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Mega Man franchise
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, various |
| Official website | http://megaman.capcom.com/ |
Mega Man, known as Rock Man in Japan, is a series of games from Capcom, usually starring the character Mega Man. There are well over 50 Capcom releases bearing the Mega Man name, easily making it Capcom's most prolific franchise and is a very well-known franchise. As of December 30, 2008, the series has sold approximately 28 million copies worldwide.[1] The Mega Man games began in 1987 with the first Mega Man game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This was the original Mega Man series, which has since been followed by several sub-series. These are the major Mega Man series, including the years they began:
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In the fictional universe of Mega Man, the classic Mega Man series consists of 11 main titles including the original game, as well as all Game Boy and PC titles featuring the original design of Mega Man/Rockman. The classic series is considered to be the origin of the story, with Mega Man being the first installment, and continuing with the direct sequels Mega Man 2-9 games. Chronologically after 8 comes Mega Man and Bass, and then comes Mega Man 9, then Mega Man 10.
There are also spinoff titles that do not relate to the series' storyline. The continuity of the Game Boy games' plots, as they relate to the main storyline, has never been confirmed officially. Although the classic series has yet to reach an ending, the storyline shifts to the Mega Man X series, followed by Mega Man Zero and finally Mega Man ZX. Although it is said that the Mega Man Legends series takes place sometime after the ZX series, there is an uncertain amount of time as to when it actually takes place. Mega Man Battle Network exists as an alternate universe or timeline. The Japanese language source book outlines the Classic, X, and Legends series and makes mention of the Battle Network and Zero series (which were fairly new at the time of the book's publication.) While the ZX and Star Force series were not yet conceived when the source book was published, Capcom explicitly states their placement in the timelines within the games themselves. Mega Man Star Force follows the Battle Network series.[2]
The character Mega Man was created in 1987 by Keiji Inafune[3] at Capcom of Japan as the protagonist in a new style of platform game.
In the story behind the original series, Rock is a robot created as a lab assistant by the scientist Dr. Thomas Light; following treachery by Dr. Wily, Rock was converted into a fighting robot to defend the world from Wily's violent robotic threats. Thus he becomes Mega Man (Rockman in the Japanese original).
Though all Mega Man games feature unique stories, settings, and characters, they nevertheless share several common features that have made the series one of the most consistent in video game history. Until 1997, all Mega Man games were side scrolling, with 2D platformer levels. The character controlled by the player was Mega Man himself, who had to fight through these levels using the "Mega Buster" (so named in Mega Man 4), a cannon attached to his arm, to shoot the robotic monsters that inhabited his environment. After defeating a Robot Master, the boss of a level, Mega Man would gain the ability to use that Robot Master's special weapon. Each robot master was themed after a specific element or object, for example "Fire Man," "Ice Man," "Stone Man," or "Napalm Man." The weapons Mega Man gained, in turn would share the theme of whomever it was he had just defeated. Levels can generally be completed in any order, and as a result determining the best strategic use of different weapons in different levels is one of the hallmarks of the series. Each new Mega Man game would contain new enemies, as well as familiar ones, new bosses (and thus weapons), and new gadgets. Enemies would have at least one weakness from certain weapons: for example, Ice Man's weapon is powerful against Fire Man. This creates a preferred order of stage completion. After all eight bosses are defeated, Mega Man travels to Wily's castle, and after fighting past clones of the eight bosses, confronts Wily (usually in his flying saucer).
The classic series was the source material for two animated television series both aptly named "Mega Man" and featuring the heroes, villains, and themes of the games. The first show was a three-part OVA called "Mega Man: Upon a Star" developed in Japan; the other, simply called "Mega Man", was developed specifically for North American audiences by animation studio Ruby-Spears.
The original Mega Man has spawned a number of spin-off titles that have appeared since the launch of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
The timeline for the series and its spinoffs is somewhat complicated. According to Rock Man Perfect Memories, an official Capcom sourcebook only available in Japan:
Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force are not included in this timeline, set in an alternate universe where computer technology flourished instead of robotics.[2] Star Force is stated to take place in 220X, around 200 years after Battle Network.*
Mega Man has also been featured in many comics and manga in Japan. The Rockman Megamix series was produced by Hitoshi Ariga who later went on to provide character designs and artwork for official Capcom releases including the Super Famicom game Rockman & Forte (Mega Man and Bass in the US), as well as illustrating the manga version of The Big O. In addition, Dreamwave Productions and Magnum Press made its own comic books based on the Mega Man Classic game series (although the books from Magnum Press are only found in Brazil and ended quite abruptly). The Dreamwave Mega Man series lasted only four issues, the final one ending very abruptly with plot-threads from the first three dropped completely, though it included a short story promising a Mega Man X follow-up that never materialized. This was one of several Dreamwave Capcom comics that were cut short or simply never made it to issue #1, including Maximo, DarkStalkers and Rival Schools. With the bankruptcy of Dreamwave, the comic rights to Mega Man appear to be, as of early 2006, in a legal limbo.
