1 Yr✓#
Dorobo
1 Yr✓#
That's what I've heard, and yeah I can see it. If I had played it with any of my siblings or friends I think my experience of it would have been much more positive. And there's still the multiplayer aspect of all of the games which I have minimal experience with, I played Halo 5 multiplayer back in the day and had fun with it, but that's all I've played online with the series. So playing a few multiplayer rounds of each game would have likely improved my experience as well.
1 Yr✓#
Dorobo1 Yr✓#
Post 65 - February 11th, 2025
Completion: Mega Man (NES, 1987)
Mega Man has a pretty weak start with what I'm hoping is the worst game in the series, from what I hear it's all mostly uphill from here.
Review
Mega Man did not give any good first impressions, the enemy designs are annoying, enemy placements seem specifically placed to make the player experience as inconvenient as possible, and only being able to shoot left and right makes some sections nearly impossible to do without taking damage. Mega Man was made during the "Nintendo Hard" period on the NES, where a ton of games that released for the system were insanely difficult. The only other game I've completed from this period is Zelda II, which is my least favorite game of all time, Mega Man is a strong contender for that title now. I'm sure I'm spoiled on Metroid, but diagonal shooting would have made the game a lot more enjoyable, though obviously being an old NES game that wasn't quite figured out yet. Mega Man is also very laggy, I'm no stranger to laggy NES games, however Mega Man just has pretty basic graphics even for the NES. I'm sure they didn't have the hardware and optimizations completely figured out, but the frequent lag spikes and slowdowns were annoying to deal with. I'm glad health pickups exist in Mega Man, though I wish they were more frequent, and that they were given before boss fights.
The story is almost nonexistent, the only story text is at the end of the game. What I can assume from the game and a tiny bit of Mega Man knowledge that I have is that Dr. Wily is the big villain, and he's associated with all these special 'elemental' guys. He seems like a mad-scientist sort of guy. But there really isn't too much else to say about it.
The controls and physics feel okay, but with the way that the enemies are designed and some of the platforming sections that are in the game, the physics are terrible. It also took me maybe till halfway through the game until I figured out you can switch between weapons, it's not a very clear mechanic. The bosses are way too unforgiving, the timing to dodge their attacks and their punish windows are way too tight. It's nice that they have weaknesses though, it makes the bosses way more doable. Probably the most annoying part of the game is the magnet beam, which itself isn't bad, but it is the only beam in the game that is missable, hidden in an obscure easy to miss location. It is also required to complete the game. So I had to get a game over screen from the Dr. Wily level to get back to the level select, replay the electro-man level, get the beam, refight the boss, then get all the way back to where I was before in the Dr. Wily level.
The final boss rush isn't any better. I'm glad that it's split into multiple levels at least, but the Yellow Devil is terrible. He's only vulnerable for maybe 5% of the fight, and he spends half his time slowly teleporting to the other side of the room, dealing damage to the player the entire time, though the teleport order is exactly the same every time which makes it doable. The copy boss is very annoying. Dr. Wily himself isn't the worst, though not being given any healing after the boss rush right before the fight is horrible. If save states and the pause glitch didn't exist, there is no way I would have finished this game. At least Mega Man is on the shorter side, so I was fine enough to play the whole way through.
Rating: 3/10
Completion: 100%
Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
Days taken: 2
Next in the series: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
Series progress: 1/28
Since this is the start of a new series, I'll list out all the games here. This list is subject to change and updates for this particular series, I very well may miss one or two games. I will be playing the main numbered series, the X series, Zero/ZX, and Legends. I am unfamiliar with it, so let me know if I missed any if you happen to notice. The play order is also subject to change, since the first 6 or so games haven't aged the best.
1. Mega Man (NES, 1987)
2. Mega Man 2 (NES, 1988)
3. Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
4. Mega Man 4 (NES, 1991)
5. Mega Man 5 (NES, 1992)
6. Mega Man 6 (NES, 1993)
7. Mega Man 7 (SNES, 1995)
8. Mega Man 8 (PS1/Saturn, 1996)
9. Mega Man 9 (PS3/360/Wii, 2008)
10. Mega Man 10 (PS3/360/Wii, 2010)
11. Mega Man 11 (PS4/XB1/Switch/PC, 2018)
12. Mega Man X (SNES, 1993)
13. Mega Man X2 (SNES, 1994)
14. Mega Man X3 (SNES/PS1/Saturn, 1995)
15. Mega Man X4 (PS1/Saturn, 1997)
16. Mega Man X5 (PS1, 2000)
17. Mega Man X6 (PS1, 2001)
18. Mega Man X7 (PS2, 2003)
19. Mega Man X8 (PS2, 2004)
20. Mega Man Zero (GBA, 2002)
21. Mega Man Zero 2 (GBA, 2003)
22. Mega Man Zero 3 (GBA, 2004)
23. Mega Man Zero 4 (GBA, 2005)
24. Mega Man ZX (DS, 2006)
25. Mega Man ZX Advent (DS, 2007)
26. Mega Man Legends (PS1/N64, 1997)
27. The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (PS1, 1999)
28. Mega Man Legends 2 (PS1, 2000)
Other Games & Media
I had some pretty bad game burnout for almost a week after I finished Halo Infinite, but I'm starting to pull through. I haven't started any new side-backlog games since I'm not feeling it right now, but I probably will soon. I just finished a Metroid Prime randomizer as well which was the only game I was able to have a blast with during my burnout. I've still been playing Street Fighter 6, I've hit a brick wall in silver 4 which is always frustrating. And I've just been playing quick matches in Rivals with some buds, not as much ranked. Nothing too new.
