History ScrappyWeapon / MegaMan

* The '''[[RocketPunch Hard Knuckle]]''' is similarly awkward a weapon to use. Firing it causes a short delay before the fist actually flies out of Mega Man's arm, which is noticeably slow enough to be a hindrance. It is able to have its vertical trajectory changed, but its movement is as slow as a semi-trailer trying to make wide turns, so it is surprisingly difficult to properly aim it at any targets, notably non-stationary ones. For a RocketPunch, it actually dishes out less damage on average than you may think, and its subpar weapon energy economy means that taking down most enemies that aren't mini-bosses is actually inefficient as they can be taken out with the Magnet Missile, Shadow Blade, or ''even'' the aforementioned Gemini Laser just as quickly or even faster (Magnet Missile even has the same ammo consumption cost as the Hard Knuckle at 2 units each; it is a much more accurate and efficient killing tool). Even using it against some mini-bosses in the game results in you depleting about a third of your weapon energy to destroy them when something else could have done the trick for less ammo; possibly more if you miss your target or get hit during the delay before the fist is fired off.

* The '''[[TimeStandsStill Time Stopper]]''' grants an awesome ability on paper, but it's overbalanced to the point of uselessness in practice. Once the Time Stopper gets triggered, it ''can't'' be turned off, and it just keeps draining until you lose the whole charge, giving it effectively one use. Worse, you also have no means of attack while the Stopper is active and you can't switch weapons, so if you run into an enemy you can't jump over, that's an entire charge wasted. It doesn't help that it forms part of one of the most infamous {{MortonsFork}}s in the series; in [[ThatOneLevel Quick Man's stage]], either you use it to stop the Force Beams at the cost of enduring [[ThatOneBoss Quick Man]] in battle (and his speed means using the Crash Bomber isn't as good of an idea as it sounds), or you memorize the malevolent position of those frickin' laser beams with the added benefit of having Quick Man's weakness (and even then, it depletes only half of his energy, forcing you to [[ShaggyDogStory use other weapons to kill him anyways]]). It looks even worse when one of the few other uses for it is essentially an exploit (it interrupts the arrival animation of the Frienders, the mini-bosses in Wood Man's stage, letting you bypass them). No matter what, you have a weapon you'll fire off at most twice or thrice in your entire playthrough. Notably, the Flash Stopper in ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' is often seen as a "fixed" version -- it stops time for less time, but doesn't drain in one go (allowing it to be used ''seven'' times), and you can use the Mega Buster while it's active (though you can't charge it).

* ''[[VideoGame/MegaManTheWilyWars Wily Wars]]'' manages to make the '''Magnet Missile''', a fairly decent weapon in the NES original, into one of these. Due to an error in its programming, Magnet Missile has a nasty tendency to home on enemy projectiles, usually resulting in it uselessly flying off into space when you're trying to hit an actual enemy/boss with it. This makes fighting bosses that are weak to it, like Hard Man and Doc Magnet Man, exercises in frustration as you constantly try to fire at them only for the shots to careen into nothingness; especially damning since Magnet Missile only gets a maximum of 14 shots until it's fully depleted.

* The '''Guard Shell''' barely defends from a specific sort of shots; shots that are not able to be defended by the shield (which include the attacks of Nightmare Viruses, the most common enemy in the game) will simply pass through as if it were never there. If the shot ''is'' blocked by the shield, the reflected shot will take a moment to charge up in which the enemy can simply move out of the way. Also, it is supposed to be Infinity Mijinion's weakness, but it barely does any damage to him and forces the player to rely on the boss doing specific moves to even work at all. Because of this, many consider the Yammark Option to be a better "weakness" to Mijinion than the actual weakness. However, it has a decent charged version and it [[GoodBadBugs somehow empowers Zero]].

* '''Double Cyclone''' shoots two wind orbs to the sides of X that curve upward, intended as an AntiAir weapon. However, the coverage is ''highly'' situational as you won't be attacked from both sides often, the damage is weak, it gets stopped by terrain, larger enemies are completely immune to it, the animation causes X to freeze in place for a short while thus killing your mobility, and the game contains better weapons to deal with {{Airborne Mook}}s like Aiming Laser, Rising Fire, or your X-Buster. As an added insult to injury, using Double Cyclone against a certain boss weak to it only makes the fight ''harder'' by causing them to spawn irritating flunkies. The only good point of Double Cyclone is that it can lock Magma Dragoon into a CycleOfHurting.

