LaZodiac Plays: Megaman Classic Series Retrospective

[LaZodiac]

Cough cough, I'm a little sick, I'm hoping clearing the dust from the air will help make me better!

Megaman 4 [5] Dustman

Today we're fighting Dustman! He's relatively easy, as is his stage! His stage starts off with some really kickin rad music, with a sort of sad feeling since we're basically in a garbage disposal area. So like, a grave yard of robots. The mettaurs and the shield attackers and the dudes who jump out of pits are all relatively easy to deal with though.

The ladybug dudes (who are also in Pharoahman's stage, in a part we missed because of the Balloon Adaptor) make a return, and are VERY annoying during this appearing block section, but the Pharoah Shot makes quick work of them! Then we get to the second gimic of this stage, the compactor! It's a little slow to get through, and really only the last bit is any difficult, but it's rather interesting an idea.

Lastly, we have Dustman himself. I'm actually a little embarrassed I got hit here, since Dustman is like, the easiest boss of Megaman 4. He shoots his Dust Crusher at you, jumps occasionally, and tries to vacuum you in. Not very difficult at all. For beating him we get the Dust Crusher, which works exactly like how it does for Dustman.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time!

[Eldariel]

Easier than Toadman? Surely that's an exaggeration

[LaZodiac]

...right! Good point

[INoKnowNames]

God, when did they get that awesome opening? I'm so derpy right now, I don't remember if all the Robot Masters for the first few games shared that jingle or not.

Eitherway, I forgot that these continued while I was incapacitated. I have a lot of watching to do, and I gotta get fixed so I can try to catch up! I hadn't even gotten started yet...

I'll watch you for tips!

You didn't at -all- flinch from the celling crushers... I'd have been scared at that point... And you totally pwned Dust Man! Nice!

[LaZodiac]

They all share the same opening jingle. And whatever happened to you, I hope you get fixed soon!

[LaZodiac]

Skulls for the Skullman throne!

Megaman 4 [6] Skullman

This stage is actually rather long. I've had instances where the music actually had to fade out and loop back in! Anyway, this stage has cannons that shoot bouncy bullets, floating dudes who are kind of like the Telies from Heatman's stage way back when, caterpillers, cannons with skull backs that make them invincible from the back, and the ever present variant of the Sniper Joe, Skeleton Joe! There's honestly not a lot to say about this stage. That part with the first E Tank, if you go further you hit a dead end. I only went up first so that if I died I'd respawn at the checkpoint that is right there instead of at the start of the stage.

Skullman himself is rather interesting. At the start of the fight, he doesn't move until you do, which is quite interesting. His Skull Barrier makes him completely invincible, and (for me atleast) he's genuinely hard to dodge concerning his shots and jumps. Guy's kinda difficult! But that old bag of bones gets crushed into dust by the Dust Crusher, and with that we head on to our next destination!

I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you all next time!

[Surrealistik]

The Mexican standoff with Skullman was almost as amusing as your struggle with that second last Skeleton Joe.

[LaZodiac]

Skeleton Joe is my mortal enemy, as are all Joes *shakes fist*

[INoKnowNames]

Part of me finds it hilarious that you read the info for the Shield Bots both times after you did exactly what the info asked of it.

I also wonder why you don't seem to like Charge Shots. Then again, I find it illogical to do anything -but- Spam Charge Shots. I love Charge Shots.

I was wondering how long you were going to stand there just looking at each other. That was -epic-. Like a shounen anime!

Did I see a World Map option? Megaman has Maps? These areas actually have maps?

Overall, pretty good run! Who are you doing next? If you haven't done it yet, do Drill Man! Drills!

[LaZodiac]

Part of me finds it hilarious that you read the info for the Shield Bots both times after you did exactly what the info asked of it.

I also wonder why you don't seem to like Charge Shots. Then again, I find it illogical to do anything -but- Spam Charge Shots. I love Charge Shots.

I was wondering how long you were going to stand there just looking at each other. That was -epic-. Like a shounen anime!

Did I see a World Map option? Megaman has Maps? These areas actually have maps?

Overall, pretty good run! Who are you doing next? If you haven't done it yet, do Drill Man! Drills!

The Navigator system added in the Anniversary Collection has maps for Megaman 4. They're very simple grid based maps with no specifics to it. Only very few Megaman games have world maps, and we'll get to those when we get to them.

Skullman is sadly not the most anime of robot masters. And I can't do Drillman yet, don't have his weakness

I prefer using the rapid fire option, at least in this game. In later games the Charge Shot does become needed to progress though.

And yes, the Shield Attacker is so annoying, I gotta kill it before pausing just in case!

[INoKnowNames]

The Navigator system added in the Anniversary Collection has maps for Megaman 4. They're very simple grid based maps with no specifics to it. Only very few Megaman games have world maps, and we'll get to those when we get to them.

Skullman is sadly not the most anime of robot masters. And I can't do Drillman yet, don't have his weakness

I prefer using the rapid fire option, at least in this game. In later games the Charge Shot does become needed to progress though.

