Part 16: Wily 4
Not much meat to be found here, so I'll use this for the weapon rundown I promised!
Top Spin- Description: Can only be used in mid-air, will be useless otherwise. Mega will spin around, becoming a melee weapon himself. If an enemy is destroyed by contact, Mega will bounce back; otherwise, he'll get hit and kind of hover in place for the stun period. Is glitched in that if Mega keeps on touching an enemy after using the weapon, the energy will get depleted within fractions of a second.
Energy consumption: 1 line per enemy hit.
My opinion: Top Spin is pretty goddamn amazing, and after watching my videos you should all know why. There are a great lot of enemies that are weak to it, and on those, it's a no questions asked instant kill. Seeing as most hitboxes are pretty generous - which is a bad thing otherwise - you're not hindered that much by the short range most of the time. The bug really hurts it, though, and if you use it on the wrong enemy, you suffer doubly: Giant loss of weapon energy or even instant depletion, and getting hit. This weapon fits the description of "situational" to a T...but there are simply lots of situations it's great for!
Shadow Blades- Description: Shoots out a single blade that will boomerang after having traveled a bit of distance away from Mega. Can be fired in five directions, front/back, up and the diagonals between.
Energy consumption: 1 line per 2 Blades
My opinion: Shadow Blades are objectively the best weapon in this game, I'd say. They're a straight nerf from Metal Blades and still damn good. The multiple directions it can be fired in, especially straight up, where it's the only one, are still enough of a boon to make it great. Also, the damage is very good, equalling three pellets on the average enemy.
I don't like using them that much, personally, as actually hitting stuff isn't that easy; as there may only be one at the screen at a time, the travel time it has really hurts it in my opinion. I prefer flexibility. This restriction also limits diagonal use from the floor, as you can no longer stand in place and spam, you'll inch forward while it travels. See Gemini Man's addendum for an example.
Spark Shot- Description: An energy ball gets fired which behaves like a normal shot. Upon hitting an enemy, it will freeze it in place; as long as the enemy is frozen, you can't enter the Start menu. The enemy will still be able to damage Mega. Only two shots may be on the screen at once.
Energy consumption: 1 line per Shot
My opinion: Spark Shot is just about the single most useless weapon of all weapons in all games in the series. There is exactly one situation in which it's kinda better than all other weapons - my one and only criterion for determining if switching to a special weapon is worth it - and it's...well, see for yourself in the video above. Other than that, the list of drawbacks this thing has is riduculous, basically every word of the description is something negative. Ice Slasher, but worse is a very apt description.
Magnet Missile- Description: A Magnet gets fired in front, which will turn upwards when flying under an enemy in an attempt to hit it. Maximum of two on screen.
Energy consumption: 2 lines per Missile
My opinion: Magnet Missile would be really good if not for two things: First, it's quite expensive; second, so many enemies are immune or resistant to it. I've shown a few situations already where it's decidedly useless even if it really should work. As it takes a while to turn, it's also quite embarrassingly bad against quick enemies or ones that are already directly above you. It does excel at a number of places, though, so definitely not bad.
Hard Knuckle- Description: Mega stops for a moment to fire one of his fists out; it will begin to travel slowly after another short delay. While it's flying, you can direct it by pushing up or down, though the vertical distance isn't big. Only one on the screen allowed. Can destroy walls.
Energy consumption: 2 lines per Knuckle
My opinion: I love Hard Knuckle, because it does exactly what I expect from a "heavy weapon": Restrictions in both ammo and mobility, but if it connects, the enemy is eradicated. A bit hard to judge because of possible weaknesses, but it might deal as much as six normal shots' worth of damage at once, which totally excuses the glacial pace. It being height adjustable is just the icing on the cake, but can defuse some additional situations with ease. Not always the best, but can make whole sections completely trivial, which is the sign of a very good weapon for me.
Needle Cannon- Description: A Needle gets fired that behaves exactly like a normal shot, to the extent that only three are allowed on the screen at once. Keeping the button pressed will rapid-fire them.
Energy consumption: 1 line per 4 Needles
My opinion: It's...somewhat underwhelming, seeing as it's basically P-shooter 2.0. Against most enemies - those that aren't immune - it's a straight upgrade because of the rapid-fire and possibly more damage if the enemy is weak, but seeing as I don't use the normal gun most of the time because I prefer something more suited to the situation and Needle Cannon will very rarely be more suited than the P-shooter...well. It's always nice to have and can completely replace your basic weapon, so why not!
Search Snake- Description: Up to three Snakes at once get thrown upwards a bit, then land on the floor and crawl along it, continuing up walls. Enemies on the ground will get hit.
Energy consumption: 1 line per 2 Snakes
My opinion: A good weapon, exactly because it can "search" in front of you, beautifully demonstrated in how it destroys Shadow Man's darkness section; ground-based enemies can get taken out as soon as they enter the screen. The low energy consumption allows spamming them if you want to scout. The short upwards arch isn't too bad, can hit some things you wouldn't be able to with the normal gun; all in all, it's everything Bubble Lead wanted to be but never quite reached, seeing also how not every goddamn enemy is immune to it.
Gemini Laser- Description: Fires a moderately slow moving laser in front. Upon hitting a wall, it will reflect in a 45° angle, upon further collisions in right angles. You can't enter the Start menu as long as the laser is on screen; it disappears after a while or when hitting an enemy.
Energy consumption: 2 lines per Laser
My opinion: It has one redeeming feature: More damage than the normal gun, standard firing rate. Meaning that sometimes, it's better than Hard Knuckle, if it just kills enemies faster than the slow to deploy fist. Other than that, it's absurdly likely to backfire, as the laser will bounce all over the place but never where you want it to, and you're a sitting duck. Definitely nowhere near good, serviceable sometimes, though.
And a few words on the actual video:
Stage/Boss Comments:
Junk Golems are the only really interesting thing here, and they're dicks. Even if you're fast in taking them out, the block still gets hurled, and it's ridiculously hard to dodge. Ironically the only real, genuine use that Spark Shot has - blocking a single one of those, I don't know if the timing is right on any others. Still, you're bound to take a bit of damage here if you're not really good.Thankfully, a lot of the Robot Masters are real duds, especially with their weaknesses. Seeing as you've got two to choose from...use the one you're most comfortable with and fire away, I'd say. I demo all, with some clear preferences and some pairs where your mileage might vary.
And, seeing as I'm likely not going to have time on camera to ramble much about this, I really, really like that the refights have a separate stage. It sadly took the series up until the first X games to not put a difficult (or even a retardedly easy) boss afterwards, and they promptly reverted as soon as the Play Station games came around.
Let me elaborate a bit on why I hate it so much. Remember Wily Machine from the previous game? With its completely undodgeable second form, weak to Crash Bombs (well, tough luck) and Atomic Fire (which you're very likely out of, too)? It's very likely to game over against this guy, and then you're stuck with all the refights again. Tedious! Still, seeing as you're getting your weapons refilled and with them, most fights are a joke anyway, it's not too bad, right?
Flash-forwards a few years. The Zero series comes around, introducing niceties like a grading system for missions and ranks. And the very definitely final boss after the refights in each game, with two or even three phases.
You know how fucking insane it is to get an S-Rank on a stage consisting of eight bosses, followed by a two- or three-parter, most of the time containing the hardest fight in the game? Thank you for that glorious decision, and fuck you for not taking Mega Man 3's example. This is one example where the game being overly nice is very much appreciated, it's definitely not "too easy" or detract from any kind of challenge, it's a cutting out of bullshit and frustration.