Mega Man III is a 1992 platform game developed by Minakuchi Engineering and published by Capcom for the Game Boy. It is the third game in the handheld series of the Mega Man franchise and the last to be published by Nintendo in Europe. The game follows the title character Mega Man as he fights the evil Dr. Wily. Along with foes from his past, Mega Man must contend with the next robot in Wily's line of "Mega Man Killers", Punk.

Like its two consecutive predecessors on the Game Boy, the game combines elements from two previously released Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) titles: Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 4. The game received positive reviews from critics and was considered a notable improvement over its predecessors, though some criticized it for being too difficult, deeming its difficulty level overly frustrating.

Plot

The story of Mega Man III consists of the hero Mega Man battling the evil scientist Dr. Wily, but is different from version to version: in the US manual, Wily using a converted oil platform in the middle of the ocean to draw energy from the Earth's core to power a new machine. Mega Man's primary method of attack is his "Mega Buster", which can fire an unlimited number of small shots or can be charged by holding the down the button and then releasing a larger and more powerful blast. Beating the Robot Master boss at the end of each stage allows the player to add its unique weapon to Mega Man's arsenal.

| Allgame = 3.5/5

| EGM = 8/10, 8/10, 9/10, 7/10

| Fam = 21 out of 40

| ONM = 7.2 out of 10

Mega Man III was given a positive review from the North American Electronic Gaming Monthly, which noted its use of familiar gameplay and a large amount of visual detail.

The editors of GameSpot consider Mega Man III a rare find because it was never re-released in budget form likes the two games before it. Mega Man III was made available on March 13, 2001, for the Nintendo Power cartridge service in Japan alongside the other four Game Boy Mega Man games. Capcom had planned to release a full-color compilation of all five Game Boy games on the Game Boy Advance in 2004, but the project was cancelled. A redesign of Punk was featured in the spin-off game Mega Man Battle Network 3. A stage featuring the boss Punk was part of the downloadable content for Mega Man 10 in 2010. In 2013, Mega Man III was made available on the Virtual Console of Japan's Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS on October 9, 2013, in Japan, in North America on May 8, 2014, and in PAL regions on August 14, 2014. It was also released on the Nintendo Classics service for the Nintendo Switch with its predecessors and sequels on June 7, 2024.

Notes

References

  • Official Rockman website