And yes, the Shield Attacker is so annoying, I gotta kill it before pausing just in case!

So, in other words, they're practically pointless, then? Or are any of the future games that feature them even semi-near challenging enough to warrent it?

That stand-off totally was... though, who -is- the most anime Robot Master? Star Man?

And psh. Weakness Weapons don't matter! Be a real champion! No E-Tanks, Buster Only, Final Destination! Oh wait, he hasn't been in a non-megaman fighting game in so long, he probably doesn't know that.

Come on, you have an Arm Cannon, and you'd prefer using Rapid Fire to the Biggest Shot possible? That's totally lame!

All enemies in Megaman are annoying in their own ways, so it seems.

[PhoeKun]

And psh. Weakness Weapons don't matter! Be a real champion! No E-Tanks, Buster Only, Final Destination! Oh wait, he hasn't been in a non-megaman fighting game in so long, he probably doesn't know that.

But... those games are his destiny!

Come on, you have an Arm Cannon, and you'd prefer using Rapid Fire to the Biggest Shot possible? That's totally lame!

I dunno man, rapid fire weapons are pretty sweet. They're all, like, pewpewpewpewpew and stuff.

[INoKnowNames]

But... those games are his destiny!

No way in heck someone who does that much platforming would actually have a Beer-Gut. Mario's only excuse is that he's constantly eating Mushrooms the size of your head, otherwise he'd have abs of steel.

.... MEGAMAN -DOES- HAVE ABS OF STEEL! HOW'D HE GET A BEER GUT!?!

I dunno man, rapid fire weapons are pretty sweet. They're all, like, pewpewpewpewpew and stuff.

I subscribe to the Dragon Ball Z school of thought: Concentrated Attacks beat barrages of blasts, and the bigger they are, the better they are.

[Eldariel]

Heh. Allow me a moment to gloat: Skullman is the first Robot Master whose pattern I properly learned. I was so proud when I could Megabuster him with no hits and my friends were pausing the game and calling me over to beat him if it was looking bad

Shoot, jump, shoot, jump, wait shield, jump over rush and dash away, rince and repeat (tho of course, he does do two firing sequences occasionally, and jumps occasionally which requires slightly different response).


Also, good job! Getting there ^^

[LaZodiac]

So, in other words, they're practically pointless, then? Or are any of the future games that feature them even semi-near challenging enough to warrent it?

That stand-off totally was... though, who -is- the most anime Robot Master? Star Man?

And psh. Weakness Weapons don't matter! Be a real champion! No E-Tanks, Buster Only, Final Destination! Oh wait, he hasn't been in a non-megaman fighting game in so long, he probably doesn't know that.

Come on, you have an Arm Cannon, and you'd prefer using Rapid Fire to the Biggest Shot possible? That's totally lame!

All enemies in Megaman are annoying in their own ways, so it seems.

Don't worry, we'll get our charge shot abuse.

The Megaman games that actually have maps, actually have a good reason to have em.

The most anime Robot Master is someone I'll mention when we get to him.

No way in heck someone who does that much platforming would actually have a Beer-Gut. Mario's only excuse is that he's constantly eating Mushrooms the size of your head, otherwise he'd have abs of steel.

.... MEGAMAN -DOES- HAVE ABS OF STEEL! HOW'D HE GET A BEER GUT!?!

I subscribe to the Dragon Ball Z school of thought: Concentrated Attacks beat barrages of blasts, and the bigger they are, the better they are.

That's Bad Box Art Megaman, a reference to the American box art for the first Megaman. It...was literally done in an hour as a rush job.

Heh. Allow me a moment to gloat: Skullman is the first Robot Master whose pattern I properly learned. I was so proud when I could Megabuster him with no hits and my friends were pausing the game and calling me over to beat him if it was looking bad

Shoot, jump, shoot, jump, wait shield, jump over rush and dash away, rince and repeat (tho of course, he does do two firing sequences occasionally, and jumps occasionally which requires slightly different response).


Also, good job! Getting there ^^

*golf claps* Congrats, that's a nice feat of skill right there.

[LaZodiac]

Son of a submersible! It's Megaman time!

Megaman 4 [7] Diveman

Hey...hey thread? Hey. Guess who's got a decently hard stage full of insta death spikes, and is himself a really hard boss? It's Diveman!

The stage, as said, is decently hard, with spikes everywhere, enemies that definitely get in your way, and two minobosses (though they're crushed due to Flash Stopper). Kalinka also shows off her stupidity here by claiming the mines explode after a set amount of time, which is incorrect. You have to hit them to start that timer, at the very least.

All that aside, Diveman's stage is ok. There's even a spike fall area not shown on the map (for some reason) that gets us the second Adaptor, the Wire Adaptor. I couldn't show what it does because it doesn't seem to work in this stage.

Finally, we have Diveman himself. Dude shoots homing torpedos and charges at you. You'd think this would be easy to deal with. He's not. First of all, his weakness, the Skull Barrier, is crap to use against him since touching the guy takes off like a fourth of your health bar. Secondly, it goes away from a single torpedo, so it's hard to actually defend yourself. Lastly, the skull barrier does NOT have a lot of energy, so if you screw up you have to switch to the buster.

