Guts Man stage takes place along a construction site. This is a short but difficult stage. Mega Man must first negotiate moving platforms that periodically give way, and then deal with pickax-wielding robots. Guts Man was designed for land reclamation work, but was created specifically for construction of public works. By far the strongest of any robot, Guts Man is able to lift objects of up to 80 tons over his head and hurl them at his foe with startling accuracy. He moves slowly, throws boulders at Mega Man, and makes the ground shake whenever he lands from a jump.
Stage
- A: When you start out on this stage, you are greeted by a trio of Metalls. A common enemy throughout the Mega Man series, Metalls are only vulnerable to attack when they lift up their helmet and peer outside in order to shoot at you. Clear each one out of the way and climb to the top platform.
- B: This is one of the most challenging jump sections of the game. There are three rails upon which special platforms ride back and forth. The highest rail is solid and uninterrupted. As a result, the platform stays up and is safe to ride upon the entire time. However, the second rail has two breaks in it, and the third rail has five. Every time the left side of the platform touches these breaks, the platform drops away until the left side touches solid rail again. When this happens, you must jump up and land back down on the platform when it returns, or fall to your doom. Ride the top platform over as far to the right as you can, and time your jump carefully to the platform below. If you are quick, you can continue down to the third platform, but make sure you time your landing so that you have time to jump back up again in case the bottom platform drops away. As you ride the bottom platform to the left, be sure to jump into the air every time the left side of the platform is about to cross a broken portion of the rail, and then leap to safety from the far right end of the rail.
- C: Back on solid ground, you'll have a brief skirmish with a series of Bunby Helies. Jump up to attack them before the drop down and attack you. You'll find a large health capsule nestled in the platforms.
- D: From this point to the location before the drop, you will encounter four Picket Men. Picket Men aren't as difficult to defeat as Sniper Joes, but they can do more damage to you in less time if you aren't careful. When they land, they start tossing pickaxes at you in an arc. Dodge the pickaxes as they rain down on you, and fire back as quickly as possible to remove them and advance. Do not fall down through the gaps between the girders, or on to the spikes below, but do fall down through the gap on the right side to continue.
- E: From here, you must decide which gaps you want to drop down as you get attacked by more Bunby Helies. It's not terribly important to plot your route in advance, but knowing which way to go can help you collect useful items, and avoid more danger. The second screen down has some health capsules, but the large one on the right is difficult to reach. You can collect the two small ones, but avoid trying to reach them when a Bunby is nearby, or you may land on the spikes and die.
- F: The third screen in the drop contains a 1-Up icon, but it's in a particularly difficult location to reach. You might get lucky and be able to reach the gap to the right of the 1-Up if you aren't falling too fast. Otherwise, the only way to reach it is by using the Magnet Beam to create a series of short ledges. If that option is available to you, it certainly can't hurt to try and collect it.
- G: When you land at the bottom of the long drop, you will encounter the powerful Big Eye. He will start to the right of you, and you're goal is behind him. He hops up and down, and tries to get as close to you as possible in order to crush you. When he leaps up, sometimes he jumps low and sometimes he jumps high. The best strategy is to shoot at him while he stands on the platforms below you, as you can hit him pretty easily. When he gets close to you, watch the way he jumps. If he jumps very high, that's your chance to run beneath him and get on the other side. Other times, you may have no choice but to get hit once and run through him while you're invincible. Either way, get around him and run to the door. If you manage to get behind him, you can opt to destroy him before you go through the door.
- H: This tunnel leads to Guts Man's lair. Along the way, four Metalls are lying in wait to attack you. You can take advantage of the fact that enemies return when the screen scrolls back to their locations by running up and down the tunnel and shooting at an even pace. As you do, you will destroy the Metalls before they have a chance to fire at you, and you can collect whatever they leave behind until you have fully recovered your health and any weapons you may wish to power up. If you're very lucky, you may even score a 1-Up or two.
Guts Man
Guts Man is not to be taken lightly. He is large and powerful. He is so heavy that when he jumps into the air and lands, the ground shakes for a short while. If you're standing when he lands, you will be temporarily stunned and unable to move until you regain your footing when the shaking stops. Your only defense against this is to jump in the air just before Guts Man lands. Every now and then, a boulder will fall from the ceiling when Guts Man jumps. He will catch and heave it at you. When the boulder hits something solid, it breaks apart into four pieces which keep coming. The easiest way to avoid getting hit, is to stand on the two boulders on the left side of the room, and leap over the rocks that Guts Man throws at you when they get close. Guts Man doesn't move around all that quickly, making him an easy target for you to attack, provided you don't get stunned by the earthquakes or get hit by the boulders he throws. If you defeat Guts Man, you'll earn his Super Arm ability, which grants Mega Man the strength to lift giant boulders and throw them. Note that Mega Man can't shoot while he's using this power, and boulders or giant blocks must be present for him to walk up to and pick up. If he walks up to an eligible object while using the Super Arm, it will flash, signifying that you can pick it up and throw it.
Guts Man is a pretty solid fellow, just like the rock that's all around him. The best way to remove rocks very quickly is with something explosive. As a result, Guts Man is very vulnerable to the explosions created by Hyper Bombs, the weapon you earn by beating Bomb Man. The bombs themselves will do no damage, only the explosions, so you must throw them somewhere close to his feet and hope that he sticks around long enough to get caught in the blast. He's so vulnerable to this attack that it only takes three bombs to do Guts Man in.