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So this week I was thinking of doing something else besides Mega Man, but then I saw Ryan go through the first three Mega Man games and so I thought, "Heck it, why don't I do one of the ones few people are likely to have played?"

(EDIT: Literally one person above me played this, albeit a romhack. Perception is not my strong suit.)

GAME #3: MEGA MAN: DR. WILY'S REVENGE (ROCKMAN WORLD)

The Game Boy Mega Man games! They exist! Even if the last two are the only ones people truly care about (in a non-ironic way). I've had all five on my 3DS for years, picking them up as they came out. Over on the MaGMML3 Discord, I've seen this one get a bit of a bad rep; it's too hard, it's bullsh*t difficult, etc. and while it's definitely not my favourite of the Game Boy titles, it's not bad, and it's definitely not bullsh*t difficult. (No, that one's for another day.)

Dr. Wily's Revenge is very much "Mega Man's first Game Boy game", what with it being a hybrid of 1 and 2 without E-Tanks, and it only being six stages long. (When Ryan said Wily Tower was longer than some official Mega Man games? Yeah, this is the one.) But for what it is, I feel the game has an interesting if slightly underutilised way of combining the first game's stages with parts of the second; Elec Man, for instance, has you jumping across clouds while fighting lightning-throwing robots like in Air Man's stage, and Cut Man uses conveyors extensively like Metal Man. Ice Man and Fire Man don't quite do this, but the former has some interesting unique gimmicks in falling icicles and ice blocks that melt if you stay on them too long. Fire Man, meanwhile, only has a unique burner flame that shows up in two screens, and uses invincible falling Changkeys otherwise, though points for using Quick Man's Changkey Maker enemies.

As ever, I tried going in a random order instead of following the weakness loop, and fighting these Robot Masters, I noticed how a lot of them are easier to buster only than their NES fights. Ice Man was the first boss I fought, and while his shots still hurt a lot more than you'd expect, they're not as tricky to avoid as they initially were. Fire Man doesn't go ballistic if you're standing far away from him. You can trap Elec Man in a jumprope-esque loop where he can't shoot, and even if he does, it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it used to. And then there's Cut Man, who I swear is now the hardest boss in the game, even with his weakness.

There's not much to say about the Wily stages, there's only two of them, but I do appreciate the bait and switch it pulls with its teleporter room. You'd reasonably expect to fight the first four bosses all over again, then bam! You fight a whole new set of bosses and get their weapons too! It's a little disappointing that they don't have their own stages (would you believe me if I said Bubble Man's fight is the only place in the game that has water?!), but again, the surprise is worth it - and considering that the next game does this while repeating this teleporter setup (with issues I'll address when we get there), perhaps it's for the best. Oh, and Enker's a pretty cool guy I guess.

(As a quick aside, there's some new Mega Man figures coming out by Jada Toys; Ice Man and Fire Man are [almost] out, Cut Man and Elec Man are on the way, Guts Man and Bomb Man are a no-show so far. If not for Wave 3 featuring Wood Man alongside Bubble Man, I'd almost think there was a secret Dr. Wily's Revenge fan over there!)

The weapons are generally the same as before, but I find the Thunder Beam much less useful as it's now more prone to snaking over small targets thanks to the smaller screen. The Rolling Cutter, meanwhile, is a pretty solid weapon that tears through everything. Carry - a platform maker you get just before the first Wily stage - is a unique item, and it really comes in handy with the many blind spike drops the Wily stages throw at you (and as a safety net for a tricky disappearing block puzzle in the Wily Station).

And the Mega Man 2 weapons come in so late you seldom get to use them, but Bubble Lead is a surprisingly strong weapon, Time Stopper has a few niche uses, and the Atomic Fire has sensible ammo usage at the cost of releasing a shot when you're hurt. The Mirror Buster is also a fun weapon to play with - definitely a bit weird if you're more familiar with its Mega Man 10 iteration - but because it's the only weapon that can harm the final boss (a recurring trend in the Game Boy games), you're not likely to use it for the small time you have it.

Wow, this might be the most I've written so far in this, all for a game few people really care about, myself included. Overall, good solid first effort, which will surely be improved on in the second game and not turn out a laughing stock.

Oh, and something funny that I never experienced before; somehow, I glitched the stage select to the point where I was stuck in a loop where the boss stands in the centre of the screen while the stage select graphics keep sliding away in a slightly-glitched mess for all eternity until I reset. How I did THAT, I'll probably never know, but I tried getting a pic of it.

Edited February 25 by Spin Attaxx