Watching Game Center CX for the first time

Recently, I've watched Game Center CX Mega Man 3's two-parter out of boredom. I'd never seen the show before, so I didn't know what to expect.

The first thing I noticed is that Arino's terrible. I understand that he's not an experienced Mega Man player and Mega Man 3 is hard, but that didn't stop me from cringing. My main pet peeves were his refusal to use special weapons outside of boss battles or using suboptimal weapons when he did use them, spamming weapons during boss's invulnerability, forgetting about the slide, and carelessly damage-boosting.

However, i was impressed how Arino defeated Snake Man without any E-Tanks, which is something I never managed to do. It was a pleasant surprise when he got through the last screen of Spark Man's stage on the first try; he also figured out the classic "jumping on Rush Jet to conserve energy" trick on his own, as well as cleverly destroyed a Hammer Joe using Gemini Laser.

The narrator's commentary is entertaining, making gameplay failures much more tolerable. Arino himself is charming and does a great job of being a likable underdog you want to root for, with his crew helping out as well.

I remembered yet again how much I adore Mega Man 3's music. Can you believe some people think Mega Man 2's music is better? Insanity.

My favorite moments, in the chronological order:

• About Mega Man on the title screen: "Wow, you're looking nervous..."

• About the second Tama: "What's coming out? Fleas? Take care of your cats for god's sake!"

• "I've got it!" Arino gets hit by Top Man. "I don't got it!" Arino defeats Top Man right afterwards. "I did got it!"

• Arino falling off one of the cloud platforms in Snake Man's stage after getting hit, if only for validating my suspicions about the clouds having glitchy collisions.

• Snake Man being defeated with the use of "spiritual power."

• Spark Man being called sleep deprived.

• About Yama-chan's E-Tank T-shirt: "What kinda 35 year old wears a Mega Man t-shirt?"

• Arino's annoyed reaction upon seeing the Doc Robot levels for the first time.

• Arino using Rush Jet for the first time in Spark Man's stage and realizing he could've used it earlier to cheese Shadow Man's stage he just left.

• Arino beating Doc Metal Man, only to die in the spike shaft and having to redo the first part of the level.

• About the needles touching in Needle Man's stage: "So that's what they wanted to do..."

• AP Nakayama revealing he has been writing down the passwords and Arino asking him "How could you do that without asking me?"

• About Break Man: "Who the heck is Break Man? Someone who'll let me take a break maybe?" while looking through the instruction manual.

• About Wily Castle: "Wow! When did you build your own house?"

• "E-Tank E-Tank E-Tank"

• Arino defeating Kamegoro Maker with Top Spin.

• "Veteran Retro Gamer Arino's game sense predicts an unfortunate future..."

• Somebody yelling "TA!!" when Arino is about to die during Yellow Devil MK-II fight.

• During Holograph Mega Mans battle: "So I gotta find the real one... but the real one is right here!!"

• "Arino-Mega Man goes back to his part-time job, E-Tank hoarding."

• The conversation between Arino and AD Emoto about E-Tanks.

• Tight E-Tank T-Shirt Nakayama.

• Arino's remarks about his gameplay from the first part.

• "I might be the oldest guy to ever say ‘I wanna E-Tank!'"

• Arino accidentally starting Wily Castle from scratch.

• "I've gone from an old man wanting E-Tanks to an old man overjoyed by E-Tanks!"

• Arino using E-Tanks at all the wrong times during the boss refights.

• Arino finally beating the boss refights.

• Arino dying right after beating Wily Machine-3's first form.

• Arino finally beating Wily Machine-3.

• Arino's reaction upon realizing Top Spin is Gamma's weakness.

• About Proto Man: "That guy that always runs away!!"