It’s not often that I have the chance to write school papers on gaming, but this is exactly what I’ll be doing this semester with my gaming class. Not only will I be writing 3, 5 page papers on Zelda: A Link to the Past, but every few weeks, I’ll be writing a reaction paper on a particular game. I figured since I’ll be spending so much time on these papers, I should share them with you!

Last month marked the 20th anniversary of the Mega Man series. Since its humble beginnings in 1987, the Mega Man series has evolved from a cult favorite to one of the most recognized videogame franchises in history. The first two Mega Man games were vastly different in a few key areas (the original had only six Robot Masters, you could replay stages in order to get valuable items, and the game kept track of your score), but by the third game, the Mega Man series found its stride. Mega Man 3 follows Mega Man 2’s formula of difficult platforming stages which lead the player to a boss fight with one of the eight Robot Masters, but in an attempt to evolve the franchise, Mega Man 3 adds several new elements to the series, some of which became mainstays of the series for years to come.

Although a charging buster shot wasn’t seen until Mega Man 4, Mega Man 3 introduces the ability for Mega Man to slide across a surface (hold down and press A on the NES controller). Sliding not only allows Mega Man to fit into tight spaces half his size, but sliding makes it easier to avoid some enemy projectiles, and in the case of Mega Man 3, sliding is essential for avoiding Break Man/Proto Man while he jumps across the screen during battles. Speaking of Proto Man, Mega Man 3 marks the first appearance of Mega Man’s identical “brother”, where he serves as a mid-stage boss during three stages (Magnet Man, Hard Man, and Shadow Man).

To gamers used to the low difficult of today’s games (frequent checkpoints and unlimited lives are two contributing factors), the classic Mega Man games have a reputation of being difficult (only one stage checkpoint and a default of three lives, for starters). While I find them challenging, they are a walk in the park compared to completely unforgiving games such as Contra.

When it comes to difficulty, there are two examples of level design in Mega Man 3 that can be overwhelmingly frustrating for most players. Towards the end of the Spark Man stage, there are platforms that Mega Man must leap across. Failing to leap across each platform successfully will send Mega Man down a pit for an instant death. However, once Mega Man lands on a platform, that platform begins to shoot upwards towards a ceiling filled with spikes. Mega Man must jump across each platform as quickly as possible to avoid contact with the spikes. But be careful to not jump too high, otherwise, Mega Man will jump directly into the spikes. Oh, and did I mention that you must also fend off a few enemies that slowly gravitate towards Mega Man during this process?

My personal favorite example occurs towards the end of the Shadow Man stage. Before reaching the Robot Master’s room, Mega Man must leap across platforms. Once again, failing to do so will not only kill Mega Man instantly, but his death will occur via molten lava. Jumping across these platforms is relatively easy, but in the middle of your jump, an enemy shoots down from the ceiling. Colliding with the enemy in mid-air will send Mega Man to an instant death. Even if you manage to land on the platform, the enemy has the potential to collide into you right away, which forces you backward into another instant death.

After spending most of my childhood dreading this stage, I found that the best solution is to “cheat” the game into thinking you are jumping. When you are about to jump across a platform, jump into the air, but before you reach the midway point of the jump, guide Mega Man back to the platform you just leaped from. This fake jump will almost always cause the enemy to descend from the ceiling, but since you are still on the first platform, you can safely stand back and just watch the enemy float into the lava (or shoot him if you are the impatient type). Once this happens, you can safely jump across to the next platform, but make sure to repeat the process!

The classic Mega Man series was one of the first to introduce a sense of a non-linear gameplay structure. During the eighties, most platforming and action games consisted of a completely linear structure that required the player to advance through a predetermined path of stages. With each of the eight stages available from the very start of the game, Mega Man 3 gives players the option of choosing their own path through the game. At the same time, this introduces a level of strategy into the game.

When Mega Man defeats a Robot Master, that robot’s power is harnessed into a new weapon that Mega Man can use at any time. Each Robot Master has a weakness to another robot’s weapon, but players must figure this out through a trial and error process. Once the player figures out the weakness of each robot, the player formulates a strategy of the best path to take through the game given each robot’s weakness. For example, in Mega Man 3, I find the best path is as follows: Magnet Man, Hard Man, Top Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, and finally, Needle Man. Each robot’s weakness is the previous robot’s weapon, so a clear path through the game is evident. As stated before, finding this path takes several hours of trial and error (mostly error), but figuring out this strategy is easily one of the most unique and rewarding experiences found in the Mega Man series.

Mega Man 3 is the longest game out of the original six Mega Man games on the NES. While each game features the initial eight stages and then four or five final stages through Dr. Wily’s castle, Mega Man 3 squeezes four more stages in between the main stages and the final castle stages. The four stages are remakes of the Spark Man, Needle Man, Shadow Man, and Gemini Man stages.

Aside from a huge leap in difficulty, the stages also feature two boss fights each (one mid-stage boss and one final). Instead of battling original Robot Masters for these fights, you take on each of the eight Robot Masters from Mega Man 2. These rehashed stages feel like a blatantly cheap attempt at extending the length of the game. Fortunately, Capcom must have picked up on this, since this concept failed to resurface in any future games in the series.

While Mega Man 3 is frustrating at times, it is one of the most important, if not most important, games in the Mega Man saga. With the introduction of Proto Man and the ability for Mega Man to slide across surfaces, Mega Man 3 legitimately evolved the series before it dove into the sea of mediocrity and underwhelming “improvements” that plagued future titles.

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