Each series (and usually, each individual game) has a licensed manga that follows its storyline. The manga of Rockman EXE, which was written by Ryo Takamisaki, is one of the few Mega Man manga available in English; it is known as Mega Man NT Warrior [5] in North America. Official manga series also exist for X, Zero, ZX, and Ryusei.
There also exists an homage to Megaman created for Retrojunk.com in the form of a 27 page comic created by artist Pat Henzy titled "Megaman Fan for Life". [1]
In 1990, a junior novel version of Mega Man 2 was released as part of the Worlds of Power novel series. Mega Man is turned human by Dr. Light during an accident in a machine designed to clone Mega Man. Instead of a Mega Buster, human Mega Man uses a hand gun and instead of being able to copy the robot master's weapons, he instead takes them off their arms. For some reason being human doesn't effect him much and he is still able to consume E-drinks (Energy Tanks) and gain power boost. The book follows the general plot of Mega Man 2 and even provides game hints at the end of some chapters.
Ascertaining the identity of videogame composers, especially prior to the fifth generation of consoles, can be difficult, as the composers were often uncredited or credited under a pseudonym. NesDev gives the following musical credits (extracted from ROM images for the Classic series)[6]:
The following credits were taken directly from the game credits:
Capcom's handling of the Mega Man franchise has been criticized at various times, with many citing the frequent creation of new series which are discontinued without proper closure.[7] On the other hand, some fans complain that series like Mega Man X are extended after the original development team has moved on to new projects, creating a perceived drop in quality. For example, Mega Man X6, X7 and X8 were developed after Keiji Inafune's team had moved onto the Zero series, and are generally considered the worst entries in that series by Americans. Capcom does not often provide an explanation for the various series' discontinuations, though they sometimes express interest in continuing them; in 2007 Inafune expressed interest in developing a fourth entry into the Mega Man Legends franchise, but claimed that it would require approximately $15 million to produce the game on next-generation consoles.[8] The series also suffers from low availability in Europe, with some releases never appearing there at all, such as the Anniversary Collections.
Megaman's inabability to shoot up occasionally features in memes.
English sites
Japanese sites
Miscellaneous sites
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Mega Man | Table of Contents | Walkthrough
| Mega Man | |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Distributor(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) |
December, 1987
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| Genre(s) | Action, Platform |
| System(s) | NES, Wii Virtual Console |
| Players | 1 |
| Rating(s) |
ESRB:
 Everyone |
| Followed by | Mega Man 2 |
| Series | Mega Man |
Mega Man (Rockman in Japan) is the first of many games released in a series of action/platforming titles by Capcom and created by Keiji Inafune. This title was originally released in December of 1987 on the Famicom. The first title differs from later sequels in that it contains a point system, no way to save (no passwords or save feature), and only six Robot Masters, as opposed to eight like the rest of the series.
As a classic, this game has been remade no less than four times.
 American box art |
 Mega Man title screen |
 Rockman title screen |
 Rockman PlayStation case art |
It's MEGA MAN versus the powerful leaders and fighting forces of Monsteropolis -- that strange multi-faceted land of robot-like Humanoids. Brilliant scientist Dr. Wright conceived the construction of fully-operational human-like experimental robots to perform specific everyday duties. Dr. Wright, and his assistant Dr. Wily, encouraged with their very first near human robot -- MEGA MAN -- proceeded to develop six additional Humanoids, all programmed to perform prescribed rituals.
But, with the exception of MEGA MAN, all of Dr.Wright's near-human robot experimentation went awry. Assistant Dr. Wily turned disloyal, re-programming Dr. Wright's Humanoids, now bent on destroying opposition so Dr. Wily could control the world and its resources.
Resisting re-programming, MEGA MAN is chosen the defender of theuniverse and its inhabitants. MEGA MAN dares to single-handedly penetrate seven separate empires of Monsteropolis, eliminating the leaders and followers of these sovereignties.
Get ready for some very exciting challenges!
Notes: In the NES version, Dr. Light is named Dr. Wright, but he is later renamed to Light. The time period is not stated for this game, but Mega Man 2, which takes place six months later, mentions the year of 200X (or sometime between 2000 and 2009). The dates are extrapolated from information from official sources, such as Capcom and Rockman Perfect Memories.
editMega Man series
Mega Man · Mega Man 2 · Mega Man 3 · Mega Man 4 · Mega Man 5 · Mega Man 6 · Mega Man 7 · Mega Man 8 · Mega Man & Bass · Rockman & Forte: Challenger from the Future · Mega Man 9 · Mega Man 10
Sub-series: Mega Man X · Mega Man Legends · Mega Man Battle Network · Mega Man Zero · Mega Man ZX · Mega Man Star Force
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Mega Man is among the most well known characters in video games. The creation of Capcom, he is also known as Rock Man in Japan, or by his nickname, The Blue Bomber. The character of Mega Man was created in 1987 by Keiji Inafune at Capcom of Japan, which was then a small company eager to make a breakthrough with a new platform game.
