''Mega Man 3'' (stylized as ''Mega Man III'') is an

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed and published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

. It is the third game of the original ''Mega Man'' series and was originally released in Japan on September 28, 1990. The game was released in North America later in 1990 and in European regions by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

in 1992. Taking place after the events of ''

Mega Man 2 ''Mega Man 2'' is an action game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in Japan in 1988 and in North America and PAL regions the following years. ''Mega Man 2'' continues Mega Man (character), ...

'', the plot follows the titular hero as he helps his creator, Dr. Light, and a supposedly former enemy,

Dr. Wily () is a video game character and the main antagonist of the original ''Mega Man'' series, as well as Mega Man's archenemy and is also the creator of Bass and Zero. He appeared in the first ''Mega Man'' video game and later in promotions and oth ...

, collect parts for a peace-keeping robot by defeating several Robot Masters that have gone haywire. An

game, ''Mega Man 3'' follows the same format set forth by its two predecessors. The player, as Mega Man, must complete a series of stages in any order. Defeating a stage's boss will earn the player its special weapon, which can be selected and used at will throughout the rest of the game. ''Mega Man 3'' introduces new gameplay elements such as Mega Man's canine sidekick

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

and the ability to slide along the ground. Unlike the first two installments of the series, artist and designer

Keiji Inafune is a Japanese video game producer, illustrator and businessman. Starting his career at Capcom in the late 1980s, his job was as an artist and illustrator. The first two games he worked on were the original ''Street Fighter'' and ''Mega Man'' in ...

has considered the creation of ''Mega Man 3'' to be very stressful due to time constraints and his own increased responsibilities during its development. Following the success of ''Mega Man 2'' released two years earlier, ''Mega Man 3'' has sold 1.17 million copies and has been positively received in critical reviews. Its presentation and gameplay has been especially praised, although many sources found the game to be too difficult. Like other titles in the series, ''Mega Man 3'' has been re-released several times on other gaming platforms, on

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

s, and as part of various ''Mega Man'' franchise compilations. A sequel, ''

Mega Man 4 ''Mega Man 4'' is an action-platform game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the fourth game in the original ''Mega Man'' series and was originally released in Japan in 1991. The game was localized in North Ameri ...

'', was released in 1991.

Plot

''Mega Man 3'' takes place during an unspecified year during the 21st century (20XX). 2-3 months after Mega Man 2, the mad scientist

, having twice had plans for world domination dashed, claims to have reformed and begins work with Dr. Light on a project to build a peace-keeping robot named "Gamma". Robot Masters – Top Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, Magnet Man, Hard Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, and Needle Man – in charge of a set of "mining worlds", however, go berserk and make off with Gamma's eight power crystals. Mega Man is called into action, this time with a canine companion named Rush, to retrieve the crystals from the sites. Throughout his mission, the protagonist continuously encounters and spars with Break Man, a masked foe who has abilities comparable to Mega Man's own. After Mega Man destroys the eight Robot Masters, he then revisits four of the mining sites to face off against eight "Doc Robots", who possess the abilities of the Robot Masters from Mega Man's previous mission. Once the crystals are retrieved, Wily reverts to his evil ways, steals Gamma, and retreats to his new fortress. To stop Wily's newest plan to conquer the world, Mega Man destroys Gamma and defeats Wily in a final confrontation. As the fortress begins to crumble, Break Man appears in enough time to save Mega Man, but is too late to save Wily, who is seen being crushed under the rubble. When Mega Man regains consciousness in Dr. Light's lab, his creator informs him that Break Man was actually his older brother

Proto Man Proto Man, known in Japan as ,

Gameplay

''Mega Man 3'' retains the platforming and

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

elements established by the two ''Mega Man'' games released before it. The player controls the protagonist Mega Man as he traverses eight selectable stages. The player's primary blaster weapon is used to fend off the game's numerous enemies. Several

