[EVENT] The Sonic Stadium 52 Game Challenge 2024! - Rewind/Catch-Up Challenge is NOW Live! Final Deadline: January 31st 2025! (2025)

Weekly Check-in:

Here's comes a big one! I've cleared a number of games last week, and this week. In hopes of reaching 52 just in time. Starting with a slew of Mega Man Games via NSO (as recommended in the Catch-up challenge). So I'll be going right into it.

  • Mega Man: The Wily Wars (100% Complete)

At the suggestion of our event organizers, I went and completed all Nine of the Mega Man games available on NSO. Starting with The Wily Wars. Which makes it a nice 4 completions towards the goal. Going over each...

- Mega Man (Complete)

This is the only Mega Man game I've beaten before this challenge. Was not easy back then. And I think I struggled a little harder this time. But I still remembered things well enough to get through pretty quick. I usually play these games in a weird boss order, so I always do Fire Man first, (I think Cut or Guts Man are usually preferred, but feel free to say otherwise if you have your own boss order) then Bomb Man, Ice Man, Cut Man, Guts Man, Elec Man. I always make sure to do Guts Man before Elec Man so I can be sure to get the Magnet Beam. I didn't my first playthrough, And I remember getting stuck somewhere in Wily Castle.

All the same, it's a pretty fun game, even with some trappings of older NES "Use the Strategy Guide" design.

- Mega Man 2 (Complete)

I've always gotten stuck at the first Boss of Wily Castle here. The Mecha Dragon has been my wall to overcome, but this time I have NSO rewind to aid. Honestly didn't struggle against it as much this time, so I probably didn't need it, but either way. Despite never finishing it I've long since been quite familiar with it because I watched the Duane and Brando Rap on Mega Man 2 a lot back in Middle School. So it was cool actually going through all these bosses and levels I had long seen before.

Despite this being the Metal Blade Game, I have a really tough time with Metal Man, so I usually end up pushing him off till later. I usually Start with either Wood Man, or Air Man, then Bubble Man, Heat Man, Flash Man, Quick Man, then usually either Metal Man or Crash Man. The Boss rematches were fun this time, since I got the fun of destroying all the Robot Masters with Metal Blade. Was pretty fun, but I'm really bad with Metal Blade so I didn't use it too much in the regular levels, unless the enemies were up high. And of course, amazing music, was singing the lyrics to The Megas' takes on these songs the whole time.

- Mega Man 3 (Complete)

Another game I've never completed, though in this case it was usually the Doc Robot Stages that stopped me. I think when I played it on Anniversary Collection, I'd use a password to skip the Doc Robots, and go straight to Wily Castle, where I think I got pretty far, but never quite beat. I can't quite remember. But this time, I did it all the way through. (Doc Robots also weren't as hard for me this time).

I really enjoy this game for the story. I mean it's an NES Mega Man game, so it's not going crazy or anything. But this one feels a lot bigger than the other Classic Mega Mans (on NES anyway). There's just more drama behind Wily's betrayal since he was actually given a chance. And proto man's inclusion does a lot to develop the themes and ideas of the series. Besides him just being an interesting character on his own.

This has long been my favorite classic Mega Man, and it was nice to finally finish it in totality. Also Music is great, and was once again humming The Megas lyrics the whole time.

- Wily Tower (Complete)

Now this was super cool! It felt like a really good ROM Hack in the best ways. I especially enjoyed rocking it out with your choice of all the Weapons from 1-3. I think I used, Metal Blade, Hyper Bomb, Crash Bomber, Hard Knuckle, Quick Boomerang, Air Shooter, Fire Storm, and Elec Beam, with Rush Jet, Magnet Beam, and Item 1. I was super cool going through all these puzzles that felt like they really wanted to test you knowledge of the 3 games you just beat. And it was the most enjoyable part of the experience for me.

The new Robot Masters were neat too. I don't think they ever show up in anything again, which is a shame. I hope they could back some day in like a Mega Man fighting game or something. the music is also pretty cool. I especially Like Wily Tower 4. The stage it plays in is short, but it's one I've listened to for years before play this. So it was neat to finally contextualize it.

Also, this fight arena was cool

And with that, we can move on to the Handheld titles.

  • Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (100% Complete)

This game was interesting! It starts out with only 4 Robot Masters from Mega Man 1, then sends you to Wily Castle. But right off the bat you get your boss rush. Except, the bosses are 4 Mega Man 2 Bosses, and you get their weapons! Was very unexpected but a cool surprise that kept me hooked.

You also got a second Wily Fortress, this time a Space Station! And a new unique robot master in Enker. Overall the main take away from it all was "refreshing." While most of the music didn't really stick with me, the Ending theme did, and I enjoy it quite a lot. (First Super Mario Land and now this? What's with the Game Boy games and their stellar End themes)

  • Mega Man II (Game Boy) (100% Comeplete)

More of the same. Meaning the same structure, and my enjoyment of it. This time the remaining 4 Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, and 4 more from Mega Man 3. Plus the MM3 guys have their whole own stages.

Also, and underground Wily Base. I'm a little surprised I haven't seen it before. Besides all the usual, the unique Robot Master is Quint, a boss I've seen memed on for ages as being embarrassingly easy. Which it is. It's basically easy mode Toad Man, since it can't even threaten Rain Flush.

There's nothing else in particular to talk about this one, so I'll just move on.