In the story behind the original series, Rock is a robot created as a lab assistant by scientists Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wily; following treachery by Dr. Wily, Rock was converted into a fighting robot to defend the world from Wily's violent creations. Thus he becomes Mega Man (Rockman in the Japanese original).
Over the years, as Mega Man branched out into several series, he has been redesigned many different ways. These redesigns stretch from the classic look that began on the NES (left) that stars in Mega Man 1 through Mega Man 8, the future Mega Man X that stars in Mega Man X through Mega Man X8 and Command Mission, the helmetless Mega Man that starred in Mega Man Legends and finally the alternate story Mega Man from Mega Man Battle Network.
Back in the old days, Dr. Light created a robot called X with astounding artificial intelligence - X had the ability to think, feel, and decide for himself. However, he didn't have time to fully test the robot, and, hoping that someone in the future would, he sealed X in a time capsule.
Much, much later, a man by the name of Dr. Cain found Dr. Light's dilapidated laboratory and X. He released the robot and, rather hastily, went about duplicating the schematics and programming as best he could. These robots became known as Reploids.
However, Cain didn't do a very good job, and many of the Reploids began to think for themselves too much. Some rebelled against humanity and wanted to overthrow their fleshy overlords. These maverick Reploids were called ... Mavericks.
X, still loyal to humankind and with the strength of Dr. Light's engineering prowess, became a Maverick Hunter. He fights to save the world from rebellious robots.
Over a thousand years into the future of the Mega Man universe, Mega Man is known as Mega Man Trigger. Trigger's primary function was as a Purifier Unit on a synthetic planet called Elysium, a place that housed what is called the "Master System". The purpose of the Master System was to watch over and govern all the carbons on Terra. His job as a Purifier Unit was to eliminate any units that threatened the Master System. Thus, Trigger was quite similar to a typical Maverick Hunter from the X Series. Trigger also served as the Master's special assistant throughout his tenure as a Purifier Unit.
However, when Mega Man tried to carry out the final command of the Master (to destroy the Master System), Sera (Mother Unit of Elysium) tried to stop him in a bitter fight thinking Mega Man had become an Aberrant Unit. Although Trigger was victorious, he was so fatally damaged that he had to have all of his memory wiped out and reset to its original configuration as a newborn baby with his assistant Data storing his old memories. Then Yuna sealed him away in suspended animation inside a Nino Island ruin where Barrell Caskett would eventually discover him and Data.
When Barrell found Trigger and Data and touched the capsule he and Data were sealed in, the capsule melted away and awoke the pair out of their suspended animation. Barrell then took the baby under his care and with his granddaughter Roll's advice, named him Mega Man Volnutt. Mega Man was then raised as Barrell's adopted grandson, and as soon as Mega Man was old enough, he embarked on the life of a Digger searching for refractors and other resources for the Caskett family's survival as well as defeating the Bonnes, other pirates, and many Reaverbots in his many adventures.
Personality:
This version of Mega Man has lived two completely different lives. This is in contrast to all his other incarnations in the other series where he lives only one life and one basic role throughout the duration of the series. His first life as Mega Man Trigger is quite similar to that of the Maverick Hunters in the X Series where his role on Elysium was to protect the Master System from Aberrant Units as well as serve as the Master's special assistant. Thus, Trigger was one of the greatest and highest ranking Purifier Units, much like X was as a Maverick Hunter and Mega Man was as a robotic hero.
On the other hand, his second life as Mega Man Volnutt is actually closer in similarity to another key aspect of both the original Mega Man and X. Mega Man Volnutt does not like fighting and only does so as a last resort (as evidenced by his regret for "not taking it easy" on the Bonnes in Legends 1). Other than that however, Mega Man Volnutt is simply another Digger in search of adventure, refractors, and other treasure just like all the rest on Terra.
The Mega Man here is largely unrelated to any of the original Mega Man creations. Mega Man is a NetNavi, sentient computer programs that venture through the Internet for them their operators. He is owned by Lan Hikari. Lan uses Mega Man to fight his way through cyberspace defeating viruses that are trying to take over the world.
The Mega Man Battle Network series takes place in an alternate time line in which the government decided to fund the development of network technology invented by Dr Light, instead of robotics technology invented by Dr Wily.
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