A Tale of Two Dogs
Episode #32
Based on: Megaman 3

The episode starts off with the narrator explaining that "in a startling twist of events" Dr. Wily has decided to team up with Dr. Light and help build a robot to keep peace in Videoland. Does anybody buy this? No? Good. Well, it's accurate to the game at least. The robot they are working on is Gamma. However, this version of Gamma kinda reminds me of Pac-Man.

Wily is laying it on thick and Right seems to honestly believe the guy. He even gives Wily a hug. Awww. Ain't that sweet? Wily excuses himself and says he's going to have to go get his control device. The platform they're on lowers, and Wily opens a warp and goes though it.

Back in Wily's lab, he reveals his plans to steal the super robot. Wily's new assistant, a Dr. Wily-looking robot called Doc Robot, seems rather eager to take over Videoland, but Wily explains that they can't do anything until Captain N comes back with the last energy tank from Topland.

Over in Topland, Megaman and Kevin are arguing over whose dog is the best. Rush seems less than thrilled. The team then encounters a giant robot cat, straight from the game. More or less. The cat starts shooting balls of yarn from its mouth. Kevin blasts a ball, but then it just turns into a bunch of smaller balls. Duke runs up to the robo-cat, growls at it, and the cat runs away. Duke chases the cat.

Rush turns into jet mode and Kevin and Megaman hop on. Just as Megaman is thinking that they lost him, Kevin spots Duke. Duke has cornered Topman, who's just spinning around and not really doing anything. Megaman cries out that he'll hit him with his "punch line."

Megaman's fist and part of his arm go flying off, knocking Topman out (can robots be knocked out?). Anyway, the robot goes down and disappears into a cloud of pixels. In it's place is an energy tank. Kevin complements Duke and calls him the hero of the trip for sniffing out Topman. When he goes and tries to get the energy tank, Megaman fights him for it. Megaman claims that they wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the Rush Rocket. Kevin counters by saying that Duke chased the cat away (which is the truth). Megaman says that he couldn't have done it without Rush's help (Which is a lie). Rush and Duke just kind of watch, dumbfounded.

Back in Dr. Right's lab, the energy tank is lowered into Gamma. Right tells them that all they need now is the control device Wily built for the robot. Megaman asks Dr. Right if he's sure he can trust him. Right says that there's good in everybody. You just have to look for it. Kevin laughs and says that Wily DOES wear a clean lab coat.

In his lab, Wily laughs, talks about how evil he's going to be, and plans to get Captain Nitwit out of the way. He says that he knows just the bait to trap them with. He's going to capture those doggies.

In his view screen, Wily watches the team walk towards a warp. As they all go though the warp, Kevin says that they've all earned themselves some rest and relaxation.

Apparently, they've chosen California Games for their R&R stop. We cut to Rush and Duke surfing while Megaman and the Cap cheer them on. Rush somehow flips his board over and ends up in the water. When they both reach shore, Kevin congratulates Duke and tells him he won.

(I wish my dog could surf. … at least I would if I had a dog.)

Megaman tries to cheer Rush up by saying that he'll still beat him in the frisbee free for all. Rush comments "here we go again." Cutting ahead, Kevin tosses a frisbee. Duke and Rush both go chasing after it and jump up. Now THIS is impressive. Duke makes a high jump that Kevin would have needed his Power Pad for. Good boy! Unfortunately, a warp opens and the dogs end up going into it.

Megaman recognizes Wily's lab ("better known as Skull Castle"). Kevin and Megaman go chasing after their dogs. We get a nice scroll down of the castle when they get to it. Arriving at the door, Megaman recognizes the sound of Duke's howls.

While watching it on his monitor, Wily gives us a great line: "Why are the good guys always such chumps?" Doc Robot starts asking Wily if he can spring the traps. Wily says that he likes his attitude and lets him throw a big switch. Back outside, Megaman tells Cap to stand back as he blasts the door. They both step back, and a warp opens under their feet.

