Mega Man (video game)

Mega Man, known as Rockman (ロックマン) in Japan, was the very first Mega Man game. It was released in Japan and North America in 1987, with a much-delayed release in the United Kingdom and Europe in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

North American Instruction Manual
"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. Light conceived the construction of fully-operational human-like experimental robots to perform specific everyday duties. Dr. Light, and his assistant Dr. Wily, encouraged by their very first near-human robot - Mega Man - proceeded to develop six additional Humanoids, all programmed to perform prescribed rituals:

(the six industrial robots are shown)

But, with the exception of Mega Man, all of Dr. Light's near-human robot experimentation went awry. Assistant Dr. Wily turned disloyal, re-programming Dr. Light's Humanoids, now bent on destroying opposition so Dr. Wily could control the world and its resources.

Resisting re-programming, Mega Man is chosen as the defender of the universe and its inhabitants. Mega Man dares to single-handedly penetrate seven separate empires of Monsteropolis, eliminating the leaders and followers of these sovereignties."

Note: Several elements in the NES manual were invented by the Capcom of America localization team and are not officially in the series continuity. These things include Dr. Light and Dr. Wily being partners, as well as the city of Monsteropolis, ignoring the Rock and Roll backstory completely, and Wily attempting to reprogram Rock / Mega Man and meeting resistance.

Prologue
To understand the story of Mega Man, one must look back at the events which occur before the game takes place and to do so, one can look to sources such as Rockman Perfect Memories which have taken the time to document the information reported by Capcom over the years in regards to the series:

The story of the Mega Man universe begins in the mid-20th century with the birth of Thomas Light and Albert W. Wily. These men would attend the same university, the Robot Institute of Technology, studying the field of electronics and eventually receiving PhDs. Some years later, Dr. Light formed a laboratory with the ambition to use computer and electronic technology to benefit mankind in the coming era. Dr. Wily, meanwhile, tired of being one step behind Dr. Light, constructed a secret robot factory in the Pacific and began to plot a way to conquer the world.

Dr. Light made his first leaps in the field of robotics, creating various robots to benefit mankind. Light realized the potential of his projects. He wanted to create robots that were human-like. He wanted to build robots that contained artificial intelligence within them. Thus, Dr. Light produced the first one of such robots - Proto Man. Proto Man was the base design of the Sniper Joe robots but was instilled with artificial intelligence, unlike anything the world had ever seen. Yet, Proto Man possessed a true sense of independence, one that made him much like true human beings. When it came to light that Proto Man had a faulty power generator, Proto Man misunderstood his creator's intentions, thinking that repairing him would take away his individuality. Because of this, he ran from the lab. (In the remake Mega Man Powered Up, Proto Man also seems to resent Dr. Light.)

Still, Light did not give up. Later he set to work on building a pair of robots, thinking that two would work together and overcome the independence issue. It was thus that Rock and Roll were born. Rock became the lab's new assistant and Roll became a housekeeper. With the success of this project, the good doctor went on to create six more robots, each for industrial assistance purposes: Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, and the prized Elec Man. (In Mega Man Powered Up, Oil Man and Time Man were added, although their canonicity is questionable.)

Soon, Dr. Albert W. Wily finally had enough of living in the shadow of his former colleague, Dr. Thomas Light. Light's reception of the Nobel Prize, as well as his winning the LIT Manual Design Contest drove him over the edge. Wily realized the potential of robots built with true A.I. - they could be used for other means.

Mega Man
Dr. Wily stole and reprogrammed all of Dr. Light's industrial robots. However, unwisely, he missed Rock and his "sister," Roll, as the helper robots did not suit his needs. Dr. Light soon discovered that his former colleague was to blame. With Wily on the loose with an army of intelligent and powerful robots, Dr. Light knew that the world's police forces and armies weren't ready to deal with this new challenge.

It was thus that Rock, the lab assistant, volunteered to be converted into a fighting robot. Rock had a strong sense of justice and couldn't sit by and watch his "father's" work be destroyed before his very eyes. As such, on May 25, 200X, Light reluctantly converted the former lab assistant into a robot of unimaginable potential. Equipped with Ceratanium armor and the Mega Buster, Rock became known as the super robot Mega Man and set out for Wily's fortress to stop Wily from taking over the world.

