Game:

Mega Man (1987)

Duration: 6:52

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1

Now that's more like it... not nearly the running time of the previous video, and honestly I like it a lot better when these things can be more easily digested without getting bogged down in the particular details of the stage, but SOME stages really demand and deserve that kind of treatment.

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Bomb Man Stage

This stage... not so much. I'd rate it a hair more treacherous than Cut Man's and we all saw how that one went as far as introductions go. I'm glad it's not like... "this is the order you should take them all in" by just pressing right.

Well, I guess the stages themselves, while formidable enough, aren't REALLY the major obstacles if you want to get down to brass tacks... they can be troublesome and contain tricky gimmicks to navigate, but the Robot Master will typically be the real threat to watch out for, and THAT will mean that you're likely going to be playing them in a totally different sequence than "which stage is least treacherous" would have them ordered...

Anyway, it WOULD be my pick for simplest and most straightforward stage... except it has a couple of "gotcha" moments around some death drops and possible tricky attacks to trip you up between stops on stable land.

Gee, isn't this place kinda cheerful and almost "friendly" for a bomb-themed locale? ...especially with things blowing up... or shooting things at you... or blowing up AND shooting at you... ... ...what was I saying about this place seeming friendly?

I'd like to point out that it also so happens that while the first death you see in this video manages to capture is also the last life remaining from the previous stage... however, the reemergence at the start of the stage would've happened either way. I don't know if you've necessarily picked up on this little detail, but when I leave in a whole life from start to end, I do so with the desire to show the full scope of the stage's environment in a fashion that strikes a precarious balance between completeness and natural flow... specifically where you resume play after a death, as this example would have it. How well this is actually conveyed without need for explanation or how it plays out as more or less "unnecessary" repetition is up to the eye of the beholder, however.

A rather minor feature but interesting footnote is the presence of the shield-wielding Sniper Joe, a traditional and oft-recurring enemy of a particularly nontrivial nature. Joes cover themselves well, attack with rather quick and often powerful shots of their own, and soak up a lot of damage before being defeated. I think that the attack speed and tenacious use of unusually high (as opposed to nonexistent) mobility might actually make this an unusually deadly example of Sniper Joe compared to his later game appearances... so maybe it's a good thing for Mega Man's health that Joe only shows up in this stage.

I'm a fair bit confused by the reappearing extra life, though... maybe it's abusable for repeat collection if you jump very carefully to scroll the screen and still land on the platform in question, but I rather doubt that I'd want to make a habit of it.

Wow, such an odd shutter room! ... no real energy grinding potential here, though. I guess on the upside, gravity will help you out if you should take a hit on the way down and then you won't have to worry about anything else. And what's this?! The second shutter is already open! Egads!

Bomb Man is fairly refreshingly straightforward. He likes to throw a bomb at your present location or jump towards you... which technically you can deal with in the same fashion... just don't stand where one or the other will land. Simple, right?! Well, it's easy to get a little off-balance, because Bomb Man and his Bombs travel at different speeds and there are different amounts of time to react depending on which of the two he's presently doing, not to mention how his changed distance from Mega Man could complicate the spacing for evasive maneuvers.

Bomb Man generally tends to shift gears between throwing and jumping, so it's more likely that he'll continue with the action he was already doing than switching off... although the likelihood he'll change things up increases as he keeps up a repetitive action for long enough. I guess he gets comfortable with practice AND has a tendency to get bored... such a contradictory fellow!

It's not particularly surprising (collisions have never really traditionally been very player-favoring exchanges), but Bomb Man's bombs themselves count as attacks that will hurt you on contact regardless of whether or not they're in the process of exploding. I guess the only other concern is to keep in mind the bomb blast radius, since you can jump or walk just out of range... but it's quite easy to get that slightly wrong. It's probably best to do a little combination of both, but make sure you're aware of the next bomb or Bomb Man's approach vector and don't end up getting hit by the next attack while trying to avoid the current one.

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