Who Put All These Robots Here? Let's Play Mega Man: Day in the Limelight 2

Gemini Man.

I'm not sure what exactly possessed Wily to make a single Robot Master based off of Zodiac shenanigans, rather than a themed set. But hey, it's an interesting opponent, and he has had weirder ideas.



Bubble Man boldly marches into the crystal caves!



Boldly and slowly. Bubble Man's main flaw compared to the others is obvious, with his slower walking speed. What can you expect from a guy with flippers built into his feet, though?



That said, he's no slouch at combat. He lacks his harpoons, but the Bubble Lead is a pretty powerful, albeit earthbound, weapon.



Like with Snake Man's stage, Gemini Man's stage is built to give the Bubble Lead ample opportunity to work.



Hm, this pit seems pretty big. I dunno if Bubble Man can cross it.



BUT SUDDENLY, A BOLT OF FLAME FROM THE SKY



ARCING ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE FIERCELY



Nah it's just Heat Man.

Swapped Robot Masters share the same health bar, so any damage Bubble Man had taken prior to this point also goes over to Heat Man. Anyway, that shiny is easy to get, just jump over the pit. Problem is, Bubble Man almost certainly can't make that jump with how slow he is. I don't think you need to Heat Wave over it, but hey, I like playing as Heat Man.



Moving right along.



Oh. That's... different.



As Bubble Man descends, the Gemini Men scatter.



And the floor lock destroys itself.

I'm sure this won't have any kind of consequence later on.



Before long, we run into an EX Shotman. This would be a difficult foe at this angle for most Robot Masters.



However, the Bubble Lead has gained a new property, in that it will capture enemy projectiles, adding to the bubble's damage and causing it to bounce. This can actually be a really powerful move in the right circumstances.

Further on, we find these blocks. When damaged by an explosion (say, those egg bombs)...



They hatch into little blue ghost men.

Gemini Man's stage doesn't make a whole lot of sense.



And over here, we meet Gemini Man.

...Wait, WHAT?



Yeah, slight difference in this version. Gemini Man, abusing his power of self-duplication, will send clones of himself after us throughout the level. Since self-duplication takes a lot of energy, these duplicates, thankfully, are individually weak and cannot fire off the Gemini Laser.



There are also dragonflies zooming around, and what I assume is the inspiration for Boreas in Golden Sun.



Since the weak point of the giant penguin vending machine is the handle, Bubble Man can't actually hit it without jumping onto the ledge next to it, so I usually don't bother.



Yeah, you have fun being a vending penguin.



Oh hello there.



Bubble Man might be a slowpoke on land, but once in the water he moves at a ridiculous speed, and his Bubble Lead bounces all the time regardless of projectiles.



This, plus the easily destroyable penguin vendor, may lead players to a sudden rush of adrenaline and mad scientist-style cackling. This is normal.



Plus, Bubble Man can vault out of the water like a dolphin! How cool is that?



Sadly, water is absent from a lot of the stages in Mega Lime, but where it exists, you can and should use Bubble Man.



I ain't afraid of you, Gemini Man! I AM THE KING OF ALL OCEANS COMBINED.



Just past him, we find this area, with both bridges made of ghost eggs and water full of fish that fire bombs from their heads. You can tackle it either over land or under water. Personally, I find the land route easier, because those fish move damn fast, but it's your call.



Oh hello hopper guys. Did you know Bubble Lead travels along the ground? You do now. Thanks for playing.

Down here, we find a strange water tank.



The more we shoot it, the higher the water level rises!



This then leads to a gauntlet full of enemies, Gemini Mans included. There are more water tanks around periodically, but I don't remember the exact details. Too busy spraying death bubbles everywhere.



You get to live. FOR NOW.



The stomper guy there tends to guard a lot of the boss doors in this game. He's not really a threat to us, but the water lets him jump a lot higher.



Okay. Now, let's go say hello to a certain narcissist of a troublemaker!



Gemini Man's room is considerably different from the usual fight, as are his tactics. I have no idea why he added a water tank to his room, but it forms the cornerstone of our strategy against him.



Despite having a clone out already, Gemini Man has no problems busting out the Gemini Laser against us, but this isn't a major threat if you're careful. The clone can move around and fire normal shots, but isn't a big threat either.



FLOOD EVERYTHING EVER.



Once at eye level, you're at a prime position to damage Gemini Man, and negate his ordinary shots to boot. Be sure to duck back down to refill the tank or dodge the Gemini Laser, but yeah, he's not a huge threat.



We actually have this guy's weakness on hand. If we switch to Air Man, we can just stand at the entrance and fire for like five seconds until he explodes. But that would just rob Bubble Man of his time to shine.



Look at that guy. He is THRILLED that he got to be so awesome. Do you really want to take that away from him?



We can now bring him into any other stage. He probably won't see much use, but hey.



We's makin' progress, boy howdy!

