Sniper Joe

Sniper Joe (スナイパージョー) was originally an unknown type of mass-produced humanoid robot created by Dr. Light based on Proto Man. Dr. Wily modified the robots for combat, creating the Joe series, which resemble Proto Man in his Break Man form. They appear as enemies in almost every game from the original Mega Man series, giving Mega Man a difficult time getting through as an obstacle. They mainly fight with a shield and a blaster, but some variations also operate vehicles and have different attacks.

Sniper Joe
Sniper Joes are guard robots. They will stand in front of Mega Man protecting themselves with an indestructible shield, sometimes shooting between 1 to 3 bullets or jumping. If Mega Man tries to pass by them in the first Mega Man game, they will chase him, jumping to stay in front of him. They can only be damaged when they are jumping or shooting. They appear in Bomb Man's stage. In the remake Mega Man Powered Up their shields can be knocked off.


 * In Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge, most Sniper Joes are stationary, but in the last stage they will almost always jump around the area. They appear in the stages of Cut Man, Ice Man, Fire Man and the Wily stages.


 * Sniper Joes appear in early scenes of Episode 2 from Super Adventure Rockman. Some are seen helping Dr. Wily build Ra Thor, and three Sniper Joes try to ambush Mega Man, but Proto Man warns him and defeat the Joes.


 * Sniper Joes are typically the same size as Mega Man, however they are shorter than him in Mega Man: The Wily Wars due to not being resized.


 * Purple and red variants of this Sniper Joe appeared in the DOS games Mega Man and Mega Man 3 respectively.

Mega Man Legacy Collection data
A guard robot. For that reason, it's got an attack-deflecting shield. Its design is based on that of Proto Man.

HP: 10

AT: 04

Weakness: Hyper Bomb

Returning Sniper Joe
Returning Sniper Joe (帰ってきたスナイパージョー) is a Sniper Joe from Mega Man 2 that always shoots three bullets and cannot jump. It is also seen piloting Sniper Armor, emerging from it when the bipedal vehicle is destroyed. They only appear without the armor in the first and fourth Wily Castle stages in Mega Man 2. They are orange in Mega Man 2 and lilac in Mega Man: The Wily Wars.

Hits Data Chart
Amount of shots/hits from Special Weapons it takes to destroy a Returning Sniper Joe.

Sniper Armor


Sniper Armor (スナイパーアーマー) is a Sniper Joe that pilots a lilac jumping machine equipped with a machine gun. Destroying the armor will cause the Joe that was piloting it to attack on foot. It appeared in Mega Man 2, Mega Man: The Wily Wars, and Mega Man on the Game Gear. Mega Man 11 has a variety of this enemy named Sniper Armor D.

Hammer Joe


Hammer Joe (ハンマージョー) is an armored Sniper Joe that swings a ball and chain and throws it at enemies. Unlike normal Sniper Joes, they can only be hurt when their eye is open. Another weak spot is their legs. They appear in Mega Man 3, Mega Man II, Mega Man III, and Mega Man: The Wily Wars.

Skeleton Joe


Skeleton Joe (スケルトン・ジョー) are Skeleton-like Sniper Joes that throw bones and fall apart when damaged, temporarily becoming indestructible until they reassemble. They mainly appear in Skull Man's stage in Mega Man 4 and Mega Man III.

Apache Joe
Apache Joes (アパッチジョー) are purple Sniper Joes that pilot a small helicopter in Napalm Man's stage and in the final stages of Mega Man 5. They aggressive fly after Mega Man while firing energy shots.

They also appear in Napalm Man's Stage in Mega Man for the Game Gear.

Hits Data Chart
Amount of shots/hits from Special Weapons it takes to destroy an Apache Joe.

Rider Joe
Rider Joe (ライダージョー) is a Sniper Joe that appears while Mega Man is on the Marine Bike in Wave Man's stage in Mega Man 5 and Mega Man for the Game Gear, also using a marine bike that can shoot. They can come from the front and behind.

Crystal Joe
Crystal Joe (クリスタルジョー) is a Joe in Mega Man 5 that charges up to create crystal shards that it then launches. They are indestructible when they are charging and can only be destroyed when they are attacking. They appear in Crystal Man's stage and the second Proto Man Castle stage.

Hits Data Chart
Amount of shots/hits from Special Weapons it takes to destroy a Crystal Joe.

Gunner Joe
Gunner Joe (ガンナージョー) is an enemy in Mega Man IV that appears in the stage where Mega Man chases after Wily in space.

Cannon Joe
Cannon Joe (キャノンジョー) is a Joe inside a stationary cannon that can shoot to the sides. They appear in Blizzard Man's stage (on the submarine) and in the first Wily stage from Mega Man 6.

Sniper Joe 01
Sniper Joe 01 (スナイパージョー０１) is a Sniper Joe from Mega Man 7 that acts like the original Sniper Joe, except it shoots more often. They are infamous for only taking four shots from the Mega Buster to be defeated.

Truck Joe


Truck Joe (トラックジョー) is a Sniper Joe in a big spike-fronted truck. It appears twice as the sub-boss of Turbo Man's stage in Mega Man 7. Truck Joe also appears in Mega Man: Battle & Chase as one of the extra opponent racers. He has a hidden boss incarnation called Black Joe (ブラックジョー), who is a member of the Black Troop.

Joe Classic
Joe Classic (ジョー・クラシック) is a Joe with an appearance similar to the Sniper Joes from the first Mega Man game. They act similarly to Sniper Joe 01, but can throw grenades too. Mega Man can also shoot through their shields at point-blank range. Joe Classic is found in Mega Man 8.

