__ ___ __ ___ / |/ /__ ____ _____ _ / |/ /___ _____ / /|_/ / _ \/ __ `/ __ `/ / /|_/ / __ `/ __ \ / / / / __/ /_/ / /_/ / / / / / /_/ / / / / /_/ /_/\___/\__, /\__,_/ /_/ /_/\__,_/_/ /_/ /____/ Mega Man FAQ v1.0 ----------- by TIDQ (Email at the bottom) +=============================================================================+ & Table of Contents & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ For ease, every part of the FAQ can be accessed by hitting Ctrl+F and searching for the section number or section title. 1.0 Introduction 2.0 FAQ 3.0 Story 4.0 Controls 5.0 Powerups 6.0 Unique Features 7.0 Walkthrough 7.1 Star Man 7.2 Bright Man 7.3 Napalm Man 7.4 Stone Man 7.5 Wave Man 7.6 Toad Man 7.7 Dr. Wily 8.0 Miscellany 8.1 Legal Stuff 8.2 Emailing Me 8.3 Version History 8.4 Special Thanks +=============================================================================+ & 1.0 Introduction & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Mega Man. The cultural icon. For a character that's 20 years old, it's impressive that he maintains such a strong fanbase. Throughout those 20 years, perhaps no Mega Man game is more forgotten than his single outting on the Sega GameGear. Although not created directly by Capcom, this is not a port of any other Mega Man game for any other system. It is a unique entity, and no man (or woman) can be considered a master of Mega Man games until they conquer Mega Man for GameGear. Although this version of Mega Man lift graphics and bosses directly from the NES Mega Man games (most notably Mega Man 4 and 5), this is a landmark game in that it contains some features found in no other Mega Man title, such as bouncing capsules and vertical scrolling. It is shorter than the usual Mega Man game, but that's probably because it's made for a portable system, and the fact that the GameGear guzzles batteries like they're water and its dieing of thirst. The player does at least get to use the familiar Mega Man password system to remember which of the first four bosses he's beaten. The last three levels, however, you must beat in one sitting and without any continues. I, personally, have owned this game for over 10 years, so I figure that writing a guide will allow me to pay this game and the small part of my childhood that it took a proper tribute. +=============================================================================+ & 2.0 FAQ & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ____________________________________________________ Q: How exactly did Mega Man end up on the Game Gear? A: Back in the early 90s, apparently Capcom would give out its licenses to any company who was willing to pay for it. The worst example of this is the trio of Mega Man games made for DOS (old PC operating system, for you younger folks) by a company called "Hi-Tech Expressions," which were completely horrible. Another US-based company called U.S. Gold (which later would be bought out and merge into Eidos) obtained the license with the primary goal of tapping into the Mega Man fanbase for portable systems. Although there had already been Mega Man games released for the more popular Gameboy, there had not yet been a portable Mega Man game in COLOR. So U.S. Gold lifted graphics straight out of some of the NES Mega Man games (faithfully I might add), added in a few more small features, and patched together Mega Man for the GameGear. __________________________________________________________________________ Q: What's unique about this game that isn't found in other Mega Man games? A: As I said, the levels and bosses are largely lifted from Mega Man 4 and 5. There's also one stage that's reminiscent of a stage in Mega Man 2. There are, however, features unique to ONLY this game. For specifics, please see the "Unique Features" section of the FAQ. (6.0) _____________________________________________________________________ Q: I don't care about your stinky guide! Just tell me the boss order! A: Fine, be that way, but you'll be sorry. Star Man > Bright Man > Napalm Man > Stone Man > Star Man again As you can see, it doesn't really matter which boss you start with, as they form a perfect circle of weapon weakness. ______________________________________________ Q: So Wave Man REALLY doesn't have a weakness? A: Really. I'm 100% positive that Wave Man has no weakness, period. A rarity in a Mega Man game to be sure, but that's the way it is. You can test for yourself if you don't believe me. In Mega Man 5, Wave Man was weak against Charge Man's weapon, the Charge Kick, but there is no Charge Man on the GameGear. ___________________________________________________ Q: Hard Mode? What's this? Will you be covering it? A: Once you complete the game, you have the option of starting all over again, but this time in hard mode. When you beat the game, don't turn off the GameGear. Select Start on the title screen, and it'll prompt Normal or Hard. Hard mode does have a password system of its own, so once you get a password, you can come back to Hard Mode without having to beat the game on normal again. As for whether I'll cover the details of Hard Mode in depth, I won't. My feeling is that Hard Mode is meant to be a challenge. There is no reward at the end of Hard Mode, so there's no reason to have a guide hold the player's hand through it. I've shown how to get through all the levels on normal, where all the tanks are, and how to beat each boss. Use that knowledge if you want to take on Hard Mode for the sick, twisted, rewardless pleasure of it. __________________ Q: How about ROMs? A: Don't ask me about finding ROMs. I'll ignore emails like these. +=============================================================================+ & 3.0 Story & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ This is an excerpt taken word-for-word from my Mega Man game manual to explain the story of this game. "The SAGA Continues... Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to crush Dr. Wily's humanoid henchmen in a sizzling cybernetic show-down and overthrow the evil doctor's sinsiter plot to destroy mankind. Guide Mega Man through six hazardous levels and clean-up gangs of twisted cronies before facing the heavily-armed Bosses. If you survive this perilous journey you move on to the Formidable Fortress, where you finally face the fieldish Dr. Wily - Mega Man's arch enemy since the dawn of time (well, 1985 anyway!) Mega Man embarks on his quest as your familiar, no-frills superhero, and each time you beat a Boss you acquire his weaponry and powers. So, as you progress through each stage you build-up a lethal artillery to take into the final confrontation with the infamous Dr. Wily." So in other words, there is no plot. They didn't bother involving any kind of plot points to make this seem like a legitimate part of the Mega Man universe, and what I've transcribed from my manual is quite possibly the worst piece of literature ever written about a Mega Man game. So let's just forget about it. +=============================================================================+ & 4.0 Controls & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - Start Pauses the game and brings up the Weapon Select menu. Press again to select the highlighted weapon and unpause the game. - Button 1 Fire weapon. Also used to consume an E-tank or M-tank if highlighted on the Weapon select menu. - Button 2 Jump. - Directional pad Left/right to move left and right. Up/down to climb ladders. Also use to select weapons or tanks on the Weapon Select menu. ______________ Compound Moves - Mega Buster With the default weapon selected, hold Button 1 to charge. When fully charged, release Button 1 to fire. - Slide Hold "Down" on the directional pad, and press Button 2 to slide. +=============================================================================+ & 5.0 Powerups & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - Small health - Looks like a small round dot that flashes white and black. Picking one up recovers a few bars of health. - Large health - Much larger, round object that flashes white a black. Picking one up recovers a good ammount of health. - Small weapon recharge - Small dot, looks like the color of the currently selected