PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man 3 - Part 5 of 8

Just when you thought you going straight to the Dr. Wily stages, the game decides to throw in some additional battles before you can get there. Interestingly, the series would never do something like this again.

Needle Man Revisited

The stage here is amazingly different. Day is switched to night, and you have more of those extending spikes to contend with.

Use Rush Jet to get the Air Can. With Rush Jet, you can go anywhere you want as long as you have energy for it (in later games, you can only go to the right at blinding speeds). If you keep jumping up and down while moving, you can make your energy last longer (which is a glitch, not a feature).

The first Doc Robot fights like Air Man. Shoot at him with Spark Shock while avoiding the tornadoes. You can also use Magnet Missile or Top Spin, but Spark Shock works best (especially on The Wily Wars).

Once you leave the first Doc Robot room, you'll have to use Rush Jet to get past that long, long bottomless pit. Avoid the enemies, and refill Rush Jet whenever you see a weapons pick-up.

For that long pit, the parachute guys are easy to avoid. It's the dragonflies that are a pain in the butt. Go up and down so that you can screw the dragonflies' tracking ability up.

The giant Mettaur with the rocket boosters on the bottom is dead simple. Shoot at the plus sign on the hard hat, and shoot down any of the small Mettaurs that it spits out.

Watch out with the Mettaurs after this point. They have little propellers that come out of their helmet, and they'll fly upwards and towards you, shoot three shots at you from above, then come back down and fly towards you. Once again, shoot at them while their faces are exposed.

The second Doc Robot fights like Crash Man. Jump up and shoot the Hard Knuckle when he's close to you, and when he jumps up and fires the exact instant you shoot it, he'll run straight into it. Be sure to bring an Energy Can or two, as you can risk dying here if you're not careful. 

Gemini Man Revisited

The ladder bugs are now running around on the ground. At least they don't climb up the walls, and they're actually easy to hit with the Proto Buster.

The first Doc Robot fights like Flash Man. As you avoid him and his Time Stopper attack, pound him with the Needle Cannon. It should be noted that the Doc Robots are bigger than the original Mega Man 2 Robot Masters they are programmed to fight like.

There will now be holes in the ceiling, and the ladder bugs will be falling out of them perpetually. The bugs tend to come towards you every time they drop off the edge of a platform.

The second Doc Robot fights like Bubble Man. As you avoid the bubbles (get next to him and they'll fly right over you) and try not to kill yourself on the ceiling spikes, hit him with the Shadow Blade. He'll go down in no time!