Mega Man 4

When a series reaches its fourth installment, it risks running out of steam. Mega Man 4, however, showed that the blue robot still had plenty of energy in reserve and introduced one novelty that forever changed the way the player shoots on screen.

That novelty is the charged shot, the so-called Mega Buster. By holding the button you can build up a stronger blast, which fundamentally changes the pace of fights and your approach to ordinary enemies. Suddenly you don't have to frantically mash the button, but can meter out one crushing blow at the right moment, expanding the tactical palette. Otherwise the game honors the series' proven structure: eight Robot Masters, their levels to be chosen in any order, weapons gained after defeating bosses, and a final series of castles.

Mega Man 4 also offered a more elaborate story background with a new villain, Dr. Cossack, who initially confuses the player as to who the real mastermind of evil actually is. This plot with a false trail gave the series a somewhat more dramatic tone and showed that even a simple action platformer can work with surprise and twist. The levels are imaginatively themed, from mines through diving sections to Cossack's fortress in a snowy landscape.

It was released under the Capcom banner in 1991, at a time when the NES was already beginning to give way to the emerging sixteen-bit generation. The development team therefore had to squeeze the maximum out of the eight-bit hardware, and this showed in the detailed graphics and elaborate levels with rich backgrounds. The series was releasing at a very fast, practically yearly pace at that time, which testifies to how sought-after the brand was.

The charged shot became a permanent part of the blue robot's arsenal, and in later installments as well as the follow-up subseries Mega Man X, the game could no longer be imagined without it. It was one of those design elements that went from experiment to standard and defined the feel of gameplay for decades to come. That alone ranks the fourth game among the important milestones of the series.

There is consensus among fans that the fourth installment closes the first, classic phase of the series on the NES, even though two more installments were released on the console. Mega Man 4 holds a reputation as a solid, technically advanced installment that reliably serves up what you expect from the brand while adding a mechanic that proved utterly timeless. For newcomers, it's somewhat friendlier than the older installments thanks to the charged shot.

Why play it: Try the installment that enriched the series with the iconic charged shot, and enjoy a polished classic platformer at the peak of the eight-bit era.