In this entry, NintendoCapriSun takes on Astro Man and Aqua Man before going on to Dr. Wily's fortress.
Astro Man map by Zeric.
Astro Man
There are quite a few enemies and hazards here. The most notable of them all is the platforms that disappear and re-appear throughout the stage, which you'll need to utilize in order to get through the beginning of this stage.
This one is the longest and the most challenging, but it's definitely worth it.
The black blob with the one will snap at you with its jaws if you land directly on it. You won't be able to use the Mega Buster to destroy it. Instead, you'll have to drop a Mega Ball on it or directly into its path.
The frog robots have a smaller robot on top of them, and you'll need to use fully-charged shots to get rid of both of them at the same time.
When you step on the big skull plate on the ground at the end of the first section, you'll be in a maze that loops around itself and has some M.C. Escher action going on in the background. You'll be pressing buttons to lower and raise platforms to allow yourself access to other areas, and you'll also be using the Mega Ball double-jump trick to shortcut your way through the maze.
The green wall-walking turret robots fire one or two shots at you when they see you. They're pretty weak.
When you make your way to the big skull-shaped floor plate, you'll be in a tower that is sinking into quicksand. Don't get caught in the quicksand pit, and keep on climbing. The orange-and-green turrets will drip slime on the floor, and if you manage to manuever yourself into that slime, you're stuck in it and you'll have to mash the buttons to free yourself. There are also moving platforms as well as precision platform-jumpings skills. When you reach the small skull-shaped floor plate at the top, you're out of here.
After some more platform jumping (protip: jump as they re-appear to give yourself a little more time), it's time for another maze. Once you get through that, it's time to take on Astro Man.
Aside from the Astro Crush, in which he disappears and sends out meteors from the top of the screen that can be easily avoided, he can also swings his sattelites around the room in an attempt to smack you. As he does this, he'll also shoot star projectiles towards the ground.If you have the Homing Sniper from Search Man's stage, you'll be able to do the most damage and cause him to freak out when you target him with it. Otherwise, use the Flash Bomb.
If you can get Astro Man low enough to the ground so you can jump up and hit him with the Mega Buster, hit him with the Search Missile instead. If you can time it right and get a pattern going, you can put keep him on stun-lock by jumping every few seconds to shoot a stunned Astro Man ad infinitum with Search Missiles, making it so he can't attack ever again.
He'll also dive down towards you from time to time. Move away from him when he does this.
Beating Astro Man will give you the Astro Crush. You can only use it a few times, but it destroys everything on the screen.
Aqua Man
The clam enemies can be killed when they open up to attack. The squid enemies swim around and fire at you when they see you.
You'll be swimming at the beginning. This brings to the game new things that have existed practically anywhere else: swimming carefully so that you don't touch spikes and also swimming against the current.
Once you reach dry land and cross the wooden bridge at the waterfall, the bridge will break and you'll go down the waterfall as you face the mini-boss: a sphere-shaped robot with saw-teeth jaws. This robot will not only try to bite at you, it will also drop boulders on you, breaking any logs that are falling down the waterfall that are in its path. You can also stand on these rolling logs so that you can move around more easily and get some more shots on the mini-boss.
When you beat this mini-boss, you'll get Rush Aid. If you haven't noticed, there are no energy or weapon tanks in the game at all, despite this being the easiest game in the series. This is the closest you'll get to having one.
You'll then enter the next section. You'll soon see a ceiling with a crack in it. If you use Astro Crush on it, you'll be able to get a Bolt. This part is followed by an area with a bunch of spiked balls, and one of these balls will block a narrow corridor that you can slide through. If you move that spiked ball out of the way with Tornado Hold, you'll get another Bolt.
There are two paths to the next area: a lower path and an upper path. The upper path will net you a Bolt, but both have their share of explosive platforms and the flying spiked balls from the Tengu Man stage.
After a short swim, you'll meet Aqua Man. Use Astro Crush on him to do a whole bunch of damage and stun him, then pummel him with the Mega Buster for additional damage. You'll be able to do away with both his water shot that homes in on you as well as the Water Balloons altogether.
Beating Aqua Man gives you the Water Balloon. It's a water balloon. (Duh.)
The abilities from this point forward are only available at Dr. Light's Lab when you've beaten the interim stage.
Energy Saver: This gives you more ammo for all the special weapons.
Cost: 6 Bolts
Super Recover: Recover more energy when you pick up health and weapons pick-ups.
Cost: 6 Bolts
Spare Charger: If you have less than three lives (or four, if you have Spare Extra), this brings you back to the starting number of lives when you leave a stage.
Cost: 4 Bolts
Hyper Slider: Slide faster.
Cost: 5 Bolts
H. Speed Charge: This shortens the amount of time needed to charge the Mega Buster, making full charges much faster.
Cost: 7 Bolts
Rapid Part: Fire three Mega Buster shots at once when you press the Fire Button. Unfortunately, you can't charge the Mega Buster with this.
Cost: 6 Bolts
Boost Part: Increases the speed of your Mega Buster shots.
Cost: 5 Bolts
Exchanger: Converts health pick-ups into weapon energy if you're at full health.
Cost: 4 Bolts
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