So yha, Diveman be hard, yo.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time!

[Eldariel]

That protective hat from Pharaoh Shot sure comes in handy Also, I thought you did Diveman really smooth the first try with no HP. When you died you just didn't dash away.

Always keep the whole map between the two of you, keep your jumps low and you're fine; Megabuster is indeed the easy way through here! I actually prefer spamming normal shots since that takes care of all the missiles for sure.


But yeah, short jump -> dash away -> shoot if he's firing missiles (when he uses torpedo you can hit him once but generally I just wait for the missiles). Just like you did in the first one.

[LaZodiac]

The problem is that eventually my fingers get confused and thus I screw up (as seen countless times in video!)

[Eldariel]

The problem is that eventually my fingers get confused and thus I screw up (as seen countless times in video!)

Ah, I see. Well, one thing making it a lot harder for you is how high you jumped when jumping over him; airtime just gives him time to fire missiles at you! But yeah, he's a very unforgiving boss due to the amount of damage he does. As long as you have the whole stage between the two of you though you tend to be fine since he dives the whole way giving you ample time to dodge, and his missiles come straight to your megablaster...blasting?

[LaZodiac]

Megabuster, not blaster

[Eldariel]

Megabuster, not blaster

Curse you, Master Blaster! You confounded me for the last time! Errhm, yeah, Megabuster, that's exactly what I said, right? *whistles*

[LaZodiac]

It's time to drilling!

Megaman 4 [8] Drillman

Here we are, the last of the robot masters! Drillman's stage is relatively easy, but nothing I can't handle. The Pharaoh shot continues to be very useful, and the Skull Barrier gets some use as well. Overall, this stage is pretty cool, an has an interesting gimic with the switches.

Drillman is kind of bothersome since he spends so much time under ground, and the dive missile doesn't hit him when he's under ground (even though it really should!) so he's kind of a waiting around boss. That aside, he's also very easy! And with that we get the Drill Bomb, a really fun and useful weapon. We also finally get the Rush Jet!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. I'll see you all next week, when we tackle Dr Cossack's fortress!

[LaZodiac]

Okay guys, lets begin the assault!

Megaman 4 [9] Cossack Stage 1

Here it is, the Siberian castle of Dr Mikhail Cossack, our enemy! Snow drifts pile the ground, while the metal building itself is quite slippery, causing an interesting gimic. However, the most frightening thing are the deadly weapons guarding the Approach to Cossack's castle! SLINKIES.

That aside, we also have some Skeleton Joes, some up and down enemies, and an interesting way to climb a building, using balloons! The boss of this stage, Mothraya, isn't that difficult, though if you're not careful it can destroy the ground! It's weak to Ring Boomerangs.

See you all next time, where we tackle more of Cossack's castle!

[Surrealistik]

Son of a submersible! It's Megaman time!

Megaman 4 [7] Diveman Kalinka also shows off her stupidity here by claiming the mines explode after a set amount of time, which is incorrect. You have to hit them to start that timer, at the very least.

To be fair to Kalinka, it's technically true; they do go off after a set amount of time... once you shoot them.

[LaZodiac]

To be fair to Kalinka, it's technically true; they do go off after a set amount of time... once you shoot them.

All I'm asking is a little clarity from the horrible translation, is that so much

[Qwertystop]

Audio desynched a bit in Drill Man's stage.

[LaZodiac]

Audio desynched a bit in Drill Man's stage.

Noticed! No idea how to fix that, sorry. The audio desynced and the footage jumped around, and I'm completely mystified as to why. Sorry about that!

[LaZodiac]

And thus we continue storming the castle!

Megaman 4 [10] Cossack Stage 2

In today's video, we see me being overwhelmingly stupid a couple of times, misjudging enemies and how they work, and completely overestimating the attack power of the wire adaptor. All in a day's work for Zodi!

The stage itself is fairly simple, and is actually quite fun. A segment with rush jet, a segment with blocks that we can totally just skip because no one likes blocks. It's all quite fun, and there is an E Tank to get in this stage. I get it off screen after dying to the boss twice.

Speaking of the boss, the Trap Room is friggen annoying. It's a waiting around boss, which are kind of annoying, and for whatever reason I was just playing REALLY poorly against it, even when using it's weakness, the Dust Crusher. But ah well, what's done is done, and that room gets trashed!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed I'll see you all next time.

[Eldariel]

Oh, the pains you go through to show us all the text

[LaZodiac]

AAAAAH I ALMOST FORGOT TO POST IT IN THE THREAD!

Megaman 4 [11] Cossack Stage 3

This stage is really quite neat! For the first time since...well, ever, Megaman has an auto scroll stage!

...honestly, that aside, there isn't much else to say. The boss is weak to the Pharaoh Shot and Ring Boomerang (like a good portion of everything else).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy, I'll see you all next time!