Rockman 4: A New Evil Ambition!!
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Memories of Mega Man 4: I'm Gonna Break You, Mega Man!!
by Protoman Blues
Well, here we are at Mega Man 4 for the NES. To start things off, Mega Man 4 has my favorite opening of any Mega Man game ever made. At long last, we visually get to see the origin of our beloved Blue Bomber. I always thought he had a Strong Sense of Justice myself! This game was always one of my favorites, as are pretty much all of the classic series Mega Man games. This game once again improves on the series by adding new elements to the game, and the series in general. The first element we'll discuss is the element of Surprise!
What's this? Dr. Light has been issued a challenge by a scientist named Dr. Cossack! Looks like Dr. Cossack is the insane jealous type, as he has gone unnoticed in the robotic field. Well, to get noticed, he decided to unleash his creations on the world! That's one way to do it! Not one to refuse a challenge or let the world live in peril, our hero, having a Strong Sense Of Justice (I LOVE THIS PHRASE), decides to stop Dr. Cossack's 8 Robot Masters: ToadMan, BrightMan, PharaohMan, RingMan, DustMan, SkullMan, DiveMan, and DrillMan!
It's the same basic Mega Man standard procedure of destroying a Robot Master, then using the destroyed Robot Master's weapon to defeat another Robot Master who's weak against that particular weapon. Nothing new here. However, the element of surprise here is that this is the first Mega Man game ever in which the sinister Dr. Wily is not revealed in the beginning of the game. I mean, in Mega Man 3 they say he's been reformed, but we all knew he was just playing Dr. Light like the gullable old man he is! However, in this game, we didn't know that Dr. Wily was just using Dr. Cossack for his own evil schemes. This game also has Dr. Wily's cruelest act yet, which is kidnapping Dr. Cossack's daughter, Kalinka. Never before has Dr. Wily resorted to child abduction before. Thankfully, Mega Man's noble brother, and my namesake, ProtoMan was there to save the day! When Kalinka is returned to Dr. Cossack, Dr. Wily appears and says one of my absolute favorite Mega Man lines ever!
 
Classic! Anyway, in this Mega Man game, you have to fight through 2 Castles, instead of just one! This 2 castle process will continue until Mega Man 7. I know some people aren't a fan of the two castle experience, however I liked it, as it gave us more music and made the game longer. But that's just my humble opinion! Moving right along, for our next new Mega Man series element, I give you Fliptop!
Fliptop to some and Eddie to others, Dr. Light decided to create a robotic briefcase to deliver helpful items to our robotic hero. The items can range anywhere from a Health Capsule to an Energy Tank. Sadly, you couldn't just tell Fliptop what you needed, as getting that Weapon Energy Capsule meant nothing when you have 1 bar of health left! It's the thought that counts though. Fliptop would continue to be a mainstay in the rest of the Classic Mega Man series. Now, it's time to discuss the most important new element that Mega Man 4 brought to the Mega Man series. It is quite possibly the most important element ever added to the Mega Man series. The Mega Buster!
Dr. Light decided, once again, to improve upon the Blue Bomber. With the standard gameplay of jumping, shooting, sliding, and of course avoiding those spikes (I can't stress that enough), Capcom added a Charge Shot to the game. With his all new Mega Buster, Mega Man could now charge his main cannon and release one powerful shot. The Mega Buster would continue to be a mainstay in pretty much every single Mega Man game to follow Mega Man 4. For myself, this pretty much signaled the end of using Boss Weapons to get through the stages, as the Mega Buster was just that useful. It worked out anyway, being that the Boss Weapons you get in Mega Man 4 aren't as useful as the ones you get in the previous game. Well, except for the Dive Missle and ESPECIALLY the Pharaoh Shot.
This game also had some other items like the Wire and Balloon items. However, I was dissapointed in one area of the game, namely the Rush Jet. Unlike in Mega Man 3, the Rush Jet could only move foward. You no longer had the mobility you once did, which is probably why they had the Wire and Balloon items in the first place. You wouldn't need them if you had the original Rush Jet. Speaking of Rush, this was also the last game you would ever see the Rush Marine. I mean, it was only useful on like 1 or 2 levels anyway (especially DiveMan's Stage), but I still like the Rush Marine though. Ah well. Oh yes, I almost forgot one other new element that this game had, and that was Disappearing Wily!
This was the first, and definetely NOT the last, Mega Man game in which the last version of Wily you fought was in a UFO that disappeared and reappeared all over the room. It was cute at first, but then just became a tad annoying for him to use this same exact trick in the next Classic Mega Man games to come. I believe he continues this trick onto Mega Man 7, and even in the Arcade games as well.
The music in this game is really spectacular though. One of my personal favorite Mega Man soundtracks of all time. Again, Atomic-Fire has all of these soundtracks, so feel free to head on over and download them! My personaly favorite is the PharaohMan Stage theme! I also really like Dr. Cossack's Castle Stage 3-4.
Well, I think that about wraps it up for this review. Despite the loss of my wonderfully mobile Rush Jet, this game is still one of the best Mega Man games. This game will always be famous for introducing the Mega Buster into the hands of all the Mega Man fans out there! It also showed us the origin of Mega Man, with his Strong Sense Of Justice! Seriously, that line always makes me want to come back to this game and Fight For Everlasting Peace!
Thank You For Playing!
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AbnormalGravity