* The '''[[DishingOutDirt Deep Digger]]''' is [[HistoryRepeats remarkably similar to the Super Arm]] from ''1'' and suffers from many of the same issues. Despite it being more powerful and shooting a spread of damaging debris in the opposite direction of the block thrown, it still requires blocks to be found in stages, and only one boss in the entire game, Terra, is weak to it.

* '''Lightning Web''' is underwhelming if you're using it as direct offense. It has relatively low ammo, the main projectile itself deals less than a buster shot's worth of damage against most non-{{Giant Mook}}s, and it suffers from being [[OneBulletAtATime unable to fire again until the non-damaging web wall dissipates]], meaning that most large enemies can be beaten quicker with the X-Buster. The one durable enemy it one-shots without fail, King Poseidon, is found only in the stage you get Lightning Web from, and there's no reason to go back unless you need the Heart Tank. It's best to use Lightning Web only as an [[ImprovisedPlatform Improvised Wall]] to avoid enemies or reach areas, unless you're up against the bosses weak to it.

* '''Double Cyclone''' shoots two wind orbs to the sides of X that curve upward, intended as an AntiAir weapon. However, the coverage is ''highly'' situational as you won't be attacked from both sides often, the damage is weak, larger enemies are completely immune to it, the animation causes X to freeze in place for a short while thus killing your mobility, and the game contains better weapons to deal with {{Airborne Mook}}s like Aiming Laser, Rising Fire, or your X-Buster. As an added insult to injury, using Double Cyclone against a certain boss weak to it, only makes the fight ''harder'' by causing them to spawn irritating flunkies. The only good point of Double Cyclone is that it can lock Magma Dragoon into a CycleOfHurting.

* '''Gravity Well''' acts like a SmartBomb in theory, stunning and killing all enemies on the screen... if they're small-sized. Anything larger that isn't Blast Hornet is completely immune to it, making it useless against the stuff you want to kill quickly.
* '''Tornado Fang''' is like Spin Wheel from ''X2'' in that hits an enemy for continuous damage, but it deals much less damage unless you have three drills out, and enemies can still keep attacking you while being hit. However, it's the lag time before your drills move that really puts this weapon down -- other weapons can do the job much faster, and it's also outclassed by the game's other lag-before-moving weapon Frost Shield, which damages immediately and also leaves behind a damaging spike.
* '''Ray Splasher''' does good damage when fired at point-blank range, but falls somewhat flat at long range. Its charged version however is nigh-worthless, a levitating orb that fires shots in random directions, rarely ever ''hits'' anything and can be destroyed by enemy bullets.

* '''Lightning Web''' is underwhelming if you're using it as direct offense. It has relatively low ammo, the main projectile itself deals less than a buster shot's worth of damage against most non-{{Giant Mook}}s, and it suffers from OneBulletAtATime, meaning that most large enemies can be beaten quicker with the X-Buster. The one durable enemy it one-shots without fail, King Poseidon, is found only in the stage you get Lightning Web from, and there's no reason to go back unless you need the Heart Tank. It's best to use Lightning Web only as an [[ImprovisedPlatform Improvised Wall]] to avoid enemies or reach areas, unless you're up against the bosses weak to it.

* The '''W-Shredder''' (Spiral Pegasus's attack for Zero), for not only having low utility, but to an extent outright crippling Zero by making a far stronger attack "technique" (alternately hit dash and Attack rapidly to hit obnoxiously fast) unusable, since it is executed the same way. It's so bad, if you can get away with it you should just skip Pegasus entirely and launch the Shuttle without beating him if you're using Zero. This also means losing the Wing Spiral for X (Dynamo's weakness), by the way.

