Greater-than-average difficulty, very long completion time and lack of save ability hardly mar this absolute classic.
User Rating: 8.7 | Rockman 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo!? NES
Mega Man 3 is without a doubt one of the greatest NES games of all time, and one of the standouts of a standout series. I have to admit it's the only Mega Man game I've played on the NES, but despite what I find to be harder-than-average difficulty, a long completion time and a desperate need of save ability, Mega Man 3 still weathers the test of time very well. The plot of Mega Man 3 is pretty well-known by now: a "reformed" Dr. Wily and Dr. Light team up to create a new robot, Gamma, to help create peace around the world. But the robot goes berserk and its up to Mega Man to save the day once again by defeating 8 enemy robots...or something to that effect. In other words, just as in other games of the series, the player must defeat the 8 robot masters, 8 more robot masters from Mega Man 2, then onto Dr. Wily's fortress (including two other robot bosses therein) and finally Dr. Wily himself. Naturally, the powers of the 8 robot masters introduced in this game are absorbed into Mega Man after their defeat, giving the player the ability to defeat new challenges. Helping him along the way, and a new addition to the series starting with this game, is the robotic dog Rush who is able to transform into a springboard, submarine or flying platform in order to reach difficult places or avoid obstacles. The gameplay doesn't really add anything from previous or subsequent installments of the series, but is still great and enjoyable, if not (as I find it) on the difficult side - jumps require careful timing and some enemies actually require - gasp! - strategy to defeat! Enemies are typically defeated simply by shooting them, although some may take the form of or hide behind protective cover, but can be defeated with a few seconds of patience (and some quick, skilled maneuvering for some). True to its form as a platformer, the player will require to jump some tricky chasms, but even novice players will be able to get the timing down with some practice, although moving platform jumps can be troublesome for any player. Perhaps the greatest and one of the few detriments to the game and its gameplay, however, is its exhaustive length. Reaching and defeating any of the robot masters can be time consuming, especially on the harder levels and with less skilled players who will probably find themselves restarting levels quite often. Once done with the robot masters, having to defeat the 8 robot masters from the previous game and wandering through Dr. Wily's fortress (including having to defeat the 8 robot masters of this game again) can be both challenging and tiresome. Fortunately, the game is simply entertaining enough to allow the great length it takes to complete it to be overlooked, and level codes allow one robot master level to be skipped. The truly skilled and great players of Mega Man 3 can probably even complete the entire game within an hour or less, and the game has been a popular subject for impressive speed runs.
Graphical presentation is high quality for an NES game, as it should be for a game introduced relatively late in the NES's life. Foregrounds and backgrounds are some of the best rendered and well-detailed of any NES game released, save for perhaps the later and last installments of the Mega Man series on the console, and sprites are very clearly defined and well personified. The midi soundtrack is perhaps amongst the best for an NES game, matching the feel of the levels they represent with sharp, crisp beats.
Overall, Mega Man 3 is one of the standout NES games of all time and cemented the series' place, ready for the jump to 16-bit. Although it builds perhaps incrementally at best upon its predecessors, the gameplay and presentation remain as sharp as ever. A great classic that needs little introduction.
