Constant Limit

I cannot seem to get enough of Megaman. I can go on and on about the great legacy and empire that he has solely crafted himself. One of my favorite parts about the Megaman series is the various weapons that you can get as each title is released. Every time a new title comes out, I always wonder what new and hopefully inventive weapons Megaman will get from the robot masters this time around. The weapons and the catchy robot master tunes are what makes Megaman a video game icon. I will never forget how much impact Capcom has made on the video game industry due to the prevalance of Megaman.  Megaman’s weapons have been refined and re-tuned as he prepares for his next adventure. Either they balance an overpowered weapon, or give an underused one a little twist or boost to make them more useful. Some weapons are just fine the way that they are and reappear because they are needed once again. I am here to analyze how his weapons have evolved over time and compare how they have changed from prequels to sequels. I will base these comparisons on the first six titles, which all reside on the NES (Nintendo). I will then make a final decision on whether the weapon evolved or devolved from its predecessor.

From Metal Blade (II) to Shadow Blade (III)

My personal favorite weapon out of the Megaman series is the metal blade. This weapon has been branded as extremely broken and imbalanced. With its minimal energy use and 8-directional support, this is the craziest weapon ever concocted. You can just stand in one place and hit almost anything without moving or jumping. Can we say overpowered? Compare this weapon to its successor, the lesser shadow blade. The shadow blade from MM3 is similar to the metal blade but it only shoots in 5 directions instead of metal’s 8. Not only that but the shadow blade has a much shorter range while the metal blade crosses the entire screen. The shadow whips back if it does not hit an enemy but the return motion does very little to add to its value. The metal blade devolved to the shadow blade, due to balancing issues.

Verdict: Devolution. The shadow blade was balanced from MM2 due to metal’s overkill.

From Atomic Ray (II) to Pharoah Shot (IV)

The atomic ray from Heat Man foreshadowed megaman’s signature weapon, the mega buster, which did not appear until MM4. You can charge up the atomic ray to let loose a great ball of fire. The more you charge, the stronger the blast and the more energy that you expend. If you do a fully-charged atomic ray shot, you can defeat Wood Man in one hit. This weapon was not very useful because the metal blades overshadowed it. Compare the atomic ray to MM4’s pharoah shot. Same concept here, charge up your pharoah shot and release a big blast to your enemy. Something interesting to note here, is that as you charge your pharoah shot, it appears above your head so you can see how large the shot will be. I found this to be really nice as the pharoah shot doubles as a shield/helmet for your head. A fully-charged pharoah shot uses a lot less energy than a fully-charged atomic ray blast. So I will have to say that in this case, Megaman’s charge up weapon has evolved.

Verdict: Evolution. The pharoah shot uses less energy than the atomic ray and it also served as a shield/helmet from protection.

From Rain Flush (IV) to Centaur Flash (VI)

Now I will compare the “smart bomb” weapons. If you have played any aerial/space shooter games, then you know what a smart bomb is. A smart bomb is a desperation move used when there are an overwhelming amount of enemies on the screen and you are about to die. Using a smart bomb will damage and normally destoy all enemies on the screen, clearing them all out. This gives you time to recover from the onslaught and survive from it. Properly using smart bombs made your quarters last longer at the arcade. Megaman too has these weapons in the form of Toad Man’s rain flush and Centaur Man’s centaur flash. The rain flush is neat little weapon designed to attack all enemies on the screen. I actually like the way this weapon looks. Megaman throws a small device or capsule into the air, which then bursts open. Then is releases I guess acid rain on the enemies. Graphically, this weapon looks good and clears all lesser enemies on the screen.  Two sequels later, the rain flush was rehashed into the centaur flash. Same exact weapon. The only difference now is that the centaur flash is a bit faster than the rain flush, but I have not noticed any real perceivable difference. For the most part, these two weapon are exactly equal.

Verdict: No change, these weapons also use the same amount of energy. The rain flush looks better though.

From Top Spin (III) to Charge Kick (V)

These two weapons are unique, if not strange and dangerous to use. These two weapons required Megaman to physically hit the enemy with his body and risk the chance of becoming injured if the attack failed. I cannot say that I used these weapons often, but there is a connection between them. The top spin is a weapon where Megaman must jump into the air and perform a spinning move. This spinning motion supposedly damages the enemies. The worst part about this weapon is that it can drain quickly if the spin does not damage the enemy. Not only that but you must jump in the air to use it. This has to be one of the most user-unfriendly weapons ever created. Later on in MM5, this melee weapon transformed into the charge kick. Which is a bit better, but still awkward. Now you have to slide on the ground to hit enemies. So aerial enemies are immune to this unless they are near the ground. If the charge kick does not kill the enemy you might get hit unless you move back to avoid collision. Megaman’s melee weapon really did not get much better here.

Verdict: No change, the charge kick really is not that much better than the top spin. Either these weapons were poorly thought out or Megaman is just not equipped for such close enemy encounters. Stay at range and stick to your buster.

