There are a number of items in Mega Man 3, most of which have appeared in the other NES Mega Man games.
In-level items
- Energy tank– A blue canister with an E on it. Using one of these will recover all of your health meter. They can't be found from defeating enemies and are always in a fixed location in levels, usually kind of tough or tricky to get to. You can have up to 9 of them in your inventory.
- Surprise cansor?-cans- shoot them and obtain a random item.
- Life Energy pellets– A flashing black/white dot. These will restore some of your health meter, and they come in 2 sizes, small and large. Small ones recover about 2 units, big ones recover about 8.
- Weapon Energy pellets– A blue/green dot/oval-shaped object. These restore some energy to one of your special weapons, and also come in 2 sizes. Note that you MUST equip the special weapon you want to recover energy for in order for it to have any effect.
- Extra Life– Looks like Mega Man's head. Self-explanatory, it gives you an extra life. You can have up to 9 of them in reserve.
Rush items
- Rush Coil– You start the game with this. Rush transforms into a springboard and can catapult Mega Man to great heights. Vital for scaling some otherwise unsurpassable obstacles.
- Rush Marine– Get this by beating Shadow Man. Rush turns into a submarine. Very nice to have in aquatic levels/sections of levels. There are three stages where it can be used: Gemini Man's, Gemini Man Revisited and the first Skull Fortress stage.
- Rush Jet– Get this by beating Needle Man. Rush turns into a jet platform, and you can freely control him around the screen. Great for scaling areas filled with bottomless pits and spikes.
Items per stage
E-capsules and W-capsules come in two sizes: large ones (L) refill 10 units, small ones (s) refill two units only.
Stage | E-can | ?-can | 1-Up | E-capsule | W-capsule | Rush & water |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Snake Man | - | 2 | - | |||
Top Man | - | - | - | |||
Shadow Man | - | - | - | - | 4s | Rush Marine |
Spark Man | - | - | - | 1L | 1L+4s | - |
Magnet Man | - | - | - | 1L+4s | 1L+2s | - |
Hard Man | 1 | - | - | 3L+3s | - | - |
Gemini Man | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2L | 3L | Water (use Rush Marine) |
Needle Man | 1 | - | - | 1L | - | Rush Jet |
Doc Men & Break Man | ||||||
Stage | E-can | ?-can | 1-Up | E-capsule | W-capsule | Rush & water |
Needle Doc Man | 1 | - | 1 | 2L | 6L | - |
Shadow Doc Man | - | - | - | 1L | 4s | - |
Spark Doc Man | - | - | - | 2L | - | - |
Gemini Doc Man | - | 2 | - | - | 3L | Water (use Rush Marine) |
Break Man | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Skull Fortress | ||||||
Stage | E-can | ?-can | 1-Up | E-capsule | W-capsule | Rush & water |
Skull Fortress 1 | 2 | - | 2 | 4 | 4L | Water (use Rush Marine) 5 walls (use Hard Knuckle) |
Yellow Devil | 2 | - | 1 | 3s | 6L | - |
Skull Fortress 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4s | 3L | 3 walls (use Hard Knuckle) |
Teleport System | - | 1 | 1 | 4s | 2L + 8s | - |
Dr. Wily | - | 2 | - | - | 2L | - |
Gamma & Dr. Wily | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1L | 2L | - |
Gallery
- Energy cans
E-cans always take the color scheme of Mega Man's active weapon.
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Hard stage (n.1)
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Gemini stage (n.2)
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Gemini stage (n.3)
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Needle stage (n.4)
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Needle-Docman stage (n.5)
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Skull Fortress stage 1 (n.6)
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Skull Fortress stage 1 (n.7)
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Yellow Devil stage (n.8 & n.9)
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Skull Fortress stage 3 (n.10)
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Gamma's stage (n.11)
- Surprise cans
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Snake stage (n.1 & n.2)
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Gemini stage (n.3)
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Gemini-Docman stage (n.4)
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Gemini-Docman stage (n.5)
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Skull Fortress stage 3 (n.6 & n.7)
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Dr. Wily stage (n.8 & n.9)
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Gamma's stage (n.10 & n.11)
Evolution of surprise cans
Surprise cansare introduced in Mega Man 3 and featured in this game only. Anyway, they are not unique in the series. In fact, in later games they are replaced by other items with the same characteristics:
- they contain a random item;
- they appear at fixed locations;
- they cannot be transported.
Game | Item |
---|---|
Mega Man 3 | ?-cans |
Mega Man 4 Mega Man 5 Mega Man 6 |
Eddie |
Mega Man 4 (GB) Mega Man 5 (GB) |
Eddie & Protoman |
Mega Man 7 | - |
Mega Man 8 Mega Man & Bass |
Surprise box (floating) |