The fourth in the series of
Nintendo games starring the one and only
Blue Bomber himself,
Mega Man 4 is very much the progression of its predecessors- a side-scrolling
platform action game that had eight different stages with eight different bosses, each of which relinquished a special weapon when they were defeated.
The following text is taken from the introductory screens of the game.
Household robots Rock and Roll were created by master robot designer Dr. Light,
and were enjoying their peaceful days.
Then one day, the industrial robots all over the world went on a rampage and the world fell into total chaos.
Dr. Light quickly realized that mad scientist, Dr. Wily, was behind the nefarious deed but he didn't know what to do.
Rock, having a strong sense of justice, volunteered to be converted into a fighting robot. Thus, the super robot Mega Man was born.
Mega Man shattered Dr. Wily's plans three times and world peace had been maintained so far... but history repeats itself.
Dr. Cossack, a mysterious scientist, had invented eight powerful robots and sent them after Mega Man. Mega Man starts for the battle again, this time equipped with
the powerful new Mega Buster!!
The biggest thing that differentiated Mega Man 4 from the previous Megaman games is the Mega Buster mentioned just before- whereas Megaman was previously restricted to firing smallish bolts of plasma, the player can hold down the fire button for a time, and after a moment or two of glowing, Megaman will be able to fire a charged shot that is about twice as strong as his normal attack.
Also present is a helpful robot called
Eddie- a creation of
Dr. Light's. Eddie appears in set points of the robots' stages, dispensing health, weapon energy, or extra lives through the flip-top on his head.
Dr. Cossack, the supposed mastermind behind the attack of the eight robots, is also the first
patsy of the series- before now,
Dr. Wily has been the brains behind the marauding robot attackers. However, the evil doctor was
crushed under a boulder in the
previous game- this time, the mysterious scientist known as
Dr. Cossack is the initial enemy, having created his own robots to wreak havoc upon the world.
Speaking of those, here's a list of Megaman's opponents for this particular game in no particular order:
After defeating all eight of Dr. Cossack's robots, Megaman then ventures out into the scientist's fortress (styled very much like a Russian castle). After defeating the various fortress guardians, Megaman comes face to face with Dr. Cossack, defeats him, and is almost about to put him to an end when the enigmatic
Proto Man comes in to save the day, Cossack's daughter
Kalinka in tow. (Being Proto Man, he leaves just as quickly as he came, leaving Kalinka behind.) She explains that Cossack only did this because she was being held hostage by Dr. Wily. Wily pops in, looking surprisingly well after having been
crushed what must have been tons of rock, shouts angrily at the now-absent Protoman, and zips off in his all-too-familiar flying saucer to his own fortress. Thus, Megaman heads off to face Dr. Wily, and by defeating him after another series of fortress battles, saves the world from the evil doctor's megalomaniacal grasp yet again.
Compared to the
games that came before this one, Mega Man 4 is where the series begins to show its age. While not a bad game in any sense, it seems to lack the
oomph that MM2 and MM3 had- while not a cake walk, the game is a notch easier than those that came before it. The levels are less impressive. However, if you're interested in seeing more of the genre, buy it or find a good ROM site that you can grab a copy to evaluate- it's a great way to spend time.