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Mega Man
Game series	Mega Man series
First game	Mega Man (1987)
Voiced by (English)	Doug Parker (Captain N: The Game Master) Ian James Corlett (Ruby-Spears cartoon) Andrew Francis (Mega Man NT Warrior) Ruth Shiraishi (games) (1997–2005) Cole Howard (games) (2006–Present) Jason Spisak (Mega Man Star Force) (2007-present)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Hekiru Shiina (1995–1996) Ai Orikasa (1996–1997) Kaoru Fujino (1998–Present)
In-universe information
Classification	Robot Master
Model number	DRN-001
Weapon(s)	Plasma Buster (Mega Man 1–3), Mega Buster (later games, including Mega Man Powered Up), Variable Weapons System
Loyalty	Dr. Light

Mega Man, known as Rockman (ロックマン, Rokkuman^?) in Japan, is a video game character created by Keiji Inafune and is the title character of what has been referred to as the "Classic" Mega Man series developed by Capcom since 1987.^[1] Since then, he has become one of the company's primary original characters and continues to be one of the video game industry's most recognizable icons.^[2] Having appeared on nearly every gaming console and handheld system since the Nintendo Entertainment System, Mega Man has had a wide gaming audience, and his games continue to evolve with the ever-changing hardware demands of modern gaming systems. Mega Man's fiction universe can be divded into seven categories, each featuring different variations and incarnations of the same robotic boy hero, Although Mega Man or Rock Man is usually the name used to describe solely the original Mega Man from the classic series, it can also be used less specifically to describe the Mega Man series of fictional works, or the group of adherently named main characters within.

Several spin-off series have emerged over the past few years, each one continuing the Mega Man mythos in some unique way, including but not limited to the Mega Man X, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force series. A resulting animated series was also produced originally in the United States, as well as a number of toys, comics, and collectibles available both in and outside of Japan.

Mega Man's role in the original story aka the classic series, was to battle the forces of the mad scientist Dr. Wily and his ever-growing army of robots, and must stop them from taking over the planet by using their own special abilities against them.^[3] Utilizing his special Mega Buster arm cannon, and his ability to copy a defeated robot's coding, Mega Man must travel the world and traverse harsh environments in order to bring Wily's menace to an end. With the help of his good-hearted creator Dr. Light and his assorted robotic companions, Mega Man's eventual goal is to one day achieve "everlasting peace".^[4]

Mega Man's original Japanese name, "Rockman", is a reference to the music genre rock and roll, and is meant to work in tandem with his "sister" robot, Roll. Such music-themed naming conventions are present in a number of Keiji Inafune's other character designs, such as Blues. In addition, the original Mega Man titles intentionally incorporated a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game play mechanic into defeating certain enemies.^[2] In parts of the English speaking world, some people call Mega Man "The Blue Bomber" because of his blue armor.

Contents 1 Appearances 1.1 In Mega Man video games 1.2 In other games 2 Character 2.1 Fictional history 2.2 Abilities 2.3 Personality and themes 3 References 3.1 Bibliography 3.2 Notes

Main article: Mega Man Classic

Mega Man has appeared in over 100 games over the past two decades, and is responsible for more sales revenue than both of Capcom's next leading franchises (Street Fighter and Resident Evil) combined.^[5] His most notable appearances have been within his own self-titled games, beginning with Rockman for the Nintendo Famicom in 1987. This, and all future Rockman games released in North America and the European Union, would bear the title "Mega Man" due to Capcom USA's early decision to change the name.

Nearly all of the classic series Mega Man titles have been two-dimensional sidescrollers involving horizontal movement through various levels. This mechanic persists even on titles developed for high performance platforms, such as the Sony PSP release of Mega Man Powered Up, which features 3D graphics, yet movement to both the background and foreground is restricted.^[6] The main series on both the NES and Nintendo Game Boy would follow this formulaic approach in the design of every game developed on those systems, and set the standard for all platformer Mega Man games to come.^[7] Mega Man himself has evolved very little cosmetically since his initial release, but has often been given new techniques in each game, the Mega Buster, for instance, which was introduced in Mega Man 4 which allowed him to charge up a shot, or the slide introduced in Mega Man 3. It was these which were used in order to help him exceed any new challenges added by the programmers.

Capcom, regarding Mega Man as a versatile character, has placed him in several different gaming situations outside of his usual series. He has since been seen as a sports star in the Super Nintendo game Mega Man Soccer, a race car driver in Mega Man Battle & Chase, and a board game piece in Wily and Right's RockBoard. A limited release arcade fighting game series containing Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters pitted Mega man against several boss characters from his original series.^[8]

Though Capcom does own the rights to all Mega Man games, and have been responsible for the development of all of his console titles, it has in the past licensed the Mega Man character to other companies for PC releases. Mega Man and Mega Man III (with no relation to the NES games of the same name) were developed by the US-based Hi-Tech Expressions, and the Megaman game published on the Game Gear by Sega,^[9] and Rockman Strategy was developed and released exclusively in China by AcerTWP.^[10] Neither title has since been regarded by Capcom as an official Mega Man series game.

Main article: List of Mega Man games

Mega Man has made appearances in several game projects outside of his original series. He appears as a playable character in the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting game series alongside other prominent characters such as Ryu, Strider Hiryu, and Captain Commando. He has also been featured in the 3D shooter Cannon Spike, and the card game simulators SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash and Card Fighter 2: Expand Edition.In the XBox 360 game Dead Rising the lead protagonist, Frank West, can dress as Mega Man and even use his arm cannon. Also, as seen in the screenshot, Servbots also make an appearance. Non-playable cameo appearances by Mega Man occur most often in other Capcom licensed games, and he is often seen as a background character. Such appearances include Capcom World 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Pocket Fighter, Mighty Final Fight, Power Stone 2 and The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. Animated incarnations of Mega Man were common in the early 1990s, particularly in North America.

His first animated appearance was as a main character in the 1989 series Captain N: The Game Master, which features a myriad of characters that had appeared on Nintendo consoles up until that time. They all aid the title character, Captain N, in his quest to save the world of Videoland, encountering many villains, including Mega Man's own enemy Dr. Wily. Mega Man is voiced in this series by Doug Parker, and his character had a tendency to add the word "mega" in front of words for emphasis.

A three-episode Japanese anime OVA titled Rockman was produced in 1993 in an attempt to help spread information on Japanese culture. In it, Mega Man crosses paths with his adversary, Dr. Wily, while learning various facts about Japanese society, and receiving occasional help from Proto Man. He also appeared in the animated Mega Man TV Series. This series features a taller, lower-voiced protagonist than in the video games, and is not completely true to the original story.^{[citation needed]}

This video game-related article or section describes an aspect of the game in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective.

Mega Man aka Rockman, came into existence due to the following timeline of events. In the fictional and futuristic year of the 200X master designer Dr. Thomas Light (Dr. Right in Japan) worked to create a humanoid robot. This robot would demonstrate an advanced artificial intelligence program that would allow it to make decisions based on vague commands and directions. He called the robot project "Robot Master", because the resulting robot would be able to supervise the work of other, less intelligent machines.

Before Dr. Light ever constructed what would eventually become Mega Man, he first designed the Robot Master known as "Proto Man" ("Blues" in Japan) which similar to his name was designed as a prototype of his future creations. Proto Man had the ability to lead a small squad of other robots in military applications. However, before testing of his AI, or his complete system was finished, the robot escaped and was thought to have been destroyed.

Because of the disappearance of Proto Man, Light decided to create another robot. Dr. Light, fearing that the disappearance of Proto Man was due to the robot not having a peer, he created two robots at around the same time to work as a pair. These robots were called "Rock" (ロック) (Mega in the Powered Up remake) and "Roll". Rock was created as Dr. Light's lab assistant. His purpose was a general-purpose tool user. Simply by studying how a tool was used, he could mimic its use using a Variable Tool System. This made him the ideal lab assistant. His "sister" (though not actually a sister, but a robot partner), Roll, was designed for housekeeping.

With the success of these two test-type robots, Light designed and built six production-type robots, mainly to be used in the construction and maintenance of public works. These robots were Cut Man, a timber felling robot; Guts Man, a construction and excavation robot; Ice Man, a robot designed for exploration in extreme freezing temperatures; Bomb Man, a land reclamation robot; Fire Man, designed for waste management; and Elec Man, designed to oversee and control atomic energy power plants. The enhanced remake Mega Man Powered Up has also retconned Time Man — designed to research time travel with his ability to slow down time — and Oil Man — designed for maintenance by generating oil for machinery and firing it through his arm cannon — into existence. Each of these robots had full use of the Robot Master's intelligence and reasoning potential. However, little did Dr. Light know that all of these robots including the missing Proto man would later serve as the key to unlocking Rock's destiny.

The time finally came for Dr. Light to be recognized by the world for his brilliant contributions to science. Dr. Albert W. Wily, a colleague at that time and future rival, grew jealous when his unique research, which he studied with Dr. Light, was utterly overshadowed by his partner. He stumbled upon Proto Man one day, who was dying when his energy system was malfunctioning. He repaired him, using his specifications to create the police robot, Sniper Joe. He discovered while analyzing Proto Man that he had found a way to reprogram Light's robots. He decided that he could use these new robots to exact revenge. When Dr. Wily arrived at near Dr. Light's laboratory soon after announcing his plans for world domination, he failed to realize Rock and Roll's potential, so he went to the lab without them, claiming that helper robots are as good as scrap metal to him. He took and reprogrammed the six (eight in Mega Man Powered Up) construction robots so they became misled and forced under his rule. With his new followers, Wily seized control of the city and demanded recognition. This string of events, set in motion, what would later become the purpose for Mega Man's existence.

Realizing that it would be very difficult for the armies to stop Wily without harming the city, Dr. Light knew something had to be done. Due to his programmed sense of right and wrong, Rock volunteered to be converted from his current state as a lab assistant into a fighting robot. Thus, from that day forth, he became known as "Rockman" (Mega Man in the U.S.).

From that day forward Mega Man volunteered himself for action against crime and serving to support and protect mankind's existence and coexistence with robots within society. Mega Man along with help from his friends, thwarted the evil plans of Dr. Wily and other such villains numerous times, while saving lives and inspiring justice in the hearts of others. As Mega Man continued his crusade he developed similar to that of a normal boy, experiencing human emotions, psychological growth, and other such human characteristics, while searching for a true nature of his own. Throughout his many adventures, Mega Man has encountered several enemies that have appeared to be too powerful for him to overcome on his own, yet in typical heroic fashion Mega Man's pure intentions and strong will tend to be the determining factor in his steadfast battle for everlasting peace.

Like the other characters, Mega Man's fate was unknown in the Mega Man X series, though some fans speculate that he was killed by the Mega Man X character named Zero. Some fans also insist that Mega Man X is simply Mega Man with an upgrade originally designed to combat Zero, though Keiji Inafune has stated in an interview that Mega Man and X are not the same characters.^{[citation needed]} However, in Mega Man 2 (The Game Boy version) a character named Quint appeared in Skull Castle and according to the game's manual Dr. Wily used his Time Fortress in the game to go into the future (the future before Mega Man X) and somehow kidnap Mega Man and convert him into Quint. Although it is unknown if this is still canonical, it would be a logical explanation to what happened to Mega Man in the future. And judging by a few of Quint's other appearances in later games, this may be true.

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• Super Strength: Mega Man's enhancements give him extraordinary strength. He can lift and move tremendous amounts of weight, as demonstrated in Mega Man 5, in which he braces the upper levels of a fortress from collapse.
• Design: Interior exoskeleton is composed of strong, lightweight titanium alloy. Outer epidermal layer is composed of a Light Industries made synthetic ceramic polymer that has skin-like texture. Has magnetic joints located in knees and elbows to reduce friction and wear. Legs contain air cavities to absorb shock when jumping. Powered by a reactor located within his chest cavity. Traditional two-tone blue exterior armor frame also made of titanium alloy. Nano-robotic cells allow for nearly instant reconfiguration to change from hand to weapon.
• Plasma Cannon(P. Shoot)/Mega Buster: Mega Man's signature weapon. He transforms one of his arms into a cannon with an energy meter on the side then takes aim and fires plasma energy at his opponents.

In Mega Man 4, His weapon upgrades to the Mega Buster, which has charging capabilities. It is upgraded even further in Mega Man 5, in which it is the Super Mega Buster. Mega Man can also transform both arms into cannons as demonstrated in Super Adventure Rockman.

• Weapon Copy: An advanced form of Rock's original ability to use any tool, the Weapon Copy ("Variable Weapons System" in Japan) allows Mega Man to adapt the attacks of his enemies and make them his own. However, he usually has to defeat them in combat first, similar to Kirby's copy abilities. The WC also changes the colors of Mega Man's armor (whether this is intended or not is unknown)
• Slide: Introduced in Mega Man 3. Allows Mega Man to slide along the ground at a high speed to evade attacks and enter small crevices. Can also be used as an attack.
• Jet Adapter: Introduced in Mega Man 6. Allows Mega Man to fuse with Rush and become "Jet Mega Man". In this form, Mega Man is equipped with the "Jet Booster" and can fly or hover for short periods of time.
• Power Adapter: Introduced in Mega Man 6. Allows Mega Man to fuse with Rush and become "Power Mega Man". In this form, Mega Man is equipped with the "Super Knuckle", an ultra-powerful, short-range attack that knocks back foes and breaks blocks.
• Super Adapter: Introduced in Mega Man 7. Allows Mega Man to fuse with Rush and become "Super Mega Man". This form combines the two previous Adapters, allowing Mega Man to fly (or, in this game, double jump) and launch a rocket fist (which can be equipped with an enemy-tracking rocket system). Bass stole the blueprints for this and Dr. Wily created the Treble Boost for Bass, an upgrade for the Super Adapter. This gave Bass more power and the ability to fly, just like Mega Man has using his own Super Adapter. Mega Man can gain the Super Adapter by collecting the R-U-S-H letters found in the first four stages.
• Hyper Mega Man Adapter: Introduced in Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super heroes. As a hyper move, Mega Man combines with Rush, Eddie and Beat to become Hyper Mega Man. In this form, Mega Man grows in size and extends wings and a rocket pack from his back. He will then use a powerful blast from his arm cannon with rockets coming from his shoulders, boots, torso and back as well.
• Mega Ball: Introduced in Mega Man 8. Obtained from Dr. Light in the first level of the game, Mega Man uses the powerful mega ball to kick at enemies. It rebounds until it hits a target. Mega Man can also jump on the ball making him reach higher places.
• Mega Kick: Introduced in Mega Man Powered Up. As Mega, he can use powerful kicks to destroy enemy robots.
• Teleportation: Mega Man has the ability to teleport (usually into or out of a level) as a streak of colored light colored the same as the character.
• Mega Arm: Introduced in Mega Man 5 (Game Boy). An upgrade used against the Stardroids, Mega Man can charge and fire his four arms at his enemies. (Also equipped later in the game by collecting the P chips and entering Dr. Light's lab are the Mega Hand and CL Power-Up items. The MH can grab items in the stage also from defeated enemy robots, and the CL upgrade to grab on an enemy and keep hitting them repetitively.
• Mega Upper: Mega Man charges energy in his hands and performs an uppercut.
• Mega Punch: Introduced in Cannon Spike. Mega Man repetitively punches his opponent with rapid speed.

Mega Man's personality seems to stem from his creator Dr. Light, whose intention it may have been to design Rock based on his own interpretation of a real boy as if it were his very own son. Rock who would later be upgraded into the fighting robot know as Mega Man, demonstrates a wide range of emotions, similar to that of a prepubescent boy, not typical of other robots, thus making him unique.

A theme that seems to be apparent in Mega Man's character is that much like Pinocchio, he is very similar to a real boy and constantly developing into one, however unlike Pinocchio, he does not aspire to be "real." Although Mega Man has rarely or possibly never admitted that he is in fact not a human, but rather a robot designed to look and act like a human, he may often consider himself more human than machine.

Mega Man, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, Mega Man & Bass, Mega Man: The Wily Wars, Mega Man in Dr. Wily's Revenge, Mega Man II, III, IV, and V, Mega Man Anniversary Collection, and Mega Man Powered Up.

1. ^ Mega Man History "Introduction" section Capcom.com. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b} Interview with Kenji Inafune Mega. Man.Network (Originally published in Play magazine, volume 3, issue 4 (April 2004)). URL Accessed May 4, 2006.
3. ^ Mega Man History "Classic series" section Capcom.com. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
4. ^ Quote from the English-language ending scene of Mega Man.
5. ^ Capcom Sales Data Capcom.co.jp. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
6. ^ Mega Man Powered Up review Gamespot. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
7. ^ GameSpy Interview with Keiji Inafune and Tatsuya Kitabayashi Mega Man Neoseeker. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
8. ^ The Killer List of Video Games > Rockman the Power Battle KLOV.com. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
9. ^ Mega Man (PC) Gamespot.com. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
10. ^ Rockman Strategy Mechanical Maniacs. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.

v • d • e Mega Man video games
Main series	Mega Man · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · Mega Man & Bass · Rockman & Forte Mirai kara no Chōsensha
World series	Mega Man in Dr. Wily's Revenge · Mega Man II · III · IV · V
Other games	Mega Man (PC) · Mega Man III (PC) Mega Man: The Power Battle · Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise · Mega Man Soccer · Mega Man Battle & Chase · Super Adventure Rockman · Rockman Strategy
Related lists	Characters · All Mega Man games