Characters

 * DLN-001 Mega Man: The main protagonist of the series and the player's character.
 * Doctor Thomas Light: A brilliant robotic scientist who created many robots, including Mega Man and Roll.
 * Doctor Albert W. Wily: The main antagonist of the series, a mad scientist who wants to conquer the world.
 * DLN-002 Roll: Mega Man's "sister".

Fortress Bosses
Bosses in Dr. Wily's robot factory:

Stage 1:
 * Yellow Devil

Stage 2:
 * Cut Man
 * Elec Man
 * Copy Robot

Stage 3:
 * The seven CWU-01P(s)

Final Stage:
 * Bomb Man
 * Fire Man
 * Ice Man
 * Guts Man
 * Wily Machine 1 (Two forms)

Weapons

 * "Mega Buster" (P), Mega Man's main weapon.
 * Magnet Beam (M), An item used to create platforms. Found in Elec Man's stage. Without this, it is impossible to complete Wily Stage 1.
 * Rolling Cutter (C), Cut Man's weapon.
 * Super Arm (G), Guts Man's weapon.
 * Ice Slasher (I), Ice Man's weapon.
 * Hyper Bomb (B), Bomb Man's weapon.
 * Fire Storm (F), Fire Man's weapon.
 * Thunder Beam (E), Elec Man's weapon.

Mobile phone versions
There are four different mobile versions of the game. The 2003 and 2004 versions have extra modes and differences listed below. The 2007 version, which was released only in Japan, is closer to the original and has Roll as a playable character. Another version was released on January 5, 2017 that is known as Mega Man Mobile.

2003 and 2004 versions
The 2003 version was available for only a few phones and was later replaced by an updated version in 2004, gaining graphical improvements and being compatible with more mobile phones.

After the release of the 2007 version, this version became known as "Rockman Lite" in Japan to distinguish it from the latest version. It was removed from Keitai Capcom sometime between late 2009 and early 2010.

Modes

 * Normal Mode is similar to the way the game was originally presented on the NES, where the player is scored and has only three lives. But, if all of them are lost, the player will need to restart at the beginning.


 * Capture Mode is different from normal mode. The player has unlimited lives and a save feature but they are not scored.

Differences

 * The levels are shorter and are designed quite differently from their original counterparts.


 * The Magnet Beam is not located in Elec Man's stage. It is now located in Bomb Man's stage and is colored red near a pair of wall turrets.


 * Wily's fortress has been shortened from four stages to one long stage consisting of only the Robot Masters rematches, then the rest of the fortress baddies from the game, including the Yellow Devil. Fortunately, the player now gets life and weapon power-ups between each boss battle.


 * As mobile screens were small at the time, the graphics were made smaller to fit.


 * While almost all of the music tracks from the original game are there, there are no sound effects.


 * The Fire Storm is the only weapon that appears to be effective against the Wily Machine.

2007 version
This version was only released in Japan. While the previous version had reduced graphics and modified stages, this version is closer to the original.


 * After completing the game once, Roll becomes available as a playable character.
 * When Roll is selected, the title and stage select screens change, and her theme, Kaze yo Tsutaete, plays on the stage select screen.
 * Roll can't use special weapons, but she can charge her buster. Her charge shots cause more damage and are able to destroy Guts Blocks. However, charge shots consume weapon energy, limiting its use.
 * As Roll can't use the Magnet Beam, the area that requires it in Wily Stage 1 was modified.

Modes

 * Normal Mode: Allows unlimited lives, the ability to resume the game on the last screen or before the boss after the player loses a life.
 * Hard Mode: Standard lives, normal halfway points maintained for Robot Master Stages, which are not used in the Dr. Wily Castle levels.
 * Boss Rush: Face all 6 Robot Masters in an endless consecutive battle loop until defeat. Receives Energy or even Weapon Capsules after battle, but during later rounds prizes lessen down and Weapon Energy cannot be refilled between battles.

