Mega Man 4

Voices of: N/A
Developer: Capcom
Directed by: Yoshinori Takenaka
Rating: E
Genre: Action Platformer
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
1991

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Mega Man once again must face off against Robot villains, this time developed by the mysterious Dr. Cossack.

Review:
Tim: Generally, I have to give a ton of praise to Capcom and their Mega Man franchise. This action platformer has been a stalwart of the NES for several years at this point. Mega Man 4 continues the same approach as the previous entries, but adds all new robots and bosses for the climax. It's a case of the game feeling both familiar and unique at the same time. That's all you could ask for in the 4th entry of a video game franchise. It's an absolute success.

Although the graphics are similar to previous entries, you can tell they improve with each iteration. The most noticeable difference here are the power-up scenes after defeating a Robot Master- you can see Mega Man in better detail than in previous films. The rest of the game feels similar. Now, the real appeal of these sequels is seeing what new robot antagonists Mega Man will be pitted against. I started against Toad Man and had a bit of difficulty taking him down (I didn't realize this game had a charged Mega Buster shot for far too long). The Mega Buster was a bit improvement, I just didn't realize it was available. Bright Man was next, another solid robot. Pharaoh Man was really cool- I loved the design and the innovation in creating such a unique robot. Ring Man was horrible- by far the most challenging robot. It took me many tries to learn his movements and to figure out how to best defeat him. These games have always been surprisingly challenging and Ring Man was certainly the one I struggled with the most. Dust Man looked really cool- I wouldn't expect a vacuum cleaner looking robot would be memorable, but I liked him a lot. From there, you go to Skull Man, perhaps the coolest design of any of the MM4 robots. I really loved how he looked. Dive Man was good- underwater robots are always challenging and fun. Then, you close it out with Drill Man. As a whole, I thought the innovative robot designs worked well and kept you interested. They felt unique and different from previous iterations.

Now, after taking out the 8 robot bosses, you have a series of additional bosses. These were quite unique and challenging- Mothraya was fun. The Square Machine definitely took me multiple attempts to bring down. That wasn't easy, timing your jumps just right. The Cockroach Twins felt especially easy. The Cossack Catcher took me a few tries to get the mechanics down, but then felt pretty simple. The Metall Daddy was a great boss- more fun than frustrating. Such a cool design to see. Tako Trash was perfectly challenging- it took me multiple, multiple attempts, but each one got progressively easier. I had a ton of fun learning the mechanics for that one. One of the better bosses for sure. Then, you have to face all the Robot Masters again, the part of any Mega Man game I just dread. I started with Ring Man, because he was such a pain. I had a slightly easier time, although other robots felt surprisingly challenging. I admit I utter more than a few curse words as I navigated the bosses for a second time. You then face off against the game's final boss, but I won't say more, to save the surprise (SPOILER IN THE BELOW PICS). I felt like the boss was really effective- nice challenge, but never especially frustrating.

Now, a quick comment on how I played this game. I seem to vaguely remember playing it as a kid, but I never got very far. I must have gotten frustrated or got distracted with other games. I don't remember if I owned it or not. I played it, but not well. I played against as part of the Switch Mega Man collection and I unashamedly used many, many Save Screens. I wanted to experience this game, to play it myself, but I'm not getting any younger and I could not dedicate months to perfecting every stage. When I'd get through a screen unhurt, I'd create a save point. For all the bosses, I did play through those without saving and to make it a bit more challenging, I only used the Mega Buster and my regular arm cannon, except for the ones where you really had no choice (like the final boss). This is my preferred way to play the game- I still beat it, I still did everything I needed to do, I just shortcut the amount of wasted time. It allowed me to have a lot of fun mastering each sequence, but I was able to finish the game in about 3-4 days.

Mega Man 4 was a ton of fun. I know it's not ranked among the hardest games of the franchise, but I definitely struggled with the game at times. I have nightmares about Ring Man and some of the final game bosses. Still, taking the shortcuts to minimize replaying levels over and over allowed me to really enjoy the challenge of the game. It was a ton of fun and it proved this franchise still has tons of potential. Four entries in, four successes.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Mega Man, Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3