Mega Man 4
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- This page refers to the game for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Famicom. For the Game Boy game, see: Mega Man IV (Game Boy)
| Mega Man 4 | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Designer(s) | Keiji Inafune |
| Release date(s) | JPN December 6, 1991 NA January, 1992 EUR January 21, 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | NES/Famicom |
| Media | 4-megabit cartridge |
Mega Man 4, known as Rockman 4: Arata Naru Yabou!! (ロックマン 4 新たなる野望!! Rokkuman Fō Arata Naru Yabou!!?, Rockman 4: A New Ambition!!) in Japan, is a video game from the Mega Man Classic series. The game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe, and for the Famicom in Japan.
It was somewhere between the release of this game and the previous one that Capcom considered taking the Mega Man series to the SNES, its unveiling closely approaching at the time. However, they changed their minds and put it off for approximately four more years, until the release of Mega Man 7.
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[edit] Story
In the year 200X, one year after the events of the Gamma Project and Dr. Wily's overtaking of it (and Wily's supposed "demise"), Dr. Light received a letter from a mysterious Russian scientist named Dr. Cossack claiming that he was the superior robot engineer in all the world. Cossack stated further that he would unleash his army of robots upon the world as a "test" for Light to see which of them was the best. Of course, Light would not stand for this, so once again, peace in the world was shattered, and Mega Man was called forth from his search for Wily (whom they had yet to find) to go after Cossack's Robot Masters.
This time, however, Dr. Light had an upgrade ready for Mega Man's Buster. He had modified it into what he calls the "Mega Buster," which allows him to charge/focus energy into powerful plasma shots.
Upon defeating the eight Robot Masters designed by Cossack, Mega Man makes his way to the scientist's icy fortress and fights his way through the stronghold and ultimately defeats him, but before he delivers the coup de grace, Proto Man teleports in with Cossack's daughter, Kalinka. Dr. Wily had kidnapped Dr. Cossack's daughter and forced him to build an army of robots to fight Mega Man in order to win his daughter back. Now that his plan had been revealed by Proto Man, Dr. Wily stepped out of the shadows and Mega Man gave chase to Wily's lair, where he fights through the newly built Skull Castle, and this time defeats Wily, though he again does not manage to capture him.
[edit] Gameplay
The fourth iteration features several enhancements and changes from previous games, including:
- The ability to charge the Buster, which is now called the "Mega Buster" ("Neo Rock Buster" in Japan).
- Two new utilities for Mega Man to use: a grappling hook (called the Wire Adapter) and a balloon dispenser (called the Balloon Adapter). This is the only game to date, that has these items.
- A helper robot, Flip-Top (Eddie), who will appear in certain stages to give the player a random item.
- This was the first game in which passwords no longer saved your accumulated Energy Tanks.
- Like Mega Man 2, this game also has a section with automatic scrolling, where the player has to keep up with the scroll. This is in Stage 3 of Dr. Cossack's Citadel.
- There is a glitch in the game in which the second continue points in the fortress stages (between the boss doors) sometimes don't work. This is the only game to have this glitch.
- When the Pharaoh Shot is being charged, a pinkish fireball appears above Mega Man and grows as the weapon is being charged; this fireball can hit enemies if touched and disappears upon doing so, but Mega Man can still fire another charged Pharaoh Shot when the player release the Fire button. It is unknown if this is a glitch or an intended trick within the game.
In addition, this game reveals for the first time the complete origin of Mega Man. In the English NES version and in the Anniversary Collection rerelease, Mega Man's original name is Rock like the Japanese version.
In this game, Mega Man is able to fire shots that are more powerful. When the player holds the button to fire the Mega Buster, Mega Man starts to glow. When the player releases the button, Mega Man fires a shot that is more powerful than his non-charged shot. This is the only NES game where the Mega Buster can remain charged even after being hit by an enemy. Although this was the first game with the Mega Buster, the shape of the fully-charged shots does not resemble the way it looked in later games. In fact, it looks more like a partially charged shot from the later games, with the partially charged shot in this game looking like just an enlarged regular shot. The "familiar" shape of a charged shot would first appear in the next NES Mega Man title.
Unlike Mega Man 2 and 3, the player can revisit previously completed Robot Master stages (First game since the first one to do so). The player starts with three lives whenever he or she starts or resumes a game. The player can earn a maximum of ten lives.
This game features one of three instances in the Mega Man series where the side scrolling is steady and controlled by the computer, rather than the player. This takes place in the third stage of Cossack's Fortress. The second instance, which is significantly more limited, takes place in Mega Man 2 at the end of the first stage of Skull Castle II, where Mega Man is being chased by a large dragon which serves as the stage's boss. Also, in Rock Man & Forte, the start of Tengu Man's stage features an auto-scrolling screen.
The following Robot Masters appear in this game. The character designer is listed after the robot.
| # | Robot Master | Designer | Weapon | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Bright Man | Yoshitaka Enomoto | Flash Stopper | Rain Flush |
| 26 | Pharaoh Man | Takayuki Ebara | Pharaoh Shot | Flash Stopper |
| 27 | Drill Man | Masayuki Hoshi | Drill Bomb | Dive Missile |
| 28 | Ring Man | Hiromi Uchida | Ring Boomerang | Pharaoh Shot |
| 29 | Toad Man | Atsushi Ootsuka | Rain Flush | Drill Bomb |
| 30 | Dust Man | Yusuke Murata | Dust Crusher | Ring Boomerang |
| 31 | Dive Man | Suguru Nakayama | Dive Missile | Skull Barrier |
| 32 | Skull Man | Toshiyuki Miyachi | Skull Barrier | Dust Crusher |
After defeating all the Robot Masters, Mega Man is forced to face what are considered to be the final bosses.
| Boss | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Moslaya | Ring Boomerang |
| Square Machine | Dust Crusher |
| Cockroach Twins | Pharaoh Shot |
| Dr. Cossack - Cossack Catcher | Dust Crusher |
| Mettaur Daddy | Ring Boomerang |
| Takotrash | Ring Boomerang |
| Dr. Wily - Wily Machine 4 (Phase I) | Ring Boomerang |
| Dr. Wily - Wily Machine 4 (Phase II) | Drill Bomb |
| Dr. Wily - Wily Capsule | Pharaoh Shot |
There are many parallels in this game with Mega Man 2, most of them musical. The fanfare to introduce each level, and the victory fanfare, are all nearly the same as in Mega Man 2. The other notable parallel is in both games, the last level of Wily's Fortress (and the game) is a simple L shape, with the battle against Wily taking place in a lab room that has been darkened. In Mega Man 2, this level features acid drops that are timed to be avoided simply by running steadily past them, while in Mega Man 4, this level contained robo-slugs that could be destroyed to recover weapon energy in preparation for the final battle. (Similarly, the last level of Mega Man 6 is in an L-shape, but features much more variety than the last levels of 2 or 4.)
[edit] Remake
This game was re-released as part of the Japanese-only Rockman Complete Works, which was in turn the basis for the port featured in Mega Man Anniversary Collection.
[edit] Other Notable Fact
The final level of Dr. Cossack's castle is labeled with a red star, a key symbol of Communism, even though the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia converted to a more democratic federation style government a few weeks after the Japanese release of this game.
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