weapon. When picked up, it recharges a few bars of weapon use of the weapon currently being used. - Large weapon recharge - Same as the small version. Larger in appearance and larger in the ammount of weapon use recovered. - 1-up - Looks like Mega Man's head. Gives you a spare life. Very important, because there are no continues other than the password system. - E-tank - Looks like a tin can with a large "E" on the side. Can be kept on the side for later use. When used, it recovers health completely. More than likely, you'll use it in a boss fight to help outlast the boss's health. - M-tank - Just like the E-tank, except it has a large "M" on the side. Instead of recovering just health, it recovers health and refills all weapon gauges. +=============================================================================+ & 6.0 Unique Features & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Mega Man for the GameGear is most comparable to the NES Mega Man games. The graphics are essentially the same. Bosses and their levels are pretty much lifted from Mega Man 4 and 5, and the last level of the game is much like Quick Man's stage in Mega Man 2. It's not a total rehash though, and it's important to recognize the differences between this and all other Mega Man games, particularly for those well-versed in Mega Man's other adventures. - Vertical Scrolling One thing that remained constant for many, many years is that there isn't vertical scrolling in the 8-bit Mega Man games. It scrolls left and right. Yes, there are parts of a level where climbing a ladder will cause you to "jump" one screen up, but there isn't any scrolling. The resolution of the GameGear is not that great. So, U.S. Gold had to make a choice. Either they could destroy Mega Man and make him uglier and more pixelated, or they could zoom in on him more, and simply cover less area on the screen at once. They opted for the latter choice, which means they had to introduce vertical scrolling. This can make the game a bit more frustrating, not knowing what's above or below you. Some might say it adds challenge. Either way, it's there. - Bouncing Powerups The powerups in this game... well, they bounce once upon hitting the ground. Why do they bounce? That is one of the great mysteries of the video gaming universe. Someone apparently thought that Mega Man would be a lot cooler if the powerups bounced, and maybe they're right. It's that kind of small detail that makes this game seem more charming than just some fanhack, as no other Mega Man has powerups that bounce. - Bosses have temporary invincibility when hit Finally, the playing field has been levelled. For as long as Mega Man has been around, he has had the cushion of being invincible for a couple of seconds after being hit, limiting the damage that can be inflicted on him. Here, the same thing applies to bosses. A continuous stream of fire will only hurt them once every couple seconds. - No continues That's right. No continues, so save your password. The last three levels, all of which are in Dr. Wily's castle, must be beaten in succession without losing all of your lives. If you lose against the last boss, you have to start from the beginning of the castle again. Sound fun? Don't worry though. Wily's castle is short and not as hard as it could be. +=============================================================================+ & 7.0 Walkthrough & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ As with all traditional Mega Man games, you get to choose which order you wish to tackle the beginning levels. In this version, there are four bosses from which to choose. The final three levels are in Dr. Wily's castle and must be taken in specific order. The order of which I'm writing this walkthrough is just one such order that could be taken. The circular order of weapon weaknesses for the first four bosses are as follows: Bright Man is weak to Star Man's weapon. Napalm Man is weak to Bright Man's weapon. Stone Man is weak to Napalm Man's weapon. Star Man is weak to Stone Man's weapon. In other words: Star Man > Bright Man > Napalm Man > Stone Man > Star Man Using that, you can decide the order you would like to tackle the levels, if for some reason you don't like the order I go in. Besides the Mega Buster, the one other "weapon" you will start the game with is the Rush Coil. The Rush Coil will make Mega Man's faithful robo-dog Rush appear. Mega Man can then jump on him and use the springboard packed into his back. This walkthrough is for completing the game on NORMAL difficulty. Once you have beaten the game, you will have the opportunity to play on "Hard Mode" if you wish, but if you really want the challenge that badly, you're probably not going to be reading a walkthrough, especially since there's no reward for beating the game on Hard Mode. ============ 7.1 Star Man ------------ E/M-Tanks: None _____________ Stage Enemies - Asteroid Asteroids will rain down from the sky with kamikaze intentions. They will be destroyed with one shot, but there's no point. Just try to sidestep them carefully. It's better to shimmy left and right than to try to jump over them. - Bouncebot These guys bounce between the ceiling and the floor. They also fire a pair of bullets at regular intervals, in a V-shaped trajectory in the general direction of Mega Man. A couple bullets will do them in. - Pop-up Cannon These guys can be hard to notice. They come up from the ground and fire at Mega Man. They can be spotted, however, by their green snout that doesn't completely submerge into the ground. Three bullets or a charged shot will take them out. - Jetpac Helmet Well, they're Helmets... wearing jetpacks. Unlike normal Helmets, they can't hide under their helmet. They can only fly around. One bullet is enough to take them down. - Lobber A small robot that lobs bullets at a catapult trajectory. Charged shot will do it. - Missle Missles will explode when they hit a bullet or a wall. If they hit a wall, the shrapnel will fly at you. If they hit a bullet, the shrapnel will fly in the four diagonal directions. - Rocket Rockets pop out of holes in the ground when you get close. They take too many hits to kill, so just lure them out and then jump over them as they fall back down. - Rotor Patroller These things fly from side to side and shoot bullets much in the same way as the Bouncebots, but they go down in only one hit. - Scout Walker This guy paces back and forth while spraying bullets. One charged shot to his eye will do him in though. The bullets are easily jumped over. The first thing you should notice about this stage is that the gravity is very low, meaning that Mega Man jumps very high without much effort. So don't jump into things you're not supposed to. Start by running forward. Before long, you'll see asteroids trying to fall on your head. Don't try to be flashy and jump over them. Just run left and right to avoid them, eventually working your way to the right and to a large pit in the ground. Jump down it. As soon as you move left, you'll notice a Bouncebot. Dispose of it and hop down again. Before you hop down, be aware that there's a pop-up cannon waiting. So before you hop down, charge up your Mega Buster and hold it. Then hop down and fire to the right as soon as the cannon pops up. Charge your Mega Buster once more before going any further, as there's another cannon just off screen. Advance and kill the next cannon. In the next room, there is a Bouncebot out of sight above and to the right. Jump up and kill it. Jump over his bullets if you have to. Immediately after the Bouncebot, you'll find a cannon on the ground with some spikes on the ceiling above him. If you react too hastily by jumping over the cannon or the bullets it spits, you could hit your head on the spikes, which is instant death. Instead, before dropping down, charge your mega buster and then take him out as soon as you fall to just below his level. You'll notice two more cannons just ahead. Charge your Mega Buster and jump very softly to shoot and kill both of them. Jump softly again to get on the high platform without hitting the spikes. Kill the next bouncebot as soon as it comes up on the screen. Then walk forward and drop down. Walk