Part 16: Wily 3
Stage Comments:
The very first shield attacker's placement is simply evil, there's no cleverness or subtlety there, if you don't know where to fall exactly, you'll get hit. That's stupid. Fortunately, it's also inconsequential, just like the rest of the few screens that I'd hesistate to call a "stage". There's just no point.
Then we enter refights - well, there's not much to comment on. A few pointers which might just reiterate what I already covered in the video for each boss (from top left, counter-clockwise):
- Drill Man: Having the weakness doesn't change too much. He can either be a dick because he makes you wait for an eternity (seriously, why doesn't Dive Missile at least penetrate him when he's diving?), or be a dick because of his frantic movement. Dive Missile gets reflected by the Drill Bombs, which is stupid but at least it has plenty of energy. If you have a shot of Rain Flush left, it can cut out some waiting at the end.
- Bright Man: Using his weakness only (which I wanted to demonstrate) will let him get three Flash Stoppers off. If he jumps into you each time, you're dead, period. Such bullshit. I'd actually recommend using the buster, counting lines left is not something I'd call feasible. You can of course damage-race him like I do, the odds aren't TOO bad, but it'll leave you hurt for the next fight you choose and that's never a good thing.
- Skull Man: Knowing his pattern and being able to exploit it makes the difference in if you can do the Buster fight or not; with Dust Crusher, it's just the difference between getting hurt a lot and still winning or not getting hurt at all. Because it's really quick, even with the shield in the way.
- Dive Man: Skull Barrier, at least for me, isn't too hard to use, I found. Try it out, it's a different method from the Buster one but just as consistent, and carries the same caveats: Do it right, or die a horrible death.
- Toad Man: Still a joke. Though, as said, Drill Missile causes obnoxious slowdown, and it did throw me off once. Generally over in seconds though and the best place to restock. Don't waste your Drill Bombs though!
- Dust Man: Stop sucking so much you fucker gaaaah
Actually, Ring Boomerang isn't that much faster than the Buster (if he want to be a TOTAL COCK) and makes the fight harder in my opinion, so you might want to opt out.
- Ring Man: I urge you to learn the pattern and Buster-duel him. You will need those Pharaoh Shots and there is NO way to restock without farming, which always sucks. Properly aimed, charged shots of his weakness will rip him apart without wasting too much, so if you feel confident enough, by all means go for it; however, you'll still have to learn the pattern in that case, so why not be on the safe side?
- Pharaoh Man: Is a joke with his weakness, no questions asked. With the altered floor even more than in the original boss chamber.
And then we're off to a big boss-fight...
Boss Strategy:
So, the standard Wily Machine. Introducing the skull motif that should become a staple. The first phase is really quite easy, I think it's apparent from the video. Three shots, pause, three shots, and always accompanied by the same periodical movement; patience is all you'll need, as the slide will clear every shot without a hitch. Weakness is Ring Boomerang. Again. Short range doesn't matter for once, so fire away if Dust Man didn't decide to eat it all up.
And then the second form! I find it far harder to dodge, especially since you can get cornered; there surely is a good and consistent way to do it, but I didn't really bother to find it. We've got an entire game's supply of E-Tanks to piss away, so what gives.
Hitting this guy at all is a complete bitch, and I don't know why they couldn't have placed him just a few pixels lower. Only if you fire at the very peak of your jump, a charged shot will connect, and I'm pretty sure that you have to charge. The only other option (besides, as I was told, Wire from below!), and his weakness, is manually detonated Drill Bombs; if you just let them fly, they'll tink off harmlessly. Fortunately, the AOE is quite forgiving. I realize that's not much of a strategy, but Wily Machines never were too complicated, and mostly damage-races anyway. Dodging the second game's is even literally impossible.
And then he gets away and we've got a final final stage, which noone saw coming. Hoo boy. If you watched the glitch video Ephraim225 so nicely supplied, you'll know that you can indeed destroy the capsule just as it's flying away. Which breaks the game. Lovely!
Instead of a pointless enemy section, I'll rant a bit more about the general decision to let this refight stage follow the MM2 model of having two pretty final feeling bosses after the eight robot masters. In my opinion, that's just a recipe for frustration. After all, a boss rush is supposed to be hard, and in MM4's case, with plenty of bullshit ones, even more so. Getting through that is no easy feat, especially the first time around, and then you might just get a Game Over from the boss afterwards, tough luck, gotta do all of it again. This sucks, it really does. MM3 did it quite right by just making the boss an extra stage, that should have persisted, but MM4 regressed and that's stupid. And it persisted up to the ZX games. Most of all it bothers me in Zero, because you're ranked there and may not take too much damage, meaning that you'll have to consistently do all eight fights and the two (or even three!) phase boss afterwards without fucking up once, that's a LOT to ask from the player. I think if MM4 hadn't regressed here, things could have been different.
Mega Man X tried a completely new approach to refights, but that wasn't kept around either; sometimes I wonder if only bad ideas are only ever accepted at Capcom's.
Music:
- Wily 2 - I like this one far more than the first Wily theme of this game, though I think it being so cheerful doesn't really fit the mood of the final stages.