are on screen, and they are damn hard to shoot when on the ground as they are just low enough that the buster cannon shot goes over them. Green, fast, and obnoxious, watch out for them at all costs. As soon as you leap onto the high platform again, two fleas will appear. Neither of them can get up to your platform at first jump, but it is a good idea to try and shoot them out of the air before heading lower. Be careful if they jump and try to be out of the way when they land. Shoot them just as they land, in the air, or just before they leap. One shot each should do it. Head up the stairs and repeat the process. Only this time, there will be three. One may even land on the top platform, so shoot carefully and quickly. The third one won't appear right away, instead waiting until you go lower and then sailing over the steps and landing right on you. Another simple way to get rid of them is to quite simply wait on the top platform until they leap off to their dooms. For the most part they can't leap high enough to reach you and are stupid enough to leap off to the left, deftly committing suicide while you march on through. Head past the last of the stairs, and kill the Octo battery in front of you. Head up the ladder, kill the second Octo if you so choose. You'll be in a room with three Octo batteries, a Gut's block, and a large health. Now here are the choices you have. If you're low on health, you can wait out the first Octo, leap up onto the Guts block, head down the ladder and kill the second Octo and collect the health, or you can wait out the first Octo, kill it while it's opposite you, kill the third Octo and move on. Either way, head up the ladder when you're through you’ll see yet another Construction pack up here, this time far across an impassable gap in an otherwise empty room. The creators really love to tease. Keep going up, and you'll see how you could get it if only you were better equipped. Here you'll be in a room with four Octos, one right in front of you and easy to kill. The other three, are not so simple. Add to that a very tiny passageway that you cannot get into, and you're probably wondering how in the world you're supposed to get that pack. The answer to that lies a little later on in the game, so we'll come back to it. Anyways, there seems to be an Octo stuck in a two square area and he's not going up and down. Now you could try and kill him, but inevitably you'll only take damage, and that's not what you need to be doing. Instead, wait until it's on one side and then leap up through the clear area and on to the appropriate platform. But beware. Once you get up there, you'll have to factor in the third and fourth Octos. They are just high enough up to fool you into thinking you can under them, but the third Octo will hit you if you're not careful. Fortunately the fourth one is going the wrong way, making it easy to jump over the third and run for the ladder. Kill the offending Octos if need be, and head up the ladder. Once you get to the top, don't move. The Octo at the top is keeping a secret and shortly after you arrive on screen, it'll show you. This one moves up and down and if you had gone forward, you'd have jumped right into him. Instead, wait until he gets down to your level and blast him. Wait for the other one to get out of the way, blast it if you feel like it, and head up. Look, yet another construction pack on a ledge that you can possibly reach guarded by two easy to kill octos. But you'll find that once you kill them, even Mega Man has his limits. So head up the ladder instead. Now you see that it's guarded by a Guts block. Great...Leap over the gap once the Octo above you is on the other side, blast the one going up and down, then hop on the Guts block and kill the one going left and right. Leap back over the gap and up to the ladder, and climb it as well, paying attention to the third Octo. And now you're at the top of another tree. Here's yet another Cutter machine, and some curios Bomb blocks stacked in such a way that you can't access the ladder. Well, you've now just seen your first alternate path. Each level has one for one other character that you can unlock later. Obviously, this is Bomb Man's path, and you can explore it at a later date. Bomb Man's Alternate Path Almost as soon as you get up here, you'll see a life heart, surrounded by Bomb blocks. If you're hell bent on getting it, throw a Bomb straight forward fast (Hold the right button as you do. It should land and blow up the bottom two blocks, giving a wonderfully bad gap to jump through. Aim for it and hope you make it, that's the best you get. Good luck getting back though, that's the harder part. Head up the ladder either way. Up here you'll see a Sniper Joe and some Bomb blocks, so get rid of the Sniper Joe first. Then, throw a bomb up and try to get it to bounce into the gap between the tow stacks. It should detonate all four at the same time. Destroy the next Sniper and the one after him. Hop up on the upper platforms after destroying the Bomb blocks again, and jump forward. Rain bombs down on the final sniper, the chuck a bomb over to the ledge regular jump style, then hop over yourself and collect the Construction pack Construction Pack Obtained: Bomb Extra #4 Jump down the gap and lay a bunch of bombs at your feet to get rid of the stack of Bomb blocks in your way, then climb down again. You'll be very near to the end of the stage, near where the Flying Shells start. End of Bomb Man's Alternate Route For now, head forward and dodge the cutters. Go up the steps, and watch out for three more Bladers who will appear in front of you, two at you're current level and one below you. Keep going forward and you'll see a life heart guarded by another Guts block. Getting annoying, isn't it? You'll also see two ladders, one going up, the other going down. DO NOT leap for the top one. You can't reach it, and if you fall down the gap, it will hurt. (B) Go down the ladder. It's at this point that I should point out that you can shortcut going down a ladder by pressing the jump button at any point in the climbing. It's not recommended however, that you do this when you can't see what is below you. The phrase "Look before you leap" comes readily to mind. And you'll shortly get the gist of what I'm talking about. Head to the bottom of the ladder and observe a curious enemy. Enemy: Flying Shell This is another shielded enemy, and like the Beaks, they cannot be hurt unless they are open and about to fire. Unlike the beaks though, they can and do move. Not only that but instead of firing one shot at a time in a spread, they do away with accuracy in favor of shooting one shot in every direction before moving on. Wait until they open the shell, and then shoot them. Head for the nearest exit though, because where that one came from, there will be more. Wait until the Flying Shell goes away, and head for the ladder. Don't fear, it can't shoot you if you don't jump, though it can hit you if it passes over you, as you're just a little too tall to fit under it. Make use of the ladder drop, and run for the next ladder as fast as you can, or shoot the Flying Shell before it gets under you. You'll see another Construction pack, but this one is over a bed of spikes so don't think you can get it just yet, because you can't. You will however, not that there are snow blocks near it and these will play a role later. Head down the ladder, DO NOT drop off it quick style of or you'll land right on the spike directly under you. Instead, head a little down the ladder and drop off while directing Mega Man towards the land. There are some Guts blocks here, but they don't do anything, so don't worry about them. Go down the last ladder you'll have to climb in this level. Head to the right, but be wary. Ahead of you lies the game's equivalent of a mini boss and an item ball rolled into one. Enemy: Big Eye Like the Proto Eye, only smaller and more armored. The only weakness this thing has is its enormous eye. Trouble is, it closes it when it's perfect range to get shot. It only has the ability to leap at you, either a low leap, or a high one. In Easy mode, it doesn't even get that, it just sits in one place and jumps up and down until you kill it or get bored and run under it. It takes about nine hits with the buster cannon to defeat. The easiest way to kill it, because you'll want to should you be low on health, is to run away slightly, turn, and shoot at its eye until it gets too close. Don’t' be afraid to spam shots at it if you're aiming is bad. Should you go so far back as to run into the Guts block, wait for one of its large jumps and run under the thing. Continue until dead and it will usually drop a large health. Once that's done, head for the quadruple doors, and hit the replay flag. And now, here's the boss. Boss: Cut Man Right away you'll get the impression of claustrophobia. There are two Guts blocks right under you and they are taking a huge amount of floor space. Add to that Cut Man starts on a lower level, and this seems a lot harder then it is. Truth be told, Cut man is one of the easier bosses to kill, as would be evidenced by the simplicity of his level. When you start, Cut man will appear and claim that you are the bad robot. Mega Man pleads with him, but it's no use. Cue Cut Man's tag line and start up move, and the fight is on. Cut man has some very basic moves that you should be aware of and in each boss battle I will spell out each and give a dodging strategy for each before I go on to the boss. Cut man's first move is simple. He jumps. A lot. He jumps so much, one almost has to wonder why he's not Jump Man. He'll try to leap onto you to inflict damage, and his jumps, while always to the same height, will very in distance greatly. It's important to pay attention to his angling, and anticipate where he'll land. After that, go under him and shoot from the other side, and you've already half beaten him. Cut man also has the cutters atop his head, and this is where things get interesting. Sometimes he'll announce when he's going to through them by glowing and clanging his fists together, other times he'll just jump slightly and throw them without warning. In the first case, simply leap over the cutters the first time, and then immediately run towards Cut Man. This may sound stupid, but more often than not, shortly after throwing them, Cut Man will leap up into the air to catch them instead of making you leap over them again. On the other hand, when he leaps up and throws them, there's not a lot you can do if you don't see it coming. This is the only move you're likely to take damage from, so don't worry too much about it. Lastly, Cut Man, like all the other bosses, has a super move that you will never get to perform, even if and when you do play as that character. In this case, Cut Man will do the same thing as if he was going to throw a Rolling Cutter, but he'll glow more brightly. He'll then shout "Down the Middle!" and then throw an oversized cutter at you. Leap over this, then chase after it. What this does is lets you be behind the Super Cutter when it comes back down. And it will. Now, as to strategy, Cut Man may actually take a life out of you before you get him down. The first thing he's going to do, before anything else, is leap up onto the Guts Blocks with you. Here you have two options. You can run towards him and pray he doesn't land on you before you get off, which does sometimes work, or you can wait close to the door, shoot him, and run under him when he leaps again. Either way, get to the ground level as fast as you can, because there is more room there to maneuver. If Cut Man chooses to throw the Rolling Cutter at you form atop the Guts blocks, leap over it and run towards the blocks and he'll leap over you. Turn around and shoot him once. I'd like to once again point out that the only time you'll deal damage to any boss is when he's not flashing or recovering from an attack. So time you're shots instead of spamming them. This will help you keep a better eye on the boss’s movement. Keep running under him, dodging his Rolling cutter attacks as need arises and generally dealing damage to him. Try not to get caught up against or on top of the Guts blocks, it is hard to get away from him there without taking damage. When he gets near half health or so, be on the look out for the super move. When you see it coming get on top of the Guts blocks. Watch for it and as it comes over you, leap off towards Cut Man, but as soon as you land, run the other way to avoid the blade coming down on your head. The good thing about this super attack s that it clears the blocks out of the way, giving you maximum maneuvering room. From here on out, it's the same fight, but with the occasional Super Cutter thrown in for good measure. A note about when a boss is glowing or doing a super move. You cannot damage them in that state. You just have to wait out the move and continue injuring them after the fact. After you finally defeat him, he'll fly off a ways and if he's close enough to a wall, comically flatten into it before slumping on the ground and exploding. In this case, you didn't have a choice of weapons, so you automatically get to befriend Cut Man. In the future, and you will face him again, Guts Man's power works the best on him. Mega Man will celebrate and then ask if Cut Man is ok. Chapter 2: Big Party Blowout (Lv2) "Time for a big bang." ------------------------------------- You'll find yourself at the selection screen, and there's Cut Man all battered but in one piece. Dr. Light and Roll will commend you on not killing him, and a message will inform you that you can access him and his challenges should you feel like it. I'll cover individual strategies later in this FAQ, for now stick with Mega Man and go to Bomb Man. Once again, personal preference may lead you to choose a different one, and that's fine, but in this guide I'm going through the bosses in order of their weaknesses. However, in each boss description I will also describe how to kill them with only the buster cannon as well. Welcome to one of the coolest sounding levels in the game. As with most levels, you'll start out on a flat, enemy-less area. Head forward, but watch out because not three steps away from the steps, fleas will jump out at you. Watch them carefully, as they land in really awkward places, making it hard to shoot them without getting hit. Continue up the steps, and there will be two more fleas, take care of them as they appear. Go past the Guts block, and you'll see a curious pair of platforms at the bottom of the screen. Miscelaneous: Count Bomb This is neither an enemy nor an item, but it is unique enough to warrant a side note. In the challenges later on, you'll encounter walking versions of these, but essentially they are simply platforms that countdown from three and explode shortly after hitting zero. Time your jumps carefully. As fun as walking across the bombs is, take the higher platform and jump over them, land on them to see what they do and get a feel for the timing if you want. Just don't get stuck on them when they hit zero it's a life off. Go up the stairs and you'll encounter a new enemy. Enemy: Bombomb Curious, seems that a certain name from Nintendo went to this lame enemy. Essentially, all this thing has the ability to do is jump into the air and explode. It's easy enough to hit when it does this, and you'll only ever see this enemy type in this level at this one spot. Still, if the hit is not timed right, it will split into four mini bombs and spread fire to both sides of where it explodes. All you really need to do is shoot the Bombomb before it has the chance to explode. Or if you're feeling unlucky, wait for it to explode and then leap over before the next one comes up. Really though it's easier by far to shoot them. Either way, continue past three of them and leap onto the Count Bomb and then onto the higher platform. Go a little forward and you'll see what will become a fairly common enemy unlike the Bombombs Enemy: Screw Bomber Dirty thoughts aside, this thing is a pain in the ass when grouped in sets of three or more. Essentially they sit on either the ceiling or the floor. When on the floor, it's impossible to shoot them until they pop up. On the ceiling, if there is a higher roof, you can aim shots to hit it without it ever going off. Either way when it does pop out, it will fire twice. On easy it will fire three shots, five on Normal and _ on Hard. Try to kill them before they pop up. In this case, the high road is suddenly not so appealing. Instead take the low road and start spamming shots into the distance. With all luck, you'll destroy each of them before they get the chance to fire. Should they get a shot off, jump over it and keep moving. Head for the ladder and up you go. Look at that, another Construction pack. And it's guarded by three beaks. Keep climbing and you'll notice that the ladder isn't even blocked off. So shoot the two Beaks in the way and climb down. Take out each of the Beaks in turn and then hop down to get the first Construction pack Construction pack obtained: Fine pack 5 #25 Head back up the ladder, kill the beak near you and watch out for the top one. It can hit you from up there. Climb the ladder up and hit the replay flag. Head forward and meet Sniper Joe. Enemy: Sniper Joe Why is he Sniper Joe, instead of some nameless robot? Who knows? He doesn't even snipe really. Either way, don't even bother trying to shoot through the shield he's got, it won't work. Unless of course you're really gutsy and want to get real close to him. He'll wait a bit, maybe jump up once, and then fire between 3 and 5 shots, timed out in such a way that you can actually jump over or between every one. This is when you're supposed to shoot him. If you're in a good spot, you can usually spam off enough Buster cannon shots to kill him before the bullet reaches you at all. It takes four shots to kill a Sniper Joe Defeat the Sniper Joe and continue on. Almost immediately you'll run into a beak, so kill it too. Go forward, kill the next beak before it gets a chance to fire, but wait a second before going up the stairs and read carefully about the enemy you're about to face. Enemy: Killer Bullet Single-handedly the cheapest enemy in the game, you'll hate these every time you see one. Very similar to the Bullet Bills of Mario, these bullets only travel along a straight line, never deviating. What makes them annoying is that they keep coming for a given distance, and often appear right in a crucial timed jumping spot. Adding to the aggravation is that fact that even after you kill them, they can still hurt you. See, unlike all of the other enemies, when these bullets die, they explode and this explosion can hurt you as well. And if you're really unlucky, you'll hit it right as you're over a pit, cutting a crucial jump short. I hate them, and you will too. Trust me on this. There is one upside to them however. For all their annoyance, they are one of the few enemies that will drop an extra life when killed, and they tend to do so with odd frequency. Okay, now that you've been briefed, head up to the top of the stairs and start firing. Keep firing as you jump down, and kill the beak. Wait out the bullet, or take your chances and kill it before it reaches you and repeat at the next set of steps. Leap to the ladder and climb an your out of the Bullet area, thankfully. You'll see a life heart, and it's not even blocked off. Well, head onward, jumping over the Spine. You could waste your Rolling Cutter killing it, but I recommend you save them for the boss eventually. I play conservatively with abilities, but if you think you can get enough Power capsules then by all means feel free to use it as much or as little as you want. On the other hand, it's a good idea to kill the Spine guarding the heart, because it's hard not taking damage and getting the heart without doing so. Head up the stairs and then the ladder. Watch out for the spine and leap up onto the Count Bomb. Head up the ladder on the right, and get the Super Power capsule. Jump to the next ladder and climb it. Ice Man's Alternate Path To get up here, ,the first thing you're going to have to do is freeze a Flying Shell and use it as a stepping stone to reach the ladder. From here, there really is no particular strategy involved except freezing enemies and using them as platforms. Jump quickly but cautiously, and if you fall you can just go back and try it again. The tricky one is the bombombs, so try to keep the platforms near even as you go, otherwise you'll hit the ceiling and be unable to progress. Eventually you'll get over to the Construction pack waiting for you. Construction Pack Obtained: Common Pack 3 # 15 Drop down and you'll be at the end of the long gauntlet run. End Ice Man's Alternate Path Watch out here, because you'll be in an area with Count Bomb platforms over spikes, and constantly generating Flying Shells. Try to shoot the Shell before they get to fire, and try also not to get stuck on a Count Bomb while doing so. For some freakish reason, if you should happen to get hit by the Shell and fall in the spike, you’ll still be alive. But move your ass, because once the invincibility ends, you're instantly dead if you're still touching them. Get past the platforms, and leap over the Spine. Kill the last Flying Shell, and go onward to another Sniper Joe. (I) take out this one and keep forward, hitting the replay flag and heading down the ladder. You'll see two fleas staring right at you in the next room, but instead of charging forward, simply stay on the ladder and fire off to the left. You'll probably hit one of them, and the other will get stuck under you. Jump off to the side, deal with the flea, and drop down the gap. You'll see yet more unique blocks, but once again you can't do anything with them at the moment so take the low road. Destroy each