It’s hard to believe it took three sequel before Capcom introduced the ability for Mega Man to charge his blaster.

No matter how many times I replay the “Mega Man” games, I always try to charge the mega buster. It’s an old habit from obsessing over the “Mega Man X” series.

Because of that, however, I barely used the charge ability in “Mega Man 4.” I’ve found that’s not really a big deal, thankfully.

The continued financial success of the “Mega Man” series is evident in the fourth installment. There are more frames of animation for all of the enemies, there’s more going on in the background and the amount of detail on the sprites is impressive. There are even splashes in the water when Mega Man jumps up and down.

But “Mega Man 4″ is also where the creative team started reaching when it came to designing the robot bosses. Sure, there were a few in “Mega Man 3″ worthy of rolling your eyes, but “Mega Man 4″ takes the cake. Pharaoh Man? Toad Man? Dive Man? I realize the best ones were taken in parts one, two and three, but come on!

And while the basic mechanics are still solid and the level design inoffensively mediocre (there’s nothing approaching the level of genius behind Gemini Man), the music isn’t worth writing home about. While I usually found myself humming a level or two after finishing the previous “Mega Man” games, that never happened with “Mega Man 4.”

As good as it looks, “Mega Man 4″ isn’t much of a highlight for the series. I remember liking “Mega Man 5″ quite a bit more, though. With a release date for “Mega Man 9″ still unannounced, we have time for another game.

[Image Credit: Video Game Critic]

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