* '''Double Cyclone''' shoots two wind orbs to the sides of X that curve upward, intended as an AntiAir weapon. However, the damage is weak, the animation causes X to freeze in place for a short while thus killing your mobility, larger enemies are completely immune to it, and the game contains better weapons to deal with {{Airborne Mook}}s like Aiming Laser or Rising Fire. As an added insult to injury, using Double Cyclone against Double, who's weak to it, only makes the fight ''harder'' by causing him to spawn irritating flunkies. The only good point of Double Cyclone is that it can lock Magma Dragoon into a CycleOfHurting.

* '''Double Cyclone''' shoots two wind orbs to the sides of X that curve upward, intended as an AntiAir weapon. However, the damage is weak, the animation causes X to freeze in place for a short while thus killing your mobility, larger enemies are completely immune to it, and the game contains better weapons to deal with {{Airborne Mook}}s like Rising Fire. As an added insult to injury, using Double Cyclone against Double, who's weak to it, only makes the fight ''harder'' by causing him to spawn irritating flunkies. The only good point of Double Cyclone is that it can lock Magma Dragoon into a CycleOfHurting.

* '''Lightning Web''' is underwhelming if you're not using it as an UtilityWeapon or boss weakness. It has relatively low ammo, the main projectile itself deals less than a buster shot's worth of damage against most non-{{Giant Mook}}s, and it suffers from OneBulletAtATime, meaning that most large enemies can be beaten quicker with the X-Buster. The one durable enemy it one-shots without fail, King Poseidon, is found only in the stage you get Lightning Web from, and there's no reason to go back unless you need the Heart Tank. Stick to using Lightning Web as an [[ImprovisedPlatform Improvised Wall]] and nothing more unless you're up against the bosses weak to it.

* The effectiveness of the '''[[BubbleGun Bubble Lead]]''' against the final boss is one of the more infamous gags in the series. Due to a glitch in the game's damage tables, it bounces off the majority of enemies, especially ones you'd want to use it on, and does less damage than any other "ground-bound" weapon in the series. Even against Wily, it tends to be a chore to use, as its attack pattern makes it terrible at handling a flying opponent. At the very least, it does have another use in detecting the occasional fake floors in Wily Castle's fourth stage, and it's not an unreliable weapon to use against the other boss weak to it, Heat Man.
* The '''[[KillItWithFire Atomic Fire]]''' is an incredibly powerful weapon that can destroy most regular enemies in one hit and would be very useful if a fully charged blast from the Atomic Fire didn't take up an obscene amount of weapon energy (you only get a maximum of two fully charged shots from a full energy bar). This makes the weapon completely useless in the Wily stages, where your weapon energy doesn't replenish between stages. On top of this, the charge is slow and it's usually much better to defeat enemies with multiple shots of a weaker weapon. Its only real uses are to defeat Wood Man and the first form of the Wily Machine (two fully charged hits in both cases, unless you're playing on Normal in the English versions, then it only takes one).

* The '''[[TimeStandsStill Time Stopper]]''' grants an awesome ability on paper, but it's overbalanced to the point of uselessness in practice. Once the Time Stopper gets triggered, it ''can't'' be turned off, and it just keeps draining until you lose the whole charge, giving it effectively one use. Worse, you also have no means of attack while the Stopper is active and you can't switch weapons, so if you run into an enemy you can't jump over, that's an entire charge wasted. The most famous part in the game where it's useful is to stop the Force Beams in Quick Man's stage, but doing so means [[MortonsFork you also can't use the Time Stopper against the one enemy in the game who's weak to it]] — [[ThatOneBoss Quick Man]]. It doesn't look good when one of the few other uses for it is essentially an exploit (it interrupts the arrival animation of the Frienders in Wood Man's stage, letting you bypass them). No matter what, you have a weapon you'll fire off at most twice or thrice in your entire playthrough. Notably, the Flash Stopper in ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' is often seen as a "fixed" version — it stops time for less time, but doesn't drain in one go (allowing it to be used ''seven'' times), and you can use the Mega Buster while it's active (though you can't charge it).
* The '''[[GreenThumb Leaf]] [[OrbitingParticleShield Shield]]''' started the sad trend in the series of shield weapons that fail to be reliable. While it does do a decent job of warding off weak enemies and can serve as a tolerable projectile, it doesn't block enemy projectiles, and more pointedly, flies off as soon as you press a moving direction, meaning that unless you're riding a moving platform, you can't move at all while using it. Combine that with it three units per use, and you have a weapon that's really only helpful for item farming in areas with RespawningEnemies or protecting you on said moving platforms. Even against Air Man, it can be surprisingly frustrating to use, because the thrown version of the shield is so large that it just bounces off Air Man's own projectiles, requiring you to get behind him and deliberately crash into him.