• Spark Man: Wood Man 1 vote
• Snake Man: Air Man
• Needle Man: Metal Man 2 votes!
• Hard Man: Crash Man 1 vote
• Top Man: Flash Man 1 vote
• Gemini Man: Bubble Man
• Magnet Man: Heat Man
• Shadow Man: Quick Man 1 vote

You want Wily to create twelve (or thirteen) robot masters?! Are you crazy!? (Actually, don't give Inafune any ideas.)

A vendguin?

You're TOPS, man!

Hard Man

Ohhhh... I don't know how to tell you this..

Also HARD MAN

Needle Man!

By the way, in case anyone's wondering, Kalir hasn't suddenly forgotten how to process images. The game just always looks like that.

Do Needle Man next.

I stand by Needle Man.

Top Man!

Poor Bubble Man finally gets his day to shine.

Anyway, Needle Man!

Who can contend with the pointiest robot master ever?



How about the sharpest?

Metal Man is a pretty bog-standard Robot Master himself, and usually an easy first fight in his own game, but you can't talk about him without talking about his weapon.



In Mega Man 2, the Metal Blade was basically the most broken thing ever, as it went through walls, had nearly limitless ammo, and could aim in any of the eight directions. Mega Lime has nerfed it slightly, so the blades will no longer go through walls, but will spin in place once they hit a wall. If they hit a wall at an angle, they'll follow the wall. Since this means they stay on screen longer, you can't just spam them everywhere. Also, Metal Man has to stop walking whenever he fires them.



Anyhow, it's not far into the stage before we find the obstacle here. This force field blocks our way to the shiny. If only we had a way through it! (I think Heat Man can dash through, but don't quote me on that)



Oh hey. Metal Man is the first Robot Master we've used that can actually climb ladders! Hooray for you!



Oddly, while the Metal Blades catch on the first surface they hit, they'll ignore all others they come in contact with afterwards.



What's this doohickey?



Weird. It appears to be an Aperture Science Compact Building Material Dispenser.



The puzzles in this area involve using these girders to climb up. They go away faster on hard mode, but on Normal they mostly pile up on themselves. You can hit them pre-deployment to make them unfold immediately.



This is necessary to snag the E Tank here, putting us at our limit of 3.



Another force field. But the button is on our side!



Keys are made of metal and can be blade-like, right?



Remember these? Mega Man used his (at the time) NEW and AMAZING slide move to get past them. My guess is that Light just finished installing that before the virus struck, and he didn't have time or capability to transfer the hardware to another Robot Master. Good thing it's not required, eh?



Due to every screenshot LPer's worst nightmare, you can't see the forcefield to the lower left. But Metal Man can, for he has ROBOT SENSORS... by which I mean sensors that a robot would use, not sensors that only detect robots.



So, we go about smashing up the switches. We can actually hit the upper left one from here using the new properties of the Metal Blade, though it's a tad tricky.

The girder dispenser just makes it cake, though.



We make use of the other one to sidle on down this way.



And before long, we find ourselves staring down our fourth shiny.



Has this stage seemed dull so far? Well, unfortunately, this is how Needle Man's stage is. The only new things are the force fields and girder dispensers. I guess the appeal is that you get to play as Metal Man and trash pretty much anything you see, but then there's rooms like this. This is a less than ideal spot for Metal Blades.



I could have switched to Bubble or Heat there. But nah.



Moving right along.



Up here is a challenge that the Metal Blade is actually kind of important for, due to its easy aiming.



However, the propeller guys are the only actual threat, so.



This is actually the second stomper in the stage!



Since Metal Man can fire diagonally from the ground, he's got no trouble taking it out.



A stomper is one thing, but what about Needle Man?



As with his stage, Needle Man is pretty no-nonsense.



His main attack, the Needle Cannon, is the biggest problem, since he fires a bunch of shots whenever he does it. He only does so when he jumps straight up into the air, so predicting it isn't too hard, but being able to adjust for it is a bit harder, since you have to jump to retain mobility when firing as Metal Man.



He does have one new trick. A needle trap will occasionally come out of the ceiling, and Needle Man will jump up to it...



Pull it down, and chuck that sucker at you! This isn't a hard attack to dodge because it's heavily telegraphed, but it does deal lots of damage.

But really, Needle Man doesn't need any help killing you.



Of course, he can still do his spiky springy headbutt move, which still hurts like hell.



Needle Man's weakness is, oddly enough, the Bubble Lead. But since he spends so much time in the air, it's hard to hit him with it. Your best bet is to wait for him to fire the Needle Cannon, then try to send his needles back at him. Not only does this protect you from his weapon, it can do considerable damage if a needle bounces back at him.



But personally, I find Metal Man easier to take him out with.



I think that's supposed to be like a backhand throw of a Metal Blade, except sans Metal Blade?



Well, whatever. We have Metal Man unlocked! Too bad Snake Man is already down and out, since he's weak to the Metal Blade. But hey, I won't go out of my way to showcase weaknesses, with one hilarious exception.



More on that later, though. Who's up next?

• Spark Man: Wood Man
• Snake Man: Air Man
• Needle Man: Metal Man
• Hard Man: Crash Man 3 votes
• Top Man: Flash Man 3 votes
• Gemini Man: Bubble Man
• Magnet Man: Heat Man
• Shadow Man: Quick Man 1 vote

Hard Man Again

Hard Man.

