Mega Man 4 Complete Walkthrough Version 1.0 By Jason Venter jasonventer[at]yahoo.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fourth Mega Man title sees the blue bomber running, jumping, and sliding through some of the most colorful, varied environments in the franchise history. It's a lengthy game that will keep you busy for a long while. If you're a fan, you won't want to miss this adventure. And to do yourself a favor, consult this guide only when you really need to. This is an adventure best experienced without assistance. With that said, you likely consulted this guide for a reason. Let's get cracking! ========== The Basics ========== If you've played past entries in this series, you're likely familiar by now with how things work. To recap, there are eight robot master stages that you may attempt in any order you like. Once those are out of the way, you'll battle through Dr. Cossack's castle. When that's done, you find once again that your nemesis is Dr. Wily. If that came as a shock to you, well, you're new to the franchise. As did Mega Man 3, this newer title introduces new companions and gameplay elements. You can now power up your arm cannon. This is called the Mega Buster. Powered up shots will do more damage to your opponents, be they robot masters or even common toadies. Therefore, you'll want to spend any 'running' time powering up your arm cannon while you're on the go, just so surprise enemies can receive a powerful blast in greeting. Also, you have a new companion named Fliptop. He comes upon you at set locations and will toss random power-ups your way. It's always worth finding him to see what he holds for you. Basically, he replaces the item canisters found in Mega Man 3. Good on the basics, then? Glad to hear it. Let's get moving. ======== Toad Man ======== This rain-drenched stage you should be tackled first. It's a great place to get used to your new abilities, and the robot encounter at the end should be a breeze for you. From the start, head right along the brick towers. You'll be working against driving rain, so note that when you jump and it's blowing against you, Mega Man's jumps will not take him quite as far as normal. Before death-defying jumps become a concern, though, you'll want to focus on the birds and their young that are out in the storm. Large birds swoop down and send their young flying toward you. If you have your arm cannon powered up, one good shot will take out the flying flocks of birds. It's likely that one will sneak under your shot, though, so be ready to fire another quick shot or to slide. Another hazard in this area is the enemies that glide down from the top of the screen using their umbrellas as parachutes. Again, a charged mega buster shot takes them out right away, but you have the birds to consider, too. When you're past a few of these enemies, you'll come to the series of jumps over gray-colored scaffolding. Here, more of the birds and umbrella robots will attack, but not with the same frequency. Watch the direction of the rain in the background as you continue toward the right. It will let you know how much resistance to expect from the elements. Regardless, though, you should always jump from just near the right edge of the platform, and you should press hard to the right in order to just barely land on the next ledge. Past that series of ledges, there are more birds and parachuting robots before a pit that will drop into an empty room below. When you land, power up your mega buster before dropping down the pit along the screen's left side. When you land, you'll be in a slow, shallow rivulet of water that is pushing you toward the right. Move slowly right and you'll soon come in contact with this area's two opponents. One opponent takes the form of bulbous robots encased by gel. They crawl along the ceiling and will drop toward the water as you near. Two normal arm cannon shots will take them out quickly, so you shouldn't worry much about them so long as none of them catch you in the midst of trying to leap over a pit. Just watch the ceiling whenever you're making jumps. The other hazard is similarly simple to avoid. Robotic rats inhabit the area, and they move rather quickly. Again, a few rapid shots from your arm cannon will remove any threat. Other than those two hazards, this passage is actually pretty simple. You can tell where ledges are (even when they're not fully in sight) just by watching where water drops in small waterfalls. Land between each set of tiny waterfalls and you'll be fine. Make your way to the far right of this area and you'll drop into another empty room. Again, you should power up your mega buster before dropping down to the next room. Here, you'll be attacked by what looks like a giant snail. Its only vulnerable spot is its eyeballs. The snail will attack in two ways. First, it will heave bombs your way in an arc. You can leap these, or slide under them. When it tires of tossing bombs, it will send its eyes outward in a diagonal arc that is much more difficult to avoid than the explosives. You need to be ready for either attack, as there's no solid way to predict which will come. Just keep dodging and firing and you'll disable this guy in no time. When that fellow is gone, head along to the right. There's more shallow water, which drops down as a pit comes. Slide down the hole along with the water, and hold left as you do so. In the next screen, you'll land on some scaffolding. Below, one of the rat-like robots will be hopping about the water. Drop down the pit to his left while keeping your mega buster charged. You now are in another room with a giant snail. The difference here is that you don't have quite the room to work with, due to flowing water that is trying to push you off either side of a ledge. Standing directly under the rushing water from above will also prevent you from jumping well. Stick around to either side, dodging snail attacks and countering with your own as possible. When the snail is done for, continue right into the next screen. You're now at the edge of a wide pool of water, with gray platforms overhead. You'll need to use those to hop along to the right, while avoiding fish-shaped robots that leap from beneath the water to try to knock you to your death on the spikes that line most of the area. As you walk right, just keep hopping slowly, from one ledge to the next. Mega buster shots will take care of any fish that jump from the soup. The platforms can be difficult to reach if you're worried about the fish, so either destroy them or let them pass out of the way before making each leap, particularly the one that forces you to land between two ledges. Halfway through, you'll find solid ground for a moment. While there, shoot any fish in the way, then hop out of the water and take the last few leaps to reach the gate leading to the area's robot master. -------- Toad Man -------- This guy is easily defeated if you follow a simple strategy. Once the battle starts, take a few steps forward. Toad Man will leap toward you, and should land just behind you. Turn and fire a few shots. When you've hit him around three times, he'll leap to your other side. Just keep repeating this as he hops back and forth over your head. Note that this fight is only easy so long as you're pelting him with arm cannon fire. If you let him stop to catch his breath, he'll use his acid rain attack, which you simply can't avoid. Keep him busy, though, and this fight will be a breeze. Password: A-3,5,6, B-1, D-1, E-3 ========== Bright Man ========== If you like messing around with light and dark, you'll enjoy Bright Man's stage. From the start, head right along the ledges and you'll encounter two types of enemies. The first is a toad-like enemy that rushes along and sends up fireworks. Quick shots will defeat him before he bumps you. The second enemy type is a flying bulb. Shoot it and you'll plunge the level into darkness. It's better to avoid the bulb-like enemy, as well as its spread shots. Otherwise, you can let the toad-like guy send up his fireworks, which light up the area all over again. As you continue right, you'll soon come to a few pits. Make sure that none of your enemies are on-screen when you attempt any jumps. If necessary, edge closer to the right to cause any approaching enemies to come before you leap. When you cross the second pit, be prepared for another toad-like enemy that will be descending the steps. Past that opponent, you'll come to a large room. Head right and you'll see a totem pole robot. This guy fires red shots at you. They're easily avoided, but it takes quite a few regular arm cannon shots to take out each totem robot. Beyond the first such robot, you'll see a cricket-like robot resting on some spikes. Jump onto his flat back after powering up your mega buster, and he'll start leaping to the right. Be ready to take out a totem enemy along the way, and to jump to the next cricket when you come within range. These crickets will carry you across the spikes, and you can jump from the back of the last one to reach a ledge, where a ladder allows you to climb up to the next room. The robot in this room is a fairly simple fellow. Just stand at the top of the ladder and fire charged mega buster shots across the room to hit him hard. He also lobs red bullets in arcs, so be ready to jump those. Otherwise, it's a pretty simple encounter. When the robot