* The '''[[SpinAttack Top Spin]]''' gets a lot of mockery for its weird design. Not only does it require Mega Man to touch opponents while using it in a game where CollisionDamage is the norm, but this game is infamous for Mega Man's hurtbox being much larger than in any other titles, it can only be used while jumping, the weapon doesn't grant any invincibility to Mega Man, and —most notably— its damage mechanics are highly bugged; due to the fact that it counts striking an enemy in MercyInvincibility to be a hit, it can potentially drain in a single second while doing only a single hit of damage. On top of that, it's the weakness of both Shadow Man and Doc Heat Man; the former already being seen as [[ThatOneBoss one of the most frustrating fights in the Classic series]] due to his [[ConfusionFu poorly-telegraphed attack patterns]], and both are very susceptible to the above draining problem. It ''can'' see greater effect [[DifficultButAwesome if you know how to use it]], as it at least kills some small enemies in one shot for low cost, destroys some projectiles that block Buster shots (like the Hammer Joe's shot puts), and melts bosses that lack MercyInvincibility, including the FinalBoss, in [[OneHitKill one hit]].
* The '''[[TheParalyzer Spark Shock]]''' is a huge downgrade from the Ice Slasher in ''1''. On hit, it creates a cloud of electricity that freezes whichever enemy it hit, but it deals no damage to anything besides certain bosses, the player can't have more than two paralyzed enemies (it can't be fired if that happens), you can't switch to another weapon until its effect wears off, and touching a stunned enemy ''still'' damages Mega Man. Because of this, the stun just briefly turns an enemy into a static damaging obstacle that you can't get rid of, so chances are that if you could get around them in that form, you could probably just jump over them without the Spark Shock. Worse still is that it doesn't even work on a lot of enemies! It does have twenty-eight uses, but when you're as ineffective as this, twenty-eight times zero is still zero. ''VideoGame/MegaManIII'' for the Game Boy fixed the weapon entirely by simply letting it function like the Ice Slasher — that is, you can freeze any number of enemies at once and switch to damaging weapons to finish them off.
* The '''[[ReflectingLaser Gemini Laser]]''''s gimmick is that, if it hits a surface, it bounces around the room until it hits something or fizzles out. It's certainly fun to watch, but you can't fire another shot or pause to switch weapons while one laser is bouncing around, and it's a PainfullySlowProjectile, effectively turning its intended strength into a weakness. Ricocheting shots to hit enemies while out of their range at weird angles sounds like an interesting idea, except that the Magnet Missile's homing properties, the Search Snake's crawling, and the Shadow Blade's multidirectional aiming all make this niche very crowded. While it ''can'' be used as a simple straightforward shooter, this means that, ironically, the best way to use the weapon is to try to make sure its gimmick never activates and fire it exclusively at point-blank range (even most of the enemies weak to it are slow immobile types). The idea of a bouncing weapon would eventually be executed far better by the Rebound Striker in ''10'' and the Bounce Ball in ''11'', both of which are much faster, lack the one-at-a-time limit, and have additional gimmicks on top of that.
* The '''[[HotSubOnSubAction Rush Marine]]''' is frequently derided for not only being such a situational device (it can only be used underwater), but in this game it's completely redundant as the [[GameBreaker Rush Jet]] does the exact same thing except you can use it out of water as well. It doesn't help that the Marine's energy consumes energy fast and you can't delay its consumption by simply not standing on Rush at all (since you're inside his cockpit), so it becomes risky to use in water sections with BottomlessPits, like in Gemini Man's stage. ''4'' would severely {{nerf}} the Rush Jet, allowing the Marine to not be obsolete, but this still wasn't enough. Naturally, none of the games after ''4'' have featured the Marine.
* ''[[VideoGame/MegaManTheWilyWars Wily Wars]]'' manages to make the '''Magnet Missile''', a fairly decent weapon in the NES original, into one. Due to an error in its programming, Magnet Missile gains a nasty tendency to try and hit enemy projectiles, usually resulting in it uselessly flying off into space when you're trying to hit an actual enemy/boss with it. This makes fighting bosses that are weak to it, like Hard Man and Doc Magnet Man, exercises in frustration as you constantly try to fire at them only for the shots to careen into nothingness; especially damning since Magnet Missile only gets a maximum of 14 shots until it's fully depleted.

