Mega Man I: Ice Man's Stage Video Comparison

CORRECTION: I know there are three runs in the video, not two, as it states in the beginning text. This is because I was originally planning to show the death as part of the first run instead of dividing them, and forgot to change the text once I changed my mind. It isn't worth going back and rerendering and reposting the video now.

    Framed in light of the extreme difference in challenge depending on whether the player has the Magnet Beam or not, this stage forms the clearest example we've seen so far of the way the Mega Man games provide guidance to the player without forcing linearity. An expert player can, if he chooses, bull through this stage with nothing but the Mega Buster, and succeed. But a beginner player who finds this too challenging is free to explore other stages and collect powerups first to bring the game down to his level. It's an inelegant example, due to the frustrating nature of this stage's biggest challenge, but at its core the idea is sound, and the developers would promptly begin refining and perfecting it by the next game.