is gone, you can use the Rush Coil to reach the ladder in the screen's upper right corner, which leads to a small nook with a large energy capsule. You should only grab the capsule if you need it, as doing so will cause the robot to re-generate in the screen below. When you've got the energy capsule and taken out the robot, climb the ladder along the upper left side of the screen. This leads to a new room, where you'll be at the base of a staircase. Top-like enemies drop from the ceiling here, and spin toward you. If you don't take them out quickly, they'll do some damage to your life meter. However, each falls easily enough with charged mega buster shots. From the top of that stair, continue right and take out the next two enemies, then slide under the gap that leads right into the next area. Here, you'll see a ladder you can descend into a basement area of sorts. There, you should head right along the ledge and you'll see a red platform along an inverted, curved track. Jump on it and it will swing you over to the opposite side of the arc. Once it arrives, quickly leap to the next red platform as the one you just stood on drops out of sight. Keep moving across, until you land on the green platform. This swings over to a high ledge, where you can collect a 1-up icon and an energy tank. Now, look left and you'll see the green platform swinging back and forth. Catch its ride to a ledge to your left, and from here use the Rush Coil to hop over each of the gaps leading back left (time your leaps so you land on each red platform, and then quickly hop to solid ground). When you reach the other end, climb back up the ladder you originally descended, and continue along the ledge leading to the right. You'll now find another series of spikes with the cricket-like robots you can ride across them. This area is trickier than the last one. There are more totem pole robots, but the real hazard is actually the crickets themselves. They're positioned in such a way that they tend to overlap, and sometimes this can result in you thinking you're on the correct one and finding too late that you're not, that instead you're riding along with a kamikaze cricket who has every intention of jumping to his (and your) doom. On the opposite side of the series of spikes, you'll find another ladder that leads up into a new room. There's another top-like enemy here, so quickly slide under the narrow gap leading left, then turn and fire shots at the robot, who should have dropped by now. Hit him with enough shots to disable him, then climb the next ladder leading up along the screen's left side. From the top of this ladder, head right and you'll see a bottomless pit. More of the flying bulb robots are here, and you should take out each as you come across them with charged mega buster shots. As you're doing so, you must hop from platform to platform. Remember that the red ones fall once they reach the end of their arcs. Partway across, you'll come to solid ground in the form of two red blocks. From here out, there are only two more of the red platforms. As you leap from the second, a bulb-like enemy is approaching in the air, and it can easily knock you to your death. Instead of letting that happen, ride the platform down as it start to descend, then jump just before you sink into the pit. Then take out the toad-like enemy that will be approaching at ground level, and proceed to the right. There's another of the toad-like enemies, and another flying bulb, and then you'll find yourself at the gate leading to the encounter with the area's robot monster. ---------- Bright Man ---------- This battle is easy if only because you have Toad Man's special attack. When you enter, go ahead and fire up one of the weather missiles. Acid rain will hammer your opponent. For the rest of the battle, just wait until each bit of rain has subsided, then fire off another one. While you're doing that, Bright Man will be countering with attacks of his own. He for the most part takes wide leaps from the right side of the screen to the left, and vice-versa. Also, he fires shots from his own arm cannon, and will sometimes freeze you in the middle of movement so that you can't dodge out of his way for a moment. As long as you send off one weather missile at a time, you'll drain his life at around the same time you run out of shots. If not, finish him off with the arm cannon. Password: A-1,3,5, B-2, D-1, E-3 =========== Pharaoh Man =========== Scorching sands and a night skyline provide the introduction for Pharaoh Man's stage. From the start, head right. You'll notice that the ground here allows you to sink if you stand in place, so you'll want to keep hopping and charging your shots. As you progress right, green scorpion-shaped robots will arise from the sand. You'll have to disable them with charged mega buster shots, as well as a small spray from the regular arm cannon. It's important to defeat them quickly, as bumping them does pretty good damage to your life meter. While you're moving, bug-like robots also fly through the air, dropping bullets in triple columns. It's pretty easy to avoid these shots, but don't let yourself become so distracted that the scorpions hit you or you sink into the sand. There are platforms spaced between each bit of sinking sand, and you'll eventually come to a particularly wide platform with a hole leading into the ground beneath the sand. Rather than dropping down the pit, wait for the robot circling overhead to buzz off the screen, then use the Rush Coil to leap over the gaping opening. With that done, continue to the right over more sinking sand, battling the same scorpions and flying robots. When you reach the edge of the screen, you'll find a series of ledges, upon which rests the Balloon upgrade. This item allows you to create useful ledges to climb to new areas, similar to item one from Mega Man 2. You'll be glad to have it later. With that item collected, the game will now skip you down through the level, to the area checkpoint. From there, head toward the right. Bats hang from the ceilings here, the type you should remember from Mega Man 2. They are only vulnerable when they start to descend, so keep your arm cannon charged as you progress. You'll soon see a series of spike-lined pits. Robots hang over the top of those, and you can jump on those robots to take one-way rides to the right. As the path ascends, it will become increasingly difficult to make the jumps, but you still must do so or risk instant death courtesy of the spikes. Once you've safely crossed, there's solid ground and a few more bats before you drop down a new hole along the right side of the screen. The next room is empty, and after that you'll drop down into a new hallway. From here, continue toward the right. You'll notice bottomless pits scattered about, and there are more of the spike-lined ledges. As you ride more robots across the spikes, be ready to jump to solid ground and let loose a bunch of shots at the mummies that appear from the background. They tend to toss their heads, too, so be ready to avoid such shots. Also, don't get knocked into a pit by this tactic. When you reach the opposite side, there are a few more of the mummies along steps, and finally you'll arrive at a gate leading to the encounter with the robot master of the area. ----------- Pharaoh Man ----------- The weapon you'll want to use for this encounter is the time freeze move you learned from Bright Man. Let Pharaoh Man leap over your head, then turn and use the freeze move so that you're rapidly firing shots at your opponent's back. If you keep firing long enough, he won't have a chance to break free from the effect of the time freeze before your shots have completely demolished his life meter. If he gets a chance to break free of that, do your best to avoid contact with the robot master directly as you work around the ledge in the room's center, and avoid his shots also. They do a lot more damage than you might expect. An easy battle if you're ready to fire like crazy. Password: A-1,5, B-4, C-1, D-1,3 ======== Ring Man ======== High over the rooftops of some futuristic metropolis, you'll find Ring Man's stage. It begins with an ascent between two walls that tower sky-high. As you climb, there are cannons mounted along the walls. They'll hit you with periodic shots, which is inconvenient because you will be having some difficulty coping with the light beam ledges. Since the ledges of this type will be located throughout the level, you might as well get used to how they work. When you first step on the edge of one, it will fall away in a straight path. If you try and cross during that time, you'll fall through. When it has finished receding, it will fill back across, exactly as it emptied. During this time, you are safe to walk or slide across, as none of the ledge will fall back away again until the ledge has filled itself. If that doesn't make any sense, try it yourself and you'll learn how the process works. In this manner, you can have twice the amount of time to cross. That'll come in handy later. When you reach the top of this series of jumps and head right, you'll encounter a new robot in the shape of a hippo. It rides up on a platform, then fires missiles from a distance. To hit it, you should pummel the underside of its ledge with shots to break it away so the hippo is down on your level. During that time, keep