22/40

By Charles - March 16th, 2026

Mega Man 3 on Game Boy is yet another Mega Man platformer. This entry in the series does a lot to improve on Mega Man 2 GB and is a fun time.

Mega Man 3 GB

Game Boy, 1992

~$60 Sealed

~$1600 Used

Other Releases:

Virtual Console

Nintendo Switch Online

Presentation

9

Mega Man 3 looks great and has nicely detailed sprites and backgrounds. Many of the level tiles are directly copied, but there are also some new ones that match very well. All of the enemies are carried over 1:1 from the NES and look great. The music is recreated as well, albeit a little weaker due to Game Boy hardware. Unlike its predecessor, Mega Man 3 does a great job of copying the NES Mega Man 3 and 4. It's hard to blame the developers - it looked great there and looks great here.

The first half is from MM3, the next is MM4.

Controls

4

Mega Man still feels heavy and slow, and you still can't jump out of a slide. Rush Jet is also horrible, even worse than Mega Man 4 and 5's version. You can't even steer. The Special Weapons are awful too, and you will never use them aside from against bosses. One good new addition is the charge shot. It works well and is very useful.

Levels look great with 1:1 NES Tiles.

Content

4

Mega Man 3 GB is short and painful. Levels are designed around screen crunch, meaning that there's barely any space for Mega Man to move around. There are very few levels, but each one feels like it lasts forever. Insta-death spikes are everywhere and most of the deaths feel very cheap. The levels are so long that, even after adding Eddie, the developers had to add extra health drops lying around. The strange thing is that I couldn't put the game down. The fact that these levels felt unfair made me want to overcome them. I actually had quite a bit of fun here. In contrast, the bosses are extremely easy.

Screen crunch is definitely an issue.

Fun Factor

5

Despite all of the game's issues, Mega Man 3 GB isn't the worst time you could have playing a Mega Man game. I found the unfair difficulty and tight levels the game's best aspect, and the short length means that you can push through to make it to the end. It's definitely the best Mega Man on Game Boy so far, and it finally begins to feel like a main series adventure. If you enjoy challenges that test your determination, Mega Man 3 GB is really fun.

The levels are all very lengthy.

Worth the Time?

Worth the Money?

Only play this game if you're a super Mega Man fan or if you're looking for an unforgiving retro platformer. Otherwise, stay as far away as possible.

It's not too expensive if you want to pad out your Game Boy collection. Otherwise, stick to NSO.

Screenshots from [Mega Man III] © [Capcom], used for review purposes.