This Week In Retro: Mega Man 4 (Patreon)

December 6, 1991: Think of this as Mega Man 2 2

by Diamond Feit

When it comes to video games, the magic word is "progress." Since the earliest days when Pong showed players which paddle had the most points, we expect games to let us know how far we have come since we first pressed start. High scores, numbered levels, hit points, character stats…even the conversation around the platforms themselves necessarily reinforces the long journey behind us. In the 1990s, all anyone could talk about was how many "bits'' each machine could handle, which led directly to advertisers enthusiastically boasting about the sheer amount of data each game contained. These days, people talk more about "frame rates" and "resolution" but really, it's the same routine: If numbers go up, gamers are happy.

Progress is not always a matter of mere numbers, however. A great game can make players feel as if they themselves have undergone a transformation or embarked on a grand adventure, all without leaving the comfort of their favorite chair. I believe one reason that RPG "elements" are so popular across all genres is because they help convince players that what they are doing in the game matters, and that they're not wasting their time but rather building their character or accumulating (virtual) loot. I can't stop playing Fortnite, Mom, I've almost unlocked Spider-Man!

When we look back at Capcom's Mega Man series (which we have done in these pages before), the first three games show a very clear path of improvement. The original game is like a rough draft compared to Mega Man 2, since the second game outclasses the first in every regard. Mega Man 3 rounded out the concept even further by giving the Blue Bomber's mobility devices a unified theme (and a name) in Rush, as well as giving Mega Man a mysterious older brother in Protoman. It even increased the stakes by having evil Dr. Wily perish at the end of the game, clearing the way for Mega Man to move on to other opponents.

This set the bar quite high for Mega Man 4, which came out the following year. By 1991, with three straight hit games and a recurring role in the American cartoon Captain N: The Game Master, Mega Man was a star. He was riding a crescendo of releases that, like Super Mario Bros and Castlevania, had shown significant growth in quality and scope in each entry. Unlike those series, however, Mega Man stuck with the NES rather than graduate to the technically-superior Super NES.

With all these factors to consider, the underwhelming nature of Mega Man 4 might have been inevitable. Fame and familiarity go hand in hand, and there's just no real surprises in this, his fifth game in as many years (including his first Game Boy adventure, but skipping his off-model DOS disaster). Mega Man had reached franchise-status and the formulaic nature of the series became calcified: There are eight robot masters to fight in Mega Man 4, each with their own stage and special weapon, who can be faced in any order. This unlocks a gauntlet of final stages in a castle (which includes rematches with all the robot masters) before a penultimate boss battle against a giant machine, followed by one last showdown in the castle's depths.

Mega Man 4 includes one major revision to the previous titles as our hero gains the new ability to charge his weapon. Earlier games had relied on players' ability to mash the B-button as fast as possible to take out enemies quickly, but now they have the option to prepare a stronger blast by holding the button down. This changes the fundamental flow of the game, encouraging caution and slowing down Mega Man's "run and gun" tactics to more of a "think and slink" approach.

There is also the matter of the new villain, Dr. Cossack. He's younger than Dr. Wily, but his approach to evil science is exactly the same as the late antagonist's, right down to the sinister fortress (although he prefers onion domes to giant skulls). However, when the player makes their way into his lair, the "twist" of Mega Man 4 is that Dr. Cossack isn't evil and Wily isn't dead; the latter forced the former to do his bidding. Thus, the player must pursue Dr. Wily to a second, skullified castle and Mega Man 4 ends exactly the same way as every other Mega Man game does.

It's hard to gripe about Mega Man 4's insistence on sticking to the series' structure because if I didn't like Mega Man games, I wouldn't play them. I neither expect nor require each sequel to radically reinvent the wheel. I'm also a firm believer that "bigger" isn't always necessarily a sign of improvement, and I have gone on record stating that I prefer Mega Man 2 to its longer, more demanding successor. I feel that balancing challenge versus entertainment is a fine line for games like these, and I personally believe that Mega Man 3 leans way too hard on being hard.

Mega Man 4, however, is probably easier than it should be thanks to the new charge shot. A full-power discharge can destroy most enemies in a single hit, reducing the threat level of normal stages dramatically. The difference is less drastic when it comes to the robot master boss battles, but even there the charge shot means that patient players can wait for the perfect moment to deal extra damage.

Of course, part of Mega Man games is using the right weapon against the right enemy, and in the case of Mega Man 4 the right weapon will absolutely devastate its designated target. I have no idea what Pharaoh Man actually does because I can stun him and shoot him with the Flash Stopper every time. Toad Man is even more of a pushover, as his Rain Flush requires such a long wind-up that blasting him into submission is no challenge at all.

I also enjoy how many special weapons in Mega Man 4 are variations on past skills, except they are new and improved. The aforementioned Flash Stopper freezes foes in place just like Flash Man's Time Stopper in Mega Man 2, but the Flash Stopper lets Mega Man keep attacking while his enemies are helpless. The Skull Barrier is a more badass version of Wood Man's Leaf Shield, except Mega Man can now move with the shield in place, making it far more useful. The Dive Bomb explodes and destroys barriers like the Crash Bomber did, but with the added ability to remotely trigger the detonation.

I am of two minds when it comes to Mega Man 4. I recognize it is highly derivative of its predecessors, and the sense of innovation the series once held is long gone, but I also know I had a great time playing it this year, more so than most of its sequels. So even if I would never place it alongside my favorite, Mega Man 2, it's a solid game that likely gets overlooked. After all, by 1991 progress demanded that many NES owners move on to a 16-bit console, so if they played Mega Man 4 at all it was likely years later in a compilation or via an emulator (all true in my case).

The good news is that none of this nitpicking matters. Mega Man 4 is a good game, well above average compared to other NES titles, even if it's on the lower end of other Mega Man games. If you've played Mega Man 2 and 3 over and over again, why not try 4 for a change? It's not as challenging, but it's got all the usual frills: The enemies are cute, the action feels good, and the music is just terrific.

If you're the type of player who insists on struggling with your games, Mega Man 4 can still offer that level of challenge, provided you set yourself with limitations. Try abstaining from using the charge shot by setting your controller to auto-fire. Resist the urge to look up robot master weaknesses, or attempt to fight them all with the default Mega Buster.

Whatever your approach, I promise that Mega Man 4 is worth a look, if only to ask the question "what is the deal with Skull Man?" I thought these robots were supposed to be industrial assistants doing work that humans could not, so why would there be a non-evil machine with a human skull for a head? His special ability is also skull-based, although it forms a defensive ring of skulls around his body? Also, his entire lair is skeleton-themed with bones lining the walls and massive exposed rib cages in the floor. Did he skin an unseen titan and make his home inside its remains? Is Skull Man a descendant of a long-lost race of robot dinosaurs? Don't make me venture into AO3, Capcom, answer me now!

Diamond Feit lives in Osaka, Japan but is forever online, sharing idle thoughts on Twitter and playing games on Twitch.