Octo as you get to it, and gather whatever free items you can get. Leap over the Guts blocks and watch out for the Sniper Joe. Kill him or leave him and head for the ladder. Watch out for the Octo and keep going down. You’ll find two more right below you, so wait until they are on either side and either quick drop or kill them. Kill the Octo dead in front of you and nab the health if need be. Go down the ladder, wait for the octos to clear out, and quick drop to the bottom. Kill the Sniper Joe and head through the Quad doors to another Boss battle. Drop through the door on the floor and here we go. Boss: Bomb Man This boss is a ramp up in difficulty depending mostly on whether you're trying to befriend him or just kill him. His attacks are fairly predictable, the only trouble comes with his jumps. His attacks are as follows: Bomb Man has even better hops than Cut Man. He can go from one side of the stage to the other with very little effort. This gets annoying because he also seems to be able to aim where he lands, often leading to you getting caught under him no matter where you stand or run to. After that, he gets bombs. And lots of them. Fortunately for you, he only ever throws one at a time, and they don't travel any farther then they are thrown. They can also be detonated by shooting them. Be careful though, as they also make an effective block for your shots. He’ll often throw one first, then leap at you. Your best bet is to get close to the bomb or shoot it while you’re moving. Either way, try not to get caught in the blast. His Super Move is a giant bomb, which takes some small time to charge up. He'll say "I'll show you" and hide for a second before whipping out a huge bomb and chucking it at you. If you're too far away, it will explode where it lands, and there's no way to dodge it. If you're close to him, it will bounce and you can run under it if you're good. Stand close to him until he lets go, then run a little ways away and run under it during its first bounce. After that, it doesn't get enough clearance and you're going to get hit, irregardless of where you're standing. If you're fighting him with only the Buster cannon, be prepared. Since you can't blow him backwards with the cannon, he'll be able to keep moving towards you. You're best bet is to watch carefully where he's jumping and when he's jumping. Also watch out for the bombs he throws and try to guess where the explosion will be. It's easy to get caught up in where the bomb is and forget the boss, but that's when he'll jump on you. You can shoot the bomb to make it explode, but for some reason, that makes Bomb Man jump even more then usual. When he uses the Big Bomb, stick close until he throws it and try to dodge the bomb as best as possible. That thing hurts a lot when you do get hit by it. If you're using Cut Man's power, which Bomb Man is weak against, this fight will be over a lot faster. Every time you hit him, he'll get blown backwards, or sometimes towards you. It will also do double damage and as an added bonus, it cuts the bombs in half, nullifying their explosion. Aim carefully, and be careful that he doesn't just jump over you're attack. Either way that you beat him, the fight is over and you've won. On to Level three. Chapter 3: Frozen Swimming Pool (Lv3) "Stop and Freeze!" ---------------------------------------- As the name implies, you'll have you're first encounter with water in this level. And really, it won't play that important a role until later. Don’t' worry about drowning, or anything like that, this is a robot we're talking about. Instead, you get to encounter a new enemy almost right off the bat. Enemy: Peng More like pain. These are damn hard to hit in most cases, no matter how prepared you are. They are also the weirdest enemy I've ever seen. They are essentially penguins with rotors attached to their beaks. They don't shoot, all they do is fly at you. But they fly in that annoying up and down fashion that most flying enemies do. Ideally, firing in a straight line down the middle should work, but often with these guys its better just to aim carefully and spam shots from there. Either way, get used to the Pengs, they don't stop until you get out of the water. The other thing to keep in mind about this level is that most of the platforms are icy, which means if you try and turn too suddenly, you'll flail about making you an easy target. Try to, if precision is required, make small jumps. Alright, now let's get started. First thing's first, head forward into the water and start blasting Pengs as they appear. You'll see platforms above you, with a life heart and even a Construction pack, but you can't get either until later, so just keep chugging forward. Just past the second block, two fleas will appear on the steps. Make quick work of them and continue on. You'll soon encounter yet another annoying type of enemy. Enemy: Crazy Razy This is by far the most obnoxiously hard to hit enemy. He loves to stay just out of range and punch you when you get too close or when he swoops down right over your head. He'll walk forward and separate at the torso, and when his legs fall away, he'll start flying well above your head. Shoot at his head only, destroying his legs does nothing. Two buster cannon shots does it. Kill this lame ass robot and fall down the hole, but stick to the left edge. You'll hopefully land on the ledge where there are two small healths and a third new enemy type. Enemy: Shield Guard Don't worry too much about these guys. They only go back and forth and never really attack. As soon as they go past, shoot at them from behind as their heavy shields up front prevent damage. Six hits will do in this robot. Anyway, kill the shield guard and head down the next hole. Hit the replay flag and head forwards. You'll soon come to a large gap and some curious blue platforms. But wait, they disappear and reappear with a curious sound accompanying each appearance. Time your jumps and make sure that when you jump on the next one that there is in fact a platform below you. If you miss, there is a Spine below you, you can kill it if you really feel like it. Head up the steps, and on to the Fire block. Wait out the shield guard and put a few shots in his back. You'll be at the next set of disappearing blocks. These ones are a little trickier. Once you get to the third one, watch behind you because that's where the next one will appear. Get on it, jump to the next one and head on down the line. There is a Construction pack in an extremely narrow passageway, but you can't get it just yet so fall down the pit instead. When you get down to the next level, you are not going to want to fall down. The next screen down is full of spikes. You'll also see another curious robot. Miscalaneous: Foot Holder This is another example of a platform that moves or does something, but is not exactly an enemy. These guys can't hurt you, but they can carry you across pits. On Easy, they move in a straight forward line. On Normal, they go back and forth in a diagonal pattern, going up and down as well. Time you're jumps well, there's nothing quite as humiliating as missing one as it's flying away. Wait for the Foot Holder to fly lower and hop on when you feel it's safe. Le it carry you to the other side and climb down the ladder. Drop down into the water, hit the replay flag, and head forward being aware that Pengs are going to be spawning soon. If you must, kill the Spines with Rolling Cutters and head onward. Go up the steps at the other side and hit the, curiously close to the last one, replay flag. You'll see a lava shooter below you and behind it a Super Health. Get it if you need it, but time your going carefully. Jump over the fire block and down the hole. In this next room, before doing anything, kill the Spine. Because you'll notice that there are two disappearing blocks, and when you try to cross them, you'll realize that they are just slow enough, and just far enough apart to make getting across difficult. All you can do is keep trying, you’ll get the timing eventually. Just be sure to leap from near the far left corner of the disappearing block, or you probably won't make it. Once you cross these, fall down the hole again. Fire Man's Alternate Path You'll land on some meltable blocks and as long as Fire Man has fire on his head, they will melt and reveal a pit for you to fall through. As soon as you land, you have the choice to run to the right and get the life heart, or fall through and keep going, either way is up to you. In this next area, there will be a water shooter and a Shield Guard. Melt the blocks, but before you fall through, jump back up and time out the water shooter. The best thing to do is to make sure you have fire at all times to melt blocks with. It will come in handy, though there will be lava shooters periodically to refresh you should you touch water anyways. Drop down, destroy the Shield Guard if you want, or just dodge it and continue onwards. If you've lost your fire, get it back now at the lava, then head upwards and melt the blocks in front of you. This is the fun part and it may take you a few times to get it. You're going to be hoping from block to block here, but don't wait too long or there won't be a block under you and you'll have to start over. But, there's a little trick to all this. The very last block is a vanishing one. So, the only way to get it is to time yourself correctly and hope it's still visible when you arrive. If not, try again. After that, it's not too hard. IF, however, you are finding it just too difficult here is another way. Al you'll have to do is melt the four blocks in your way, then drop down and lose your fire, then jump back up and proceed. The only thing to keep in mind is that the screen where the blocks were must never leave your field of view or the blocks will respawn. Tada, you've go the construction pack. Construction Pack Obtained: Common Pack 5 #17 Re-light your fire, then proceed forward past the melting blocks. There will be a water shooter here, do not let it hit you. You need your fire to get through the melting blocks. When melting these, press and hold the right button. If you don't melt the ones to the right, you're simply going to melt yourself right into the spikes. After that, just climb the ladder, and melt the blocks in your way. End Fire Man's Alternate Path Head over to the right, leap over the fire block and proceed with caution. There are footholds here, and spikes below all of them. It's not too hard to get across the up coming gaps, and you'll never have to leap between more than two, but you have to make sure that when you leap the Foothold you're shooting for is moving towards you. If you mis-tread, you'll have to go back and do it again sans one life. After this palm sweater, head across the flat area and down the hole. You'll be in an enemy-less area with a Construction pack blocked off by a curious looking block. Keep going Scooter, you'll come back for that one near the end of your adventure. Head down the next hole. As soon as you land, start firing and don't move. (F) A crazy razy will appear under you and if you don't move you'll be able to kill him without any trouble. Head forward, and watch out for the second one. Just go through the quad doors instead. And now you're about to face off with Ice Man. Boss: Ice Man This guy is a little lost in the head. Maybe it was all the time out in the South Pole with no one else, or perhaps it was fumes from the fridge. Either way, Ice Man seems to think he's both Commander and Grunt in a one man army. In comparison with Bomb Man, Ice man is fairly predictable, and the only way he's really going to kill you is if you time your jumps wrong, as you'll see. Ice man rarely jumps. Unlike his other brothers, he likes to stay firmly on the ground unless he's doing his second attack. But he's smart enough not to try and stomp you. Instead he'll rely, in similar fashion to how Mega Man fires, on firing three rounds of his Ice Slasher at a time. Sometimes they'll be in a straight line, sometimes they will come angled up or down. Either way he chooses to fire them, they are very easily dodged. Fire away at him while dodging, if you have the mind to do so. Ice Man's super move is confusing to me. It essentially drops a large icicle on the ground near the middle of the stage. This both prevents you from hitting anything behind it, but also prohibits Ice man from moving around which I find odd. He, unlike you however, can fire through it and will make good use of it. Simply continue leaping out of harm's way until it melts and return to business as usual. Fortunately, Ice Man is very predictable and the fight twill be over quickly once you have the pattern down. He'll move, fire three shots, then three more, and move again. If he gets overly close, leap over him and move to the other side. Be careful when you do leap over him, he will turn around and fire at you and you could land on his shots. Once you whittle his health down enough, he'll drop a giant icicle, either trapping himself behind it, or trapping both of you in close proximity. If he traps himself, just jump the shots as per normal, and resume firing when it melts. If he traps both of you, try to get past him when he gets too close and get over the icicle. Being near Ice Man will throw off your timing and usually only ends up getting you hurt. If you're using Ice Man's weakness against him, this is a shorter battle. He might not even get the chance to fire a shot. The only trick is to once again wait until he's recovered from getting blasted. Once that's done, even if you miss with the bomb, he'll very likely run right into it, genius that he is. This battle's over. Chapter 4: Ring of Fire (Lv4) "Time to burn the trash!" --------------------------------------- Another of my favorite levels, this one will give you your first opportunity to use a power to access secrets. To start with, head up the ladder to the left, wait for the screw bomber and then destroy it. Destroy the next one from the ladder and repeat one more time. See that Lava shooter? Well, if you switch to Ice Slasher and use it when the column is a little higher then you, you can use it as a platform to reach that life heart. Be warned that the freezing process only works for a short time, and if you take too long it will unfreeze. Continue right, nab the small Power capsule to replenish the shot you just used, and go up the ladder. When you get to the top you'll be seeing the first and only new enemy of this level. Enemy: Hot Head These guys can be a pain depending on where they are placed relative to where you are. They only have the ability to throw Tackle Fires at you, and that's all they need. The Tackle Fires are slightly capable of aiming themselves and if you're not careful they will hit you every time. Five buster cannon shots are enough to get rid of this guy. Enemy: Tackle Fire They don't really count as an enemy in my book, as they are usually generated by Hot Heads except in Fire Man's level. They just jump up or fly at you, although they do have, unlike other enemies, a limited homing ability which can result in a lot of hurting. Stand right on the ladder where you came up and destroy the Hot Head, he won't be able to hit you where you're standing. If you have been following this walkthrough in order, you have Ice Man's power and this will save you a small headache and nab you a Construction pack in the process. If you don't have Ice Man's power, head up the ladder to the right. If you do, get on the left side of the lava shooter and wait for it to go over your head a bit. Freeze it, hop on, and then up the ladder. Do the same thing with the next one. Don't worry about the Hot Head, once again he will be incapable of hitting you if you don't move. Climb the ladder and you have yourself a nifty Construction pack. Construction pack Obtained: Fine Pack 10 #30 If you took the hard way, you'll end up right under the Hot Head. Run out and shoot him after he throws the Tackle Fire, then hide under the ledge. Repeat until it's destroyed, then head up the ladder to the left. Either way you'll end up in the same place, so head forward. There will be a lava shooter right in front of you, freeze it if you have the ability because there is a large Power Container to recharge your shots. Oil Man's Alternate Path This one is a cinch. See where the large power capsule is? Shoot an oil blob on the end closest to where the ladder was, then Oil Slider the other way, and leap through the ceiling. Don't worry, you’ll land alright and go sailing over the topography, nabbing the life heart you couldn't get before, and going through to the next area. Getting the Construction pack, on the other hand, is a different matter. To get it, you'll need to hop up to where the lava shooters are. Use the Oil Slider to sail past them, worry not about gaps for you will cross those with ease. It's the two ensuing jumps that make this difficult. You'll need to land on the platform with the Oil block, and then leap over to get the pack. To get off the Oil Slider, press X while holding Up. Or, as has been recently pointed out to me by another persons guide, you can just do this the easier way. Use the Oil Slider, and then jump and jump off, and you can easily land on the platform without hassle. The only problem I see with this is that you'll still have to the tricky platforming to get out. Construction Pack Obtained: Oil Extra # 8 There's an Oil block way up high that you cannot reach with the Oil Slider unless you make the jumps. So sail away, and when you do make all three jumps, you'll be on the other side. End Oil Man's Alternate Path You’re going to want to take the bottom route in either case, so head back down, dodge under the lava shooter, and head all the way to the right against the wall. You'll need to jump up and shoot this Hot Head between both the lava shooter above you, and the Tackle Fires that he's chucking at you. Once destroyed, head right again. Time your jump over the next gap so you're leaping down even as the lava is retracting. This should give you just enough time to leap up to the next step. Don't slack off now though, for there are two Screw Bombers that will make short work of you if you do. Shoot the first one from the higher platform, it can't hit you there. Then go down and the shoot the second one more easily. You'll see two lava shooters and a life heart in the most curious place. Don't try to get it, it's impossible at this point in time. But, if you look in the very right corner, you'll see the vague color and shape of an Oil Block. Yep, but Mega Man can't reach up there even with Oil Slider so it'll have to wait. Dodge the Lava shooters and head down the ladder. Look, another item conveniently placed out of Mega Man's ability to reach. Those odd blocks are Time blocks and can only b destroyed by Time Man, so just keep heading down. Here are two lava shooters, firing in such a way that if you hesitate for a second between them, you're getting hurt. If it seems too hard, freeze the top one and go under it, or just wait until the two are going back and run like hell through there to the ladder. Whatever you do though, do not fall down the hole, take the ladder. Head down and you'll see that the hole leads to nothing less then a crispy end to one of your lives and you'd have had to start from the beginning. Hit the replay flag and head onwards. Through this next part, I recommend you stick to the top level of every platform. It makes it easier to jump to the next one, and the delay in Tackle Fires is great enough that you'll have ample time to clear the space. Just watch out because these ones will try to land where you're standing if you miss them the first time. When you get to the Hot Head, just keep an eye on the Tackle Fires behind you and destroy all who try to damage you. Continue onwards, skipping the first small health and going to the second one. When the lava shooter goes down, leap down there and get the health, then wait. Don't worry, the Tackles can't get you here. Keep shooting the tackles as they appear, and wait for the Lava to go down again, then make a quick leap of faith for the ladder platform. You'll see another Construction pack below you, so wait for the fire to go by and jump down there to collect it. Just don't get hit by the fire, or it's back to the beginning of the gauntlet. Construction pack Obtained: Fine Pack 4 #24 Watch out for Tackles on this ledge, they can get you now, so wait until the fire goes by, then leap back and head up the ladder. Keep climbing to the top, and go for the Super Health capsule if you need it. When you're done, climb up the next ladder and hit the replay flag. (O) Then prepare yourself for another, this time more dangerous, Killer Bullet segment. This one sucks, because if you get hit over the pit, you lose a life. Lucky for you, Killer Bullets often have an extra life in them, so if you do die, you can kill some until you get it back. Anyways, start firing away and head right. Nab the Super Power capsule if you need it, then go right again. You'll see two screw Bombers sitting there. Try to kill both before you jump up, their shots will send you reeling back far enough to land in the lava, believe me. Anyway, once you've done that, leap onto your newly claimed pillars and spam small jump shots as you travel forward, the Killer Bullets are on the right level to knock you off before you can hit them. Leap down and stop next to the lava shooter. Here you have a choice. You could freeze it, jump up, and then to the nest one. But it's dangerous to do this because a killer bullet may well appear right in front of you and you'll pause just a second too long and end up in the lava when it unfreezes, thereby sending you into the more deadly kind. Or you can wait for it to go down and make the leap. Either way, for the next one, you are