Article Below:
Stage: Here it is, the final real stage of the game and it’s a fitting finale. A new enemy named T.N.A.T. (presumably for “that’s not a thwomp”) appears frequently and in a suitably thwomp-like fashion slams down from the ceiling in an attempt to crush Mega Man when he gets near it. These enemies are completely invincible to most weapons, but Giant Axe still works on them, making it the most useful ability for this stage. The real feature for this stage is the variable gravity. Mega Man will pass bars in the stage which double the gravity, cut the gravity in half, or return it to normal. Unlike gravity adjustments in most games, the ones here specifically only affect Mega Man and not the entire area, so the moment Mega Man touches a gravity bar his gravity changes until he touches another one. Due to the way these gravity changes work, there are times when Mega Man will need to touch a bar at the end of a sliding area or some other out of the way location in order to make jumps. This stage is one of the longest in the game and it has several long stretches where Mega Man will have to perform the same platforming task under each of the three types of gravity. Spikes are plentiful here so Zap Barrier also comes in handy as it makes it possible to simply hug a spike-covered wall for some of the hardest jumps in the stage. Due to the stage’s length, it’s best to be somewhat conservative with weapon energy, but drill corridors are also present here so you shouldn’t worry too much about running out of Giant Axe and Zap Barrier.
Boss: Pyro Core is an easy yet very enjoyable fight. Mega Man must pass a double gravity bar on his way to the fight, making it impossible to jump high. There are two platforms separated by a small gap in the middle of the room; Pyro Core will periodically set the rightmost platform on fire, but Mega Man is stuck on the left platform regardless due to the increased gravity making it impossible to jump over the gap. Pyro Core remains in the dead center of the room out of reach for parts of the fight, but moves down to ground level for its main attack. This attack involves it sending out small blasts from turrets on its top and bottom sides. These blasts move slowly in an upper, middle, or lower lane and some of them crisscross between these lanes before colliding with the left wall. Jumping over the blasts can take some time to get used to due to the gravity, but it’s still an easy attack and the Pyro Core is impossible to miss while it’s going on so you can deal a huge amount of damage. The most difficult attack this boss has is when it moves back to the center of the screen and causes fireballs to rain down from the sky at various angles for a few seconds. Sliding or very good timing is needed to completely dodge this attack due to the speed at which it occurs. For its final attack, Pyro Core launches several strings of small fireballs which arc downward before shooting back up to form a ‘U’ pattern. These fireball strings come at several different heights, but the pattern remains the same every time the attack is used and there are plenty of safe spots where you only need to really worry about dodging a single instance of the attack. Though the buster shot cannot reach the Pyro Core while it’s in the middle of the room, Giant Axe and other weapons can still effectively reach it to make a short and easy fight even shorter.