GAME HINTS

Story

Deep in outer space, two comet-like creatures battle violently in the vast silence of the void. Their clash rages for quite some time; finally, both damaged greatly, they fall into the gravitational pull of the small blue planet below them.

Meanwhile, another battle rages below on the planet’s surface. Completely unaware of the cosmic creatures plummeting toward their planet, Mega Man and Bass are, of all things, fighting. This battle is interrupted by the appearance of Roll, who brings a message from Dr. Light that whisks Mega Man away from his confrontation—much to Bass’s annoyance.

Dr. Light tells Mega Man about a strange meteor that struck down on a small deserted island. The blue bomber goes to investigate. When his teleporter sets him down on the island’s soil, he is startled to discover robots. Robots that he recognizes. Dr. Wily’s robots!

Obviously the evil Dr. Wily had also noticed the meteor crash, just as Dr. Light had feared. Mega Man moves deeper into the tropical paradise, wondering what awaits to be discovered...

Special Features

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Mega Man 8 has, incredibly enough, both great and horrible aspects, and few which are mediocre. In terms of game play, it added a lot of new things to the series, and yet still kept enough to still be called a Mega Man game. However a lot of other aspects were done quite poorly. Some comments...
  • Music — The opening and one of the ending musics were altered from the Japanese version of this game. This is because they contained lyrics in Japanese, which most English audiences probably wouldn’t appreciate. It’s a shame, however, because the Japanese opening was my favorite music in this entire game. The replacement instrumental we got in the English version isn’t anywhere near as upbeat, though it’s still a nice tune, and I do like how they throw in the whistle-like flute right where Proto Man is shown.
  • FMV — The anime cut scenes were nicely animated, but annoyingly enough they resemble the Mega Shows just a little too much. I have to say, however, that at least the anime doesn’t look as stretched as Capcom’s production art. And I’m very glad that these scenes were not cut from the English version of the game, since that’s half the plot right there.
  • Voices — While you’re fighting them in-game, the Robot Masters all have lines of dialogue, some of which cracked me up to no end. However, the voices during the FMV (full motion video) are not as entertaining. Almost all of the voice acting is incredibly painful to listen to, either because the actor cannot pronounce English words, or because he can’t act...or both.
  • Sprites — Mega Man’s sprite is a bit stretched and looks pretty dorky, but you don’t notice this as much when you are playing the game. The rest of the sprite animations are very fluid. I do prefer more realistic animation and less stretch-and-squash, but at least the animations are very smooth. Incidentally, Proto Man is, surprisingly enough, too tall in this game. I guess you just can’t win.
  • Manual — Capcom has forgotten the fundamentals of a robot, and describe most of the Robot Masters as if they are human instead. Oh well. The manual is disappointingly black and white (except the anthology booklet which is color), but at least it contains lots of images.

Systems

This game was produced for both the PlayStation and the Saturn. The two versions are very similar; if you are wondering which one to get, I’d really recommend just getting the one for which you have a system. If you have both or neither of the systems, it’s your call. Here are the differences that I noticed:

  • In the Saturn version, you must defeat Cut Man and Wood Man to get two of the bolts. In the PSX version these robots do not appear at all, and you just find their bolts lying on the ground like all of the others.
  • The PSX version comes with a little, full-color booklet which contains descriptions, images, and reproductions of the Japanese covers for the previous seven games. The Saturn version does not have this (even though the box is plenty big enough for it); instead, you get a bonus mode right in the game itself which includes fan art, official art, a voice test, and a music test.
  • The PSX version allows for two buttons to be assigned to jump. This is useful so that you can hold your thumb over either of the two necessary fire buttons, and still easily hit jump. The Saturn only allows one jump button, which makes the controls a bit more difficult.
  • The Saturn version contains more enemies wandering the stages than the PSX. Not many, but enough that if you play the PSX version first, you’ll play through the Saturn one and find yourself saying, “Hey, what’s that doing here? It wasn’t there before...
  • Underwater sections of stages are translucently blue on the PlayStation. For the Saturn, there is no translucency, but the water ripples.