Up Next & Additional Notes
This is a very rough start to the series especially with my burnout, but I'm honestly feeling motivated. I will be playing two different series pretty soon, while it is pretty rough to do and takes a little extra time, I think it's nicer to have a few different options to pick up depending on my mood. I am feeling pretty refreshed having taken a 3 day break, because those last 3 series honestly felt like a slog. So hopefully this will be a fresh start, I'm definitely feeling optimistic. As much as I don't love the classic Tomb Raider games, I'm excited for the remaster to finally release so I can finally play through them and mark the series as finished, just 3 more days! Anyway, thanks for reading, and until next time!
Completion: Mega Man (NES, 1987)
Mega Man has a pretty weak start with what I'm hoping is the worst game in the series, from what I hear it's all mostly uphill from here.
Review
Mega Man did not give any good first impressions, the enemy designs are annoying, enemy placements seem specifically placed to make the player experience as inconvenient as possible, and only being able to shoot left and right makes some sections nearly impossible to do without taking damage. Mega Man was made during the "Nintendo Hard" period on the NES, where a ton of games that released for the system were insanely difficult. The only other game I've completed from this period is Zelda II, which is my least favorite game of all time, Mega Man is a strong contender for that title now. I'm sure I'm spoiled on Metroid, but diagonal shooting would have made the game a lot more enjoyable, though obviously being an old NES game that wasn't quite figured out yet. Mega Man is also very laggy, I'm no stranger to laggy NES games, however Mega Man just has pretty basic graphics even for the NES. I'm sure they didn't have the hardware and optimizations completely figured out, but the frequent lag spikes and slowdowns were annoying to deal with. I'm glad health pickups exist in Mega Man, though I wish they were more frequent, and that they were given before boss fights.
The story is almost nonexistent, the only story text is at the end of the game. What I can assume from the game and a tiny bit of Mega Man knowledge that I have is that Dr. Wily is the big villain, and he's associated with all these special 'elemental' guys. He seems like a mad-scientist sort of guy. But there really isn't too much else to say about it.
The controls and physics feel okay, but with the way that the enemies are designed and some of the platforming sections that are in the game, the physics are terrible. It also took me maybe till halfway through the game until I figured out you can switch between weapons, it's not a very clear mechanic. The bosses are way too unforgiving, the timing to dodge their attacks and their punish windows are way too tight. It's nice that they have weaknesses though, it makes the bosses way more doable. Probably the most annoying part of the game is the magnet beam, which itself isn't bad, but it is the only beam in the game that is missable, hidden in an obscure easy to miss location. It is also required to complete the game. So I had to get a game over screen from the Dr. Wily level to get back to the level select, replay the electro-man level, get the beam, refight the boss, then get all the way back to where I was before in the Dr. Wily level.
The final boss rush isn't any better. I'm glad that it's split into multiple levels at least, but the Yellow Devil is terrible. He's only vulnerable for maybe 5% of the fight, and he spends half his time slowly teleporting to the other side of the room, dealing damage to the player the entire time, though the teleport order is exactly the same every time which makes it doable. The copy boss is very annoying. Dr. Wily himself isn't the worst, though not being given any healing after the boss rush right before the fight is horrible. If save states and the pause glitch didn't exist, there is no way I would have finished this game. At least Mega Man is on the shorter side, so I was fine enough to play the whole way through.
Rating: 3/10
Completion: 100%
Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
Days taken: 2
Next in the series: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
Series progress: 1/28
Since this is the start of a new series, I'll list out all the games here. This list is subject to change and updates for this particular series, I very well may miss one or two games. I will be playing the main numbered series, the X series, Zero/ZX, and Legends. I am unfamiliar with it, so let me know if I missed any if you happen to notice. The play order is also subject to change, since the first 6 or so games haven't aged the best.
1. Mega Man (NES, 1987)
2. Mega Man 2 (NES, 1988)
3. Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
4. Mega Man 4 (NES, 1991)
5. Mega Man 5 (NES, 1992)
6. Mega Man 6 (NES, 1993)
7. Mega Man 7 (SNES, 1995)
8. Mega Man 8 (PS1/Saturn, 1996)
9. Mega Man 9 (PS3/360/Wii, 2008)
10. Mega Man 10 (PS3/360/Wii, 2010)
11. Mega Man 11 (PS4/XB1/Switch/PC, 2018)
12. Mega Man X (SNES, 1993)
13. Mega Man X2 (SNES, 1994)
14. Mega Man X3 (SNES/PS1/Saturn, 1995)
15. Mega Man X4 (PS1/Saturn, 1997)
16. Mega Man X5 (PS1, 2000)
17. Mega Man X6 (PS1, 2001)
18. Mega Man X7 (PS2, 2003)
19. Mega Man X8 (PS2, 2004)
20. Mega Man Zero (GBA, 2002)
21. Mega Man Zero 2 (GBA, 2003)
22. Mega Man Zero 3 (GBA, 2004)
23. Mega Man Zero 4 (GBA, 2005)
24. Mega Man ZX (DS, 2006)
25. Mega Man ZX Advent (DS, 2007)
26. Mega Man Legends (PS1/N64, 1997)
27. The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (PS1, 1999)
28. Mega Man Legends 2 (PS1, 2000)
Other Games & Media
I had some pretty bad game burnout for almost a week after I finished Halo Infinite, but I'm starting to pull through. I haven't started any new side-backlog games since I'm not feeling it right now, but I probably will soon. I just finished a Metroid Prime randomizer as well which was the only game I was able to have a blast with during my burnout. I've still been playing Street Fighter 6, I've hit a brick wall in silver 4 which is always frustrating. And I've just been playing quick matches in Rivals with some buds, not as much ranked. Nothing too new.
