Mega Man 4

This article is about the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Family Computer game. For the Game Boy game, see Mega Man IV (Game Boy).

Mega Man 4
North American version cover art
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Producer(s)	Tokuro Fujiwara
Designer(s)	Yoshinori Takenaka S. Kobashi Keiji Inafune
Artist(s)	Keiji Inafune Hayato Kaji
Composer(s)	Minae Fujii Yasuaki Fujita
Series	Mega Man
Platform(s)	Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation, mobile phones, Virtual Console, PlayStation Network
Release date(s)	December 6, 1991 NES JP December 6, 1991[1] NA January 1992[2] EU August 1993[3] PlayStation JP October 28, 1999[4] Mobile phone JP September 1, 2005[5] Virtual Console JP February 9, 2010[6] PAL April 16, 2010[7] NA April 19, 2010[8] PlayStation Network JP February 10, 2011[9]
Genre(s)	Action, platform
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: E (Everyone) OFLC: G (General) PEGI: 7+
Media/distribution	4-megabit ROM cartridge, CD-ROM, download

Mega Man 4, known in Japan as Rockman 4 Aratanaru Yabō!! (Japanese: ロックマン 4 新たなる野望!!^?, lit. "Rockman 4: A New Ambition!!"), is a 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 on December 6, 1991. The game was localized in North America the following January, and in Europe during August 1993.

The game's story takes place after the third defeat and supposed death of Dr. Wily, and features the Earth coming under threat from a mysterious scientist named Dr. Cossack and his eight "Robot Masters". Fearing the worst, Dr. Light sends Mega Man to save the world once again. Mega Man 4 carries on the same action and platforming gameplay as the first three Mega Man games, in which the player completes a series of stages in any order and adds the weapon of each stage's boss to Mega Man's arsenal. One notable added feature is the "New Mega Buster" (often shortened to "Mega Buster"), an upgraded arm cannon that lets the player charge a regular shot into a much more powerful blast. The development team was mindful that this innovation would change the overall feel of the game.

Despite Mega Man 4 receiving positive critical reviews during its early 1990s release, the game is widely regarded today to represent a downward shift from the quality of the first three games in the series. The Mega Buster itself has been considered an overused mechanic by several sources. Mega Man 4 was re-released on the Japanese PlayStation, PlayStation Network, and mobile phones; the North American Mega Man Anniversary Collection; and worldwide on the Wii Virtual Console.

Plot

Mega Man 4 takes place in an unspecified year during the 21st century, described as the year "20XX". One year after the events of Mega Man 3 and the supposed demise of the evil Dr. Wily, Dr. Light receives a letter from a mysterious Russian scientist named Dr. Cossack claiming that he is the world's greatest robot engineer. Cossack states further that he will unleash his army of robots upon the world as a test for Light to see which of the two of them is the better inventor.^[10][11] Light calls upon his own greatest creation, the hero Mega Man, to go after Cossack's Robot Masters.^[12]

Upon defeating the eight Robot Masters—Toad Man, Bright Man, Pharaoh Man, Ring Man, Dust Man, Dive Man, Skull Man, and Drill Man—Mega Man makes his way to Cossack's icy fortress. However, in the middle of his battle with Cossack, Mega Man's ally Proto Man teleports in with Cossack's daughter, Kalinka. The girl begs Mega Man to halt his attack, elaborating that Dr. Wily had kidnapped her and coerced her father into building an army of robots.^[13] With his plan undone by Proto Man, Dr. Wily steps out of the shadows.^[11] Mega Man pursues his nemesis and fights through the newly built Skull Castle, but Wily manages to escape in the end.

Gameplay

Mega Man fires a Mega Buster blast at Toad Man. Holding down the firing button charges the arm cannon to release a powerful shot.

Mega Man 4 features similar gameplay to the previous three games.^[14] The player must complete a series of eight stages in an order of the player's choosing. The protagonist, Mega Man, is able to run, jump, shoot, and climb his way past obstacles and enemies; the game also retains the slide ability which debuted in Mega Man 3. At the end of each stage is a Robot Master boss. Upon defeating a Robot Master, Mega Man gains the Robot Master's signature weapon, which can then be used by the player in subsequent stages.^[10][14] Once all eight Robot Masters are destroyed, two separate sets of linear stages must be completed to finish the game. One major addition to the gameplay in Mega Man 4 is the "Mega Buster", an upgraded version of Mega Man's arm cannon. By holding down the firing button, the player can now charge a shot, resulting in a blast far more powerful than the standard shot.^{[10][11][14][15]} This feature was later used in subsequent incarnations of the franchise.^[16]