Differences

Mega Man 8’s changes to game play over other Mega Man games:

  • Mega Man can fire his Mega Buster even while equipped with a Master Weapon.
  • Mega Man’s current weapon shot remains active even after he switches to another weapon.
  • Mega Man can fire Master Weapons while on Rush Jet.
  • Mega Man can swim.
  • All weapons are refilled with every life.
  • Mega Man won’t collect Weapon Energy capsules if he isn’t equipped with a Master Weapon or the Energy Balancer.
  • There are no tanks of any sort; however, some of Rush’s forms can play the same role.
  • Each Robot Master stage is actually two separate stages; choosing Continue after losing all your lives will put you at the beginning of the second stage (if you’d reached it).
  • The Rush Jet can no longer be called upon by Mega Man, but instead appears automatically during certain stages.
  • The Rush Jet has infinite energy.
  • Master Weapon meters have a number indicating how many times they can be fired.

FAQ

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  • What’s a Tengu?
    A Tengu is a mythological creature in Japanese lore, which has wings, a long nose, and an attitude problem. Obviously Tengu Man is meant to represent all of these.

  • How do I get through Astro Man’s stage?
    I’ve provided walkthroughs below.

Review

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Play Control: 3
This really depends on what controller you are using, but I found that even so, the controls were a little hard to manage. The play control feels loose and it is sometimes difficult to hit the proper fire button in the heat of battle.
Graphics: 4
The backgrounds are rich and colorful, if only a little too colorful. Capcom went with a slightly overhead view for this game, which means you can see some thickness to the ledges (unlike a straight side-view which does not show you the top of any floor at all). This is nice in some ways, but because of it, lining yourself up is a bit more difficult. In other words, you can’t as easily tell what will hit you and what won’t.
Animation: 4
Mega Man’s sprites look rather dorky, but you don’t notice much while you are playing the game. Some of his animations—such as climbing a ladder or sliding—look rather lame, but otherwise, the animations of all the characters—even minor enemy robots—are very fluid. Although I personally don’t care for over-exaggerated stretch and squash (especially on non-stretchable things such as metallic robots), I still admit that the quality of the animations is fantastic. They even choreographed the close-up faces (seen in dialogue boxes) with the speaker’s sprite—for instance, Proto Man’s bandanna on his sprite flows in perfect harmony with his close-up image.
Music: 4
The music was nicely done, though only a few tunes are really all that memorable. Shamefully, the awesome Japanese songs had to be removed from the English game. Also, Clown Man’s stage music sounds like it should have been in Tetris Attack instead.
Sound Effects: 3
Most of the sound effects are fine, but annoyingly enough they replaced the wonderful “de-dit” clanking sound of Mega Man’s landing with an awful squishing sound effect. When Mega Man moves and lands, he sounds like he is a rubber doggie toy instead of a metal robot. (Appropriate, I suppose, since that’s what he looks like in this game, too...)
Plot: 3
Most people say the plot is the same—Dr. Wily is trying to take over the world and Mega Man stops him. However, I thought it had more originality than usual—it resembled a cartoon or book episode more than a game. Even if Wily is very obviously the main bad guy (after all, the “fake new bad guy” plot has been used to death). The execution of the storyline during the game is fine (sans the lousy voice acting, translation, and Mega Show influences), as I’d expect from such a recent Mega Man game.
Difficulty: 4 (hard to normal)
The game is very difficult the first time you play; however, most people will find it easy to master. For example, it took me two long playing sessions to beat Mega Man 8 the first time I played it through, and only an evening (one sitting) the second time.
Replay Value: 3
Jump, jump, slide, slide. I think that pretty much sums it up. This game has a lot of good points, but the jetboard sections are nothing but irritating. Not only that, but the game developers insisted on starting the fortress off with one such section. This discourages players from even trying the fortress. And even after you pass the jetboard part, you still have the rest of the stage and the boss to conquer. If you lose all your lives, guess where “Continue” places you? You got it.
Polish: 3
There were a lot of changes and additions to this game, but half of them were good and half were bad. Also the English translation—or lack thereof—is rather insulting.
Overall: 80%
This game was a good leap over the last few in terms of added features, while at the same time it also kept many of the things that have made the Mega Man games so popular to begin with. However, it just doesn’t feel like Mega Man anymore.

