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98-467: Since the release of Mega Man , numerous characters have appeared across the series . Key:   = Does Not Appear List indicator(s) DLN-001 Mega Man, known in Japan as Rockman ( ロックマン , Rokkuman ) is the protagonist of the original Mega Man series. Dr. Light originally created him to be a lab assistant named Rock, but he was modified for combat after Dr. Wily reprogrammed

196-581: A pacifist , he reluctantly recognizes that using force can sometimes be necessary. He plays a supporting role throughout the series, often developing and distributing new gear. He died prior to the events of the Mega Man X series, which is set 100 years after the original series, but his legacy continues through his last creation, X , and he maintains a supporting role through enhancement capsules that contain upgrades to X's systems along with messages relayed by holographic projections of him. He also appears in

294-497: A scoring system where players score points for defeating enemies, and earn extra points for collecting power-ups from fallen enemies and for clearing each stage. Each Robot Master was worth a random number between 50,000 and 100,000 points whereas Dr. Wily was always worth 200,000 points. The scoring system was removed in later Mega Man games as it was found to provide no meaningful benefit to players and felt unnecessary to designers. When all six Robot Master stages are completed,

392-468: A "Blue"'s Trap, resulting in major focus when making illustrations focusing on him. For Mega Man 8 , Kaji had difficulties in making the illustrations, leading Inafune to revise the ones from Proto Man. The absence of Proto Man in Mega Man 11 has been criticized. Mega Man 11 producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya explained his exclusion in the game, stating that "What we struggled with the most was how to develop

490-583: A "Robot Master" boss at the level's end. Upon defeating the boss, the player assimilates the Robot Master's signature attack, or "Special Weapon", into Mega Man's arsenal for the rest of the game. Unlike the standard Mega Buster ( Rock Buster in Japan), the Robot Master powers have limited ammunition replenished by collecting ammunition cells dropped by defeated enemies at random. Enemies also drop energy cells that replenish Mega Man's health gauge. Though

588-423: A better female character than the ones featured from Nintendo Entertainment System games as she is not reward for the main character but instead a powerful character on her own. However, her weaponry was still called out for her distinctive weapon. In Gaming Disability: Disability Perspectives on Contemporary Video Games , Roll is seen as a clean up messes in a more common approach to women in the 1980s in contrast to

686-507: A cameo appearance in CD versions of Mega Man X3 , watching TV in the background of the FMV intro for Volt Catfish's stage, making him the only robot from the classic series to also appear in the X series. Beat is a robotic bird that Dr. Cossack created to provide additional support to Mega Man during the events of Mega Man 5 and has since appeared in many Mega Man games. Several of the games require

784-547: A cameo in Mega Man 10 in the item shop when playing as Proto Man. His name is derived from the music genre tango . Reggae is a robotic bird and Dr. Wily's pet, who appears in a Japan-exclusive drama CD , Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise , and in Rockman & Forte: Challenger From the Future as a weapon for Bass. His first appearance outside Japan is in Mega Man 7 , where he appears if an invalid password

882-418: A clear and engaging story that builds upon the previous installments while appealing to a wide range of players; new players picking up a Mega Man game for the first time, those who may have forgotten the series' backstory, and the hardcore fans who remember the events of 9 and 10 as though they happened yesterday. After the long gap between 10 and 11, we decided to focus on sharing an untold story that touches on

980-576: A female robot designed for housekeeping instead of fighting. She plays a supporting role in the first game and a more substantive role in subsequent sequels. Her name was never mentioned until Mega Man 3 , which marks her return, where her entry in Dr. Light's robot list is shown during the ending. She also appears in the "Navi Mode" of Mega Man 2 in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection to provide gameplay hints to Mega Man. She

1078-530: A full-page advertisement in Nintendo Fun Club News , sales gained momentum over word of mouth , making the game a sleeper hit . While Mega Man was not a large commercial accomplishment for Capcom, the company decided to allow the development team to create a sequel, Mega Man 2 , for a 1988 Japanese release. Many of the design elements cut from the original Mega Man due to space limitations such as planned enemy characters were included in

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1176-462: A laser beam. He also has the ability to merge with other vehicles to form King Jet Robo and King Tank Robo, the penultimate bosses of the game. Tango ( タンゴ ) is a green robotic cat and one of Mega Man's allies. Tango can roll himself into a buzzsaw and dive into enemies until all in-area enemies are defeated, he falls into a pit or spikes, or his energy is expended. He appears in Mega Man V , Rockman & Forte Mirai kara no Chōsensha , and as

1274-527: A part of console emulation services. A remake with 3D graphics, titled Mega Man Powered Up , was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2006. In the year 20XX, robots developed to assist mankind are commonplace thanks to the efforts of renowned robot designer Dr. Light . However, one day, these robots go out of control and start attacking humans, among them six advanced humanoid robots created by Dr. Light for industrial purposes. Known as