* The '''[[AttackReflector Mirror Buster]]'''. You only get to use it in the final stage after taking down Enker, and it's not generally useful on the enemies to boot. It only works when certain projectiles are being fired at the shield Mega Man props up, and it's the ''only'' weapon that can damage the Wily Machine I's second phase, so don't waste it on random Sniper Joes.

* The '''[[GroundPound Sakugarne]]''' is a jackhammer weapon acquired from Quint. When used by Mega Man, he has to spawn in Sakugarne akin to Rush and hop on, where he will start hopping around and can jump higher with the jump button. While technically the weakness of the Wily Machine II, Mega Man has to land on its head and can still take damage while on Sakugarne (which also drains rather quickly to boot). You're better off just using the reliable Mega Buster to deal with Wily.

* ''5'' is generally seen as one of the lowest points for weapons in the Classic series. Not helping the problem is that the game's version of the charged Mega Buster is generally seen as one of its strongest incarnations, with great damage, a fast charge, a huge hitbox, and piercing properties, all of which make it infinitely preferable for dealing with most threats. The only weapons to completely escape this status is the Gyro Attack and Beat, the former deals similar damage to a charge shot to standard enemies, has a good firing rate, and can change its trajectory by inputting a direction; the latter is an AlwaysAccurateAttack with low weapon cost that's also famous for decimating bosses.
** The '''[[DishingOutDirt Power Stone]]''' is especially infamous among this game's bunch of weapons. It creates a trio of boulders that circles outward from Mega Man's position. Unfortunately, they are notoriously hard to aim correctly and move very slowly, to boot. Worst of all, once you fire one, you can't fire another until either the first one has run its course or you pause the game to despawn it. And to add insult to injury, each projectile deals the same damage as an ''uncharged'' Buster shot. It says something when it's generally less of a hassle to kill Charge Man and Dark Man (who are weak to the Power Stone) with the Mega Buster and Beat, respectively.
** Charge Man's own weapon, the '''[[SlideAttack Charge Kick]]''', has its own problems. It makes Mega Man's slide invincible and allows it to do damage, but it has the same problem as the Top Spin of being an attack that requires you to hit opponents with your own body in a game where you take damage when touching enemies normally. If you're not careful, you can undershoot your target and come to a stop either right before them or inside of them. On top of that, Wave Man (the boss who's weak to it) is probably the worst boss to be weak to it, as he loves calling up Water Waves that ''block'' your slide, ending it prematurely and causing you to inevitably take damage. These flaws were eventually ironed out with the Pile Driver in ''11'', another charging melee attack that can also be used in the air as a makeshift air dash, and hitting an opponent without killing them throws Mega Man backwards to mitigate the risk of CollisionDamage.
** The '''[[MakingASplash Water Wave]]''' deals good damage, and is meant to travel along the ground to take on enemies on lower platforms, but it can't be used while jumping, near edges, or on moving platforms, and similarly to the Bubble Lead and unlike the Search Snake, it can't travel uphill. In the time it takes to switch to it, fire it off, and hope it's decided to work today, you could just charge up the Mega Buster and be done with the enemy.

** The '''[[GravityScrew Gravity Hold]]''', designed as a [[SmartBomb screen-nuke]] in mind, certainly seems like the answer to the Rain Flush from ''4'', but it compensates for its range with ''godawful'' damage — the same as an ''uncharged'' Buster shot. It still has a very high ammo consumption of four units (burning its charge in seven uses), and since it doesn't technically kill enemies but rather drags them offscreen, you can't even get power-ups from them. Essentially, its only use comes from being a faster way to defeat [[GoddamnedBoss Gyro Man]].