Machine Gun Joe
Machine Gun Joe (マシンガンジョー) is an enemy from Mega Man 9. It is a red Sniper Joe that has rapid fire, able to shoot bursts of eight bullets. Laser Trident can pass through their shields, while the Jewel Satellite and Proto Shield can reflect their bullets back to them. They appear in Tornado Man's stage and the second and third Wily Stages. It is possible to shoot through their shields with the Mega Buster by attacking them at point blank range.

Returning Machine Gun Joe
Returning Machine Gun Joe (帰ってきたマシンガンジョー) is a variant from Mega Man 10. It fire six shots in bursts of three. In Hard Mode, they can jump around. Their shields can be knocked off easily with the Bass Buster, Water Shield, and Screw Crusher, although hitting the shield rapidly with four shots from any weapon (pausing to eliminate shots when need be) will do the trick. They can also be easily defeated using the Mirror Buster, as the bullets just backfire. They appear in Nitro Man's stage, Wily Castle 1, Wily Castle 3, Special Stage 1 and Special Stage 2. In Hard Mode, they also appear in Pump Man's stage and Wily Castle 2.

Sniper Joe (Mega Man 11)
Sniper Joe returns in Mega Man 11 with an attack pattern similar to its original version. Most Sniper Joes are stationary and will only jump up, but some can also jump around to pursue Mega Man if he attempts to avoid them. Additionally, some Sniper Joes drop down from the ceiling to try to ambush Mega Man. Sniper Joes appear by themselves in Acid Man's, Tundra Man's, and Blast Man's stages, with some using a Sniper Armor D in the latter, and they also appear in the first two Gear Fortress stages. There's even a room in Gear Fortress Stage 2 filled entirely with Sniper Joes.

"Scuba Joe"
"Scuba Joe" is an unnamed underwater Sniper Joe from Mega Man Rush Marine.

"Harpoon Joe"
"Harpoon Joe" is an unnamed underwater Sniper Joe from Mega Man Rush Marine that uses harpoons to attack.

"Samurai Joe"
"Samurai Joe" is an unnamed Sniper Joe variety from Street Fighter X Mega Man. It spins its bow staff and deflects all oncoming bullets. It opens for a second and then proceeds to roll around causing damage on contact. Usually purple Samurai Joes are in the same area as a Nurikabe, and only in Ryu's stage.

Sniper Joe in Mega Man Network Transmission


Sniper Joes appear as virus in Mega Man Network Transmission. When they do not have their shield up, they either shoot three shots consecutively or charge up one shot.

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Sniper Joes appear in the Mega Man comic series by Archie Comics and in several manga. Like in the games, they were derived from the design of Blues, as Blues had been the prototype to a military-grade robot.

They debuted in Issue 2 of the comic, where Mega Man encountered one while on his way to a construction site to confront Bomb Man. Dr. Light, when seeing the Sniper Joe, initially mistook him for Blues, and was shocked at his apparently working with Dr. Wily. However, he eventually got a closer look and saw it was actually a Sniper Joe, and told Mega Man to retreat for the moment, while also becoming a bit confused as to how Dr. Wily got a hold of Sniper Joes.

In the Proto-Type arc, which served as Proto Man's backstory, the Sniper Joes were mentioned to be a simpler version of Proto Man's design, due to the testing reaching an unexpected development regarding an unstable power core in him. In addition, their name was mentioned to have been given by Dr. Wily (then Dr. Light's lab partner) in reference to the Army, which he referred to them as "Army Joes".

Mega Man Megamix
Having discovered Proto Man after he left Dr. Light, Dr. Wily created Sniper Joe based off of Proto Man's specifications. Sniper Joe is a mass production model sentry robot who has a buster, shield, and advanced defenses like Proto Man. Following his success with Sniper Joe, Dr. Wily developed many variations of Joe robots, such as Skeleton Joe.

When Bass captured Roll to draw Mega Man's attention to fight him, Dr. Wily appeared with an army of Sniper Joes to help Bass. However, Bass tells Wily to stay out of his fight and they argue, resulting in Dr. Wily ordering the Sniper Joes to attack Bass. During the fight, Roll is almost hit, but she is rescued by Proto Man. Surprised to see that Proto Man is still alive, and with the Sniper Joes aiming to him, Dr. Wily asks why he appeared, saying that his answer will decide his fate. Proto Man destroys the remaining Sniper Joes and says that he can't stand having so many copies of him milling about.

Other appearances
Sniper Joes appeared in several manga.

The Sniper Joes also appeared in Jasco's Universal Fighting System TCG Mega Man series, with one artwork depicting a Sniper Joe being hit with an uppercut from Proto Man (alluding to the latter's distaste for the Sniper Joe line).

Trivia

 * Enemies resembling Sniper Joes appear in the Mega Man X series. These altered variations have Reploid-level of intelligence and could be considered successor or advanced forms of the Sniper Joes. Hoganmer holds an indestructible shield and attacks with a chain mace, Disk Boys attack by throwing spiked disks at Mega Man X, Armor Soldiers and Rideloids-G use Ride Armors. Road Riders and Hornets use Ride Chaser. Runnerbombs works to the Red Alert Syndicate and  Guardroids are mass-produced, general-purpose Reploid soldiers that appear in many locations throughout Mega Man X8. All these variations work for Maverick leaders and Maverick organizations, being their foot soldiers. These Sniper Joes variations may have been replaced by Pantheons and later by the Variants in the Mega Man Zero series. In the Mega Man ZX series, Pantheons have been replaced as the standard enemy by Galleons.
 * His design might be a reference to Zaku from Mobile Suit Gundam.

Similar enemies
Enemies similar to Sniper Joes.
 * Piriparee
 * Armor Soldier
 * Picket Man
 * Hoganmer
 * Disk Boy 08
 * Gorbesh
 * Pantheon
 * Variant
 * Galleon