jumping and firing so that you destroy any missiles it may send out, keep working on the platform along its base, and also connect a few shots to the hippo itself. Once the hippo is done for, continue along the ledge to the right. You're now in an area with more of the light beam ledges. They cross over a series of grooves where enemies patrol, and also over spiked pits. Use the same strategy you used to so easily climb the tower as you work toward the right. Saturn-shaped enemies hover in the air throughout, so don't let them knock you down to spikes. Keep pressing right and you'll find a hole leading down to a new room below. In this room, you're once again fighting a tougher-than-average robot. It is comprised of a series of red-lidded eyeballs at the center of green rings. You must hit the red eyelids with your arm cannon shots, but they are invulnerable when the rings are encircling them. Every once in awhile, the rings will break free and fly toward you. You can jump and shoot to destroy the eyeballs. However, it seems to work best if you anticipate when the rings will fly out (shouldn't take long to get down the timing), as if you jump only to avoid them, it's generally too late to shoot and expect to connect. When the robot is destroyed, the platform at its base will explode, and you'll drop down to the next screen. Here, there's another of the platform- riding hippo robots, so take him out carefully. Your life gauge is likely somewhat low by now. To the right of the hippo, you'll see a ladder hanging from the ceiling. Use the Rush Coil to hop up and reach it, then climb up to the next screen above to meet Fliptop. He's your new friend, and will toss a random power-up your direction. Grab it, then descend to the screen below again and resume your march to the right. First, you'll come along a set of gradually ascending steps, and you'll want to take out the robots there with charged shots before they have the chance to roll into you. When that's done, you're now in a new series of ledges that will test your jumping and shooting abilities. Unlike the light beam ledges, these recede in the opposite direction. The same general trick will help you cross, with modifications. However, you need to watch out for the Saturn-shaped enemies, which will attempt to knock you backward into the bottomless pit. Past them, you'll find a ladder leading down into another room. Go ahead and drop down that ladder, and be prepared to quickly slide left the minute you land. Why? Because you'll be on a ledge over a pit of spikes, and it will quickly drop you onto them if you don't get moving. From the edge of that ledge, drop left and climb the ladder down into the next room. Drop from the ladder and you'll find you're facing another of the enemies with the red eyeballs. This one tends to fire its rings a little further, but you'll need to use the same strategy you did before if you hope to win. Once that robot is defeated, head right and slide under the narrow opening. You'll now find yourself at the gate leading to the robot master. -------- Ring Man -------- If you're life meter is full, or if you're on your last life, you should enter the arena where Ring Man waits for you with the Pharaoh Shot charged. When you enter and your enemy's gauge fills, let loose with the shot to do some pretty good damage. With that done, you'll now need to avoid his attack pattern as you pelt him with additional shots from the same weapon. His pattern really isn't that difficult. He starts by throwing a ring at ground level, which you should jump as it nears. He then leaps into the air and throws one diagonally toward you, then lands and starts to rush you. Halfway across the screen, he'll throw another ring directly toward you, as he crosses to where you stand. Be ready to jump the ring and robot as you switch sides, then turn to let loose with more shots. Just repeat this process, going back and forth, until you've won and Ring Man is resting in the scrap heap. Password: A-1, B-4,6, C-4, D-1,3 ======== Dust Man ======== You'll find Dust Man hiding in a factory. This is one of the more difficult stages in the game, so be ready to die a little bit if you're not constantly on your guard. From the start, head right along the ledges. You'll soon run into an armored, red enemy that zips along toward you. He follows set paths, so leap over him, then leap over him once again as he turns around. When his back is to you, let loose with arm cannon shots to defeat him. As you continue right, you'll also run into the hardhat enemies, which are only vulnerable when they peek up long enough to either move or fire a spread shot. They've been around since the original Mega Man game, though, so you should be used to them by now. As you continue, there are small gaps where bottomless pits await you, and you'll want to leap across those. However, enemies tend to fly up from those openings, so you should first lure out an enemy at each pit, shoot it, and then attempt the jump, rather then getting knocked into the pit as a result of unfortunate timing. Pressing right, you'll find more hardhat enemies, and more of the shielded red guys, until finally you come to a wide pit with green-colored walls behind it. You're safe to drop down this pit, so go ahead and do so. In the next screen, you'll be on a high ledge. You can drop off its left side to reach the lower ground level (or slide left to collect the large energy capsule if you need it). When on the lower level, start charging your mega buster and head right. You'll soon encounter a new robot enemy, which looks a bit like a glorified, chubby pogo stick. It has spikes at its base, and is quite large. Pelt it with shots until it explodes, then continue toward the right. Now you're at one of the stage's trickier parts. Small blocks will fly up from the bottom of the screen to form large blocks in the air that you can use to proceed to the right. Hop along these as they materialize, hitting any flying robots with careful shots from the arm cannon. Don't let them hit you, as they do a lot of damage and may knock you onto a row of spikes. Also, don't let the slowdown that occurs in this area cause you to misjudge a jump. If you do things right, you'll cross over to a ladder leading up to the next area of the stage. At this point, you're in a room with ledges leading up to a ladder to the left. Fliptop will descend them and toss you a power-up, hopefully a large energy capsule so you can refill some health. When he's gone, climb the left ladder into the next area. Now you'll need to work toward the right while the ceiling above raises and lowers itself. There will be a hardhat enemy or two along the way, but they're no real threat. There also are wide bunches of destructible blocks. Take care of those with arm cannon shots and clear the way to proceed. Soon, you'll come to a place where the ceiling gets low enough that only a slide is safe. You now must venture right as the ceiling starts to rise, then rush back left as it falls. Each movement toward the right should allow you to clear away part of the block obstruction that lies ahead. It may take three of four such slides to clear the way, but don't allow yourself to rush or you'll likely end up crushed. Once the way is clear, just keep moving right and you'll emerge safely from the compromised ceiling. From there, climb up some steps to where another enemy waits. This is the red guy that fires shots straight ahead and lobs them. You first encountered him in the Bright Man stage. When you've beat him, move forward to climb a ladder up into the next room. Here, you'll see a pit of spikes, with a ladder leading up from the left side of the screen. There are two platforms you can use to cross over the spikes. Hop onto the one closest to you, edge forward, and let loose arm cannon fire to defeat the hardhat enemy that waits on the second ledge. When he's gone, hop over to that ledge, and from there to the ladder. Climb up into the next room and head right, where another of the pogo-like enemies awaits. Once you've defeated him, you can continue walking right to find the gate that leads to Dust Man. -------- Dust Man -------- If you want to rid the dust of this chamber, you'll need to use the ring shots that you gained from Ring Man. They make quick work of Dust Man's life meter. However, he's not just going to stand around and let you attack. Dust Man has several moves to keep you on the move. Fortunately, none of them are terribly difficult to avoid. First, he likes to fire dust clods toward you. These will break into four pieces just as they near the edge of the battle arena. You'll want to leap them as they approach, and watch the particles break into four pieces that should fly to either side of where you're positioned. Dust Man also likes to take big leaps around the room. A single leap takes him halfway across the screen. Any time he lands, he may choose to try and vacuum you toward him. If he does so, just walk in the opposite direction until the suction is gone, then prepare for him either to fire more dust, jump again, or try some more suction power. Remember that none of your shots will harm him while he's sucking. Just keep avoiding his attacks and the battle will be over almost before it begins. Password: A-1, B-4,5, C-6, D-1,3 ======== Dive Man ======== If you're fond of underwater stages from various