Previously on part one: Mega Man sent Dr. Wily to the prison but he eventually escape thanks to 4 Robot Masters that he kept hidden just in case he got caught. Mega Man manages to defeat them but the crisis isn't over yet! Dr. Wily takes inactive Guts Man from the robot museum and later other 4 Robot Masters appear!
So which one of you like to get entangled with me first? Wait a second! Is that Shade Man on the corner right bottom? I heard the rumor about important secret on his level. Let me see, first. Okay! Pressing and holding "B" and "Y" button while selecting his mugshot will unlock it.
By doing so, i can hear the
Makaimura theme from Ghosts 'n Goblins series! Also the map screen music played
instead of usual Robot Master introduction jingle. I feel like at home already.
Home that's filled with ghosts, yōkai goblins, ghouls, and demons. Also
of course, occasionally Firebrand/Red Arremer throws stone at me like mean big
brother. This secret is pretty much relevant. I mean look at that zombie robot
that raise from invincible coffin. It's pretty goddamn similar to zombie in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts! Meanwhile that
wrecked headless robot in background reminds me of Shielder in Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Maybe i have just
found my most favorite Mega Man game! :D
The sub-boss is pumpkin robot. I have to wait until he opens his outer shell to reveal smaller pumpkin that isn't impervious to my bullets. After defeated, he breaks the floor on left part to reveal a way for me to make progress.
There's a dark room filled with spike pit. You light the room temporarily by shooting Thunder Bolt that you get from defeated Cloud Man. After passing that room, i get into the room with stained glasses and i find Bass. Mega Man comfort Bass over his defeat , befriend him, and tells him that he can take repair at Dr. Light. Personally, i don't want to be friend with loser that says weak comments like that as if they're done with Ghosts 'n Goblins game. If you feel offended with my statement because you hate playing the infamous Ghosts 'n Goblins, i don't mean to offend you. I'm sorry.
Given the Makaimura Theme, i'm disappointed that when i encounter Shade Man no Ghosts n Goblins music played again. But i recall there's no good boss battle music in Ghosts n Goblins. Well, except the one in Ghosts n Goblins Resurrection. It's very fantastic!
I just realized that i can dodge projectiles by sliding (activated by holding 'down' button and pressing 'jump' button). Crouching is better dodge method but beggar can't be picky as they said. You have to watch out when he's flying because he can swoop down and try to grab you and later will drain your energy and add his as you expected from vampire robot.
Again, i'm faced with 33.333% chance between 3 Robot Masters that weak to my newly acquired weapon. But i learn from previous Robot Masters that the order to tackle is clockwise so i'm into Turbo Man's stage. My enthusiasm lower since Shade Man's stage with Makaimura music. But this stage is not bad. Pretty good, even. It has racing theme: garage, tires but this tractor seems out of theme! Spy_negativevocalization03.wav
This tail of truck seems suspicious so i told Rush to do some research and i only get big bolt that seems does nothing when picked. Thanks, i guess?
Apparently, the truck is sub boss! It has license plate written "Sisi". Without doubt this truck robot is based on Japanese Lion Dance shishi-mai (獅子舞). It looks adorable but sadly it's enemy so i have to take it out. Its weak point is its eyes and particularly susceptible to Thunder Bolt. That makes sense. You don't want electricity sparks your eyeball, do you?
Judging by his look, he doesn't like Noise Crush that i got from Shade Man. Why he 's weak to the sound wave weapon? I'm guessing because he's jealous to speed of sound. No matter how hard he tries to push his engine limit. He never beat the sound's velocity (which is 1,235 km/h or 767 mph) ever. Thus giving him sound wave will break his heart and pride massively. The boss fight goes like this: He tries to summons spinning wheels on fire, i interrupt him with Noise Crush, he turns into Formula-1 car and try to run me over but i jump over him easily, He tries to summons spinning wheels on fire and so on. My reward for defeating him is a weapon called Scorch Wheel (it's named so because Hot WheelsTM is already trademarked).
On to Spring Man's stage where is filled with spring and harmful jack-in-a-box. I was wrong about the clockwise order because Spring Man isn't weak to Scorch Wheel! Besides throwing springs and his fist at me, Spring Man has capability to grab me and later ram my head into ceiling. It's not as obnoxious as Shade Man's vampiric bite and also fun to watch.
