Story: This time, it isn't Dr. Wily who's the enemy (cough, cough) it's . . .
Blues?
Yes, Blues. The game opens with a shot of several Robot Masters and one "mysterious" dark figure
in front of them. "A vicious army of robots is intent of taking over the world!" the prologue proclaims, as
if this were something new. What is unique about this game is that Dr. Light gets kidnapped by none other than
Blues. Rockman cleverly deduces this--not from the the fact that he was only meters away when Blues teleported in and
kidnapped Dr. Light--but from the scrap of yellow material that somehow gets torn from his scarf.
New Features: In this game, the Mega Buster is juiced up a bit by Dr. Cossack (on Rockman's side now). Rush has a
new Rush Coil configuration: 
Also new is the 
ega Tank, which refills all of Rockman's life and weapons energy. Unfortunately, Rockman
can only carry one at a time (in addition to 9 normal tanks).
And, of course, I can't forget Beat, the most useful little robot that you'll ever obtain!
Beat is a robotic bird that Dr. Light and Dr. Cossack had been working on before Dr. Light's kidnapping. In order to
obtain Beat, Rockman must collect the letters R O C K M A N V (MEGAMANV in America). Here's a quick guide to
the locations of the letters.
R: Gravity Man's stage in plain view. Just be careful to time your jump according to the gravity reversal machine.
O: Wave Man's stage, also in plain sight. After the mid-way Stage Master during the hovercraft ride, you'll need to jump for it.
C: Stone Man's stage. Amazing! One that's actually hidden! Near the beginning of the stage, there's a place on the right edge of the screen that you can blast. Doing so will open up a gap; if you slide through it, you'll find yourself in a room with the next letter in it!
K: Gryo Man's stage. Once again, easy to spot. It's in the screen with the collapsing floor blocks. If you time your sliding and jumping right, you'll get out of this one with both your life and the letter.
M: Star Man's stage. Easy to find. Just make sure you don't get too enthusiastic about leaping for it in the zero-G conditions.
A: Charge Man's stage. Although you can get this without using the Rush Coil adaptor, it's a lot easier to call in your cyber-canine pal and jump for it.
N: Napalm Man's stage. Unless you're blind, you'll see it. Just don't miss the ledge.
V: Crystal Man's stage. Keep pressing left on the control pad while you're falling down the spike-lined pit, and you'll get it.
Right, that takes care of that! On to the Robot Masters!
Once again, Rockman makes an idiot out of himself by attacking them with no common sense in tihs order:
Star Man
Weapon: Star Crash
Strategy: Well, here it is: the mandatory shield weapon for the game. True to form, the Robot Master weilding it
isn't very threatening. Use the charged-up Mega Buster to knock him out of the air when his shield is down, and you'll
receive the Star Crash (very useful in Crystal Man's stage) and the Super Arrow (not good for much of anything except scaling
walls).
Gravity Man
Weapon: Gravity Hold
Strategy: Besides having one of the weirdest levels in Rockman history accompanied by some of the weirdest
music, this Robot Master is also one of the weirdest looking. I give him the Weirdest Robot Master in a Supporting Role Award.
Tactically, he's kind of a disappointment. Although his tactics wil freak you out a first, once you discern his pattern, he's a piece of cake
to kill with the Star Crash shield (much like the Skull Shield against Dive Man, you need to be standing right next to Gravity Man with the
Star Crash to do any damage).
Gyro Man
Weapon: Gyro Attack
Strategy: Besides disappearing into the clouds and dropping on Rockman, Gyro Man doesn't have a whole
lot to intimidate the player with. Ideally, Rockman doesn't even need to move; just stand there and use the Gravity Hold to
keep Gyro Man from going all over the place, and he'll be dead within seconds.
Victory brings not only the Gyro Attack (you can change the propellor direction by pressing
either up or down on the control pad) but the Rush Jet Adaptor (which Rockman seems to mysteriously lose after the end of every game).
Crystal Man
Weapon: Crystal Eye
Strategy: I'm having a little trouble seeing how the Capcom people decided on the name "eye" for the weapon, but other than that,
Crystal Man doesn't have a whole lot that needs to be said about him. Just hit him with the Gyro Attack and be wary of his anoying splitting crystals.
His stage is a royal pain if Rockman hasn't yet acquired the Star
Crash weapon. If he has it, just use it and leap across the multiple pits as the crystal chunks fall from above, recharging as necessary. If not . . .
good luck. It can be done, of course--I didn't even think of using the Star Crash until after I'd beaten the game several times . . .
Napalm Man
Weapon: Napalm Bombs
Strategy: What a pain in the . . . uh, rear! In theory, it should be simple to beat him: just keep firing the Crystal Eye at him and slide out of
the way when he jumps at you. Unfortunately, he's a bit harder to destroy than that (unles you're really good, or he's being nice to you.