+ Plus:
Mega Man can use his arm cannon even while equipped with a Master Weapon.
- Minus:
The voice acting in the FMV sequences is exceedingly painful to listen to.

Suggested Order

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Once again, you must tackle four Robot Masters at a time. (Why does Capcom keep doing this?) Both sets of four robots go in a complete loop, so you can just jump in wherever you want. The lists below are ordered according to my suggestions. I also offer various tidbits of info. First is a hint either about the stage or the Robot Master. “Taunts” are phrases said by the robot before the battle begins. “Cries” are the various things exclaimed during the battle, usually when you strike the robot. (Note that these can be indications of how much damage you are doing. Also, I don’t list all the cries, necessarily—just the more interesting ones.) And finally, “Death” is what the robot says when it is destroyed. Note that these phrases are sometimes hard to catch, so my translations might be a little off.

Tengu Man (use Mega Buster or Ice Wave)
You can use ice on him, but only when he is near the ground after doing his dive attack. Otherwise, just use powered-up Mega Buster shots.
Taunts: “It’s just a kid. Don’t make me laugh.”
“Kid, you’re almost not worth the effort.”
“Are you worthy of my challenge?”
“I’ll take on you. Be ready!”
Cries: “Nuts!”
Death: “It’s regretful.”
Clown Man (use Tornado Hold)
When the robots in the background ding the bells, what happens depends on what block you are standing on. Just as a hint, the skull blocks turn into trap doors.
Taunts: “I’ll make you join my men!”
“Yo, geeky!”
“You’ve got no chance!”
“Weakling! This isn’t a joking matter!”
Cries: “Hey! What are you doing!?”
“Mommy!!”
“What have you done to me??”
Death:See you in my dreams.
Grenade Man (use Thunder Claw)
Be careful what you blow up... and watch out for those flaming Mets!
Taunts: “Crush everyone! Ha ha ha...
“I’ll be nice on you!”
“I’ll punish you!” (depends on his mood I guess)
“Yeah, ha ha ha. Say hello to my cute bombs!”
Cries: “Hee hee!”
“Oh yeah!”
Death: “That felt good!”
Frost Man (use Flash Bomb)
Some of the ice blocks can be broken with a Flash Bomb.
Taunts: “Freeze!”
“I’ll crush you! I’ll make a popsicle of you.”
“I’ll crush you! I will...beat you.”
Cries: “Ow! Dat hurt!”
Death: “Uargh!!”
Aqua Man (use Mega Buster or Astro Crush)
Mega Man can not only paddle underwater, he can also use all of his Master Weapons there. Even ones that technically shouldn’t work in water, such as the Ice Wave and the Tornado Hold...
Taunts: “I’m Aqua Man! But you can call me Handsome, ’kay?”
“Finally it’s my turn! I’m Aqua Man!”
“I’ve been waiting for you!”
Cries: (a strange sound effect similar to boi-boi-oi)
“No!”
Death:That was luck!
Sword Man (use Water Balloon)
The first part of this stage is divided into four. In each section, you must use one of the four weapons acquired in the first set of Robot Masters. Upper left is Tornado; lower left is Thunder; upper right is Ice; and lower right is Bomb. (I can’t be any more obvious than that.)
Taunts: “Let’s make this a fair fight.”
“I won’t hold back.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Nothing personal, but I’ve got orders.”
Cries: “Not yet.”
Death: “Nice shot.”
Search Man (use Flame Sword)
The Flame Sword is useful here to take out annoying shrubbery and thorns. The Thunder Claw is almost a necessity.
Taunts: “Begin mission. Yes sir!”
“Ready? Yeah, let’s go!”
“Hey boy. Come on!”
Cries: “Ouch! Oh no!”
Death: (indistinguishable.. something like “Wily Bunzii”)
Astro Man (use Homing Sniper)
To finish this guy pitifully quickly, trap him between you and the two orbs which circle him. This way, your missiles will still hit him even though they are trying to seek out his orbs. (Stage walkthrough is found here.)
Taunts: “I’ve come here, but now I don’t know what to do!”
“Oh, how did you find me? I feel so embarrassed!”
Cries: “I hate it when that happens! I can’t take this anymore!”
Death: “Good grief.”

