Generally the reviews on this site offer a categorical view of the game, analyzing each aspect of the game that has been listed in the review form. While this works for many games this review will be different. Due to the structure of this game, I would say it is best analyzed by level. There are 6 robot Masters and 4 Wily stages, so I hope not to bore you to tears. Throughout the writing of this I will play through each of the stages under two conditions:
1 playthrough with the most basic equipment (buster only)
and 1 playthrough with all 6 special weapons
With a nonlinear game like this, the ideal structure is that you can start from any point, learn the basics of the game, and still receive a sufficient challenge from the other stages. With the copy ability provided to Mega Man, you would also want to reward the player for experimenting.
I will state outright before playing that I generally think negatively about this installment in hindsight, but I still want to see whether the game is truly poorly designed, or if I was missing something.

Cut Man
Buster Only: Cut Man is a common choice for the first bot. He is the one that is highlighted upon starting the game, and he also seems to be one of the weakest, at least in names. Players likely looked at him and thought something along the lines of "What are you going to do? Shoot scissors at me? I have a laser gun!". Capcom seemed to know this, and I would say it is one of the more clever stages as a result. The stage starts off by trapping the player. I would assume that in any stage you go to first, the player knows absolutely nothing about the game's mechanics. This highlights one of the strong points of retro gaming, tutorials almost didn't have to exist. Controllers had exactly 4 buttons, 5 if you count the D-pad. This means that "pressing all the buttons to see what works" is a very fast and painless process. When trapped here, the player will likely find out all of the essential functions. If they have already played games like Super Mario Bros, they might also work on assumptions based on that, and they will find out that Mega Man only has one speed. This will help later, as they will know to rely on precision rather than momentum. While trapped here they can find out a lot about how Mega Man controls, but ultimately they will discover how to climb ladders. This may sound basic, but remember how new video games were at the time. The concept of pressing up in a platformer could very well be foreign, but it's important in Mega Man games. Finally moving past the first screen, the player will find Bladers (flying heads). All of the stages start with somewhat weak enemies (if any) to teach the player combat. Firstly, you will learn that Mega Man has a health bar. This means that the player knows they can make mistakes. When you get hit, you will also notice Mega Man's knockback and invincibility frames.They may use the latter to skip enemies, but they will eventually find out that that doesn't always work (more on that later). If they decide to avoid enemies, they will also come across the spawning mechanics of the game, in that anything off-screen doesn't exist. It also shows you that those lemons you keep shooting are actually weapons. Through this they may also find the rate of fire, three shots on screen at a time. To avoid redundancy in other stage summaries, any situation where the player is trapped to learn things will be called a "cage" and any situation where an enemy is used to teach the player combat will be called a "goomba". Along the path of Bladers, the player may be intrigued by the odd looking brick blocks . This may provide them with a mental note for future levels or even future playthroughs. At the end of the path the player sees a variety of new enemies; by which I mean beaks. Beaks are sentry robots that occasionally open to fire shots. While they are open, they are vulnerable. Up to this point, the player is taught that anything that isn't ground is bad, so they shoot it. They will likely find out that it is invulnerable to their shots. At this point they either learn that some enemies have invincibility frames, or they wait until they fight sniper Joes over at Bomb Man's stage to learn that. Due to the sheer volume early on in the stage, they will likely learn this. On the second screen where they appear, they are arranged in such a way that it is nearly impossible to make it through unscathed unless you kill them. Due to Mega Man's knockback, the last two beaks will nearly force the player to realize they can be killed, since their shots impede your ability to platform. I will assume that, by this point in the level, players know how beaks work. The next screen has two paths. Here the player learns that there are multiple ways to deal with situations, and that not every enemy has to be killed in order to make it through. On the third screen there is a beak that cannot be shot unless the player shoots from a ladder, since it is over a pit and letting it live impedes progress harshly, I will assume the player will learn to shoot from ladders. I would like to point out that all of this information is very helpful for Elec Man's stage, which is often played after cut man due to the weakness mechanic (more on that later). Several screens later you encounter a Super Cutter dispenser. By now, the player should know that not all enemies should be killed, and this helps here since the enemies are only a problem if you try to do so. Running past the super cutters without caution will result in a flea enemy blind-siding the player. The first flea enemy is likely there to make absolutely sure that the goomba worked and you know you have a health bar. I feel like this would be a more fair challenge provided the enemy was visible prior. Perhaps if they behaved like the tigers in Mega Man 5 this would work, but I digress. This will show that your plasma buster can't hit small targets. If the player does not know about the copy mechanic, this will make them want more weapons. Further along we finally see an enemy that takes multiple hits to kill. The player already knows what his shots sound like both when they hit and when they deflect. Since they hear a hit sound effect when shooting at octopus batteries, they know their shots are doing something. They will keep shooting and eventually kill them. The following screen has the player fight four octo batteries, this serves to teach the player that some enemies have unique movement patterns. The same applies to the following rooms. The first octo-battery hoard also marks the first checkpoint. When the gauntlet ends, you are greeted by another super cutter dispenser, this time without fleas. You then encounter some more bladers, but more importantly you see a large energy capsule. By this point, you may have already seen one, I assumed for the sake of the analysis that enemies have only dropped point balls until here. The player has very likely taken damage by this point in the level, especially since the first checkpoint is right before hoards of enemies. The player will see that their shots go straight through the pellet, so they may go to pick it up and see their health refill. This will show them that not everything is harmful. On the next screen, you will see a flying shell. These enemies are essentially flying beaks, and before you are able to shoot one, it is very likely that the first shell has already moved off screen. You will see that some enemies respawn indefinitely. You will also be able to see their beak-like behavior once you try to kill them. The following screen is similar, except the player is expected to have fast reflexes, as the shell's shots are in such a way that you must move as soon as you enter the screen to avoid them. This room teaches you about how many enemies act in specific patterns, and that learning such patterns is advantageous. This also applies to the next and peninultimate room of the level. Here you fight a Big Eye. Let me say this now: f*** these guys. These enemies exist as a final barrier for the player from the boss. Their patterns seem erratic since they are often on strange terrain. Upon a further look, I notice a trend that often times the difficulty in some of these enemies comes purely from learning their pattern. All these enemies do is jump, and on every third jump or so the player is able to run under them. They take many, many hits to destroy, so it is advised that you avoid them. Capcom expects players to learn this at SOME point in the game before Wily's Castle, and chances are you will by your 6th level. After this the player sees some strange walls, and will eventually go up to them to find out they're doors. In the hall they will see screw bomber enemies. Like fleas, they are often to low to hit (or too high). Like fleas, they are easiest to hit when attacking. Like octo batteries, they have multiple health points. Like flying shells, they shoot in many directions in a fixed pattern. They accurately test what the player has learned in this level. Cut Man is a very easy opponent, he gets knocked back when you shoot him, he can only have one (slow) projectile on screen at a time, and he takes lots of damage from your plasma buster. He is easily dispatched and the player will have chosen rightly to go here first.

In writing this, I realize that I have spent hours on just one level. I will update this review hopefully daily until I cover the whole game. I'll continue if interest is shown in this style of review. For those worried about the replays of each level with all weapons, I will do all six of those in one day, so it shouldn't slow the process down too much. For those who just want an overview, I will enter scores prematurely. Though keep in mind that, until all twelve levels are covered, the ratings will be based on my memory of the game from a few months ago.

This is a guide, not a review. So it should go in the game guide's section.

Local Mods : Needs to be moved


As for the guide itself, I find it to be a bit disorganized. You often refer to some game mechanics in a section that is supposed to be for Cut Man's Level. Now, I understand that quite a few of those mechanics are helpful in the level, but those mechanics are generally going to be used throughout the entire game. So instead of bunching it all up in the Level 1 section, you should separate it into it's own area. Have something like a "game mechanics" section where you can explain the health bar, button functions, knock-back, knock-back invincibility time period, etc. Then, when you use one of those special mechanics, you won't have to basically interrupt the walkthrough of the level to explain the whole thing. It creates a sense of disorganized thoughts and makes it harder to read. Get all that stuff out of the way in the beginning, and then the level walkthrough parts won't drag on so much.

Same thing goes with when you stop momentarily to explain individual enemies. If you are going to go into that detail, make an enemy list/guide section as well. Same thing, it just interrupts the guide when you stop to explain individual enemies. Have a list of enemies in an Enemies section so people can just refer to that when needed.

Lastly, random bits of information that are more fluff and don't contribute much. I notice that you often make little breaks to mention something Capcom did, meant to do, wants to teach you, etc. You mention at a couple points in this something like "you will likely master this by level ____" and stuff to that nature. Doesn't really contribute to the guide and is more of a distraction. Same goes for times like when you decided to take a lot of time to say things like:
"By this point, you may have already seen one, I assumed for the sake of the analysis that enemies have only dropped point balls until here. The player has very likely taken damage by this point in the level, especially since the first checkpoint is right before hoards of enemies. The player will see that their shots go straight through the pellet, so they may go to pick it up and see their health refill. This will show them that not everything is harmful"
That entire part can pretty much be summed up with "if you are low on health, refill by destroying enemies here to collect health pellets".

On that last point, what I am saying is that length does not equal better. When it comes to guides, there is a line were less is more. There is such thing as being too wordy or too descriptive. If readers are looking for guides, they are going to prefer the guides that give you the detail you need and keep it all strait forward. If a guide keeps on taking brief breaks to go into unnecessary detail that they don't really need, they are going to stop reading and find one that they can actually read in less time than it takes to complete the level.

This might have sounded all negative, but that doesn't mean there weren't good aspects of it. It is pretty thorough so far, which is good. It is better to have too much than too little, because it is easier to edit things out than putting more in. But though thorough, right now, it is just a bit disorganized and makes too many stops to go into unnecessary detail. Keep it simple, keep it on track, keep it strait forward.

rcarter2's feedback was really phenomenal and I think you should heed it. Don't be upset, as he's trying to help you improve.

He was so thorough that it's difficult to say much after him. However, the one thing I'd add to his feedback is a comment on format:  It'd also be nice if you broke that really long paragraph into a couple of smaller ones.  A huge block of text like that is really uneasy on the eyes and scares people from even reading what you wrote.