Mega Man 3: Mega Man III Return

Mega Man III Return changes the majority of the graphics from the original Mega Man III. Level design, enemy placement, and enemy resistances have also been altered in order to ramp up the difficulty, but there are no true modifications made to the AI.

If you were looking for a Mega Man III hack with new gameplay elements and enemy actions, I’m afraid this isn’t the hack you’re looking for. If you are looking for a challenge, though, you might want to consider trying it out.

You can read more of my prattle in the readme file, yo.

Mega / Rock Man III Return v1.0

2009 Pantheon Sasuke

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Okay, this is my first serious attempt at a game hack. I chose Mega Man 3
because, well, Mega Man 3 seems the least popular. I mean, compared to all
the Mega Man 2 hacks I've seen/heard of. Then again, I kinda live under a
rock, so chances are there are really big, impressive hacks out there of
Mega Man 3 that I haven't at all seen.

On that note, I wasn't going for anything tremendous or ground-breaking when
I started work on this. I wanted to try and keep things within my limited
knowledge since I was afraid I might lose interest on account of frustrations
brought about from ideas too ambitious. Due to this, all you'll really see
in this hack are changes in graphics and enemy resistances and damage done to
Mega Man. I'm afraid you've downloaded the wrong hack if you were looking
for dramatic AI changes or new gameplay mechanics.

Of course, I'm not trying to belittle myself on the work I've done. I
certainly put a lot of hours into making this hack, a lot of that time spent
making custom tiles and pixeling them in again in Mega FLEX. I would have
loved to make changes to the music and even enemy actions if I had the
knowledge and tools to do so, but, as previously stated, I didn't want to
get too extreme with what I planned. There were already far too many times I
took 'breaks' while working on Mega Man III Return, so there's no telling
when this would've gotten done had I expanded upon my work load.

I found out a lot about the program and the way things work in Mega FLEX.
By running test versions I learned how some of my ideas would turn out, as
well as how some of the options function (notably the setting of checkpoints,
which require one to state the nearest enemy in hex as opposed to the normal
numbering displayed in the enemy editor, something that can probably be
changed in the configuration but can cause problems nonetheless). I also
discovered, at a bit of a late point, how tiles can link to one another.
This is most apparent in Gemini Man's level, where the lower two quadrants
of the tile sheet will revert to those of Snake Man's level during the
scene with Proto Man. Of course, if one skips Proto Man or removes him
entirely this will cause the quadrants to stay this way, which can lead to
some unsightly situations. I found a way to remedy this, thankfully, though
it would later pose some problems for when making new tiles for the Doc
Robot Gemini level.

You may notice while playing that some levels have an abundance of animated
palettes while others don't. This was basically me going crazy with the
option because of how mesmerized I was by it. It was later on that I found
out that even only a slight tweak to one animation set can cause disastrous
side-effects to other ones. This error actually forced me to resume the hack
from a previous version (one of my few intelligent moves: saving in different
versions) because of how trying to fix one animation set would only cause
another to go out of whack. For those reading this ReadMe who may have plans
on using Mega FLEX, try to save animations for a later point. They're
definitely something extra for when you believe the hack to be finished
(unless an animation is integral to a stage, as you may notice with Spark
Man's level).

As of the typing of this ReadMe, only a few bugs have been noted, and none of
these are really major. I must thank my friend Swordbearer for helping me out
with play testing since, as the maker of the hack, there were most likely many
things I would have never noticed. If you encounter a bad bug in the game, I'd
appreciate it if you could inform me (an e-mail is below} with DETAILS, and I
apologize in advance if said bug ruins your experience with the game.

Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. Seriously, does anyone even
bother reading something like this once they see the giant explosion of text?
You have my gratitude if you're a person who actually takes the times to read
this stuff. Blah blah blah...

As a final note (before the Noted Bugs section) I was aiming to make this
game difficult, so hopefully those who always wanted more of a challenge out
of Mega Man 3 will enjoy this hack. It isn't SUPER difficult, mind, but some
of the obstacles I placed might cause some discontent in certain players. I
must say that I am proud of one of the obstacles I came up with for the Wily
levels... you'll know what I mean when you get there.

--- Noted Bugs ---

Spikes won't always be immediately recognized. That is, you can land on spikes,
but you won't die until you try to move left or right. Thankfully, this bug
isn't a common one and only occurs in the Doc Shadow level (from what's been
observed).

Hammer Joe's hammer can be destroyed with the Mega Buster after he throws
it. I have no idea how this happened, and I'm pretty sure it can't be
destroyed in the original...

The Weapon Get text following the Snake Man fight will appear over Mega Man as a
result of a modification made to Snake Man's arena. This bug has no harmful
side-effects beyond looking weird, so I let it slide.

Remember that Mega Man freezes on the spot after defeating a boss. Without
trying to give too much away, I'd advice standing or being above solid ground upon
defeating a certain few bosses.

If you are getting pushed and try to grab a ladder, you have to keep climbing it.
You will resume getting pushed if you just grab on.

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Mega Man III / Rock Man 3 is an original creation of Capcom and is owned by
that company. If you think I am trying to claim this game as my own, I'd have
to call your intelligence into question. I made this hack simply as a form
of hobby and have no intention of exploiting it for material gain.

If you gots any questions, recommendations, insults, or the like, send them
to sasuke1986[AT]hotmail[DOT]com. Would spammies even look in a readme, though?

I might answer. Might.

Megaman III (U) [!].nes - GOODNES 3.14
CRC32: 452D8089
MD5: 75B924155CAFEE335C9EA7A01BFC8EFB
SHA-1: 53197445E137E47A73FD4876B87E288ED0FED5C6
SHA-256: EDDBE571CF0A201BA9D090FBACE9843C9C9DD4053051649F2575B088752F4675