This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Mega Man 3 (NES).

July 6th 1990

A Family Computer magazine issue from July 6th, featured a preview with photos of a early version of Rockman 3 on issue 106, showcasing some very interesting differences! Notably, this same version (or a similar one) already appeared in the Japanese TV magazine Game T-V from Autumn 1990 shows a preview with several video clips.

General Differences#

Title Screen#

Game T-V	Final

• The preview version only has the "START" option, vs "GAME START" and "PASSWORD" in the final version. The cursor is missing also.
• The blue part of the logo is outlined with a white palette instead of cyan.
• The placement of the "TM" symbol differs.
• The latter half of "Saigo" in the Japanese subtitle is written with a different kanji.
• The Mega Man has a much lighter cyan color here compared to the final version, although there are still traces of this lighter palette on his helmet.

Select Stage#

Family Computer Preview	Final

• It says "PRESS START" instead of "PUSH START" as in the final version.
• All the Robot Masters' icons are just question marks, probably to avoid revealing their appearance.
• And as expected, instead of having the name of each robotmaster here, there's only a placeholder called STAGE that goes from A to H.

Robot Masters#

Family Computer Preview	Final

Family Computer Preview	Final

• And just like in the Select Stage, the robotmasters' sprites are also big question marks.

Inventory#

Game T-V	Final

The preview version shows an "N" instead of a "P" for Mega Man's regular buster shot.

Game T-V	Final

• The amount of lives and E-tanks are present in the second page of the inventory in the preview version, but not in the final version.
• In the preview version, the player starts the game with Rush Marine and Rush Jet.

Level Changes#

Magnet Man's Stage#

Game T-V	Final

The fight against Protoman is missing in the preview version, and the ground on the bottom left is already blown-up as the player enters the screen.

Family Computer Preview	Final

• There is a ladder leading down to the small item room that was removed from the final version.

Snake Man's Stage#

Game T-V	Final

On this screen, the Bubukan enemy is missing in the preview.

Game T-V	Final

On this screen, the left-most concrete pillar is smaller in the preview version.

Needle Man's Stage#

Family Computer Preview	Final

• The layout of this room differs slightly. There is one more needle hazard in the preview.

Hard Man's Stage#

Game T-V	Final

The Hammer Joe enemy is missing in the preview.

Gemini Man's Stage#

Family Computer Preview	Final

• There is an Energy tank in place of Life.
• Big Life Energy is not present here.

Family Computer Preview	Final

• The two small stones that are in the middle of the path are not present.
• There are two more extra Pole eggs here.

Game T-V	Final

• The Penpen that spawn from the Penpen Maker spawn on a higher Y axis position in the preview version, in which it looks like they're flying, while it looks like they're sliding on the ground in the final version.
• The Penpen Maker has more HP in the preview version: 15 or 16 HP versus 10 in the final version.

Game T-V	Final

The layout of this area differs slightly.

Family Computer Preview	Final

• This part was removed from the final version.