Mega Man: The Wily Wars

Mega Man: The Wily Wars, known as Rockman Mega World (ロックマンメガワールド) in Japan, is a remake of Mega Man, Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3, released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. The game never saw a cartridge release in North America and was only available for download through Sega's short-lived "Sega Channel" in the mid-1990's.

The game also features the Wily Tower, a bonus game that only appears when all the three Mega Man games are finished in the same save file. In Wily Tower, Mega Man must go up against three unique Robot Masters called the Genesis Unit, which are all patterned on characters from the Chinese novel, Journey to the West. They are: Buster Rod. G, Mega Water. S and Hyper Storm. H. These three robot masters are the guardians of the Wily Tower, in which Dr. Wily is preparing a brand new scheme for world domination. In Wily Tower, players are given the option to pick eight out of the twenty-two weapons from Mega Man 1, 2, and 3 as well as three out of the seven transport items from those 3 games. Wily Tower also has nearly all of the enemies from the first 3 Mega Man games as well, with notable exceptions being the Air Tikki from Mega Man 2.

Differences between versions
It should be noted that there are some differences between the original NES versions of Mega Man, Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 besides enhanced graphics and sound quality. These changes can affect the gameplay.

General Differences

 * In all games, shots are limited to one shot every few frames of animation. In the originals, you could fire your weaponry on every other frame.
 * The controls in these versions of the games seem a little tighter than the originals, though Mega Man himself seems to have slightly more delay before moving because he is able to do sidesteps.
 * Speaking of delay, a number of weapons now have noticeable "can't move" delay after firing, such as the Items from Mega Man 2 or the Shadow Blade from Mega Man 3.
 * Once an item like an extra life or health/energy pick-ups are obtained in a stage, they do not reappear if you return to the area where they were until all of your lives are gone.
 * All three games now have a "save game" feature. However, the "password" feature was removed from Mega Man 2 and 3.
 * At several points during the game, it suffers from very bad slowdown. However, for less-skilled gamers, this can be a positive, because the Yellow Devil's stages in Mega Man and 3 suffer from it the most, as does the battle with the Wily Machine in Mega Man. This makes those boss battles much easier.
 * For some reason, the "All Stage Clear" theme from Mega Man 3 isn't in the Sound Test option.
 * In general, despite their names, the games are based more closely on the Rockman versions than on the Mega Man versions; most notably, Normal Mode is absent from Mega Man 2.

Mega Man Differences

 * Cut Man is much tougher in the remake than he was in the original game, mostly due to the fact that his flinch is much less intense. This can be difficult if the player chooses Cut Man's stage before defeating Guts Man.
 * The famous "Pause-Unpause" glitch from the NES has been fixed.
 * Some Robot Master AIs are slightly different.
 * In the original game, Mega Man can die from spikes even if he is invincible for a brief moment after getting hit. However, in the remake, when Mega Man gets hit, he can now stand safely on spikes as long as he is flashing.

Mega Man 2 Differences

 * Mega Man 2 does not have two different difficulty modes. It should be noted that the original Japanese release, Rockman 2: The Mystery of Dr. Wily, also had no difficulty selection.
 * Quick Man is much less quick in this version, though he no longer takes 2 damage from Mega Buster shots as he did in the "Difficult" mode or the Japanese version of Mega Man 2.
 * It now takes four Item-1 platforms to advance to the ladder in the first Dr. Wily level if you use them from the top of the ladder. Activate the first platform while you are still on the ladder, then add two more. When the first one disappears, fire the fourth and jump. If you did it right, you'll be able to reach the ladder. It is still possible to only use three, by going as far to the bottom of the screen as you can on the ladder while not going down a screen, use an Item-1, climb up the ladder, jump on the Item-1, use another Item-1, quickly jump to the second, do the same for the third, then jump to the hanging ladder.
 * Some Robot Master AIs are a bit different.

Mega Man 3 Differences

 * Proto Man now wears a white jumpsuit instead of grey for some reason.
 * Proto Man's "shadow" sprites from the ending are found in the game data, but for some reason, Capcom decided to just use a "shadowy" palette on the original sprites instead of those.
 * While not a difference, neither Proto Man nor Break Man have been resized like Mega Man and the Robot Masters have. They don't have any additional frames of animation, either.
 * The Wily Castle map screen music has been shortened from its original tune. (Incidently, the extended theme wasn't accessible in-game anyway.)
 * Like the first two games, some Robot Master AIs are a bit different.
 * On the Weapon Select Menu Rush is now blue instead of red. (This also happens in Wily Tower)

Wily Tower bosses
Genesis Unit:
 * Buster Rod. G
 * Mega Water. S
 * Hyper Storm. H

Fortress bosses:
 * 1) Fire Snakey
 * 2) Iron Ball
 * 3) Buster Rod. G
 * 4) Wily Machine

Walkthrough
Click here to see a walkthrough of the game.

Lockout Bypass
The cartridge version of the game is incompatible with North American Genesis consoles because of the regional lockout. However, if you have a Galoob Game Genie cheat device, you can enter a code at the front screen that bypasses the lockout and will allow the cart to play on the Genesis. They must be entered as follows:

V2AT-BMEJ

EAAT-BL1T

REBT-A6XL

Wait a few seconds and the Sega logo should appear. When that happens, it worked. (Make sure the Game Genie device is switched to "on", or else the codes won't work. You'll know the device is on if a green light right above the "on/off" switch is lit)

Trivia

 * The background scenery of the Mega Water. S stage bears a striking resemblance to the early levels of Sega's most famous game Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * When the game was announced, a promotional piece of artwork was made featuring Mega Man shaking hands with Sonic The Hedgehog.
 * In the Japanese instruction manual, Dr. Wily is said to have been born in Osaka, Japan.
 * The final boss of Wily Tower bears striking resemblance to the final boss of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (as it makes very similar walking motions)
 * The Genesis Unit is named after the Sega Genesis, obviously.