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Mega Man Showdown IV

Levels: No Levels

Graphics: No Change

Music: No Change

Enemies: No Enemies

Bosses: Eh (EX is Bad)

Weapons: No Change

Castle: Bosses Only

Difficulty: EASY-MEDIUM (EX & Wily Capsule are HARD)

Comments: I'm not entirely sure what the intention was here. The Showdown series has a wonderfully simple premise: reduce the game down to its boss fights. For some reason, this wasn't enough for insectduel; instead, Mega Man is reduced to half health for every fight. Not only that, but various tweaks have been made to the bosses: Toad, Pharaoh, and Bright have new room layouts, Dive Man's missiles are indestructible, and every single boss has their weakness changed. You're also capped at 0 lives, a problem that will rear its ugly head during the boss rematch where you have to fight all 8 robot masters and the Wily Machine on a single life—and the Wily Machine is immune to all but two of your weapons, so good luck managing your ammo!

Perhaps you're wondering, "Well if the main hack is a bust, then what about the version with boss alterations (EX)?" And honestly, I'd tell you that you're probably better off playing the TP games. The EX bosses are hyperactive bullies that can only be beaten with their corresponding weaknesses, and even then you have to play pretty well in order not to get your lights knocked out. Should you manage to skirt by, you have some pretty dull Cossack/Wily bosses to wade through, until hitting the brick wall that is the boss rematch. This hellhole is intolerable on a single life, especially since you need to conserve all your E-tanks for the anger-inducing, buster-only Wily Capsule at the end. If Showdown IV is a good idea marred by bad execution, then Showdown IV EX is that idea laughed at, spit on, and torn up.

It boggles the mind that out of the FOUR variations Showdown IV offers, not a single one of them is your basic vanilla boss rush—for that alone, Showdown IV is an embarrassing failure.