1372-487: A recent college graduate who started on the Street Fighter team. Inafune recalled that the Mega Man development team worked extremely hard to complete the final product, with a project supervisor and lead designer who sought perfection in every possible aspect of the game. The development team for Mega Man consisted of only six people. Inafune (credited as "Inafking") designed and illustrated nearly all of

1470-403: A recurring enemy throughout the classic series, and most variants often operate machines such as walkers, gun turrets, jet skis, and helicopters. They wear a black visor and have a single red eye. The Yellow Devil is a powerful combat robot which Dr. Wily created. Its body is made from a shape-memory alloy , allowing it to split into multiple pieces and reform elsewhere. At the center of its body

1568-583: A series of robots appearing in the Game Boy series, which Dr. Wily created to destroy Mega Man. They reappear as bosses in the Game Boy version of Mega Man V , as well as bosses in the DLC stages of Mega Man 10 . They are named after notable music genres. Enker M. Buster Punk S. Crusher Ballade B. Cracker Quint S. Buster Rod G Mega Water S Hyper Storm H Mega Man (1987 video game) Mega Man , known as Rockman in Japan,

1666-570: A simple system that offered "deep gameplay". Each weapon deals a large amount of damage to one specific Robot Master, others have little to no effect against them, and there is no single weapon that dominates all the others. Mega Man was originally able to crouch, but the team decided against it since it made players' ability to determine the height of onscreen projectiles more difficult. Naoya Tomita (credited as "Tom Pon") began work on Mega Man' s scenic backgrounds immediately after his Capcom training. Tomita proved himself amongst his peers by overcoming

1764-504: A slave to his own desires for power and revenge. Rotwang's appearance was also influential—the character's shock of flyaway hair, wild-eyed demeanor, and his quasi- fascist laboratory garb have all been adopted as shorthand for the mad scientist "look." Even his mechanical right hand has become a mark of twisted scientific power, echoed notably in Stanley Kubrick 's film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love

1862-463: A temporary invincibility power-up in Power Fighters . Dr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Cossack is a Russian colleague of Dr. Light, who appears in Mega Man 4 as the main antagonist. However, it is later revealed that he was being blackmailed, as Wily kidnapped his daughter Kalinka. After Proto rescues Kalinka and the truth is revealed, Dr. Cossack betrays Wily and becomes an ally to Mega Man. He is

1960-442: A tight schedule. Additionally, the remake lets players unlock and play through the game as the eight Robot Masters, Roll, and Protoman. The New Style stages differ in structure from that of Old Style, with some pathways only accessible to specific Robot Masters. Mega Man Powered Up also features a Challenge Mode with 100 challenges to complete, a level editor for creating custom stages, and an option to distribute fan-made levels to

2058-454: Is Rock and his sister's name is Roll, a play on the term " rock and roll ". This type of naming would later be extended to many characters throughout the series . One of the original storylines considered by the team but not used in the final game was to have Roll be kidnapped, and Rock had to rescue her. Another idea had included a boss fight against a giant Roll near the end of the game. The team decided to incorporate anime elements for

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2156-537: Is a 1987 action - platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was directed by Akira Kitamura, with Nobuyuki Matsushima as lead programmer, and is the first game of the Mega Man franchise and the original video game series . Mega Man was produced by a small team specifically for the home console market, a first for Capcom, which previously focused on arcade video games . The game follows

2254-424: Is a mad scientist and the main antagonist of the series. He was Dr. Light's colleague when they were university students; driven by jealousy towards Light and his achievements overshadowing his own, he reprogrammed Light's robots, except for Rock and Roll, to assist him in taking over the world. However, Rock, who was upgraded and became known as Mega Man, defeated him. Wily returns as antagonist in subsequent titles of

2352-721: Is a robot that Dr. Light created as a "walking suitcase", who first appeared in Mega Man 4 . He is usually sent to help Mega Man by providing recovery items, and can also fire bombs from his head while assisting Mega Man in the Rush Jet sections of Mega Man 8 . Starting with Mega Man 7 , Eddie only appears in the shop and no longer gives items to Mega Man. Kalinka Cossack is Dr. Cossack's daughter, who Proto Man kidnapped on Dr. Wily's orders to force her father into unwillingly declaring war against Mega Man on Wily's behalf. However, Proto Man later rescues her before Mega Man confronts and defeats Cossack in his citadel. Kalinka also appears in

2450-738: Is a single mechanical eye, which keeps the body together and is its sole weakness. The Yellow Devil is a recurring boss character throughout the series, with several successors and offshoots appearing in other games, such as the Yellow Devil MK-II in Mega Man 3 , the Green Devil in Mega Man 8 , and the Block Devil in Mega Man 10 . Variants also appear in other series, including the Shadow Devil in Mega Man X5 and