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s can be picked up in each stage, including life energy, special weapon ammunition, extra lives, and "E-Tanks", which are stored and can be selected to completely refill the player's life energy. At the end of every stage the player must defeat a Robot Master

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

: Magnet Man, Hard Man, Top Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, or Needle Man. Each Robot Master features a unique weapon and stage related to the weapon's power. After defeating a boss, their signature weapon is added to Mega Man's arsenal. The Robot Masters are weak to the weapons of certain other Robot Masters, allowing the player to ease the boss battles by clearing some stages before others. ''Mega Man 3'' is the first ''Mega Man'' game to feature the slide maneuver, which lets the player slip under enemy attacks and low-level barriers. After completing certain stages, Mega Man can access new abilities in his robot dog companion Rush. Rush's transformations include the "Rush Coil" for jumping higher, the "Rush Jet" for flying around the screen, and the "Rush Marine" for traveling underwater. Throughout the various stages the player encounters Proto Man (as Break Man), a mini-boss who, once defeated, will open passageways for the player to advance. ''Mega Man 3'' also expands upon the two preceding games by having additional stages set between the initial eight Robot Masters and the linear stages of Dr. Wily's fortress. A

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

system can be used to return to the game with most of the stages completed. The "Doc Robots" are fought after defeating all 8 Robot Masters. The Doc Robots are faced in the Spark Man stage, Needle Man stage, Gemini Man stage, and Shadow Man stage.

Development

Development on ''Mega Man 3'' began at

over a year after the release of ''Mega Man 2''. Akira Kitamura, the lead supervisor for the first two games quit his job at the company during that gap of time. Artist

, credited as "Inafking", considered ''Mega Man 3'' as one of his least favorite entries in the series due to " ..what went into the game and what was behind the release of the game." He had "preset notions" about successful development because of the team's good experience with ''Mega Man 2'' and found that his new superior "didn't really understand ''Mega Man'' the way his predecessor did". During the game's production, the developers lost the main planner, so Inafune had to take over that job for its completion. Inafune recalled the final two months of development as particularly turbulent, when he had to take responsibility for assessing and dividing up tasks among the team members who were not meeting deadlines. The team was forced to put ''Mega Man 3'' on the market before they thought it was ready. Inafune concluded, "I knew that if we had more time to polish it, we could do a lot of things better, make it a better game, but the company said that we needed to release it. The whole environment behind what went into the production of the game is what I least favored. Numbers one and two – I really wanted to make the games; I was so excited about them. Number three – it just turned very different." ''Mega Man 3'' brought new characters and gameplay mechanics to the franchise. Though Inafune considers the gameplay to have lost some of its simplicity, he felt Mega Man's slide ability was successfully implemented to enhance the player's control while battling enemies. Mega Man's sidekick dog Rush was designed by combining the functionality of three support tools from ''Mega Man 2'', which would ease the player's navigation of stages. In addition to the Marine and Coil modes, Rush was originally intended to have a "drill" mode that would allow Mega Man to tunnel underground. Another new character, Proto Man, was introduced in a way that the player would be unable to tell if he was an ally or an enemy to Mega Man. His design was influenced by

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

, and he was given both a scarf and shield to make him appear "tougher" than Mega Man. The design team wanted Proto Man to sport uncovered hair, but they instead opted for an open-faced helmet illustration for both the television commercials and instruction manual. Proto Man's original Japanese name, Blues, was changed by Capcom's North American division despite Inafune's protests. Capcom did this not only to be consistent with Rockman's English name, but because they thought that the name Blues made no sense. Inafune attempted to defend it due to the name's musical connotation to character names in the series. Though Rush and Proto Man were created solely by the developer, Capcom sought ideas from fans for the creation of the game's Robot Masters as they had done with ''Mega Man 2''. The team received around 50,000 design submissions for ''Mega Man 3'', only eight of which were used in the game. Harumi Fujita, credited as "Mrs. Tarumi", was the initial composer of the game, but she only completed a few songs before giving birth and having to drop off the project. She composed the songs ‘Needle Man’, ‘Gemini Man’ and ‘Staff Roll’. Capcom composer

Yasuaki Fujita is a video game composer and sound designer best known for his work with Capcom, who normally went by the alias of Bun Bun. During the ''NES'' era, he worked on the music for ''Mega Man 3'' (in lieu of Harumi Fujita), '' Tenchi wo Kurau II'', '' ...