going to want to freeze it and leap, though time it so you don't hit the Tackle. Wait for the next set to leap and jump up to solid ground. Go right, wait for the lava to retract, then run for your life to the right. You'll see yet another Construction pack on a ledge above you, so leap up when the time is right, freeze the lava and go get it if you have the power. Construction Pack Obtained: Fine pack 14 #34 That brings the total up to three for you, and all that you can get from this stage. Makes you glad you followed this guide, doesn't it? Anyways, once done head down the ladder. There will be a hot head, and it's conveniently just shorter then you're buster cannon will let you hit. I personally just save myself the trouble and use Rolling Cutter to kill this one, but you can freeze the lower lava shooter, hop on it and shoot the crap out of it before the lava reverts. This is a more difficult task however so be careful. Once that obstacle is cleared, head down the next ladder. Run under or destroy the Big Eye as health dictates, then dodge the last two lava shooters and prepare to face the fiery justice of Fire Man. Boss: Fire Man This is the funniest boss in this game. He's got a southern accent, he is hell bent on justice, and he's just a little one track minded when it comes to his favorite element. Then again, maybe you would be too if your head was on fire. Anyway, don't let the silly southern accent fool you, this guy is trickier then he seems, and a hell of a lot faster. Fortunately he's also very predictable and won't try to jump on you. Fire Man's first attack is the one he'll use throughout the fight. He'll spam Fire Storm shots at you pretty quickly. They are easy enough to jump, but the trick is that sometimes he'll fire two shots, just far enough apart that you'll go to jump the first one and land right on the second one. Be patient, and try to see both coming when possible. Either that or wait until the Fire is almost on you and jump, but this can be dangerous. Fire Man's Super move is to light the ground on fire in a wave of burning doom. Then, as it's coming towards you, he'll also shoot out more Fire Storm shots. Yeah, cheap but effective. If you have to get hit by something, take the Fire Storm shot and use the invincibility to get across the Super move. Often though you'll jump the Super move and get hit with the shot anyways. Fortunately, it does less damage, so don't worry too much about it. Fire Man is pretty direct in his approach. He'll stand in the middle of the room and start firing shots at you. Leap them and shoot at him when appropriate until he uses the super move. As noted above you have two options, take either you think will be effective. Don't leap over Fire Man, unless you like being on the other side of the room. It's the same either way, so stick to the pattern of leaping shots and firing and he'll be down before you know it. If you have Ice Slasher and aren't worried about saving him, just follow the same strategies that you would with any other boss and their weakness with one exception. Fire Man takes a little longer to recover, and he also can fire a single shot before you can, so be wary of this. Cool his jets with either method and your half way through the regular bosses of this game. Go get a cookie to celebrate. Chapter 5: Oily Fingers "It's Showtime!" ------------------------------------ Yay! More cool music for an otherwise weak boss. (Is it me or does he look remarkably like a duck?) Get used to the idea of watching your environment, because from here on out, things can and will get hairy if you're not watching where you're standing or what's in front of you. Go forward, and you'll immediately run into you're first new enemy. Enemy: Catuspy Really awkward name, but a really easy enemy. This enemy will sit there and look like a cactus until you get close, then fire a single volley of spikes similar to a Screw Bomber before running away and doing it again. You can't hurt it when it's in cactus form, so wait until it fire, dodge the spike, and start shooting. Anywhere you hit it works just fine and it'll be dead soon enough. Keep killing the cactuspes as you go, and soon you'll find your first patch of oil slicked ground. It'll look very similar to chocolate cake. When you do go out on it, you’ll immediately notice that you cannot, at almost any speed, walk on it. The only way you're going to get across is if you make jumps, and land straight without trying to run forward. This might be a good place to practice on, but I'd suggest further up the road, as the cactuspy ahead of you can hit you from where he's at. So keep going forwards, get the replay flag, and hop onto the liquid oil containers. These containers can be destroyed by fire, especially the Fire Storm ability that you recently acquired. But don’t waste it here, as you only get a few shots and there are other better places to try this out at. Just beyond the containers you'll find another new enemy. Enemy: Crazy Cannon These guys look like a pushover, and for the most part they are. IF you kill them fast enough. Take your time and they will re-adjust their shots to hit you. Try to kick back and kill them from a safe distance, or if you're pressed for space or just feeling plucky, run up under their shots and kill them face to face. Either way, they take five buster cannon shots to kill. Kill the cannon, and the one after it. Be careful about the one over the oil slick, shot as best you can without falling down. You’re a sitting duck (near literally) when you're on your butt. Head forward and kill the Hot Head. Be aware that they throw FIRE Tackles. If a Fire Tackle should hit the oil slick at any point, it will ignite the whole thing for several seconds, and that hurts a lot. The advantage to this is that the oil slick will be gone, but try not to be on it when it goes up or so will some of your life. Destroy the oil container under the Crazy cannon, and claim your first Construction pack of the level. Construction Pack Obtained: Fine Pack 7 # 27 Onwards through some more crazy cannons, try to stick to the top levels where possible, as navigating the long oil slick will cause you only headaches. When you get to the next set of oil canisters, watch out for the Hot Head above you. You can shoot him without getting on the canisters, but if you do, be aware that Fire Tackles can also destroy those as well. Head onward, kill the screw bomber above you and take his platform, killing the second one as you go. Shortly after you do so, a Fire Tackle will inevitably light the oil slick beneath you. Thank goodness for high platforms. Look out for the Cactuspy shortly after you destroy the Hot Head and hop again to the high platform over the oil slick. This time, the Hot Head will be on two canisters and the Fire Tackles, though they can't get you, are landing just shy of lighting the thing. So hop down carefully, and wait for the next one to be thrown at you before hopping back up again. This brings the enemy to a lower level and makes it much easier to kill him. A little more right and you've reached the end of the second gauntlet in the game. Elec Man's Alternate Path Zap the Elec block in front of you, though you may want to head up and get the replay flag first in case you die along the way. This is a pretty tricky area. Head right, shoot the Elec block and use it to reach the ladder, do the same for the next one and nab the Construction pack. Construction Pack Obtained: Elec Extra # 6 Jump back on to the Elec block and use it to get to the ladder again. For this one, you're going to want to shoot the Elec block, hop onto it, then jump off when it takes you back to the ledge. Climb up, and shoot the Elec block out of your way hen wait for it to come back. Hop on, shoot the Elec block up top, then hop onto the ledge and up the ladder again. Look, another Construction pack...how odd that the only one that gets two is Elec Man. Guess he's a fan favorite or something. Anyways, shoot the Elec block, then wait for it to come back before leaping on to it. Construction Pack Obtained: Elemental Special # 9 Then just leap for the ladder and up you go. Here's the tricky part. To get the top one out of your way and the bottom one to move without the middle going anywhere, simply jump up and shoot at the middle from point blank range. The middle will get frozen because you're in the way, and the other two will move, the bottom slightly out, the top gone. Hop up and you're almost out. From here, grab the life heart, then zap the Elec block above you and take the elevator. End Elec Man's Alternate Path Rejoice and head up the ladder, you deserve it...Nab the replay flag here, and make note of the Life Heart, you'll be getting to that shortly. Go over to the oil canisters and use the Fire Storms circling power to destroy the canisters two at a time, this will save you on uses later. Get the extra life and head back up, or if you prefer to save energy, go around the way you came up the first time. Either way, you're going to want to light the oil slick platform so you can maneuver and destroy the crazy cannon. Hop over to its platform when you're done and grab the Large Power capsule before heading up the ladder on the right. Bait the Hot Head into clearing the oil slick for you, then kill it from the ladder. Climb up, and shoot the next one before getting to the top of the ladder and continue upwards. Shoot the first Screw bomber from the top of the ladder, but be careful shooting the one higher up, as it can hit you if you're standing on the top platform. Inch your way forwards to the very edge of the oil slick, then leap for the ladder and hope you make it. At the top, hit the replay flag and head right. (E) You'll have to run through a series of Screw Bombers, but you already know how to take care of those, so do so and head up when you reach the other side. At this point, it's iffy to use Fire Storm, but if you want to kill the Hot Head faster, you can destroy the canisters it’s on, and then use the buster cannon. Or you can bait it into lighting the floor, then kill it from below, either way is suitable. If you need health, jump from the canisters or the edge of the second step and retrieve the two small healths there. Leap upwards when you're ready. As if the last on wasn't awkward enough, now you get a crazy cannon that you cannot hit form the ledge you're on, and a Hot Head directly above you if you get to close to the cannon. Here's my suggestion: jump out onto the oil slick, and wait for the Hot head to toss a Tackle Fire, then jump back. It'll light the oil slick, so you don’t' have to worry about that. Then you can kill the crazy cannon from there, then the Hot Head from the cannon's position. Kill or run under the Big Eye as usual, and hit that replay flag. It's time to get greasy with the Boss. Boss: Oil Man One of two new bosses, this guy is a complete gimmick. His power, once you get it, is ridiculously slow, and the Oil Slider, while fun, is not an effective enough weapon to be considered for use more then a couple of times at best. He's also one of the easiest bosses to beat, if you know his pattern. The first attack he has is his jumping. He won't deliberately jump on you, but if you're in the place where he plans on landing, he's not going to steer clear. His second, and technically third, attack is his oil gun. He'll fire one shot at you on Easy mode, Three on Normal, and _ on Hard. Even if the attack doesn't hit you, though on Normal it's a little difficult to avoid, the oil gun shot will create a puddle on the ground where it hits, making you slip if you touch it. And that's going to let Oil Man jump all over you. His Super move, though technically it's just an ability, is the Oil Slider. He'll spin around once, then surf at you from one side of the room. On Easy, he rarely does this, but if he does, he'll only do it once. On Normal he'll do it from one to three times consecutively. Just leap over them as he comes at you, their easy to see coming. Oil Man is sort of limited to firing at you from one side of the room. He rarely fires in the middle, and the only thing you'll have to worry about from him is when he's running at you. The best thing to do is just stand your ground, depending on where you are. If you’re at the opposite end, you'll be fine unless you're against the wall. Move forward a bit, and he won't get you. If you're somehow on his half when he starts running, jump over him or run away, just don't end up against the wall. When he does fire the oil gun, try to stay away from where you plan on firing at him. Slipping will cost you some life, one way or another. If you have Fire Storm, you're in luck. But there is one catch. You only have nine shots, and when Oil Man recovers from flying back, he'll often use the oil gun and jump into the air. So wait until he lands before nailing him again unless you're feeling lucky. Play conservative though, he can't hurt you half as bad as you can hurt him. Be aware however that you can light the oil puddles similar to the oil slicks, so be careful. And with that, the level is over and it's on to one of the harder bosses. Chapter 6: All Amped up and Nowhere to Roam (Lv6) "Electrifying!" ---------------------------------------------------------- As I said before, this is one of the hardest of the eight bosses you'll be facing, especially if you're trying to befriend the sucker. On the other hand, he's also one of the funniest and very stereotypical in regards to anime type characters. Anyways, you're here for a walkthrough, not an exposition, so on with the level. You'll start out in a room with nothing in it. Not much to it except to go up. Take a look at the layout for a moment because you'll see it though the next couple of rooms. The best principle for this is to leap between the gap in the first and second platforms, landing on the second one. As you can see once you go up the ladder, this helps alleviate some of the stress with the electricity shooters. Get used to those as well, and try not to get hit, they hurt a lot and will kill you in a very short amount of time. Dodge the two and head up the ladder. Kill the Met from either side and head up again. If you need the healths, head up the ladder, then jump back down from the platform. If not keep climbing, and do not stop or the new enemy will shoot at you. Enemy: Watcher Actually, these aren't all that bad considering. Every time that you're ever going to see these guys will be when you're climbing up a long ladder. And, if you don't stop to look at them, they will never hit you. If you do stop, they cannot be hurt until they get ready to fire at you, and only take one shot to kill. The trick is not to get hit by their shot before they get hit by yours. Still, there is no real point to killing them, as you can't get the items they drop, only some meager points. Once you reach the top of the ladder, you'll be in an area with some disappearing platforms and two ladders. Now which do you choose? I recommend the one to the left. If you do go up the other one, it could work to your advantage, but then the Met could also knock you all the way back down. Either way, you'll be in a little chamber with a life heart, a Met, and four disappearing platforms that all go in a line. If you're on the right side, try to line up your steps and kill the Met before it shoots you off, then jump up to the higher level. If you're on the left side, shoot the Met then leap on to the last platform and then up before it disappears. If you're really good, you can actually get Mega Man up the little hole to the left and get the life heart, but if you miss you're going down a ways. Once you're up to the top platform, climb the next ladder. Use whatever weapon you want to kill the Spine, and trust me, you'll want to. The jump is bad enough without that nuisance. If you're having trouble, just remember that the only way you can reach the other side is by leaping from as close to the end of the platform as possible. Once across, head up the last ladder for the moment and hit the replay flag. Head right and you'll hear that wonderful rotor sound. That's right everyone, it's time to ride the Foot Holds again. These two aren't hard to leap on, but don't get comfy, there will be a harder one. Anyways, wait until the second Foot Hold gets low enough that you can jump to the ladder, ignore the small Power capsules, you can always get those from enemies if you're low. Hit the replay flag and... Deja vu, you're in that familiar room layout again...the designers must have liked the look I guess. Kill the Spine, nab the health if you need it, and head up wards yet again. Once again you're faced with the option of taking the left or the right ladder. You’re going to have to take the left again in this case, you'll see why in a minute. (A small note: every time you're offered a fork in the road, the left side often proves the easier, for whatever reason. Coincidence? I don't know, that's just how it is...) Up the ladder with you after killing the Spine and the Met. Watch out for the electricity shooter in this next room, if you're too slow getting to the second ladder, you will get hit and likely launched back down a level. Head up again and immediately kill the met in to the right. See the Construction pack in the upper corner? If you simply must have it, you could always go up the other way and get it, but then you'd have to go back down and take a lot of grief doing it. Wait until you have Mega Man S, then go get it, it'll make you're life a lot easier. For now, just head up the ladder, waiting for the shooter, and get ready to race few more Watchers. Again, just keep climbing and you'll be alright. Once you reach the top, you'll see...another fork in the road. This is the last one, don’t' worry, but again you'll be taking the left path, this time because there is no way to get through the right one at the moment. In case you were wondering about the disappearing platforms or were having trouble, try listening for the sound the make and timing out that. They do follow a pattern, and if you know where they appear, and when, you'll fare a lot better. Head up the ladder to the left. With all those electricity shooters, guess which ladder is safer and easier? Yep, the left tone. Not only that, but the right one doesn't seem to serve any real purpose other than to hold a Guts block up. So wait out the shooters and climb to the top. Hit the replay flag and get ready to do some more hopping, this is the harder Foot Hold part. As I said before, try to only leap on them when they are coming towards you, and you'll be okay. And take your time, there is no limit so feel free to wait as long as you like, they aren't going to deviate from their pattern. Time Man's Alternate Path This is, by far, the deadliest Alternate path you'll take. It's hard to get into, and requires timing and patience to get out of. If you do mess up, more than likely it will cost you your life unless you're lucky. So be careful. To begin with, hop up the ladder, despite the block you see before you. There is a reason. See, you'll need to do Time Slow in order to even think about getting through, and even then, it's going to be by the seat of your pants. Charge a Time Slow and use it. Then drop off, firing at the Time block from above. This will hopefully destroy it in time for you to land on the ledge where it was, before a new one can be spawned. Yeah, it's that way or the highway, trust me on this. You could try shooting it from the Foot Hold, using the Time Stop and landing back on it, and waiting for it to reach the lowest point as well, though really it's not much easier. Either way, head right and you'll see a life heart above the conveyor belt. Jump up and grab it, it's practically free, then slow time run along the conveyor as if it weren't even moving. Climb the ladder, and DO NOT MOVE!!!! If you move, and Time is not slowed recently, you're dead. God shall send two stacks of Time blocks right on your head. Time Slow once they all have landed, and start running and gunning. That's the easy part. Now the trick. You'll need to wait for time to resume, then Time Slow again. You're going to have to run across the generating Time blocks as they fall. Fall down? You'd best to move to either side of the room as fast you can and hope you don't get crushed or you're going all the way back to the hard part. Head up the ladder and you'll see the Construction pack. Want it? You'll have to do the same thing again, only this time with less space to run before you fall. Try to fall down onto the Time blocks as soon as there is enough room and start running. Construction Pack Obtained: Common Pack 7 # 19 Head up the ladder and through the doors, and you're directly where the boss is. Hope you brought some life, this guys is no pushover when you're weak against his power. End Time Man's Alternate Path Head right, leap for the ladder, and up you go. Don’t' worry, you're close to the end of these damn things. Cross the empty room and head up again. Kill the Spine and the Met, and then aim your jump carefully. Once you're up the next ladder, you'll see two small healths resting in easy reach right under an electricity shooter. DO NOT RUN TOWARDS THEM! I'm serious, I've done it so many times and it really wastes the idea of getting them. The reason I emphasize the not running towards them is that there is a cleverly placed electricity shooter on ground level aimed at you. And if you run towards those two healths, you're getting toasted. If you must have the health, and I assume you will if you were trying to get them, wait out the shooter and then jump up to them, wait it out again, and head back to the ladder. Notice how the jump to the upper platform is the same as before? Yeah, I hope you practiced on the lower ones, because if you miss this one, chances are you'll get zapped. And it's