Mega Man 3/YMMV


 * Anticlimax Boss: Despite the ominous buildup to its appearance, the plethora of healing items outside its room, and the fact that it's a giant freaking robot, Gamma is insultingly easy. Its attacks are slow and telegraphed so heavily that a blind man could dodge them, and to finish it off? Pop a single top spin. Bam: Wily's defeated and the day is saved.
 * Awesome Music: The title screen theme and the ending/Proto Man's theme are especially popular.
 * Breather Boss: Among the Doc Robots, Doc Metal and Doc Heat are the easiest if only for the fact that their patterns are easy to follow and don't deviate from their Robot Master counterparts in the slightest, while the rest have been considerably beefed up.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Proto Man, one of the most popular characters in the series, debuted in this game. Shadow Man also gets lots of love for being a badass ninja with a powerful and dependable weapon.
 * Even Better Sequel: For some this game is even better than 2, with its fans citing things like the challenge, overall useful pool of weapons, and level design as factors. It helps that series mainstays Rush and Proto Man were introduced here.
 * Game Breaker: The Rush Jet is easily the best utility item in any of the games. It freely travels in any direction at top speed, you can conserve its ammo by jumping, and can bypass many tricky stage hazards with it thanks to its large ammo pool. With proper knowledge of how to exploit this thing, the Needle Man revisit is a walk in the park.
 * Goddamned Boss: Wily Machine 3 becomes unbearably annoying during the second phase of its fight. It spends a lot of time invincible while peppering you with bullets that need precise timing to dodge and opens itself up for a counterattack for maybe a couple of seconds. And since you may very well use up those precious seconds staying away from the shots, this boss can take a good long time.
 * Good Bad Bugs:
 * If one has the Shadow Blade, one can press right to switch over to the Rush Jet (even if they don't have it yet), fill it with energy, and be able to use it before beating Needle Man. You can also use this trick with the Spark Shock to get the Rush Marine early.
 * In the Japanese version, the fight against the Flash Man Doc Robot is made easier as it cancels the Time Stopper as soon as it fires just one shot, sparing you the continuous stream it's supposed to fire. Sadly, this was changed in the Western release.
 * It Was His Sled: While a decent plot twist during the game's debut, Proto Man being Dr. Light's first robot and Mega Man's Aloof Big Brother is the epitome of common knowledge.
 * Most Annoying Sound: Mega Man 3 started using new sound fonts compared to Mega Man 1 and 2, and they continued using the new sounds for the rest of the NES games.
 * Mega Man's shot is now harsher and screechier.
 * The sound of a health bar filling up is louder than in the first two games, making it more irritating to hear this time around, especially at the beginning of a boss fight.
 * The high-pitched clang the Bolton and Nutton make when they connect.
 * Scrappy Mechanic: Better hope you don't miss with Gemini Laser, because until the laser stops bouncing around, you can't fire another laser or even pause the goddamned game.
 * All it takes is one poorly-timed attack for the Top Spin to guzzle up all its ammo in one go, because its ammo consumption is tied to how long its actively hurting an enemy. Better hope you don't misuse it against Shadow Man, because it's the weapon he's weak to!
 * Rush Marine isn't bad per se, but outclassed by the Rush Jet in every respect since it can do everything the Rush Marine does out of or even in water, and while using less ammo to boot.
 * Surprise Boxes are always nice to find... until they give you a tiny health or ammo pickup that you don't need. Expect that to happen a lot due to their fully randomized item loadouts.
 * That One Boss:
 * Needle Man's a total spaz who runs and hops around the battlefield like a crackhead, firing off his Needle Cannon in crazy Rambo-style bursts. He's like if Quick Man had the durability of Guts Man, which is a horrifying combination to be sure.
 * Shadow Man requires some seriously insane reflexes to beat, because you won't know if he's going to slide into you or throw his Shadow Blades until the second he attacks. You basically have to hope you dodge the right attack, turning the fight into a borderline Luck-Based Mission.
 * Oh dear god, the Doc Robots. These guys are basically Mega Man 2's bosses on steroids: stand out examples being Doc Quick, Doc Flash, Doc Air, and Doc Wood.
 * The Holograph Mega Mans are hell if you don't eliminate the real one at the beginning.