NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man 8 - Part 3 of 7

After beating the first four Robot Masters, we get a little more to this game story and play an interim stage.

Frost Man

Frost Man is the easiest of the first four to damage with the Mega Buster. I usually start with him.

Aside from the large flying cylinder robots, you'll also see the penguin robots. They'll slide towards you when they stop spinning, and if you shoot at them, you'll push them back. They'll eventually go down after a few regular Mega Buster shots, though.

When you get into the first building, you'll get on an elevator. Fight off the bats, then go right once you reach the top. You'll get on a jet-powered snowboard. Shoot down the enemies when you see them, and when the signs on the upper-right corner tell you to jump or slide, you'd better be ready to do what the game says or else you're a dead man.

After the first robot bunny that ice skates around, jump up and slide to get a Bolt. Drop down after the second of two pairs of fall-away platforms to get another one. After going through the snow, you'll enter the next section.

It's night-time now. There are penguins, but there are also flying whale ships that drop large cylinders of ice down. When they hit the pushing plates of the ice pushing machines, they'll be launched forwards. You'll have to ride on these ice cylinders as it crashes into another to get a Bolt.

Thankfully, you can destroy the flying whale ships, and they don't even put up a fight at all. That's a good thing, since some of the cylinders they drop have penguins encased in them. When those cylinders break, the penguins will be freed and ready to cause their usual havoc.

After climbing up in the next section - where you can use a Flash Bomb to get the bolt encased in ice - you'll deal with robots that fly around and create puffs of smoke that are all sorts of pastel colors. The smoke will impair your vision a bit, but the robots are easily destroyed and don't attack you.

After another elevator, it's another jet-powered snowboard section. It's much shorter, but it's also much faster, so be ready to avoid spike-tipped walls that close on each other and jump over bottomless pits like your life depends on it. Once you reach the end of this section, you'll find some health and weapon pick-ups in the snow before taking on Frost Man, who destroys uncanny-looking ice sculptures of Mega Man before the fight begins to set an example.

Slide underneath Frost Man when he jumps towards you, and hit him with the Flash Bomb. Be sure to stay back so he doesn't hit you with his ice punch. When you hit him with it as he has both arms raised, you'll be able to cancel out his Frost Wave attack (which can freeze you if it connects) and send him backwards, stunning him as he cowers in fear. Use this as an opportunity to do more damage to him.

Sometimes, he'll cause the ice cylinders at the top of the room to come crashing down, and he'll even send one at you. If you keep using Flash Bomb, though, this rarely happens.

Beating Frost Man gives you the Frost Wave. This attack travels the ground and attacks any enemies in its path with sharp ice crystals.

When you beat the first four Robot Masters, you'll get a cutscene. The robot that you discovered is nearly repaired, and you'll find out that the four canisters you picked up from the four Robot Masters you just fought are some time of evil, ominous energy. Dr. Light instructs Mega Man to recover all the energy immediately. When Dr. Light and Mega Man leave the lab, the robot revives...and destroys the energy canisters! He knows the other robot still lives, and flies right through the roof and out of the laboratory! Mega Man gives chase!

Interim Stage

Use either Tornado Hold or the Mega Ball double jump to reach the ladder as soon as you enter the building. There are two Bolts up there. Fight off the enemies to get the one on the left, and use the Thunder Claw on the trapeze to get the one on the right.

If you're playing the Sega Saturn version, there will be a ladder near the left bolt. Climb up it and go right, and you'll face Cut Man.

To beat Cutman, slide under him when he jumps and jump over his Cut Blade. He's really, really easy to defeat with the Mega Buster that he's a complete joke. He's an optional boss, but he's worth fighting to get a free Bolt.

Also, the music here seems to sound different and there is an alarm in the stage in the Sega Saturn version. Interesting...

Anyway, the path here is pretty short, and you'll end up facing the robot that escaped. Avoid him as he bounces off the walls at 45-degree angles, Slide under him if he jumps, and stay away from him when he punches the floor to avoid the shockwave his punches produce.

After doing enough damage, this guy will wonder who you are and Protoman will show up. The robot escapes, and Mega Man wonders why the robot held back. Protoman tells you Wily Tower is up ahead, and says that the robot may be tied to Dr. Wily in some way.

When Mega Man finds Wily Castle in the following anime cutscene, he goes for it only for him and Rush to nearly be obliterated by a giant robot. Suddenly, the robot from the interim stage saves Mega Man. He introduces himself as Duo, and he is trying to eradicate the "Evil Energy" that you found off the four Robot Masters, which apparently has come from the other robot he fought at the beginning of the game. He then mows through the robot and grabs the Evil Energy from it, before eventually destroying it.

Duo then says the Evil Energy is under the complete control of Dr. Wily, and that under his command (or that of someone completely evil), the Energy will multiply within a matter of days. He'll also tell you that there is a barrier surrounding Wily Tower. It's Mega Man's job now to remove the power sources for the barrier as Duo goes after the rest of the Evil Energy.

The last four Robot Masters are available to you now. If you want to go back to the first four in case you want more abilities, just move to the icon with the globe on it at the bottom of the stage select screen.