If Mega Man 2 is where the series really found it's identity and started to put itself on the map, I would say Mega Man 3 is really the point where most would agree that the series truly hit it's stride. While Mega Man 2 was all about improvements and finding various parts of the series' identity, Mega Man 3 is very much about expanding upon it to make the largest entry in the series thus far, and possibly in the entire series, although that's for good or bad, frankly. 

Either way, this time around, there's more robot masters on the loose, and this time - we're...working with Dr. Wily. Yes, as it turns out, the now-claimed to be good doctor has now claimed that he's turned over a new leaf, and as such, he's opted to help Dr. Light create a brand new robot named Gamma - designed to protect the Earth. It's power source? Oh, just some energy elements from OUTTTEER SPACEEEEEE. Yeah, this time around, our adventure brings us away from just the Earth, and into the depths of outer space, something that would become a staple for this series past a certain point.

Yet, a mysterious new robot master named Break Man has also opted to pick various fights with Mega Man as he tries to recover the energy elements. Which brings us to the big thing Mega Man 3 gives us - there's a lot more story this time around. There's a twist with Wily claiming to be good (yeah, he's talking shit, but still, they tried). They make an active effort to keep Break Man (or in actuality - Proto Man's) identity secret until the end of the game. There's more to Wily's scheme this time beyond just generic world domination, as he's actively playing Light and Mega Man to completed Gamma and steal it for his own usage. Yeah, it's not much, but it shows that their ambition was really starting to grow.

Another aspect of this is the level design as well, which has now gotten even wilder as Mega Man now explores areas outside of Earth, meaning the robot master locales are allowed to be much more creative this time. From Gemini Man being in a crystal planet filled with reflective surfaces to Snake Man's extremely snake-themed area. This game really goes wild on the Robot Masters' level traits this time. That's not also mentioning the fact that this game brought even more aspects to the series that would remain traits from here on. Proto Man becoming a regular character as Mega Man and Roll's brother, Rush is introduced here, completed with the now iconic Rush Jet and Rush Coil, in it's most broken form to date, putting the previous game's items to shame.

But, a lot of the game's issues can perhaps be shown to these chaps above - with the growing ambition of the developers, this means Mega Man 3's scope largely expanded. Not only do we have the usual eight robot masters and four Wily castle stages, but we also got the Doc Robot stages - four level replays where you have to fight two Doc Robots per stage, each of which is using the weapons of Mega Man 2's robot masters, meaning you have eight more weaknesses to try figure out against bosses which are much, much harder, capable of destroying Mega Man's health within seconds.

Furthermore, there's a weird difficulty inbalance with this game. The Doc Robots are a extreme difficulty spike, but on the other hand, the Wily Castle stages this time around are extremely easy and even redone in many ways. For example, two of the bosses is simply the Yellow Devil and Copy Robot fights from the first game, but much, much easier. The game also stockpiles you with heaps of E-Tanks, meaning the Wily Castle is possibly the easiest in series history up til this point.

That overambition may also be present with another of this game's biggest problems - the slowdown. This is the official point in the series where the slowdown with each game became unbearably ridiculous. For me personally, this also remains the biggest flaw that holds 3 back from being among my favourites in the series - the slowdown is just so extreme that it gets to a point where it feels downright unplayable, on top of sprite flickering. Not even many of the re-releases manage to avoid the problem.

Luckily, as you'll see in my next post, there is one game that avoids it - which is the 16-bit remake, Wily Wars. So honestly, if you don't mind minor changes, I would say that version is probably the best way to experience Mega Man 3. I've heard Legacy Collection apparently got a option added later to also fix the issue, but I haven't confirmed it for myself.

And hey, I guess it's also time for our cover box check in:

Well, we got the general idea of Spark Man and Top Man's design, we actually got a Wily Castle, and hey, they even remembered that the game takes place in space. Even Rush is here! Too bad Mega Man's face is all kinds of horrible, but we're slowly inching our way towards the finish line of "not completely horrible artwork".