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Drill Man

Nov 6th, 2011
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  1. Another nifty stage, this basically serves as a summary of every earth-related level in the classics. It's also impressive and well-constructed from the perspective of its general layout, with branching, interconnecting paths that feel fluid instead of disjointed. You have two fairly distinct options for the first half of the stage, and they weave in and out of each other at a couple of points which is nice. The only benefit for taking the upper, considerably harder path is a free E-tank and life, but hey, if you're feeling adventurous (and I am) go for it. To actually get up there unassisted is another nifty puzzle in and of itself. You need to be very careful blowing up those stones if you want clear passage to the ladder. Puzzle's a word I'd use to sum up this stage both in gimmick and in enemy layout actually, and it's refreshing by nature of thoughtful design.
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  3. Take the next screen, which is a bastard if you don't remember that nifty trick called a slide jump to bypass the threat entirely. Upon reaching the top we're given two options for a branching path along a branching path. Damn. You definitely want to take the bottom one, because on the next screen, it's another game of spot the safe spot. With two distinct patterns of debris raining down from the boulders and the hammers, you've got a lot of clutter to squeeze through. Smartly, the hacker gives you ample opportunity to observe these patterns so you'll know where to be on your way through the gauntlet. Take the upper route, and good luck to you. It makes zero difference in terms of reward, and you're dropped into a better position for the next room from the lower path anyway.
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  5. This is a very clever little round of Dig Dug punctuated by a boulder dropper you do not want to be trapped under. You can clear these rocks with either your buster or a slide, and you want to make damn sure to give yourself clearance of the boulder dropper while still having enough distance to comfortably manage the flow of enemies coming from the right. It's possible from the righthand side, but why trouble yourself? Just be careful about the spikes when you're sending yourself past the last row, because it's easy to lose your head for a second and slide right into them if you don't stop to consider. We grab our reward from above and then drop down. Should you have taken the second path, incidentally, you would've slide right on through this little passage.
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  7. The next room is another it's best to pause to consider before rushing through, because once you're on the second level, you're on a timer with those big purple drills bearing down on you. They no longer kill you instantly, but they hurt. Really, the biggest strength of this level is the sheer variety of its one-off setpieces and the inclusion of at least one element from every earthen stage I can think of. I really enjoy it. We drop from here into the final intersection point between the two paths; you'd slide in from the right passage there, and they converge for the second portion the stage.
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  9. Here's an example of something the hacker could've decided to leave out comfortably. Again, in his ambition to get absolutely everything under the Mega Man name into this hack in some capacity or other, he forgot to exclude the bad ideas, and this tedious, obnoxiously difficult to hit but brainless to avoid miniboss is one of them. I find the fastest and most consistent approach is to fire at a moderate but steady pace from the far left of the screen, because it clears his missiles fairly consistently while bringing down his plateau without too much headache. From there, you want to head his way while slowly increasing your rate of fire, and then trigger finger him to death before he gets a chance to prolong this borefest even more. I get an unnecessary life afterward because those platforms are neat.
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  11. What follows is the trickiest part of the level and quite a clever if cruel implementation of the diggers from Ground Man's stage, though they're put to less offensive effect here because the not-so-atrocious screen size allows you to see what's coming your way well in advance. There's also the generous fact that they won't ever create pits you're totally unable to jump over. The biggest danger are the spines-de-jour tripping you into a pit, but again, a level-headed approach stops this from being unfair. It's definitely easy to slip up your first couple of times through, at any rate. Also, notice this is the third or fourth unique application of that enemy sprite so far? It won't be the last. I wonder if he was trying to make those guys the hack mascot.
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  13. Quint is... well, it's the thought that counts, big guy.
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  15. After stealing his pogo-cum-jackhammer we drop into a really, really fun sequence that's almost as thoughtless to perform as it is badass, because you basically hold right. It's set up to work this way, no luck necessary, but you still get a clever little interruption if you're not paying attention, and need to rework your path a little bit. You can also bounce on enemy projectiles, but there's no time for that, because you don't want to waste a second or you won't make it to that loose earth in time to dig out this game's last secret boss, which again follows a Game Boy boss cameo and weapon section. Go figure.
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  17. In a sequence I just love, you catch half of a Drill Man replica faffing about his own level. This isn't a miniboss more than the setup to a joke, as he's insultingly simple to work with, as you can see. After five charged shots to the face, he blows up and leaves a drill behind which Mega Man and Rush quickly think to repurpose into a new tool. The best way to finesse a drill? Ram it into your obstacle. Again, personality sells. A pair of completely inconsequential bomb tossers lead us into... Crash Man? Hey, it works.
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  19. This is decidedly more tolerable than the original fight, which bores me to tears. One thing this one has going for it is the charge shot making quicker work of him. The other is his very interesting second phase. At third health, Crash Man will stop being interested in what you're doing and start jumping on his own at set intervals, firing off three crash bombs at once. This is deceptively simple to deal with, but you don't want to be eyeballing patterns when this much destruction is being thrown your way. Again, the beauty's in the details: unlike Mega Man 4's weep until you catch on nonsense, this guy deals reasonable damage, and thus gives you reasonable time to realize he's tailing you with his shots, jumping at set heights and intervals, spacing his bombs evenly, and detonating them at fixed times. What does all this consistency mean? It means exploit him, dear. For our troubles, after a pointless but neat-looking set of barriers, we gain probably the coolest single tool in any Mega Man game I can think of, series be damned. We'll see this put to its proper effect in the Cossack stages.
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  21. Drill Man is another success of a fight and, true to his stage, is basically a puzzle. Reaction time is almost pointless in this fight if you keep yourself in the right places relative to the shifting room, something I find very satisfying to toy with once you've learned the ins and outs of Drill Man's behavior. Not to harp on the point, but again, reasonable damage rates a fair fight make, Capcom. You're granted the time to learn.
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  23. Drill Man operates by gradually warping the sections of the room to greater and greater unevenness. This compounds with his drill attack to create some very difficult situations if you don't realize that the uneven ground can be a blessing as long as you understand where to be when Drill Man is firing. One boon the hacker granted is that Drill Man will never emerge from the room directly above or below where Mega Man is standing. Excessive movement can make this fight more trouble than it needs to be. Besides popping in and out all over the field, Drill Man will either partially emerge to fire a single drill that travels low along the ground or ceiling once it levels off, or emerge fully to fire two fast moving drills ahead of him as well as the former variety. This aforementioned drill can only travel down slopes, not up them, and will always travel the direction it's facing. This means that if it lands lower than Mega Man... well, you can put two and two together and really have some fun with this guy. Most importantly, the quicker pace to the battle shows how badly the designers botched this concept in the original fight, where his digging lasts way, way too long. Here, it's active and fun the whole way through. His final attack is an instant kill that's more for style points than anything, and you'll never, ever be hit by it, so I don't begrudge its inclusion. It's just for spice. His enraged form, like Dive Man's, is simply a speed increase, which could make things very hairy if you don't remember to take advantage of the terrain you're presented, because he's already pretty fast normally.
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  25. I showcase the gentler of two paths at the end, again, for posterity. I like how he uses those platforms in the last stretch.
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