Teleporting Hatches

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Jerryteacup points out that the energy capsules you win after each fight don’t stick around long, so snag them quickly.

Left to right, top to bottom: Tengu Man, Frost Man, Astro Man, Sword Man, Clown Man, Grenade Man, Search Man, Aqua Man
Original screen shot from Drageuth

Bosses

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Mini-Bosses:

Laser cannon: (Flying section of Tengu Man’s stage)
Stay low and plaster it with Homing Snipers. The torpedos will circle the cannon and wait to strike until it is vulnerable, so fire away.
Disk: (Clown Man’s stage)
Flash Bombs are handy here, but the Mega Buster works just as well.
Eyeball: (Grenade Man’s stage)
If you have Astro Crush, use it. Second choice is the Laser Shot. Otherwise, try Flash Bombs.
Crab: (Aqua Man’s stage)
Flash Bombs are nice if you can hit with them, but sometimes it’s easier to just use the Mega Buster. Stay out of his way, and remember you can fall as far as you want.
Wall Climber: (Sword Man’s stage)
Shoot the pink gem with Flash Bombs. Watch for the hammer that breaks the ledge when the wall climber is almost defeated.

Other Bosses:

Duo: (mini-stage)
Use your Mega Buster, or Flash Bombs or whatever you feel like using on him.
Cut Man: (mini-stage; Saturn version only)
I found the Mega Buster to be sufficient, though you can try whatever you like. His pattern has changed, but it’s still easy to follow.
Wood Man: (Search Man’s stage; Saturn version only)
Flash Bombs will cut through his Leaf Shield, but the weapon of choice is the Flame Sword.

Fortress Bosses:

Quad Pods: (First station of fortress)
Use Mega Ball. You want to hit the pod with the eyes—the one that shows off during the opening. The square pod will drop weapon energy when you shoot it. The cylindrical ones will fire torpedos or bombs at you, and the skull pod explodes. If you have time, use Flash Bomb on one of the pods and stand in the explosion to protect yourself. Whatever you do, don’t let the pods land on you!
Flying Ship: (Second station of fortress)
Try Mega Buster or Flash Bomb. Once you get the pattern down, this thing falls easily. You get Surprise Shells depending on how much you need them (i.e., how low your energy meter is).
Bass and Treble: (Third station of fortress)
When Bass flies to the upper center of the screen and flashes, use the Astro Crush and his meteors won’t damage you. (Or you can dodge them; they alternate in a pattern that is easy to dodge.) Otherwise, just hit him with fully-powered Mega Buster shots. When he fires the beam downward and travels across the room, just stand on the opposite side of the room from him, and he won’t hit you.
Yellow Devil Take 5: (Third station of fortress)
The Laser Shot is the ultimate in this battle. If you don’t have it, use the Flash Bomb to open up a path to the eye, then hit the eye with arm cannon shots or the Thunder Claw. Note that either way, the creature will only take damage while the eye is open, inside the fully-formed gel monster.
Wily 1st time: (Skull tank)
Use Water Balloon or Flash Bombs, and toss in a few Astro Crush attacks as well. Hit the eyes to take damage on the contraption, and hit the mouth to stop Wily from firing his laser. Note that only certain weapons will stop the laser, so I recommend just rapid-firing it with your arm cannon, and saving your weapon energy for doing damage. The Astro Crush is handy because you don’t have to aim, but remember that its invincibility gives away slightly before the comets stop dropping. Also try using the Rush Cycle to prevent Mega Man from taking damage.
Wily 2nd time: (Saucer Attack Style Take 10 million or so)
The Flame Sword inflicts the most damage, but is the hardest with which to hit (natch). So, another route is to just use charged-up Mega Buster shots or Flash Bombs. You have plenty of time to charge up, even without the Hyper Charge enhancement. Stay as far away from Wily’s saucer as you can and fire from a distance. Take your time; the saucer stays on the screen for a good few seconds before firing at you. It will fire when you strike it, then vanish; don’t bother trying to hit it more than once per appearance since you won’t inflict any additional damage. There are about five patterns that the purple orbs follow; dodge the ones that you can, and use Rush Health and Rush Charger to undo any damage you might take.

