I really shouldn't be doing this. The review I've been working on for Wario Land : Shake It still isn't done, and I've got a million other half finished projects to complete, both Destructoid and non-Destructoid related.

But that doesn't matter. I was recently called out by by kick-ass community member Gen Eris Gui on my constant bad mouthing of Mega Man 4, so I felt it my duty as a journalist to play through the game again to see if it is really as bad as I remember.

I'm happy to report, it's not quite that bad. It is by far the worst Mega Man game in the original series, but I see now that I've been perceiving the game in a harsher light than I should. That's in part due to the fact that when it was released, Mega Man 1, 2, 3, and 4 were the only home console Mega Man games on the planet. With only its predecessors to compare it to, of course Mega Man 4 is going to look like crap. But now that I've played the likes of Mega Man X6 and X7, I know how truly bad a Mega Man game can get. Even at it's worst, Mega Man 4 is way better than those two piles of garbage.

Ok, this is taking way to long. I'm going to break the rest down into bullet points.

Things that make Mega Man 4 suck

-The game is way too easy. E tanks are lying around everywhere, and usually take nothing more than the Rush Coil to acquire. Compounding that is the addition of the charagable Mega Buster. It completely breaks the game. All the bosses are easily beaten with it. There is really no need to even use the weapons obtained from bosses with a gun that strong. Speaking of which...

- The weapons you gain from bosses are mostly complete rip offs of weapons from previous Mega Man games. Dust Shot is kind of doing it's own thing, but the others are more or less uninspired crap, just like the bosses they're derived from.

- Yeah, the bosses in this game are really, really poor. Some of them, like Toad Man, don't shoot anything at you. Unlucky bastard was designed without any sort of gun, so all he can do is jump at you. His only real attack, the Rain Flush, is instantly stopped with a shot from the Mega Buster.

Don't believe me? Just watch.



Mega Man is not supposed to be able to pull of shit like this. He is not supposed to be able to beat any of his games' bosses, even the token "weak against the Mega Buster" boss, with this level of ease

The other bosses in the game are a tiny, tiny bit less easy, but that's just because they actually shoot at you. This doesn't go too far to make then challanging though, as almost all the bosses in the game use one of two attack patterns; they either run from one side of the screen to the other and shoot straight at you, or they try to ram into with their bodies, pause, then shoot at you. It's very easy to learn how to beat them, as they all pretty much behave the same way. Some of them, like Bright Man and Skull Man, even shoot at you with the same gun, a weird, pseudo-Mega Buster thing that is totally intimidating.

Wait, what the hell did I just say? Skull Man? What in the world is a "Skull Man"? Why was he made? What purpose could he ever have been thought to serve? Be spooky? Well, it aint working, Skull Man. You may be a lot of things, but "spooky" aint one of them.



And while we're on the topic of Skull Man...

- Skull Man's stage is crap. Most of Mega Man 4's stages are crap, at least when compared to Mega Man 1, 2 and 3.

You have to know that traditionally, every Mega Man level has some sort of puzzle or environmental embedded challenge that makes that level unique. It's certainly true of Mega Man 9. Concrete Man has the false floor bits, Galaxy Man has the teleporters (and that little pink bastard that grabs you by the head), Plug Man has the Nega Man generators and the disappearing blocks, etc etc.

Skull Man's stage lack any of that. It's just a big area with a bunch of enemies you can easily kill with just the Mega Buster. It's probably the least interesting Mega Man level of all time. Then there is Toad Man's level, which strangely has no toads in it, just some rain (even though it seems to take place underground), some giant snails, and the occasional patch of running water(?)

Ring Man's stage? That's right, it's almost entirely devoid of rings. Instead you get giant hippos on pedestals, fluffy clouds, and disappearing rainbow roads (which lead to some admittedly well thought out environmental platforming puzzles, something this game desperately needs more of.)



Ok, I'm starting to fail at this bullet point thing. Time to get strict.

- Mega Man 4 is smaller than Mega Man 3, the first game in the series to actually offer less content than the one that preceded it.

- Almost all the music in the game is the auditory equivalent to baby vomit. Harmless, but still worth staying away from.

- The story is crap.

- Needs more Proto Man

Whew, ok, enough of that. On to the good news!

The short list of great things about Mega Man 4

- It's a Mega Man game, so it controls great. Even with levels designed this lazily, the controls keep the game from ever being a truly painful experience. Jumping and shooting is fun in a Mega Man game, always.

-Dive Man's stage is pretty original take on the traditional Mega Man "water level". The way the height of the water ascends and descends makes for an interesting challenge.

- As I was saying in the bad news part of the review, Ring Man's stage has a couple of cool environment based platforming puzzles centered around the rainbow roads.

- The music and accompanies Dr Cossack's stage, Dive Man's stage, and Bright Man's stage are all pretty fantastic.

-The graphics are a little better than Mega Man 3's.

- Toad Man looks cute when he wiggles his ass.

And that's it! That's everything that's good about Mega Man 4. I told you it was a short list.

I have to admit, it was worth playing the game again. Before, there was nothing positive I could remember about Mega Man 4. Now there are a few things I like about the game. Plus, now that I've played it again, it makes me all the more appreciate the effort that went into Mega Man 9 so extraordinary.

Score- 5.0