Kevin and Megaman end up landing in a huge tube filled with water. Another tube shoots a robot turtle out at them. Wily enters the area from a catwalk. He laughs at them and makes a pool party joke. Then he makes a joke about them staying for dinner, because his robot turtles just love super heroes. The turtle snaps at them a few times. Wily then tells them that if they are still around after dinner, they can watch him take over Videoland with the new peacekeeping robot.

Kevin tells Wily that he will pay for this. Wily says that he left his wallet in his other lab coat. Ha ha. That Wily! What a kidder!

Wily then leaves and a few more robot turtles are let in. Kevin raises his Zapper to zap them, but all it does is squirt water. He tells Megaman to remind him to get his Zapper waterproofed if they get out of this. Megaman pulls out his Shadowblade and tosses it. He hits the device that was putting more water and robo-turtles into the area and it reverses, sucking them all back up. Megaman and Kevin are able to escape into what looks like a sewer.

Wily gets into his hovercraft car thing and tells Doc Robot that he's off to steal the peacekeeping robot. He leaves instructions for Doc to get rid of the good guys. Doc Robot seems really happy about this. So happy he loses control of his gadgets and accidentally cuts into his own head with a buzz saw. I can't say I've ever been so happy that I'd cut open my head with a buzz saw, but I've never been told to take care of a group of heroes either.

Inside their cell, Duke gets the bright idea to dig out (after getting shocked by the energized bars). Just after they finish, Megaman and Kevin come crashing though the wall. Apparently, they've been busting though so long, they don't have the slightest clue where they are anymore. Duke and Rush then come out of the hole they dug onto the other side of the bars. Duke, Kevin, Megaman, and Rush all seem happy to see each other. Then Doc Robot shows up and starts shooting buzz saws at the dogs.

Kevin and Megaman jump down the hole and come up outside with Duke and Rush. Everybody dog piles (get it?) on Rush who turns into the Rush Rocket form and they all fly away trying to avoid the buzz saws that Doc Robot is shooting. Doc Robot ends up shooting down a large pipe that falls on him and crushes him. For some reason or another, Skull Castle then sneezes out all the heroes and they land in the dirt. A warp opens and Dr. Right comes out saying that Wily has stolen the peacekeeping robot.

Almost as if on cue, Wily then shows up in Gamma. Kevin pulls out his Zapper and gives the 'bot a hotfoot. The robot jumps around a little bit and Wily threatens to crush them all. Also, a metal beehive falls down near Duke.

Next we see, Duke is holding the beehive while on the back of the Rush Rocket, which is holding a big rock. They fly up to Wily, use the rock to break though the glass cockpit, and toss the beehive in there. It makes about as much sense as using search snakes, I guess. The robo-bees chase Wily around the cockpit, and gamma mimics his movements, running around in panicked circles. Megaman, Right, and Kevin just watch and laugh.

Eventually the robot trips, falls, and breaks. Wily makes a run for it, being chased by robo-bees the whole way.

Watching the whole thing, Dr. Right wonders what got into Wily. Rush and Duke land back behind him, and Rush says that something must BEE bugging him. Then he does a mechanical, bark/laugh. Kevin and Megaman turn to each other and ask if they said something. Then Megaman and Kevin start to argue over which of their dogs was talking. Duke and Rush just sort of smile and then leap on their masters and start licking them. Dr. Right is watching all this with glee.

This was actually a rather nice episode. The show did a good job of sticking close to the game's storyline and kept all the characters interesting. Especially Dr. Wily, who's never gotten a better chance to shine. It was also neat seeing Megaman actually using the robot masters' powers. The show also introduced Rush who, despite the design and voice, was a nice addition. The animation also captured the feel of the early NES Megaman games. Doc Robot was another good baddie. It would have been nice to see him again.

Still, not everything is great. Season 3 Megaman looks awful (as he looked in all the season 3 episodes). The Gamma design is horrible. I also can't help but wonder why they chose Topman out of all the robots they could have used. Plus, would a Megagirl cameo have really hurt them that much?


Featuring:
Kevin Keene/Captain N
Megaman
Duke
Rush
Dr. Right
Gamma the peacekeeping robot
Dr. Wily
Doc Robot
Topman