Passwords

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There are no passwords; the game uses a save feature instead. While normally I would prefer this, in this case there were three disadvantages:
  1. I had to replay over half the game all over again when we discovered we couldn’t save on the memory card we had and the game hung when we tried a different one;
  2. I had to run out and buy a memory card for a system I didn’t even own; and
  3. There’s nothing for me to post here!

Items

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  • Mega Ball: You get this during the intro stage. This is to Mega Man 8 what the Mega Arm was to Mega Man V. It’s basically a cute little item that is given to you from the start for you to play with. Note that typically items like these must be used at least once during the game. ’Nuff said.
The following four Rush items can only be used once per stage or life (whichever ends first):
  • Rush Cycle: Get this by defeating the eyeball miniboss in Grenade Man’s stage.
  • Rush Charger: Acquired from the disk miniboss in Clown Man’s stage.
  • Rush Bomber: Get it from the miniboss in Sword Man’s stage.
  • Rush Health: Obtained from the crab miniboss in Aqua Man’s stage.
The following items are encountered during certain stages and must be used where they are found:
  • Surprise Shells: These are the metal “party boxes” you discover throughout the stages. Shoot them for power-ups; little ones require one hit and big ones two. (Note that they can damage you if you come into contact with them.)
  • Rush Jet: You as a player can no longer call on Rush Jet yourself. Instead there are “flying” stages where you are automatically riding the Rush Jet, and he never runs out of energy. Pick up icons from Surprise Shells to allow Rush to fire, and/or to get help from Eddie, Beat, and/or Auto.
  • Jetboard: You can’t skip this thing, sorry. On the other hand, you gotta love the “Jump, Jump. Slide, Slide.” (Note that how soon you jump or slide after seeing a sign depends on where you are on the screen. If you are on the far right, you must do the action almost immediately. If you are toward the left, you have a little bit of breather space.) Nate reminds me that I never mentioned the Astro Crush trick, though others have pointed it out in the past: Use the Astro Crush while on the jetboard to briefly levitate across tricky jumps. You have limited weapon energy though, so you’ll want to save this for the sections that give you the most troubles, but, like the Time Stopper in Quick Man’s domain, this can spare you a lot of hassles.
You can’t find any of the rest of these items; they are built at the lab. You create items with Bolts just like in Mega Man 7; what is different here is that you have a limited number of Bolts (which is rather pointless seeing that you are also limited to eight items maximum, regardless of whether or not you have enough Bolts to build more).
Power Shield (6 Bolts)
Spare Extra (6 Bolts)
Shooting Part (6 Bolts) Useful.
Energy Balancer (5 Bolts)
Exit (4 Bolts) This is a convenience only.
Laser Shot (5 Bolts) Recommended.
Arrow Shot (5 Bolts)
Auto Shoot (5 Bolts) Not recommended.
Step Booster (5 Bolts) Rather pointless.
Energy Saver (6 Bolts) Recommended.
Super Recover (5 Bolts) Useful.
Spare Charger (4 Bolts)
Hyper Slider (5 Bolts) Relatively unnecessary.
H. Speed Charge (7 Bolts) Useful.
Rapid Part (6 Bolts)
Boost Part (5 Bolts) Useful.
Exchanger (4 Bolts) Not especially useful.