Mega Man games of old, you'll find a lot to like about the place Dive Man calls his home. There are giant whales, jellyfish and spikes, as well as the Wire upgrade. From the start, begin your assault by hopping onto the ledge that hangs suspended over the water. You can leapfrog to similar ledges leading right, but watch out for the fish that will zip on-screen and try to knock you from your safety. Moving right, you'll find that sometimes the ground is relatively safe, with the only threat coming in the form of armored patrols, while other times it is lined with spikes. If you're knocked down in either case, quickly jump to the surface before your invulnerability wears off, and you should be just fine. Otherwise, the spikes may kill you instantly. Past that hazard, you'll soon find you have no choice but to dip below the surface and walk along underwater ledges. Here, there are clawed, jellyfish- shaped robots. If you pass beneath, they like to dive down and try and hit you from above, so you'll want to slide under them as they recede, or else take a good jump that will carry you over their heads. The latter technique seems to work best, and you'll find yourself employing it as you travel steadily right. The elevation here changes from time to time, and there are a few gaps you must leap that have spikes between them. Also, hardhat enemies turn out to be pretty good swimmers. Try and take them out before they get a chance to leave the ground, so to speak. Keep moving right and you'll soon come to an area where the screen no longer scrolls, yet there's no apparent barrier. Jump over the metallic robot there and you'll slide into the next screen. Now you get to meet this stage's large robot, which happens to be shaped like a great whale. Stay on the left side of the screen and jump high enough to unleash a flurry of arm cannon shots, or charged shots. It's really up to you, but you'll need a lot of firepower to bring this behemoths down. While you're attacking, the whale will tend to suck you toward it, and also will fire heat-seeking missiles. It also has a spread attack that sends four spiked balls into the air. You'll want to squeeze between these while countering with arm cannon shots. Just don't let yourself get sucked toward the spiky pit that lines a portion of the floor. Once the whale is done for, keep moving toward the right. There will be a few more of the metallic jellyfish monsters, as well as a hardhat enemy and a spiked pit. Just jump over the first jellyfish, take out the hardhat as you're landing, and leap over the other two jellyfish so that you can reach a ledge along the right side. Climb the ladder you find there into the next screen. You will now be able to leap a small gap to your left, and wait as Fliptop approaches. Collect the item he tosses you, then climb the ladder to the upper left. Now as you head right, be prepared for an encounter with one of the chubby, pogo-shaped guys that you last encountered in Dust Man's stage. When you defeat him, move forward, drop down one screen into an empty area, and then drop down the gap on the left side of that area to find yourself underwater once more. You're now at the level checkpoint. From the checkpoint, go ahead and move toward the right. This area has more of the metal jellyfish, and a pit of spikes. You'll also encounter a new opponent, which is shaped like a miniature manta ray fashioned from metal. Shoot each of them as you proceed. If one knocks you back on the spikes, you'll likely be able to jump to safety again and keep moving. When you get right far enough, you'll find another of the giant whale robots. Take care of it quickly, then push on to the next screen. Here, you'll see a gap in the floor. Drop down the hole and be prepared to move left and right to avoid the spikes that line this pit. You'll drop four screens to the Wire upgrade. It's not hard if you move quickly and stay centered on the screen between spikes. With the upgrade collected, you will now be returned to the checkpoint I mentioned before. This means making your way past that second whale-shaped robot again, but it's worth it for the cool upgrade. Your life meter has also been refilled. Moving beyond the pit you originally dropped down to find the Wire, you'll find the water level rising and falling as you work to avoid more of the metallic jellyfish, the manta rays, and now a new hazard: explosive mines. The mines look a bit like red, spiked beach balls. When you near, they may start to flash briefly before exploding. You can jump over some, and slide under others, but make sure you're clear of the blast and that you don't leap into the spiked ledges that are drifting throughout the area. Once your past the first set of these, you'll proceed right and the depth of the water will remain more constant. There are still plenty more of the mines, though, as well as a few more manta rays. Push forward slowly and you shouldn't receive any damage. You'll soon find yourself at the gate leading to the area's robot master. -------- Dive Man -------- When you face Dive Man, be prepared for a difficult battle. You'll make things simpler for yourself by equipping the dust cannon, but still shouldn't expect a walk in the park. Dive Man's favorite attack is to dive toward you like a torpedo. Though he is vulnerable to your shots in this state, it's important that you jump clear before a collision takes place; his body is the most powerful weapon at his disposal. When he's not firing himself, Dive Man falls back on dive missiles, which are attracted to your heat and will follow you around the room. Avoid them but worry yourself more with Dive Man's location, and hit him with your dust cannon until he surrenders. Password: A-1, B-4,5, E-1,4, F-3 ========= Drill Man ========= A rocky mountain serves as the lair for Drill Man. Red rock greets you as you beam down to the scene, and you'll walk right across that soil as you begin your mission. There are numerous enemies that hover about the air here, and they should be familiar to you from Dust Man's stage. They each take about three regular arm cannon shots to fell, and there's also a hardhat enemy between you and the ladder that leads up into the next screen. Move carefully and you should be able to avoid taking any damage up to that point. At the top of the ladder in the next room, face left and let loose a flurry of arm cannon shots to defeat the chubby, pogo-shaped robot that is moving slowly toward you. When he's gone, go ahead and hop left, the climb the ladder there to the next room above. The next room is a fairly simple one, inhabited by two more of the flying rotor enemies, as well as two hard hats. Again, you should be able to avoid any damage if you follow the corridor carefully and don't let yourself grow careless. When you reach its end, there's a ladder leading down to the chamber below. In that room, you'll find three of the bats. There are also a lot of spikes. You can either dispatch of the bats and then make carefully-timed jumps, or you may prefer to let the bats bump you instead so you can easily cross the spikes during your brief moments of invulnerability. Whichever method you use is fine, so long as you drop down through the pit on the screen's lower right side. Veer right as you fall there, then look left. There are more bats and more spike-filled pits. There's also a 1-up icon, but you might as well just avoid it; recovering the goodie can easily lead to a loss of life, rather than any real gain. Just drop down the pit located along the screen's left side. From here, head right along the rocky ledges, keeping an eye on the spikes both above and below, and on the rotor enemies that the fill the area. You don't want to make jumps that are too high and long, but at the same time you don't want to misjudge and fall into a pit. Past the rotor enemies, there's a ladder that you will be able to climb up to the next room. Here, there are three armored cannons sitting at various levels. One is at your level, one is resting on a ledge just above, and a final one is near the top. Take out the middle one first, so that you can safely jump over the shots of the lowest cannon. Next, from that ledge, take out the top one. Then jump to that ledge and from there to the ladder. There's really no need to take out the bottom cannon. Just climb the ladder above it into the next room. Here, you'll notice an energy tank sitting up on a ledge nearby. You can use the Wire attachment to hook the ceiling (hold the 'up' button and press 'B' to do so) and then drop to the ledge where the energy tank rests. Once that item is collected, go ahead and move toward the right. This area is filled with the rolling enemies from Ring Man's stage. A few shots from the arm cannon or a charged mega buster shot will dispatch of them, but be careful that you don't let them get too close or they'll roll toward you in an invulnerable state. Climb the steps they guard, and move onto the next screen to the right. Now you should see chimney-like columns in the ceiling, with arrows pointing down from their bases. These chutes will send down large bits of stone debris that will do a great deal of damage to Mega Man if they connect. Slide under them when you find openings, and proceed along the corridor. There are also enemies that glide through the air. If one positions itself above Mega Man, it will try