From Leaf (II) to Skull (IV) to  Star (V) to Plant (VI) Shields/Barriers

This is definitely one reoccuring theme. Megaman shields have severly weakened throughout his life. The leaf shield has to be the second craziest weapon in MM2. This weapon once activated, protected you as long as you do not move. You can just stand there and kill enemies forever if you continue to stand still. This was fun to do at the bird section on Air Man’s stage for infinite life and weapon energy. You were invincible with the left shield activated. Even better, you could shoot the shield in four directions once you were done with it. This is easily the best shield ever created on Megaman’s stay on the NES. Ever since MM2, the shields have deteriorated to the point where you no longer use them. Skull barrier? This shield only absorbs a single hit, but you can move now. You cannot even shoot this shield out like you can with leaf. Star shield? This is only marginally better than the skull barrier because you can at least shoot it now. Then we have the plant barrier. This is just the skull barrier again. Like the metal blade, the leaf shield was so overpowered that it just killed the rest of the shields for the sequals.

Verdict: Devolution, big time. From leaf shield to plant barrier, it is clear that megaman should no longer rely on these defense mechanisms to protect himself.

From Ice Slasher (I) to Spark Shot (III)

These weapons were very fun to use because they were strategic and required planning to make them efficient. These two weapons do not damage the enemy. They paralyze and hold them in place so that you can either run under them, or jump over them. The ice slasher was useful for freezing fire flames and those red large robots that try to jump on you. Make sure that you have a clear path to bypass the enemy or else you can still get hit. The spark shot works exactly the same way. If you have great acrobatic jumping and sliding skills, you can probably make good use of these two weapons.

Verdict: No change. These weapons are still pretty much the same.

From Time Stopper (II) to Flash Stopper (IV)

The infamous time stopper from Megaman II. This weapon’s main use was in Quick Man’s stage to prevent the one-hit kill lasers from shooting out. It also reduces Quick Man’s to half if you use the time stopper with full energy. There are a couple other places that you can freeze the screen on MM2, but its use its too situational and therefore limited. Like the paralyzer weapons, stoppers freeze all enemies on the screen, instead of a single enemy. So you can think of stoppers as global freezers and paralyzers as single freezers. Let us see how the flash stopper did. I have to say that the flash stopper is more useful than the time stopper. Flash uses less energy so you can use it more often. You can also shoot enemies with your arm cannon to clear the way. With time, you must either jump or collide into unavoidable enemies. In this case, Flash wins.

Verdict: Evolution. The flash stopper is more useful as a normal weapon insteat of the time stopper’s situational use.

From Magnet Missile (III) to Gyro Attack (V)

The magnet missiles from MM3 were pretty fun to use. You just shoot them out and they will automatically either go up or down depending on the first enemy that they find. They also shoot out very fast and you can shoot out multiple missles at a time. This weapons uses two bars of energy so use them sparingly. Later on, the magnet missiles resurfaces as the gyro attack. The gryo attack is similar in that it first travels forward, but you have to manually move it up or down. I know that the gyro attack is not homing because you have to move it up or down yourself but the magnet missiles are. This is an obviously devolution because I prefer the faster moving and auto homing magnet missle. Those gyro attacks are so slow!

Verdict: Devolution. The magnet missles are far superious the gyro attack even though they consume two to gyro’s one bar of energy.

From Bubble Lead (II) to Search Snake (III)

These weapons crawled along the ground, hitting anything that they encounter. The bubble lead was mainly used for discovering false platforms in the Wily stages. Later on, this weapon was reincarnated as the search snake. This weapon is a bit more useful as it now climbs up walls. The bubble lead just pops when it hits a wall. Then again, how many enemies are on a wall in MM3?

Verdict: No change. Same ground crawler, not much difference in this case.

From Gemimi Laser (III) to Crystal Eye (V)

Every game usually has these types of weapons. These are the ones where you shoot a wall and they bounce off and continue to do so until they hit an enemy or they have bounced off too many times. The main difference between these weapons is that the crystal eye breaks off into 3 smaller crystals that will continue to bounce off the walls. The gemini laser does not split into more lasers upon hitting a wall.

Verdict: Evolution. The crystal eye breaks off into 3 smaller pieces and the gemini laser does not. This is helpful in tight corridors and spaces where the eyes are bound to hit some enemies.

Conclusion

Megaman’s weapons have reappeared several times throughout the series. It is always interesting to see what changes are made to balance them when they resurface. Even though the metal blade and leaf shield have weaken in the later counterparts, they were simply just too strong. I know making these weapon comparisons are difficult because every Megaman game has different stages. Some weapons were design for a specific Megaman title, like the time stopper. However, there are clear connections between weapons that return. Do you have another insightful analysis/comparison the make about megaman’s weapons? Feel free to comment and add your own opinions about this topic.