In this part, we finish up Clown Man's stage and face Grenade Man!
Clown Man (continued)
After dropping down, you'll meet some new enemies: the trains and the toy soldiers. The trains will be your means of getting around at times. Stand on the green top and away you go. They're indestructible, but if you shoot them in the back, they go faster. They can also mow enemies down, too.
The toy soldiers will drop from a platform suspended in the air with balloons and patrol the area, and if they get too close, they'll latch on to Mega Man and leech away at his health. If you destroy the platform or the balloons, you'll get rid of their aerial spawn point.
In the next section, you'll see that the floor is replaced with boxes with X's and O's on them. There will also be a castle with a bell in the background, and you'd better pay attention to it. When the robot with the hammer rings the bell, these boxes will light up. If the box you're standing on has an O on it, you're safe. But if it's an X, you're going to take damage.
The platform after this will break when you stand on it, after a bunch of toys land on it. You'll then enter the next section.
You'll then meet the mini-boss: some disc-shaped robot with a bear face on it. Equip the Mega Ball and kick some at him as he bounces around, spawning miniature clones of itself as well as the toy soldiers. When you beat the Mini-Boss, you'll get Rush Search.
After the loading screen, you'll reappear in a new section. This is the same as the last, except there's a new box type: the skull. If you stand on it when the bell in the background has rung, you'll be dropped down through the trap door and you'll have no control over your descent. Some of these are located above spike pits, which can result in instant death if you're on them at the wrong time.
You'll have to be pretty quick to get the Bolt at the beginning of this section.
You'll also find another box with a green arrow on it, but all it does here is send you back.
There's a new enemy here: but he's an old favorite: the Sniper Joe. He has the same jumping and shooting tactics as previous games, but they're more frequent and more predictable. Finishing them off is much easier here compared to previous games. They can also toss grenades before ducking down. This is when they're most vulnerable, as you can hit them with a charge shot or another weapon and finish them off quickly.
The top-shaped enemy you'll meet near the end just runs back and forth pretty quickly. It's best to have a fully-charged shot ready against these guys.
You'll then find another platform, this time a brown one with a screw-top in the center. Stand on it and you'll be taken into the next section of the level. There's a big prize ball before you enter, and it should be mentioned that sometimes they'll carry Mettaurs.
As you go down, you'll see more of those top-shaped robots. Some of them will hang off trapezes and fire projectiles at you that are shaped like them. The room gets much bigger, and if you go up, you can get two bolts. One is to the left and is in a barrel with swords going through it, and you'll have to get it later by breaking the barrel with Flame Sword. The other one is to the right and can be reached with the Mega Ball double jump.
The skull platforms will either take you up or down or just drop you down like the trap door blocks. This is especially true for the Bolt to the right.
The next section is a box maze. The ? Boxes will take you to a certain box. Some take you up, others take you down or to a different position. To get through this, enter the following boxes:
1st floor: Question Mark Box
2nd floor: Question Mark Box on the right.
3rd floor: Question Mark Box on the far right
4th floor: Question Mark Box #2
5th floor: Go all the way to the right from here.
You'll finally make your way to Clown Man. He'll swing around the rope on the trapeze, Jump over him as he swings around the room. When he slows down, he's about to leap off. He'll do one of three things, and sometimes perform two of these things before getting back on the trapeze:
Rush at you. When he does this, jump over him. He's going to swing on the trapeze again. He'll also do this after his other two attacks.
Thunder Carnival. When he says this, slide under him as he bounces around the room. He's invincible as long as he performs this attack. He can also do this after the first attack.
Thunder Claw. When he says this, move away immediately so that you don't get grabbed and lose health.
If you have the Tornado Hold, you'll be able to do the most damage. Use it when he's flying around on the trapeze and you'll temporarily stun him when he flies into the wind. Fire at him with the Mega Buster for additional damage. Slide when he gets untangled and leaps towards you. He'll still perform the attacks, but you can still damage him with the Tornado Hold again when he gets back on the Tornado Hold.
Beating Clown Man will give you the Thunder Claw. It's an extendable claw that not only attacks enemies, but also lets you grab items from a distance. You can also grab onto trapezes with it, but only the claw is able to register with the trapezes and have you swing to the other side...so you have to be precise.
Beating the first four Robot Masters will reward you with domes containing a purple cloud shaped like a skull. Evil energy from that one robot, perhaps?
Grenade Man
The purple cylinders are really dynamite. Shoot one down to start a chain reaction that will destroy it and all nearby purple cylinders.
The hockey puck with the yellow-and-black caution lines, red flashing light and the spikes is the game's "Hi, I'm the thing that's low to the ground, speeds up when you're at my level and can only be destroyed with a certain weapon" enemy. The certain weapon, by the way, is the Frost Wave.
The black and orange flying enemy with the cannon is just a flying turret. It's extremely easy to kill.
The bats from Wood Man's stage in the second game are back, and they still turn into black spikes by hiding into their wings, dropping down like a rock and stabbing the ground once they've hit the floor. When they unfurl themselves, you can shoot at them again.
There are also purple squares that act like the purple squares, but blue ones that do the same thing. If you have two different colored sets near each other, one set won't blow up the other. You'll have to blow them both up directly.
If you open up the pits, there will be small green spiked robots that will shoot up right out of the pits and then quickly come down. This isn't an enemy movement pattern we haven't seen before, but at least you can keep them from coming out of the pits by not opening them up where there are dynamite blocks.
The second section has green destructible blocks and blue indestructible ones. You'll want to destroy these things so that the blue blocks don't come down, either to destroy you or hinder your progress. If you can destroy the green blocks in the right order, you'll be able to get the Bolt in the upper-right corner of this block maze.
The blue drums with the "3" on them are the timed bomb platforms. They count down to zero when you stand on them. When they hit zero, they'll explode. Yet another series mainstay. If a drum is yellow, it will grow legs when you stand on it.
The part with the bomb and regular platforms not only brings in a new enemy (a big spinning cylinder that drops bombs and miniature clones of itself) but also another Bolt. Thankfully, it's extremely easy to get. Just be nimble when you jump on the timed bomb platforms and don't get hit by the spiked green robots that come up from the bottomless pit.
Next up is the mini-boss: a purple eye robot with junk floating around it like a shield. You'll want to shoot down all the junk so that you can get a clear shot on the robot, which can only be damaged when the eye is open.
The mini-boss will fly around in a circle to hit you with its shield and also try to rain junk down on you. If you're paying attention, you can easily dodge both attacks. It will also teleport through the floor and reappear on the other side of the screen. When it does this, a piece of junk will bounce around the room. Slide under it to avoid it, and watch out for where a bunch of gears and debris come out of the ground, as that is where the mini-boss will reappear.
Beating this mini-boss will reward you with Rush Cycle, which turns Rush into a motorcycle. He's pretty fast, though turning around takes a second and leaves you vulnerable. You have plenty of firepower with it, though. Sadly, you can't ride around on it forever, as it has a 40-second timer before Rush returns.
In the next section, avoid the hammers. Thankfully, you can walk past them when they swing towards the background.
There is a Bolt shortly after the beginning, but you'll need a Robot Master weapon in order to light the fuse, cause the dynamite platform to explode and be able to get it.
The Flame Mettaurs have flames on their heads. They just walk towards you. If they walk towards the fuse on the previously mentioned dynamite platforms, they'll light them up, causing them to explode. This is especially true in the dynamite platform maze, where you'll have to get away from them and keep them from touching the fuses to get two Bolts: one in the middle of the maze and one at the very end. The one at the end is tough, as you have to get to what seems like a dead end at the right, wait for the fuse to light, then head right as soon as the dynamite platforms explode to get the second Bolt.
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