going to be frustrating as hell if you die here, so close to the boss door. Once you get past that area, you'll be in that familiar layout again, so kill the Spine, jump through the gap to the first platform, then the second one, like always. Climb the ladder here, but do not get off. There is a Big Eye right in front of you, and it's damn near impossible to kill it with the space you're given. So let it hop itself right into oblivion, unless you really need the health. If this is the case, hope it leaps high, then run under that ledge and fire away. Either way, head through the doors and it's boss time. But wait, there's another fork in the road. There are two doors? Worry not, the second one is for Time Man's use only, so when you're ready leap through the top door. Boss: Elec Man Let's start this one of by observing the room. And you're not going to like it at all. There are, to start off with, two very inconvenient Guts blocks in either corner, nearly eliminating you're floor space. Get used to them, they are going to be there until he uses his Super move. Elec Man is a hard boss for a reason, and it's not just the layout of his room. His primary attack is his Thunder Beam, and that's all he's going to need if you're not careful. It hurts a lot, taking off a lot more life then you'd like. Add to that that even if you stand on the Guts block it'll hit you and you can see that this is not a picnic. That being said, just try to time your jumps, as that's the only effective way to dodge the shots, no matter where you are. And be careful about shooting him, he tends to shoot you shortly after you hit him. His super move is a thunder bolt, and this is another thing you don’t' want to get hit by...ever. Period. You'll know what he's up to when he flashes and waves his arm. Just after he says "Electrify!” start running in either direction. The thunder will strike just behind you. If you're good about it, you can actually get him to blow away one of the Guts blocks even as you dodge, giving you that much more room. He'll also make a habit of getting uncomfortably close when he shoots, so be aware of this. Fortunately, he never does jump on you. This battle is hard even with Elec Man's weakness, which is Oil Man's Oil Slider. See, Elec Man won't take extra damage just by getting shot by the oil. The only way you can knock him down is to use the actual Oil slider. And with the amount of room you have to work with, this can get painful. Especially as when you hit him, if you don't cancel the slider, you'll take damage too. That being said, you can use the oil puddles as little mines and switch between that and the buster cannon. If you must use the slider, try to get the puddle as far to one side as possible, and jump on it from the right direction. If you're only using the buster cannon, this is the most frustrating boss you'll face. You'll be dealing very little damage to him even as he takes huge chunks out of your life with each zap. The best strategy is that of a conservationist. Play it safe, and focus more on dodging the shots instead of all out attack. You can also use the Guts blocks for some small advantage, especially if Elec Man decides to fall into a pattern, which he may or may not do. Congratulations, you've just beat Elec Man, just two more bosses and you'll have bested all of them. Ch 7: Killing a little Time (Ch7) "Time's up!" ---------------------------------------- Ironically enough, this level will test your timing and platforming skills. It's not hard, but if you mess up a jump, you'll have to start over from the beginning again. So take your time, and you'll be alright. To begin, head right. You'll see a shield almost right away. Destroy it and the one above it and continue on, but stop at the top of the little pyramid you're on. See that hole in the ceiling? That's what I was talking about. Once you get up to the next level, if you fall through on of the holes, often times it will take you down a level, or out right kill you depending on the area. Try to avoid falling through these, it's never fun having to go through a tough part a second time. Anyways, continue right and destroy the Crazy Cannon. You'll see an electrified pendulum swinging back and forth. These are not friendly. This is also where your timing will be put to the test, and there will be many more of these. So wait for it to start swinging away from you, then run forward and jump over it as it swings back, then run for your life. Shoot the Crazy Cannon once you're clear and you'll see a small health on a little ledge. Tempting as it is, kill the Shield Guard first, to ensure that you don't waste the point of getting it. Here's another pendulum for you, so again wait it out and jump over it when the timing is right. Run across the conveyor belt and make an insane leap for the ladder. Hit the replay flag and notice that there is a construction pack above you. How do you get it? Why, just fall down from above if you're so inclined. There are other ways to do it too, and I actually recommend that you wait until later to get that one, as you don't really want to have to go through the next two levels all over again. For now, just be content to head left, leaping over the pendulum with caution. Don't worry about falling, you'll just land one level down and have to climb back up. Destroy the two Beaks, leap over the Guts blocks and the pendulum. But this time when you land, jump again, the conveyor belt can and will slow you down enough that the pendulum will hit you square in the ass on the back swing. Hop on the Count Bomb, kill the Shield Guard, and then wait for a gap in the Crazy Cannon's shots to jump under it. Then shoot it from below. You'll see some spikes, and if you inch forward just enough, you'll also see the pendulum swinging over them. Don't fret if you get hit by it, it's hard to avoid. And if you fall in the spikes, hop out before your invincibility runs out. Leap for the ladder and head up. Guts Man's Alternate Path Destroy those brown blocks over your head by jumping into them. Create a Guts block, and use it like a step to get up. Climb the ladder and do the same thing. From here, throw the two existing guts blocks out of your way and try this: create a Guts block that sits perfectly on only one of the crumble blocks. This gives you a place to stand that wont' fall away. Do it again with the uncovered half of the platform, and a third time with the other gap. Now just fall into the gap, grab the pack, and jump out. Construction Pack Obtained: Guts Extra # 2 Climb the ladder and prepare yourself for the only cool thing about Guts Man and his abilities. If you lay a Guts block on the spikes, it will create a place for you to cross. Do so and cross in safety. Hmmm... That Guts block looks a little out of place. Try picking it up, and look, there's a life heart just for you. Grab it, blow up the blocks guarding the ladder, and climb out into the sunlight. End Guts Man's Alternate Path You're now going right again, so head up the stairs, onto the Count Bomb, and then to the edge of the next ledge. The reason is that there is a Crazy Cannon right in front of you. So shoot it, then the one just behind it. You'll then see two Count Bombs side by side over some spikes. Jump over the first one and land on the second one, then jump back to solid ground. Wait for it to explode, then jump onto the first one. Jump off this one and aim for the wall while holding right. You'll land on the ledge just fine. You'll find yourself right under a really high up Beak. But before you go after that one, shoot straight ahead. There's a second Beak just off screen that will cause you a lot of grief if you go after the one you can see. Now, hop over and you'll see a wooden pendulum standing still. Shoot it once, and it will start to move. Hop up, jump over to the health if you need it, and then continue right. Kill the Beak, and you’ll see a pendulum over a gap and a conveyor belt that's pretty high up. You can't jump over this pendulum, so instead aim to jump under it. Wait until it swings towards you, run forward, then jump under it as it swings backwards. If you want to go through all of that again, hop down the last gap just before the ladder to collect the construction pack, but again, I recommend that you just go up the ladder. Go past the Beaks, you can't get their items anyways, and head up a screen. Here you'll see a wooden pendulum, a life heart, and another construction. This one is a little tough to get and may cost you a life if you miss, but it's worth going for. So shoot the pendulum once, climb a little higher on the ladder, then drop onto it when it's on under you. Leap over rand get the life heart, so even if you die now, you'll still have the same amount of lives, then make a leap of faith. If you make it, the construction pack is yours. If not, try again, you can do it as often as you like. Construction Pack Obtained: Fine Pack 1 # 21 Head up the ladder once you're done, shoot the Shield Guard, and head up again. Here you'll see a Guts block, two Bomb blocks, and another construction pack. Unfortunately, you're going to need to be able to aim the bombs you throw to get it, so just head upwards again. You'll now be in the upper areas of the clock tower you're in, as evidenced by the new look. Grab the Power capsule if you need it, then head left and jump over the two pendulums carefully. Watch them spikes. Shoot the Crazy cannon form the conveyor belt, then kill the Sniper Joe however you think it best to do so. Head under yet another Construction pack, you'll need Guts Man's lame ass ability to get that one. Now here's a tough one for you. You're going to need to leap over the first pendulum, and then try to wait out and jump the second one, all without going into the spikes. If ever the invincibility of getting hit was your friend, now is the time. Even if you do miss the second one and it hits you into the spikes, you've now got a free pass through both. Make us of it, but wait out the Shield Guard before you leap down. Hop onto the count Bomb, and then go up the ladder. You can't do much down below, that's for Guts Man later. (G) Here again you'll see two Count Bombs over some spikes and a ledge. But this time they are on top of each other. However, this is essentially the same thing, so just jump on the top one, hop off and wait for the explosion, then hop back over and through the gap. Kill the Shield Guard carefully, and you'll see some power-ups on a ledge that you can't reach. Now normally you'd need to be Ice Man to get up there, but I have a little trick if you're good enough or desperate enough to need those. Hop onto the first conveyor belt, and go the end of it. Then turn around and run back towards the gap above you. You'll gain a little extra speed, so wait until you're almost to the end, then jump up and forwards a little bit, but as you get to the same level as the ledge, turn around and aim yourself the other way. You should make it up there. If not, try again. Trust me, this works, it just takes a little practice. Once done, head right again, but be careful on these conveyors, they are right over some spikes and there is a pendulum guarding the ledge you want to be on. Time your jump and head right a little ways. Here's the best part of this level. You'll be hopping over some count Bombs and a huge gap. Don’t' worry about dying, you'll only fall right to the lower level, but then you'll have to go through all of that again, and who wants that. To add to the bother, there are some pendulums overhead and you can't jump over them. Well, believe it or not, you can actually stand under them this time without fear of getting hit. But that's a small comfort when you consider that they explode after 4 seconds. Prepare yourself, then, for a palm sweater. What you're trying to do here is one of two things. You can aim to get hit by one of the pendulums, then use your invincibility to cross unscathed. This is an unreliable method though, as often the pendulum will simply knock you into the gap. So the other thing you can do is wait for the first one to swing towards you. Then, just as it reaches its highest point, leap towards it and you'll land unscathed under it just as it swings over head. Do this again with the next one, but keep a close eye on the timer. You won't have the advantage of waiting to time out the pendulum here, so all you can do is fly by instinct. Just wait for the point when the pendulum is going away from you, then jump. If you do fall, just head back up and try it again. Once you're through that part, it gets even better. You'll have to make the conveyor jump for the ladder again, only this time there are those lovely spikes under you. Yeah, not very friendly. Do the best you can and hold the up button for dear life. Kill the Sniper Joe up here, and you're to the boss at long last. Boss: Time Man The second of the two new bosses in the game, Time Man is a little cooler than Oil Man, and his power will serve you well. Fortunately, he's also not a very hard boss to beat either, contrary to his challenging level. Time Man gets to shoot clock hands at you in addition to his running around and jumping. For the most part, Time Man doesn't jump on you on purpose. He's much more bent on running through you for some reason. And he will also, for some unexplained reason, jump when you jump sometimes. Got me why he's that stupid, but it actually works out to his advantage unless you know what he's up to. In this case, the easiest way to avoid getting rhino charged is to jump straight up. If Time Man chooses to jump at the same time, then simply land, then jump over him. This actually works better. An even better technique is to let him run past you. Because once he starts running the other way, like a bull and matador, he won't change directions unless he uses his Super move. Of course, his super move is probably not to his advantage. All he gets is his Time Stop ability, but it both easy to see coming, and doesn't slow you down that much. If anything, it's more helpful for you because you can see his attacks coming. If you're using Time Man's weakness, electricity for whatever reason, this battle will make you laugh your ass off. It's so ridiculously easy after the hell that his level was. The only thing to watch for is when he recovers, after losing a certain amount of health, he'll automatically use Time Stop. So wait for him to go back to normal status and shoot him again. If you're using the buster cannon, well this battle is still pretty easy, just not as easy. The only thing to really watch out for is the clock hands, as they travel pretty quickly. But other than that, try to avoid getting run through too often and you're all set. One other trick you can use is to jump over him a he's activating or de-activating Time Stop. He'll always run the same way as he was facing, giving you a free hit or two before he tries to shoot you. Stop this guy's ticking for good, and it's on to the last boss. Hooray! Ch 8: Guts or Glory? (Ch8) "I've got it Covered!" ----------------------------------- For being the last boss that you'll face, assuming you've been following this walkthrough so far, this level is friggin hard. There are a lot of precision timing parts that will make you want to bash your head or at least your PSP through the wall. But fret not, for you have both this walkthrough and all of the other powers on your side. And they will serve you well. If you do find yourself running a little short on lives, there is a way to make easy extras. Simply go back to Ice Man's stage and use the Oil Slider on the water. It will float you over it, and nab you an extra life. Exit the level and repeat until you have the desired amount. Remember though that you'll never have more than nine at a time. Start off by heading right. Kill the Met there, and by the way there will be a lot of Mets in this level, so get good at killing them before they fire. Continue up the stairs, destroying the next two Mets as well. Go forward a little and you'll see your first conveyor belt. These are annoying as hell, but only when there are gaps in the belt. You'll know where those are by the little flashy posts. AS soon as the little black ball end of he platform reaches a post it will drop its load, usually you. The best thing you can do is jump up just before this happens, and you'll land on the other side okay. It's the timing that will make or break you, and in later parts it can get down right evil. Just keep practicing and stock up on lives if you have a really hard time with it. Anyways, hop onto the platform as it's coming towards you and ride it forwards. Wait until it reaches the end of the line, then hop down to the one below you. If you don't feel comfortable, just wait a bit and time it out. It can be tricky for beginners, but if you've followed me thus far you'll be well and used to these kinds of things and this one will be a cinch. Ride this lower one forward, and there will be a third above you. DO NOT jump yet. Wait for it to come back around or you'll inevitably miss and die. This third on has one of the dips in it, so you'll want a little breathing room. Just let the platform you’re on start going backwards before jumping on to the next one. This gives you plenty of time to handle the jump. Time your jump well, and ride it to the end of its track, then jump to solid ground and start breathing again. Head forwards, kill the met at the bottom of the stairs, and then keep to the lower platforms and kill the lower Met first, then the one above it. You shouldn't need the Power capsules, but there they are in case you do need them. Head forwards and you'll see a new enemy. Enemy: Picket Man These guys are very similar to Sniper Joe. The only difference is that instead of shooting you directly, they will chuck mining picks at you, giving their name a whole new meaning. As with Sniper Joe though, you can run up to them and fire through their shield if you so choose or you can get somewhat close and dodge their picks while firing. Any way that you decide to take them on, they are going to be a pain, so fire fast and five shots will kill them. And look at that. There's a Construction pack right there for your efforts. Guess the Union doesn't like Picket Men either. (Yeah, crappy joke. I know). Construction Pack Obtained: Fine Pack 6 #26 Hop down the gap and watch the conveyor carefully. This will require a slight bit of finesse, but nothing unreasonable. Don't kick yourself too hard if you mess it up, for some reason I do that a lot too. Don't ask why, maybe I suck...anyways, head down the ladder and to safety. Hit the replay flag and head off to the right again. Kill the Picket Man guarding the Large Health, and then get it if you need it. Go upwards and take care of the second one as well. Forwards again and you'll see a pit and a ladder so far out of reach you'll wonder why. Fret not, for only Cut Man can reach that one. Cut Man's alternate path Well, if you happen to be playing Cut Man in this level, here's your chance to avoid a lot of hassle and collect a Construction pack to boot. Simply wall jump up the ladder and climb up. You'll see two Bubble Bats, so get rid of those when they fly at you, then wall jump up to the next ladder after destroying the Cut block in your way. Just don't fall on those spikes. You'll be in a long area with nothing but Bubble Bats on the ceiling and a bunch of little steps in the way. You could wait for all of the bats to fly down and kill them all one by one. OR you could just run under them and save yourself the trouble. Either way, you'll soon end up at a dropping point with a loving parting present waiting for you. Jump up there and grab the pack, then hop down. Construction Pack Obtained: Common Pack 1 #13 Kill the two Mets here and wall jump your way to the next ladder. Rinse and repeat and you’re almost done. You’ll land in an area with a life heart and a conveyor belt with a gap. If you feel lucky or good enough, jump on and good luck to you. Conveyors are notoriously harder when going backwards, for whatever reason. If you're not interested, simply keep going down and you'll be near the middle of the level, just after the second conveyor ride. End Cut Man's alternate Path So drop down instead and you'll be in the easiest room of the level. Why is it like this you ask? Don't know. Probably the creator's apology for the travesty of skill that is shortly to follow. Prepare yourself for the hardest platforming section in the entire game, save perhaps for the challenges. It's at this point that you're going to want a few lives. Because you will likely mess up one of the necessary timed jumps and die. More than likely you'll die a few times here. It's not fun, and it's never pretty. When you're ready, head forwards and wait for the conveyor to take you to your doom. Hop up onto the upper conveyor belt and time your jumps over the gaps. This is still the easy part. Why you ask? Well, once you get over a few of the gaps you'll see a lower conveyor with some very closely grouped gaps. Think that's where you’d never survive? Think again. That's where you're going, and it's the only way to get across unless you happen to be either Time Man, Proto Man, or really lucky with Mega Man and Time Stop. See the higher up conveyor with no gaps? Yeah, don't even try to jump for that one. You will not make it unless you use Time Stop with such precision that you manage to land on it as your doing the Time Stop animation. And that is, by far, a challenging thing to do. It can be done, I've done it a few times, but trust me on this, the survival rate is way better if you take the lower one. Just not by much. Wait until the current conveyor you're on gets to the end of its line, then jump down to the lower one while it's heading away from the suicide gaps. From here, all you've got is timing. There is no