to stomp downward and cause damage. They also are good at knocking you into pits, and you'll find plenty of those as you proceed to the right. You'll also find switches. Bumping into these will cause extra rock ledge to appear as if from nowhere. The first switch is easily hit, as is the second if you aim for it as you make a leap into nothingness. The third switch presents a similar situation. The fourth one is a little different. Position Mega Man so that you jump forward, tripping the switch almost the second you leave the ground, and just barely landing on the ledge that will appear to your right. That's the last of the switches. One final rock chute and a flying enemy are all that stand between Mega Man and the gate leading to the area's robot master. --------- Drill Man --------- The weapon you'll want to use here is the dive missile. It can hunt down Drill Man no matter where he surfaces. Drill Man will attack by firing explosive missiles toward you, and will run back and forth for a time between dives into the rocky soil that fills the chamber. Once he's dived into the ground, you need to keep moving so that when he pops back out into view, it's not directly under where you stand, but off to one side or another. The whole time you're avoiding both Drill Man and his missiles, you should be countering with your missiles, except when the robot dives. He's invulnerable when surrounded by soil. Soon, you should emerge victorious. You'll win not only his drill missiles, but also the Rush Jet adaptor. Password: A-1,4, B-5, E-1,6, F-3 ========= Skull Man ========= The final robot stage you'll encounter looks like it was carved out of the bowels of a giant dinosaur. It's surrounded by volcanic ruins and will keep you hopping and firing. First things first. Start by moving toward the right. You're on the ground level, and you'll soon enter a narrow corridor. Repeatedly fire the arm cannon as you move right, and you'll destroy a domed cannon there. Move beyond that and there's another of the cannons at the same level. Loop back around the bone platforms and head back to the right, until you're standing on a ledge overlooking a gap and another platform over solid, bony ground. You should see a spike tipped robot gliding toward you. Aside from the spikes, it looks sort of like a soda can or a car's oil filter. Shoot that robot and head forward, where you'll need to disable another of the domed cannons. You'll find more of the domed cannons and flying enemies ahead, before climbing a ladder that leads up into the next room. There, you'll find an enemy that tosses bones toward you. Jump and hit it with a powered mega buster shot and it will vanish (a regular arm cannon shot will only cause it to collapse temporarily into a heap of bones). Climb the ladder on the screen's left side, which leads upward to the next passage. With that out of the way, head quickly to the right. There are two levels here, but the bottom is a dead end. Move far enough right to lure the red- shielded robot, then hit it in the back as it retreats. Move to the ledge it occupied and continue right, where you'll find more bat-like robots filling the air above a series of ledges. Cross over those ledges while defeating bats, and you'll find more multiple paths with bats and red-shielded robots. None of those hazards should do much damage to you, and you'll soon come right to a ladder that will allow you to climb to the next room. Fliptop is waiting for you here, so grab whatever he drops and then climb the ladder into yet another room. This ladder extends directly to the top of the screen, so you may choose to avoid heading to the right if you like. However, that would mean passing up an energy tank. Instead of doing that, I suggest taking a short trip to the right. You'll find a series of three ledges suspended over the ground level. Climb up to the second one and work to the right, being ready to jump over the red-shielded enemy. Alternately, you can go along the top ledge, which makes it easier to dodge the red-shielded enemies, and then loop back by using the balloon item to climb up to the ledge from its right side. At the edge of that ledge, you'll be able to grab an energy tank before heading back left to the ladder and climbing up into the next screen. Here, you'll need to loop around more bony ledges, where domed enemies await you. You can only hit the side with their eyes showing. There are also worms here. As you head right along the top level of this particular heap of bones, you'll notice another energy tank situated precariously on a ledge. You can't approach that from the left, but you'll want to loop back from the right momentarily. For now, head right along the top ledge. As you follow it, there will be more cannons and a worm will drop from the ceiling. Take out that worm and press to the end of the ledge. Now another worm will drop and land on the ledge below you. Follow it down to that ledge, defeat it, and proceed toward the left. The way to do this is with the Balloon adaptor. You can set one over the first pit, hop onto it, and slide to the next ledge. Once you do so, switch to the arm cannon to take out the worm there, and continue left to collect the energy tank. Then use your balloons to climb up the hole to the left there, and push back to the right. This time, instead of dropping down and heading back left, drop down and leap from there to the next ledge to the right. A worm will appear, so take it out with the arm cannon. Another will fall just between you and the ladder. When that one is taken care of, descend the ladder into the next area. You're now in the final portion of the stage before its end. It's a series of ledges, inhabited by the bone-tossing enemies you should recognize from earlier in the stage. You should take them out one at a time, and also carefully defeat the floating enemies in the area. There's not really a single jump here that is all that difficult if you take things slowly. When you reach the right edge of that area, you'll find the gate that leads into the battle with the last of the eight robot masters. --------- Skull Man --------- Get ready for the fellow that is arguably the toughest of the robot masters. You'll want to have the dust cannon ready, as it will do the best job of defeating your enemy. Dust Man attacks mostly by dashing around the area and firing his arm cannon. Though his shots don't do much damage, coming into contact with the robot himself will do a lot to decimate Mega Man's life meter. For the most part, you can fire the dust cannon shots whenever you like. The only time you shouldn't is when a skull shield encircles Skull Man, at which point he is invulnerable. Since the dust attack moves slowly, you'll need to move cautiously and be ready to leap over your opponent. Remember that he often stops a charge just short of either side of the screen, so don't stand all the way against either side and expect a jump to carry over your opponent. Instead, you're almost safer at the center of the screen. When the battle ends, that's the last robot master out of the way. Time to find out about Dr. Cossack! Password: A-1,4, B-5, E-2, F-1,3 ======================= Dr. Cossack's Castle #1 ======================= Dr. Cossack lives in the frozen regions of the north. As such, you'll start your raid on his castle by wading through knee-deep snow. You'll soon come to a small tower, flaked by snow. A slinkie-shaped robot is descending, and it will take several shots from the arm cannon to disable him. Once you're past that, you can continue forward, to another tower with the same type of enemy. Beyond that, there's a more extended tower. On this one, you'll find three more of the slow-moving enemies. None of this should lead to any damage to your life meter, and you can hop from the tower to a ladder and climb into the next screen. Make sure you're moving at a run and jump from the very edge, or you'll fall into the pit below the ladder. If you're not sure you can make the leap, go ahead and use the Balloon item to make it more safely. The next screen above has two of the rolling enemies familiar from Ring Man's stage, and from the Drill Man area. You can slide under the first opening, lure the first one down to your level, then slide back under and shoot him from a distance. Then climb up near the top, stand where the ladder is, and jump and shoot whenever the machine is far enough away that you can safely do so. Again, you should be able to navigate this area without taking damage. The next screen up from there takes you to the area's rooftops. As you push toward the right, you'll see a bone-tossing robot. Take it out with a charged mega buster shot. As you may notice, you're on a rooftop of sorts. There are gaps between ledges, but you don't want to just leap over them right away. Enemies come flying out of them, like in the Dust Man stage. Take out an enemy, then quickly cross. Keep moving to the right over the rooftops, until you come up against a ledge with several levels. There are several paths you can slide, but you really don't want to as they lead right to a bottomless pit. Instead, climb to the top of the ledges as you press toward the right. Note that the ledges are slippery, so you don't want to slide off the end. To the right, you'll see a bone-tossing robot. You want to make a long jump over the gap when it's safe