Tuesday, November 17, 2020

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge - Part 1 of 4


In 1991, Capcom decided to port the Mega Man series to Game Boy. Aside from bringing back Robot Masters from past games and introducing new plots, these games also threw in some new characters.

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The series was released as Rockman World, and the first game was called Rockman World GB in Japan. Meanwhile, in America and Europe, these games were still numbered. The games were named by their Roman numerals instead of Arabic to tell them apart, at least in writing. Otherwise, you would have to say "on Game Boy" or "for Game Boy" if you were mentioning them orally. I just stick to calling them "Rockman World" much like the Japanese audience does.

Unlike the other Mega Man titles that had been released at the time, the game was outsourced to Minakuchi Engineering and simply published by Capcom.

When you begin the game, you have a choice between Cut Man, Fire Man, Ice Man and Elec Man.

Ice Man

Of course, it doesn't matter...because this game is as hard as the first entry in the NES series!

A jumps, B shoots, Left and Right move around, and Start lets you pause the game and switch weapons. You cannot slide in this game, so don't try. Also, you cannot charge the Buster.

You'll see quite a few familiar enemies as well as some new ones, as well as some completely different level designs.

There are power-ups in this game that refill your health and weapon energy, just like in the rest of the series, but good luck trying to get them from enemies! You're more likely to find them out in the open than from destroying an enemy. Even worse, it's hard to find a large power-up when you really need it, as the small pickups are so meager it's not even funny. Seriously, just two notches for my life? Is that all I get?

The flying robots will swoop down at you and return to attack again. They're easiest to take out when they're in the swooping down stage of their attack.

When necessary, jump straight up if you're losing control on the ice.

The ice blocks melt as you stand them...so make your move!

Remember those floor turrets from the second NES game that shot worms like looked like dancing bacon at you? They're back, as is all the bacon. The Rolling Cutter and Fire Storm make quick work of these floor turrets.

Shortly after the beginning, you'll be seeing icicles drop from the ceiling. These act as platforms, and they're even more annoying than the disappearing block platforms.

The one-eyed stomping robot from the first game is here. At least they don't take short hops to troll you like their NES cousins. They're only vulnerable when they're in the air, though. When that happens, you can hit them with the Buster or the Rolling Cutter, the latter of which tears them apart in two hits.

The Sniper Joes show up in this game, and the way they fight is actually based on Mega Man 2. At least they balanced out the difficulty in at least one way in this game.

Ice Man jumps up and down, shooting his ice breath either high or low. Three hits from the Thunder Beam (if you have it) will quickly put him out of commission and reward you with the Ice Slasher. Otherwise, stick to the Buster. The Ice Slasher is really useful against the one-eyed stomping robots as well as the Sniper Joes, as it keeps them frozen long enough for you to destroy them with the Buster. Just hit them with the Ice Slasher when they make themselves vulnerable.

Fire Man

The lava pits, the fire barriers and the fireballs with the angry eyes are back with a vengeance, so tread carefully and time your jumps as you move around and take out enemies. Just like in the first NES game, the fire barriers can be temporarily frozen with the Ice Slasher, and you can stand on them as they are frozen to . 

The torch enemies from Mega Man 2 throw fireballs that home in on your current position at the time of throw. You'll definitely remember these guys from Quick Man's stage. I like that they put this enemy in here.

You can jump over the flames that move from one side of the room to the other, or you can freeze them with the Ice Slasher. I prefer the freezing method for obvious reasons.

Fire Man can be beaten with the Mega Buster, but I recommend the Ice Slasher. Just stay at the left side of the room and fire at him, jumping over his flames as you do. The Ice Slasher will also destroy him in a few hits if you have it. You'll get Fire Storm. This creates a shield that roasts nearby enemies (and bacon generators) and throws a fireball forward.

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