Up Next & Additional Notes
This is a very rough start to the series especially with my burnout, but I'm honestly feeling motivated. I will be playing two different series pretty soon, while it is pretty rough to do and takes a little extra time, I think it's nicer to have a few different options to pick up depending on my mood. I am feeling pretty refreshed having taken a 3 day break, because those last 3 series honestly felt like a slog. So hopefully this will be a fresh start, I'm definitely feeling optimistic. As much as I don't love the classic Tomb Raider games, I'm excited for the remaster to finally release so I can finally play through them and mark the series as finished, just 3 more days! Anyway, thanks for reading, and until next time!
5 Yrs✓#
GCTuba
5 Yrs✓#
3/10, yikes. Well, I did say to play some bad games to appreciate the great ones more 😅 Hopefully the next one is better. "NES hard" games are definitely not for me.
1 Yr✓#
Dorobo1 Yr✓#
Post 66 - February 13th, 2025
Completion: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
Mega Man 2 improves on the first game in every possible way, I can see some strong potential here.
Review
My first impressions of Mega Man 2 were great, at least coming out of the first game. The physics and controls feel much nicer, the level designs are better, the enemy designs are improved, there are a lot more enemy types and there's a good amount of variety. The input delay is pretty bad, but I got used to it. The soundtrack is absolutely iconic, I was jamming the whole time. While the input lag is bad, the regular lag and slowdown lag were almost nonexistent, it seems they got the optimization figured out. I really appreciate that there are way more health pickups, as well as larger ones. There is more platforming in this game which didn't work out in the first, but with the much nicer controls and better level designs I had very little issue with them. The boss designs are still kind of annoying and on the tougher side, but with the weaknesses they were perfectly fine, though I wish there was more depth to them other than dodging. There isn't as much to say here since it's pretty similar to the first.
The stage designs are visually very nice as well, they got pretty creative with the theming. I also really like the water sections, the tall jump physics are very fun to play with, especially in the boss fight of that level. There's a lot of different weapons, in fact I didn't realize there was a second page of them till about halfway through the game, the menu design still isn't the best. A lot of the weapons feel very unique though, and I really like how there are three different platforming ones, and also since they are unmissable in this entry. But again, it took me a while to figure out there was a second page of weapons in the first place which isn't the greatest, but it was fun to use them. There's still a lot of bad enemy spawns, but it seems like they are more designed to be manageable so I had much less of an issue with them, although a few sections are pretty challenging. Relatively speaking the level quality is all over the place, there are some that were just very fun, and there are a few that are very mediocre.
I'm not a big fan of the incredibly long Wily level making a return in this game, I don't love how it's in one big stretch. The big dragon boss is pretty cool, but I didn't like having to fight in on 3 tiny platforms, especially when the attacks completely knock you into the void. The level designs near the end are pretty creative, though a few of them are quite annoying. The turret boss in the pink level is probably the lowest point of the game, having a boss that's only vulnerable to a single weapon type, and not giving any energy pickups during the fight is terrible, I had to restart it a couple times because I literally got soft-locked in the fight. The Dr. Wily fight is decent, I'd say it's probably the best fight in the game, though he's a bit of a pushover with a certain weapon. And the final-final phase is just boring, I appreciate how it's not overly difficult or anything, but the man got defeated within 15 seconds which was pretty underwhelming. Mega Man 2 is overall a very solid experience though, it's one of the better NES games that I've played. I also appreciate how it's on the shorter side, it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Rating: 7/10
Completion: 100%
Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Days taken: 2
Next in the series: Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
Series progress: 2/28
Other Games & Media
It's only been 2 days since my last post, so nothing too much here. I've been playing a bit of Risk of Rain 2, goofing around with the heretic and Seekers of the Storm content. I also finished a game for the 2025 gaming challenge, which is a visual novel, missed messages, which is an absolutely beautiful game. It is very much on the shorter side and has a few technical issues so I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it was a very nice and emotionally impactful experience.
Up Next & Additional Notes
Mega Man 3 is a bit longer so I doubt it'll take 2 days like the first two games. In which case I'll be starting Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered before then, on the 14th. My valentines day plan is to play some Tomb Raider 4 and not much else lol. I'm worried those games will be bit of a slog considering I didn't really love the first 3, but I'm sure my motivation to finally finish the series will pull me through. I've heard almost equally good things about the rest of the NES Mega Man games except for 6, so I'm hopeful that my time with them will be of a similar quality to Mega Man 2.
Completion: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
Mega Man 2 improves on the first game in every possible way, I can see some strong potential here.