to do so, without his bone hitting you. Not only that, but another of the enemies likes to come out of that pit. You should be able to clear both hazards, then climb out the ladders and take out your bone-tossing friend along the way. From there, climb up the ladder into the next screen. You're now at a series of screens where you must use the Balloon adaptor to reach various ladders suspended over the bottomless pit beneath. Place them so that you can ride them upward to the ladders, which you should then climb to scale the castle's face. Near the top, you'll come to a series of ladders with steel traps. You must climb up the right-most ladder, into the next screen, then climb down back into the previous screen, and drop from that ladder to the next one to the left (do so from too low on the ladder and you'll fall down, which is bad), which is patrolled by the steel trapjaw. Climb upward through the gap in the teeth, just after it has clamped shut and reopened. Repeat this for the next jaw, until you're on the left-most ladder and can climb up to the next screen. Here, you're going to see another of the chubby, pogo-like enemies. Take it out with some quick shots, or slide under it when it jumps high enough, and pass through the gate to this area's boss encounter. --------------- Jeweled Monster --------------- This is an easy encounter. All you need to do is move quickly and you can call victory yours. The machine is a giant, hovering drill machine. It moves slowly, so you can keep an easy distance as it fires slow-moving, oval shots. In the meantime, you will want to counter with charged mega buster shots or your ring shots. All you have to do is hit the glowing jewel, which is the only vulnerable part on the machine. While all this is occurring, the machine will drift back and forth and, from time to time, send its drill toward the ledges on which you are battling. Make sure you slide under it as it drifts one way or another. When the drills hit the platform enough times, portions of it will begin to break away. This only becomes a problem if the fight drags on for a long time, so make quick work of it and you'll be fine. ======================= Dr. Cossack's Castle #2 ======================= This stage puts you at the bottom of a vertical shaft, and you can choose from two ladders. The one on the left is likely to result in Mega Man taking damage, and that's even possible on the right side. However, I recommend the right side. There, you'll just run into one of the steel trapjaws. Climb up through the gap between its teeth, and get to the top of the ladder. Then hop from there to the purple-colored pillar. Now slide partway through that gap, then back over to the right. This should lure the enemy from the ceiling so that you can pass safely through once it slides out of the way. Then you can cross over to the platform it inhabited, and from there to the ladder. Climb the ladder up into the next room, and from there head to the right. You will soon come to a tube in the ceiling, from which skull enemies will drop. Shoot them and stand to the right of where those fall, then use the Rush Jet to ride over the spiky pit. Along the way, you'll want to grab a special item refill from one of the ledges. As you're nearing the end, make sure the jet is riding high enough that you can jump from it to the ladder. Climb up the ladder to its top. If you look left, you'll see a series of four blocks that will allow you to reach the ladder at the top left side of the screen. However, spikes extend from the blocks. They will switch between vertical and horizontal alignment from time to time. You want to hop across as they are pointed ways that won't harm you. Jump out to the first block, then the second, then wait to jump to the third and fourth blocks as the spikes are about to switch position again (arrows flash on the blocks just before they change). When you reach that ladder, climb up to the next room and employ the same basic strategy. This area is much more difficult, but you should still be able to reach the ladder on the screen's upper left side. In the next area, you'll have to use a balloon to ride up to the ledge, and make your way to the right. Here, some of the same rolling enemies from Drill Man's stage will make an appearance, so shoot them quickly. If you don't, they turn to their invulnerable state, and from there about all that can happen is that they'll knock you around several times while you're trapped on the ledge. Past these hazards, you'll find a ladder leading up to the next screen. The next screen is just a simple one. Climb up the ladder along the right side, up to the top and from there jump left onto the next ledge. Drop down to the lower portion of that ledge and shoot the enemy as it detaches itself from the ceiling, and then from there jump left to the ladder and climb up to the next screen. In this room, you'll see an energy tank resting on a ledge near the top. Start by climbing directly up the ladder, almost to the top of the screen. You should pass through a steel trapjaw as you do so. Then wait until it clamps shut just below you. Now climb back down through the opening when it's safe, and drop from the ladder while holding to the right. You'll pass through the opening. Walk to the right, then hop up the ledges and look back left. Use a drill missile to break the barrier, then drop down to the middle of the levels to the left. From the edge of that, jump and wrap your way back around to the top ledge, then claim your energy tank prize. With that done, slide through the gap and into the next screen. You can use the Balloon adaptor here to get high enough to use the blocks and reach the 1-up icon, or you can just take the sensible route and pass through the gate leading to the area boss. -------------- Sectioned Room -------------- This battle is a tough one if you try and use your regular arm cannon, but the dust cannon is going to do a great job for you if you choose to use it. When the battle first starts, three segments of an octagonal room will fly across the screen. Depending on their speed, you should be able to tell if they will join at the screen's center, or if they will just whiz by in an attempt to crush you. If the latter is the case, slide under the lowest section. If, however, the pieces are sliding relatively slowly, hop up into the bottom piece, slide under the first wall of the middle piece as it approaches, then when the unit snaps into place, use the lifts inside to ride up so that you're to the left or right of the red jewel. Avoid any shots and use the dust cannon to shoot the jewel. You should be able to hit the jewel two or three times each time the segments come together. Once the jewel has been hit around nine times total, you'll be victorious. ======================= Dr. Cossack's Castle #3 ======================= This stage begins on platforms resting high in the clouds. From the start, head toward the right. This will start the screen rolling. For the next little bit, you're going to have to keep moving while the screen forces you to leap around the various ledges. None of the jumps are particularly difficult, but you will need to watch out for the circular, electronically- charged robots that move in circular paths around most ledges. When you reach the far right, you'll encounter a chubby, pogo-shaped enemy before you'll be able to climb a ladder up near the top. From there, shoot left to get the spike-tipped enemy that is drifting through. Then get to the top of the ladder. You'll notice the ledges to the left have robots circling back and forth. You can defeat them with pharaoh shots. Once the way is clear, you can make your way to the ladder and climb up to the next screen. When you start walking to the right, the level again catches you up in scrolling motion. This time, the hazards you will encounter are different from those you saw previously. There will be wide gaps with no visible platform, and suddenly, ledges will appear. When you jump on one, it starts to sink. You can hop repeatedly to make it slowly rise, or stay on it to sink it to the appropriate level. When you step on one, another will appear shortly ahead. You'll cross many gaps in this fashion. Along the way, watch out for the Saturn-shaped robots that will try to knock you into the bottomless pit you're crossing. When you reach the end, you'll have to start high on the screen against a wall, and ride the platform down low enough to slide through a gap just before the scrolling screen crushes you. Once the screen stops scrolling, you'll see an energy tank sitting on a ledge. To the right is the gate leading to the level's boss. Before going through the gate, use a carefully- placed Balloon item and slip through the gap to collect the goody. Then it's time to face the boss. ------------- Wall Crawlers ------------- You'll walk into this screen automatically, and two gray ledges will fall away. From that point on, you'll have three ledges to rely on, hanging suspended in the air over a spike-wrapped room. A bay will open, and a wall- crawling machine will emerge from the opening. This fellow is going to spread shots your way as he crawls along the top half of the room at a fairly leisurely pace. Switch to the ring shot and hit him where the red jewel is glowing. You'll have to move around a lot, and it seems being on the center of the