Next i go to Slash Man's stage which apparently Dinosaurs themed. There's enemy Stegosaurus and this friendly Parasaurolophus that allow me to travel further along this land of spikes harmlessly. Engineer_thanks01.wav
Naturally, there's robot Tyrannosaurs. I have feeling that this stage is inspired by Jurassic Park. This stage is probably the 2nd most favorite stage in this game besides Shade Man's stage but must with Makaimura music. Without it, Shade Man's stage is immediately invalidated from my list.
As you expect from Robot Master named Slash Man, he love to slash me to pieces with his long claw. He's probably based on Wolverine of X-Men what's with his feral movement. This is funny because Capcom also release X-Men game on SNES in 1994 which is a year before this game is released. Maybe somehow there's live action adaptation of Mega Man, Hugh Jackman will be the cast for Slash Man.
Slash Man is weak to Scorch Wheel which is good. The bad news is i can't shoot the fiery wheel on mid air because of the long starting time while Slash Man has wild movement like monkey on steroid. Apparently, he's also weak to Freeze Man's weapon: Freeze Cracker which is much easier to aim than Scorch Wheel. That makes sense because Slash Man lives in tropic jungle so any weapon with extreme temperature is bane to him. He doesn't shoot any projectile but he can throw egg that can make Megaman covered in yellow sticky goo which makes him unable to do anything while slowing him down badly. It takes quite forever to worn off or it will come off if you get hit by Slash Man. There's lucky case, where the goo stick to floor and once stepped only make Megaman's jump shorter.
Surprise! Surprise! Bass runs amok after get repair from Dr. Light and he also steals the enhancement that's meant for Mega Man and Rush. Later Dr. Wily mocks us via computer screen and says that it was his plan all along to make Bass infiltrate Dr. Light's lab and he will use the enhancement for himself and Treble. Soldier_negativevocalization01.wav
I didn't know if i press "select" button when in stage select menu, i will get to this Auto's (who's claimed to be Dr. Light #1 student) workshop where i can spend those bolts that i though useless to make various items but not all. This Beat's flute supposed to summon flute to save me when i fall into a fall pit but i need to rescue Beat first.
Before i go to Wily's fortress, i have to check previous level to find secrets. As Protoman said, some weapon will works on part of level to reveal secret. On the Junk Man's stage, firing Thunder Bolt on this generator will activate those ascending/descending block. Also at the end of this section, there's Rush Jet revealed!
At the same stage, i can freeze these boiling lava i mean molten junk by using Freeze Cracker. So i can step on them safely and break them to open a room where "S" plate is being held.
On to Cloud Man's stage, there's two Teru Teru Bōzu robots. I shoot the first one down to make the weather rainy. On further part, i shoot the second one with Freeze Cracker and the weather become snowy. The snows reveals platforms that are invisible when the weather is either sunny or rainy. Some of those platforms lead to "U" plate.
In Freeze Man's stage in a section just before the boss fight door, i find Exit Unit by using Rush Search. It will allow you to exit the stage that you have cleared once instantly. This Rush Search is very finicky. It requires exact spot. Before Rush digs Exit Unit out, he digs out apple core in the spot very near to Exit Unit's spot. If only the spot is marked with something, that would be very helpful for the sake of searching.
I know from Protoman that tree can be burned with fire weapon but as i said before the Scorching Wheel is hard to aim. Turns out i can burn the tree while casting the fire weapon in the middle of jumping. The fire projectiles don't have to travel to the leafy part of the tree! This newly revealed ladder leads me to Beat that currently held in a bird cage. I like the charred expression of that snake. Looks goofy.
On the other hand, this Rush Search's spot is well marked with the picture of Dr. Wily himself. This item is E-Balance that will increase other weapon energy's if you picked W-capsule while you wield weapon that currently full, or at least that's what i understand. To get to this area is pretty finicky. Turns out i can defeat the pumpkin robot by shooting its eyes while it doesn't reveal the small pumpkin. I can't tell it's taking damage by shooting its eyes because lack of vulnerability effect! It can't be helped. If you defeat it that way, the pumpkin robot will destroys the right wall instead and leads to this room with Dr. Wily's picture.
In the Spring Man's stage, i can use this Jack-in-a-box to push this wall and reveal a secret room. There's Hyper Bolt inside of it. As for what Hyper Bolt does? It doesn't add bolt by big number, no. By the way, here's Super Adapt. Looking good, huh?