* The '''[[UnrealisticBlackHole Black Hole]]''' also finds itself being generally unused throughout a playthrough. It is a high-cost weapon that sucks in certain weaker enemies and spirals out projectiles similar to the Power Stone. Not only is it acquired in the latter half of the Stardroids, but the Stardroid weak to Black Hole (and the only one that takes damage from it) is the pushover [[BreatherBoss Mercury]]. Fitting to the theme of a black hole, it just ''[[{{Pun}} sucks]]''.

* The '''[[PlayingWithFire Scorch]] [[OrbitingParticleShield Wheel]]'''/'''[[DubNameChange Burning Wheel]]''' gets a lot of grief, due to how slowly it comes out, the awkward angle it fires at, and its inability to be held for too long. The Noise Crush much better fills the role of a large-hitbox powerhouse, and the Junk Shield is much better for warding off enemies. And on top of that, most bossed who are weak to it have at least one other weakness, usually one that's easier to use against them. It does have the ability to burn certain objects in certain stages as well (like in Slash Man's stage), and it's also the preferred weapon to use against Burst Man (over the Freeze Cracker) but that's about all it can do.
* The '''[[SpringCoil Wild Coil]]''' is this game's "ineffective against anything not the final boss" weapon, and dear God if it doesn't show. It creates two springs on either side, which proceed to bounce around, hopefully damaging enemies. Most of the time, they just bounce into a {{Bottomless Pit|s}}, and when they don't, it's usually to hit an enemy at such close range that weapons like the Slash Claw would be better suited for the job. The weapon's damage is also quite low, and using it requires Mega Man to stand still for about half a second before it can fire. Even the weapon's ability to charge doesn't compensate for its issues.

* The '''[[WeaponizedBall Mega Ball]]''' manages to be this and a GameBreaker at the same time, but it's offensively where it fails to stand out. It is a special weapon separate from the Robot Master weapons, and is given to you in the intro stage. The ball is horrendously hard and slow to aim, especially since you have to drop it and then move into it to kick it in a direction that may not even possibly hit anyone. Its power does not make up for it in the slightest, as none of the Robot Masters are weak to the ball — unloading all 20 balls onto a Robot Master doesn't even kill any of them. The ''only'' boss who can only be damaged by the Mega Ball is [[GoddamnedBoss Atetemino, the boss from Wily Castle's first stage]] (though fortunately, aiming the ball at it is nowhere near as bad).

* The ''[[ExpendableClone Copy Vision]]'' creates a hologram that acts as a stationary turret, shooting forward for a few seconds. In a game where you're moving through a level, stationary turrets aren't really that useful unless you're in a one-screen room. It can lure certain attacks towards the hologram, namely the homing lightning orbs used by [[LightningBruiser Dynamo Man]]. Unfortunately, the weapon's high ammo cost and general awkwardness to use don't do it any favors in an average playthrough. It doesn't help that the damage the turrets dish out is exactly the same as a Buster shot, which is a big reason for Dynamo Man being ThatOneBoss — even with perfect placement, it barely dents his RegeneratingHealth.

* The '''[[BulletTime Time Slow]]''', while letting you switch weapons during the time slowdown (which it lasts for a reasonable time like the Flash Stopper), can only be used ''twice'' per full gauge. In a way, this feels like [[HistoryRepeats a repeat of the Time Stopper]] from ''2''; while nowhere near as bad as the former, its very high cost essentially highly limits its use to just puzzle-solving as well as facing larger hordes of enemies. Sadly, Guts Man (the boss weak to it) becomes awkward to face despite the Time Slow's ability to make him flinch, as the slowdown actually ''increases'' his MercyInvincibility, leaving you with little time to gun him down before the slowdown ends. Fortunately, the playable Time Man has the advantage of unlimited uses of this weapon (as a ChargedAttack).
* The '''[[DashAttack Oil Slider]]''', however, is the game's worst weapon. In addition to the limit of [[OneBulletAtATime one oil blob at a time]], it deals fairly poor damage, and if it doesn't hit an enemy, the oil has to "evaporate" or be used as a surfboard before another one can be used. Its surfboard form is how the Oil Slider is meant to be used, and it hits pretty hard, but the surfboard's hitbox is [[HitboxDissonance infamously unreliable]]; since it only renders the character's feet invulnerable, this can lead to instances where despite destroying an enemy, you still take damage. These issues make it a hassle to use the weapon against Elec Man (who's weak to it). Oil Man's playable version, unfortunately, doesn't have any upsides to Mega Man's version of the Oil Slider either, which leads to his LowTierLetdown status compared to the other playable characters, despite [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman his strengths at]] {{speedrun}}ning.

