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Mega Man 4 - Ridley X Hack 2

Levels: Good

Graphics: Good

Music: No Change

Enemies: Okay (more hp)

Bosses: No Change

Weapons: No Change

Castle: Good

Difficulty: MEDIUM

Comments: 4's Hack 2 improves on its predecessor in one key area: enemies now have slightly more hp instead of preposterously more. It's one of those changes that makes a world of difference, as it gives the "easy" enemies a chance to damage you without resorting to making them roadblocks. Unfortunately—and something I suspect is going to be plaguing a lot of these Ridley hacks—little else has been touched outside of enemy hp. Levels retain their original layouts, bosses & weapons are untouched, and there's a bit too many Up'n'Downs for my tastes (those guys that pop out of pits). Still, Ridley has a good handle on stage design, even if it can come across as aggressive at times; personally, I like how you're incentivized to use your weapons to avoid a lot of instances of unavoidable damage. I think 4's Hack 2 is worth it as long as you don't mind its very vanilla flavoring.

I don't have a whole lot to say about this hack, because it's pretty middle-of-the-road. The level design is often cheap and overwhelming, but not as hateful toward the player as a lot of hacks can be; I'd recommend using saves if you play, but experts might be able to beat it without them. The visual design isn't bad, but not much is especially weird or colorful, which is generally what I go for. The visual design does get better once you get to Wily's castle, the first stage being pink and purple with splashes of white and cyan that go really well with it, and the second stage has some neat ideas going on. Not the worst hack, but I'd recommend either fixing up the level design a bit or adding a bit more visual flair to the levels as motivation to push through.