2548-475: Is derived from another Capcom game, The Speed Rumbler , which is known as Rush & Crash in Japan, while the pronunciation of his name is similar to Lassie . Auto, known as Rightot in Japan, is a robot that Dr. Light created to replace Rock's role as lab assistant due to him being unable to fulfill that role after becoming Mega Man. He is introduced in Mega Man 7 , where he provides Mega Man with upgrades and parts. In Mega Man 8 , Auto assists Mega Man in

2646-400: Is entered. He also appears in Mega Man 10 as shopkeeper when playing as Bass. In Archie Comics' adaptation of Mega Man, he has a more prominent role, usually mocking Dr. Wily's failures in the "Short Circuits" section. His name is derived from the music genre reggae . Treble ( ゴスペル , Gosuperu , Gospel) is Bass' equivalent to Rush, who, like Rush, can assume a jet-like form and fly in

2744-399: Is instead unlocked by either completing the game or by using a secret code at the title screen. In Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters , where Zero makes a cameo appearance, Bass seeks to destroy him to prove that he is stronger than all other robots, as Wily says that he is a creation that could surpass him. DLN-002 Roll ( ロール , DRN-003 Rōru ) is Mega Man's seven-eight younger "sister";

2842-475: Is likely derived from the musical genre gospel . The Met, also known as Hard Hat, is a construction robot wearing a hard hat with a plus sign on it. Mets usually wait below their helmet before attacking, as it is impervious to most of Mega Man's weapons. They appear in the various series with many different variations and forms, such as the Metall, Mettool, and Mettaur variants, but their look has largely remained

2940-471: Is not restored between stages, every action the player takes is consequential. Before Mega Man , Capcom primarily made arcade games , and its console releases were mostly ports of these games. In the mid-1980s, Capcom made plans to develop Mega Man specifically for the Japanese home console market. They decided to bring in fresh, young talent for the small team, including artist Keiji Inafune ,

3038-407: Is revealed that Dr. Wily had programmed him to form a rebellion. While King seemingly dies after this revelation, during Mega Man's ending it is revealed that he survived and is now a wanderer, like Proto Man. He then apologizes for his actions and wishes to meet up with Mega Man peacefully. King wields several weapons, including a battle-axe and a shield which can absorb attacks and fire them back as

List of Mega Man characters - Misplaced Pages Continue

3136-947: Is usually depicted with blonde hair worn in a ponytail and wearing a red outfit. In Mega Man 8 , she wears a black and red dress with red boots and a green ribbon in her hair. Despite not being designed for fighting, she appears as a combatant in the fighting games Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 , as well as in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars , and Mega Man Powered Up . Alternate versions of Roll appear in two other Mega Man spinoff series: Roll Caskett in Mega Man Legends , and Roll.EXE in Mega Man Battle Network . Roll also appears in other Mega Man media, including manga and Mega Man . Roll has proved popular amongst fans, who have created various ROM hacks and fangames to place her in

3234-577: The Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero games, is a hero working alongside Light's last creation, X. Though Wily died prior to the events of the Mega Man X series, his legacy continues through a virus which Zero initially carries and is later transferred to Sigma , resulting in the creation of the Sigma Virus and most of the Mavericks. According to artist and producer Keiji Inafune , Wily's name and design are inspired by Albert Einstein , and he

3332-787: The PlayStation Network online service. Mega Man Powered Up received generally positive reviews, with aggregate scores of 83% on GameRankings and 82 out of 100 on Metacritic as of May 2010 . The remake sold poorly at retail, and was later released as a paid download on the Japanese PlayStation Network digital store and as a bundled with Mega Man Maverick Hunter X in Japan and North America. Capcom additionally translated Mega Man Powered Up into Chinese for release in Asia in 2008. Mad scientist The prototypical fictional mad scientist

3430-739: The Xbox in 2005. A mobile phone rendition of Mega Man developed by Lavastorm was released for download in North America in 2004. A separate, 2007 Japanese mobile phone release received a 2008 update adding the option to play as Roll. Mega Man for the NES was reissued on the Virtual Console service for three different systems: the Wii in Europe in 2007 and in North America and Japan in 2008,

3528-785: The "Navi Mode" of Mega Man and Mega Man 6 in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection to provide gameplay hints to Mega Man. He is voiced by Antony Holland in Captain N: The Game Master , Jim Byrnes in the 90s TV series , Randall Wiebe in Mega Man X8 , Mega Man Maverick Hunter X , and Mega Man Powered Up , Michael Mislove in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite , Doug Stone in Mega Man 11 , and Garry Chalk in Mega Man: Fully Charged . Doctor Albert W. Wily ( Dr.ワイリー , Dokutā Wairī )

