Mega Man 3 is often considered the game with the worst weapons. Is this weapon kit really as bad as people make it out to be?

**Rush Coil** - Rush Coil is **high utility**, being required to reach many items and allowing you to skip some troublesome platforming segments. It is far easier to wield than Items 1 or 3 from Mega Man 2, and the increased jump height can give you a leg up on enemies as well.

**Magnet Missile** - Magnet Missile is **low utility**, as it can be a little janky at times, but you have to learn to work around that. Magnet Missile shoots a magnet that only changes direction once, up or down, depending on what it homes in on. It can easily get misdirected and home in on an enemy you weren’t intending to hit, or miss its target because it can only change direction once. It also uses up quite a bit of energy for how little damage it often deals to enemies. That said, it’s effective for taking out enemies such as Cannons, Elec’n, Gyoraibon, Metall DX, and Parasyu, as well as being the weakness of Hard Man and the Metal Man and Air Man Doc Robots. However, other enemies such as Monking, Hammer Joe, Komasuburo, or Peterchy can take more hits than one would like in order to be destroyed. If the Magnet Missile had a higher damage output, it may have landed just a bit higher.

**Hard Knuckle** - Hard Knuckle is **situational,** being able to deal a lot of damage when used effectively. The biggest drawback with the Hard Knuckle is that it travels very slowly. However, it can destroy mini-bosses such as Penpen Maker, Big Snakey, and the Giant Metall, in just a few hits, and Hammer Joes in just a single hit, as well as being the weakness of Top Man, the Crash Man Doc Robot, the Yellow Devil Mk. 2, Wily Machine 3, and Gamma. Its slight maneuverability makes it easier to wield than something like the Magnet Missile. Unfortunately, the Shadow Blade or Mega Buster are simply better options a majority of the time.

**Top Spin** - Top Spin is one of the most controversial weapons in the series. Some argue it is utterly useless, as it has an incredibly small hitbox that causes the player to get hit often when trying to use it. However, if wielded correctly, it can take out several enemies such as Parasyu, Monking, Peterchy, Pen Pen, and Yambow in a single hit. I went between skill-based and unwieldy for a long time, but I ultimately settled on **unwieldy,** since the high risk of taking damage simply isn’t worth the reward of destroying an enemy you probably could have destroyed more easily with a different weapon. Almost all enemies that the Top Spin can defeat in one hit can be handled by other means. Even with its uses against Shadow Man and Gamma, I can’t ignore its incredibly clunky implementation.

**Shadow Blade** - Shadow Blade is often dismissed as being the weaker Metal Blade. However, as you know, I somewhat dislike Metal Blade for the balancing issues it causes in Mega Man 2. I find myself using Shadow Blade in Mega Man 3 just as often as I used the Metal Blade, which is most of the game. However, this does not make Shadow Blade broken, as it’s simply a product of Mega Man 3’s weapons being less good. I think that the Shadow Blade is **strong, but fair.** It can only shoot in three directions, and doesn’t have as much range as the Metal Blade, but it has a high damage output, low energy consumption, and is capable of catching enemies from behind as it boomerangs back to the user. Mega Man 3’s level design features many enemies either positioned or hovering above Mega Man that make them prime targets for the Shadow Blade. It is highly effective against Bubukan, Cannon, Elec’n, Hammer Joe, New Shotman, Petit Snakey, and Yambow, while also being the weakness of Spark Man, Kamegoro Maker, and working well against Gamma.

**Rush Marine** - Rush Marine is **low utility** by design, as there are only a handful of underwater sections in the game. It can help you avoid a difficult platforming section and get an E-Tank in Gemini Man’s stage, but that’s about it. However, the Rush Marine does exactly what it sets out to do.

**Spark Shock** - Spark Shock is another weapon infamous for being extremely **unwieldy**. On paper it should be a high utility stun weapon like the Ice Slasher. But there is one fatal flaw with the Spark Shock: it doesn’t allow you to switch weapons while an enemy is frozen. Since you can’t switch weapons either, the weapon becomes more of a hindrance that leaves enemies as obstacles. It’s only real use is being Magnet Man’s weakness, and even then, Magnet Man takes extra damage from the Mega Buster. Spark Shock is one of few Mega Man weapons that I go through the entire game almost never using.

**Needle Cannon** - Needle Cannon is  **solid,** essentially being a slightly more powerful, rapid-firing Mega Buster. While not revolutionary in design, it can be effective for taking out enemies such as Giant Metall, Big Snakey, New Shotman, and Peterchy a bit faster than the Mega Buster can. It is also the weakness of Snake Man, and the Flash Man and Wood Man Doc Robots.

**Rush Jet** - Rush Jet is **overpowered** in Mega Man 3, as it can freely move in all 8 directions, back and forth, up and down, completely trivializing much of the platforming in the game. You can also prolong the Jet’s energy consumption by continuously jumping while riding it, allowing Rush to stay out for an even longer period of time. It comes in handy and is fun to play around with, for certain, but it is utterly unbalanced, and the changes made to Rush Jet in future games was needed.

**Search Snake** - Search Snake is a ground traveling weapon like Bubble Lead, but with a higher speed and damage output, making it **low utility.** Mega Man 3 has many enemies that travel along the ground, and a lot of uneven terrain, giving Search Snake some time to shine. It’s useful against Walking Bombs, Mechakkero, and Peterchy, while also being the weakness of Gemini Man, and Gamma’s final form.

**Gemini Laser** - Gemini Laser is the definition of a **skill-based** weapon. It takes time and precision to get full usage out of it, but it can do serious damage to enemies in the right hands. It has a very high damage output, able to take out enemies such as Giant Springer, Hari Harry, and Komasaburo in just a few hits. Its ability to bounce off walls also gives it great potential to attack enemies in the air. It is the weakness of Needle Man and counters perfectly with his aerial battle pattern.

Overall, Mega Man 3 has a **D Tier** weapon kit. I imagine this doesn’t surprise many people. There are only really two strong weapons, the Shadow Blade and Gemini Laser, and the rest are either difficult to use, have low damage outputs, or are simply flawed from a design standpoint. This was the first game I found myself simply relying on the buster most of the time, which is a problem. Do you agree?


(Part 3: Mega Man 3) A detailed ranking of every Classic weapon and weapon kit