three ledges gives you the most room to move (both for avoiding attacks, and for countering with your own). To hit, you'll have to jump up from the side, and throw the ring that way. When you've got the life meter halfway drained, the robot will explode, and a new one will come from the lower bay. This one moves much more quickly, and will zip around the entire room. The strategy you should employ will still be the same, though, so just finish it off with more ring shots. Use an energy tank if you must, as this battle as a whole tends to tax your life meter quite a bit. ======================= Dr. Cossack's Castle #4 ======================= The fourth level within the Russian scientist's castle begins with a drop through one screen (where you can grab item refills if you like), then into the next screen. There, you'll see two cannons sitting on ledges of varying height. You can take out those cannons. Of more interest is the energy tank sitting in a recess beneath the second cannon. You can drop down and press against the wall to fall just to the side of a barrier, which can be destroyed with the drill missile so that you can gain access to the energy tank. Once you have done so, go ahead and drop down to the next screen. From the bottom, head toward the right and you will find one of the chubby pogo sticks. Defeat it and continue to the right. You'll see a series of ledges you can slide under, but make sure you do so after one of the electrical charges so that you are not damaged on the way through. On the other side of that red pipe, continue right to the next red pipe, elevated on a low, gray ledge. From there, continue along the path to the right. Next climb up the ladders into the next room. Here, the path can branch. You can either head left up the ladder to the upper left, or you can use your Wire shot to reach the high green barrier, and drop down the pit to the right side of the screen to take that route. I'll assume you take the path down the pit to the right, which leads to an energy tank. When you fall down the pit, head left and you'll see another green barrier between you and an energy tank. Use the drill missile to destroy the barrier, grab the tank, then drop down the ladder to the floor below. Work your way to the right along the area, and shoot the slinky robots as they descend the steps. Past those, you'll pass into the next screen. Here, red-shielded enemies are zipping back and forth over a series of red pipes. This is where you would have emerged if you took the other path. Pass beneath those and continue toward the right. You'll see an upper path and a lower path here. If you take the upper path, you can move past another red-shielded enemy to grab a large energy capsule, while you can take the lower one to sneak past some electrical charges. Either way, you'll drop down a pit on the right side of the screen to the area below. The next room is devoid of enemies, so just run down the steps to the left and drop to the next area. Here, you'll see another tube that drops the skull-shaped robots. Destroy them and move toward the right past a second tube, to the door where you'll finally get to fight Dr. Cossack. ----------- Dr. Cossack ----------- You've finally made it to the apparently insane doctor. This battle is going to be extremely simple. Dr. Cossack rides about in a bubble-shaped pod. It has pincers along the bottom, and cannons along the side that fire spread shots in three directions. The lower portion is quite low, while the right half of the screen is at raised elevation. All you need to do is hit the sides of the machine, at about the same level as the cannons. Avoid the shots from the cannon and counter with charged mega buster shots. Of course, the cannons aren't your main concern. Rather, you should be worried about the pincers. Make sure that you're not caught beneath the machine when it descends, as this particular attack is the most damaging. Better to slide out of the way. You really don't need to use more than your regular weapon. It really is an easy battle. When it ends, Proto Man will appear and return Dr. Cossack's daughter. It turns out that Dr. Wily was behind things after all, and forcing Dr. Cossack to assail you in exchange for his daughter's well- being. Time for another castle. ==================== Dr. Wily's Castle #1 ==================== Well, it's time to find Dr. Wily and put an end to his schemes. When you appear on the ledge, climb up the ladder to your left, then the next ladder to the right from there. Climb that ladder and from the top of it, hop left along the ledges to the next ladder. Along the way, you'll have to take out two of the hardhat enemies. Defeat them and climb that ladder into the next room. There are four of the hardhat enemies in this room. You'll have to take them out as you go, but know that they're of a tougher variety than normal. Some of them will push up their hats, then whirl like tops as they fire shots in your direction. Others will succumb to a simple shot. Try to take the least damage possible as you proceed through here, of course, but know that you may take a fair amount of damage just due to the cramped quarters. When you've cleared the area, climb the ladder at the upper left corner of the screen, to the next hallway. From where you appear here, head toward the right. This area is filled with more of the hardhat enemies (getting an idea for the sort of boss you'll face at the end of the stage yet?), and you'll again want to do your best to avoid those that you can while dispatching of others that stand in your way. Partway through, you can leap up to an upper ledge and slide through to collect a large energy capsule, which you likely need. When you reach the pit near the wall, drop down to the room below. You're now at the stage's checkpoint. From there, drop down the pit to the left and you're underwater and mostly surrounded by spikes. Make sure that as you fall, you're pressing against the wall on your right. Otherwise, you'll land on a set of spikes that line the left wall below. From there, head toward the right and shoot the hardhat enemies as you go. A short distance to the right, you'll come to a ledge that looks over a narrow corridor ahead, where both the ceiling and the floor are lined with spikes. It's not really possible to make this jump and survive without nerves of steel, so go ahead and switch to the Rush Marine and glide through the area in your handy submarine. You only need to use it for the short little stretch, shooting a hardhat enemy along the way. Then the rest of the trek can be made in your normal form. When you climb up the ladder into the next screen, make sure you ascend to the very top of the ladder, or else the enemy patrolling at ground level will slam into you and cause some pretty serious damage to what is likely a dwindling life meter. From the top of that ladder, use disappearing/reappearing blocks to cross. The first block will appear just in front of you. Hop over to it, then immediately jump straight up to land on the next block. The rest of the jumps require no explanation, until you make it across to the ladder. In the next room, the floor is lined with spikes. These blocks appear in an order that is rather difficult to anticipate. Watch until you have a sense for the pattern. Watch for the first two blocks that appear simultaneously, and note the location of the left-most of those two. Now note where the one appears just to its upper right, a few blocks later. When you are familiar with the pattern, you can jump to that first block, then jump to the next one just before the first one vanishes. From there, it's a simple jump to the next block to the right, then the next from there. Once you land on that block, jump directly up to land on the last of the blocks. From there, jump to the gray beam at the top of the room. Walk left to the ladder, then climb it into the next room. In this next hallway, there's a hardhat enemy sitting in the middle level. Move right past it, or destroy it if you want the special weapon refill. Keep moving and you'll see that there are more of the hardhat enemies. Many of these rest within tanks of water. Jump up to shoot those, and grab the energy tank. From there, move right and you'll find the gate leading to the boss battle. -------------- Hardhat Hopper -------------- As you should have expected, considering the only enemies you encountered through the level were hardhat opponents, this boss also happens to be one. Only he's a lot larger than normal. You'll want to equip your ring shot. The monster has only a few attacks, none of them being that difficult. First, he likes to hop toward you. He makes huge leaps, and when he lands the ground will shake. Make sure that you're in the air when that happens, and not underneath. Once it lands, it sends out small versions of itself. Also, the hardhat will burrow into the ground from time to time, and only its base is vulnerable. The ring shot both damages the main threat, and also takes care of the smaller ones that can cause you damage if they strike you. Shortly, you should have done enough damage that the foe will fade to black. ==================== Dr. Wily's Castle #2 ==================== From the start of this stage, hop up two levels so that you're at the third chute from the ground level. Slide along the path and be prepared to shoot out