* In a game where every Special Weapon has a use however limited it may be (even the weapons listed below), and where three other Special Weapons can be acquired through DLC, the '''[[ShockAndAwe Thunder Wool]]''' just fails to stand out. It conjures up a cloud in front of you that floats up for a few seconds, then drops a lightning bolt. It is slow to fire, difficult to use properly let alone aim, and blows through all its ammo in seven shots. To make matters worse, the cloud can be destroyed if an enemy or projectile collides with it and it stops moving if it hits any terrain. This means it's awkward to place and you can't reliably use it at close range or in a tight corridor, since that pretty much guarantees that it'll disappear before it can fire off a bolt, thus wasting a ton of your ammo. Even against the Robot Master weak to it, Pump Man, it's unreliable to use — his habit of standing still and moving to predictable locations means you can drop clouds on him, but his Water Shield can still destroy the clouds in the same manner other enemies can. It should be no wonder as to why the weapon is considered to be one of the worst Special Weapons of all time. Probably the only time you'll use the weapon is against the Crab Puncher [[note]]If you can place it where it will hit both eyes, it becomes a OneHitKill[[/note]] and the Block Devil (as the bolt does deal respectable damage to it when it's on ground level).
* Should you try to use it offensively, the '''[[SpikesOfDoom Chill Spike]]''' can turn into this. It fires a blob of ice that arcs downward until it hits the ground or a wall, where it turns into a strip of icy spikes. Only the spike strip can actually damage enemies, which is much easier said than done, and shielded enemies are capable of destroying the spike strip. This also has the side effect of making it nearly useless against airborne enemies. Not helping is the fact you can only have [[OneBulletAtATime one Chill Spike on screen at a time]]. At least the weapon reliably gets rid of [[GoddamnedBats Sprinklans]] (the enemies that stick to the ground), and enemies hit by the spike strip will take absurd damage. It can also be used for support in the same manner the Ice Slasher from ''1'' works, by freezing enemies and switching weapons to finish them off, so it's not a completely useless weapon.
* The '''[[ThrowDownTheBomblet Commando Bomb]]''' fires a missile that can be controlled with the directional stick/pad until it hits a surface, in which case it explodes into a spread of two shockwaves. The explosion itself deals just ''raw'' damage, but the weapon suffers from two major issues; the bomb itself is pitifully weak (it deals the same damage as the Buster if it hits its target instead of the explosion), and it can be awkward to control since you need to use the directional pad or stick to control its flight — this means you'll move while doing so, making it ''extremely'' dangerous to use in areas with BottomlessPits or SpikesOfDoom, limiting its use to enemies that hang on the ceiling or stationary ones. Fortunately, when it works, it deals ridiculous damage as mentioned above, and it's the only weapon capable of destroying barriers, giving it that unique utility.
* Similarly to Beat in ''6'', the '''[[DeadlyDisc Screw Crusher]]''' has been severely {{nerf}}ed in this game since its appearance in ''VideoGame/MegaManIII''. While its weapon energy remains extremely high, its high damage was toned down significantly to a mere ''one'' point of damage, the same as the Buster. Its low-ranged high arc also makes it awkward to aim — firing the Mega Buster is much less awkward, as despite also dealing a single point of damage, it has better range. Its only use comes as the only weapon aside from the Bass Buster that's capable of negating the shields of Sniper Joes and Shield Attackers, and even then the Solar Blaze and the [[GameBreaker Ballade Cracker]] are better at dealing with such stuff due to their ability to [[ArmorPiercingAttack pierce shields]]. Not helping matters is that the Screw Crusher is one of the three DLC Special Weapons.