SPIN ME ROUND BABY RIGHT ROUND

Also, this is awesome! They should totaly put it in a real Mman game, I say as if there will ever be another.

LIKE A RECORD BABY RIGHT ROUND ROUND ROUND

Or, Ke$ha-style! WHEN YOU GO DOWN WHEN YOU GO DOWN DOWN

This is a Top Man vote.

Shadow Man.

I vote Hard Man next, but Shadow Man would also be acceptable.

This game is pretty sweet, in the "I would probably suck at it but they had some neat ideas that it's awesome to see someone competant play through" sort of way.

Top Man!

Do they even make tops anymore?



Well, whatever. Let's play as Flash Man.



You may have noticed that Flash Man has an ammo bar, unlike every other Robot Master in the game. He also uses his Flash Buster as his main weapon, though he can't aim it very well, so it has a lot of scatter.



Of course, he's not called Bad Aim Man.



By charging up like Heat Man, Flash Man can activate the Time Stopper, which reverses gravity until his ammo bar runs out. Unlike Mega Man's version of the weapon, Flash Man can and should fire while it's active.



Enemies damaged while time is stopped don't actually end up disappearing from the screen until time starts again, though you can pass through them after they've been destroyed, and further shots won't hit them.



The Time Stopper recharges gradually, so if you're the BORING type, you could wait around for it to be fully charged, then activate it, then wait around after going through a given section. But Flash Man can actually fight reasonably, so I don't bother.



Meanwhile, Top Man has made some interesting new additions to the greenhouse. Behold, the rare Orbital Bonsai!



If you stop time, those orbiting blocks can be used as platforms, assuming they're not in the background. Otherwise, they're treated as things that can damage you normally. Flash Man does not like being hit in the face with a giant chunk of glass.



Hey, prizes!



The idea here is that you go all the way to the right, use the Time Stopper to freeze the blocks just so, and then hop up to get across.



Which is absolutely, 100% legit what I did. For reals.



Flash Man can climb ladders, too. He's got one of those transforming gun arm hand things.



That looks annoying. I will Time Stopper my way past this obstacle!



Oh, whoops. Now I have to fight a giant robot cat that horks up yarn balls.

There is actually enough room to stand next to the cat safely and charge up your Time Stopper, if you want to. But I thought this way would be faster. And I was right!



Nothing much in this room.



OR IS THERE

The transition hasn't finished yet, but yeah, there's a shiny on the ledge up there. Despite how it looks, I don't think you can't actually die during this transition. You hit the transition before you run the risk of falling into the spikes.



Over here, we have the flying top platform things. They're not so difficult that you have to stop time to ride them, but hey, we don't have the Rush Jet to cheese past them right now, so.



Just past that is another cat!



MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA



Aw, that would've been so awesome if I didn't trip on that flea afterwards.



Okay, that's a lot of orbiting glass.



Up here, we find chains of five to worry about, but as they're all close together, they're easy to avoid.



I don't know what those guys are called, but they are robots that fire tops from their stomachs. I get the idea that if Samus was to hide inside one, she could convince it to take her to a secret ice world.



This Met is the biggest daredevil, and walks around on spikes. Stationary spikes too, not stuff like spiked moving platforms!



Flash Man is not a daredevil.



But you don't need to be a daredevil to stop TIME ITSELF



And now we move on to the boss, with our goofy walk.



So, in Mega Man 3, Top Man is pretty much a huge pushover.

The Top Spin he uses is unchanged, though he takes longer to rev up. While spinning, he deflects most attacks, including our Flash Buster.



However, the Time Stopper prevents him from karate-chopping our every shot out of the sky. This lets us blow away most of his health in one quick go.



Unfortunately, he's gotten smarter since Mega Man 3. Those tops all stack onto each other, and you have to destroy at least 3 to clear the jump over them. This is made somewhat harder by the Flash Buster's poor aim, and significantly harder in Hard Mode, since Top Man only takes the same time as the original to unleash a Top Spin.



In fact, on Hard Mode, Top Man is one of the more difficult Robot Masters in the game, because you have to rely on the Time Stopper to get any hits in, and that takes time to charge up.



But he is still beatable with Flash Man, thankfully.



Victory flash!



I really like playing as Flash Man, actually. He's not a very strong Robot Master, but he doesn't need to be when he has the Time Stopper, and destroying enemies before they even know you're there is fun.



More than halfway done. WHO IS OUR NEXT VICTIM?!

• Spark Man: Wood Man
• Snake Man: Air Man
• Needle Man: Metal Man
• Hard Man: Crash Man 4 votes!
• Top Man: Flash Man
• Gemini Man: Bubble Man
• Magnet Man: Heat Man
• Shadow Man: Quick Man 2 votes

Shadow Man!

Shadow Man.

The Mirror Buster from Dr Wilys Revenge acts sort of like that. Of course, you only get it before the final level, and there are, like, 3 enemies in that level that actually SHOOT at you.