A playthrough of Capcom's 1990 action game for the NES, Mega Man 3.

The third outing for the Blue Bomber blows away his first adventure, offers a fair amount of improvement and innovation over the already excellent second game, and avoids the generic rehashing of later titles, making Mega Man 3 - in my opinion, at least - the best entry in the original series (and only really rivaled later by the fantastic Mega Man X for the SNES).

I might have a bit of an unfair slant toward this one because it was the first Mega Man game that I had to call my own. The game was brand new when I got it - the Nintendo Power with it on the cover hadn't come yet, so I didn't know that the game even existed until my dad came home with it. He went to the NEX to pick up some stuff for my mom on his way home from work, saw this on the shelf, and thought that I'd like it since we'd rented the first Mega Man so many times.

I believe that's the moment I thought my dad had some sort of psychic power, and I don't think I've ever said thank you quite so many times as I did in the two minutes following his pulling it out of his briefcase and handing it to me. No matter how good X and X4 were, nothing in the series for me ever topped this one, and I obsessed over it.

I seem to remember the first time I ever beat it without dying happening around Christmas of that year. It's funny how still, no matter how much time passes, all I need is five minutes with the controller and it all comes flooding right back. My reflexes don't seem to be quite as good now as they were when I was nine, though.

Once I finished it I freed my sister of her obligation to hold down the left button on the second controller (super jumps!), but she was only five at the time and loved "playing" games with her big brother. Younger siblings are far too trusting, aren't they?

Mega Man 3 ended up becoming one of the few games that I ever came to know as well as the original Super Mario Bros. They were both pretty formative experiences in shaping my tastes.

The game is longer than the first two games were: once the first eight robot masters are defeated, you'll find another set of four remixed stages to plow through before taking on Wily's Castle, and these stages feature the bosses from Mega Man 2. It's much more difficult, too, and I enjoyed the challenge.

Mega Man has also gained a few new item powers (now referred to as Rush Adapters), a slide move, and one of the best eight-bit soundtracks ever written. I used to turn the game on and walk away just so I could hear the title screen music on an endless loop.

As much as I love the game, it has to be said that it sorely lacks polish in a few key areas. There are a few graphics glitches, there's a lot of slowdown, and the weapons aren't balanced very well. Its mid-November release date suggests that Capcom's bean counters wanted it on shelves in time for the holidays, and the game was clearly pushed out the door before it was ready.

But Mega Man 3 is still an otherwise excellent game. Like I said before, I'm biased when it comes to how I look at this one, but I think it would be difficult to deny how well it all manages to come together in the end. It deserved its rave reviews and dedicated legions of fans, 100%.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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