strategy I can offer you other than to watch the conveyor platform very carefully. You're essentially going to need to make short jumps that allow you to land and then jump again. Also keep in mind that the conveyor dips when the black part reaches a bar and comes back up at the same point, just on the other side. If it's any consolation, it's near impossible to do it the other way, but that's also going to be the trouble if you miss this upcoming jump. Should you survive the suicide gaps, you're still going to need to make a tremendous leap across the gap in front of you. Worry not though, while it looks insanely long, for some reason even Guts Man can make it across, so you'll be alright. Just think of it as an extension of the Elec Man jumps form earlier. Just don't let the conveyor start taking you backwards or you're screwed unless you're a master or a masochist. Once you make it across, pause the game and release the PSP slowly. Take a few deep breathes, wipe your hands on a rag or something and once you're calm again, unpause and head onwards. Don't worry, from here on out this level is a cinch. The worst is, in fact, over. Head forwards and kill the Picket Man that dares to ruin your perfect timing and send you back. A quick note for all of you completionists. There is a Construction pack directly over your heads at this point. But you can't see it? Well yeah, that's why I'm making this note. It's the hardest one to find if you don't know where it is, and it's even worse because only Guts Man can reach it. Now, I've never tried it with Ice Man, because the Picket Man might be tall enough to let you up. I don't know. But Guts Man can create Guts blocks, and that's the sure fire way to get it. Now, back the regularly scheduled walkthrough. (C) Destroy the Picket Man standing above you, then climb down the ladder. DO NOT DROP!!! I'm dead serious, there are spike down there and it's the surest way to get yourself killed and have to do the suicide jumps again. Not fun, and not cool either. On the next screen you'll see a rather curious black ball hanging from the platform on the left with a Construction pack on it. This is actually an enemy, but not one that you need worry about. Enemy: Bubble Bat They only exist in two spots throughout the game, and they don’t' really serve a purpose other than to be annoying. You can't shoot them when they are in hanging mode, similar to the Beaks. You'll just have to wait until they unfurl their wings and fly at you. It only takes one shot to kill them, and if they should hit you, they will immediately go back into hanging mode. Drop down off the ladder on the next screen, and shoot the Met before jumping over to the next platform. Repeat and head downwards one more time. Hit the replay flag and breathe a sigh of relief, you don’t have to go through those jumps again, even if you do die. Head up the stairs, kill the Met and the Picket Man beyond, then the pair of them shortly there after. Once you get to the top of the next stairs, start firing, because Bladers are going to start appearing. Not only that, but you'll be over a large bed of spikes. Proceed with caution, shooting the Bladers and heading forwards across the platform until you reach the other side. You'll see a life heart and no way to get to it without dying. There is a way. See those two Oil containers. Yeah, climb a little ways down the ladder and shoot them out of your way, then climb back up the ladder and drop down. Just be careful not to miss the ledge. Once you've collected it, jump back on the ladder and climb down. See why? You'll need to drop off the ladder onto that conveyor. This is easy though, so do so, leap onto the upper platform, then back onto the conveyor and down this one last drop. Quickly run and jump onto the floating platform ahead of you. There will be a Big Eye coming and he will be able to climb those steps if you stay where you are. Jump over him once he gets under the platform and kill him from the other side if need be. Head through the doors and it's onto the last boss. Boss: Guts Man Now here’s a radically different Boss battle. Not only are you going to have to watch out for his attacks, you'll also need to watch out for when he lands, irregardless of where you are relative to him. His first "attack" is really just a stunning move. Every time he jumps and lands, the ground will quake and if you're still touching the ground, you'll fall on your ass, similar to an oil slick. This won't hurt you most of the time, but if you choose to fall as he throws the block he's got over his head, you're very likely to get hit. His first real attack is the blocks he will draw from the ground. Any contact with one will cause you damage, so don't be too close when he draws one or you'll get hit by it as it comes up. He'll carry it for at least one hop, then throw it at you. If you're close to him, you can often run away and not get hit, or if you're farther, you can often jump over it. Just be sire to get the timing down, because those blocks hurt a lot. His Super move involves him tunneling into the ground, then bursting forth, block in hand. There's very little you can do to avoid damage unless you get the timing down. It's really hard to get out of the way as he's coming up from under you, mostly due to the block that he's holding. It sticks out a little farther than his body, and it will often nick you and deal damage. The best thing to do is get to one side of the arena and wait until you think he's going to come out, then run for your life. Jumping might help, but make sure you're traveling forward when doing so. Guts Man is also fond of jumping around the stage in a completely random manner. Sometimes he'll keep heading for you, sometimes he'll just jump in one place, and sometimes he'll jump towards you, then away from you. It's neither predictable, nor set. All you can do is run under him if he gets to close. Guts Man's weakness is Time Stop, and it will be a handy weakness to exploit. The problem is this: you only get TWO. That's right, two. And even if you hit him with both, it won't be enough to kill him. What do you do then? Well, I recommend that you take down a little of his life first, then use Time Stop on him once. Once he recovers, shoot him with the buster cannon until the ability fades away. Continue wheedling his health away again for a bit, then use it again. There are two things about using Time Stop though. The first is that Guts Man cannot be hurt while he is recovering. No news there. Guts Man can also not be hit while he is in the air. That's where the trouble starts. Given that he spends about fifty percent of his time in the air, you're going to need to use those two Time Stops wisely. If you're using only the buster cannon, the only real thing you can do is shoot like there is no tomorrow. Keep an eye on when he lands and throws blocks, and dodge to the best of your ability, but otherwise keep shooting. He will die, eventually....One more thing, those blocks cannot be destroyed with conventional weaponry. So don't think that you can shoot them, or through them, because you can't. They are essentially Guts blocks, just made of bricks. Celebrate, you've just beaten the g....wait a minute, it's not over? You'll receive a message from Dr. Wily himself, inviting you to his personal lair, Castle Wily. Looks like you'll have to defeat the doctor himself to stop this ridiculousness. Scroll to the little W in between Guts Man and Cut Man, and you're on your way. Castle Wily Part 1: The Devil is in the details (Wily1) "Bumo!" ----------------------------------------------------------- Bumo??? What the hell does that mean? Actually, you'll be finding out shortly, and you're not going to like it either. Here's the deal, there are actually four parts to Wily's Castle and this is the first. From here on out, you'll be facing radically different bosses then the ones before. And the levels, while shorter, are a ramp up in difficulty. My recommendation is that you go do the Ice Man trick I mentioned earlier and collect a few lives before takin' on any of these challenging sections. You'll start off this level in a cool looking sunset background, outside of some city. Don't look at it too long though, because trouble is right in front of you. Run forwards and after a while you'll run into a Crazy Razy, followed by another one. Defeat both or run from them, but in either case look out at the steps because there will be a Big Eye coming down them and gunning for you. Your best bet is to run from it, but you could also kill it too, it doesn't matter as long as you don't get hit. They take a lot of damage off of you every time, and don't always leave behind Large Health capsules unless you're on Easy mode. Head up and over the steps, but look out because here comes another one. Dodge this one too, don't even try to kill it. Not enough room at all. Hop up the steps, then watch out for the third one at the bottom. Dodge this last one and RUN. Shoot the grey blocks out of your way, and if you did get hit, use the over hanging ledge to kill the Big Eye in safety. Continue over and hit the replay flag. Look out ahead of you, there are now some Fleas here. Kill them, but try not to destroy the grey blocks as there is a life on the upper ledge. Go get it and then head down through the lower area and down the ladder. Now here is an interesting area. You'll be faced with a choice of dueling a Sniper Joe on a single column, or making the greatest jump of your life to some Small Healths and safety. Should you choose the Healths, aim to jump off the very edge of the platform you're on and hop you make it. If you don't, you'll have to duel Joe on the platform. Fortunately, even if he hits you, you'll be invincible long enough to run through him and shoot him in the back. I'm cheap, what can I say...Anyways, climb down the ladder when you're done here. You might be tempted to try and drop past the two electricity shooters you see here. DON'T. There are spike below you and that's a quick death that you don't want. Instead, simply wait them out and climb down at your leisure. You'll see a lovely leftover from Time Man's stage: a pendulum. And it's right next to those deadly spikes. Great...wait for it to swing towards you, then drop down as it starts to swing back. Jump over it and head down the next ladder. Wait on the ladder for the Shield Guard to go away, kill it and its twin, then head forwards again. If you don't mind wasting a few Ice Slashers, there is a nifty trick to getting through these three lava shooters. Simply wait for them to go about at your feet, then freeze them. If you timed it right, there will be a perfect Mega Man sized gap for you to walk through in safety. Do this two more times and you're through. If not, and you want to play conservative, simply wait until the lava is going down hen jump into the gap it's in, then out again before it toasts your bottom. Head up the ladder in any case. For this next part, switch to Rolling Cutter and kill the Crazy Cannon. It's not worth trying to time your shots under the pendulum, and it's even worse trying to dodge it and the shots to get to safety. Wait 'til the pendulum is out of your way, then head upwards. Wait out the electricity, and then hit the replay flag at the top. Prepare yourself for one of the most annoying and longest battles you'll go through. I really hate this boss... Boss: Yellow Devil Yes, you heard it right, it said Bumo. What does that mean anyways? Either way, it's going to attack so suit up. Here's the thing about the Yellow Devil. In Easy mode, which you're not playing in, he will never do more than shoot at you or bitch slap you if you get too close. On normal and hard modes, you're in for a really fun time. See, every time you shoot him in the eye, he'll break up into a tornado of pieces and start transferring from one side of the room to the other. And in doing so he'll create a second tornado. This leaves you a very small amount of space in which you can jump or stand under the pieces he's sending over. Get hit by a piece and you're losing a lot of health. So much in fact that four or five hits even with full health and you're toast. Yeah, it's so cheap it took me five or six attempts just to kill him. And I had his pattern down. Get used to your hands betraying you. Even though you'll be able to see his pattern and know what's coming, every once in a while you're going to slip up and do the wrong action. It happens all the time, and you'll hate yourself every time you do it. Not only will you be punishing yourself, the game will punish you too. If you happen to mess up and do the wrong action in the pattern, the game will then switch up the pattern on you too. Yep, now you're screwed until the transfer is over, because I'm sure as hell not going through all the possible permutations if you miss. You can if you want, but hopefully someone else will get bored enough to do it instead. I'm only going to give you two. And the second one is about the only helpful thing, in regards to general walkthrough and boss battles, that I've been able to get off GameFAQs, because the current one is so broken...(Hint: please someone take that one down until it's complete enough to be used.) His pattern in normal mode, if you do it my way is this: Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait 2x,Jump The other way you can do it only differs in one regard: Idle/Jump/Idle/Jump/Idle/Jump/Idle/Jump/Idle 3x/Jump/Idle 2x/Jump That first idle in the series of three, if you choose to stand under the shot instead of jumping it, the idle being easier, sets the balls into a different pattern. I usually jump that one, which puts my pattern a little different and more predictable. Choose whichever you like. When he does complete himself, he'll wait a bit, then open his eye and shoot a ball at you, similar to the Proto Eye. Unlike the Proto Eye, Yellow Devil cannot stand getting shot by a Fire Storm shot. It will take off two bars and make this fight a little quicker. And if you're good enough with the shoot, it will deny him his chance to fire, though I suggest waiting, because you only have so many Fir Storms that you can use. Either way you choose to take him down it's the same though, shoot once, hop over the balls in the pattern and repeat until the big bastard gives up the ghost and melts Oz style into a puddle. Castle Wily Part 2: Thank you sir, may I have another? (Wily2) "Elim-i-nate!" ------------------------------------------------------------------ Oh Boy! Part 2 of 4, and the fun is already started. If you lost a lot of lives back with your time fighting the Yellow Devil, go get some more back at Ice Man's stage and get ready fro the next hardest boss. Actually, I consider this boss to be about the same in regards to difficulty, just in a different way. Also note that this level will essentially play out as the longest gauntlet of enemies in the game. You'll go through a lot of different kinds, but it will be short. And, once done, you'll get to face off with the boss. You won't need the lives for the gauntlet, it's pretty easy. Actually, there's not a lot of strategy to play out here. The level is pretty straight forward, so I'm just going to tell you what's in each room. At least until you get to the bottom of the ladders. First Room: Two Octos Second Room: Two Screw Bombers Third Room: Two Beaks Fourth Room: Two Screw Bombers, One Beak Fifth Room: Three Octos Now you'll land next to a giant grate. If you're clever, you may actually have guessed based on the layout of the background, what's about to come out of that grate. And no, this isn't Indiana Jones style. Run forwards a ways and a wall of water will sweep through the hall. There's no way you can out run it, even if you're Oil Man and on the Oil Slider. Get used to it. The water, in addition to being water, will have a current which will carry you forwards, no matter what direction you are trying to run. How fast or slow you go depends on whether you go with the flow or run with it. If you run, you'll go faster, but you'll be more likely to hit stuff. I suggest just letting the current carry you forwards as you're in no hurry to face the boss. You'll run into a variety of enemies along the way, and the only thing I can tell you to do is keep firing. The Octos will die before you reach them, and the Mets will often open just as you reach them. The only time you'll have to worry is one on top of a Guts block, so wait for it to fire then shoot it and jump over, killing it in the process. Or use a Rolling Cutter. You won't need that ability anyways. You'll also run into some Killer Bullets farther in, just spam shots at your level and make little leaps to shoot slightly above your head. This will remove them in short order without the risk of getting caught in their explosions. And, as a bonus for playing along, they may even drop an extra life, as they tend to do. So nice of them. Anyways, hit the replay flag. (And you'll be wanting to), then fall down the pit and into the water. It's boss time already. Boss: CWU-01P Yep, here he is, the second not very typical and very difficult boss. Immediately you'll notice two things about this boss. The first is that there are two Guts blocks in the level. Save these for now, you'll be wanting them for later. Trust me. The other is that he is protected by a bubble shield. This means that he'll take a few hits before actually taking damage. Here's the problem: you don't have that advantage. As a matter of fact, the shield will deal the same amount of damage as the boss will if you run into him, no matter where you stand. And, because we love you so much, that giant suction thing in the background is entirely functional and will try to drag you towards the middle of the room. Now you see why this guy is tough? Fortunately, this particular boss has two weaknesses and the first is those Guts blocks. Each time he gets hit by one, his shield goes down substantially. And if you manage to hit him with two in a row, he'll take extra damage. His second weakness is lightening, though it won't deal him damage. Instead, similar to Oil Man's obnoxious oil puddles or Guts Man's quake, it will stun the boss for a bit. This may give you enough time to hurl a Guts block at him, but more likely it will keep you alive long enough to at least pick one up. Be aware too that if the boss does touch guts block, it will blow up. So be careful. Other than the bosses shield and convenient swimming pattern which make only the very corner of the room safe, this boss has more tricks up its sleeve. Once it makes a single rotation around the room, it will stop in the middle and fire a laser upwards in a half arc. This will cause some nasty brown bubbles to appear. Don't stand under those bubbles, or you'll die instantly when a Guts block appears and falls on your head. The boss will then fire the laser again, this time sweeping the floor. Unlike the shield, this laser cannot destroy the Guts blocks, neither can it shoot through them. If that all doesn't do it for you, there is more. Every time you damage this boss, he speeds up a little more. By the time you get him down to his last breath, he'll be moving so fast you'll wish that you could...stop time? As a matter of fact, that's a good idea and one you should make use of. When he goes red, you're not going to want to be trying to avoid his super fast attacks, so slow him down a bit and toss those Guts blocks up his ass until dead. The only other strategy I can recommend is that you make full use of the Guts blocks for the first little bits. And remember that you can only pick up so many, so save the tossing for when you really need it. Instead, hop up onto a block and spam a few shots at the annoying little bugger, then jump over him as he goes to destroy the block. If you're fast enough, and don't fall off from the drag, you can get in enough hits to send him back up before he has a chance to destroy you're other block. Be aware though that once he comes back down, he'll destroy the other one and you'll be stuck without them until he creates more. When he fires the laser, the easiest way to dodge it, assuming you didn't run the wrong way, is to either hide behind the block if they land in the middle of the level, or on top if they in the corners. Good luck, you'll need it... Castle Wily Part 3: A clone of the rest of us (Wily3) "Bring it on, Hot Shot!" ------------------------------------------------------------ You're really not going to like this level. At all. As a matter of fact, go back a few levels, go to Ice Man's stage, and use the Oil Slider to nab a few extra lives before starting this stage. You see, it's relatively short, the only problem is, you're going to have to face all eight robots again, with no health in between rounds. The only good thing to this whole mess is that you can still use their weaknesses against them, and this time you'll have the whole stage no matter which one you're fighting. To begin with, head right, don't worry about enemies, there aren't going to be any to shoot for a while. Climb the ladder, and watch the pattern of disappearing platforms a few times before attempting them. Those spikes are no more or less forgiving then they were before. Climb to the top of this ladder and find out what it means to stand on a ticking time bomb. You're going to have to leap from the first disappearing platform on to the Count Bomb. But the trick is, the second one does not appear until the timer is nearly out, due to the nature of the timing. So wait for the platform to appear and jump for dear life. Climb the ladder, you'll see a life heart off to the right. If you really want it that badly, go get it from farther up. Just remember to land on the right side, you'll hit only spike on the left. Wait for the Foot Hold, being wary of the spike over head, and jump for the ladder when you