Mega Man 4

Mega Man 4
Protagonist(s): Mega Man Genre(s): Platformer Platform(s): Microsoft Windows Nintendo Entertainment System PlayStation Mobile iOS Android Release Date: Famicom/NES JP: December 6, 1991 NA: January 1, 1992 EU: January 21, 1993 PlayStation JP: October 28, 1999 Mobile phone JP: September 1, 2005 Android & iOS WW: January 5, 2017 Developer(s): Capcom Publisher(s): Capcom (Japan & North America) Nintendo (Europe) Country: Japan Series: Mega Man Predecessor: Mega Man 3 Successor: Mega Man 5

Mega Man 4, also known as Rockman 4: A New Ambition!!, is an action, adventure, side-scrolling, third-person shooting, platform video game created by Capcom and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom on December 6, 1991. It was later re-released on the PlayStation, Mobile Phones, and PC.

Plot

Mega Man 4 takes place in an unspecified year during the 21st century, described as the year "20XX". One year after the events of Mega Man 3, a mysterious Russian scientist named Dr. Cossack unleashes an army of robots with the intention of world domination, much like Dr. Wily before him. Dr. Light calls upon his own greatest creation, the hero Mega Man, to go after Cossack's Robot Masters, who have seized control of eight cities. He also equips Mega Man with the New Mega Buster, which he developed in secret. Upon defeating the eight Robot Masters—Toad Man, Bright Man, Pharaoh Man, Ring Man, Dust Man, Skull Man, Dive Man, and Drill Man—Mega Man makes his way to Cossack's icy fortress. However, in the middle of his battle with Cossack, Mega Man's brother Proto Man teleports in with Cossack's daughter, Kalinka. The girl begs Mega Man to stop fighting her father and elaborating that Dr. Wily had kidnapped her and forced her father into building an army of robots. With Wily's plan undone by Proto Man, he steps out of the shadows. Mega Man pursues his nemesis and fights through the scientist's Wily Castle, but Wily manages to escape in the end. Mega Man escapes as the fortress begins to self-destruct, and rides home on the top of a passing train, where he is greeted by Roll and Rush.

Why It Rocks

1. Great graphics, especially for the time. The Weapon Get screen even features a psuedo 3D view of Mega Man.
2. Gameplay is very similar to the previous game, with the addition of Mega Man being able to charge his Mega Buster, and said gameplay is much more manageable, and therefore less difficult, too.
3. Cleared levels can be revisited just like the first Mega Man game.
4. Great soundtrack. Highlights include Bright Man's stage theme, Skull Man's stage theme, and the Cossack and Wily stage themes.
5. Between the Robot Masters' stages and Wily, are four Cossack Stages. Unlike Mega Man 3's Doc Robot stages, the Cossack stages have uniques tilesets, music and bosses.
6. The weapons are fun to use, such as Rain Flush, which summons a rain that kills all of the enemies onscreen and Skull Barrier, which gives you an extra hit without taking damage and is really useful in Drill Man's stage for avoiding falling rocks.
7. In addition to the Rush Coil, Rush Jet and Rush Marine, there are two secret power-ups that Mega Man can obtain:
   • Balloon, located in Pharaoh Man's stage, is a temporary platform that Mega Man can stand on, working just like Item-1 from Mega Man 2.
   • Wire, located in Dive Man's stage, allows Mega Man to grapple the ceiling and shoot enemies from above. Also, it can damage enemies and certain bosses.
8. Unlike the previous game box arts, the European version edited Mega Man's face, looking a bit more to his original design.

Bad Qualities

1. Unlike the previous two games, this one doesn't add any more Robot Masters, and instead just has eight like Mega Man 2.
2. The passwords no longer take you to Wily's castle.
3. While Rush Marine in Mega Man 3 was only usable in certain situations, in this game it's practically useless, as there's only one underwater segment in the whole game (Dive Man's stage), and it was removed from later games.
4. Toad Man is pathetically easy as a boss, since he can be easily defeated without his weakness by firing the Mega Buster one pellet at a time, which causes Toad Man to reset his attacks and jump forward.
   • On the other hand, Drill Man and Bright Man are very hard bosses to defeat without their weaknesses.

Trivia

1. There are special golden versions of the game's cartridge released in Japan. These were given out to the winners of the Robot Master designing contest.
   • One of these winners was Yusuke Murata (Dust Man's designer and that of Crystal Man in the next game), who would later go on to illustrate the art for the manga series Eyeshield 21 and One-Punch Man, as well as draw posters promoting the Japanese releases of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.

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