It belongs to Auto himself. Once he receives it, he immediately screw it into his head. It's always amusing to see a robot can repair themselves. By doing that, Auto has upgraded himself. Thus he can create more variety of item at halved bolt costs. Scout_thanks01.wav
But i don't go to Dr. Wily's fortress just yet. In Nitro Man's stage, i find Hyper Rush Punch which upgrades the Super Adapt's charged attack to reach longer and homing to enemies. This place only reachable with jet boost of Super Adapt armor.
Can't you see i have the Super Adapt armor right here? It will be much nicer if the description of the plates is written in option menu and not via Protoman in secret room. It's located on secret passageway on the right wall in the same room where i found the Hyper Rush Punch upgrade. I have to see video on youtube for this. I will be less embarrassing if i went straight here after picking the Hyper Rush Punch and not exited first like what i did. >:(
On to Shade Man's stage through the first way, i find this secret room. But everytime i visit this, it's empty. Turns out i have to meet Protoman twice before and then optional boss fight against Protoman himself triggered! Maybe he's weak to Robot Master's weapons that i got but i reckon charged Mega Buster does work well if you timing it right. Triumph over Protoman rewards me with his very own shield! Scout_mvm_loot_rare03.wav
Finally, i'm ready to go to Dr. Wily's Fortress which is unsurprisingly filled with nasty platforming sections. Or to hell with them and use Rush Jets to progress! This guy already make a joke about this, by the way.
At the end of that platforming section, i encounter Bass and he running around like Freeze Man but he's not weak to Junk Shield. However he seems weak to charged attack of Adapt armor where Mega Man shoot his own arm to punch Bass really hard preferably on his face. This fight doesn't cost an arm and a leg, only an arm though. You know what i'm saying, right? ;P
Shockingly, Bass is just sub-boss. The real boss is this resurrected and modified Gutsman! He can stomp like mad to cause debris to fall and later use the biggest debris as impromptu projectile against me. He also lower the ceiling by doing his stomping tantrum. Rush Coil doesn't work well to evade the big rock because it goes too fast and the ceiling is lowered. Here the Super Adapt armor shines once again. It will allow you to dash diagonally after your regular jump. Not as flexible as Vectoman's jet boost or even Arthur's double jump in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, but the diagonal jet thruster is still useful nonetheless. I can't find Gutsman particular weakness here but regular Mega Buster doing work fairly well. Don't try to use the Rush Punch here because Gutsman's weak point is very small which is his head thus the punch hits his helmet instead because's it's too big.
On next part of Dr. Wily's fortress, Bass want a rematch. This time he use the armor that emerged from Treble much like Rush emerges with Mega Man here. Bass has better flying move than Mega Man. He can fly across the screen and whatnot but he's still weak to Hyper Rush Punch. Engineer_specialcompleted11.wav
The boss fight is robot turtle that can spawn his kids from his shell which also a mini garage. They're small so i recommend using Junk Shield to trample them. The boss can also blows fire which is nasty and annoying because when you get hit by it even just a bit, Mega Man will be burning, stay on the spot for eternity while getting continuous damage. Heavy_autoonfire04.wav
Oh look another section with memory block platform and filled with spikes. Using Rush Jet you can not only ignore this difficult platform section but also reach this part with lots of pick up.
The boss level is this demonic looking flying robot. It reminds me of Hagane somehow. This boss fight is auto scroller section by the way, so you are forced to move right. You can slide to move faster. The boss can shoot laser from its forehead and missiles. It's only vulnerable by shooting on its eyes.
Next section of Dr. Wily's fortress is the mandatory boss rush but with elevator. So i encounter Slash Man again but this time i give him cold treatment by using Freeze Cracker and it works wonderfully. I learn that Burst Man also weak to Freeze Cracker. Also i learn that Shade Man is weak to Spring Man's weapon instead of mechanical garlic or artificial sun. Why? Let me think. Spring is coiled metal object. You know what else coiled metal object? Chain whip! Vampire Slayer of Castlevania can take form of chain whip. So i can assume that Shade Man weak to The Wild Coil is homage to Castlevania. That's my best guess.
After that boss rush section, Mega Man falls into this section which is bit suspicious to me so i call Rush to search this part and he find dentures. Don't look at me like that, Mega Man! My intuition doesn't always work well. That's all.