forward some more until you just see the nose of a cannon. Charge and shoot it. Charge up again and get ready to kill another bouncebot which will appear just as you go right some more. Charge again, and inch forward to kill yet another bouncebot. Now go forward and drop down the pit again. Be ready for a Hover Patroller as soon as you land. Turn and shoot it, or jump over its bullets first if you need to. You're going to need to drop down again here, but whatever you do, DON'T JUMP OUTWARD. Just fall straight down, or else you'll jump right onto some spikes. After you land, dispatch the next Hover Patroller, then fall down the hole in the floor. Slide through the small space to the next area. Here, jump very softly throughout the entire room. First jump up a little to kill the Hover Patroller. Now jump carefully up to the next platform. You should see a lower platform a little in front of you. Do NOT jump to it. Instead, just walk off the ledge toward it. The low gravity should drift you there. If you jump, you'll die. Let the Jetpack Helmet come to you and kill it. Don't jump to kill it. Next is one of the more annoying parts of the level. You have a pit you need to jump over. Jump too high and you hit the ceiling. Jump too low and you won't make it across. Start walking towards the pit and wait until the very last possible instant to jump. Give the jump button a medium tap and you should just make it. If you need practice, stay on the other side of the pit and test how high you can jump in place without hitting the ceiling. Dispose of the Jetpack Helmet. Now jump very softly up to the next platform again being mindful of the ceiling. When you get to the edge of that platform and you can't see below you, walk forward off the ledge. Fall forward so that you cross the small spike pit below you. Now charge up and kill the cannon. Jump up and exit the room through the ladder. Climb up quickly and jump over the shrapnel from incoming missles. Don't hit the spike ceiling though. Climb up the next ladder. In this room, you'll see two more cannons. Charge up and kill the first one, but don't jump into the ceiling. Climb up to where the cannon used to be and kill the second cannon. Jump softly up to that ledge and fall forward over the spike pit. Kill the last cannon. Charge up your Mega Blaster, and go to the next screen. On this screen, stand back and try to hit the Scout Walker in the eye, his only weak point. One charged shot will do him in. Go to the next screen. Here, jump and kill the three Jetpack Helmets quickly, then move forth. Kill the next Helmet and advance to the next screen. Walk carefully near the spikes. Let the rocket pop out, then jump over it and onto the floating ledge as the rocket falls back down. Notice the lobber over jonder. Wait for him to throw, then jump down and unleash a charged shot. Now charge up again and kill the lobber on the next ledge. Two more ledge jumps, and you'll be at the end of the screen. Watch for rockets. Charge up before advancing to the next screen. Scout Walker again. Hit him in the eye with your charge. Softly jump over the spikes and you'll be at the boss door. ************** * Star Man * ************** Weapon of Choice: Star Crash Weakness: Power Stone (Stone Man) Star Man is a superstar. He's also pretty easy, fortunately. If you're using the Mega Buster, keep charging while his shield is up. He's invulnerable during that time. Star Man mostly moves by jumping around. Try to keep on the opposite side of the room as him so that you can see his Star Crash coming and jump over it. While his Star Crash is sailing is when he's vulnerable. Let him have it with the Mega Buster charge. Then fire as many extra shots at him until his shield pops back up. If you're using the Power Stone, just get kinda close and use it. It moves rather slowly, but it should hit him, and it does go through his Shield. You'll mop the floor with him. He jumps both high and far. When he jumps high in the air at you, slide under him. When he jumps low and far is the hardest to anticipate, but you should be able to jump over him if you react quickly enough. Hopefully, it's not a problem. He's fairly easy. Using the Star Crash: When you have the Star Crash as your chosen weapon, you can use it both as a shield and as a projectile. Press fire once to form a shield that will destroy one enemy before disappearing. Press fire once the shield is up to launch it forward like a projectile. ============== 7.2 Bright Man -------------- E/M-Tanks: One E-Tank _____________ Stage Enemies - Light Bulb The light bulbs are among the most dangerous creatures in the game. Why? Because if you kill them, you'll be in big trouble. They float across the screen, getting in your way and shooting bullets, but if you kill one, the lights turn off. If the lights turn off, you'll probably walk into a pit. Solutions to this are killing a firework thrower, leaving the screen, or standing still until the lights come back on. - Firework Thrower The firework throwers are pretty harmless. Yes, they'll walk into you, but they're easily shot in one hit. In addition, they'll also turn the lights back on, which is good. - Robot Grasshopper Robot grasshoppers serve as moving platforms of a sort. Stand on their backs and go for a ride. - Totem Pole Evil Totem Pole. Just shoot them repeatedly or charge a shot at them to make them go away. - Giant Pelletbot This guy can shoot little red pellets with accurate distance. Destroy it with many hits, and jump over those pellets. - Fan Blade These guys will drop from the ceiling and spin along the ground trying to hit you. Fortunately, as long as you see them coming, you can kill them in two shots. They are invincible before they drop though. The first thing to take notice of in Bright Man's stage are the lights. The lights start out being on, but they'll turn off if you shoot a light bulb. They'll turn back on if you wait about 15 seconds or shoot a fireworks thrower. Having the lights off is a bad, bad thing, so stand in place if you have to. It's better than walking into a hole. Start out by ignoring the first light bulb, then kill the fireworks thrower. Jump over the pit and repeat the ignore/kill process with the next pair of light bulb and fireworks thrower. You'll approach a rather large pit here. There's no trick really. Just run at the pit and wait until the very last possible moment to jump, or else you'll fall short. It might take you a couple of tries, but that's normal. Now move onto the next screen. Charge up your Mega Buster and kill the Totem Pole while dodging its bullets. You might notice the robot grasshopper just beyond it. Jump on it and ride it. When you get just within jumping distance of the next grasshopper, it'll turn around and go backwards. Before that happens, or right when it happens, jump to the next grasshopper. It'll jump a couple of times before it reached a pit. At the very apex of its leap into the pit, no earlier or later, jump off onto the platform. Now climb the ladder. If you need health, you can use the Rush Coil in this room to reach another ladder right above where you enter. Up it is a large health, nothing more. Then climb back down to the previous room. Now watch out for the giant pelletbot. It would be a good idea to charge up the megabuster before he shows up on screen so that you can kill him quicker. Now climb up the ladder behind him. As soon as you climb up, a fan blade should drop down. Shoot it, and move on. Now climb up and kill the next fan blade. Walk forward and kill yet another one. Don't be afraid to drop down where you can't see. There's ground under the third fan blade. Kill a couple more, and then slide into the next room. Here, you can enter the optional room by climbing down the ladder, or you can skip it by moving to the right. The optional room will grant you an E-tank and a 1-up. Although you won't be keeping the 1-up, because you need to die to escape the room. Optional Room - Here, you'll find some swinging platforms over a nice, friendly death pit. Simply jump onto the first swing. Wait for it to reach the other side, then jump across to the next one before the swing falls off entirely. Repeat this process until