Tricks and Secrets

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Astro Man Stage Walkthrough

I’ve had many requests for info on how to get through Astro Man’s stage. Although never specified, I have a feeling the two mazes are what trip up most people. So here is a quick walkthrough for the mazes:

Yellow/Green Block Maze

Mazes wrap around in all directions. To find the exit, follow this path from where you came in:

Walk right. Press the red button, then press it again and quickly slide through before the red door closes again. Head right, go down the ladder, then near the red star tile on the floor, use the Tornado Hold to get up to the ledge to the upper right. Walk right and hit the green button. Keep going right and press the green button by the ladder, then climb down the ladder. Go left, use the Tornado Hold to get up the ledge, and keep going left past the red tile and back up to where you were before. The exit is that large skull, but if you want to get the Bolt, use the Tornado Hold again to get up-left and go left, climbing the ladder. At the moon tile, use the Tornado Hold to get up-right and then slide through the gap and head right to the red button. Press the button and return to where you were (keep going right or return left). Slide under the red door you opened for the Bolt. From here, the exit is just down to the left through that gap.

Purple/Blue Block Maze

Go right. Climb down the ladder. Go past the Mets and climb the next ladder. Go left. Leap over the ladder, onto the ledge, head up and left, and hit the red button. Shoot the Surprise Shell if you want. Go left and press the green button, then circle around and use the Tornado Hold to get back to where you were. Jump onto the green door and go left. Climb down the ladder and hit the red button that’s in an indention in the floor down there. Head right. Use the Tornado Hold to get up the ledge. Hit the green button. Head right and down and get the Bolt. Jump down. Walk right. The exit is to your right.

Locations of Bolts:

  • Intro stage: Enter the skull elevator. Navigate through the water section of this stage. When you reach the surface, instead of going right where the stage continues, head left.
  • Intro stage: Enter the skull elevator. This bolt is right by the exit.
  • Intro stage: In the skull elevator, ride the down-moving platforms down through the floor.
  • Tengu Man’s stage: On upper ledge; use the moving platforms to get up there.
  • Tengu Man’s stage: Right after the mini-boss in the flying section of the stage.
  • Tengu Man’s stage: Under a ledge; you need to use a lower platform and a timed jump to get to it.
  • Clown Man’s stage: Across a pit. Get it with Rush Cycle.
  • Clown Man’s stage: Behind the first Sniper Joe. Don’t let the skull blocks dump you.
  • Clown Man’s stage: Inside a crate to the upper left of the big room filled with skull lifts. Crack the crate with the Flame Sword.
  • Clown Man’s stage: Across from the previous Bolt. Use the platforms and remember that two of them act as trap doors and will dump you if you stay on them for too long.
  • Clown Man’s stage: Drop into one of the ? blocks near the top of the vertical section of this stage. The block you want is the middle one of a group of three.
  • Grenade Man’s stage: In the section with the big blocks that you can destroy with your arm cannon, destroy the blocks so that you can work your way downward instead of right.
  • Grenade Man’s stage: On a ledge in plain sight after a row of bomb platforms.
  • Grenade Man’s stage: Use the Flame Sword to ignite the row of dynamite blocks.
  • Grenade Man’s stage: On a row of dynamite blocks. You might have to commit suicide to get this one.
  • Grenade Man’s stage: On some more dynamite blocks. Ditto, but you should have time to get both of these without dying if you are fast.
  • Frost Man’s stage: Watch for it during the snowboard ride.
  • Frost Man’s stage: During the snowboard ride.
  • Frost Man’s stage: After the ride; jump up to it by leaping on a sliding ice block, or (if you’re not insane) use the Mega Ball or Tornado Hold to get up there.
  • Frost Man’s stage: Break the ice block with the one off the screen to the right (trigger the machine beside it, then jump on the ice block and ride it to the left).
  • Frost Man’s stage: Frozen in an ice block. Break it with the Flash Bomb, and get to it with the Mega Ball or Tornado Hold.
  • Mini-stage: Use the Tornado Hold to reach the pink ladder, and go right. Then use the Thunder Claw or Tornado Hold to cross the pit of spikes.
  • Mini-stage: Climb the ladder mentioned above, and go left instead of right.
  • Aqua Man’s stage: Use the Tornado Hold to blow aside a spiked ball that’s blocking your way. Slide through the passage you revealed.
  • Aqua Man’s stage: In the first long vertical tunnel full of timer bombs. Stay left.
  • Aqua Man’s stage: Use Astro Crush to blow away the cracked ceiling.
  • Aqua Man’s stage: Blow away the cracked ceiling, then later in the stage swim right over the spikes instead of going up like normal. The Bolt is in the long tunnel you’ll find there, near the right center.
  • Sword Man’s stage: In the pearl on the bottom left, near where you must use the Thunder Claw to cross some spikes.
  • Sword Man’s stage (PlayStation version only): In the pearl on the bottom right, under a chute.
  • Sword Man’s stage Use a Flash Bomb to destroy the brownish ceiling near the end of the stage after you go down the lava waterfall on the platform. Once you uncover the ladder, climb up and go left.
  • Search Man’s stage: In a niche in the floor near the end of the first section of the stage. You can’t always see it because it’s so close to the bottom of the screen, but you can get it.
  • Search Man’s stage: In the large room full of various spikes and ledges and enemies, go left and up, then right past the ape and some Mets. On the ledge with the spike pillar that you can destroy with the Flame Sword, use the Tornado Hold to get yourself some height, then grab the grappling hook up there with the Thunder Claw. (You can switch weapons even while you have a weapon shot on the screen.)
  • Search Man’s stage: Second half of the stage: Use the Thunder Claw to grapple over a row of spikes, then again over the pit to reach the Bolt.
  • Search Man’s stage: Use the Flame Sword to destroy the sparking spikes.
  • Astro Man’s stage: In the first (yellow-blue block) looping maze.
  • Astro Man’s stage: In the second (purple-red block) looping maze.
  • Astro Man’s stage: In the tower that sinks into the quicksand. It is possible to get this without sacrificing a life, but if you have to, do so.
  • Astro Man’s stage: After the Continue Point, on a ledge in plain sight.
  • (Finding the final few is left as an exercise for the player.)

Ending

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The actual ending of the game is done through an animated cut scene, of course. Wily’s fortress has exploded and Mega Man is found lying unconscious on the barren ground. Duo finds him and discovers that Mega Man has been infected by the dark energy the two have been battling. But, Mega Man’s mind possesses enough light that, with Duo’s help, he overcomes the poison, and the dark energy dissapates.

At this moment Proto Man dashes onto the scene. “Mega Man! What happened to him?” he gasps.

Duo explains. He also asks Proto Man do to him a favor.

Mega Man awakens in Dr. Light’s laboratory. (The animation of Roll hugging him was really nicely done, by the way.) When Mega Man is told that Duo had saved him, he leaves the lab to stand by himself on a cliff. His thoughts of Duo are interrupted by Proto Man’s voice coming from behind him. Mega Man turns.

Proto Man is standing in a tree, as is typical of this guy. He tells Mega Man what Duo had told him, and mentions that Duo had added, “Thank you.”

“Duo. Thank you,” Mega Man echoes.

The ending goes from here into the credits, which are pretty lame compared to the rest of the game. Just a billboard with the names, and images of the Robot Master contest entries that were used for the game. The Met walking around at the bottom is about the only entertainment. At least the Japanese version had two different musics here...