PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X3 - Part 5 of 11

This was the first Let's Episode that ever clocked in at 30 minutes, which is something I usually try not to do when I make videos at all. Enjoy the feature presentation.

Blizzard Buffalo

Now that the Robot Ride armor is activated, there is something we can get. Go left after the first ladder and switch to the first armor (the Chimera) and punch out the ice blocks to the right. At the end, you'll find the Heart Tank for this stage.

There was a spot that we could go down into the stage to find a hidden nook. There was nothing there before, but now that we've triggered the cutscene with Dr. Doppler, Bit, Byte and Vile, there is a strange teleporter pod there. If you enter it, you'll enter an unknown area. Make your way to the end and you'll meet Vile.

The elevator can be powered with a charged-up Gravity Well shot. You can use the roof of it to protect yourself from the rubble that drops from the top of the screen. At least that rubble doesn't do a whole lot of damage.

You'll eventually meet Vile, who tells you that he is definitely alive and well and that the factory you have teleported to is set to blow in a matter of minutes. In order to get out, you'll have to beat him first!

Vile has two forms. The first is him in his Robot Ride armor. For this, just wall jump, dash over him and hit him with a charged up X-Buster shot. Keep doing this until his armor is wrecked.

The second form is Vile himself. Avoid him and his bombs, especially when the fire wave moves towards you and up the wall. Hit Vile with a charged-up X Buster shot, then move away so his firepower won't get you. He keeps repeating this pattern over and over, so you shouldn't have too much trouble.

The Ray Splasher is his weakness. If you get the final shot on him with this weapon, he'll die instead of flee. 

Once you beat Vile, you'll be able to get out after this. But you don't have much time, as you have only 50 seconds to get out. If you fail, you'll have to do this area all over again. If you make it to the capsule at the end, you'll be back close to where you originally were. To make this easier, be ready to dash jump to the right and attack any enemies in your way with fully charged X-Buster shots.

Volt Catfish

Watch out for those ceiling mounts with the lasers. If you run into the lasers, the mounts will shoot at you. Thankfully, the laser turns off for a second every time it returns to the center and stops.

The elevator leading downwards will take you to a teleporter leading to Vile if you haven't beaten Vile already. Thankfully, we already have.

The red crab robots that stick to walls, floors and ceilings also shoot lightning balls. If you shoot them enough, the cannons will break and all they'll be able to do is shock themselves.

The elevators have a yellow arrow in the center that indicates where they're going to go.

Keep going up with the second elevator that leads up. This takes you to a Heart Tank, which increases your maximum health slightly. Go right, and you'll find it in a spike pit. Use the Leg Enhancement to dash to the right wall and slide down it to get to the Heart Tank. From there, you can return to the normal path through the level.

On the third, keep going up until you can go left. Power up the Gravity Well with the X-Buster Enhancement and you'll be able to get the Armor Enhancement which cuts the amount of damage you receive in half. You'll also get a blue shield that triggers when you take damage.

The second half of this is some sort of maze-like path to the end. The electric sparks that move up and down on the walls will indeed damage you.

Volt Catfish will spit electric balls at you, but it's when he's at half health that he does his most interesting attack: a bolt of thunder comes down and he absorbs it. Shoot him with the Tornado Fang at this point to negate the attack. If for some reason you don't, just stand right in front of him...but not too close. The shield will protect him from both sides, but the sparks flying out from the top of him won't even anything directly in front of or behind him.

Beating Volt Catfish will give you the Triad Thunder. This creates three spheres which act as a protective shield before shooting lightning out in three directions.

Tunnel Rhino

Go right at the first fork and you'll see a rock tied up by ropes blocking the Heart Tank. Charge up Triad Thunder with the Arm enhancement to knock down the rock and use it as a platform to get it.

There's another rock tied up by ropes near the exit. Knock it down with a powered-up Triad Thunder and climb up the wall when you make your way left. This is the Head enhancement, which gives you the Sensor ability that allows you to look at a crude, grid-like map when you enter the stage. If there is an item you forgot to pick up or a Robot Ride platform you can use, it will tell you where it is. It also tells you what you have yet to collect in each stage on the stage select. If it's gray, you picked it up. If it's red, you haven't.

Gravity Beetle

To get the Heart Tank in the upper-left corner of the large room at the start, you have to beat Blast Hornet. Then and only then will the blocks that keep you from getting the Heart Tank disappear. Turns out getting this wasn't as complex as I thought it would be.