you reach the other side, where an E-tank and a 1-up await. The go back, fall in the pit and die. You'll still keep the E-tank, which is what's important. Actually, it's kind of possible to get back with the Rush Coil, but it's not worth it. Dieing will take you right back to where the path branched in the first place. Whether you died in the optional room or just chose not to go there, you will be in the same place. Go right and get on the grasshopper. Ride it, and then get on the next grasshopper. Jump from him to the next grasshopper, and kill the Totem Pole. Do not jump off the grasshopper to avoid a bullet. You might fall on the spikes. Wait until the grasshopper jumps into the pit before skipping across to the next grasshopper. Kill the totem pole again. Wait until your current hopper gets as close as possible to the last one, then make one more jump. Then it's just a simple jump to the ladder. In the next room, you'll probably get hit by the fan blade unless you have a star crash shield. Not a big deal either way. If you really want to get the weapon energy above, you can use the Rush Coil to "double jump" up there. By that, I mean jump onto Rush. Then during the apex of the leap, hit jump to jump off Rush again for an extra little boost. Then jump back down and slide through the small space. Climb up the ladder. In the next room, watch out for light bulbs again. Now, BEFORE you try to jump onto the swinging platform just like the one in the optional room, I strongly recommend that you use the Rush Coil to ensure that you make this jump. It's possible to make the jump without Rush, but it's harder, a lot harder in fact. Just do the same jumping from platform to platform like in the optional room. It helps if you stand on the very right edge of each platform. After you finish with all the jumps, you just have to go through two more fireworks throwers and one more lightbulb before you're at the boss room. **************** * Bright Man * **************** Weapon of Choice: Bright Flash Weakness: Star Crash (Star Man) Bright Man is actually quite annoying. You might have a hard time beating him without either the Star Crash or at least using an E-Tank. Hopefully, you have the Star Crash, so that you don't have to waste an E-Tank. Bright Man's attack pattern basically goes like this. He jumps, a lot. He will jump at you, and the only way to avoid it is to slide. Sometimes he will break up the jumping action to freeze time and then jump on you. Obviously the advantage of freezing time is that you can't escape being jumped on. He also will shoot at you, but not that often. If you only have the Mega Buster, shoot like crazy and slide for your life. It's hard to outlast Bright Man, but it's possible. If you have the Star Crash, that makes things easy. Just equip the star crash and then brush up against him or fire them from a distance. He'll be dust in no time. Using the Bright Flash: For most normal enemies, the Bright Flash will simply stop them in their tracks. Then you can either kill them or walk past them. For Napalm Man, the Bright Flash will actually inflict physical damage, but he's the only exception. ============== 7.3 Napalm Man -------------- E/M-Tanks: One E-Tank _____________ Stage Enemies - Search Mine These guys look like little cones sticking out of the ground. If you get close to them, they'll scrunch down and zoom right at you. Can be killed with one bullet from a distance though. - Chopper Robots flying helicopters. They swoop from one side of the screen to the other, all the while shooting bullets. A charged shot will take them out though. - Drill The giant drill is pretty easy. Stand still when it comes on screen, and fire repeatedly. Don't get too close to it, or it'll explode in your face when it dies. - Helmet Cannon These guys are simply large cannons operated by Helmets. Like a normal Helmet, these guys are only vulnerable when they peek their eyes out from under their hat. That's also an indicator of when they're about to shoot. They'll take a good ammount of ammo to kill. - Missle Robot Very annoying. These hulking things shoot slow homing missles at Mega Man, and his only weak point is the small target area of his eyes. It'll take two direct hits from a fully charged mega buster to his eyes, or six bullets to take him out. - Robot Guard Big dude that jumps around. Just shoot him like a normal enemy, although he takes many hits to kill. - Missle Same as the ones in Star Man's level. - Rocket Same as the ones in Star Man's level. - Rock Thrower These robots will hurl an endless supply of rocks with deadly accuracy. Be sure to sidestep the rocks as you blast these guys to peices. - Tiger Tigers are pretty harmless. They will try to jump at you, but that's all. They can be dispatched in a couple of shots. This stage is more of an enemy-killing level than a platform-jumping level. It's pretty straight-forward. Run forward and blast the tiger. Advance a little more and blast yet another tiger. Jump over both of the spike pits. Don't jump too soon over the second one, as it's a bit bigger. Watch out for a tiger waiting immediately upon landing. He's kind of hard to avoid, but you can if you run very quickly under him as he jumps at you. Then you can turn around and kill him. Now go forward and jump down the pit. Immediately below you is some large health being guarded by a tiger. It doesn't even really matter if the tiger damaged you, because there's health right there obviously. Before you jump down the hole on the left, charge up your mega buster. Immediately upon landing, you'll be attacked by a Helmet cannon. Release your charged mega buster to damage him and then jump over his first cannon round. When he becomes vulnerable again, a couple more normal bullets will finish him. Repeat the process with the next Helmet Cannon a bit to the right. Now leave the room. This is the drill room. Run forward and never stop shooting. When a drill comes on screen, stand still and keep firing. If you stand still, the drill shouldn't be close enough to you to blow up in your face. The drills will regenerate without end, so just make your way to the next room. Now climb the ladder. E-Tank Alert - As soon as you climb the ladder, you can jump through an invisible part in the wall on the left. Once you're in the wall, you'll have to jump over one more piece of rock before you're able to walk on through to the small space that holds the E-Tank. Now make your way back. Now you're in the room with pouring sand. Kill the first search mine before jumping onto his platform. Now charge up your mega buster before moving to the next platform. As soon as you get to the second platform, a Chopper will attack you. The charged mega buster will take him out. Now notice the pouring sand in front of you to an area below that you can't see. Don't be afraid to hop down there. You'll land on solid ground. Either kill the next search mine or let him run off the cliff as you get close to him. Now jump on the platorm. There's another search mine behind him, so just jump over it if it comes at you. Climb the ladder. Now you might consider jumping over to the next platform, but you'll have a hard time avoiding the search mine unless you kill him with a Star Crash or Power Stone. I recommend just hopping down to the ground below and taking a hit. Then you can avoid the next search mine. Kill the third and fourth search mines in this row from a distance and then charge your mega buster. Go forward and unleash on the next chopper. Now you can climb the ladder out of the room. Free 1-up in the next room, and it's not even being guarded. Sweet! Climb up the ladder again to get back to the surface. Charge your mega buster before going right to meet the missle robot. Try to hit him in the eyes. It'll take more than one to bring him down. The missles can be jumped over or shot, but they'll regenerate endlessly until you kill the robot himself. Now you have to climb over a spike pit and do the same thing, only much tougher. Remember that if you get hit by a missle, you're invincible to the spikes for a couple of seconds, which is good. Here, I actually found it easier to kill him with regular bullets than with charged