Mega Man 3 Review

Capcom. Lord of the rehash. Megaman was a success in 1987. Megaman 2 was a bigger success in 1989. So Capcom decided not to even wait two years before releasing Megaman 3, which came out in 1990. It would be one Megaman game per year until 1993, but to most Megaman fans 2 and 3 are the peak of the series. I personally put 3 above 2, although not by much, due to 2 having a lack of difficulty.

The graphics in Megaman 3 are basically borrowed from Megaman 2, but the two games were only released one year apart, so such a lack of difference is forgivable. Everything worked as well in 1990 as it did in 1989, and I have few if any real complaints in this department.

The same goes for the sound. The sound effects are average and unmemorable, but the music, as with the other NES Megaman games, is excellent. Once again, there is little I could say without sounding like I was saying the same thing over and over in my reviews for the six Megaman games.

The gameplay is essentially the same as Megaman 2, which really isn’t shocking. It almost seems like less has changed in this regard between 2 and 3 than changed between the first two. However, there were a couple changes to the game.

First, rather than the Magnet Beam of Megaman or the three items of Megaman 2, Megaman’s traveling assistance now comes from Rush, a robot dog who now accompanies him on his journey. However, the capabilities of this robot dog aren’t drastically different from the items of Megaman 2. Also gone is the ability to replay beaten levels, so if you are going to gather energy tanks you have to do so by replaying a level that remains unbeaten and purposely not beat the boss of the level.

Megaman himself has a new move in the slide, which allows him to get under low ceilings and also assists him in dodging the attacks of some of the bosses, but is otherwise not particularly useful. The password system in this game can be used to save your position all the way until you are ready to enter Wily’s lair, like in Megaman 2, but in this game that includes four more levels than Megaman 2’s password system since you have to play remixed versions of four of the original eight levels before you can challenge Wily.

This game is a good balance between Megaman and Megaman 2 so far as difficulty is concerned. It is neither as hard as Megaman or as easy as Megaman 2. It’s difficulty is instead somewhere in the middle, and the difficulty of Megaman games would stay that way through the rest of the series of NES games until Megaman 6, where the game became easy again.

This game is a true NES classic, just as its prequel is, and is well worth a spot in your collection if you are a fan of 2D action shooters. Be aware though, that replay value is due to the game being fun to play multiple times and not to the length of the game.