* This game lacks weaknesses for normal enemies, meaning that all but two of its weapons deal the same damage or less compared to the charged Mega Buster. This makes them largely identical outside of boss battles, stage gimmicks, and their hitboxes. Of the group, the ones to draw the shortest straw seem to be the '''[[AnIcePerson Ice Wave]]''' (a ground-crawling weapon in a game where that only has two practical uses: against the Robot Master it's effective against, Tengu Man, whose constant flight also makes the weapon hard to use on him, and to freeze lava in Sword Man's stage) and the '''[[WaterGunsAndBalloons Water Balloon]]''' (completely unremarkable hitbox and doesn't interact with any stage gimmicks; it's effective against Wily Machine's first form but the Flash Bomb actually outperforms it).

* Ray Splasher does good damage when fired at point-blank range, but falls somewhat flat at long range. Its charged version, a levitating orb that fires shots in random directions, rarely ever ''hits'' anything and can be destroyed by enemy bullets.
* Tornado Fang is like Spin Wheel from ''X2'' in that hits an enemy for continuous damage, but it takes much longer to destroy anything and they can keep attacking you while being hit.

* The '''Guard Shell''' barely defends from a specific sort of shots. Also, it is supposed to be Infinity Mijinion's weakness, but it barely does any damage to him and forces the player to rely on the boss doing specific moves to even work at all. Because of this, many consider the Yammark Option to be a better "weakness" to Mijinion than the actual weakness. However, it has a decent charged version and it [[GoodBadBugs somehow empowers Zero]].

* In a game where every Special Weapon has a use however limited it may be (even the weapons listed below), and where three other Special Weapons can be acquired through DLC, the '''[[ShockAndAwe Thunder Wool]]''' just fails to stand out. It conjures up a cloud in front of you that floats up for a few seconds, then drops a lightning bolt. It is slow to fire, difficult to use properly let alone aim, and blows through all its ammo in seven shots. To make matters worse, the cloud can be destroyed if an enemy or projectile collides with it and it stops moving if it hits any terrain. This means it's awkward to place and you can't reliably use it at close range or in a tight corridor, since that pretty much guarantees that it'll disappear before it can fire off a bolt, thus wasting a ton of your ammo. Even against the Robot Master weak to it, Pump Man, it's unreliable to use — his habit of standing still and moving to predictable locations means you can drop clouds on him, but his Water Shield can still destroy the clouds in the same manner other enemies can. It should be no wonder as to why the weapon is considered to be one of the worst Special Weapons of all time. Probably the only time you'll use the weapon is against the Crab Puncher [[note]]If you can place it where it will hit both eyes, it becomes a OneHitKill[[/note]] and the Block Devil (as the bolt does deal respectqable damage to it when it's on ground level).

* The '''[[ThrowDownTheBomblet Commando Bomb]]''' fires a missile that can be controlled with the directional stick/pad until it hits a surface, in which case it explodes into a spread of two shockwaves. The explosion itself deals just ''raw'' damage, but the weapon suffers from two major issues; the bomb itself is pitifully weak (it deals the same damage as the Buster if it hits its target instead of the explosion), and it can be awkward to control since you need to use the directional pad or stick to control its flight — this means you'll move while doing so, making it ''extremely'' dangerous to use in areas with {{Bottomless Pit}}s or SpikesOfDoom, limiting its use to enemies that hang on the ceiling or stationary ones. Fortunately, when it works, it deals ridiculous damage as mentioned above, and it's the only weapon capable of destroying barriers, giving it that unique utility.

* The '''[[SpringCoil Wild Coil]]''' is this game's "ineffective against anything not the final boss" weapon, and dear God if it doesn't show. It creates two springs on either side, which proceed to bounce around, hopefully damaging enemies. Most of the time, they just bounce into a BottomlessPit, and when they don't, it's usually to hit an enemy at such close range that weapons like the Slash Claw would be better suited for the job. The weapon's damage is also quite low, and using it requires Mega Man to stand still for about half a second before it can fire. Even the weapon's ability to charge doesn't compensate for its issues.