shots. Simply jump as high as you can and fire a bullet, then do it five more times until he's dead. Now jump carefully over the last spikes to safety. Before you jump down on the right side of the screen to the next room, there's some weapon energy that you might want to pick up. As you fall down the hole on the right, hold the d-pad left to drift left into the area with the weapon energy. After that, drop down. Below you in this room is yet another 1-up, but it's guarded by a Helmet Cannon. Dispose of him like the last two and grab it. Now drop down the hole on the left side of the screen. This area is annoying. It features the return of the missles from Star Man's stage that break into four pieces of shrapnel. But them up if you can, or simply try to dodge them. After a little ways, you'll meet a robot guard. Keep your distance and fire away until he's toast. Avoid more missles and jump over the spikes. Now fall down the right side of the screen. Be aware! In this room, the vertical scrolling can kill you. If you walk left, you'll see a pit with some spikes above it. Do not simply drop straight down. If you do, you'll hit spikes and die. Instead, fall and push left to drift over the spikes to safety. Now you can fall down the very left side of the screen. Upon landing, notice the rock thrower to the right side of the screen. He'll hurl rocks right on you, so don't stand still. Instead, sidestep the rocks left and right while you blast him. Be award that there are rockets in the pits here. Just like in Star Man's level, get close enough to draw them out, then jump over them as they fall back down. After jumping over two pits and walking through a narrow corridor, you'll see a large gap with no vision of what's below you. This part is hard to describe, but I'll try. You'll need to drop down two short drops from the highest point of this room. Then as you inch towards the next ledge, a rocket should jump out at you. You should see a very far ledge on the other side of this gap, too far to make by jumping. You need to jump over the rocket and land exactly in the middle of the large gap. Because exactly in the middle is a small platform that was previously out of view. From here, you can finish crossing the series of small platforms and hopping over all of the rockets. Now you should be at the boss door. **************** * Napalm Man * **************** Weapon of Choice: Napalm Bomb Weakness: Bright Flash (Bright Man) This battle is very easy if you have the Bright Flash. Although you might think that it would "freeze" Napalm Man in place like most of the freezing weapons do in every game, it doesn't. It will just hurt him. You'll need to activate the Bright Flash seven times while Napalm Man is on the screen to kill him. Conveniently, a fully charged energy supply of Bright Flash will last for exactly seven uses. Whether you kill him with Bright Flash or with the Mega Buster, his attack pattern will go something like this. He'll move by jumping short distances (he's too heavy to move very far at once). If you are far away from him, he'll fire the Napalm Bomb like a gun right at you. If you are close to him, he'll volley the Napalm Bomb softly and try to make it hit right in front of him. I actually believe it's easier to stand close to him, so especially do that if you're using the mega buster. If you stand close, you can fire at him, and he'll likely jump over you. Then, you can turn around and shoot him again. He'll jump over you again, and you keep repeating the process until he volleys a bomb at you. Then run away obviously. Run back after the dust settles and keep up the pressure. It's not too hard. ============= 7.4 Stone Man ------------- E/M-Tanks: One E-Tank, one M-Tank. _____________ Stage Enemies - Bat A staple of Mega Man games. These guys descend from the ceiling to attack you. They'll fire bullets, but they'll also go down in one hit. - Crab Mine They'll crawl along the ground and explode if they hit something, be it a wall or Mega Man. They won't explode if shot though, so... shoot them. - Helmet Probably the most well-known Mega Man generic baddie of them all. Like most Helmets, these guys are invincible when their hat is down and vulnerable when they peek out of it. This version will shoot bullets at Mega Man, and when shot will divide into mini-Helmets that are easily killed. - Search Mine Same as the ones in Napalm Man's level. - Robot Mouse These guys zip back and forth. They're too small to hit with a normal bullet if Mega Man is on the same plane as them, so either get slightly below them and shoot, or use a charged mega buster. - Rock Thrower Same as the ones in Napalm Man's level. - Shield Gun As the name implies, it's a gun with a shield. Vulnerable when the shield is up. - Homing Satellite These guys home in on Mega Man, but they're slow, and they don't even shoot bullets. Easy targets. Start the level by working right and getting to know the Helmets in this level. Jump over their bullets and kill them and their progeny. After a couple of them, meet Mega Man's old friends, the robot bats. Dispose of them as well. Now go up the ladder. Kill the first bat, then climb up the ladder on the left to kill the second bat. Now move to the next room. In this room, blast away the right wall to reveal a sliding passage. Slide into that room to grab a 1-up and then go back to the previous room. Charge up a Mega Buster and jump to hit the Search Mine without having to climb to it. Now climb the ladder and kill the Helmet. Climb the next ladder into the following room. In here, quickly climb up the left ladder and kill the bats before taking on the Helmet. Once those guys are gone, move right into the next room. Kill the two bats from out of the distance of the rock thrower. Then advance and kill him, too. Kill the third bat and stop when you get to the ledge. Drop straight down, not outward, to land on a small piece of ground not in the field of vision. If you jump outward, you'll likely land in a hole. Now kill the rock thrower with a charged mega buster, jump over the hole, and climb up the ladder. Watch out for the suicidal crab mines. You should see one kill itself immediately, so that you know what you're up against. Climb up the left side and kill the Helmet. Move to the next room. Robot mouse alert. They can't be hit by a normal bullet if Mega Man is standing right next to one, on account of them being so small. Either charge a mega buster to kill it, or jump over it. Now kill the bat and shoot the next mouse. Kill the next bat, then hop straight down below your field of vision in front of the next mouse. You should find some large health. Now kill the mouse. One more bat and one more Helmet are all that's left before the next ladder. Climb up. Watch out for the crab mine. Shoot it as it comes at you. Now jump up the left side and work your way right. M-Tank Alert - Shoot the wall on the right side of the room to reveal another sliding passage. Slide inside and kill the rock thrower. Now hop across the small platforms to retrieve the rare M-Tank. Go back to the previous room. Hop up and kill the next crab mine. Then climb up the ladder. Satellites are easy to kill. Trash them. This area has moving platforms that activate when Mega Man jumps on them, and then fall when they've done their course. Hop on the first one, and it will drop you in front of a shield gun. Kill it when the shield lifts. Now kill the satellite and press yourself against the little wall there to get the next shield gun to reveal itself. Kill it from a distance here. Now hop over the pit and kill the next satellite. Kill a couple more satellites and again destroy the next gun from a distance. Jump over the pit and do the same thing with the next satellite and cannon. Jump over one last pit. Kill one more cannon and climb up the ladder. Move right and kill the satellite before jumping on the platform. Be sure to jump off the platform quickly once it gets close to the top so that you don't fall to your doom. Kill the satellites. When you can't see the ground below you, fall off and you'll land on some fresh ground. You'll also see the next platform. Use it as a stepping stone to cross the pit. E-Tank Alert - This E-Tank is in plain sight, but it's also quite possibly the most annoying one to get. You'll need to do some very quick jumping. Jump on the first platform. It'll zoom to the right and then fall. Jump up to the next platform, and it'll zoom back to the left and then fall. If you wanted to finish the level, you'd jump up and right the third platform back to the right. If you want the E-Tank, what you need to do is as soon as the second platform goes all the way left, jump up, and immediately after hitting the third platform, jump left to the E-Tank. And when I say immediately, I mean like within a tenth of a second, or it will fail. Once you grab the E-Tank, hop back down to the ground next to where the first of the three platforms used to be. Now, if you went for the E-Tank, or otherwise screwed up, you can make the three platforms reappear without having to die. Simply go back to the left. You'll need to cross the last gap you jumped over before turning around, but the platforms will reappear. Do this as many times as you need if you're persistent and want that E-Tank. Once you're ready to move on, take the three platforms to the ladder that leads to the next room. In this room, there's another hidden breakaway area. Blast a hole in the right side of the wall and slide into the next room. You'll get some weapon energy and a large health. Now slide back to the previous room. Here, there's yet another free large health. They're very generous. Now climb the ladder to the next room. Move right and kill the Helmet. Now simply stay on the high ground in this area. There is some ground below, but there's no need to go down there. Blast a couple more satellites and Helmets, and you'll be at the boss door. *************** * Stone Man * *************** Weapon of Choice: Power Stone Weakness: Napalm Bomb (Napalm Man) Although I say Stone Man's weapon of choice is the Power Stone, he doesn't actually use it here. Instead, he pretty much just tries to jump on you. There is absolutely no reason to jump at all in this battle. In fact, you might want to hold the down button so that you can slide out of the way. All of his jumps can be slid under if you're nimble enough. He'll start out by doing a couple of small quick jumps, but when he does a big jump, he'll fall apart and turn to rubble upon hitting the ground. He's invincible when he's turned to rubble, so don't shoot him then. If you only have the Mega Buster, keep charging it at all times, slide to avoid his jumps, and fire when he's close to the ground. If you have the Napalm Bomb, fire whenever you have a spare moment and just try to get him to jump in the way of the bombs. Using the Power Stone: The Power Stone is a pair of large rocks that move outward from a central point (Mega Man) around the screen. They go through all walls and will only stop spiraling when they hit an enemy. It's very hard to "aim" this weapon, but it's likely to hit whatever is on the screen with the way it sweeps around and around. ============ 7.5 Wave Man ------------ Egads! It's Dr. Wily's fortress! And yes, the first level of it is a rehash of Wave Man's stage. E/M-Tanks: _____________ Stage Enemies - Bubble Bubbles are like rising platforms. Large bubbles will hold Mega Man without breaking. Small bubbles will support Mega Man for about a second or two before popping. - Ball and Chain These things swing from ceiling to ceiling or floor to floor with mercilous abandon. They can't be killed. Just jump over them. - Cog Cogs roll along the ground and walls. They're indestructible, so avoid them by jumping or whatever. - Cone These things are just floating obstacles that will run into you if you don't shoot them or jump over them. So... shoot them or jump over them. - Dolphin Dolphins jump in and out of the water. They'll try to land on you, but they have a very specific jump arc. Read it and steer out of their way. - Gas They appear out of visible cracks in the ground. Can't be killed. Just time your movement so that you go in between the spurts of gas. - Cannon Guards Wave Man's door, and shoots two kinds of bullets. Normal bullets he'll fire at Mega Man's feet. No way to avoid them but to jump. The bigger red bullets he'll fire when Mega Man gets close. These can be shot down. Just keep shooting at him and jumping over the small bullets. Or take him out from a safe distance with Napalm. - Jetski Jetski robots are easily killed, but they're persistent if you leave them alone. They sometimes approach from your backside. If that happens, jump backwards over them and shoot, as you can't fire backwards. - Octoboss The Octoboss is like a miniboss, except he's very easy. He bobs in and out of the water. Shoot him in his small blue weak point, and jump over his projectiles. Start by going right and meet the first ball and chain. Notice the crack in the ground beneath it. This particular crack is harmless, but others that look exactly the same will spray deadly gas on Mega Man, so watch out for them. Jump over the ball as it swings. Do the same for the next ball and chain, but notice that this time, there IS gas in the crack. Jump when the time is right and move on. Next, you'll see another gas spout followed by a ball and chain that's on the ground. For this ball and chain, just walk under the ball when it's safe. You'll notice two pipes at the end of the room. Don't go down either if you want the large health on top of the second pipe. Now go in the pipe on the UPPER RIGHT, not the one on the lower left. You should land on a ledge with a gas leak and a 1-up. Grab the 1-up and fall down. When you land, go right. Jump over all the cogs, as they can't be killed. Time your way past the two gas spouts, but don't try to do both at once. Go past one, wait in the middle, then go past the second one when it's safe. Go past another cog and some gas. Then go to the next area. This is the bubble room. The bubbles are for riding upward to the next area. Large bubbles can support Mega Man for a long time, while small bubbles can only hold for a second or two. There are five "columns" of bubbles. From left to right, they're large bubble, small bubble, small bubble, large, then small. However, the two left columns are blocked by spikes on this screen, so you have to ride up the large bubble on the right side of the screen. If you take the large bubble on the right side up all the way, you'll run into more spikes, so you'll die that way. Instead, what you need to do is on the screen right above the ground screen, work your way back to the left to the other column of large bubbles. Go sufficiently high with the large bubble on the right, then hop to the small bubble column to the left of it. Then, hope left to another small bubble. And finally, hop to the large bubble column on the leftmost side of the screen. When you reach the top screen, you'll need to hop very quickly back to the small bubble on the right as soon as it appears, then from that small bubble to the ledge and safety. If you delay too long, you'll end up jumping onto some spikes. Once you've safely navigated to the top of the bubble room, exit to the right. Now it's time to hop on the Jetski! A few things to note about the Jetski. You can jump and move around. You can fire the Jetski's gun. You cannot fire behind you, as you're always pointing forward. You cannot PAUSE THE GAME (which I found incredibly annoying, since I need to pause often to write this guide), which also means you can't choose a different weapon. That's about it though. Start by blasting through the first few cones. A jetski robot will come after you, so kill him too. Basically, shoot everything that you can. Some jetskis will approach you from the back, so don't stay at the very back of the screen. Let them come up a bit, then jump backwards over them and shoot. Dolphins will also try to jump on you, so figure out their trajectory and steer out of their way. Now here comes the Octoboss. He's super easy. He'll bob in and out of the water. When his mouth comes all the way out of the water, he'll shoot a projectile that's easy to predict and jump over. His weak point is the blue spot on his forehead. Just keep blasting that area until he's toast. In the second