think you can make it. Climb up the ladder, and go through toe boss door overhead. Be sure to hit the replay flag before heading into the teleporters. These teleporters all lead to a boss battle, so you're going to want to come back if and when you die. Now, there are obviously eight transporters, one for each boss. The colors break down like this: White: Cut Man. Stick with the buster cannon, Guts Man's ability still sucks. Yellow: Elec Man. Oil Slider is now a much more viable solution. Green: Bomb Man. Rolling Cutter works wonders, as always. Dark Red: Oil Man. Use Fire Storm, you'll be alright. Light Purple: Time Man. Lightning is your friend, use it wisely. Red: Fire Man. Ice slasher will cool this fight down. Blue: Ice Man. Fire away the bombs, he'll go down like a sack of hammers. Orange: Guts Man. Time Stop only has two shots, mix it up with the buster. It's recommended that you have more than two lives before taking them on, as you will get hurt by one or another, and likely killed after a while. And this is not the end of the stage either, so come prepared. When you're ready, head into a teleporter and take down the bosses one at a time. There's no real order you should take them on in, but here are their difficulties: Cut: 2-3, you don't get a special attack Elec: 3-4, Oil Slider is still inaccurate and damaging Bomb: 1-2, the only trouble here is aim if you're not that good Oil: 1-2, as long as you aim carefully Time: 1-2, this one is over fast Fire: 1-2, again, over quickly Ice: 1, the easiest you'll face Guts: 2-3, if you get hit too much by the thrown blocks If you need strategies for beating any of the bosses, refer to the bosses section. After you've beaten every boss, a ladder will appear in the upper room. You'll hit a replay flag and the worst of the nightmare is now over. Check out the neat background, and head up the ladder. Nab the Power capsule if you need it, then head up again. Don’t' bother with the Beaks, unless you need health or something, then stand under them when they fire at you. Continue up, grab the health if you need it, kill the Octo in your way carefully, and head upwards. Watch out in this area, there are Picket Men here, and they will hurt you a lot, so try to avoid their picks as best as possible, then continue on, grabbing the power ups if need be. Hit the replay flag and make a dash as fast as you can for the boss door. Didn't make it? Yeah, thought not. Prepare yourself to face... Boss: Mega Man Clone That’s right, it's you. And, like you, he has all of the abilities. Actually, despite his being as beefy as you are, this fight is pretty simple and straight forward. Your clone is obviously going to have the same attacks as you do. He can fire the buster cannon, but he only ever fires one shot at a time, so it's easy to see coming. He'll run towards you, even jump on you. He's really quite crazy you know. To the point of running right into you if need be. He doesn't get anything else though, thankfully. Here's the trick when fighting your clone. He will switch to one of the powers eventually. And as long as it’s not Cut Man's, he'll take extra damage the same as if he were that boss. So use the weaknesses to your advantage and cut him down. The buster cannon is also effective, just be sure to watch for when he shoots, as his shot will hide in yours. Feel free to use any of the boss powers if you feel more comfortable doing so, just be sure to save a few for when he changes to a power. After that, this battle is a cinch and you'll find yourself pondering whether Wily really knew what he was getting into. Castle Wily Part 4: EggheadsRus (Wily4) "Nwahahahahahahaha!" This is, rest assured, the last of the castle Wily stages. It's pretty straight forward, the only hard part will be the conveyor belts that return from Guts Man's stage. But we'll get to that in a minute. I recommend that you use rolling cutter here, and you'll see why in a minute. Head forwards, you'll soon find yourself under a Beak and behind a Screw Bomber. Now, you could hop up and shoot the bomber, then turn and hit the Beak. What you don’t' know is that there is another Screw Bomber just off screen. This is why I waste my Rolling Cutters here. They have plenty of distance, they can go through walls and floor, and they allow you to hit enemies without being directly in the line of fire. Either way you choose to go, kill the one screw bomber, carefully kill the Beak, then the second bomber, then the second Beak before it has a chance to fire at you. Here’s another place that the Rolling Cutter is your best friend. Kill the Screw Bombers however you like, but the cutter does wonders to them without letting you take damage. Destroy them, the Octos past those, and then the combination of enemies shortly there after. There's no real strategy, just destroy at will. Once you're through the gauntlet, head right and hop up onto the block platform above the conveyor belt. Right away you'll have to do a little jump over the gap, and then you'll see a life heart over head. Get it at all costs. You're going to need it shortly, as you shall see. Wait for the conveyor to head back in your direction, hoping up and collecting the power ups as you go. Now, here's the fun part. There is a really long gap here. Now, it's entirely possible that you'll make it the first time, no powers involved. But the likelihood of such an event is pretty weak. I've done it a few times, but I've died more times then I can count trying. There is a solution though. If you've tried using Time Slow in the past on a moving component, you've likely notice that it keeps moving and you do not. You can use this concept to your advantage. Just as the conveyor dips, jump up and forwards, then use Time Slow when you reach the peak of your jump. This allows the conveyor to move slightly over before you come back down. Now be sure to aim yourself to the other side and you should just make it. Remember to aim though, if you don't you'll just go straight down. Don't worry if you do die, as long as you collected that life heart, you'll never lose a life trying this. It always reappears there. And if you’re really lucky, an enemy may drop an extra one as a present for trying so hard. As soon as you do survive the gap, leap onto and over the next few platforms and up to the ladder., climb the stairs and the next ladder, and charge straight forward through the absurdly long hallway. Boss: Dr. Wily Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, the nefarious Doctor behind all of this. But he's not going down without a fight. He comes down with his U.F.O. machine and then introduces you to the unimaginatively named "Wily Fighting Machine Number 1". Depending on which difficulty you’re on, this guy will either be a push over or a pain in the ass. On Easy, all he's ever going to have is a cannon-like shot which he fires every two seconds or so. The easiest strategy here is to walk under them or jump over them as the placement of the machine dictates. It will roll back and forth, but it can't crush you against the screen so it will stop short. This gives you a little breathing room but not much. When it gets to this point you can be daring and try to fire at Wily, but dodging the shots should be a higher priority until he backs away. The weakness of this boss is the windshield/eye visor where Wily is hiding. Aim your shots at that when the machine is not recovering (as always) and you'll take off one bar each time. In this mode that's all you'll get. He has no weapon weakness that I'm aware of, though time slow might help should things get really hairy. On normal mode...well, as a good friend once said, Wily will make you cry yourself to sleep at night. This is a damn tough battle and you'll find yourself wishing more then once that Guts Man's power wasn't so damn stupid. In this difficulty, Wily ditches the simplistic cannon in favor of all of the boss attacks. And trust me, while this sounds easy, it ain't. He'll usually start of the battle by firing a couple of rolling cutters at you. Get used to it, he'll do this fairly often, or at least often enough to whittle your health down in scary fast ways. Dodge the best you can, and if nothing else shoot at him until he switches. The key to this battle is to watch the top of the U.F.O. as it will change colors pertinent to which attack Wily is about to use. Once he switches, there is a slight delay before he uses the power and this will give you time to switch to the power he's weak against. Hit him with it and he'll lose two bars, and switch immediately to another power. The colors and their weaknesses are as follows: Grey: both a default (I guess) color for Wily and also for that of Cut Man. Use the buster cannon, because Guts Man is a loser and you can't attack with his power. Orange: Guts Man. He won't attack in this color, as far as I'm aware. Use the buster cannon, because you only get two Time Stops and you're going to need those for later. Light Blue: Here comes the Ice slasher. While the obvious power might seem like fire, try using bombs instead. Just make sure they hit the windshield or you'll be hurting. Bright Green: Bomb Man's power is really easy to see coming as Wily waits the longest to use this ability and you'll be dying to use rolling cutter if and when Wily gets to this one. Red: Fire Man's fire storm is coming. Fortunately, Wily does not get to use the fire shield as well as the shot. Use Ice and you'll be fine. Yellow: You're really going to hate this one. If any power now suddenly becomes lamer then Guts Man's, it's going to be Oil Man's. Oil is Elec man's weakness, but the limited range and inaccuracy of this attack hurt. A lot. Whatever you do, do not miss. Other wise you're in for a world of hurt until the puddle goes away and you can fire again. Purple: On the other hand, should Wily decided to use this power you should be thankful. This essentially adds up to a free hit. Or several if you want to try the buster cannon. If not, use electricity and time goes back to normal. Blackish Purple: Of course, Wily doesn't get to suffer the agony of limited range and will make good use of the fact. This is the power he is able to use the fastest, so try and predict it before he shoots. Hit him with fire before he gets a shot off, or he's getting several puddles on the ground before you hit him. And those are not conducive to your health, believe me. After all of that, you'd think you'd get to sit back and enjoy the victory. Think again. Wily whines a bit, and then tinkers with the robot and now he can fly. As if that wasn't bad enough, he gets a brand new energy bar and you get stuck with? The same amount of health you managed to retain from the first fight. And it gets better. Because he can fly, Wily will now go up and down, making it harder to hit him. All of his attacks will be the same, thankfully, except for one. Should he change into Guts Man's power you'd better start praying. He will do one of two things. The first is to sit and get shot. This is what you'd better be praying for. If he doesn't, the robot will pick up a pair of pointy arms, and now he's about to charge you. So far, I've not been able to dodge this attack at all, but you're best bet would be to Time stop and hope you can jump over him. If not, hope you have a decent amount of life or it's back to square one with you. Finally, after all is said and done, Wily will get toasted and try to crawl away. Finding his escape route blocked, he'll start begging for forgiveness. And it's all over from there. Or so it seems... Watch the credits and collect your just rewards. Mega Man C. Now check out Hard mode, or the challenges, for even more in the way of hair pulling difficult fun. Or go pack and collect all of those Construction Packs you saw before but couldn't get. You’ve got all the powers now, and you won't ever not have them when you're Mega Man. Any way you decide to go, it's up to you. VI Challenges ------------------ Mega Man: 1 Jump for Joy 2 Jump for Joy 2 3 Flee from Fleas 4 Snipe Hunt 5 Bomb Walker 6 Special Weapons Master 7 Dodge Octo Battery Assault 8 Blader Raider 9 Tackle Fire Frenzy 10 Score Ball Wrangler Cut Man: 1 Wall Jump Seminar 2 wall Jump Seminar 2 3 Octopus Battery Panic! 4 Octo Battery Exterminator 5 No Damage Flying Shell Heck 6 When Pruning Shears Attack 7 Survive Rare Enemy! 8 No Climbing Frozen Walls! 9 Crazy Containers 10 Unstoppable Pendulum Guts Man: 1 Container Factory 2 Containers Underfoot 3 Stack Attack! 4 Hard Headed Hero 5 Throw Mania! 6 Elevator Panic! 7 Can't make Blocks on Conveyors! 8 Secure a Foothold! 9 Only Five at a Time! 10 Stack and Climb! Ice Man: 1 Freeze and Climb! 2 Climb the Ice Tower! 3 Use Attacks to your Advantage! 4 Freeze and Go! 5 Cross the Frozen Fire 6 Freezing Blizzard! 7 Cross Octopus Battery Canyon 8 Cross Flea Valley 9 Freeze! You're Toast! 10 Killer Bullet Ice Field Bomb Man: 1 Bomb Container Destroyer 2 Switch Block Mania 3 Angle Throw Panic 4 1 Minute Crisis! 5 Switch Block Obstacle Course! 6 Aim, Throw, Destroy! 7 Bombing errors Lead to Doom 8 Count Bomb Explosion! 9 Victory or Destruction? 10 Secure a Path! Fire Man: 1 Keep the Home Fires Burning 2 Gauntlet Runner 3 Don't Melt the Snow! 4 Going is Easy, Returning is Scary! 5 Defeat Picket Men with Fire 6 First One Wins! 7 Cornered! 8 Walking on Air 9 Defeat Shield Cannons with Fire 10 Methodical Gauntlet Elec Man: 1 Fun with Elec Blocks 2 More Fun with Elec Blocks! 3 Even More Fun with Elec Blocks! 4 Tiptoe on the Elec Blocks 5 Killer Bullet Attack 6 Clever Elec Block Crosser 7 Cool Elec Block Climber 8 Watch out for Elec Blocks! 9 Brave the Elec Block Gauntlet! 10 Don't Lose Elec Blocks! Time Man: 1 Master Time Slow 2 Master time Slow 2 3 Move the Pendulum! 4 Watch your Step! 5 Time Limit Panic! 6 Container Crossing 7 Watch out for Explosions! 8 No Time to Lose! 9 Don't lose track of Octo Battery! 10 Countdown! Oil Man: 1 Slide to Victory! 2 Slider Jump! 3 Oil Floats! 4 Watch out for Burning Surfaces! 5 Hit Enemies with the Slider! 6 Conveyor Belt Madness! 7 Run on Water! 8 Don't Slow Down! 9 No Brakes 10 Keep your Speed Up! Boss Survival: 1 Boss Attack! 2 Easy Boss Attack! 3 Normal Boss Attack! 4 Hard Boss Attack! 5 Wily Boss Attack! 6 Wily Easy Boss Attack! 7 Wily Normal Boss Attack! 8 Wily Hard Boss Attack! 9 Normal All Boss Attack! 10 Hard All Boss Attack! VII Items, Blocks, and stuff -------------------------------- Items list -------------- Score Ball This item gives you 100 points at the end of the level for each one you pick up. Don't go out of your way to pick them up, it's not really worth it. You'll end up with around ten per level anyways. Small Health This is a little yellow capsule, and will restore around one and a half bars of health. Only go after these if you need the life or it's prior to a boss battle. Large Health These are giant yellow jar capsules. Enemies only drop these when you're low on health and they restore at least six bars of health. Be sure to keep an eye out for these, as they often signal a boss battle or hard spot. Small Power Capsule These are small blue capsules and they are for restoring power to your used abilities when you have them. Confusingly, enemies drop these a lot, even when you have no powers. Again, only go out of your way for them if you need them. Large Power Capsule Same as the large Healths except they restore power to abilities. They are they giant blue jar capsules. Again, look for these near boss battle areas. Life Heart You won't see these too often, but every now and then an enemy will drop one or you'll see it in a level. These give you one extra life. Yashichi I'm not sure what this looks like in the game, I've yet to see one. It restores full health and power though. Replay Flag This is you're get out of jail free card, so to speak. Should you die at any point in the level after you touch one, you'll return to this spot. But beware, should you run out of lives, you will have to go to the beginning. Construction Pack/ Scenery Pack These packs are extra items new to the game. They give you new tools and sets to work with when building your own stage. Collecting them is a challenge in its own right and will require the help of the other robots at times. Blocks list ---------------- Block Yep, it's a block. That's really all there is to it. Any one can destroy it, and it's there. Um...yeah... Cut block You won't see these too often, if at all in the regular story. These are essentially breakable blocks with a giant cutter on them. They can only be broken with a rolling cutter. Nothing else special here. Guts block This is a brownish block with a rock symbol in the middle. Guts man can not only pick up these blocks, but also create them. Mega Man can pick them up with the Super Arm ability. (That's all it's good for anyways) These are the most prolific blocks anywhere, get used to seeing them. They are also the only blocks to appear in boss battles, and in several at that. Bomb block These are smaller then the other blocks, and have a bomb on them. Often times they are placed in such a way that only bomb man can make use of them. They aren't very common, and usually hide a Construction pack. Elec blocks A curious looking, blank block with a nozzle that can only be activated by Elec man. Once shot, they will move in the direction indicated by the little nozzle. They will stop short if Elec Man gets in the way but can be ridden as platforms if you get on top. Oil Blocks Another relatively rare block, it is orangish with a large drop symbol in it. They can be destroyed using the Oil Slider. Again, relatively simple other wise. Time blocks Curiously, another type of block that can only be destroyed by the pertinent boss. It features two hands and is white and purple. Only seen twice or so in the game, both hide secrets. Fire blocks Can be destroyed using fire. Look like grey Guts blocks with a fire symbol instead of a rock. Not much to them otherwise, though care should be taken to destroy them if they seem suspiciously out of place. Ice blocks Another small type block, this can only be destroyed by...Fire Man? That's right, Fire Man gets two kinds of special blocks. The only difference is that these can only be melted when Fire Man is lit. If the fire is out, you're not going through these babies. Misc. Stuff ---------------- Foot Holder This is another example of a platform that moves or does something, but is not exactly an enemy. These guys can't hurt you, but they can carry you across pits. On Easy, they move in a straight forward line. On Normal, they go back and forth in a diagonal pattern, going up and down as well. Time you're jumps well, there's nothing quite as humiliating as missing one as it's flying away. Count bomb This is neither an enemy nor an item, but it is unique enough to warrant a side note. In the challenges later on, you'll encounter walking versions of these, but essentially they are simply platforms that countdown from three and explode shortly after hitting zero. Time your jumps carefully. Oil Tubes These look exactly as the name implies. You'll only see them in the Oil Man stage, but they hide some good stuff, so destroy them with fire whenever you think they might be hiding something. VIII Enemy Listing + ----------------------- Spine This is a little, spiky ground scooter robot. On easy he'll just go back and forth slowly. On Normal he'll speed up whenever you're on the same level of ground that it is. On hard, it'll constantly go fast. On any difficulty it will be stunned for a while with the buster cannon, and destroyed with any other weapon. Octo Battery This is another simple enemy, but one that can be tricky at certain points. They only move in one given direction, either up and down, or left and right. It takes 5 shots by the buster cannon to defeat one. On Hard they will be faster, on Easy and Normal they will be slower and more predictable. Beak It only takes one shot to kill them, but they have a shield on. The trick is to wait for it to open and then shoot it. On Easy it will fire two shots, Normal three, and hard four. Also on Hard it will open more frequently. Blader Bladers are one of the most annoying spawnable bad guys next to Pengs and Killer Bullets. Fortunately they are predictable and easily dealt with. They will spawn at a determined point on the edge of the screen and move straight forward until they see you. At this point they dive down directly at you, usually at an angle from above. They only take one hit to kill, but don't miss as they are not the easiest enemy to dodge thanks to the height advantage they have on you. The thing about these and other flying enemies is that if they miss you, they will crash into a wall behind you and obliterate themselves. These, however, are unique in that they will follow you if they can. At least on Normal and Hard modes. Cutter Machine Though technically not an enemy as it can't move or hurt you by touching it, it can attack none the less. As long as you are in a certain range, this machine will spam cutters at you and will take a good chunk of health per hit. The cutters will also bounce on higher difficulties and even give chase for a time. Flea These are the most annoying little buggers anywhere. They will single minded leap at you for as long as they are on screen, and they are damn hard to shoot when on the ground as they are just low enough that the buster cannon shot goes over them. Green, fast, and obnoxious, watch out for them at all costs. Flying Shell This is another shielded enemy, and like the Beaks, they cannot be hurt unless they are open and about to fire. Unlike the beaks though, they can and do move. Not only that but instead of firing one shot at a time in a spread, they do away with accuracy in favor of shooting one shot in every direction before moving on. Wait until they open the shell, and then shoot them. Head for the nearest exit though, because