Review
My first impressions of Mega Man 2 were great, at least coming out of the first game. The physics and controls feel much nicer, the level designs are better, the enemy designs are improved, there are a lot more enemy types and there's a good amount of variety. The input delay is pretty bad, but I got used to it. The soundtrack is absolutely iconic, I was jamming the whole time. While the input lag is bad, the regular lag and slowdown lag were almost nonexistent, it seems they got the optimization figured out. I really appreciate that there are way more health pickups, as well as larger ones. There is more platforming in this game which didn't work out in the first, but with the much nicer controls and better level designs I had very little issue with them. The boss designs are still kind of annoying and on the tougher side, but with the weaknesses they were perfectly fine, though I wish there was more depth to them other than dodging. There isn't as much to say here since it's pretty similar to the first.
The stage designs are visually very nice as well, they got pretty creative with the theming. I also really like the water sections, the tall jump physics are very fun to play with, especially in the boss fight of that level. There's a lot of different weapons, in fact I didn't realize there was a second page of them till about halfway through the game, the menu design still isn't the best. A lot of the weapons feel very unique though, and I really like how there are three different platforming ones, and also since they are unmissable in this entry. But again, it took me a while to figure out there was a second page of weapons in the first place which isn't the greatest, but it was fun to use them. There's still a lot of bad enemy spawns, but it seems like they are more designed to be manageable so I had much less of an issue with them, although a few sections are pretty challenging. Relatively speaking the level quality is all over the place, there are some that were just very fun, and there are a few that are very mediocre.
I'm not a big fan of the incredibly long Wily level making a return in this game, I don't love how it's in one big stretch. The big dragon boss is pretty cool, but I didn't like having to fight in on 3 tiny platforms, especially when the attacks completely knock you into the void. The level designs near the end are pretty creative, though a few of them are quite annoying. The turret boss in the pink level is probably the lowest point of the game, having a boss that's only vulnerable to a single weapon type, and not giving any energy pickups during the fight is terrible, I had to restart it a couple times because I literally got soft-locked in the fight. The Dr. Wily fight is decent, I'd say it's probably the best fight in the game, though he's a bit of a pushover with a certain weapon. And the final-final phase is just boring, I appreciate how it's not overly difficult or anything, but the man got defeated within 15 seconds which was pretty underwhelming. Mega Man 2 is overall a very solid experience though, it's one of the better NES games that I've played. I also appreciate how it's on the shorter side, it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Rating: 7/10
Completion: 100%
Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Days taken: 2
Next in the series: Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
Series progress: 2/28
Other Games & Media
It's only been 2 days since my last post, so nothing too much here. I've been playing a bit of Risk of Rain 2, goofing around with the heretic and Seekers of the Storm content. I also finished a game for the 2025 gaming challenge, which is a visual novel, missed messages, which is an absolutely beautiful game. It is very much on the shorter side and has a few technical issues so I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it was a very nice and emotionally impactful experience.
Up Next & Additional Notes
Mega Man 3 is a bit longer so I doubt it'll take 2 days like the first two games. In which case I'll be starting Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered before then, on the 14th. My valentines day plan is to play some Tomb Raider 4 and not much else lol. I'm worried those games will be bit of a slog considering I didn't really love the first 3, but I'm sure my motivation to finally finish the series will pull me through. I've heard almost equally good things about the rest of the NES Mega Man games except for 6, so I'm hopeful that my time with them will be of a similar quality to Mega Man 2.
1 Yr✓#
Dorobo1 Yr✓#
Post 67 - February 16th, 2025
Completion: Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
Mega Man 3 is a bit of a step back from the 2nd game, but a lot of the good things still shine through. It did drag on way longer than it should have though.
Review
Visually, Mega Man 3 is a decent upgrade from the first two games. There's a ton of really good stage variety and enemy variety, the stage backgrounds look very nice, most of the levels felt very unique. The soundtrack while not quite as good as Mega Man 2 still pops off, particularly the Snake Man level is my favorite. All things considered, I wasn't expecting an experience so different from Mega Man 2, I was expecting just a redo of the same thing. The physics and controls still feel very nice, just as they did in 2. It took me a minute to figure it out, but I do really like sliding as a mechanic, it actually adds a lot to the platforming and combat. Though despite that, many of the boss and enemy designs are still not made with the player's agility realistically in mind which was a pain. The majority of the fights I just tried to exploit weaknesses and tanked through, so this issue unfortunately does stick around. Especially the first one or two bosses when you don't have any special beams unlocked to exploit boss weaknesses, it's a massive pain and I used a ton of save states and made a ton of attempts on them, and as soon as I got a few weapons the rest of the bosses became rather easy because I actually had the tools to handle them. This is more of a fundamental flaw with the Mega Man formula at this point. Those were my first impressions with the first one or two levels.
There actually is some effort put into story near the end of the game. The random mini boss in the levels being revealed to be Proto-Man and Mega Man's brother is actually a decent twist, and there's pretty good setup for a sequel hopefully making it make more sense. The whole Dr. Wiley and Dr. Light duality is interesting, while it is tough for them to explore any sort of story on NES hardware, I am at least a little interested in it. Though I do worry that every game will just end up having this same sort of story.
