This can have either one or two loops, depending on which weapons you use. The way the stage select is set up is quite different here; well, different for the main series. It uses the same formula as the Game Boy games; four stages at the beginning, then the other four aren't available until after the first four are beaten. My order for the first four is: Burstman, Cloudman, Junkman, Freezeman. Then Slashman, Springman, Shademan, Turboman.
Rush is back to his usual stuff in this game. You start with Rush Coil, and you can get Rush Jet too. In addition, you can get Rush Search, which enables Rush to dig up an item in that area. It's usually rubbish, but if you check the right spots, he can turn up with some very handy items.
There's also the Super Adaptor. This works like a combination of the Jet suit from MM6 and MMW5's Mega Arm. To aquire it, you must collect the circuit plates lettered R, U, S, and H hidden in the first four robot master stages.
Press "Select" on the stage select screen to enter Auto's shop, where you can buy some helpful items in exhange for any bolts you pick up, similar to the P-Chips in MMW4&5. Many items, however, can also be found with Rush Search if you know where to look.
There are tons of other goodies in this game, but I'll explain them later...
This is a very easy stage. There's really not much worth saying for the first part, just some Metools, and some robots with Bunby Helis for heads. If you shoot the lower body, the Helis detatch and attack, much like MM1's Crazy Razys.
This sub-boss is a somewhat recurring enemy called the Mad Grinder. Just avoid the blade he fires (it travels in a sort of boomerang-arc) and shoot him in the head.
Bass: At the end of the stage, you'll have your very first run-in with Bass. He's really easy, though. All he does is jump and shoot in place. After shooting him enough, you'll exchange some dialogue, then he'll leave. (Actually, the story will continue no matter how you do in this fight, but the dialogue is slightly different to reflect how you did.)
This stage has more time-bomb platforms. If you've played MMW3 or MM6, you should be used to them. To avoid being hit by the explosion, jump straight up as soon as the timer hits 0.
When the path splits on the downward shaft, take the right fork, past the time-bomb platforms to get an energy tank. Later, use Rush Coil to get to the 1-up. You'll have to position him on spikes, but that's okay, since Dr. Light made Rush's feet spike-proof, but not Megaman's... |:(
You'll soon enter a water area with scuba Metools, fish, bombs, and spikes. Tread carefully until you reach the crab sub-boss. It's not hard, just don't jump too high, or you'll get skewered. After defeating it, the water will turn purple, and you'll float to the top. Stay to the left to avoid the spikes, and avoid the bombs in the water. If you shoot them, the explosion will most likely hurt you too.
Next is another session of appearing/disappearing platforms. It's rather tame, though. You shouldn't have a hard time with it.
The last startch has more of that purple water that you float in, rather than sink. You'll need to take advantage of this to avoid the spike pits. To avoid sinking too far when the water rises, step, don't jump, into the water. Or just wait until the water rises to your level. Just be patient, and you'll be fine. The "R" plate is here as well, in plain sight.
Burstman: While Burstman is not very powerful, most of his attacks involve trying to force you into the spiked ceiling. He'll fire three Danger Wraps, which will grab you and cause you to float towards the spikes. If you get caught, rapid fire to escape. He will also fire three yellow bubbles horizontally, which throw you around when you run into them, and he will cause bubbles to rise from the floor, also trying to force you into the spikes. A simple pattern to get into is to hit Burstman with charged shots (Scorch Wheel and Freeze Cracker also work). When that happens, he'll always fire the three Danger Wraps in response. Dodge them while charging up, and hit him again. This battle can be a major nuisance.
Look who's back. Up-n-Downs. Later on, they'll shoot lightning bolts, but these ones just emerge and drift back down.
A strange-looking white robot bars your progress later on. You'll have to shoot it to advance, but that causes it to start raining. If you shoot the next robot with the Freeze Cracker, it will snow instead.
There will be one point where you'll have to cross a chasm on cloud-looking platforms similar to the ones the Lightning Lords used in MM2. Luckily, all of the clouds are vacant. Try shooting them with the Freezr Cracker...
There will be one tricky section where the platforms are invisible unless you're very close. Pipis and and other flying robots will attack you as well. If you made it snow earlier, however, the snow will cover the platforms, making them easy to see. There's one point where you'll have to use Rush Coil to reach a ladder. Climb it and go left to find the "U" circuit plate.
Soon after the rain/snow section, use Rush Coil again to reach a ladder leading to a small room where you'll find Protoman. He'll give you a simple hint about using your special weapons to uncover secrets. Make you you speak with him though; you'll aquire his shield as an item if you encounter him in three specific places.
The last part of the stage is similar to Airman's level in MM2; Fan Fiends and Pipis. The Fan Fiends can alternate between sucking and blowing this time, so make sure you change your movements accordingly so you don't get blown off a ledge.
Cloudman: Cloudman is a breeze with the Danger Wrap. Just jump his Thunder Bolt, hit him with the Danger Wrap, and repeat until he's dead. If you're just using the Mega Buster, he'll try to blow you off the edge with wind and rain after trying to zap you with the Thunder Bolt. He'll then alternate between those two attacks.
Note the lava here on your first time through. Come back later after getting the Freeze Cracker and freeze the lava-fall with it. You can then go behind it and down the ladder to get the "S".
Hit the small machine at the bottom of this shaft with the Thunder Bolt to jump-start it. It will pull the big cylinders around, allowing you to pick up the Rush Jet part.
There's another machine here you can hit with the Thunder Bolt to turn on the magnets and the cranes. Hop onto one of the garbage blocks traveling upward and into the ceiling. Follow it to bypass a large part of the next area.
The last section has Foot Holders, similar to those from MM1. These ones don't shoot, however, unless a block falls on them. If that happens, quickly shoot it off.
Junkman: Junkman shouldn't give you any problems; especially if you use the Thunder Bolt on him. If you hit him with that, he'll just hop back and forth, throwing trash at you. If you want to use the Mega Buster, he'll use a larger array of attacks. He can create a big garbage block and push it at you, then jumps into it, creating the Junk Shield out of the pieces. Once the Shield is up, you'll have to wait a couple of seconds for it to disappear. He can also make the ground shake when he lands, like Gutsman in MM1.
You'll fight two polar bears at the beginning of the stage. They're big, but not really tough. Their only attack is creating a chunk of ice, then sliding it across the ground at you. Just about any attack should be fine.
Shield Attackers have returned in this stage, so be ready.
These robots walk on the ceiling and drop icicles on you. They stay on the ground for a moment, and you can use them as platforms. Take advantage of this to cross a couple of spike pits in this section, much like MMW1.
The platforms made of ice will shatter if you stand on them too long, so move quickly across them.
At the end of this section, use Rush Coil to reach the ladder leading to the "H".
This upper section of small slippery blocks is much better manuvered by Rush Jet. Use it to get the Rush Search.
You'll fight another polar bear after this. This one makes icicles fall from the ceiling as well as throw ice. You can just avoid him, but you may want to fight him and grab the Energy Tank he's guarding.
Freezeman: Freezeman is perhaps the toughest of the first four. He can use his Freeze Cracker in one of three ways. He can throw it right at you, freezing you temporarily if it hits. He can throw it up, causing icicles to rain from the ceiling. Or, he can throw it down, creating a wave of ice along the ground that will freeze your feet to the ground if you touch it. His weakness it the Junk Shield, but you'll have to get close up to hit him effectively. You'll stop him for a moment if you get him.
After you defeat the first four robot masters, you'll automatically be taken to the robot museum, which is under attack.
This is nostalgic, huh? Displays of previous robot masters are everywhere, and even the music is remixed from several familiar themes.
You'll now fight this fat clown robot. It really just bounces around for the most part, but when you shoot its weak point, its tiny head, the head will fly off and bounce around the room. It'll then land, waiting for the body to come put it back on. The Danger Wrap works best here. After blowing the head off, wait for it to land and then hold "down" to just drop bombs on it. It shouldn't take a lot of this punishment.
After that brief mission, the next four robot masters will become available.
The stegosaur is a pretty easy opponent. Just get in close and rapid-fire.
Afterwards, you'll find a tricky section where you must jump through several falling logs to get to the other side of a chasm. Rush Jet is much easier. Otherwise, you'll need to time your jumps well.
Next, you'll have to ride a dinosaur across a giant field of spikes. It pretty much speaks for itself, but don't let any flying robots knock you off your ride.
After the spikes, you'll fight a robotic T-rex. It has some powerful attacks, especially its fire breath, but you can destroy it quickly with the Thunder Bolt. Its weak point is its lower jaw.
One of the last sections is a thick forest with hornet nests hanging from them. You can shoot the nest, but that only ticks the hornets off. If you beat Turboman already, use his Scorch wheel to burn the trees, in which the nests will follow suit. After burning one tree near the end, you'll reveal a ladder. Climb it and shoot the cage with a charged Mega Buster to gain four Beat Whistles.
Slashman: Slashman is not an easy opponent. He's weak agains the Freeze Cracker, but that doesn't make this fight much easier. Not only is he very agile, he'll periodicly jump off the top of the screen and lob sticky bombs at you. Depending on where they hit you, they will imobilize you or stop you from firing. He'll then jump down and maul you with his claws. Try to hit Slashman with the large ice bullet from the Freeze Cracker for maximum damage. It pays not to let this fight go on for too long. You may need an energy tank, especially if your health is already suffering.
What'd you expect? This stage is filled with springs, all over the place! Hold the jump button while on the springs to bounce higher. Just make sure you don't bounce out of control.
The springs on the ceiling can force you into some dangerous terrain. You can fly Rush past it, or try out the Super Adapter if you have it.
When you get into a large open area, head for the upper left corner (shown above). Note that each time you jump on a red block, it rotates. Rotate this one until the arrows point to the left. A spring will pop out and knock the wall down. Proceed to find the Hyper Bolt. Give it to Auto later and he'll add new items, as well as give you a dicount on what he already has!
Go just to the right of the previously mentioned area for an Energy Tank. Then, go down, right, then head to the upper right corner to continue to the end of the stage.
Springman: The big slinky shouldn't be much trouble. He bounces around and occasionaly pauses to perform one of two attacks; fire the Wild Coil, or jump straight up and punch at you. The Coils can be destroyed without much difficulty and you can slide to avoid the punches. Springman is a joke if you use Slash Claw on him. If you keep ripping at him, he'll only do his punch attack, making him that much more predictable.
This stage starts out with robotic zombies popping up all over the place. They come in endless numbers, but they're weak. So just blast the ones in the way and move on.
When you encounter a row of suits of armor, watch out. Some of the helmets are really robots that will leap out to attack. Inch up slowly to one to see if it attacks or not.
Depending on how you destroy this sub-boss, you can travel one of two ways through this stage. If you aim for the eyes of the large pumpkin, the upper path will open up. If you shoot the core when it reveals itself, you will take the lower path. The Thunder Bolt works well either way.
If you take the upper road, it's a pretty straight shot the rest of the way. If you take the low road, you'll have to go through a darkened room (Use the Scorch Wheel to light the candles. If you don't have it, use the Thunder Bolt for a temporary flash of light), then up an elevator. On the elevator, more zombies will jump through the windows at you, but you can hold them off easily using the Junk Shield.
Shademan: Another decent fighter with a deadly array of attacks. He starts off by flying around the top of the room, occasionaly stopping to swoop down at you. If he gets you, he'll drain some of your health (meaning he recovers some health). He'll then drop down on one side of the room and shoot two white beams at you. You'll be petrified for a moment if they hit, so do your best to avoid them. He finally fires two shots from the Noise Crush. They'll bounce off the other side, and back at Shademan, who fires two amplified shots. It sounds like a lot on your hands, but if you nail him with the Wild Coil when he's on the ground (charge first to deal extra damage). he'll take flight again. If you're gutsy, try hitting him with another charged Coil while he's diving at you as well.
Turboman throws all kinds of crap at you. A Joe series robot greets you to this level in a large trailer. It'll eventually try to trap you between it and the wall on the far side. You can take it out fairly easily, though, with the Noise Crush.
The next part of the stage is deadly. Tires move along the top portion of this corridor. If one hits you, you'll bounce off it, and you may get knocked into a spike pit, or the large tire tunnel, which sends you back to the beginning of this section. The best way to avoid this is with some thoughtful flying with the Super Adapter. You can also get by with some careful manuvering.
After this section, you'll climb a ladder up. On the first screen up, use the Super Adapter to fly to the platform and use Ruch Search to get the Hyper Rocket Fist. On the second screen up, go through the wall on the right to meet Protoman again. He'll give you a belated hint about the Super Adapter.
The next protion of the stage has a narrow corridor filled with flame jets. You can freeze them with the Freeze Cracker, but you may just end up blocking your path. The bar under the jet will flash when its about to ignite, so use that to determine when to get off.
You'll now find yourself in a section very reminiscent to Quickman's Force Beam shaft. The heat rays will kill you in one hit, just like the Force Beams, so don't fiddle around or be tempted by the power-ups that show up on the way down.
After the heat rays, you'll suddenly find yourself on a moving truck (Did I miss something?). The front of the truck will fire missiles at you. Destroy any that are heading for you and shoot the eyes with rapid fire shots.
Turboman: After all that Turboman's put you through, he's still not about to go easy on you. He has a few nasty attaks. He'll start off using the Scorch Wheel. Do your best to avoid it, because it hurts, plus it immobilizes you for a moment. He'll then try to suck you towards him, like many RMs before him, then morph into a car and try to run you down. The Noise Crush is the best way to deal with this speed demon. Jump the initial Scorch Wheel and let him have it. Remember to charge it first by firing it at the wall and absorbing the reflected shot. After this, as long as you keep using the Noise Crush on him, the only attack he'll do is his car ramming attack. To avoid it, jump right as his tires finish squeeling.
You can now head for Wily's fortress, but I suggest that you collect all of your possible items if you haven't done so already. Be certain that you have the Super Adapter; the fortress will be a nightmare without it!! See the Items section for more info.
This first section features the old track platforms from Gutsman's level (the ones that dump you when it crosses a break in the track), but with a new twist; the lights go out when you're standing on them!! You'll have to hop around just to be able to see where you're going, then jump when the time is right.
Later, the lights will also go out whn standing on certain parts of the floor. Again, you can only see when in mid-air.
To get the Energy Tank further on, you'll have to reach the platform its on without flinging yourself into the ceiling spikes; so you can't use Rush Coil. Use the Super Adapter instead.
Bass: Bass has turned up the heat a bit since your battle earlier on, but not by much. He jumps around firing plasma shots, periodicly charging for a larger shot. That's it. You can use the Mega Buster, but the Super Adapter (with the Hyper Rocket Buster) does the job much more efficiently. After he leaves, you're still not done with this stage, though. Head down a brief corridor to fight...
Wily seems to like making crud out of Gutsman. This guy looks like a newer model of his Guts-Dozer from MM2. Get ready for a tough fight. He causes boulders to fall from the ceiling, which he'll shove towards you, and he also tries to charge at you. If he grabs you, he'll slam you into the ceiling for some major hurt. You can counter his powerful attacks, though. Equip the Slash Claw and slash Gutsy in the head. If a boulder drops, whack it with the claw to send it back to Gutsman, doing additional damage to him. When he's about to charge, rapid-fire him to hold him off.
The first half of this level is somewhat easy and straight-forward. Don't get too used to it, though...
Bass: Bass is done playing around. he'll fuse with Treble into his own version of Megaman's Super Adapter. He has his normal plasma shots, plus he'll try to ram you, then charge for his own Hyper Rocket Buster. Use your Super Adapter to counter his. Don't waste your time with normal shots; charge the Rocket Buster and keep on nailing him. Use the room's low gravity to your advantage as well. If you don't have the Super Adapter, good luck. The Thunder Volt seems to be an okay alternative, though.
After Bass is a section with conveyer belts with springs on the walls. After that is this ugly area. Flame jets are everywhere. It's difficult to find an easy way through this mess, so try to fly around the jets with the Super Adapter if you can.
The boss of this stage is a giant turtle mechanoid. It breaths fire (jump to avoid it) and gets into its shell and tries to ram you (slide under it). It will also fly off the screen, leaving a box that spawns three smaller turtles. The Thunder Volt will destroy each one in a single hit. Use charged Wild Coils on the turtle itself, aiming for the head.
Most of the stage is easy, with a couple rough spots here and there. The first is one similar to Cloudman's level where only the floor nearby is visible. Keep a close eye on where the floor is and isn't. You can also try the Scorch Wheel since it travels along the floor.
These act like the familiar time-bomb platforms, only they drift to the right once activated. At the other end of this area, the path splits. Try to go for the upper path...
If you take the high road, you'll go through an area with a lot of appearing/disappearing platforms to maneuver through, but Rush Jet makes it easy to pass. You'll also be rewarded with an Energy Tank, a Weapon Tank, and a Super Tank.
The low road consists of a water area not unlike Burstman's, only harder. The upper path is much easier, IMO.
The boss is this odd-looking hovercraft. It's heavilly armed, as it fires missiles, lasers, and bombs, in that order. Work on dodging while you wait patiently to shoot it. The Noise Crush should be your weapon of choice, and you'll have to aim for the red nose on the craft. This should be a hard fight as long as you're patient.
Another teleporter room. As always, the robot masters are no different than before, so just blow them apart with the same tactics and weapons as the first time.
Dr. Wily: I certainly hope you have full Energy Tanks, because this is without a doubt the hardest Wily fight the series has had to offer. His first phase is simple; he walks around in a large walker spawning miniature verions of it. When it does so, stand in the middle of the screen so the mini-walkers are on both sides of you. As they approach, jump to the opposite side as the big walker. They should then cluster themsleves together, making them easier to jump again and slide under the big walker before it hops to the other side. As you do this, shoot the cockpit with the Thunder Bolt at every opportunity. Try not to get hit, though, since you'll want to have as much health as you can muster for the next fight.
Wily's second phase is the whole cloaked saucer bit, but every time he uncloaks, he launches four orbs, each is one of three colors; the yellow ones damage you normally, the red ones set you on fire, and the blue ones damage you and freeze you. The orbs then quickly converge on wherever you happen to be. Sometimes wily will also drop a big orb on the ground, which will split into two orbs going in each direction along the ground. You'll have your hands full trying to avoid being hit, and I really can't offer any easy way to do it. It'll just take some tricky jumping and sliding. When the saucer is close enough, nail it with a charged Wild Coil. that seems to do the most damage to it. Good luck!!!
Energy Tank: Most Megaman veterans should know about these. Use one to fully recharge your health at any time. You can carry a maximum of four. You can find them laying around here and there, but you you really need some, you may want to buy them from Auto.
Weapon Tank: This type of tank carries a full store of weapon energy. Use it to refill one weapon's energy to maximum. Like the Energy Tank, you can carry up to four. They're much harder to find though (the only one I know of is in Wily's fortress), and you'll probably want to see Auto about these.
Super Tank: Adptly named, the Super Tank restores health and all of your weapons to 100%. However, you can only carry one at a time. Like the Weapon Tank, the only place I found one is Wily's fortress, and you'll have to buy any others you need from Auto.
Rush Jet: In most games, you get this item by defeating certain robot masters. Here, you must find it. It's in Junkman's stage in the vertical section with the cylindrical platforms. You must have the Thunder Bolt to obtain it. Use it on the small machine near the bottom of the above mentioned section. The cylinders will now begin to move. Hop onto an upward-bound one and ride it to the top. You should be able to find the Rush Jet item, but make sure you don't get crushed between the cylinder and the floor/ceiling. The Rush Jet behaves just like in MM4 and MM5.
Rush Search: This new adapter enables Rush to sniff around the area he's called in and dig up items. Most of what he finds is junk, but if he looks in the right places, he can find you some helpful items. The adapter is in Freezeman's stage. It's in plain sight; up on a ledge in a pit section, but it can be tricky to get. It's easy, though if you already got Rush Jet; just fly over and grab it.
Exit Unit: This handy little item allows you to automatically leave a stage provided you already defeated the boss. It's helpful when you want to grab an item in a particular stage, but you don't want to fight through the entire level again. To find it, try out your new-found Rush Search near the end of Freezeman's level. Use the screenshot below for a reference:
Energy Balancer: If Megaman collects a weapon energy capsule without any special weapons equipped (or the Super Adapter or Proto Shield), this item will automatically refill the weapon with the lowest amount of energy. A useful time saver, since this means you won't have to switch weapons all the time to pick up capsules. This item is in Shademan's stage. Defeat the Pumpkin so it opens up the high road through the stage (aim for the eyes). Proceed until you find a portrait of Dr. Wily. Call Rush right underneath the portrait. See below for the right spot:
Hyper Rocket Buster: This item upgrades the Super Adapter. When Megaman fires a charged fist, it'll home in on the enemy, plus I think it's stronger as well. This upgrade is in Turboman's stage. When climbing the long ladder, use the Super Adapter to fly to the left platform. Use Rush Search there. See below:
Hyper Bolt: This is Auto's missing bolt. If you give it to him, he'll add new items to his inventory, and he'll slash the prices on the older items. The bolt is in Springman's stage, in the large open area. Go to the upper left corner and jump on the red block until the arrow is facing left. When the spring pops out, head through the opening it creates.
Super Adapter:
This is truely an awesome item. Rush will fues with Megaman, like in MM6, giving him some great abilities. If you press the jump button in midair, Megaman will shoot at an upward angle, it's almost like a double-jump. Charged shots are replaced by Megaman firing his fist, like MMW5's Mega Arm. Paired with the Hyper Rocket Buster, this is a devastating weapon. To aquire it, you must collect the R, U, S, and H circuit plates in the initial four robot master's stages:
: Found in Burstman's stage. It's actually in plain view, near the end of the stage. Just float up in the purple water to get it. There's no reason you should miss this one.
: Found in Cloudman's stage. In the rainy section with the near-invisible platoforms,there's a ladder leading up, also invisible. If you don't know where it is, bring the Freeze Cracker to this stage and hit the second white robot at the beginning of the stage with it. It will snow instead of rain, and you can now see all of the platforms in that section. Now, just use Rush Coil to get up to it.
: This more elusive letter is in Junkman's level. You need the Freeze Cracker to freeze the lavafall right after the elevator. Walk through it and down the ladder. Freeze the second lavafall to reach the S.
: This one's in Freezeman's stage. Near the middle of the stage, you should see a ladder with an ice platform under it. Climb it, and jump between the rows of ice platforms to reach the H. If one crumbles and you can't reach it, just go back down the ladder and return to reset them.
Proto Shield: Yes, Megaman can also aquire Protoman's awesome shield in this game. When Megaman is equipped with it, he can block most enemy shots when standing still. Sadly, he can't equip special weapons and the shield at the same time. To aquire it, you must find Protoman in three locations in a certain order and defeat him in the third one.
#1: By far the easiest. Right after the rainy section in Cloudman's stage, you should see a ladder going up. Use Rush Coil to reach it. Congrats. You found Protoman.
#2 This one is hard if you don't know where to look. On the long ladder in Turboman's stage, two screens up, there's an invisible wall to the right. Here's a picture:
#3 Now go to Shademan's stage and defeat the Pumpkin so you take the low road (by destroying the core). Right after the Pumpkin, there is a Sniper Joe guarding a wall. Destroy it and walk through the wall and the gate. Protoman will now challenge you. He's no slouch, though. Charge your buster and fire whenever he drops his shield. Once he's had enough, he'll give you the shield.