the other end and press to the right so that you land on a ledge over a pit of spikes. Jump from that ledge to the next, and from there to the top of a ladder. Descend the ladder into the next room. There are more ledges here over spikes, and flying enemies will try and attack you. Cross over the ledges to the left and drop into that pit, then from there land on a ledge in the next room, just to the right of where you would normally fall. From the new block you land on, position some Balloon platforms so that you can ride them up to an energy tank. Now that you've done that, drop down the right of the two pits along the floor in this room. You're now moving along a raised ledge. As you move right, shoot the worms that will drop from the ceiling. When you reach the end, slide down to the platform below. There's a robot patrolling the ledge ahead, so shoot it with some pharaoh shots and get it out of your way. With that done, you can use some more Balloon platforms to cross over the pit to the ladder to your upper right. Once you've climbed the ladder, you're in a room where Fliptop will make an appearance. Collect the goody he leaves, then climb up and exit the room using the ladder to the upper right. In this new room, you'll see ledges that will allow you to jump up near the top, where a worm should have dropped by now. Shoot it, and work down through the ledges, and then back up to the ladder along the top of the screen. Climb it and you're in a long chamber with several platforms suspended in the area. Just walk along the lowest level, charging your mega buster and firing as necessary to blast the mummies that will appear from the background to toss their heads your way (you should remember them from Pharaoh Man's stage). There's a ladder at the opposite end of that passage, and it leads up to a new room with three bats. Take out the bats, then turn your attention to the two ladders in the room. You should take the upper right ladder, so that you can climb up through the next room, shoot the skull-shaped enemies, and slide through a gap to grab a ladder that hangs over a pit of spikes. Climb the ladder and you'll find two of the rolling enemies in the next room. Shoot the first one rapidly before it turns itself invulnerable, then hop over the small gap between the ladder's top and the platform. Walk over to the right, then jump up to the next ledge. Face left and shoot the second enemy, then slide under and walk to the next ladder. Climb that and you're in the next room. You now can come to the top of the ladder and look to the right to see another of the red, towering enemies from the early stages in the game. Just keep jumping to avoid its shots, and fire your own in return. When the machine is done, you're ready to hop over the blocks to cross the spike-lined area ahead. Get to the other side and there's yet another pit of spikes. More blocks hang in the air over these, and you can cross over those to get within range of the robot. Defeat it with more shots, then jump to the next ledge it occupied. From there, you can go ahead and keep moving right, then pass through a gate to the boss of this particular area. ----------- Giant Dozer ----------- Remember the red guy you just beat outside this boss's door? Well, the next enemy you'll face looks like a larger version of that. It also attacks with similar patterns. There are two green lifts that ride along tracks. You can hop to the left one as a way to get to the upper right one, which is the one you'll want to attack from. A good strategy here is to stand slightly off-center on that second platform. This will allow you to most easily jump the straight shots, and to jump left slightly to avoid the balls he lobs. When you get a chance to mount an attack of your own, you should hit the green-colored jewel with your ring shot. In little time at all, the dozer will bite the dust. ==================== Dr. Wily's Castle #3 ==================== You're now in what the map indicates is the last stage. You don't believe that, though, do you? From where you begin, jump left and collect an energy tank. You can also refill your special weapons, so be sure to fill up on the ring and on any Balloon energy you my need, in that order. When you drop into the next room, you'll find yourself greeted by the red- armored enemies, who zip merrily about the ledges in an attempt to drain your life energy. The ring shot will make quick work of them, and you can collect small energy capsules from the recess in the wall if necessary. From there, drop down the pit to your right and veer left as you do so. You'll land on a new ledge with special weapon refills. With those collected, drop down the pit to your right yet again. Once you land, be prepared to take out the two enemies in this area. Each will fall either to three quick arm cannon shots, or a charged mega buster blast. They're the top-like enemies. Drop down the pit past them, to the left. The next room contains another of the red-armored enemies, which guards a gate leading to this area's boss encounter. Pass through it. ----------------- The Robot Masters ----------------- Through the gate is a short hall and a transporter device that leads to a new room. Drop down the shaft to your right. You'll take a long fall into a new room filled with transporters. The chart below indicates which robot is where: [1] [8] 1 - Drill Man 6 - Dust Man 2 - Bright Man 7 - Ring Man [2] [7] 3 - Skull Man 8 - Pharaoh Man 4 - Dive Man [3][4][5][6] 5 - Toad Man When you defeat the eight robots, a new transporter will appear at the top center of the screen. Enter it to fight the next boss. --------- Skull Jet --------- This new boss is a more challenging foe than the eight robot masters. It will descend upon the screen as its life meter fills. Quickly power up your mega buster shot, then move over to the front of the machine, just below its gaping mouth as it moves up and down. While you are positioned thus, each of the purple energy balls the machine spews will go over your head. You can power up your mega buster shots at your leisure, and jump to fire them into its mouth between each triple set of energy balls. When the enemy's life meter is emptied, the skull face will fall away and you will see Dr. Wily, controlling the machine from his pod. You're now at the tough part of the battle. The pod will fire an almost endless stream of shots from this point, and you must slide under it so that the shots can't hit you. There, power up your mega buster shots. When you're ready, rush out left. The next shot that heads toward where you stand on the ground is your cue to jump into the air and hit the portion of the craft just below Wily's bubble with your mega buster. This will do a good amount of damage. Once you've struck, slide back under the skull machine to power up your shot again. Keep repeating this until you deplete the entire life meter. Dr. Wily will escape in his pod. One more stage to go. ==================== Dr. Wily's Castle #4 ==================== You've at last made it to the final stage in the game. From where you appear, slide under the blocks so you can drop down the shaft. When you reach the bottom of the shaft, head right through the narrow corridor. Worms will drop from the roof here, so you can defeat them with quick shots and run back and forth to refill your special weapons. When you're ready, go through the gate at the right end of the corridor to fight the final boss. -------- Dr. Wily -------- This battle is a toughie. When you first appear, you'll notice the battle area is totally dark. Immediately, circular bits of energy will start whirling, then fly toward you. Get good at dodging those bursts, as there will be a lot of them. For a short moment following the bursts, you'll see a flash that shows Dr. Wily's location. Be ready to jump and attack that location with powered up pharaoh shot blasts. As an added bonus, the shot materializes over your head as it is powering up, so you can hit him even if he appears far overhead, and you'll still have a powered up shot in reserve that won't use up any additional special weapon energy. You'll have to hit him several times in this manner, avoding his aura shots, until his life meter empties. Congratulations on defeating the evil doctor yet again! Sit back and enjoy the game's ending and closing credits. ========== Conclusion ========== And so it is that you've reached the end of yet another Mega Man title. If you haven't already played all the others, make sure to do so now. There were six of them on the NES, and each is worthy playing to a varying degree. After all, the blue bomber will be there whenever the evil doctor strikes again. And as the ending sequence and history have proven, Dr. Wily doesn't know when to quit! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================ Acknowledgements ================ Thanks for reading this guide! I played through each level as I wrote this, and I think that shows in the way the guide is written. The passwords provided are mine, too. In short, I made this on my own and I hope you enjoy it. I know there are a lot of FAQs available online for this game, so thanks for choosing mine. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================== Copyright Concerns ================== Copyright 2004 Jason Venter This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.