Mega Man 3

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Mega Man 3
Box art
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Game Design Masayoshi "Patariro" Kurokawa Producer Tokuro Fujiwara
Artist(s)	Keiji Inafune
Composer(s)	Yasuaki Fujita
Series	Mega Man
Platform(s)	Nintendo Entertainment System, mobile phone, Virtual Console
Release	NES Mobile phone Virtual Console
Genre(s)	Action/Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Mega Man 3 (ロックマン3 Dr.ワイリーの最期!?, Rokkuman Surī Dokutā Wairī no Saigo!?, lit. Rockman 3: The End of Dr. Wily!?) is a platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third part of the original Mega Man series. The game was released on September 28, 1990 in Japan with North American and European releases later in 1990 and 1992, respectively. In Mega Man 3, the hero helps his creator and a former villain collect parts for a peace-keeping robot by defeating several Robot Masters.

Following the success of Mega Man 2, the game has sold over one million copies since its release and has become a fan favorite.^[2] Like other titles in the series, Mega Man 3 has been re-released a number of times as part of various Mega Man compilations, and has most recently made its way to the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console.

In North America, this was the first Mega Man game on the NES to feature "traditional" cover art of the characters on the box, as opposed to the adult men on the first two games.

In the year 200X Dr. Wily claims to have reformed and works with Dr. Light on a project to build a peace-keeping robot named "Gamma." However, the eight Robot Masters that the two scientists had designed in order to help maintain peace go berserk and make off with the eight power crystals. Once again, Mega Man is called into action, this time with a trusty canine companion named Rush, to go after them and retrieve the crystals located on various mining planets in space.

After retrieving the crystals from the various Robot Masters, Wily steals Gamma. Mega Man goes to Wily's new Skull Compound destroys Gamma, who is under the control of Dr. Wily. Upon defeating him, the fortress begins to destabilize. Parts of the ceiling fall on Mega Man and Wily, Proto Man appears and rescues Mega Man. Wily is left under the rubble.

When he awakes, he finds himself in Dr. Light's lab. Dr. Light explains that he found Mega Man lying there when he came in. He then wonders aloud who brought Mega Man there, but while speaking he is interrupted by a familiar whistle, leaving no doubt in either Mega Man or Dr. Light's mind who was responsible for saving Mega Man. Dr. Light shows Mega Man a notebook that is filled with Dr. Light's robot designs including Roll, Mega Man, and Proto Man, the prototype master robot and Mega Man's elder brother.

Mega Man 3 is a platform and action game. The player controls Mega Man as he traverses eight stages to defeat the bosses, Dr. Wily's Robot Masters: Magnet Man, Hard Man, Top Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, and Needle Man.^[3] Each Robot Master features a unique weapon and stage related the their weapon's power. After defeating a boss, their signature weapon becomes available to the player. The Robot Masters have weaknesses to the weapons of certain other Robot Masters; therefore, choosing the order in which the levels are played is a vital component of the gameplay. After completing certain stages, Mega Man can access new abilities in his robot dog companion, Rush. Rush replaces the numbered special items Mega Man received after defeating certain bosses in Mega Man 2.

After defeating the eight Robot Masters, the player must revisit four of the Robot Master stages.^[3] The stages' layouts are changed in the second version, and the player must defeat two Doc Robot bosses (dokuroboto, literally "skull robot"), which take on the abilities of the Robot Masters of Mega Man 2. Throughout the various stages, the player encounters Proto Man, an enemy with a similar physique and weapon to Mega Man. Upon defeating Proto Man, the player can continue through the stage. Mega Man has a final battle with Proto Man (disguised as Break Man) immediately after defeating the eight Doc Robot bosses.

After the battle with Break Man, the player proceeds to Dr. Wily's fortress, which consists of six levels that are played linearly. As in the first two titles, the player is required to fight each Robot Master a second time in Dr. Wily's fortress. As in Mega Man 2, Mega Man selects his opponent by entering teleportation devices that lead to each Robot Master. The devices can be entered in any order, but are not labeled. Once the bosses are defeated again, the player must fight Dr. Wily and finally fight Gamma, the peace keeping machine.

This is the first Mega Man game in the series to feature the ability to slide, remaining an important ability in most later installments. This is also the first game to feature Rush, Mega Man's canine companion, who replaces the special movement tools from Mega Man 2.

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Since its 1990 release, Mega Man 3 has sold over one million copies worldwide.^[2]

Shortly after its release, Mega Man 3 was included as part of Nintendo's PlayChoice-10 arcade systems.^[4] Mega Man 3 was re-released alongside its two predecessors on Sega Mega Drive game Mega Man: The Wily Wars and featured updated graphics and sound. Mega Man 3 was released on the Sony PlayStation in the Rockman Complete Works line in 1999, which featured remixed music and added features. The game was also a part of a compilation of ten titles in the series called Mega Man Anniversary Collection, which was released for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2004, and the Xbox in 2005. In 2008, Mega Man 3 was re-released by Capcom on mobile phones in North America and on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console worldwide.^[1][5]

• Mega Man 3 at the Killer List of Videogames