First of all the new weapon menu is much nicer at least visually, it's still awkward having two different pages for them though. I really like the robot dog as a concept, I was very confused when I got to a point that I couldn't progress until I realized it existed in the first place, but again I think it has the potential to add a lot to the platforming. The overall level design is a step back from Mega Man 2's, there's a lot of cheap enemy placements a few really bad enemy designs, for example the giant bee that just spawns a horde of 5 bees which are impossible to handle damageless. While Proto-man is pretty cool, I really wasn't a fan of his random appearances in the levels as a mini-boss, he's just kind of boring and annoying. The level designs are also mediocre, some of the platforming sections are just a pain, I couldn't even imagine doing them without save states. But again, while the level designs aren't the best the amount of unique assets in every level is great, I was surprised to see not many reused assets throughout the entire game. There are a few enemies that have a very annoying technical bug, where if they manage to clip into Mega Man they become unkillable and just spam you to death. There are just a couple really annoying enemy designs and issues like this. The combination of these make a lot of the levels a big pain to get through, many sections of this game are just very unenjoyable. I'd also like to mention how bad the lag is, it was rare for the game to not be lagging at any given time, I know it's tough on the NES but it's terrible when the lag is almost constant, especially in areas like boss fights and large enemy encounters.
I really like how all of the weapons have unique strengths, weaknesses, projectile speeds and behaviors. Two parts of the game that were thoroughly enjoyable for me were the Snake Man level, and the Gemini man level. Snake Man partially because of the music which goes pretty hard. And the Gemini Man level is just extremely cool, the music with the tileset and unique enemies makes for a very fun level. I wouldn't say there are any bosses that are particularly fun other than maybe Dr. Wiley, all the men aren't very fun to fight. Probably the biggest issue with Mega Man 3 is how long it drags on for, it long overstays its welcome. Defeating the 8 main bosses is only half of the entire game, compared to the first two games where that's about 75% of the entire game. The final four boss stages just dragged on for far too long and I started to lose my patience with the game by that point. The final four levels thankfully aren't the longest so I got through it fine. And of course the game wouldn't be complete without a long boss rush at the end. The final few special bosses are whatever, there's nothing too bad or good in the Wily levels. It's mostly just more Mega Man 3. The Yellow Devil still sucks, it does not work well as a boss fight, again he only has vulnerability for 10% of the fight and he spends the rest of the time teleporting into you, it does not work well at all. Thankfully the ending isn't too bad, I enjoyed the Dr. Wiley fights and again the story parts at the end are also decently interesting.
Mega Man 3 does not manage to top Mega Man 2, but it does do a couple new things for the series which are very interesting, an I appreciate how much effort was put into the game assets and level designs. But the terrible boss and overall level designs bring it down a lot.
Rating: 6/10
Completion: 100%
Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Days taken: 3
Next in the series: Mega Man 4 (NES, 1991)
Series progress: 3/28
Other Games & Media
I've been going back and forth in Street Fighter 6 ranked, I keep going on the longest losing streak I've ever seen, into a 4 win streak that brings me straight back to where I was, it's both frustrating and kind of funny. I finished another very short game from my side-backlog, LOVE, which is a decent platformer, which was really dragged down by a pointless (at least in my eyes) life system which added too much stress. Right now I'm just picking up a few really short, and some lower rated games from my side-backlog to play and it's been going decently for me.
Up Next & Additional Notes
I started Tomb Raider IV with the remaster, I really enjoyed the first few hours, but I'm about halfway through it now and it's falling off a bit. I also didn't realize how long TR4 is, it's starting to drag on pretty badly. I played two 4 hours sessions since it released which has been fun, but I'll have to slow it down here with how poorly the later levels are going for me. I've heard similar things about Mega Man 4 and 5 as I did about 3, so my expectations aren't too high. I've only heard bad things about 6 which should be interesting. Anyway, thanks for reading, and until next time!
Completion: Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
Mega Man 3 is a bit of a step back from the 2nd game, but a lot of the good things still shine through. It did drag on way longer than it should have though.
Review
Visually, Mega Man 3 is a decent upgrade from the first two games. There's a ton of really good stage variety and enemy variety, the stage backgrounds look very nice, most of the levels felt very unique. The soundtrack while not quite as good as Mega Man 2 still pops off, particularly the Snake Man level is my favorite. All things considered, I wasn't expecting an experience so different from Mega Man 2, I was expecting just a redo of the same thing. The physics and controls still feel very nice, just as they did in 2. It took me a minute to figure it out, but I do really like sliding as a mechanic, it actually adds a lot to the platforming and combat. Though despite that, many of the boss and enemy designs are still not made with the player's agility realistically in mind which was a pain. The majority of the fights I just tried to exploit weaknesses and tanked through, so this issue unfortunately does stick around. Especially the first one or two bosses when you don't have any special beams unlocked to exploit boss weaknesses, it's a massive pain and I used a ton of save states and made a ton of attempts on them, and as soon as I got a few weapons the rest of the bosses became rather easy because I actually had the tools to handle them. This is more of a fundamental flaw with the Mega Man formula at this point. Those were my first impressions with the first one or two levels.
There actually is some effort put into story near the end of the game. The random mini boss in the levels being revealed to be Proto-Man and Mega Man's brother is actually a decent twist, and there's pretty good setup for a sequel hopefully making it make more sense. The whole Dr. Wiley and Dr. Light duality is interesting, while it is tough for them to explore any sort of story on NES hardware, I am at least a little interested in it. Though I do worry that every game will just end up having this same sort of story.
First of all the new weapon menu is much nicer at least visually, it's still awkward having two different pages for them though. I really like the robot dog as a concept, I was very confused when I got to a point that I couldn't progress until I realized it existed in the first place, but again I think it has the potential to add a lot to the platforming. The overall level design is a step back from Mega Man 2's, there's a lot of cheap enemy placements a few really bad enemy designs, for example the giant bee that just spawns a horde of 5 bees which are impossible to handle damageless. While Proto-man is pretty cool, I really wasn't a fan of his random appearances in the levels as a mini-boss, he's just kind of boring and annoying. The level designs are also mediocre, some of the platforming sections are just a pain, I couldn't even imagine doing them without save states. But again, while the level designs aren't the best the amount of unique assets in every level is great, I was surprised to see not many reused assets throughout the entire game. There are a few enemies that have a very annoying technical bug, where if they manage to clip into Mega Man they become unkillable and just spam you to death. There are just a couple really annoying enemy designs and issues like this. The combination of these make a lot of the levels a big pain to get through, many sections of this game are just very unenjoyable. I'd also like to mention how bad the lag is, it was rare for the game to not be lagging at any given time, I know it's tough on the NES but it's terrible when the lag is almost constant, especially in areas like boss fights and large enemy encounters.
I really like how all of the weapons have unique strengths, weaknesses, projectile speeds and behaviors. Two parts of the game that were thoroughly enjoyable for me were the Snake Man level, and the Gemini man level. Snake Man partially because of the music which goes pretty hard. And the Gemini Man level is just extremely cool, the music with the tileset and unique enemies makes for a very fun level. I wouldn't say there are any bosses that are particularly fun other than maybe Dr. Wiley, all the men aren't very fun to fight. Probably the biggest issue with Mega Man 3 is how long it drags on for, it long overstays its welcome. Defeating the 8 main bosses is only half of the entire game, compared to the first two games where that's about 75% of the entire game. The final four boss stages just dragged on for far too long and I started to lose my patience with the game by that point. The final four levels thankfully aren't the longest so I got through it fine. And of course the game wouldn't be complete without a long boss rush at the end. The final few special bosses are whatever, there's nothing too bad or good in the Wily levels. It's mostly just more Mega Man 3. The Yellow Devil still sucks, it does not work well as a boss fight, again he only has vulnerability for 10% of the fight and he spends the rest of the time teleporting into you, it does not work well at all. Thankfully the ending isn't too bad, I enjoyed the Dr. Wiley fights and again the story parts at the end are also decently interesting.
Mega Man 3 does not manage to top Mega Man 2, but it does do a couple new things for the series which are very interesting, an I appreciate how much effort was put into the game assets and level designs. But the terrible boss and overall level designs bring it down a lot.
Rating: 6/10
Completion: 100%
Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Days taken: 3
Next in the series: Mega Man 4 (NES, 1991)
Series progress: 3/28
Other Games & Media
I've been going back and forth in Street Fighter 6 ranked, I keep going on the longest losing streak I've ever seen, into a 4 win streak that brings me straight back to where I was, it's both frustrating and kind of funny. I finished another very short game from my side-backlog, LOVE, which is a decent platformer, which was really dragged down by a pointless (at least in my eyes) life system which added too much stress. Right now I'm just picking up a few really short, and some lower rated games from my side-backlog to play and it's been going decently for me.
Up Next & Additional Notes
I started Tomb Raider IV with the remaster, I really enjoyed the first few hours, but I'm about halfway through it now and it's falling off a bit. I also didn't realize how long TR4 is, it's starting to drag on pretty badly. I played two 4 hours sessions since it released which has been fun, but I'll have to slow it down here with how poorly the later levels are going for me. I've heard similar things about Mega Man 4 and 5 as I did about 3, so my expectations aren't too high. I've only heard bad things about 6 which should be interesting. Anyway, thanks for reading, and until next time!
1 Yr✓#
Dorobo1 Yr✓#
Post 68 - February 21st, 2025
Retirement: Tomb Raider: The Last Revalation (PC via TR4-6 Remastered, 1999)
This is the 2nd time I'm retiring this game, though this time it's for different reasons as I made it about 2/3 of the way through the game, and this retirement is permanent unless they make a full blown remake of the game. Tomb Raider 4 starts out great, but it slowly devolves to the point where it's borderline unplayable, I could not bring myself to finish it. I'll write a review even though this is a retirement.
Review
My first few hours with Tomb Raider 4 were actually very enjoyable, the remake is very nicely done aside from the lighting which is way too dark. I went into this with a pretty fresh mind, it had been a number of months since I played the original trilogy. I actually enjoyed the tutorial level. The combat is still terrible but that's just classic Tomb Raider for you, and the combat honestly isn't frequent enough to be overly annoying, so it wasn't an issue for a lot of the game. I had fun with Seth's Tomb, the Burial Chamber had some fun puzzles, and the Valley of Kings is alright, and the Tomb of Semerkhet is pretty good. Some of the level sequence triggers are in very odd places and are annoying to find though. I like the return of vehicles, they were very fun in the 3rd game and I appreciate them in 4 as well. The story is mildly interesting to follow with Von Croy being the main villain, and the very good and strong focus on Egyptian stuff. The destructible pots and crates are very nice and provide a good supply of ammo and health packs and everything. Tomb Raider 4 rewards exploration pretty well a lot of the time. I would say after the Tomb of Semerkhet, going into the train level is where the game started to become unenjoyable for me.