where that one came from, there will be more. Big Eye Like the Proto Eye, only smaller and more armored. The only weakness this thing has is its enormous eye. Trouble is, it closes it when it's perfect range to get shot. It only has the ability to leap at you, either a low leap, or a high one. In Easy mode, it doesn't even get that, it just sits in one place and jumps up and down until you kill it or get bored and run under it. It takes about nine hits with the buster cannon to defeat. Bombomb Curious, seems that a certain name from Nintendo went to this lame enemy. Essentially, all this thing has the ability to do is jump into the air and explode. It's easy enough to hit when it does this, and you'll only ever see this enemy type once. Still, if the hit is not timed right, it will split into four mini bombs and spread fire to both sides of where it explodes. Screw Bomber Dirty thoughts aside, this thing is a pain in the ass when grouped in sets of three or more. Essentially they sit on either the ceiling or the floor. When on the floor, it's impossible to shoot them until they pop up. On the ceiling, if there is a higher roof, you can aim shots to hit it without it ever going off. Either way when it does pop out, it will fire twice. On easy it will fire two shots, five on Normal and _ on Hard. Try to kill them before they pop up. Sniper Joe Why is he Sniper Joe, instead of some nameless robot? Who knows. He doesn't even snipe really. Either way, don't even bother trying to shoot through the shield he's got, it won't work. Unless of course you're really gutsy and want to get real close to him. He'll wait a bit, maybe jump up once, and then fire between 3 and 5 shots, timed out in such a way that you can actually jump over or between every one. This is when you're supposed to shoot him. If you're in a good spot, you can usually spam off enough Buster cannon shots to kill him before the bullet reaches you at all. It takes four shots to kill a Sniper Joe Killer Bullet Single-handedly the cheapest enemy in the game, you'll hate these every time you see one. Very similar to the Bullet Bills of Mario, these bullets only travel along a straight line, never deviating. What makes them annoying is that they keep coming for a given distance, and often appear right in a crucial timed jumping spot. Adding to the aggravation is the fact that even after you kill them, they can still hurt you. See, unlike all of the other enemies, when these bullets die, they explode and this explosion can hurt you as well. And if you're really unlucky, you'll hit it right as you're over a pit, cutting a crucial jump short. I hate them, and you will too. Trust me on this. There is one upside to them however. For all their annoyance, they are one of the few enemies that will drop an extra life when killed, and they tend to do so with odd frequency. Peng More like pain. These are damn hard to hit in most cases, no matter how prepared you are. They are also the weirdest enemy I've ever seen. They are essentially Penguins with rotors attached to their beaks. They don't shoot, all they do is fly at you. But they fly in that annoying up and down fashion that most flying enemies in other games do. Crazy Razy This is by far the most obnoxiously hard to hit enemy. He loves to stay just out of range and punch you when you get too close or when he swoops down right over your head. He'll walk forward and separate at the torso, and when his legs fall away, he'll start flying well above your head. Shoot at his head only, destroying his legs does nothing. Two buster cannon shots does it. Shield Guard Don't worry too much about these guys. They only go back and forth and never really attack. As soon as they go past, shoot at them from behind as their heavy shields up front prevent damage. Six hits will do in this robot. Watcher Actually, these aren't all that bad considering. Every time that you're ever going to see these guys will be when you're climbing up a long ladder. And, if you don't stop to look at them, they will never hit you. If you do stop, they cannot be hurt until they get ready to fire at you, and only take one shot to kill. The trick is not to get hit by their shot before they get hit by yours. Still, there is no real point to killing them, as you can't get the items they drop, only some meager points. Picket Man These guys are very similar to Sniper Joe. The only difference is that instead of shooting you directly, they will chuck mining picks at you., giving their name a whole new meaning. As with Sniper Joe though, you can run up to them and fire through their shield if you so choose, or you can get somewhat close and dodge their picks while firing. Any way that you decide to take them on, they are going to be a pain, so fire fast and five shots will kill them. Bubble Bat They only exist in two spots throughout the game, and they don’t' really serve a purpose other than to be annoying. You can't shoot them when they are in hanging mode, similar to the Beaks. You'll just have to wait until they unfurl their wings and fly at you. It only takes one shot to kill them, and if they should hit you, they will immediately go back into hanging mode. Shield Cannon You will never see one of these in story mode. They only exist for Construction mode. If you do go up against them, it will be in Challenge mode for, you guessed it, one challenge. There is no real strategy here other than they fire three cannon balls at you, and these will be aimed at where you were standing prior to the shot. You can only kill these when they are opened, as with all shielded enemies, four shots is all it takes. They also happen to be extremely phallic...(yeah, dirty minds think alike. Sorry.) IX Boss Strategies ------------------------- Proto Eye Get used to that design, you'll be seeing it again in smaller more heavily armored form. For now though, this guy's a push over on any difficulty. He only has two attacks. The first is his jump, but he doesn't aim it, only leaps about in a predictable fashion. If he gets too close, run under him as he goes up and continue. The other only happens on Normal and Hard. On Normal, when he reaches one side of the screen, he'll turn around, charge up, and fire a single ball of energy. Duck it, leap over it, it doesn't really matter. Shame on you if you get hit. On hard, he'll stop at random intervals and fire three, but with the same charge up. Simply get under the eye and you'll never get hit. On Easy he'll just jump up and down in place. There really isn't much for strategy with this guy. Shoot until he dies. The trick though, is that you wait until he's not flashing to shoot again. Even though you're shots don't bounce off, you may be frustrated to find that you're not killing him any faster by spamming buster cannon shots. The truth is, he only takes damage, as with every other boss, when he is recovered from taking damage. After that, he's simple. Shoot him anywhere on the body and he takes damage. Avoid his leap and his pathetic energy shot, and he'll be gone in less then a minute. Cut Man Right away you'll get the impression of claustrophobia. There are two Guts blocks right under you and they are taking a huge amount of floor space. Add to that Cut Man starts on a lower level, and this seems a lot harder then it is. Truth be told, Cut man is one of the easier bosses to kill, as would be evidenced by the simplicity of his level. When you start, Cut man will appear and claim that you are the bad robot. Mega Man pleads with him, but it's no use. Cue Cut Man's tag line and start up move, and the fight is on. Cut man has some very basic moves that you should be aware of and in each boss battle I will spell out each and give a dodging strategy for each before I go on to the boss. Cut man's first move is simple. He jumps. A lot. He jumps so much, one almost has to wonder why he's not Jump Man. He'll try to leap onto you to inflict damage, and his jumps, while always to the same height, will very in distance greatly. It's important to pay attention to his angling, and anticipate where he'll land. After that, go under him and shoot from the other side, and you've already half beaten him. Cut man also has the cutters atop his head, and this is where things get interesting. Sometimes he'll announce when he's going to through them by glowing and clanging his fists together, other times he'll just jump slightly and throw them without warning. In the first case, simply leap over the cutters the first time, and then immediately run towards Cut Man. This may sound stupid, but more often than not, shortly after throwing them, Cut Man will leap up into the air to catch them instead of making you leap over them again. On the other hand, when he leaps up and throws them, there's not a lot you can do if you don't see it coming. This is the only move you're likely to take damage from, so don't worry too much about it. Lastly, Cut Man, like all the other bosses, has a super move that you will never get to perform, even if and when you do play as that character. In this case, Cut Man will do the same thing as if he was going to throw a Rolling Cutter, but he'll glow more brightly. He'll then shout "Down the Middle!" and then throw an oversized cutter at you. Leap over this, then chase after it. What this does is lets you be behind the Super Cutter when it comes back down. And it will. Now, as to strategy, Cut Man may actually take a life out of you before you get him down. The first thing he's going to do, before anything else, is leap up onto the Guts Blocks with you. Here you have two options. You can run towards him and pray he doesn't land on you before you get off, which does sometimes work, or you can wait close to the door, shoot him, and run under him when he leaps again. Either way, get to the ground level as fast as you can, because there is more room there to maneuver. If Cut Man chooses to throw the Rolling Cutter at you form atop the Guts blocks, leap over it and run towards the blocks and he'll leap over you. Turn around and shoot him once. I'd like to once again point out that the only time you'll deal damage to any boss is when he's not flashing or recovering from an attack. So time you're shots instead of spamming them. This will help you keep a better eye on the boss’s movement. Keep running under him, dodging his Rolling cutter attacks as need arises and generally dealing damage to him. Try not to get caught up against or on top of the Guts blocks, it is hard to get away from him there without taking damage. When he gets near half health or so, be on the look out for the super move. When you see it coming get on top of the Guts blocks. Watch for it and as it comes over you, leap off towards Cut Man, but as soon as you land, run the other way to avoid the blade coming down on your head. The good thing about this super attack s that it clears the blocks out of the way, giving you maximum maneuvering room. From here on out, it's the same fight, but with the occasional Super Cutter thrown in for good measure. A note about when a boss is glowing or doing a super move. You cannot damage them in that state. You just have to wait out the move and continue injuring them after the fact. Bomb Man This boss is a ramp up in difficulty depending mostly on whether you're trying to befriend him or just kill him. His attacks are fairly predictable, the only trouble comes with his jumps. His attacks are as follows: Bomb Man has even better hops than Cut Man. He can go from one side of the stage to the other with very little effort. This gets annoying because he also seems to be able to aim where he lands, often leading to you getting caught under him no matter where you stand or run to. After that, he gets bombs. And lots of them. Fortunately for you, he only ever throws one at a time, and they don't travel any farther then they are thrown. They can also be detonated by shooting them. Be careful though, as they also make an effective block for your shots. He’ll often throw one first, then leap at you. Your best bet is to get close to the bomb or shoot it while you’re moving. Either way, try not to get caught in the blast. His Super Move is a giant bomb, which takes some small time to charge up. He'll say "I'll show you" and hide for a second before whipping out a huge bomb and chucking it at you. If you're too far away, it will explode where it lands, and there's no way to dodge it. If you're close to him, it will bounce and you can run under it if you're good. Stand close to him until he lets go, then run a little ways away and run under it during its first bounce. After that, it doesn't get enough clearance and you're going to get hit, irregardless of where you're standing. If you're fighting him with only the Buster cannon, be prepared. Since you can't blow him backwards with the cannon, he'll be able to keep moving towards you. You're best bet is to watch carefully where he's jumping and when he's jumping. Also watch out for the bombs he throws and try to guess where the explosion will be. It's easy to get caught up in where the bomb is and forget the boss, but that's when he'll jump on you. You can shoot the bomb to make it explode, but for some reason, that makes Bomb Man jump even more then usual. When he uses the Big Bomb, stick close until he throws it and try to dodge the bomb as best as possible. That thing hurts a lot when you do get hit by it. If you're using Cut Man's power, which Bomb Man is weak against, this fight will be over a lot faster. Every time you hit him, he'll get blown backwards, or sometimes towards you if the cutter hits him on it's way back. It will also do double damage and as an added bonus, it cuts the bombs in half, nullifying their explosion. Aim carefully, and be careful that he doesn't just jump over your attack. Ice Man This guy is a little lost in the head. Maybe it was all the time out in the South Pole with no one else, or perhaps it was fumes from the fridge. Either way, Ice Man seems to think he's both Commander and Grunt in a one man army. In comparison with Bomb Man, Ice man is fairly predictable, and the only way he's really going to kill you is if you time your jumps wrong, as you'll see. Ice man rarely jumps. Unlike his other brothers, he likes to stay firmly on the ground unless he's doing his second attack. But he's smart enough not to try and stomp you. Instead he'll rely, in similar fashion to how Mega Man fires, on firing three rounds of his Ice Slasher at a time. Sometimes they'll be in a straight line, sometimes they will come angled up or down. Either way he chooses to fire them, they are very easily dodged. Fire away at him while dodging, if you have the mind to do so. Ice Man's super move is confusing to me. It essentially drops a large icicle on the ground near the middle of the stage. This both prevents you from hitting anything behind it, but also prohibits Ice man from moving around which I find odd. He, unlike you however, can fire through it and will make good use of it. Simply continue leaping out of harm's way until it melts and return to business as usual. Fortunately, Ice Man is very predictable and the fight twill be over quickly once you have the pattern down. He'll move, fire three shots, then three more, and move again. If he gets overly close, leap over him and move to the other side. Be careful when you do leap over him, he will turn around and fire at you and you could land on his shots. Once you whittle his health down enough, he'll drop a giant icicle, either trapping himself behind it, or trapping both of you in close proximity. If he traps himself, just jump the shots as per normal, and resume firing when it melts. If he traps both of you, try to get past him when he gets too close and get over the icicle. Being near Ice Man will throw off your timing and usually only ends up getting you hurt. If you're using Ice Man's weakness against him, this is a shorter battle. He might not even get the chance to fire a shot. The only trick is to once again wait until he's recovered from getting blasted. Once that's done, even if you miss with the bomb, he'll very likely run right into it, genius that he is. Fire Man This is the funniest boss in this game. He's got a southern accent, he is hell bent on justice, and he's just a little one track minded when it comes to his favorite element. Then again, maybe you would be too if your head was on fire. Anyway, don't let the silly southern accent fool you, this guy is trickier then he seems, and a hell of a lot faster. Fortunately he's also very predictable and won't try to jump on you. Fire Man's first attack is the one he'll use throughout the fight. He'll spam Fire Storm shots at you pretty quickly. They are easy enough to jump, but the trick is that sometimes he'll fire two shots, just far enough apart that you'll go to jump the first one and land right on the second one. Be patient, and try to see both coming when possible. Either that or wait until the Fire is almost on you and jump, but this can be dangerous. Fire Man's Super move is to light the ground on fire in a wave of burning doom. Then, as it's coming towards you, he'll also shoot out more Fire Storm shots. Yeah, cheap but effective. If you have to get hit by something, take the Fire Storm shot and use the invincibility to get across the Super move. Often though you'll jump the Super move and get hit with the shot anyways. Fortunately, it does less damage, so don't worry too much about it. Fire Man is pretty direct in his approach. He'll stand in the middle of the room and start firing shots at you. Leap them and shoot at him when appropriate until he uses the super move. As noted above you have two options, take either you think will be effective. Don't leap over Fire Man, unless you like being on the other side of the room. It's the same either way, so stick to the pattern of leaping shots and firing and he'll be down before you know it. If you have Ice Slasher and aren't worried about saving him, just follow the same strategies that you would with any other boss and their weakness with one exception. Fire Man takes a little longer to recover, and he also can fire a single shot before you can, so be wary of this. Oil Man One of two new bosses, this guy is a complete gimmick. His power, once you get it, is ridiculously slow, and the Oil Slider, while fun, is not an effective enough weapon to be considered for use more then a couple of times at best. He's also one of the easiest bosses to beat, if you know his pattern. The first attack he has is his jumping. He won't deliberately jump on you, but if you're in the place where he plans on landing, he's not going to steer clear. His second, and technically third, attack is his oil gun. He'll fire one shot at you on Easy mode, Three on Normal, and _ on Hard. Even if the attack doesn't hit you, though on Normal it's a little difficult to avoid, the oil gun shot will create a puddle on the ground where it hits, making you slip if you touch it. And that's going to let Oil Man jump all over you. His Super move, though technically it's just an ability, is the Oil Slider. He'll spin around once, then surf at you from one side of the room. On Easy, he rarely does this, but if he does, he'll only do it once. On Normal he'll do it from one to three times consecutively. Just leap over them as he comes at you, their easy to see coming. Oil Man is sort of limited to firing at you from one side of the room. He rarely fires in the middle, and the only thing you'll have to worry about from him is when he's running at you. The best thing to do is just stand your ground, depending on where you are. If you’re at the opposite end, you'll be fine unless you're against the wall. Move forward a bit, and he won't get you. If you're somehow on his half when he starts running, jump over him or run away, just don't end up against the wall. When he does fire the oil gun, try to stay away from where you plan on firing at him. Slipping will cost you some life, one way or another. If you have Fire Storm, you're in luck. But there is one catch. You only have nine shots, and when Oil Man recovers from flying back, he'll often use the oil gun and jump into the air. So wait until he lands before nailing him again unless you're feeling lucky. Play conservative though, he can't hurt you half as bad as you can hurt him. Be aware however that you can light the oil puddles similar to the oil slicks, so be careful. Elec Man Let's start this one of by observing the room. And you're not going to like it at all. There are, to start off with, two very inconvenient Guts blocks in either corner, nearly eliminating your floor space. Get used to them, they are going to be there until he uses his Super move. Elec Man is a hard boss for a reason, and it's not just the layout of his room. His primary attack is his Thunder Beam, and that's all he's going to need if you're not careful. It hurts a lot, taking off a lot more life then you'd like. Add to that that even if you stand on the Guts block it'll hit you and you can see that this is not a picnic. That being said, just try to time your jumps, as that's the only effective way to dodge the shots, no matter where you are. And be careful about shooting him, he tends to shoot you shortly after you hit him. His super move is a thunder bolt, and this is another thing you don’t' want to get hit by...ever. Period. You'll know what he's up to when he flashes and waves his arm. Just after he says "Electrify!", start running in either direction. The thunder will strike just behind you. If you're good about it, you can actually get him to blow away one of the Guts blocks even as you dodge, giving you that much more room. He'll also make a habit of getting uncomfortably close when he shoots, so be aware of this. Fortunately, he never does jump on you. This battle is hard even with Elec Man's weakness, which is Oil Man's Oil Slider. See, Elec