Sigh. We went from meh to peak, now we must go from peak back to meh. Yet another Game Boy retrend, yet another inferior clone of a superior ga-

*plays game*

Well shit, the Game Boy series suddenly has hands. The jump between Mega Man III and Mega Man IV is night and day. Whereas the previous games by this team just felt like passionate fans trying their best to adapt a game to lower-spec hardware, and just kind of doing a good job with what people expect, Mega Man IV actually has some straight up extremely ambitious things in it. Things that outright puts the NES games to shame, let alone being impressive as hell for a Game Boy game.

So where do we begin? Let's start with the fact this game actually has a story baked in. Like an actual story - with actual cutscenes, and sprite art. Some really damn impressive sprite art at that!

Like look at that sprite art of Mega Man and Wily. That's some really damn accurate sprite work to Inafune's art, to the point I'd say it's even more accurate than most of the NES game's cutscenes up until at least Mega Man 6. Seeing this intro for the first time was legitimately super impressive to me, and it really let me know that this game is seriously going to be a huge step up from everything that came before it all.

So this time around, we have a actual story that actually matters! Who would've thought! You might be sitting here thinking "Oh, there's Dr. Cossack's robots and they're acting like Wily built them!". But nope, the story actually explains it. A robotics expo has brought various scientists far and wide to Mega City, and Wily has used the chance to use a radio wave to forcefully take control of all of the robots, planning to use the other inventors' creations in his latest quest for domination. Luckily, with Mega Man and Rush unaffected, they're up to stopping Wily. 

Normally with most Mega Man games, that's it. But again - the game doesn't stop with it's ambition there - there's in-game cutscenes that further develop the story. I mean it's still a Game Boy game at the end of the day, it's not going to be a ton - but considering even the NES games rarely did it, and even if it did, it was usually just a scene at Light Labs, the choice to even attempt it on even lesser hardware is something to be admired.

Remember when I said Mega Man III was the best conversion of the NES games, and that's what it had going for it? Yeah, forget it - it has nothing going for it. Not even that. Mega Man IV easily takes the crown now.

This to me is where we truly see the Game Boy series truly find it's own identity while converting the gameplay of the original games. This time around, we have a mixture of Mega Man 4 and 5 bosses, and fair enough, for most of the game, it's still again mostly the levels from the NES games, but in cases like Napalm Man, still fitting to his theme as a robot master, but still an entirely different level and design. The boss select is entirely different than the NES titles, and we have some sick sprite work depicting all of the robot masters in their full glory.

On top of that, Mega Man IV goes even further by including Beat as a collectible, again requiring you to collect four letters to unlock him, much like the letters in the NES titles for unlocking him. However, when you get to the second wave of robot masters, the game throws two curveballs at you.

For a start, you get a mid-section stage that wouldn't be out of place in Mega Man 7 or 8 that divides the two robot master lineups, with it's own stage and boss. But on top of that, when you get to the second set of levels - you have a required secondary objective where on top of fighting the robot masters, you'll need to collect four letters spelling out Wily to access the final level. Even better - for something that could've easily been an annoying hindrance, they kept them easy enough to find that the change in requirements is appreciated, yet still makes it likely enough that you can find them all and access the final level by the end of the game.

There's also the fact that in this game's ambition, it outright introduces systems that would be adopted by the main series! The P-Chip system is introduced in this game, and is basically the originator of the screw system that would be introduced from Mega Man 7 onwards. By defeating enemies and searching stages, you can find P-Chips and bring them back to Light's lab, where he'll then convert it into various items and power ups for you. From E-Tanks, and lives, to a energy balancer. 

Even the final level is a completely different change of pace. Rather than one big divided Wily castle, what you experience in the end game is instead one long gauntlet of challenges in the one level, with multiple bosses, sections, and hazards - all depicted as Mega Man storming Wily's warship from the top, right to the centre to stop Wily's scheme once and for all. 

If I'm to be honest, this level did end up really draining me by the end of it, so I definitely wouldn't say it's better than the series' standard Wily Castles, but the sheer fact that they tried it is something I massively respect. They did something that not a single other game in the series has made a attempt at (Outside of Mega Man V), and for better or for worse, the effort is so massively cool, even if I didn't love it. 

Of course, we can't discuss this game without mentioning possibly the most beloved Mega Man Killer of them all - Ballade. For good reason at that. As mentioned earlier, the game does a great effort to tell a story this time around via in-game cutscenes, and this is the best one I can think of, especially because again - it's something the main games rarely showed.

Mega Man, at the core of his character - is not a violent person. He is not someone who likes fighting. He's not someone who likes destroying robots. He's a peaceful helper robot who wants to believe in the best of people, and fight for everlasting peace, usually only fighting when it's the only option. But in the games, you wouldn't really know that, especially in the earlier titles, even up to Mega Man 7 which ends with Mega Man considering killing Wily for all the trouble he causes.

Yet the freaking Game Boy games got this better than the NES games. Despite the explosion effect, Ballade survives his encounter with Mega Man in the final level, and upon Mega Man attempting to escape from Wily's warship as it explodes, he hits a roadblock, dooming him to his destruction. Then, Ballade returns at the last minute, expressing guilt for his actions, and having realised that Mega Man was right, Ballade gives his life to open an escape path for Mega Man, saving the blue bomber's life. 

It's not very deep, of course. It's still a Game Boy game after all, but when you got so used to the formula of the NES games and the Game Boy games, then get hit with all of this? It's hard not to be impressed. It's hard to not be VERY impressed.

I'm shocked. We went from the most boring Mega Man game to something this good. Great ambition, great art, great music, great gameplay, and even a decent story for the time period? This game is a great entry in the Mega Man series, and it absolutely deserves to be played. If a collection of Game Boy titles ever happens, it should happen for IV and V alone. 

Speaking of Mega Man V, if this is how far Mega Man IV went? Who knows how far Mega Man V will go?

i know, because i played it already, it's the next game on this blog.