Old School Games: Mega Man 4

For some reason I remember this as my favorite in the series. Did you ever play Mega Man 4? In case you've missed it, I've been writing about the original nintendo entertainment system Mega Man games. Would you like to know more, about four?





If you've read about Mega Man one two and three, you know how these games play. You start the game and are taken to a screen with eight robot faces and a space in the middle. You pick one of the robots, battle through their level with your little pew shooter, and then fight against the robot that you chose. Beating him gives you their power and its usually a weakness against another robot boss. Lots of little platform jumps, little robots to fight, and giant mini boss robots. That in a nutshell is Mega Man's basic gameplay. The robot dog, Rush, from the third game returns. A little robot called flip top eddy shows up to give you a power up. Occasionally its the E cans that you can use at any time to refill your health or just basic health power ups. Some of the best gameplay you'll find in video games is in the Mega Man series.



I remember when completing games used to give me a rush. While I feel excited at beating it after a few days of playing, its not the same as that first time rush. Still I love four the most, even though I probably played 1 and 2. Mega Man 4 introduces a couple new things. The major one being the extremely useful charge beam. That mega buster changes everything and makes any boss beatable. To explain it feels silly, but maybe someone doesn't understand that concept. You hold the shoot button down until Mega Man starts to glow, then you fire out a larger bullet. Two sizes depending on how long you charge up. I love that. After finding out that its not in nine, I'm somewhat disappointed.



An opening intro explaining the previous games and some other information. In this one you're told that this Dr. Cossack fella is the bad guy making robots instead of the usual guy. After you beat him, Proto Man shows up with Dr. Cossack's daughter. Its revealed that Dr. Wily kidnapped her and forced Dr. Cossack to make robots to fight Mega Man and Proto Man was working with him for some reason and betrayed him. Even though he never showed up in the game. Then you play through a few more levels. Then you fight all eight bosses again. Fight three forms of Dr. Wily. His skull castle blows up and that is it. That's all the story a game needs really. I'm still confused by this, did you get all that?



As for the soundtrack, its decent. Its one of my favorites, bleeps and bloops sound very appropriate. Some tunes are more catchy then others, but overall it works. I played about half the game muted when I played through it this week. As always, I remind readers that I don't play most games with the sound on. Mega Man is an exception to that rule. Whoever made the tunes for this series knew what they were doing.



I did a full replay of this start to finish. I started a few days ago, so I don't quite remember the path I took through the boss robots. I do recall attempting Ring Man at some point and died, then moved on to the other bosses. I even played through all the Wily castle stages. Its rare that I ever feel motivated to do that, but I just got into it. I love Mega Man games, this one is my favorite, so why not beat it?



Pharaoh Man's attack is among the most fun ever. Charging it up to a giant ball to completely bust somebody is great. Dr. Wily didn't stand a chance. The powers in this one are fun stuff. Bright Man does a Flash Man style freeze. Skull Man gives you a shield of skulls that upon my replay, I had no real use for. Next to the first two games, I think the bosses in four has the some of the best Robot Masters. Their goofy without being completely ridiculous. Except Bright Man of course. A light bulb on your head is just silly. Then again, all the bosses are silly. Maybe that's why I like four so much?



If for some reason you can't find the original game, its available in several Mega Man collections. I'm not sure if its on virtual console or not, but if I had to guess I would say its not. As far as my internet research goes, its not. So look for the cartridge or try to get the Mega Man Anniversary Collection. How do you feel about Mega Man 4? A big complaint I've heard about the games after one and two is how similar they are. I happen to think that's a strength of the series rather than a weakness, but that's just my opinion.

Also if you want to look through them there are more pictures at the bottom.

Next Up: Dig Dug!