Revisiting My Youth, My Battle Against Mega Man 3 Part 1

As I've got a bit older, I'm always worried that the gaming skills I had when I was younger would disappear. I thought things like my reaction time would get bad so I wouldn't be able to enjoy the games I loved as a kid. It will definitely slow down a bit, but probably not as horrible as I think. This worry is probably a bit overblown as I play games pretty much every day so I'm not totally out of practice. So to test this, I've decided to challenge a game that I beat when I was younger, Mega Man 3.

I love the Mega Man series and I have multiple versions of each game, the NES, Famicom, the Anniversary Collection on the Game Cube as well as the one on the Xbox, the Mega Man Legacy Collection on the Switch, and the version on Steam which I usually play on my Steam Deck. I even have a Mega Man tattoo to prove my love for this series! For this challenge, I've decided to use the Steam version as it is easier to record game footage and get screenshots.

Magnet Man is the boss I chose to battle first, I have no idea why I decided to make it harder for myself right from the beginning. Normally, I would select Snake Man since he's easier to defeat. Let's see how this goes…

This is brutal, I've been dying in the dumbest ways. I totally forgot there was a slide and using a thumb stick is evil. As I play, I remember that Magnet Man’s stage is diabolical, especially since it has a section with those disappearing blocks. That sound they make when they vanish still haunts me from when I was younger! After 15 minutes of those damn blocks, I finally got to the stage boss. Since this is the first boss I'm challenging, the only weapon I have is my Mega Buster to use along with the slide to avoid attacks. Try as I might, I got destroyed multiple times and ran out of lives, taken back to the start of the stage to start again. I opted to try a different stage first to get a useful weapon before facing Magnet Man again; I selected Hard Man's stage.

This rocky terrain is home to challenging enemies who come after you as soon as you land on the stage: large bees that drop hives unleashing multiple agitated little bees that come after you in a swarm, metal clothespin-like enemies that pop up from the ground to grab and crush you with their pincers, and an angry green robot with red eyes swinging a weapon in the air to release at you if you try to jump on his platform. I’m starting to feel that I am not welcome here! Next up we have robotic apes that swing from the ceiling and drop to jump on me as I try to pass. They will hang there and wait until that moment that I decide to move, and because they are so high up, it’s impossible to take them down with only the Mega Buster before they drop. After climbing numerous ladders and sliding under rock structures, I came across some Metools driving construction equipment. Even though they are large, they are pretty easy to take down as long as you aim for the driver, once they are defeated, the whole vehicle is gone so that you can pass.

As you make your way through the stage you see that one of these Metools is guarding something special, an E-tank that you can use to replenish your health once. These are very useful to have when you are in a boss battle when you need a refill of your energy to defeat the robot master that you are facing! Unlike the Mega Man X series, these tanks can not be refilled and used again, it’s a one-time thing, but you can always return to this stage to collect it once again, even when the boss is defeated.

Progressing through the stage, we will meet Protoman for the first time. There is no introduction or dialogue between the two characters, Protomon comes in, guns blazing, and you fire at him, but it doesn't look like he's taking damage, but he sure is hurting you! After around twenty seconds he jumps again but blows open a hole below you dropping you down to the next part of the stage.

A large energy pellet awaits you to replenish a chunk of your energy before you continue on your way down the ladder. As you descend you can see the door for the boss's room. The problem is that there is a large mechanical robot jumping around on the floor below you, waiting for you to make your move. I went back up the ladder so that the enemy would start by the right side of the floor once I entered the screen, as it jumped, I tried to slide underneath. I wasn’t completely successful as it landed on me, but I was able to dash through that door.

I was now in the small corridor before facing off against Hard Man, this is the location where I would start off if I die in battle against him, as long as I have enough lives that is. I only have one spare life, so essentially two chances to defeat him. There is also the one Energy Tank to use if I need it, though I would love to hold onto that for future battles if possible.

I am as ready as I am going to be, with only 11 health points out of the 28 you would have if it was full, I was sure this first battle would be quick. But at least I would get a chance to learn the attack pattern of Hard Man so that my next attempt may be successful. This may be a bit easier than I was expecting. First, you have to avoid the two missiles he shoots at you, but they act like boomerangs and will come back to him, so you will need to avoid them twice. While this is happening, Hard Man jumps into the air and smashes his head down into the ground. Regardless if you are standing on the floor or suspended in the air you will be temporarily shocked and unable to move, but if you time it right you can be in the air and avoid this so that you are free to attack. This same sequence will happen over and over again until either you are dead or he is defeated.

Needless to say, I am now attempting the battle again on my last life, the pressure is high. If I am killed here, it’s back to the beginning of the stage I go. The fight starts, and as hard as I try I can’t totally avoid those missiles and I am down to only four slivers of health. I really didn’t want to lose this battle, so I decided to use my E-tank. With my health bar replenished, I need to finish Hard Man off. He is down to 12 on his bar, so I have a chance of success. I try to avoid his knuckle attack and fire as many shots as possible at him. I am still taking a bit of damage, but I finally destroy him when I am down to half my health. The best part is that I now have a new weapon to add to my arsenal, Hard Knuckle. This is sure to help on my journey through Mega Man 3!

I think that the issue is that I don't have the patience I had as a kid, rather than a loss of skill. It may be because I don't have nearly as much time to play games as I used to, so dying and having to start over is more frustrating than it was when I had a lot more free time. So as I continue playing, I will try to be more patient with myself, getting annoyed isn’t going to help me progress. Currently, I’m not too sure who I will select to challenge next time, but here’s hoping the stage doesn’t have those stupid disappearing blocks!