GAME POWER! :: Mega Man IV

 

When the world finally felt at peace and there had been no signs that Dr. Wily had survived the collapse of his tower, a new mysterious doctor by the name of Dr. Cossack appeared one day with his own eight Robot Masters. Their prime directive? Destroy Mega Man.

It was once again time to pick up the Mega Buster and get to work. 

Mega Man IV was where, I felt at least, the series began to reach its highest points where gameplay was concerned. I would like to reiterate that I did not grow up playing the 8bit Classic games. My first full experience was with Mega Man X in 1994 and I wouldn't go on to play the older games until the advent of emulation in the late 90s/early 00s, so the lack of charge shots in the first three games felt off to me which could be part of the reason I didn't find myself enjoying the OG series until IV where Mega's skillset felt more complete.

Anyway, on to the show!

The eight Robot Masters we'll be facing off with this time are a far more varied bunch than that seen in the previous three outings. They tend to shy away from the human-like body frame a tad bit more here and there. I don't think the majority of them would go on to become as memorable, however.

First up: Toad Man. He's chosen first for his tendency to be stun-locked and cancel out of his rain dance. 

Bright Man is next. He made a few appearances in the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon which personally made him more memorable in my eyes on account of that. He is easily destroyed by Rain Flush.

Pharoah Man! Another regular in the cartoon and just an overall excellent design. He can be stunned using Flash Stopper, leaving him wide open for continuous lemon shots.

With a few well-timed Pharoah Shots, Ring Man fell to pieces.

Dust Man probably has nightmares to this day after taking several hula-hoop-sized Ring Boomerangs to the face.

Skull Man is another popular MM4 baddie and for good reason. I'm sure he received plenty of pep talks about picking himself up and dusting himself off after several well-placed Dust Crushers knocked him apart.

The tubular Dive Man was next on the hit list. Faced with the Skull Barrier, he didn't stand a chance.

Dive Man is probably my personal favorite of the RMs in this game. Can't say for sure why, but his design really speaks to me.

If you wanna make short work of Drill Man, just stay close and hit him with Dive Missile.

With the eight RMs sent to the scrap yard, it was finally to go after Dr. Cossack!

Kinda missing the whole skull motif of Dr. Wily's palaces, but ah well.

The aptly named Mothraya is the first of the big bads in Cossack's citadel. It's capable of destroying the floor and thus creating potential pit hazards if the fight drags on too long. Ring Boomerang will make short work of it, however.

Square Machine attempts to crush you as it separates into three parts and zips across the screen before reforming. You need to get yourself inside the walls in order to hit the energy sphere at the top with Drill Bomb.

The Cockroach Twins are next. They are fought over a spike-filled floor that means instant death if you are knocked from one of the three floating platforms suspended above them. They are easily dealt with using charged Pharoah Shots.

The good doctor in his Cossack Catcher can be destroyed using either the charged Mega Buster or Dust Crusher, but in my experience, the former does more damage than the latter.

As it turns out, Cossack was being forced to fight against Mega Man. Dr. Wily is alive and had kidnapped Cossack's daughter Kalinka, and thanks to Proto Man appearing and rescuing Wil'y shortage, the plot was revealed and now we can go and take on the true villain!

There's that skull motif we all know and love.

The first foe in Wily's Castle is a relatively unimpressive giant Metall humorously named "Metall Daddy". Pharoah Shot or the Mega Buster is equally good and bringing the daddy down.

Tako Trash is the next boss, and it has an insanely small hitbox right there on its green gem. Either the Mega Buster or Ring Boomerang can destroy it if aimed properly.

 

There are three stages to the Wily Machine IV this time around; The first phase is weak to Ring Boomerang. The second is Drill Bomb, but I just used the charged Buster to take him out.

The third phase is the Wily Capsule, and it is most easily damaged by charged Pharoah Shots.

With Wily defeated yet again, the world is safe once more. But for how long this time?