The train level is terrible. There's a horrible amount of enemy spam, all of which are ninjas which can just deflect bullets with a knife for some reason. The puzzle isn't even interesting or fun. The awkward platforming made for a lot of annoying deaths of just falling off the train, the game fell off pretty badly at this point. And it does not get any better at all, Alexandria gave me flashbacks to Venice in TR2 with all the ridiculous hitscan enemies. The amount of backtracking I had to do to trigger the obscure but necessary cutscene in Alexandria, and to get the gate key both of which are very easily missable was very annoying. Then the coastal ruins just feel completely empty, there are so many nooks and crannies that have absolutely nothing. After finally figuring out the gate key thing, the levels inside the coastal ruins aren't any better. None of the puzzles at this point are enjoyable or well designed. Poseidon's Temple is annoying, I love getting spammed by enemy skeletons who are only vulnerable to explosive weapons. The lost library is a similar story, it's just annoying and the puzzle is not good. The beetle enemies in the Temple of Isis are terrible, I don't understand why they need to be completely unkillable. And it's way too easy to get softlocked in Cleopatra's level. I did not get a single ounce of enjoyment out of the entire Alexandria chapter, the puzzles are very poorly designed.
And then there was City of the Dead, surely another city level couldn't go terribly right? The only cool part about it is the motorcycle, again the vehicles are fun. Everything else about is terrible. The entire puzzle sequence in the first area is "find this hidden obscure area to unlock another hidden obscure area and eventually this long sequence of levers will open the big area gate", it is quite bad especially with all the hitscan enemies around the level. The 2nd area of the chapter completely broke me, and is where I decided to put down the game. The minotaur puzzle is one of the worst game sequences I have ever experienced before, it should have gone smoothly but for some reason the first time I tried to trap the minotaur the gates bugged out and he just respawned at the start. So I gave it another attempt, this time the gates didn't bug out and I successfully trapped him, but because I left the motorcycle on the other side of the ravine I was literally softlocked and had to revert to a save from 30 minutes earlier. Keep in mind there is a rope swing, which is an almost non-functional mechanic in this game and takes me 5 minutes to even successfully use, which is necessary to use every time I have to redo this. The final attempt, the gate bugged out yet again so that the gate lever was inverted, the lever is already in a bad place because it lures the minotaur out of the trap and requires very close timing to work. The gate lever being inverted made this practically impossible, I spent maybe 30 minutes just trying to get it to work and it just didn't.
If Tomb Raider 4 was half as long I could get through it with no issues. If I'm not mistaken this is the longest classic Tomb Raider game, and so it way overstays its welcome. TR4 has some very high highs, but some extremely low lows. Honestly if it weren't for the minotaur section bugging out so badly for me I could probably finish the game just fine, but I do not want to subject myself to that again. I do well to keep a cool head in more frustrating games like this, but that section just did me in. Take my rating with a grain of salt because I obviously didn't finish the game, but I can't imagine it got much better from where I ended off.
Rating: 5/10
Completion: Retired
Time: 12 hours, 54 minutes
Days taken: 7
Next in the series: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (PC via TR4-6 Remastered, 2000)
Series progress: 9/11
Other Games & Media
I've been taking a break from playing too many games right now, I'm just not feeling it. I'm doing perfectly fine so don't worry about me, I'm just trying to slow things down for a bit. I have been playing a few games, mostly comfort games like Geometry Dash and Street Fighter 6. I've been attempting Nine Circles in Geometry Dash and I got to around 50%, it has been very fun. And I finally got past the competitive brick wall in Street Fighter and pushed all the way to Gold, which I somehow rode to on a 9 win streak, the final match to get into gold was probably the best I've ever played so it's going great. I've also been playing some Marvel Rivals competitive with some friends, I've been trying to push to Diamond 3 but I've been hard stuck in Platinum 1 for the past few days. So yeah, I've been playing mostly online and comfort games, again just taking it easy.
Up Next & Additional Notes
I haven't even started Mega Man 4 yet, and today is actually the first time in 4 days that I've even booted up Tomb Raider. I think I'll start Mega Man 4 today or tomorrow, I'm definitely feeling it now. I've heard worse things about Chronicles, but I'm hoping the much shorter length of it will make it completely doable, just 11 hours compared to the 18 hours of TR4. And I have heard some things about Angel of Darkness, apparently the remaster doesn't fix any of it's major issues so it should be a very interesting experience. I don't like to retire games, I strongly avoid it, but I definitely have my limits lol. Anyway, thanks for reading through my short TR4 rant, and until next time!
Retirement: Tomb Raider: The Last Revalation (PC via TR4-6 Remastered, 1999)
This is the 2nd time I'm retiring this game, though this time it's for different reasons as I made it about 2/3 of the way through the game, and this retirement is permanent unless they make a full blown remake of the game. Tomb Raider 4 starts out great, but it slowly devolves to the point where it's borderline unplayable, I could not bring myself to finish it. I'll write a review even though this is a retirement.