half of the Jetski portion of the level, you'll have pretty much a constant barrage of Dolphins and jetski robots. Remember to move forward so that the dolphins jump over you, and to jump over jetski guys that approach you from the back. I won't lie. You'll probably get hit and lose a bit of health here regardless of my instructions, so don't worry about it. It's not too long. After you reach the end, you'll hop off the Jetski. Only one last obstacle before Wave Man. The dual-firing cannon. Best way to handle this guy is to not jump down to his level. If you stand at the end of the ledge right before you drop down to his level, you can fire a couple of Napalm bombs safely to kill him without taking a scratch. Now enter the boss door. ************** * Wave Man * ************** Weapon of Choice: Water Wave Weakness: None Wave Man doesn't have a weakness, so I guess the Mega Buster will have to do. Wave Man has a very specific and unwavering pattern, so learn it and you'll be fine. First, he'll start out with a Water Wave right where you're standing. It will hit, unless you either slide or jump. As soon as the wave dies down, he'll fire a harpoon and then jump. When he lands, there will be about a one second delay, and then he'll do another water wave. You cannot shoot through the wave, but if you manage to get between him and the wave, you'll have a good few seconds of good shooting time. Otherwise, your only opportunities to shoot are in the split second after the wave goes down while he shoots, and in the second after he lands but before he makes a new wave. The preferred method is obviously to jump over the wave and to get between him and the wave. Then you can pulverize him pretty quickly, although you'll still have to watch out for the harpoon. Shouldn't be very hard once you get the hang of it. Using the Water Wave: The Water Wave sends a ground-crawling wave of water across the screen. You can't have more than one wave on the ground at once, and it can't be fired from the air. Since the Mega Buster typically works just fine for enemies right in front of you, you probably won't use this much. ============ 7.6 Toad Man ------------ E/M-Tanks: _____________ Stage Enemies - Rocket Bird This bird flies around with a flock of her... baby robot birds? I didn't know robot birds mated, but here they are. The mama bird will fly in a straight line, but her babies will turn into suicide bombers, diving at Mega Man. Shoot them or jump out of their way. Either works. - Umbrella Guard These little guys throw umbrellas attached to their head like projectiles. I think that pretty much says it all. - Robot Fish They'll hop out of the water and lunge at Mega Man. Blast them, but do not let them knock you off a platform. - Robot Rat Different from the "Robot Mouse." These things hop and are large enough to blast easily. - Amoeba These slimy glops drop from the ceiling and try to "scoot" into Mega Man. Just blast them. - Giant Snail This guy looks scary, but he's a pushover. He'll lob some bombs at you, then zoom his eyes at you. Those eyes are his weak point. Shoot them when they're open, and he'll go down without much fuss. Part of Toad Man's stage are covered in torrential rain. This rain blows at an angle, however, to the left. When Mega Man is on the ground, this has no effect on him. When he jumps, the rain and wind will resist him and try to blow him to the left. So even small gaps in the ground now become very dangerous if you're not careful. When you go right, you'll meet the first of several families of robot birds. Ignore the mother and either dodge the babies or shoot them. Sometimes, it's easier just to slide under them. Next, you'll find an umbrella guard followed closely by another bird. Jump the umbrella and blast the guard. Then deal with the bird however you like. Continue forward and dispatch two more umbrella-bird combos before reaching the first ledge. Before jumping, take care of the next umbrella guy on the platform. Either kill him, or let him walk off the edge to his doom. Then get to the edge before jumping, on account of the wind/rain. For the next jump, you have an even tougher jump. It might take a try or two, but wait until the past possible instant before jumping. You could use the Rush Coil, but it only marginally increases your chances of success. Now kill the next umbrella and jump to the next platform. Kill another umbrella while dodging the birds. Make one final leap of faith over the last pit. One more bird and umbrella, and you can drop down the hole on the right side of the screen. Move left and drop down again. This will bring you to a rushing stream of water that will try to sweep Mega Man in the direction it's flowing. Watch out for robot rats and amoeba. Keep your distance and just blast them. When you reach the ledge, jump to the next platform without being swept off. Kill the next rat, then hop across the platforms. At one point, you'll have to jump up to a much higher platform, which is kinda tricky. Either time your jump well so that you just barely make it much like the last jump, or you can try the Rush Coil. Again though, the Rush Coil isn't perfect. You might hit your head on the ceiling and fall in the pit anyway. Either way, try to make it across, although it might take a try or two. Then, just run forward until you see dry land. Jump over the final small gap to safety and kill the rat and amoeba waiting. Now jump down the right side of the screen. Jump down the left side, and you'll meat the Giant Snail. He'll lob projectiles and then send his eyes out at you. Shoot his eyes when they're open. Jump over the eyes if you really have to. He'll go down pretty easily. Now go right all the way and drop down again. Kill the rat and drop straight down the hole. Do not hug the left side of the screen, or you'll fall down a pit. Another Giant Snail. Oh boy, one shot and he's dead. Go right. Now you have a series of platforms with spikes and robot fish below. The fish will jump out at you. You can usually blast them as they get in front of you. Be careful jumping from the second to the third platform. It's not as tough a jump as the other two earlier in the level though. The jump from the fifth platform looks hard, but it's not. Just jump outward, and you should land on the lower platform. Here though, make sure you don't bump your head on the upper platform when going to the seventh. So make sure to jump outward at the very last possible instant. Now you can safely get to the non-spiked area underwater. Kill the fishie, then jump over a couple more platforms to reach the boss door. ************** * Toad Man * ************** Weapon of Choice: Rain Flush Weakness: Water Wave (Wave Man) If you've played Mega Man 4, you might remember that Toad Man is extraordinarily easy to kill, which is why most people tackled him first. This Toad Man is not QUITE as easy, because you can't constantly rapid-fire him with damage, thanks to the added temporary invincibility. The one thing we do have on our side is a weapon that Toad Man is weak against. Now, you might think that a robot who is a master of rain would not be weak against water, but you'd be wrong. The Water Wave works wonders (try saying that 10 times). The strategy is pretty simple. Toad Man will hop left to right to left to right. He will stop jumping temporarily to do a belly dance. After he does the belly dance for about two seconds, the deadly rain flush will fall from the sky. However, if Toad Man is nailed while doing his belly dance, he'll stop. So, stay relatively close to Toad Man. Move left and right as he jumps right and left. When he stops to dance, nail him with a Water Wave. Repeat this simple process until he goes down. Using the Rain Flush: By the time you get the Rain Flush, there's only one level left in the game. Not only do you only have the weapon for one level, but there aren't many enemies to use the weapon on, and it's not very effective on the boss of the level either. So, there's really no point in having the rain flush at all. You can use it as a screen-covering attack though, much like the Bright Flash, except that it'll kill things instead of freezing them. ============ 7.7 Dr. Wily ------------ E/M-Tanks: One E-Tank _____________ Stage Enemies - Laser Thrower My manual calls these things laser throwers, but they're more like banana throwers, because that's what these "lasers" look like, bananas. The bananas can be killed. - Spring Head These things slide slowly along the ground, but will spring up when they run into Mega Man. Don't try to kill them. Just ignore and move on. - Laser Beam Also referred to as a "frikkin laser beam" by some. These things zoom from one side of the screen to the other. You'll have to slide and navigate quickly to avoid getting hit. - Flame Chucker These guys will keep a dark room lit as long as one is alive and on screen. They'll also chuck fireballs at Mega Man. Kill them if you don't fear the dark. - Cannon Same as in Wave Man's stage. You might recognize this level. It's basically the same as Quick Man's level from Mega Man 2. There's good news and bad news here. The bad news is that you can no longer "freeze" the energy beams that riddle this level. Apparently, Bright Man's weapon works slightly different than Freeze Man's weapon, and has no effect on them. The good news, however, is that these beams no longer kill you instantly. Instead, they'll simply damage you. Actually, that's not 100% true. The tips of the energy beams won't kill you. They'll damage you and give you the couple seconds of invincibility to get out of the way. If you're caught in the middle of a beam, you'll die. However, there is one significant advantage you have that wasn't present in Mega Man 2: the SLIDE move. Sliding will allow you to much more quickly, and you should do it all the time. Start by using the Rush Coil to grab that 1-up on the left side of the screen, then go ahead and jump down the hole. Jump over the laser/banana thrower, better yet, make use of the otherwise useless Rain Flush and kill it. Jump over the second one and fall down the left side of the screen. Move to the right side of the screen this time, and once you fall down, the beams will start. Jump over to the left to begin. Fall left to dodge the first couple of beams and go down the hole. On this screen fall to the right. You should fall to the right of a partition and down another screen. Fall slightly to the right again. Get hit by the spring head ON PURPOSE and quickly slide to the right down the hole. If you did it correctly, the temporary invincibility should let you slide through the energy beam without getting damaged. Should actually be easy if you remember to slide. E-Tank Alert - You'll land on a platform in this room. Fall down either side. There's a 1-up on the right and an E-Tank on the left. You can reach the other side of whichever side you chose by falling down the small hole in the middle which is actually shallow ground, then jumping up the other side. After grabbing the E-Tank and 1-up, fall down the middle again and fall down the left side. You'll land in a normal area, but in the dark. Walk to the right, and things will light up as you meet the flame chucker. The lights will go back out when he dies, but don't hesitate to kill him. In fact, I recommend using the rain flush, just because there are so few chances to use it. Walk and jump your way to the right some more and kill the next flame guy. Walk forward a bit more and the lights will turn on, revealing the hole to the next area. This part is tricky. All I can say is, you will get hit. Use that to your advantage and stay invincible. Since you're probably not going to pause the game every half second to read this part of the guide, I'll keep it simple. Start by falling to the left all the way down the first screen. Then slide your way back to the right on the second screen. Fall to the third screen, and slide towards the hole as quickly as you can and fall to the LEFT. Slide left to stay ahead of the beam and fall down. Work your way back to the right and just keep sliding towards wherever the holes are. Don't be greedy and try to grab the powerups. Just fall. If you have at least 2 E-Tanks left, use one of them if you have to. Eventually, you should reach safety. Now, the hard part is over. Advance to Dr. Wily's door. Inside, you'll be teleported to a different room. It's mostly empty in here. If you advance to the right, you'll find a single cannon like the one guarding Wave Man's door. Kill him with something, then go in the teleporter to reach the final confrontation. ************** * Dr. Wily * ************** Weakness: None We've finally arrived. Dr. Wily. The final stand. Peace on Earth rests in your hands. Now, it's time to kick his butt. Most weapons will work on this guy, but none of them are worth it, as they take off too little life. Use the charged Mega Buster. This might take some practice. A stockpile of extra lives is good. Do NOT use your E-Tanks until you're sure you've got the hang of the fight, or unless you're on your last life or something. Dr. Wily will disappear and reappear in his flying saucer. When he reappears, he'll fire two energy balls straight towards the ground. When they hit the ground, one will crawl on the ground to the left. The other will go right. Then Wily will shoot a spiral of energy balls around his saucer as he disappears. They don't travel very far though, so just keep your distance and they won't touch you. Sometimes Wily will appear high in the air before he shoots at the ground, and sometimes he will appear very low. It's when he's low that you're going to want to nail him with a charged Mega Buster. When he's up high, you can hurt him slightly with things like the Rain Flush and the Bright Flash, but it only takes off a single bar of energy, and you could be using that time to be charging your mega buster, so I say don't bother. Your main concern here is the suddenness with which he appears. It'll take a lot of practice to get out of the way of those shots at the ground fast enough, so just be patient. Slide out of the way if you have to, and then jump when they come at you. Just keep charging the mega buster, release the fire when he's low to the ground and you have a shot, and outlast him with tanks. When Wily's life bar is depleted, that's it. There is no phase two. You've won! Congratulations! Now, you get to watch Wily's castle blow up as fireworks rain the sky and music plays. You'll also get to see the credits roll, which are all in English, since U.S. Gold is an American-based developer. After the credits, you'll get to see Mega Man and Dr. Wily one last time. Now, if you're up to the task, you have unlocked HARD MODE. When you choose to start a new game (you can't turn the GameGear off after beating the game), it will ask you if you want to play on normal or hard difficulty. Keep in mind that hard mode does have a separate password system. So, once you obtain your first password in hard mode, you can safely turn off the GameGear and come back to hard mode later without having to beat the game on normal again. Hurray for your gaming prowess and for finishing Mega Man for the GameGear! You don't need my help anymore. +=============================================================================+ & 8.0 Miscellany & +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ _______________ 8.1 Legal Stuff This FAQ is Copyright 2005 by me. Any publishing of this guide without my explicit permission isn't allowed. Plagiarizers will be hunted down. Mega Man is the Copyright property of Capcom, and developed by U.S. Gold. I am in no way affiliated with either company or their employees. _______________ 8.2 Emailing Me My email is tasteless@gmail.com I would love to hear any feedback. If you have a question, please make sure it isn't already answered in the guide. If you report something missing from the guide and I decide to add it, I'll give full credit. ___________________ 8.3 Version History 11/24/05 - v1.0 The first and complete version of the FAQ is submitted to GameFAQs. Happy Thanksgiving! __________________ 8.4 Special Thanks Special thanks to U.S. Gold for both making and distributing this game. Thanks to GameFAQs for hosting the guide and being an overall great resource on the internet. ___________________________________________ Mega Man FAQ (c) 2005 John "TIDQ" Robertson