And so the steamrollering of Mega Man games continues. Once again, eight evil robots stood between Mega Man and Dr… wait – Cossack? Not Dr Wily? That can’t be right?!

Spoilers: No, it isn’t right. Turns out rubbish Russian stereotype Dr Cossack was merely Dr Wily’s pawn, working for him as Wily had kidnapped Cossack’s Ushanka-wearing daughter (more stereotyping). Tch.

Robot ideas are running low now. Toad Man? Pharoah Man? Dust Man?! Rubbish. Oho! That’s a joke by the way. Dust Man is literally a vacuum cleaner who shoots rubbish at you. Pharoah Man is the easiest baddie of any kind (minion or boss or otherwise) in any game ever created ever, once you use Bright Man’s weapon, which freezes him allowing you to just keep hammering shoot. Also: “Bright Man”? Terrible name.

Mega Man 4 follows three Mega Man trends that I’ve noticed. The first is “add more stuff”. In 4, Mega Man’s Mega Buster has a charge shot. Something I thought he’d always had, until I started this adventure into playing all of the NES titles.

Secondly, Mega Man 4 is even bigger than the previous game. Again. As well as the main robot levels, you then have Dr Cossack’s castle, followed by Dr Wily’s castle.

Finally, once more the game has become significantly easier. Specifically, in the bosses. Ring Man was hard, but every other boss was waaay easier than those in the earlier games. The final bosses were a laugh to beat too. I don’t even think it’s just that I’m getting better either.

Onto 5 then. Scores so far: 4 > 3 > 2 > 1. Nice to see constant improvement, Capcom!

Three down, three to go. Well, NES Mega Man games, anyway. They just announced the SNES Mega Man 7 is in the pipeline for the Wii U Virtual Console, so it won’t be over so soon.

Mega Man 3 adds some new stuff to the series. The main thing, which had me stumped in a room until I realised, was you can now slide. This lets you squeeze under stuff, and is useful for avoiding certain attacks. The vaguely named items (1, 2 and 3) from Mega Man 2 have been replaced with the Rush devices – a dog who can be used as a spring, a moving platform, and a submarine, the latter of which is used for all of about twelve seconds in the entire game.

The game is also quite a lot longer than previous ones. There are still 8 Robot Masters, but once you beat them you have to replay remixed versions of four of their levels, complete with cloned robot masters from the older Mega Man games. The “Dr Wily stages” are next, and they’re longer too. That golum thing reappears too.

In general, it’s easier again than Mega Man 2, with the final boss being a complete walkover. I do wonder if the decline in difficulty is going to continue in the series?

Anyway. 3 > 2 > 1, if you’re keeping score.