Mega Man 9/Concrete Man

Concrete Man's stage is a pretty average affair, but there are some hazards that gamers need to be aware of.

In the first section of the level, immediately equip the Jewel Satellite. Those dropper birds are back, and so are those bots that jump out of pits to try to knock you to your death. With Jewel Satellite orbiting you, neither can hurt you.

The Elephant minibosses are extremely frustrating because it's difficult not to take damage while fighting them. Each one pushes a ball and suctions it back toward itself. The ball is shielded and you can't shoot through it. You need to avoid the ball, and when you have an opening, return fire. Simply stand in front of the elephant (right in front of it, as in less than a footstep away) and spam the Plug Ball. You might take some damage, but they'll go down in no time flat.

Throughout the stage are a variety of small gray bricks. Some of these have hidden pitfalls and you can fall through them, but those will always be denoted with a different pattern on the brick. So look carefully!

The end of the stage is a series of ledge jumps above a bottomless pit. Arrow lifts appear here, which will either propel you up or down depending on the markings. Keep the markings in mind before you make each jump. Up ones can easily give you much-needed extra height to make jumps easier if you use them properly.

Concrete Man is the game's resident "musclehead" Robot Master. His pattern is impossible to predict, but he'll always do one of three things - jump and crush the ground with a seismic attack that immobilizes you, try to ram you, or freeze you with concrete, making you easy fodder for the aforementioned attacks. To win, hit him rapidly with the Laser Trident, and avoid him the best you can.

Victory scores you the Concrete Shot. It's a short range weapon that's hard to hit with, but it can serve several valuable purposes, including freezing magma beams and serving as stepping stones.