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The only way he can be a threat is when he is hit by a Thunder Bolt, which temporarily magnetizes him and makes Mega Man gravitate towards him for collision damage. Wily’s drawing board? Where’s Coily the Spring Sprite to wish this bot away? But seriously, his only attacks are bouncing high to launch his sproingy fists or sending bouncing spiked Wild Coils. Wily never could fix that stunlock problem with many of his robots… Based on the mythical Japanese thunder god Raijin, he sends down Thunder Bolts to zap Mega Man – when he’s not being comically beaten senseless by his Achilles’ heel.
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Ī weather control bot stolen by Wily to be weaponized. He’s simply aggravating rather than a serious threat, since he loves dropping a ton of bombs on the floor after receiving a major hit, and traps Mega Man in his Danger Wrap blown from the bubble wand on his head. Īn oddly designed chemical plant security guard that’s filled with liquid soap and explosives. If he looks like a robotic Frankenstein’s Monster, it’s because of the original submitted sketches referring to him as Franken Man. Ĭobbled from scattered metal scraps which are held together by an internal electromagnetic force, he chucks chunks of his namesake at Mega Man with his huge claw hand, and protects himself in a swirling Junk Shield. He’s not a foe to be taken lightly – it is hard to jump over him as he runs around and drops icicles down from the ceiling after freezing the floor. Using the air around him, he’s able to split the temperature to power himself with the hot air and fuel his Freeze Cracker with the cold air. He spends a lot of his free time coming up with cool poses, as his introduction clearly shows him nailing one. As such the more obvious childish undertones are made more obvious, which must have seemed like a step back to teenagers who’ve already had a taste of the more intense 16-bit Mega flavor. While the classic series is targeted to all ages as a whole, the youth-friendly tone was far more muted in limited 8-bit form, especially music-wise due to the PSG limitations.
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The aesthetics lean toward a kiddy style as well, especially in contrast to the darker Mega Man X games. This is made worse by the slight dip in vertical resolution. Unfortunately the bigger sprites ( Mega Man included) use up more screen space, leading to a cramped feel compared to the previous NES titles. Many of these humorous bits with the enemies are not seen again in the more technically capable 32-bit sequel a year later. There are little added touches, like comically charred snakes blinking with rising smoke after a Scorch Wheel attack, or Truck Joe turning his head and leaning his arm on the back of his seat when he backs up his spiked dozer. When enemies are blown to pieces, gears and parts fly all over the screen. The beefier tech of the Super Nintendo led to bigger sprites for all characters and enemy robots, allowing for more expressive animation, down to mouths flapping during text speech. As another take from the portable games, Mega Man 7 marks the console debut of a shop, available from the stage select screen to purchase power ups and refill tanks with bolts collected from scrapped enemies. The added cartridge memory allows for much more text and acted-out cutscenes to fill out the story moments and to provide tips in key places. The first 16-bit classic Mega Man drew in design aspects from the X series and the Game Boy releases, starting things off with an introductionary stage with a huge, imposing, but easily disposed of starter boss, before offering only 4 stages to select from the outset. This time, the fairly obvious villain reveal is reserved for Bass and Treble, who mysteriously arrive to spar with Mega Man and later break in to steal the latest upgrade Dr. Wily is revealed as the villain from the get-go, with no double-crossing or red herring in the way. Sure enough, the start of the game has calamity all over the city as mad bots rampage in the streets, leading to an explosive jailbreak in the distance. However, the bad doctor left a contingency plan to be executed should he be out of commission: a secret lab housing four Robot Masters, set to boot up and search for him should a routine signal cease to be submitted. The game takes place six months after the end of Mega Man 6, and Wily is still imprisoned for his crimes. Arriving after nearly a year-and-a-half after the spin-off Mega Man X hit Japanese store shelves, the seventh classic installment was released with little notice. It’s hard to believe how long it took Capcom to move the classic series to another, more-powerful platform.
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