3626-474: The "Navi Mode" of Mega Man 4 in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection to provide gameplay hints to Mega Man. She is named after the Russian folk song Kalinka . King is a robot who appears in Mega Man and Bass as the apparent main antagonist. Declaring himself the king of all robots, he seeks to eradicate humanity and establish a world populated only by robots. After either Mega Man or Bass defeat him, it

3724-402: The "Robot Masters", they consist of Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, and Elec Man. Dr. Light realizes that the culprit responsible for these attacks is his old rival Dr. Wily , but is unsure of what to do. His helper robot, Rock, has a strong sense of justice and offers to be converted into a fighting robot to stop Dr. Wily's plans, dubbing himself Mega Man . He eventually defeats

3822-451: The "Star Player" accolade after its launch in PAL regions. Capcom's sales department originally believed that the game would not sell, but after Japan had received limited quantities, it had been seen as successful enough to quickly commission an American localization. As part of the rushed localization, the president of Capcom U.S.A. told the marketing representative to have a cover done by

3920-647: The 1990 Golden Joystick Awards , Mega Man won the award for best console game of the year (8-bit) . Mega Man has additionally received various honors from video game journals and websites. IGN listed the game at number 30 on its "Top 100 NES Games of All Time". Nintendo Power ranked Mega Man at number 20 on its "100 Best Nintendo Games of All Time" in its September 1997 100th issue, then at number 61 in its "Top 200 Games" in its February 2006 200th issue. 1UP.com included it in their "Top 5 Overlooked Videogame Prequels" and as number 17 on its "Top 25 NES Games" list. British magazine The Games Machine awarded it

4018-637: The 3DS in 2012, and for the Wii U in 2013. The Complete Works version of the game was made available on the PlayStation Store in both Japan and North America. An enhanced remake titled Mega Man Powered Up — known as Rockman Rockman ( ロックマン ロックマン ) in Japan — was released worldwide for the PSP in 2006. The game features a graphical overhaul with 3D chibi -style character models with large heads and small bodies. Inafune had originally planned to make Mega Man look this way, but could not due to

List of Mega Man characters - Misplaced Pages Continue

4116-612: The Bomb and in the novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) by Philip K. Dick . A recent survey of 1,000 horror films distributed in the UK between the 1930s and 1980s reveals mad scientists or their creations have been the villains of 30 percent of the films; scientific research has produced 39 percent of the threats; and, by contrast, scientists have been the heroes of a mere 11 percent. Boris Karloff played mad scientists in several of his 1930s and 1940s films. The Mad scientist

4214-563: The Buster. Save for a cameo showing a schematic of him, Bass does not appear in Mega Man 9 . His absence is not explained in the game, but according to the booklet that came with the Rockman 9 Arranged Album, he was undergoing adjustments. He is playable in Mega Man 10 , being added through DLC , where he retains his dash and rapid-fire, multi-directional arm cannon. In the game's re-release as part of Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 , Bass

4312-542: The Evil Energy on Earth, he thanks Mega Man and departs Earth to resume his search. He later appears in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters , which was released before Mega Man 8 but set after its events, as well as Mega Man Battle & Chase and Rockman Strategy . Most of Duo's offensive abilities come from his left arm, which has a fist nearly as large as his torso, and his large spiked body. He primarily attacks by punching, though also wields projectile weapons,

4410-460: The NES version aside from the updated presentation, and "New Style" uses the PSP's entire widescreen and contains storyline cutscenes with voice acting, altered stage layouts, remixed music, and three difficulty modes for each stage. This mode also adds two new Robot Masters (Oil Man and Time Man). The NES version was originally intended to have a total of eight Robot Masters, but was cut down to six due to

4508-596: The NES version of the game as a "near-perfect blend of action, challenge and audio-visual excellence" and awarded it five stars, their highest rating. Lucas M. Thomas of IGN described the game as an "undeniable classic" for the NES, noting its graphics, innovative weapon-based platform gameplay, and music. IGN editor Matt Casamassina proclaimed, " Mega Man is one of the best examples of great graphics, amazing music and near-perfect gameplay rolled into one cartridge". GameSpot writers Christian Nutt and Justin Speer identified

4606-745: The Rainbow Devil in Mega Man Zero . Early Western media referred to the Yellow Devil as the "Rock Monster", a change made due to Nintendo's policies regarding religious figures and names. However, the "Devil" name has since been used in recent American releases. The Mega Man/ Sonic the Hedgehog crossover produced by Archie Comics featured the Chaos Devil, a being combining the Yellow Devil with Chaos . The Mega Man Killers are

4704-543: The Robot Masters and reprograms them, then creates his own army of robots to seize control of Monsteropolis and declare it his own personal empire. Dr. Light, horrified by Wily's betrayal, sends Mega Man to destroy the Robot Masters and free Monsteropolis from Wily's machines. Mega Man consists of six side-scrolling platform levels freely chosen by the player. In each level, the player-character , Mega Man, fights through various enemies and obstacles before facing

4802-647: The Rush Coil, a spring that pops out of his back and helps Mega Man reach higher platforms that he normally cannot access. Other games have him transform into a motorcycle and a drill car, and in the fourth and fifth Game Boy games as a spaceship. In later games, the Rush Adaptor allows Rush to attach himself to Mega Man, allowing him to float, shoot more powerful blasts, and launch his arms as projectiles. In some games, such as Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8 , Rush can be used to obtain items, such as health. His name

4900-412: The Rush Jet scenes, using a rocket launcher and a propeller in his head that allows him to fly. He also appears in Mega Man & Bass , creating upgrades for the player in exchange for 'bolts' dropped by defeated enemies. He returns again in Mega Man 11 as Dr. Light's lab assistant, helping Mega Man by creating new parts for him from bolts collected from enemies. He, or a robot resembling him, makes

4998-574: The ability to fire upwards and diagonally. Unlike the Mega Buster, its bullets do not travel through solid surfaces without an upgrade. Like Mega Man and Proto Man, Bass can also copy the weapons of Robot Masters, with his body changing colors to reflect the weapon currently equipped. He can also combine with his robotic wolf Treble ( ゴスペル , Gosuperu , Gospel) for the Treble Boost, allowing him to fly and shoot more powerful projectiles from

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5096-530: The basis for the nonlinear mission structure found in most multi-mission, open world, sidequest -heavy games, such as Grand Theft Auto , Red Dead Redemption , and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions . Mega Man has been re-released several times since its 1987 debut. A version with enhanced graphics and arranged music was included alongside Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 in the Mega Drive compilation Mega Man: The Wily Wars . Another adaptation of

5194-464: The challenges of the console's limited power through maximizing the use of background elements. Mega Man was scored by Manami Matsumae (credited as "Chanchacorin Manami"), who composed the music, created the sound effects, and programmed the data in three months, using a sound driver programmed by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (credited as "Yuukichan's Papa"). The musical notes were translated one by one into

5292-626: The character, Inafune insists that he "only did half of the job in creating him", as his mentor developed the basic character concept before Inafune's arrival. The basic sprites for Roll and Dr. Light were created before Inafune joined the project, and the designs for Cut Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, and Guts Man were in process. Aside from normal enemies, Inafune's first character was Elec Man, inspired by American comic book characters. The artist has commented that Elec Man has always been his favorite design. The designs for Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were based on Santa Claus and Albert Einstein , respectively;

5390-458: The computer language. Matsumae was challenged by the creative limits of three notes available at any one time, and when she was unable to write songs, she created the sound effects. When the game was localized for distribution in America, Capcom changed the title of the game from Rockman to Mega Man . This moniker was created by Capcom's then-Senior Vice President Joseph Morici, who claimed it

5488-411: The designers not to skimp on any of the original Mega Man details. We wanted their proportions and movements to be accurately reflected in these designs as well." As the size of the remake's stages are not proportional to those of the original, the widescreen ratio also presented the developers with more space to fill. Mega Man Powered Up features two styles of gameplay: "Old Style" is comparable to

5586-433: The evil genius whose machines had originally given life to the dystopian city of the title. Rotwang's laboratory influenced many subsequent movie sets with its electrical arcs , bubbling apparatus, and bizarrely complicated arrays of dials and controls. Portrayed by actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge , Rotwang himself is the prototypically conflicted mad scientist; though he is master of almost mystical scientific power, he remains

5684-436: The familiar graphical style set forth by this title. The scoring system in Mega Man has not been present in any of its sequels. According to GamesRadar , Mega Man was the first game to feature a nonlinear "level select" option, as a stark contrast to linear games like Super Mario Bros. and open world games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid . GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as

5782-443: The follow-up game. Mega Man 2 , with greatly improved box art, although still repeating the 'pistol' error, unchanged in directions from Capcom America, to veteran game illustrator Marc Ericksen, ('Strider , Galaga , Bad Dudes', 'Tetris', 'Steel Empire' 'P.O.W.', 'Guerrilla War', ), proved to be such a success that it solidified Mega Man as one of Capcom's longest-running franchises. Due to "overwhelming demand", Capcom reissued

5880-513: The form of an armored suit called the Treble Boost, which was created after Bass stole designs for the Super Adapter in Mega Man 7 and gives Bass limited flight capability and increased firepower. It also appears in Mega Man & Bass , where it also grants Bass invulnerability while its energy lasts, and in Mega Man 10 , where it functions similarly to its previous incarnation, but without invulnerability. Its Japanese name of Gospel

5978-487: The game as a "winner in gameplay" granted its "low-key presentation". Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com likewise outlined it as a "charming (if slightly rough) start for the series". Whether positive or negative, Mega Man has been commonly perceived as very difficult and is listed among the difficult games of Nintendo , being described by USGamer as “the introduction of the Nintendo Hard difficulty”. Casamassina found

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6076-512: The game has the same basic plot, and some significantly changed details from the original Japanese manual. In this version, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily (who is portrayed as Dr. Light's former assistant) co-create the humanoid robot Mega Man alongside the six Robot Masters, each of whom were designed for the benefit of Monsteropolis's citizens (no such place existed in the original plot). Dr. Wily, angered by Light taking credit for their work and desiring to use his creations for criminal purposes, steals

6174-430: The game the hardest in the franchise, and among the hardest titles on the NES. Thomas observed that its combination of high difficulty and short length hurt its replayability . According to 1UP.com, the "Nintendo-hard" Mega Man bosses set the game apart from its two immediate and more popular sequels. Total! retrospectively characterized the game as "an overhard and unenjoyably frustrating platform nightmare". At

6272-666: The game was released in Japan on the PlayStation as part of the Rockman Complete Works series in 1999. This version also features arranged music in addition to a special "Navi Mode" that directs the player in certain portions of the levels. Mega Man was compiled with nine other games in the series in the North American Mega Man Anniversary Collection released for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2004 and

6370-423: The game's animation. Inafune explained, "[Mega Man's] hand transforms into a gun and you can actually see it come out of his arm. We wanted to make sure that the animation and the motion was realistic and actually made sense. So with Mega Man, we had this perfect blending of game character with animation ideas." The gameplay for Mega Man was inspired by the game rock paper scissors . The project supervisor wanted

6468-544: The game's characters and enemies, and the Japanese Rockman logo, box art, and instruction manual. He was responsible for rendering these designs into graphical sprite form. He said, "We didn't have [a lot of] people, so after drawing character designs, I was actually doing the dotting ( pixelation ) for the Nintendo. Back then, people weren't specialized and we had to do a lot of different things because there

6566-521: The hardware constraints of the NES. Producer Tetsuya Kitabayashi stated that redesigning the character models was a result of the PSP's 16:9 widescreen ratio. The larger heads on the characters allowed the development team to create visible facial expressions. "The concept for these designs was 'toys'. We wanted cute designs geared towards little kids ... the kinds of characters that you'd see hanging off of keychains and such," character designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa explained. "Not only that, I made sure to tell

6664-407: The heroic exploits of her brother, Mega Man. Rush ( ラッシュ , Rasshu ) is Mega Man's robotic dog, who Dr. Light created to be an all-around support unit and is first introduced in Mega Man 3 . He can transform into various forms, including Rush Marine, which transforms him into a one-seated submarine , and Rush Jet, which transforms his legs into jet engines that allow him to fly. He also has

6762-600: The inventor of Beat and the Super Mega Buster, as well as several industrial and military robots . He also appears in the "Navi Mode" of Mega Man 5 in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection to provide gameplay hints to Mega Man. Duo is a robot from outer space who was designed to preserve the universe's peace and justice. Duo was formally introduced in Mega Man 8 , where he is battling a robot powered by Evil Energy. After crashing to Earth, Dr. Light repairs him and he becomes an ally of Mega Man. After eradicating

6860-462: The latter character was meant to represent an archetypal " mad scientist ". The team had initially considered names such as "Mighty Kid", "Knuckle Kid", and "Rainbow Man" before settling on their final decisions. The "Rainbow" name was considered because the character could change into seven colors based on the weapon selected. The production team chose a music motif when naming the main characters in Mega Man . The protagonist's original name

6958-593: The main role as a female counterpart to Mega Man. Theresa Romano from The Mary Sue said Roll had been the sole female robot in the franchise's universe to have made a lasting impression on the Mega Man fandom. She observed that Roll is notable for her constant character redesigns through the games or the animated series; for Romano, the most memorable iteration was the Ruby-Spears series version, whose arm could transform into different household appliances. Joshua Scullin from University of Washington Tacoma saw Roll as

7056-446: The main series, each time with a different scheme, only to ultimately be defeated and surrender to Mega Man. Wily has also played a major role in the backgrounds of other characters in the series. He repaired the prototype for Mega Man, Proto Man, and in Mega Man 7 used the knowledge he gained from the process to create his answer to Light's work, Bass. After Bass proved to be unreliable, Wily refined his design, creating Zero , who, in

7154-477: The most powerful of which is a blast in the shape of his own hand. He also appears to have the same weapon copying abilities as Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass; like them, his body changes color in accordance with the weapon he has equipped. Having been created for the purpose of destroying Evil Energy, he has the unique ability to purge it from an infected victim's body, as demonstrated when he saves Mega Man. Eddie, originally known as Flip Top in early Western manuals,

7252-610: The name Break Man to help train Mega Man by fighting him. Beyond their armor and personality, Proto Man and Mega Man are supposedly identical. However, at the end of Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters , Dr. Light reveals that Proto Man's energy system has a fatal defect, causing him great pain and shortening his lifespan. He also appears in the "Navi Mode" of Mega Man 3 in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection to provide gameplay hints to Mega Man. Character designer Keiji Inafune stated that "We wanted people to be unsure whether Proto Man

7350-412: The next day, so he had a friend draw it within about six hours. Inafune blamed the game's relatively poor North American performance on its region-specific cover art, which visualized elements not found in the game: Mega Man himself resembles a man rather than a boy, his costume is colored yellow and blue instead of being entirely blue, and he is holding a handgun rather than having his arm cannon. Over

7448-498: The original Mega Man in North America in September 1991. Capcom carried the same 8-bit graphics and sprites present in the original Mega Man into the next five games in the main series. Even though the sequels feature more complex storylines, additional gameplay mechanics, and better graphics, the core elements initiated by Mega Man remain the same throughout the series. Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10 would later revert to

7546-428: The original Robot Masters to take over the world. His Variable Weapons System allows him to copy the weapons of other Robot Masters and use them as his own. Doctor Thomas Light, known in Japan as Doctor Thomas Right ( トーマス・ライト , Tōmasu Raito ) , is a scientist and roboticist and the creator of Mega Man and several other robots; as such, he can be considered the father of Mega Man, Roll, and Proto Man. Despite being

7644-465: The past of Dr. Light and Dr. Wily." SWN-001 Bass, known in Japan as Forte ( フォルテ , Forute ) , is a robot Dr. Wily designed, who was constructed based on research conducted on Mega Man with the intention of matching his power, being a more advanced model of Robot Master compared to Mega Man. He is powered by the energy Bassnium, the most powerful form of energy on Earth, which Wily discovered by mistake. He seeks to defeat Mega Man and be acknowledged as

7742-468: The player is free to proceed through the game in any order, each Robot Master is especially vulnerable to a specific weapon, which encourages the player to complete certain stages before others. The player can revisit cleared levels. Besides the weapons taken from the Robot Masters, the player is able to pick up a platform generator item known as the "Magnet Beam" in Elec Man's stage. Mega Man features

7840-500: The player to obtain a certain number of Beat Plates in order to use him. Beat homes in on enemies, providing damage by slamming into them; however, in Mega Man 6 , he does not attack bosses. In Mega Man 7 , Mega Man 9 , Mega Man 10 and Mega Man 11 , he rescues Mega Man, as well as Proto Man in Mega Man 10, from pits. In Mega Man 8 , he can assist Mega Man during the Rush Jet scenes, and also provides him with an energy barrier in Mega Man & Bass . He assists Duo and Proto Man as

7938-421: The production of Mega Man 2 , Inafune decided to redraw Wily's design completely, aiming to tie into the common perception of a mad scientist . After making his design slightly taller and with elongated hair and chin, Inafune was satisfied with the alternations and kept the design consistent for later appearances of the character. Since the beginning of the Mega Man X series, Inafune wanted to add Dr. Wily to

8036-683: The same. In the original Mega Man , another common enemy, the Picket Man, has a head similar to the Met, but with a full body, a shield, and a pickaxe. The Mets also appear in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a collectable trophy in both versions, as well as enemies in the 3DS-exclusive Smash Run mode. Sniper Joe is a humanoid robot which Dr. Light built and which Dr. Wily later modified for infantry. They were built based on Proto Man and mass-produced for combat. Sniper Joes are

8134-811: The scientific and technological build-up during the Cold War brought about increasing threats of unparalleled destruction of the human species did not lessen the impression. Mad scientists frequently figure in science fiction and motion pictures from the period. Mad scientists in animation include Professor Frink , Professor Farnsworth , Rick Sanchez , Rintaro Okabe , and Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz . Walt Disney Pictures had Mickey Mouse trying to save his dog Pluto from The Mad Doctor (1933). Depictions of mad scientists in Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodies / Looney Tunes cartoons include: While both Tom and Jerry dabbled in mad science in some of

8232-401: The seventh and last stage appears in the middle of the stage select menu. This stage, in which the player traverses Dr. Wily's robot factory, is a chain of four regular stages linked together, each containing at least one new boss. During these final stages, the six Robot Masters must also be fought again in a predetermined order before the final confrontation against Dr. Wily. As Mega Man's ammo

8330-415: The six Robot Masters and recovers their central cores, then confronts Dr. Wily within his Pacific -based robot factory, where he is manufacturing copies of Light's robots. After defeating replicas of the Robot Masters, and several robots designed specifically by Wily to defeat him, Mega Man confronts Wily in a final showdown and defeats him before returning home to his family. The initial Western release of

8428-446: The story, leading to Mega Man X4 revealing that he created Zero to set the climax of the series. Wily often is shown moving his eyebrows up and down when he appears in most of the games, usually seen in the prologue cutscenes to the castle levels. DLN-000 Proto Man, known in Japan as Blues ( ブルース , Burūsu ) , is an early prototype of Mega Man and his twelve-thirteen older teenage brother, who first appeared in Mega Man 3 under

8526-542: The strategy of the game is that the player must carefully choose the order in which to tackle the stages so that they can earn the weapons that will be most useful for future stages. Critics praised Mega Man for its overall design. Mega Man established many of the gameplay, story, and graphical conventions that would define the ensuing sequels, subseries, and spin-offs in the Mega Man franchise. The game has since been re-released in game compilations such as Mega Man Legacy Collection , ported to mobile phones , and become

8624-402: The struggle of the humanoid robot and player-character Mega Man against the mad scientist Dr. Wily and the six "Robot Masters" under his control. Mega Man ' s nonlinear gameplay lets the player choose the order in which to complete its initial six stages . Each culminates in a boss battle against one of the Robot Masters that awards the player-character a unique weapon. Part of

8722-416: The suffering he causes. In 1925, the novelist Alexander Belyaev introduced mad scientists to the Russian people through the novel Professor Dowell's Head , in which the antagonist performs experimental head transplants on bodies stolen from the morgue, and reanimates the corpses. Fritz Lang 's movie Metropolis ( 1927 ) brought the archetypical mad scientist to the screen in the form of Rotwang ,

8820-531: The world's strongest robot, and as such frequently rebels against Wily when he feels he is standing in the way of his goals. Despite this, Bass has worked with Mega Man several times, though usually for his own purposes. Bass wields the Bass Buster, which originally functioned similarly to the Mega Buster, albeit with slightly different shots. As of Mega Man & Bass , however, it has lost its ability to charge shots in favor of an increased rate of fire and

8918-474: The years, the cover art has been infamous in the gaming community. It has been considered one of the worst game covers of all time by publications including GameSpy , Wired , and OC Weekly . The cancelled Mega Man Universe featured a "Bad Box Art Mega Man" playable character alongside the classic 8-bit Mega Man. "Bad Box Art Mega Man" has since become a playable character in Street Fighter X Tekken . With little overseas press coverage save for

9016-562: Was Victor Frankenstein , creator of his eponymous monster , who made his first appearance in 1818, in the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley . Though the novel's title character, Victor Frankenstein, is a sympathetic character, the critical element of conducting experiments that cross "boundaries that ought not to be crossed", heedless of the consequences, is present in Shelley's novel. Frankenstein

9114-468: Was a friend or a foe. On one hand, he'd seem like a rival to Mega Man, but at the same time he'd seem like a comrade." Several anime characters Inafune used to watch inspired Proto Man, with the glow from his eyes being inspired by Break Man. The design also involved his shield being a "cool factor" and a sign of his superiority over Mega Man. Higurashi considers Proto Man and Rush to be the main attractions of Mega Man 3 , while Hideki considers Mega Man 5 as

9212-576: Was a staple of the Republic/Universal/Columbia movie serials of the 1930s and 40s. Examples include: Mad scientists were most conspicuous in popular culture after World War II . The sadistic human experimentation conducted under the auspices of the Nazis , especially those of Josef Mengele , and the invention of the atomic bomb , gave rise in this period to genuine fears that science and technology had gone out of control. That

9310-401: Was changed merely because he did not like the original name. "That title was horrible," Morici said. "So I came up with Mega Man , and they liked it enough to keep using it for the U.S. games." 1UP.com 's Nadia Oxford attributed this change to Capcom's belief that American children would be more interested in a game with the latter title. Critics received Mega Man well. AllGame described

9408-437: Was initially conceived to appear as a tall, thin scientist with a mustache, glasses, balding hair, and lab coat. As development on Mega Man progressed, Inafune redrew Wily to match the in-game sprites , making him shorter and removing the glasses from his design. Inafune has expressed disdain for this design, stating in a 2003 interview that if an artist approached him with similar work, he would reject it and demand better. With

9506-426: Was so few people, so I really ended up doing all the characters." Inafune was influenced by the eponymous protagonist of Osamu Tezuka 's manga Astro Boy in his Mega Man designs. Mega Man is colored blue because it seemed that the color had the most shades in the console's 56-color palette ( cyan included), and that selection was used to enhance Mega Man's detail. Although he is often credited for designing

9604-595: Was trained as both an alchemist and a modern scientist, which makes him the bridge between two eras of an evolving archetype. The book is said to be a precursor of a new genre, science fiction , although as an example of gothic horror it is connected with other antecedents as well. The year 1896 saw the publication of H. G. Wells 's The Island of Doctor Moreau , in which the titular doctor—a controversial vivisectionist —has isolated himself entirely from civilisation in order to continue his experiments in surgically reshaping animals into humanoid forms , heedless of

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