, also known as "Bun Bun" was then assigned to complete the soundtrack and created the majority of the score.

Reception

''Mega Man 3'' has enjoyed a positive reception from print and online sources. Lucas M. Thomas of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

, Christian Nutt and Justin Speer of

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

, Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser ("The Lessers") of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'', Dan Whitehead of

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

, Edward J. Semrad of ''

The Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' and ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' (''EGM''), and the staff of ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...

'' all mutually found the game to have impressive graphics, enjoyable music, and challenging gameplay. Nutt and Speer summarized ''Mega Man 3'' as a "top-notch game" and Capcom's "pinnacle of NES effort". IGN's Colin Moriarty argued the game as a major improvement over the original ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man (character), Mega Man". Mega Man (video game), The original game w ...

'' and that it even surpasses the critically acclaimed ''Mega Man 2'' in quality. Moriarty justified this claim with the third installment's attempt at better storytelling, its longer length than any other classic ''Mega Man'' game, and its inclusion of all eight ''Mega Man 2'' Robot Masters in addition to its own. Brett Alan Weiss (

AllGame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

) described it as doing what "a great sequel is supposed to do by recapturing the fun, spirit and excitement of its predecessors while adding new levels, characters and challenges." Some critics found ''Mega Man 3'' to be excessively difficult. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' contributor McKinley Noble comically stated that actions such as "pulling teeth, lifting a car over your head or performing open-heart surgery" are all significantly easier than beating ''Mega Man 3''. Whitehead noted, "Leaps must be precise, enemies must be dispatched rapidly and accurately, and there's a constant state of delicious near-panic as you wait to see what vicious demands the next room will place on your platforming skills." The Lessers additionally saw considerable flicker when too many sprites appear onscreen at once. The writers mentioned that it detracted from the normally crisp graphics the few times it was noticed. Since its 1990 release, ''Mega Man 3'' has sold over one million copies worldwide, making it the 48th best-selling Capcom game. ''EGM'' listed ''Mega Man 3'' as "The Best Sequel to an Existing Game" in its 1991 Video Game Buyer's Guide. The readers of ''

'' voted it the third-best game of 1990 in the magazine's "Nintendo Power Awards" for that year. The publication listed ''Mega Man 3'' as the 11th best NES video game in their 20th anniversary issue in 2008. IGN included it at number 16 on its "Top 100 NES Games of All Time". Finally, ''GamePro'' ranked ''Mega Man 3'' as the third-greatest 8-bit video game of all time.

Legacy

''Mega Man 3'' has seen releases on many consoles and other devices since its 1990 debut on the NES. In the United States, it was made into a stripped-down, handheld

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

game by

Tiger Electronics Tiger Electronics Ltd. (also known as Tiger and Tiger Toys) was an independent American toy manufacturer best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games such as ''Brain Warp'' and the Br ...

. It is the only ''Mega Man'' game in Nintendo's

PlayChoice-10 The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo, had numerous model variants produced throughout its lifetime. It was originally released in 1983 as the (and widely known as the ) i ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

library. ''Mega Man 3'' was

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is inf ...

in 1994 for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

game '' Mega Man: The Wily Wars'', featuring updated graphics and sound. ''Mega Man 3'' was released on the

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

in the ''

Rockman Complete Works There are over 130 titles in the ''Mega Man'' series. In all cases, the English title is given first, as well as the initial release date. ''Mega Man'' series *''Mega Man'' (''Rockman'') – Famicom/NES, 1987 (JP, US) *'' Mega Man 2'' (''Rockman ...

