Mega Man IV (Game Boy)

Mega Man IV
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Tokuro Fujiwara (producer)
Platform(s)	Game Boy
Release	JPN October 29, 1993 NA 1993
Genre(s)	Action-adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player

Mega Man IV, known as Rockman World 4 (ロックマンワールド4, Rokkuman Wārudo Fō) in Japan, is the fourth video game in the portable Game Boy Mega Man series. The game follows the adventures of Mega Man as he visits the annual Robot Master Expo as his long time arch nemesis Dr. Wily steals the Expo's Robot Masters, which he then brings to life and send them to terrorize different areas of the entire world.

Innovations

• This game introduced a number of innovations to the series, the biggest of which being the introduction of Dr. Light's shop. By pressing the Select button on the stage select screen, the player can buy various items using "P-Chips". This was repeated in later games of the original series such as Mega Man 7, Mega Man 8 and Mega Man & Bass.

• Another innovation is the Energy Balancer (EB). The EB unit was introduced in Mega Man 6 of the NES series as a hidden collectible, but in this game it is purchasable at Dr. Light's shop. This item automatically takes weapon energy capsules and puts it in the weapon with the least amount of energy left, provided there is no weapon selected.

• This game also featured hidden passages where Proto Man gives Mega Man items, often giving Super Capsules that refill all the weapons energy and life energy.

• A new quirk was also added if the player was repeatedly defeated: after roughly four times of losing all of Mega Man's lives and choosing to continue, the player is warped to Dr. Light's lab. Upon remarking that he didn't expect Dr. Wily's forces to be as strong as they were, Dr. Light will give Mega Man an extremely powerful upgrade to his Mega Buster, one which rivals the strength of many of the special weapons in the game — however, it cannot be saved by a password, and the feature is lost when the game is turned off. [1]

• Mega Man IV is the only game in the entire series in which Mega Man is pushed back when he shoots a fully-charged Mega Buster shot.

• And, the teleportation chamber rematch scene (where you must face all 8 Robot Masters again) has been implemented on a Mega Man Game Boy game for the first time (unlike in the previous three games where you only had to face Dr. Wily).

Story

As said above, the basic plot is Mega Man stopping Dr. Wily and his newly-stolen Robot Masters. While it is a simple premise, Mega Man IV is a clear step above anything attempted by previous Mega Man games on the Game Boy, if not the games on the NES as well. There are various cutscenes throughout the game, including conversations between Mega Man and Dr. Light, which move the story along. Though he doesn't speak many lines in the game, Ballade (the "Mega Man Hunter" unique to this game) proves to be the first of Dr. Wily's creations that has a personality of sorts: at the end of the game, Ballade saves Mega Man's life by self-destructing, creating a hole to allow Mega Man and Rush to escape.

Robot Masters

The following Robot Masters are listed as such in the ending:

#	Robot Master	Origin	Weapon
DWN-026	Toad Man	Mega Man 4	Rain Flush
DWN-025	Bright Man	Mega Man 4	Flash Stopper
DWN-028	Pharaoh Man	Mega Man 4	Pharaoh Shot
DWN-029	Ring Man	Mega Man 4	Ring Boomerang
DWN-040	Crystal Man	Mega Man 5	Crystal Eye
DWN-039	Napalm Man	Mega Man 5	Napalm Bomb
DWN-032	Stone Man	Mega Man 5	Power Stone
DWN-038	Charge Man	Mega Man 5	Charge Kick
MKN-003	Ballade	New	Ballade Cracker

External links

• Mega Man IV at MobyGames