Differences

 * The controller buttons are placed on the screen, with the left side for the directional controls and the right side for jumping, shooting, and weapon switch on the right, with the settings and menu at the corners of the top of the screen.
 * The Pause Glitch has been removed.
 * There are three options of speed available that affect the game's processing speed which can be set up before and during the game with Normal, High Speed, and Turbo.
 * The game has save features which saves automatically after completing or exiting the any level.
 * As the half-way points have been changed in the Wily Castle levels, in Hard Mode, it means restarting back at the entrance of the that level.
 * All Fortress Levels are revisitable and this is done with their own section of the Stage Select Screen which can be accessed through Dr. Wily on the main screen.
 * The points system has been removed entirely and as such the Bonus Ball item has been omitted from this version.
 * The ratio for collecting Energy and Weapon Capsules has been improved.
 * Weapon Energy is completely refilled after the player loses a life and between Fortress levels.
 * Some of the previous attacks on Mega Man are lessened, such as the fact that Ice Man's Ice Slasher or Elec Man's Thunder Beam only do half of the damage compared to the original.
 * The power of Mega Man's Mega Buster has been improved, making it easier to defeat certain enemies such as Big Eye with ease and cause more damage on certain bosses.
 * If the player loses to a Robot Master in their stage, all enemies or traps in the shutter area are removed, making it easier to rechallenge the boss undamaged.
 * Defeating the Robot Masters during their rematch in Wily Castle now grants the player a large Energy Capsule.
 * Similar to Mega Man: The Wily Wars:
 * When using the Super Arm, Guts Blocks are fired in an arc similar to a basketball shot, rather than in a straight line.
 * The ability to mount into ledges easier compared to the original game.
 * The ability to not be affected by spikes during the invincibility frame duration.
 * Also similar to the Rockman Complete Works version, the menu has been redesigned and the weapons each have their own sprite, where the sprites used here are completely new. They are also listed by name, although Thunder Beam is listed by Thunder instead of Elec.
 * The ability to switch weapons without using the menu is also present, but it can only go in one direction, which is actually the weapon located on the right from the previous one.
 * The game shows the weapon icon and a short inscription when the player first defeats the Robot Master such as with Cutman the inscription would state "You Got Rolling Cutter".
 * The player can exit the stage whenever they wish with no requirements.
 * The length of the Hyper Bomb's explosion range has been slightly downsized, making it harder to hit certain targets such as Guts Man.
 * The Guts Blocks used by the Super Arm now only do half the amount of damage to Cut Man.
 * The Magnet Beam puzzle from Wily Castle 1 has been completely removed. Instead that area has been slightly redesigned with new ladders and a slight ledge addition to remove the

The Pause Trick
Mega Man featured two pause buttons, the Start button, which would pause the game and bring up the weapon selection menu, and the Select button, which would pause the movements of everything on screen. However, the Select button would not pause certain timers, namely the timer used for the temporary post-damage invincibility experienced by Mega Man and the bosses. As such, the player could fire a shot at a boss, pause the game when the shot hits the boss, wait about 1–2 seconds, unpause the game, and the boss would take damage again from the same shot (the game can be paused and unpaused again until the boss dies). This trick is notably easier with the Thunder Beam and Rolling Cutter, as shots from those weapons do not disappear after hitting an enemy (the trick IS possible with weapons like the Mega Buster, but the player must have precise timing to pause the game before the shot disappears). This trick allows for the easy defeat of difficult bosses such as the Yellow Devil in a matter of seconds.

To avoid this glitch in other games, it is no longer possible to pause the game with the Select button in Mega Man 2 and later games. This glitch was also fixed in remakes of Mega Man. In Mega Man Anniversary Collection's version, pushing the Start button brings up the overall menu for the collection. It has the same effect, but it is much slower and a little more difficult to do.

Wii Shop Description
''Join the blue bomber in his first adventure as he battles the evil Dr. Wily and his robotic henchmen to restore peace to a troubled world. Mega Man is a super-robot created by the genius scientist Dr. Light. When Dr. Wily goes rouge with an army of six of his own robot masters, it's up to Mega Man to put a stop to his nefarious plot by traversing a series of stages rife with enemies, traps, and perilous platform challenges. At the end of each stage, conquer one of the robot masters and claim his weapon as your own, using it to your advantage in subsequent fights!''