By the way, did you ever wonder why crystal would do damage to napalm? Well, I did. So, whether you like it or not, I'm going to tell you.
Napalm is a kind of jellied-gasoline. As a matter of fact, it's quite a potent explosive and consideed unethical by many governments (United States not included).
Crystallizing napalm would decrease its kinetic energy, and therefore its potential explosiveness. See? I bet you didn't know that Rockman games used real science!
Stone Man
Weapon: Power Stone
Strategy: Wow! Stone Man meets Rockman! I wonder what would have happened if the translation to English had been messed up when Rockman 5 was
imported to America--Rockman vs. Rock Man . . . ?
Oh, well. Enough of that silliness. You can't hit this guy while he's in his "pile of rubble" formation. Just blow him to smithereens with the Napalm Bomb when he's in the air or after
he's just landed from a small jump. Warning: when Stone Man leaps high in the air, he's about to disintegrate into a pile of stones.
Charge Man
Weapon: Charge Kick
Strategy: Whew! Jeez, is this punk ever a pain-and-a-half! Hit him with the Power Stone to take some of the steam out of him. He'll charge back and forth across the room while he's orange-pink. Rockman can jump over
him, so that helps a little. When Charge Man turns red, he's about to blast red-hot rocks (or something) into the air. Ddoge teh rocks, then get ready to jump, because he'll almost always charge after he's done shooting rocks.
His weapon is a pain, too. It took me quite a while to figure out that you have to slide to use the Charge Kick--I thought it was like the Super Arm from Rockman (1) or something.
Wave Man
Weapon: Water Wave
Strategy: Wave Man is easy to destroy if you use the Charge Kick on him. Just be careful not to slide into his water-spouts.
Also noteworthy of Wave Man is his stage--for the first time, Rockman uses a vehicle, a kind of hovercraft. 
This castle looks absolutely ridiculous. If nothing else hints at the fact that Dr. Wily is behind this, it's the cartooniness of the
castle. I mean, really--who would put giant visors over their front gate?
Right, now that I've got that off my chest . . .
First Guardian
Sentinel
Use either the Water Wave or Beat to put this guy out of commission.
Second Guardian
Sentinel, mk. 2
A little easier to kill this time, the Sentinel can be destroyed most easily with the Crystal Eye or Beat.
Third Guardian
Sentinel, mk. 3
A tad (okay, a lot) tougher this time, use eithe Gyro Attack or Beat (notice a pattern here?) against
the Sentinel. Be careful, he uses a gorgon-esque weapon which will later be copied (except with better graphics) by Shade Man
that can turn Rock to stone and freeze him in his place. Don't be afraid to use an 
tank or two while fighting
this guy.
Blues!?
No, not really. After ascending a collapsing passage, Rockman will confront a Robot Master that
appears to be Blues (except his whistle is obviously too low and a bit off-key besides that). Like the trusting
fool that he is, Rockman refuses to fire while the false Blues backs him downand eventually fires on him, dropping Rockman's life meter down
to one bar.
Finally, the real Blues shows up and blasts the holographic generator on the false Blues away, revealing
what looks like another Sentinel (mark 4, maybe?) Leaving a life-tank for Rockman, Blues kindly teleports out, leaving all the real
work for his brother (once again--I think Blues and Zero share that trait).
Use Beat (see, it's a pattern) to defeat the mysterious robot, while leaping his electrical discharges.
Once he is defeated, the room will go black, and the voice of Dr. Wily will congratulate Rockman on destroying Wily's special
"Dark Man" (wasn't that a movie trilogy?)
From here it's the standard "go through Skull Castle, its teleport room, and Dr. Wily to beat the game" thing.
First Guardian
Stacked Spikey Tires:
Use the Crystal Eye to make this battle go more quickly. Hit the middle section, then leap on it as it flies towards Rockman. Hit the eyes (once
again) to destroy the massive menace.
Second Guardian
Spherical Hover Tank:
For best results, mix with Gyro Attack and waste thoroughly. Basically, keep on the floating platforms and
throw the gyrating blades at the eyes of the tank (see a pattern?) when the side flaps open up to reveal the
vulnerable center.
. . . . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .
Dr. Wily!
Second Form: Use the Mega Buster to blast away the Skull Armor of the mech. Avoid the bouncing violet spheres (I didn't know that
Rockman had a structural weakness for beach balls!) Be careful when he activates his suction device (does ths remind you of Dust Man?) and Rockman will live to see
the final form of Dr. Wily's mecha.
Third Form: Use Beat. Yes, this game finally breaks the trend of using the least practical and most awkward weapon to defeat Dr. Wily!
Avoid Dr. Wily's disappearing mech (not again!) and let Beat do the dirty work.
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