Review
My first few hours with Tomb Raider 4 were actually very enjoyable, the remake is very nicely done aside from the lighting which is way too dark. I went into this with a pretty fresh mind, it had been a number of months since I played the original trilogy. I actually enjoyed the tutorial level. The combat is still terrible but that's just classic Tomb Raider for you, and the combat honestly isn't frequent enough to be overly annoying, so it wasn't an issue for a lot of the game. I had fun with Seth's Tomb, the Burial Chamber had some fun puzzles, and the Valley of Kings is alright, and the Tomb of Semerkhet is pretty good. Some of the level sequence triggers are in very odd places and are annoying to find though. I like the return of vehicles, they were very fun in the 3rd game and I appreciate them in 4 as well. The story is mildly interesting to follow with Von Croy being the main villain, and the very good and strong focus on Egyptian stuff. The destructible pots and crates are very nice and provide a good supply of ammo and health packs and everything. Tomb Raider 4 rewards exploration pretty well a lot of the time. I would say after the Tomb of Semerkhet, going into the train level is where the game started to become unenjoyable for me.
The train level is terrible. There's a horrible amount of enemy spam, all of which are ninjas which can just deflect bullets with a knife for some reason. The puzzle isn't even interesting or fun. The awkward platforming made for a lot of annoying deaths of just falling off the train, the game fell off pretty badly at this point. And it does not get any better at all, Alexandria gave me flashbacks to Venice in TR2 with all the ridiculous hitscan enemies. The amount of backtracking I had to do to trigger the obscure but necessary cutscene in Alexandria, and to get the gate key both of which are very easily missable was very annoying. Then the coastal ruins just feel completely empty, there are so many nooks and crannies that have absolutely nothing. After finally figuring out the gate key thing, the levels inside the coastal ruins aren't any better. None of the puzzles at this point are enjoyable or well designed. Poseidon's Temple is annoying, I love getting spammed by enemy skeletons who are only vulnerable to explosive weapons. The lost library is a similar story, it's just annoying and the puzzle is not good. The beetle enemies in the Temple of Isis are terrible, I don't understand why they need to be completely unkillable. And it's way too easy to get softlocked in Cleopatra's level. I did not get a single ounce of enjoyment out of the entire Alexandria chapter, the puzzles are very poorly designed.
And then there was City of the Dead, surely another city level couldn't go terribly right? The only cool part about it is the motorcycle, again the vehicles are fun. Everything else about is terrible. The entire puzzle sequence in the first area is "find this hidden obscure area to unlock another hidden obscure area and eventually this long sequence of levers will open the big area gate", it is quite bad especially with all the hitscan enemies around the level. The 2nd area of the chapter completely broke me, and is where I decided to put down the game. The minotaur puzzle is one of the worst game sequences I have ever experienced before, it should have gone smoothly but for some reason the first time I tried to trap the minotaur the gates bugged out and he just respawned at the start. So I gave it another attempt, this time the gates didn't bug out and I successfully trapped him, but because I left the motorcycle on the other side of the ravine I was literally softlocked and had to revert to a save from 30 minutes earlier. Keep in mind there is a rope swing, which is an almost non-functional mechanic in this game and takes me 5 minutes to even successfully use, which is necessary to use every time I have to redo this. The final attempt, the gate bugged out yet again so that the gate lever was inverted, the lever is already in a bad place because it lures the minotaur out of the trap and requires very close timing to work. The gate lever being inverted made this practically impossible, I spent maybe 30 minutes just trying to get it to work and it just didn't.
If Tomb Raider 4 was half as long I could get through it with no issues. If I'm not mistaken this is the longest classic Tomb Raider game, and so it way overstays its welcome. TR4 has some very high highs, but some extremely low lows. Honestly if it weren't for the minotaur section bugging out so badly for me I could probably finish the game just fine, but I do not want to subject myself to that again. I do well to keep a cool head in more frustrating games like this, but that section just did me in. Take my rating with a grain of salt because I obviously didn't finish the game, but I can't imagine it got much better from where I ended off.
Rating: 5/10
Completion: Retired
Time: 12 hours, 54 minutes
Days taken: 7
Next in the series: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (PC via TR4-6 Remastered, 2000)
Series progress: 9/11
Other Games & Media
I've been taking a break from playing too many games right now, I'm just not feeling it. I'm doing perfectly fine so don't worry about me, I'm just trying to slow things down for a bit. I have been playing a few games, mostly comfort games like Geometry Dash and Street Fighter 6. I've been attempting Nine Circles in Geometry Dash and I got to around 50%, it has been very fun. And I finally got past the competitive brick wall in Street Fighter and pushed all the way to Gold, which I somehow rode to on a 9 win streak, the final match to get into gold was probably the best I've ever played so it's going great. I've also been playing some Marvel Rivals competitive with some friends, I've been trying to push to Diamond 3 but I've been hard stuck in Platinum 1 for the past few days. So yeah, I've been playing mostly online and comfort games, again just taking it easy.
Up Next & Additional Notes
I haven't even started Mega Man 4 yet, and today is actually the first time in 4 days that I've even booted up Tomb Raider. I think I'll start Mega Man 4 today or tomorrow, I'm definitely feeling it now. I've heard worse things about Chronicles, but I'm hoping the much shorter length of it will make it completely doable, just 11 hours compared to the 18 hours of TR4. And I have heard some things about Angel of Darkness, apparently the remaster doesn't fix any of it's major issues so it should be a very interesting experience. I don't like to retire games, I strongly avoid it, but I definitely have my limits lol. Anyway, thanks for reading through my short TR4 rant, and until next time!
1 Yr#
MeowZeDung
1 Yr#
I also hate retiring games, so I feel your pain. Our sanity and fun factor is more important when it comes to video games though. Good luck with the remaining Tomb Raider games!