Sword Man

Sword Man (ソードマン) is a combat Robot Master from Mega Man 8 that was built by Dr. Wily to utilize an ancient sword that he stole from a museum. Unfortunately, Sword Man's sword was really heavy, so the upper and lower parts of his body was fitted with an anti-gravitational device to stabilize him, and as such, both halves of his body can act independently to improve his balance.

Sword Man is very incisive and has a vivid sharpness when it comes to swordsmanship, but he tends to also have an archaic and outdated mindset when it comes to the fashions and traditions of modern times. He has a strong interest in the Japanese martial art of Iaigiri and dislikes both faulty swords and chipped blades.

Mega Man 8
Sword Man is one of the second four bosses. His main attack is Flame Sword, an attack that envelops his sword with flames for extra damage. Sword Man can also attack by spinning his upper part rapidly to cut enemies, and drops heavy statues. His stage is a Cambodian temple-like area shown located somewhere in Central Asia, but would be more southeast on the Asian mainland.

Strategy
The battle can be either easy or hard with or without his weakness, Water Balloon. Sword Man has a number of attacks:


 * Fire Slash - When Sword Man does that attack, he will try to attack Mega Man by spinning his upper torso, separating it and having it return like a boomerang. Mega Man cannot attack him when he's doing that, but he can slide under him.
 * Flame Sword - Sword Man will attempt to stop Mega Man with this attack at close range, which is a flame version of Slash Claw. Mega Man need only maintain his distance to avoid it.
 * Quake - When Sword Man jumps, a giant version of a Kao de Kahna will drop. Mega Man must slide to avoid it.
 * Body Strike - When Sword Man jumps, his upper torso gravitates into the air while his lower torso rams at Mega Man on the ground. Mega Man must be fast to jump carefully and avoid it.

Sword Man can use Body Strike and Flame Sword in rapid succession.

When Sword Man's health is below 50%, he will place his sword on the ground and surround himself with a swirling fire pillar. Mega Man cannot hit him during this attack, except with Water Balloon. Touching the pillar does a tremendous amount of damage, but Sword Man tends to do it far away from Mega Man, so it is unlikely the player will get hit with it.

Rockman Strategy
Sword Man appears twice as an enemy in the game, and can also become a part of the player's team. His initial appearance is in the "Temple of the Moon" in Madagascar (no relation to the structure of the same name in Super Adventure Rockman) as one of Luna's backup units, along with Skull Man. The pair would later join Aqua Man and Bomb Man in working to protect the Wily Capsule in "Dimensional Space".

Stage enemies
Enemies in Sword Man's stage.
 * Sub-boss: Gearna Eye
 * Batton M64 (Bubble Bat)
 * Batton Mommy &amp; Petit Batton
 * Fire Metall
 * Kao de Kahna
 * Kao ga Mehda
 * Kao na Gahna
 * Succubatton

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Sword Man appears during the Worlds Collide arc as part of an army of Robot Masters assembled by Dr. Wily and Dr. Eggman. During the course of the battle, his sword gets stuck in the ground due to an attack by Sonic the Hedgehog.

Short Circuits
The sword used by Dr. Wily in the Short Circuits strip of Issue 36 bore a strong resemblance to that of Sword Man's.

Trivia

 * During Capcom's boss character contest for Mega Man 8, Sword Man was one of three robots created using a pre-made design template supplied to fans (Clown Man and Search Man were the others). Sword Man's template was known as "Katana Robot."
 * Sword Man is one of the first robot characters to possess a noticeable accented voice (Australian), alongside Colonel (whose voice is coincidentally provided by the same voice actor who did Sword Man) and Iris. Matthew Meersbergen, who voiced Colonel and Sword Man, is Australian, and even the characters Colonel and Sword Man have similarities. They are both sword-wielding foes who have a high sense of honor, and will not hold back in a fight.
 * Sword Man was one of two Robot Masters from Mega Man 8 to receive a toy in the form of Bandai's Mega Armor model kit series, the other being Tengu Man. The model is not separated at the waist, instead closing the two halves together.
 * In the Mega Man: Anniversary Collection version of Mega Man 8, Sword Man's voice files are bugged, raising his pitch considerably. Many other Robot Masters, especially in Wily Stage 4, suffer from the same problem.

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