Man won't take extra damage just by getting shot by the oil. The only way you can knock him down is to use the actual Oil slider. And with the amount of room you have to work with, this can get painful. Especially as when you hit him, if you don't cancel the slider, you'll take damage too. That being said, you can use the oil puddles as little mines and switch between that and the buster cannon. If you must use the slider, try to get the puddle as far to one side as possible, and jump on it from the right direction. If you're only using the buster cannon, this is the most frustrating boss you'll face. You'll be dealing very little damage to him even as he takes huge chunks out of your life with each zap. The best strategy is that of a conservationist. Play it safe, and focus more on dodging the shots instead of all out attack. You can also use the Guts blocks for some small advantage, especially if Elec Man decides to fall into a pattern, which he may or may not do. Time Man The second of the two new bosses in the game, Time Man is a little cooler than Oil Man, and his power will serve you well. Fortunately, he's also not a very hard boss to beat either, contrary to his challenging level. Time Man gets to shoot clock hands at you in addition to his running around and jumping. For the most part, Time Man doesn't jump on you on purpose. He's much more bent on running through you for some reason. And he will also, for some unexplained reason, jump when you jump sometimes. Got me why he's that stupid, but it actually works out to his advantage unless you know what he's up to. In this case, the easiest way to avoid getting rhino charged is to jump straight up. If Time Man chooses to jump at the same time, then simply land, then jump over him. This actually works better. An even better technique is to let him run past you. Because once he starts running the other way, like a bull and matador, he won't change directions unless he uses his Super move. Of course, his super move is probably not to his advantage. All he gets is his Time Stop ability, but it both easy to see coming, and doesn't slow you down that much. If anything, it's more helpful for you because you can see his attacks coming. If you're using Time Man's weakness, electricity for whatever reason, this battle will make you laugh your ass off. It's so ridiculously easy after the hell that his level was. The only thing to watch for is when he recovers, after losing a certain amount of health, he'll automatically use Time Stop. So wait for him to go back to normal status and shoot him again. If you're using the buster cannon, well this battle is still pretty easy, just not as easy. The only thing to really watch out for is the clock hands, as they travel pretty quickly. But other than that, try to avoid getting run through too often and you're all set. One other trick you can use is to jump over him a he's activating or de-activating Time Stop. He'll always run the same way as he was facing, giving you a free hit or two before he tries to shoot you. Guts Man Now here’s a radically different boss battle. Not only are you going to have to watch out for his attacks, you'll also need to watch out for when he lands, irregardless of where you are relative to him. His first "attack" is really just a stunning move. Every time he jumps and lands, the ground will quake and if you're still touching the ground, you'll fall on your ass, similar to an oil slick. This won't hurt you most of the time, but if you choose to fall as he throws the block he's got over his head, you're very likely to get hit. His first real attack is the blocks he will draw from the ground. Any contact with one will cause you damage, so don't be too close when he draws one or you'll get hit by it as it comes up. He'll carry it for at least one hop, then throw it at you. If you're close to him, you can often run away and not get hit, or if you're farther, you can often jump over it. Just be sire to get the timing down, because those blocks hurt a lot. His Super move involves him tunneling into the ground, then bursting forth, block in hand. There's very little you can do to avoid damage unless you get the timing down. It's really hard to get out of the way as he's coming up from under you, mostly due to the block that he's holding. It sticks out a little farther than his body, and it will often nick you and deal damage. The best thing to do is get to one side of the arena and wait until you think he's going to come out, then run for your life. Jumping might help, but make sure you're traveling forward when doing so. Guts Man is also fond of jumping around the stage in a completely random manner. Sometimes he'll keep heading for you, sometimes he'll just jump in one place, and sometimes he'll jump towards you, then away from you. It's neither predictable, nor set. All you can do is run under him if he gets to close. Guts Man's weakness is Time Stop, and it will be a handy weakness to exploit. The problem is this: you only get TWO. That's right, two. And even if you hit him with both, it won't be enough to kill him. What do you do then? Well, I recommend that you take down a little of his life first, then use Time Stop on him once. Once he recovers, shoot him with the buster cannon until the ability fades away. Continue wheedling his health away again for a bit, then use it again. There are two things about using Time Stop though. The first is that Guts Man cannot be hurt while he is recovering. No news there. Guts Man can also not be hit while he is in the air. That's where the trouble starts. Given that he spends about fifty percent of his time in the air, you're going to need to use those two Time Stops wisely. If you're using only the buster cannon, the only real thing you can do is shoot like there is no tomorrow. Keep an eye on when he lands and throws blocks, and dodge to the best of your ability, but otherwise keep shooting. He will die, eventually....One more thing, those blocks cannot be destroyed with conventional weaponry. So don't think that you can shoot them, or through them, because you can't. They are essentially Guts blocks, just made of bricks. Yellow Devil Yes, you heard it right, it said Bumo. What does that mean anyways? Either way,, it's going to attack so suit up. Here's the thing about the Yellow Devil. In Easy mode, which you're not playing in, he will never do more than shoot at you or bitch slap you if you get too close. On normal and hard modes, you're in for a really fun time. See, every time you shoot him in the eye, he'll break up into a tornado of pieces and start transferring from one side of the room to the other. And in doing so he'll create a second tornado. This leaves you a very small amount of space in which you can jump or stand under the pieces he's sending over. Get hit by a piece and you're losing a lot of health. So much in fact that four or five hits even with full health and you're toast. Yeah, it's so cheap it took me five or six attempts just to kill him. And I had his pattern down. Get used to your hands betraying you. Even though you'll be able to see his pattern and know what's coming, every once in a while you're going to slip up and do the wrong action. It happens all the time, and you'll hate yourself every time you do it. Not only will you be punishing yourself, the game will punish you too. If you happen to mess up and do the wrong action in the pattern, the game will then switch up the pattern on you too. Yep, now you're screwed until the transfer is over, because I'm sure as hell not going through all the possible permutations if you miss. You can if you want, but hopefully someone else will get bored enough to do it instead. I'm only going to give you two. And the second one is about the only helpful thing, in regards to general walkthrough and boss battles, that I've been able to get off GameFAQs, because the current one is so broken...(Hint: please someone take that one down until it's complete enough to be used.) His pattern in normal mode, if you do it my way is this: Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait,Jump,Wait 2x,Jump The other way you can do it only differs in one regard: Idle/Jump/Idle/Jump/Idle/Jump/Idle/Jump/Idle 3x/Jump/Idle 2x/Jump That first idle in the series of three, if you choose to stand under the shot instead of jumping it, the idle being easier, sets the balls into a different pattern. I usually jump that one, which puts my pattern a little different and more predictable. Choose whichever you like. When he does complete himself, he'll wait a bit, then open his eye and shoot a ball at you, similar to the Proto Eye. Unlike the Proto Eye, Yellow Devil cannot stand getting shot by a Fire Storm shot. It will take off two bars and make this fight a little quicker. And if you're good enough with the shot, it will deny him his chance to fire, though I suggest waiting, because you only have so many Fire Storms that you can use. Either way you choose to take him down it's the same though, shoot once, hop over the balls in the pattern and repeat until the big bastard gives up the ghost and melts Oz style into a puddle. CWU-01P Yep, here he is, the second not very typical and very difficult boss. Immediately you'll notice two things about this boss. The first is that there are two Guts blocks in the level. Save these for now, you'll be wanting them for later. Trust me. The other is that he is protected by a bubble shield. This means that he'll take a few hits before actually taking damage. Here's the problem: you don't have that advantage. As a matter of fact, the shield will deal the same amount of damage as the boss will if you run into him, no matter where you stand. And, because we love you so much, that giant suction thing in the background is entirely functional and will try to drag you towards the middle of the room. Now you see why this guy is tough? Fortunately, this particular boss has two weaknesses and the first is those Guts blocks. Each time he gets hit by one, his shield goes down substantially. And if you manage to hit him with two in a row, he'll take extra damage. His second weakness is lightening, though it won't deal him damage. Instead, similar to Oil Man's obnoxious oil puddles or Guts Man's quake, it will stun the boss for a bit. This may give you enough time to hurl a Guts block at him, but more likely it will keep you alive long enough to at least pick one up. Be aware too that if the boss does touch guts block, it will blow up. So be careful. Other than the bosses shield and convenient swimming pattern which make only the very corner of the room safe, this boss has more tricks up its sleeve. Once it makes a single rotation around the room, it will stop in the middle and fire a laser upwards in a half arc. This will cause some nasty brown bubbles to appear. Don't stand under those bubbles, or you'll die instantly when a Guts block appears and falls on your head. The boss will then fire the laser again, this time sweeping the floor. Unlike the shield, this laser cannot destroy the Guts blocks, neither can it shoot through them. If that all doesn't do it for you, there is more. Every time you damage this boss, he speeds up a little more. By the time you get him down to his last breath, he'll be moving so fast you'll wish that you could...stop time? As a matter of fact, that's a good idea and one you should make use of. When he goes red, you're not going to want to be trying to avoid his super fast attacks, so slow him down a bit and toss those Guts blocks up his ass until dead. The only other strategy I can recommend is that you make full use of the Guts blocks for the first little bits. And remember that you can only pick up so many, so save the tossing for when you really need it. Instead, hop up onto a block and spam a few shots at the annoying little bugger, then jump over him as he goes to destroy the block. If you're fast enough, and don't fall off from the drag, you can get in enough hits to send him back up before he has a chance to destroy you're other block. Be aware though that once he comes back down, he'll destroy the other one and you'll be stuck without them until he creates more. When he fires the laser, the easiest way to dodge it, assuming you didn't run the wrong way, is to either hide behind the block if they land in the middle of the level, or on top if they in the corners. Good luck, you'll need it... Mega Man Clone That’s right, it's you. And, like you, he has all of the abilities. Actually, despite his being as beefy as you are, this fight is pretty simple and straight forward. Your clone is obviously going to have the same attacks as you do. He can fire the buster cannon, but he only ever fires one shot at a time, so it's easy to see coming. He'll run towards you, even jump on you. He's really quite crazy you know. To the point of running right into you if need be. He doesn't get anything else though, thankfully. Here's the trick when fighting your clone. He will switch to one of the powers eventually. And as long as it’s not Cut Man's, he'll take extra damage the same as if he were that boss. So use the weaknesses to your advantage and cut him down. The buster cannon is also effective, just be sure to watch for when he shoots, as his shot will hide in yours. Feel free to use any of the boss powers if you feel more comfortable doing so, just be sure to save a few for when he changes to a power. After that, this battle is a cinch and you'll find yourself pondering whether Wily really knew what he was getting into. Dr. Wily Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, the nefarious Doctor behind all of this. But he's not going down without a fight. He comes down with his U.F.O. machine and then introduces you to the unimaginatively named "Wily Fighting Machine Number 1". Depending on which difficulty you’re on, this guy will either be a push over or a pain in the ass. On Easy, all he's ever going to have is a cannon-like shot which he fires every two seconds or so. The easiest strategy here is to walk under them or jump over them as the placement of the machine dictates. It will roll back and forth, but it can't crush you against the screen so it will stop short. This gives you a little breathing room but not much. When it gets to this point you can be daring and try to fire at Wily, but dodging the shots should be a higher priority until he backs away. The weakness of this boss is the windshield/eye visor where Wily is hiding. Aim your shots at that when the machine is not recovering (as always) and you'll take off one bar each time. In this mode that's all you'll get. He has no weapon weakness that I'm aware of, though time slow might help should things get really hairy. On normal mode...well, as a good friend once said, Wily will make you cry yourself to sleep at night. This is a damn tough battle and you'll find yourself wishing more then once that Guts Man's power wasn't so damn stupid. In this difficulty, Wily ditches the simplistic cannon in favor of all of the boss attacks. And trust me, while this sounds easy, it ain't. He'll usually start of the battle by firing a couple of rolling cutters at you. Get used to it, he'll do this fairly often, or at least often enough to whittle your health down in scary fast ways. Dodge the best you can, and if nothing else shoot at him until he switches. The key to this battle is to watch the top of the U.F.O. as it will change colors pertinent to which attack Wily is about to use. Once he switches, there is a slight delay before he uses the power and this will give you time to switch to the power he's weak against. Hit him with it and he'll lose two bars, and switch immediately to another power. The colors and their weaknesses are as follows: Grey: both a default (I guess) color for Wily and also for that of Cut Man. Use the buster cannon, because Guts Man is a loser and you can't attack with his power. Orange: Guts Man. He won't attack in this color, as far as I'm aware. Use the buster cannon, because you only get two Time Stops and you're going to need those for later. Light Blue: Here comes the Ice slasher. While the obvious power might seem like fire, try using bombs instead. Just make sure they hit the windshield or you'll be hurting. Bright Green: Bomb Man's power is really easy to see coming as Wily waits the longest to use this ability and you'll be dying to use rolling cutter if and when Wily gets to this one. Red: Fire Man's fire storm is coming. Fortunately, Wily does not get to use the fire shield as well as the shot. Use Ice and you'll be fine. Yellow: You're really going to hate this one. If any power now suddenly becomes lamer then Guts Man's, it's going to be Oil Man's. Oil is Elec man's weakness, but the limited range and inaccuracy of this attack hurt. A lot. Whatever you do, do not miss. Other wise you're in for a world of hurt until the puddle goes away and you can fire again. Purple: On the other hand, should Wily decide to use this power you should be thankful. This essentially adds up to a free hit. Or several if you want to try the buster cannon. If not, use electricity and time goes back to normal. Blackish Purple: Of course, Wily doesn't get to suffer the agony of limited range and will make good use of the fact. This is the power he is able to use the fastest, so try and predict it before he shoots. Hit him with fire before he gets a shot off, or he's getting several puddles on the ground before you hit him. And those are not conducive to your health, believe me. After all of that, you'd think you'd get to sit back and enjoy the victory. Think again. Wily whines a bit, and then tinkers with the robot and now he can fly. As if that wasn't bad enough, he gets a brand new energy bar and you get stuck with? The same amount of health you managed to retain from the first fight. And it gets better. Because he can fly, Wily will now go up and down, making it harder to hit him. All of his attacks will be the same, thankfully, except for one. Should he change into Guts Man's power you'd better start praying. He will do one of two things. The first is to sit and get shot. This is what you'd better be praying for. If he doesn't, the robot will pick up a pair of pointy arms, and now he's about to charge you. So far, I've not been able to dodge this attack at all, but you're best bet would be to Time stop and hope you can jump over him. If not, hope you have a decent amount of life or it's back to square one with you. Finally, after all is said and done, Wily will get toasted and try to crawl away. Finding his escape route blocked, he'll start begging for forgiveness. And it's all over from there. Or so it seems... XI Facts, Secrets, Other Stuff -------------------------------------- Here's a couple of cool things you can do with this game that you might not have known before: *try shooting a Shield Guard with a bomb instead of the buster cannon, then laugh at it. *try throwing a bomb and getting it to detonate on a Sniper Joe's shield. Heh, no more shield. *For a challenge worthy of the best, try going back to Guts Man's level and seeing how many times you can leap over the series of little gaps at the second conveyor area. *Another challenge: see if you can get through any of the levels (Except the prologue, that's too easy) without getting hit. *Or try to do it as fast as you can. You can even go to the GameFAQs board and see if you can post on the hall of fame. *Download Roll from MMweb and play through as her. Adds a lot more challenge and a different kind of depth. She's surprisingly similar to Zero- from the other Mega Man games, just not as fast. XII Legal Info, Special Thanks, and Royal Salutes ----------------------------------------------------- Mega Man and all related characters are property of Capcom, copyright 1986-2006. The PSP is the property of Sony Entertainment. All of this is unofficial, and not sanctioned by Capcom nor endorsed by said party. This walkthrough was specifically created for GameFAQS.com, and is not be used, under any circumstance, by any other website or company without written request for permission and a written consent of permission from the author. Legal action will ensue should it be found anywhere else without those two things. If you have questions, care to inform me of typos, errors, or better methods, please feel free to send me an email at: twilightheart42@yahoo.com. I'll try to respond as best I can, and if your info is new to me or useful, I'll add your name under the appropriate area, along with a special thanks. Please, do not send me spam or flames, I will not respond to that kind of mail. This is a walkthrough written by me and is based entirely off of my experiences with the game. All of the words here are my own and if you're not okay with that, keep it to yourself, I don't need to know. So far, special thanks goes out to: *Me, for the patience in putting up with writing this thing. I never figured it would be as challenging as it was. *Capcom, for making an excellent game, worthy of my gaming prowess and personal time. *Dagyanna, for her everlasting support, despite my being completely stupid about these sorts of things. I'll marry you someday, I promise. *Game Informer, for clueing me into this game's potential, and for being the single handiest magazine on the planet *GameFAQS.com, for helping me through the toughest parts of my gaming career. *All the people that wrote such great FAQs and walkthroughs before me. It's a cool thing to be among you, thanks for helping me out. *Reptobismol, for making the handy construction pack guide. You saved my ass when I couldn't figure out which were which. Knew I should have waited to get them. Royal Salutes, however, are another matter: *Julio, for deleting my damn save files off the PSP in an effort to put your crazy rap music on it. Next time, just buy a frigging iPod. END DATA, mission complete...