  • Mega Man III (Game Boy) (100% Complete)

Once again, more of the same. These first 3 are pretty similar in design and follow a set formula, much like the NES games, even if the formula is different. All the same, I kept having a lot of fun. I think I may just prefer the pacing of these games over the NES ones.

I do like these shots of Mega Man actually standing in front of the castle to take it on. Not a lot to it, it just gets me amped that little bit more. Also, I hadn't mentioned, but these Wily Castles are all one big level. Just a gauntlet of trials, with a few big health pick-ups occasionally. It helps, again I feel, with the pacing. And gets right to the good part.

  • Mega Man IV (Game Boy) (100% Complete)

Finally we get a break from the formula. Well, not that much. This games main highlights are cutscenes with Dialogue, improved presentation across the board, the P-Chip system which is a currency you can use to buys items between stages, and some actual Story. Some one dies in this one, with a deliberate dramatic moment to it. Which is fairly unique among classic Mega Man (at least the ones I've played).

This game also features the introduction of the BEAT letters (and Beat himself) to the handheld games. Meaning I did have something to pursue to get completion this time. Thankfully they weren't too much trouble (I remember one of them always giving me a hard time in Mega Man 5), and I was able to grind up enough P-Chips to fill out my inventory.

Also, you get to Board Wily's tank base by getting on top and shooting out all the turrets before going inside. It was really cool, and helped sell the feeling of infiltrating his base. The Cinematic feel of this one is just really fun!

Also, cool Wily Bot!

  • Mega Man V (Game Boy) (100% Complete)

I've heard this might be the best Classic Mega Man, and it might be right. The presentation on this one is even further than the previous one. With an opening cutscene before the Title Screen, and an evolving story through out. It's still no RPG, but it's more in line with Mega Man 7 or 8 than the 8-bit games in terms of structure, to the point where it makes me wonder if the team behind these handheld games were the ones to make those two.

Our villain this time are the nefarious conquerors, the Stardroids. Having a full new faction be the baddies already makes this one feel different. No less because their leader takes out Mega Man in the opening cutscene, allowing them to full scale invade Earth and it's largest cities while Mega Man is out of commision. This game feels a lot more Dire than previous, the threat continuing to evolve as the Stardroids use Earth's resources to construct new powerful combatants for Mega Man to fight as the conflict goes on. Really sells the urgency, cause if we don't stop things now, they'll spiral out of control.

Adding to it, a large portion of the game takes place out in space, which adds to the lofty feel of it all. Even the bosses add to it with them all being named after our Planets. Weapons are really cool too, with some unique offerings like Pluto's dash attack, Mercury's Item stealing, and my absoulte favorite Weapon, Venus' Bubble Bomb. It goes nearly straight up wafting back and forth to cover maximal space, and clings and travels along the ceiling to do massive explosive damage. Every obnoxious enemy that like to hang out above buster range gets toasted by this thing, and it's soooo satisfying!

There's also an uprgade to your charge shot with it now being a rocket punch which you can upgrade with P-Chips. If you need to grind them out use these enemies here, as each missle they fire can be destroyed with one buster shot, and can drop items. If you can find one by a latter like the one pictured above, so you can just reload the room and the enemy over and over again. I just grinded out all the P-chips to get all the upgrades (
330 I think) here in Mars's stage.

There's also another set of collectables this game in the second set of stages, the Gems. These increase your Weapon Ammo, which is handy, but the interesting part is that they require weapons from the Stardroids to get, so you'll have to replay at least one stage to get them all. Uranus's is required to get all except the Gem in his own stage, you'll need Pluto's to get that. So take your pick of which one you'd rather play twice (I'd pick Pluto, there's a Seal Enemy in Uranus's stage that's really annoying to fight)

As for our ultimate villain this evening. It's...

Dr. Wily!?! Yup, and packaged with a Death Star rip off of his own this time. (It even goes out the same way) The ending really likes to show off with mutiple phases against Wily's Machines, before facing his greatest discovery, Sunstar, the ancient alien Doomsday Weapon! Which promptly backstabs him as soon as he's woken up (just using the whole Eggman playbook huh). The Sunstar fight feels fittingly climactic, with multiple phases with his one health bar, and stage getting broken beneath you and falling down into new arenas. They really tried to sell the spectacle here, and it works. It ends with Mega Man reaching out to an injured Sunstar to help him, which puzzles the Doomsday Weapon, and even has him reconsider his thinking. But ultimately his damaged core has him doomed to explode, so Mega Man must leave him behind and escape. I really like how this game explores Mega Man's character, they really take time to emphasize his peaceful nature and reluctance in all this. It's cool to see!

This whole thing was really fun. It was nice to finally clear some of these after hearing good things about them for years. I'm hoping to turn in some more games this week, in hopes of reaching 52 just in time. Next stop: Sonic Mega Collection Plus!!

[EVENT] The Sonic Stadium 52 Game Challenge 2024! - Rewind/Catch-Up Challenge is NOW Live! Final Deadline: January 31st 2025! (2025)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Gov. Deandrea McKenzie

Last Updated:

Views: 6248

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (46 voted)

Reviews: 85% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Gov. Deandrea McKenzie

Birthday: 2001-01-17

Address: Suite 769 2454 Marsha Coves, Debbieton, MS 95002

Phone: +813077629322

Job: Real-Estate Executive

Hobby: Archery, Metal detecting, Kitesurfing, Genealogy, Kitesurfing, Calligraphy, Roller skating

Introduction: My name is Gov. Deandrea McKenzie, I am a spotless, clean, glamorous, sparkling, adventurous, nice, brainy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.