Mega Man 3 Walkthrough

Level Strategies
Although it is possible to complete the eight main levels and four Doc Man stages in any order, this walkthrough provides a recommended order that will make defeating bosses and some enemies easier. However, there is no need to follow the order given, and each level strategy can be read alone.

Needle Man Stage: Needle City
The first thing you will have to pass are a few large hedgehogs. They shoot their needles at you and then roll towards you. Jump over them when they roll if you can't kill them in time, make your way past them and climb down. You'll see two paths; the lower one is a dead end but has a large weapon capsule guarded by a Met. Taking the top path to continue, shoot the turrets when they open to pass. Next will be a series of Mets and dragonflies, (and are those giant Mets buried in the ground?) pass them and go down. Large spikes periodically shoot from the celeing to the floor in this room. Slide through the passageway when the first spike is retracted, then go down and repeat the process. Run under the next sets of spikes quickly or slide under. Jump onto the platform here, time your next jump to avoid yet another spike, jump to the ladder and climb. There will be another hedgehog here, this one is harder to avoid because of the uneven ground. Jump over him and, if you want to, use Rush Coil to reach the energy tank. Climb up and defeat the Joes here. You can only shoot this enemy when its eye is open, and you can slide under or jump over his mace. Climb again and slide under the jumping enemy when it jumps. You cannot kill this enemy, and it will cause significant damage to you, so be careful. Needle Man has two attacks. One is to jump high into the air and shoot four needles at you, the other is to bend forward and extend the spikes on top of his head. Jump carefully inbetween the thrown needles, but be more cautious of the head spikes as they do a high amount of damage. Slide under him when he jumps to avoid this attack. You can shoot him at any time, his weakness is Gemini Laser, and if you use that, you can fire it anywhere and it will probably hit him because of his erratic jumping. You get the Needle Cannon and Rush Jet for defeating him.

Snake Man Stage: Snake Tower
The first enemies here are a bouncing enemy and a snake head attached to the platforms. The snake head cannot move but shoots pellets at you. Kill them and move on, passing more of each enemy, then go up the ladder. Here you will see three snake heads, these ones are hard to dodge because of the uneven ground. Take them out and climb up to face a giant snake head. Dodge his shots by standing at the left and jumping forward over them. Do not step onto the waving platform or you will have a hard time aiming. Once you kill him, move into the next room where more small snakes are waiting, as well as an enemy that dive-bombs you. These snakes can push you into the cliff if you jump when they shoot, so be careful. Pass them, pick up the 2 large energy capsules if you need to, and go down the ladder. Here is a large room with more of the dive-bmob enemies and pole-vaulting enemies. Try to get the pole-vaulters to jump over you, then turn around and shoot them before they come running back at you. After this room, go up and defeat the Joe, and go up again. The right ladder leads to 2 mystery capsules, which contain a random item. Defeat the Joe and climb the left ladder, and kill the large snake head at the top. In the next room pole-vaulters will attack you, kill them as before. The pit you must jump looks wide, but it is narrow enough to jump across without assistance. Get the large energy capsule if you need it and climb the right ladder. Kill the ladybug and climb again, you are now at the top of the tower. The next part is a tricky jumping bit, if you have Rush Jet you can use it now to bypass it entirely. The wide platforms with grilles release cloud platforms that zigzag upwards, you will need to use these to cross. Cloud enemies will zigzag toward you, shooting them reveals a bullet that flies straight. After the cloud platforms you will need to jump across some small, non-moving platforms. Dodge the cloud bullets here and you will be at the boss room. Snake Man jumps around a lot, and shoots little snakes at the highest point of his jump. These snakes crawl across the floor and walls, so jump over them. the trickiest part of this battle is the uneven floors, which can make things a pain. Fortunately, you can shoot through the central platform. Snake man is weak to needle Cannon, and he gives you Search Snake upon defeating him.