The hero's dog Rush makes a return from Mega Man 3 with the ability to transform into "Coil", "Jet", and "Marine" modes for navigating different environments.^[10][14] Aside from Rush, two additional support items called the "Wire Adaptor" and the "Balloon Adaptor" also aid the player in reaching areas not normally accessible. However, these hidden adaptors must be found in the stages rather than being awarded for defeating a Robot Master.^[11][14][15] Like the Master Weapons, the three Rush modes and the two adaptors are each limited to an amount of weapon power that drains when in use. The character "Flip Top" Eddie is introduced in Mega Man 4. Eddie, who went on to appear in later Mega Man games, provides the player with a random item (such as health or ammunition) at designated points in some of the levels.^[10][11]

Development

Mega Man series artist Keiji Inafune stated that the development team had very few problems while working on Mega Man 4.^[17] Inafune designed Dr. Cossack and Kalinka as two new storyline characters for the game. Cossack, who was originally named "Dr. Vice", was made much younger than Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. Inafune also considered giving him American traits, but decided upon influences from Russia instead.^[1] Kalinka was created because so many male characters already existed in the series at this point. However, Inafune did not intend for players to compare her to Mega Man's sister Roll.^[1] The idea for Eddie originally came about during the development of Mega Man 2. Eddie was designed as a supporting character that "would behave like a lottery", either pleasantly surprising or disappointing the player with the item he gives Mega Man.^[1]

Mega Man 4 was the first game in the series for Hayato Kaji, a prominent designer for many later Mega Man games. Kaji was responsible for the chargeable Mega Buster, a gameplay mechanic that would become a staple of the series.^[1] "We knew adding a two-level or three-level charge would change the whole flavor of the game in some respects, and we were very mindful of that," Inafune explained.^[1] The Robot Masters in Mega Man 4 are a result of a design contest for fans held in Japan. With over 70,000 character submissions, the development team spent an extended period of time narrowing them down to only eight bosses.^[1] According to Kaji, the team was very satisfied with many of the chosen designs and almost no changes were made to their original illustrations. They were so impressed with Skull Man that they scrapped an entire level being created just so they could restart it and devote it to that Robot Master.^[1] The winning eight contestants of the design contest were each issued a special "golden cartridge" edition of Mega Man 4. As there are only eight of these cartridges in existence, they are extremely rare and fetch a large collector's price today.^[18] The musical score for Mega Man 4 was co-composed by Yasuaki Fujita and Minae Fujii. The former of the two had composed the soundtrack for Mega Man 3 the previous year.^[19]

Reception and legacy

Reception
Review scores
Publication	Score
GamePro	[15]
IGN	8 out of 10[20]
Nintendo Power	3.95 out of 5[21]
Nintendo Magazine System	81%[3]
Total!	88%[22]

Mega Man 4 has enjoyed a mostly positive critical reception. Reviews contemporary with the game's release by the United States magazine Nintendo Power and the United Kingdom publications Nintendo Magazine System and Total! all found Mega Man 4 to have high quality graphics, sound, and gameplay.^[3][21][22] However, they also noted very little improvement over previous entries in the series. GamePro was satisfied with the lack of changes. "Mega Man 4 continues the tradition — crazed robot baddies, good character graphics, great background art and warped, mechanical music," the reviewer said. "When you have a good game, why make radical changes? Capcom sticks to the blueprints in Mega Man 4 — guaranteeing happiness for Mega Man fans everywhere."^[15] Lucas M. Thomas of IGN stated that, as a stand-alone title, the game is one of the best experiences available from the NES library, although not when compared to its superior predecessors. He enjoyed the use of a second set of castle levels to significantly extend the length of the game, a tradition carried on by the next two titles in the series.^[20]

Numerous video game journalists and enthusiasts including Thomas, Craig Skistimas of ScrewAttack, GameSpot editors Christian Nutt and Justin Speer, and 1UP.com's Jeremy Parrish, refer to the fourth installment as a turning point for the quality of titles in the Mega Man series.^{[16][20][23][24][25]} Nutt and Speer admitted that the series was beginning to deteriorate with this game, likely due to the growing reputation of the more powerful Super Nintendo Entertainment System at the time of its release.^[24] Parrish proclaimed, "Here's where the series starts to go off the rails a bit -- the Dr. Wily fake out was silly, the music was terrible, the bosses and weapons were uninspired, and the ability to charge up the Mega Buster is often cited as a game-breaking innovation."^[25] Thomas identified the chargeable Mega Buster as disrupting the balance of the game and rendering many of the Master Weapons useless, one of the concepts that set the Mega Man games apart from other action-platformers.^[16][20]