At long last, it's the final battle against Dr. Willy! He rides on giant skull robot that like to hop around and sometime spawns smaller skull robot. The feet don't harm you but you have to be careful to that spiked chin. The small skull robots are more durable than they look so it's best to just jump over them and focus on hitting Dr. Wily that appears on one of window of the skull robot. If only he installed safety bar on the window, he will be invincible.
Naturally, there's 2nd phase. This time Dr. Wily teleport to random spot, he unleashes 4 orbs, then sometime he shoot lightning beam below him that turns into 4 electric orb that move along the ground. I thought Mega Man VII is great until i reach this point. You probably know this already that the 4 orbs are very hard to dodge because they move relatively to your current position. They move in 2 instances and very fast. They also randomly generated. The electrical type will punish you the least if you get hit by it due to its low damage. The fire type will make you burning and i already told you how annoying the burning effect in this game. The ice type will make you frozen. It wasn't so bad until you get hit by the lightning follow-up attack of him and you will get critical damage.
I find some way to avoid his obnoxious orb attack. If he's located on the top, you have to slide once and then jump. If he's located on the bottom, you have to jump twice. All this procedure require very precise timing. Dr. Wily can only be damaged with charged attack. So if he's positioned in the top you can't hit him with charged Mega Buster but you can dodge his attack fairly easier. In that state you need the rush punch but remember that while in Adapt armor you can't slide. So the idea is, you wear the armor while Dr. Wily is hidden somewhere briefly. Once the rush punch hit Dr. Wily, you change back to regular Mega Man immediately. It's pretty tedious process but it has to be done.
Mega Man knew that imprison Dr. Wily doesn't work so he decides to kill Dr. Wily. He reminds Mega Man that robot can't harm human and he replies with "I'm more than robot...". Maybe he watched Terminator movie so he gains insight that robot can kill human.
But then the fortress begin to crumble and Dr. Wily get hit by some debris. But Treble come to teleport him to safety. Once again Dr. Wily is safe to devise new evil plan in future. Then Bass come in and says that "He who hesitates is lost and we shall return". Well, Bass. Mega Man isn't hesitant, he just remember the contract with Capcom to extend the series. So you should be grateful to him, Bass.
Then Dr. Wily's fortress bursts in flame and Mega Man walks away from it. This credit scene pretty much reminds me of ESWAT's ending. Now i know why the final phase of Dr. Wily is so goddamn hard. Because the producer is none other than Professor F! If you don't who Professor F is, Professor F is the producer of Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts and director of Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection. You can tell that Professor F is pretty infamous within Capcom.
The Mega Man reunites with his family/friend. Rush is yawning while in photo shot. He's not good at being photographed.
First thing that i want to complaint is: how undermined the jet thruster is. I know from someone's stream that in Megaman VI, the jet thruster allow Mega Man to fly anywhere freely even though limited by jet gauge. The jet thruster here is significantly more restricted thus lessen the usefulness. It will be next to mandatory to make it better to avoid that Wily's obnoxious attack. Or the very least make the projectiles fly shorter and slower. Asides of that, i very fancy Mega Man VII and i'm glad to play it. I like a couple level: Slash Man's level that's pretty much homage of Jurassic Park and Shade Man's which has Makaimura theme. The weaponry is range from interesting to lame. Slash Claw could have some longer range. Scorching Wheel need less aiming duration. Noise Crush has interesting mechanism which become stronger if you reflect it to wall and you receive it own way back. Using certain weapon to reveal secret, is brilliant idea. The platforming aspect is tricky. In Nitro Man's stage, i hate that hanged tires that constantly interrupt my jumping. The workshop is neat idea and can mitigate the need to hoard 1up or what have you by replaying the stage. I think this game is the first to introduce you with boss that can grapple you: Shade Man's life drain, Spring Man's jumping slam, and Gutsman's vertical throw. The graphic is obviously better than the prequel on NES and it has stronger color tone too. The music is pretty nice and -it goes without saying that- i like Makaimura theme the most.
I bet anyone who read this already plays Mega Man VII (1995) so you know that the gameplay is pretty good even though there's bad difficult problem on final boss. It's made from proven and tested formula of previous Mega Man with enhanced graphic befitting SNES's capability. The best you can do to play this game is play until penultimate stage. It goes without saying that i really glad to play this game at the start of new year. :)
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