4/5 ★ – BlueSorcerer's review of Mega Man 7.

Mega Man 7 is an interesting game. For starters, this game looks and sounds amazing. I can never get enough of the artstyle and the synthesized instruments work pretty well. However, there's a lot about this game to address. Mega Man 7 actually does a series first and has an introductory stage like in the X and Zero games. A nice change of pace, and we are also introduced to Bass—a new robot created by Dr. Wily—no surprise there—and who has been trying to hunt down Wily since he broke out of prison when in actuality he was a ploy—no surprise there either. As cool as Bass is, it's evident that he fights a lot like Proto Man. Proto Man is in the game—he doesn't really matter all that much—however it's cool to see him in his Sunday's best with his invisible coffee mug. Bass' second fight is more interesting and a lot more fun with the super adapter, but there is not much that I can say otherwise. In terms of the levels, I quite enjoyed those of Freeze Man, Junk Man, Slash Man, and Spring Man. Every other level was decent. As for the bosses, I liked Burst Man, Cloud Man, Junk Man, Spring Man, and Turbo Man. I also liked the boss in stage 3 of Dr. Wily's Fortress even though it takes a millenia to beat. Every other boss, though? No. Freeze Man has too many attacks, Slash Man can be hard to avoid, and Shade Man's sucking the health out of Mega Man annoys the hell out of me. However, nothing annoys me more than the final boss with Dr. Wily. The first phase isn't that bad once you get the pattern down. The second phase, though? What in the actual hell! Wily's second phase doesn't have terrible ideas, however it is way too hard. I was on this phase for over half an hour and it frustrated the hell out of me. I sort of got Wily's attack patterns down, however it is still almost impossible to avoid his attacks. If not for energy tanks and save states, I would be screwed. It's just bad. So bad, in fact, that Mega Man just about straight up kills Wily once he begs for forgiveness for the seventh game in a row. Believe me, Mega Man, after a final boss that infuriating I'd want him dead too. But because of plot, Wily is saved by Bass before the fortress collapses and Mega Man is left to escape as well. Immediately following, in one of the most badass sequences that I have ever seen in a video game, Mega Man walks away triumphantly as the fortress in the background is caught up in a raging inferno. Also, the music slaps; probably my favorite ending theme in the series so far. Overall, Mega Man 7 is quite a good game despite it being the only mainline classic Mega Man game on the SNES. As good as it is, I don't think I prefer it over 6 and 2 because this game is admittedly harder than the other games excluding 3 and 1. However, I think I'm confident in saying that Mega Man 7 is my third favorite so far in the series. Of course, there are still five more games to go.