Mega Man 4 was re-released for the PlayStation as part of the Rockman Complete Works series in 1999.^[4] This version of the game features a special "navi mode" that guides players through each level and has arranged music remixes.^[24] A port of the Complete Works edition was released on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube in 2004 and the Xbox in 2005, as part of the North American-exclusive Mega Man Anniversary Collection.^[26][27] The NES version has also been re-released on Japanese i-mode mobile phones in 2005, worldwide on the Wii's downloadable Virtual Console service in 2010, and on the Japanese PlayStation Network in 2011.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Mega Man: Official Complete Works. Udon Entertainment. January 6, 2010. pp. 22–7. ISBN 978-1-89737-679-9. 
2. ^ "NES Games" (PDF). Nintendo. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20101221005931/http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/gameslist/manuals/nes_games.pdf. Retrieved 2011-09-24. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Review: Mega Man 4". Nintendo Magazine System (EMAP) (10): pp. 82–4. July 1993. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Mega Man: Official Complete Works. Udon Entertainment. January 6, 2010. pp. 100–7. ISBN 978-1-89737-679-9 1. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Osamu, Takizawa (September 1, 2005). "カプコン、iモード「ロックマン4」や「バイオハザード ストーリーズ」新シナリオなどを配信" (in Japanese). Game Watch. http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20050901/capk.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "VC ロックマン4 新たなる野望!!" (in Japanese). Nintendo. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/vc/vc_rm4/index.html. Retrieved 2010-04-25. 
7. ^ ^{a b} East, Thomas (April 8, 2010). "Mega Man 4 coming to Virtual Console next week". Official Nintendo Magazine. http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/article.php?id=16417. Retrieved 2010-04-25. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Nintendo Download: April 19, 2010". IGN. April 19, 2010. http://wii.ign.com/articles/108/1084466p1.html. Retrieved 2010-04-25. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Spencer (February 10, 2011). "PSN Is Burning With PsOne Fighting Games". Siliconera. http://www.siliconera.com/2011/02/10/psn-is-burning-with-psone-fighting-games/. Retrieved 2011-08-14. 
10. ^ ^{a b c d e} Capcom, ed (January 1992). Mega Man 4 Instruction Booklet. Santa Clara, CA: Capcom Entertainment, Inc.. pp. 6–15. NES-4V-USA. 
11. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Mega Man 4". Nintendo Power (Nintendo of America) (32): pp. 8–15. January 1992. 
12. ^ Capcom. Mega Man 4. (Capcom). Nintendo Entertainment System. (1991-12-06) "Narrator: Dr. Cossack, a mysterious scientist, has invented eight powerful robots and sent them after Mega Man. Mega Man starts for the battle again, this time equipped with the powerful new Mega Buster!!"
13. ^ Capcom. Mega Man 4. (Capcom). Nintendo Entertainment System. (1991-12-06) "Kalinka: Please Mega Man don't!! My father is not really evil. Dr. Wily took me hostage and forced my father to fight you. Please Mega Man, don't hurt my father any more."
14. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Nintendo Player: Mega Man IV". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis) (29): pp. 192–5. December 1991. 
15. ^ ^{a b c d} Charlie T. Asian (December 1991). "ProReview: Mega Man 4". GamePro (Infotainment World, Inc.) (29): pp. 24–5. 
16. ^ ^{a b c} Thomas, Lucas M. (February 16, 2010). "The 10 Steps to Mega Man 10". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/106/1069184p3.html. Retrieved 2010-04-11. 
17. ^ Inafune, Keiji (1997). "Rockman 10th Anniversary Celebration Plans" (in Japanese). CFC Style Fan-Book (Capcom) 3: p. 24. 
18. ^ "Ultra Seven" (in Japanese). Shinya Arino and Sarina Suzuki. Retro Game Master. Fuji Television, Minato, Tokyo. May 2, 2007. No. 45, season 7.
19. ^ jgonzo (February 5, 2010). "Japanese Mega Man 10 Soundtrack Details". Capcom Unity. http://www.capcom-unity.com/jgonzo/blog/2010/02/05/japanese_mega_man_10_soundtrack_details. Retrieved 2011-02-28. 
20. ^ ^{a b c d} Lucas, Thomas M. (April 23, 2010). "Mega Man 4 Review". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/108/1085846p1.html. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 
21. ^ ^{a b} "Now Playing". Nintendo Power (Nintendo of America) (32): pp. 100–3. January 1992. 
22. ^ ^{a b} "Reviews: Mega Man 4". Total! (Future Publishing) (21). October 1993. 
23. ^ Skistimas, Craig (June 11, 2007). "ScrewAttack Video Game Vault: Mega Man 4". GameTrailers. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/video-game-screwattack/20440. Retrieved 2010-05-02. 
24. ^ ^{a b c} Nutt, Christian and Speer, Justin. "The History of Mega Man". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/features/6076983/p-5.html. Retrieved 2010-04-17. 
25. ^ ^{a b} Parish, Jeremy (May 10, 2007). "The Mega Man Series Roundup". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3159344. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
26. ^ Navarro, Alex (June 21, 2004). "Mega Man Anniversary Collection Review for PlayStation 2". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/megamananniversarycollection/review.html. Retrieved 2010-04-21. 
27. ^ Navarro, Alex (June 21, 2004). "Mega Man Anniversary Collection Review for Xbox". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/megamananniversarycollection/review.html. Retrieved 2010-04-21. 

External links

• Capcom Global website
• Official Rockman website (Japanese)