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Mega Man 4 is everything that Mega Man 3 is not, for better or for worst.
The difference is noticeable from the very start of the game as here we get a some back story how Rock became Mega Man followed by what's happening in this game. This is fallowed by a flashy title screen complete with a new catchy intro theme and the image of Mega's Helmet alone as a call back to the end of the second game (don't know what's that about) compared to MM3's which had nothing but it's epic theme song. So far so good!
And then we're introduced to it's eight new Robot Masters and there are only eight so haters of 3's doc robot stages rejoice! They seem like a handsome crowd ranging from the goof like Toad Man and... Dust Man? To the seemingly badass like Skull Man and Pharaoh Man. Even it's duller ones like Drill Man (Crash Man much?) or Ring Man seem more colorful and interesting than say Hard Man or Needle Man. But as any reasonable Mega Man fan would tell that a game is not to be weighed on how cool it's Robot Master are but rather how well it's levels are designed or how useful it's weapons are or even how good it's music is.
The weapons, unlike the previous games in the series, are ALL great and useful in a number of situations. You definitely won't be sticking with any one weapon throughout the entire game. Even the lesser used one's such as Toad Man's or Ring Man's would have been very useful if they appeared in any of the past three games. Compared to MM3's sloppy arsenal these are made way more useful then Spark Shock or Top Spin.
Other than his special weapons, Mega Man has a new trick up his sleeve. This game introduced "The Mega Buster" by holding down your fire button and releasing it after two charges, Mega can shot a stronger shot, though it's only as powerful as his three pellets and no wider than one, it's useful if your walking into a room and you want to deal some major damage to an enemy right a way.
At first the levels may seem still better than, again, Mega Man 3's. They're cleaner and more inventive at least. The graphics are brighter, colorful and as a first in the series gave the game more of a fantasy vibe with ancient tombs and bone filled canyons.
Along with the graphics is the music which can vary from good to even great in some spots such as when you first enter Dust Man's realm which accompanied with the machinery in the black empty background gives the level an almost lonely feel to it while Pharaoh Man's harsher more violent theme accompanied with you struggling out of the quick sand and around the burrowing scorpion robot in his level gives it a chaotic feel. Some of the other song are just ok though.
The problem with the levels is how clean. They take less risks and only build on ideas from the previous games or even copied them like that long stretch of spikes from Wily's Castle in Mega Man 2. The generally cleaner graphical style gives the game an even sterile feel to it and is just not as expressive as it was in Mega Man 1, 2, or 3. Even the interments they use in the music sound dryer and more sterile than usual. The levels are just so typical for what the Master they house. Dive Man's is some underwater base, Drill Man's is underground, Bright Man's is… I don't really know but the lights go on and off you get the point. They don't do anything weird like through the top based boss in a green house or put the scissor boss in what ever Cut Man's level was suppose to be.
But those sound more like minor grips. The biggest problem Mega Man 4 has is the pacing. It doesn't flow together well as well as it should. Some spot the enemies are placed in oddly and in other spots you'd suspect an enemy but there aren't any. That and they suspect you to be use to using the Mega Buster as enemies take at least twice the beating as they did before when you use your normal pellets. All of this gives the game a rushed feeling like they didn't balance the Mega Buster so they just raised the enemies shields up and called it a day.
Even the bosses seem like less fun to fight. In Mega Man 2, the bosses had at least two to three weapons they were weak against. Here it seems like they were trying to go back to how it was in Mega Man 1 where there was only one weakness to the bosses and everything less either did little damage or just didn't work on them.
In the end I seem to like this game less and less the more I play it which seems to be the opposite of how I feel toward Mega Man 3 when ever I beat it. The only reason why most people say Mega Man 4 is the best is because it was the first they played. I feel nothing toward it but it's not bad I guess.
Another thing I don't like is this game's shorter than Mega Man 3... what's that about.