3DS eShop Description
''Join the blue bomber in his first ever adventure as he battles the evil Dr. Wily and his robotic henchmen to restore peace to a troubled world. Mega Man is a super robot created by the genius scientist, Dr. Light. When another scientist by the name of Dr. Wily goes rouge with an army of six of his own devious Robot Masters, it's up to Mega Man to put a stop to his nefarious plot by traversing a series of stages rife with enemies, traps, and perilous platform challenges. At the end of each stage, conquer one of the Robot Masters and claim their weapon as your own, using it to your advantage in subsequent fights!''

Wii U eShop Description
''Join the blue bomber in his first-ever adventure as he battles the evil Dr. Wily and his robotic henchmen to restore peace to a troubled world. Mega Man is a super-robot created by the genius scientist Dr. Wright. When another scientist by the name of Dr. Wily goes rouge with six devious Robot Masters, it's up to Mega Man to put a stop to his nefarious plot by traversing a series of stages rife with enemies, traps, and perilous platform challenges. At the end of each stage, conquer one of the Robot Masters and claim its weapon as your own, using it to your advantage in subsequent fights!''

Trivia

 * Even though the Yashichi can refill all of the health and special weapon's energy, the Rockman manual does not give this info.
 * This is the only platform Mega Man game with a score system, besides its remake, Mega Man: Powered Up.


 * The American box art was completely different from the actual Mega Man concept. The reason for this was that the Capcom's American game developers thought that the cuteness of the character would not be attractive in the eyes of the U.S.A's public. That was also the reasoning behind changing "Rock" to "Mega" and "Rockman" to "Mega Man" - an attempt to make it sound more "western". However, the designer of the cover was asked to create it with little to no time before the game was released and had never viewed any of the source material or seen the game, thus creating a cover that almost has nothing to do with the game. It is generally rated as one of the worst box art covers in video game history.




 * The American box art is referenced in Resident Evil 3 (2020), where one of the toy shop sells action figures of "Mega Man", with an outfit that is very reminiscent to the American box art.


 * This is the only Mega Man game in which a Robot Master must be fought a second time if a stage is replayed.


 * The American box art appears in the game Mega Man ZX Advent as the Secret Disk "Legendary Hero", given as a reward for completing Chris' sidequest. Description of the disk: A collection of rare digital photographs of Legendary Heroes that the Hunter Chris wanted. These Legendary Heroes look more like coalminers in colorful outfits. The yellow and blue Mega Man from the cover appears as a playable character in Capcom's fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken, and was also set to appear in Mega Man Universe.
 * This design for Mega Man also appeared several times in the Archie Comics series, though only on a variant cover and in the Short Circuits humor comics. The latter paid homage to ZX Advent's comments by describing him and Bad Box Art Roll as "colorful coalminers."


 * Rock, Roll, and Dr. Light go unnamed throughout the whole game; they are only seen at the end. The Yellow Devil, the Copy Robot, and the seven CWU-01P(s) are also unnamed in the game. Dr. Wily is the only part of his name given; there's no "Albert W." The weapons are not given names either. (M stands for Magnet, and P may stand for Power or Player.)


 * Many people believe that Elec Man's stage music was inspired by the song "Faithfully" by Journey, from their classic 1983 album Frontiers. The songs do sound very similar to each other and are even played in the same key signature. However, according to the composer for Mega Man, Manami Matsumae, the resemblance of Elec Man's stage music to "Faithfully" by Journey is just a coincidence, as she claims that at the time she was composing for Mega Man she did not know any songs by Journey; she would not copy a song because it would go out in public; and she exclaims that people says it is plagiarism and it hurts her. It also sounds extremely similar to R.E.M.'s "All The Right Friends".
 * In a similar vein, the Stage Select theme for this game sounds similar to the synthesizer part to Bon Jovi's song 'Runaway. 
 * