Mega Man 3 - robot master rankings

[scaryice | 596]

A few years back on Nintendo Age, I ranked the robot masters for Mega Man 1 & Mega Man 2. Now, I'm finally continuing with Mega Man 3! Of course, I'm a big Mega Man fan who played all these games long ago. But, I wanted to revisit the classic series to examine them further, and came up with a scoring system to rank these in a somewhat objective fashion. As before, I ranked them in five categories:

 

DESIGN – How cool is the design? Is it a good concept for a boss? Have there been any other robot masters like it previously, and if so, how do they compare?

MUSIC – How memorable and catchy is it? Does it suit the stage at all?

STAGE – How closely does the stage tie in to the boss’ gimmick? How much fun is the stage to play through? Is there anything memorable or unique about it? Are the enemies interesting and challenging?

FIGHT – How fun is the fight? How about without the weakness (since many times they’ll be dead in seconds with it)?

WEAPON – How useful is the weapon? Does it have any secondary uses? How does it compare to previous weapons like it? Is it properly balanced, and not overpowered?

 

After the rankings were done, the total points were added up to determine a final ranking. For example, here are my previous rankings for...

 

Mega Man 1

Spoiler

		Points		Design	Music	Stage	Fight	Weapon
1	Guts Man	23		1	3	2	3	3
2	Elec Man	22		4	1	1	5	2
3	Ice Man	17		5	4	3	2	4
4	Fire Man	16		2	2	4	6	5
5	Cut Man	16		3	5	6	4	1
6	Bomb Man	11		6	6	5	1	6

 

(ranks are on the right: 1 = 6 pts, 2 = 5 pts, and so on)

Mega Man 2

Spoiler

 

		Points		Design	Music	Stage	Fight	Weapon
1	Bubble Man	29		5	2	1	4	4
2	Air Man	28		1	5	4	5	2
3	Metal Man	25		7	4	2	2	5
4	Flash Man	23		6	1	6	8	1
5	Crash Man	21		2	3	7	6	6
6	Quick Man	21		4	7	3	7	3
7	Wood Man	20		3	6	8	1	7
8	Heat Man	13		8	8	5	3	8

 

 

(ranks are on the right: 1 = 8 pts, 2 = 7 pts, and so on)

 

Let the Mega Man 3 rankings commence! First, let's check out the each category (or you can just skip to the final standings below):

 

DESIGN

8th place – Needle Man

I have so many issues with this guy, so let’s go… While I do enjoy the Air Man body designs, that made much more sense for what was essentially a walking (hopping?) fan. He has creepy eyelids – not the only boss to have light-skinned flesh color on his face, but it looks worse here. Is the red light supposed to be a mouth? If you look at his artwork, it kind of looks like the white part below the red light represents teeth, but that doesn’t even show up in the actual game. He’s also copying Mega Man’s own color scheme. Let’s end with a positive note – the extending chain attack is cool. Maybe Chain Man would’ve been a better idea…

7th place – Snake Man

Like Flash Man & Metal Man, this is one of those cases where the art looks so much better than what we got in game (as a reminder, I’m only judging based on the latter). The colors became much more drab, and the snake’s eye is hard to notice. I also question the wisdom of making a snake themed boss shoot smaller snakes, rather than spitting poison or trying to bite you.

6th place – Magnet Man

Not terrible, but I just can’t shake the image of him being a normal dude who stuck a Magnet on his head. Without that, he’s nothing. The colors are nice, and I like how he uses his gimmick. Although, I wonder if magnets should really act like homing missiles? Maybe something like MM5’s Gravity Man would’ve been more appropriate. I wish the magnet on his head moved when he tries to attract you. I also wish that he actually fired the magnet off his head. That’s something that made me put him behind number five…

5th place – Top Man

Unlike the last guy, his top actually leaves his head for a split second when it’s fired! Still, I wish the top was on his bottom half, so he could actually spin on it. Maybe that was too predictable? If you notice, he does have wheels on his feet, although they’re hard to see in-game. Not sure how he’s spinning around with those kind of wheels, but whatever. Don’t care for the facial expression, but he’s still unique enough to be mid-tier.

4th place – Gemini Man

It’s hard to picture what a Gemini Man should look like, so that probably helps him avoid criticism. Besides, it sounds a lot cooler than “Twins Man.” Seems like he should be an ice-themed boss based on the colors. I don’t know how much the clone or laser fit the design, but it all just looks nice.

3rd place – Hard Man

I love the unique design (first of the big dudes!) with detachable fists. I worry that maybe he’s a bit too similar to Guts Man, but Guts was my favorite design in MM1, so that’s good company to keep. I almost think of his look as “Knight Man” since more than anything, he reminds me of FF9’s Steiner. The actual MM6 Knight Man would look quite different, although with similar colors.

2nd place –Shadow Man

He’s like a much cooler looking Metal Man. Here, the blade on top of his head actually looks sharp and defined, unlike Metal’s. This is also one of those rare cases where I think the in-game sprite version looks better. The artwork has more white parts, and looks less ninja-like as a result. A darker look seems more appropriate for a shadow?

1st place – Spark Man

It’s a bit strange to see such a robotic design in this game about evil robots… He’s a living spark plug, with the rods for the electric current to travel between rather than hands (you can actually see the electricity travelling between them). Even though there’s already been an electric boss, this is an improvement on Elec Man. My only complaint would be the dumb Ice Man-esque expression. But, I love the change in his eyes during his throwing sprite, so maybe even the dumbness has its charm.

MUSIC

8th place – Magnet Man

7th place – Needle Man

6th place – Spark Man

5th place – Snake Man

4th place – Hard Man

3rd place – Gemini Man

2nd place – Shadow Man

1st place – Top Man

As a whole, I don’t like this game’s music as much as either of the first two. It’s not that it’s bad, just not catchy the way those two were. I love the title screen music and the Proto Man (Blues) theme a lot, but I don’t like the overall soundtrack as much. As always, I’ll remind you that I’m not a musically inclined person, so expressing my opinions here sometimes boils down to simple phrases like “it sounds good.”

I always try to do these rankings before reading other opinions, but I must admit I was struggling a bit with this category. In a moment of weakness, I couldn’t help but search and see if anyone else had ranked these songs. And, I saw that fans really seem to love Spark Man’s music. In the handful of rankings I visited, it was almost always near the top. Are these other posts correct? Am I the outlier for putting him sixth? I don’t see it as one of the better tracks, personally.

I do see a bit of separation between the bottom half and the top half, starting with Hard Man, whose ranking is a direct result of my love for Crystalis. That song reminds me so much of the field music from that game that I can’t help but enjoy it. Can you hear it too?

Top Man is tops – it’s the catchiest and reminds me of MM9’s Tornado Man.

 

STAGE

8th place – Top Man

It’s some sort of green house? There are some top-related enemies and platforms, but it seems to be more of a sliding tutorial than anything else. It’s also a particularly laggy stage in a lag-filled game.

On a side note, I was wondering why you fight cat mini-bosses, and I had the thought – Top Cat? Apparently the Japanese version of that old cartoon had a different name over there, but Wikipedia tells me that a version with that title came out in Japan in 1990 (the same year as Mega Man 3). That’s gotta be why, right?

7th place – Needle Man

It’s kind of boring overall, but the sliding spike section is on point, at least. Neat that you can see the giant mets here before fighting them in the revisit.

6th place – Hard Man

Unsurprisingly, the Guts Man inspired boss has a Guts Man-like stage, but there’s nothing as memorable as those dropping platforms here. Still, it does fit more with the boss design, so that keeps it out of the bottom two. The Proto Man fight adds a bit of intrigue, I suppose, since the other two (Magnet, Shadow) have flat surfaces and this one doesn’t.

5th place – Magnet Man

The block section here is great, adding in the fans as a new element, but the rest is a little dull. The opening magnet section doesn’t provide much excitement. Still, having one memorable thing is more than most stages can boast.

4th place – Spark Man

Very flashy! Sure, Top Man had some flashing stuff, but nothing like this. The flashing lights and electrical barriers make this a cool looking stage that fits the theme quite well. I love the floor numbers in the walls too – you go from 1F to 2F, then fall all the way to B10. I didn’t put it higher just because I think the top three were a bit more fun to play through.

3rd place – Shadow Man

Out of all eight stages, this one may have the most interesting enemy variety.  There’s always the perfect annoying enemy for each section (which is a good thing, actually). The flowing lava and liquid containers look great. I don’t know if lava has anything to do with shadows, but there is a darkness section midway through.

2nd place – Snake Man

Very on point with the theme, with snakes everywhere, coming out of the walls, you name it. In fact, the walls themselves are snakes too. Even the Sniper Joes fit right in as a green enemy (technically, they’re a variant called “Hammer Joe”). My only complaint is the finicky platforms in the last Air Man-like section, where the hit detection can zip you to your death. I can’t bring myself to drop it the rankings, though. It’s not nearly as aggravating as the Ice Man platforms.

1st place – Gemini Man

Every part of this stage is different and memorable, with many different challenges. There’s actually a rare use for the Rush Marine, plus a wall of fish eggs, giant penguins, a flashing colorful background, and more!

There is the question of how well this represents Gemini Man. From what I understand, it’s vaguely space-themed because Gemini = zodiac sign/constellation. There were actually ringed planets in the background of this stage originally, before they were removed from the final version for whatever reason. Check TCRF for more details.

 

FIGHT

8th place – Hard Man

Unlike later bosses like MM9’s Concrete Man, the slam will stun you even if you’re in the air. Maybe it felt differently in 1990, but today that feels like it goes against everything I know about the series. As with MM2’s Flash Man, it’s never fun to be stunned without a way to prevent it. Also, the fists are hard to dodge, and not in a fun way. Finally, without the Magnet Missile, it turns into a damage race where you can just stand next to him and fire to win with zero skill. Easily the game’s worst robot master fight.

7th place – Snake Man

I don’t hate this fight like Hard Man, but I just can’t get excited about it either. Snake Man really could’ve used some better attacks, because walking back and forth while dropping a few snakes on the floor just doesn’t cut it. At least the layout is interesting.

6th place – Magnet Man

Magnet is a simple yet enjoyable fight. Not unique enough to be in the top half, but solid enough to avoid the bottom. I do wish he didn’t take so much damage. By the way, I try not to base these rankings on the length of the fight, since everyone dies in seconds with the weakness. But, poor Magnet Man seems to be weak to everything.

5th place – Spark Man

As far as uneven layout fights go, I prefer this to Snake Man. The pattern and attacks are both more exciting to deal with. Reading about this boss, it’s theorized that the small sparks were originally supposed to stun Mega Man (like the weapon normally does on enemies), since an unused graphic for that exists in the rom. In the actual fight, it’s easy to get hit by the small spark and still be invulnerable when the big one is fired (thus avoiding it), so I’m not sure why they changed it?

4th place – Gemini Man

Two phases! Even if neither one stands out, that’s still very cool and a first for the series (for a robot master, anyway). The first part is so simple, yet so hard to avoid taking damage. However, I wish he actually fired the laser in phase one, or more than once in a blue moon in phase two.

3rd place – Needle Man

For once, Needle Man ranks highly at something! While this fight does have flaws, namely the Gemini Laser being annoying to fight with, I thought the attacks were enjoyable to deal with. Just compare the Needle Cannon with the Hard Knuckles, and it’s no comparison. I love the close up head bash as well, since it provides a nice mix-up that keeps you guessing. If you want to negate the suckiness of the Gemini Laser, you have to take the risk and get close.

2nd place – Top Man

This is like a better Heat Man fight, with periods of invulnerability alternating with attacks. It’s also similar to Magnet Man, but I prefer this one since you’re almost forced to slide out of the way rather than simply walk past them. Although, I wish he could spin around in a less predictable way – if only there was a hard mode…

1st place – Shadow Man

Like Needle Man, he offers some tricky mix-ups. But here, the stakes are higher since the blades are a bigger threat than the needles. The shots also come out quickly enough to punish you if you jump early, anticipating a slide. It’s fun to try and keep a steady mind, not freaking yourself out when you mess up once. Yes, exploiting the weakness is brain-dead easy and over in seconds. However, that criticism is true of almost everyone. I do think MM3 is a little worse at that than MM2, but not by much. Ultimately, I can’t mark down Shadow Man for that when the buster only fight is so fun.

 

WEAPON

8th place – Needle Man

I don’t see much of a reason to ever pull out this weapon. It feels like another mega buster, with three shots on screen at once and basically the same strength. It does autofire if you hold down the B button (hence the Cannon nomenclature), but that’s about the only interesting feature. If you could actually throw it the way Needle Man himself does, it would be much more viable. Better yet, how about giving us the chain attack instead?

7th place – Spark Man

It’s no Elec Man weapon, that’s for sure. Rather, Spark Shock is more like Ice Man’s, stunning enemies instead of damaging. It would be a lot more useful if it could be fired it multiple directions. Freezing big enemies to pass by them works only rarely, and isn’t necessary when Mega Man can now slide underneath.

6th place – Gemini Man

While it is possible to hit out of reach enemies with this, other weapons are more effective. Plus, I just hate using the Gemini Laser since the risk of failure means slowly waiting until you can shoot again. Not to mention the lag it seems to cause. Hard Knuckle is similar yet better, and other than some spamming scenarios, there’s little reason I’d use Gemini instead.

Many years later, a better version of this was created in the form of MM10’s Rebound Striker (Strike Man). That weapon actually gains strength after bouncing off walls.

5th place – Top Man

It may be in the bottom half, but fifth place is still way higher than I expected for Top Spin. Yes, it’s extremely awkward to use and somewhat glitchy when making contact with enemies. However, there are a surprising number of places where it’s a good option, and it can hit from above or below. There might usually be better choices, but it’s not the least useful tool in your arsenal. And it’s certainly not the Mega Man weapon equivalent of Dan Hibiki (Street Fighter Alpha), regardless of its reputation.

4th place – Snake Man

Search Snake Is clearly based on Bubble Lead, but with the nifty addition of being able to climb up surfaces. I wish Capcom would’ve added a boss fight where you’d get to utilize that, like Sigma in Mega Man X. That would’ve been cool! Still, I find myself using this way more than I ever did the Bubble. There is still the Gemini Laser problem of having to wait for the snakes to leave the screen, but at least here you can have three at once. So basically, it’s your fault for shooting too much.

3rd place – Shadow Man

I’m happy to report that Capcom did realize their mistakes with the Metal Blade, since Shadow Blade is more fairly balanced. It doesn’t go the full length of the screen, it doesn’t fire in all directions, and you can only have one on-screen at once. Regardless, it’s still way too OP. I think an increase in the amount of weapon energy used would’ve helped in that regard, but at least it’s not game breaking.

2nd place – Hard Man

For the third straight weapon in these rankings, we have a similar yet better version of a Mega Man 2 weapon. Hard Knuckle is like a better Crash Bomb, the main improvement being a lack of waiting for explosions to finish before you can fire again. The lack of speed and pausing upon pressing the button makes it strange to fire, but that also helps it stand out – you need some timing for this one.

1st place – Magnet Man

It’s extremely useful, not overly strong, and unique compared to previous weapons. Magnet Missile was
the obvious pick for first place!

OVERALL

		Points		Design	Music	Stage	Fight	Weapon
1	Shadow Man	34		2	2	3	1	3
2	Gemini Man	27		4	3	1	4	6
3	Top Man	24		5	1	8	2	5
4	Spark Man	22		1	6	4	5	7
5	Hard Man	22		3	4	6	8	2
6	Snake Man	20		7	5	2	7	4
7	Magnet Man	19		6	8	5	6	1
8	Needle Man	12		8	7	7	3	8

 

(ranks are on the right: 1 = 8 pts, 2 = 7 pts, and so on)

 

Well, this was a bit of a blowout! Unlike MM1-2, which were both decided by a single point, here Shadow Man ran away with it. I did expect him to finish first going into this, since he’s just solid all-around. It’s possible that maybe I overrated him a bit in a few categories, but with such a big lead, small adjustments wouldn’t make much of a difference.

I didn’t expect to see Top Man all the way up in third place. This guy, really? It turns out that his weapon doesn’t suck as much as advertised, while I enjoyed the music and his fight a lot. I may have a newfound respect for the spinny dude…

Spark Man finishes above Hard Man on the tiebreaker: ranking higher in more categories.

Needle Man way out there in last place, only ranking in the top half for his fight. Actually, that’s exactly the same as the two previous last place finishers (Bomb Man & Heat Man). I liked all three of those fights but little else. I guess in a game where Capcom tried to pick Men that didn’t have traditional elemental powers (Spark Man aside), needles as an attacking force don’t really stand out.

Overall, I’m a bit negative on MM3 as a whole. I think it’s overrated and not on the same level as MM2. It’s still a good game, but not one of the better Mega Man games. You know what game is underrated? Mega Man 4, which is up next. I don’t have as much experience playing that one as MM1-3, but I remember enjoying it more than 3. Going into MM4, my expectations are for either Pharaoh Man or Ring Man to be top. We’ll find out!

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by scaryice

[phart010 | 1,708]

There’s a Megaman 3 improvement hack. It fixes things that were broke, including the glitched with the top spin attack

[fcgamer | 4,753]

My brother and I were never fans of Gemini Man, it always felt long and boring compared to the other stages. Oops.

Shadow definitely is in the top ranking for me, same with Top. 

Awhile back I had played through all six Mega Man games, trying to throw nostalgia aside (we had all of them as kids, though 2, 3, and 5 generally got the most play time). Although not my favourite in the series, I came to the conclusion that Mega Man 4 was technically the best representation of the OG Mega Man series, despite generally not making it on people's top lists.

 

[phart010 | 1,708]

15 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

My brother and I were never fans of Gemini Man, it always felt long and boring compared to the other stages. Oops.

Shadow definitely is in the top ranking for me, same with Top. 

Awhile back I had played through all six Mega Man games, trying to throw nostalgia aside (we had all of them as kids, though 2, 3, and 5 generally got the most play time). Although not my favourite in the series, I came to the conclusion that Mega Man 4 was technically the best representation of the OG Mega Man series, despite generally not making it on people's top lists.

 

Rockman 4 Minus infinity is based on Rockman 4, but somehow Shadow Man makes cameo appearances many times throughout the game and he kinda steals the show. I guess he’s just that cool  

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Gemini Man's impressive visuals are supported by some strong performances, but this sci-fi thriller is fatally undermined by a frustratingly subpar story. - Rotten Tomatoes

[phart010 | 1,708]

22 minutes ago, MagusSmurf said:

Gemini Man's impressive visuals are supported by some strong performances, but this sci-fi thriller is fatally undermined by a frustratingly subpar story. - Rotten Tomatoes

The was really no story to Megaman 3 unless you read the manual. The Megaman 3 improvement added the story to the intro:

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by phart010

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

i always liked

gemini 

magnet

shadow 

snake

forget the rest

[Murray | 2,449]

On 7/29/2021 at 10:24 AM, scaryice said:

A few years back on Nintendo Age, I ranked the robot masters for Mega Man 1 & Mega Man 2. Now, I'm finally continuing with Mega Man 3: The End of Dr. Wily? Of course, I'm a big Mega Man fan who played all these games long ago. But, I wanted to revisit the classic series to examine them further, and came up with a scoring system to rank these in a somewhat objective fashion. As before, I ranked them in five categories:

FTFY