'' line in Japan in 1999. This version has arranged music, artwork galleries, and a "navi" mode for beginner players. The NES edition of the game was also part of a North American compilation of ten titles in the series called ''

Mega Man Anniversary Collection ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' is a compilation of video games developed by Atomic Planet and published by Capcom. It was released in North America on June 23, 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube and on March 15, 2005 for the Xbox. The '' ...

'', which was released for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Nintendo GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

in 2004, and the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

in 2005. Also in 2005, ''Mega Man 3'' was bundled alongside other Capcom games as part of a Plug It In & Play TV Games peripheral by

Jakks Pacific Jakks Pacific, Inc. is an American company that designs and markets toys and consumer products, with a range of products that feature numerous children's toy licenses. The company is named after its founder, Jack Friedman, who had previously fou ...

. ''Mega Man 3'' was released by Capcom on

s in Japan in 2005 and in North America in 2008. The NES version made its way to the Nintendo

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

service worldwide in 2008. The ''Complete Works'' version was released on the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

(downloadable on

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

) in Japan in 2010 and in North America in 2011. ''Mega Man 3'' was made available for download on the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

Virtual Console in Japan on September 26, 2012. ''Mega Man 3'' and its prequel ''

'' are included on the Super Retro-Cade collection, a dedicated console released in 2018 that comes with 90 arcade, NES and Super NES video games. Many of the features introduced in ''Mega Man 3'' have been carried on by the series. These include the characters Proto Man and Rush, the player's ability to slide, and extra stages set between the initial eight Robot Masters and Dr. Wily's fortress. With the release of ''

Mega Man 9 ''Mega Man 9'' is a 2008 Action game, action-Platform game, platform video game developed by Capcom and Inti Creates. It is the ninth numbered game in the Mega Man (original series), original ''Mega Man'' series (Or tenth game overall when inclu ...

'' in 2008, however, some of these elements and others implemented in the third through eighth installments were forgone in favor of the more basic aspects of ''Mega Man'' and ''Mega Man 2''. The producers of ''Mega Man 9'' have referred to the ninth game as "the new ''Mega Man 3''" because they wanted to surpass what they accomplished in ''Mega Man 2''. The game was adapted into the

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Mega Man series ''Mega Man'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man (character), Mega Man". Mega Man (video game), The original game w ...

over an extended period, with Gamma being introduced and having its power source stolen in the "Redemption" arc while the full adaptation takes place in "Legends of the Blue Bomber" and "The Ultimate Betrayal". One of the biggest differences was that ''

Super Adventure Rockman is a 1998 interactive movie/rail shooter video game developed by Kouyousha and published by Capcom for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn; it is a spin-off of the ''Mega Man'' series and follows Mega Man as he attempts to stop an ancient alien super ...

'' was adapted into the continuity prior to this game; as such, the ''Mega Man 3'' Robot Masters debut in that adaptation. This also results in Shadow Man's ruins of origin being made the Lanfront Ruins of ''Super Adventure Rockman'' and connecting his history to that of Ra Moon; a flashback featured in the "Legends of the Blue Bomber" arc reveals that his history is also connected with the mysterious robot who fights Duo in the beginning of ''

Mega Man 8 ''Mega Man 8'' is an action-platform video game developed and released by Capcom in 1996. It was directed by Hayato Kaji and produced by Keiji Inafune, both of whom had previously worked on the series as artists. It is the eighth installment i ...

''. Additionally, there is but a single "DOC Robot" featured in the game, equipped with the weapons and personality data of the ''Mega Man 2'' Robot Masters.

References

External links

Official ''Rockman'' website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mega Man 03 1990 video games Mega Man games Mobile games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo games PlayChoice-10 games Cancelled Sega Saturn games Platform games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation Network games Side-scrolling video games Single-player video games Subterranea Fiction about mining Tiger handheld games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Harumi Fujita Video games scored by Yasuaki Fujita Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U Superhero video games Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS