Mega Man

Mega Man Story

In 1987, Capcom was a small company that needed a hit game. Keiji Inafune gave them that hit when he created a character called Rock. The name, according to Inafune-san, comes from "rock and roll". Rock Man (Mega Man) was an instant hit.

In the games, Mega Man was created by scientists Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wily. However, Dr. Wily soon turned to villainy and was bent on destroying the world. Dr. Light reprogrammed Mega Man to be a soldier to fight against Wily and his robot warriors. The storylines of each game vary slightly, sometimes introducing other villains or plot twists, but the main story arc involves the evil Dr. Wily.

The Games

The original Mega Man games are side-scrolling action games where the blue bomber must use his various abilities to defeat the robotic minions of Dr. Wily. The signature trait of these games is our hero's ability to take the weapon of a defeated boss and use it as part of his arsenal. The early bosses had simple names: Wood Man, Air Man, Rock Man, Shadow Man, Toad Man, etc. Some powers were more effective against certain bosses (eg. Metal Man's power easily defeats Wood Man). Players could choose any order to fight these bosses, adding some strategy to the action-oriented series.

In addition to the original series of seven NES games and five Game Boy games, Mega Man has branched into other genres on later video game systems:

• Mega Man X
• Mega Man Legends
• Mega Man Zero
• MegaMan Battle Network

Although the latter three series greatly alter the Mega Man formula, the same theme of capturing robot powers and upgrading the main hero is still intact.

Where Else Have I Seen Him?

Mega Man has also appeared in a number of other media in addition to video games. A cartoon series was released in 1995 that ran for just over two seasons before being cancelled. The show was developed by Ruby-Spears animation company and the characters were heavily altered from their video game forms.

The classic Nintendo cartoon Captain N: The Game Master also featured a Mega Man-like character. Dr. Wily was present in the show as a villain, and Mega Man and his pet robot dog, Rush, were main characters. Mega Man had the character trait of adding "mega" every other sentence.

There have also been two Japanese animated shows based on this universe, as well as a series of comic books.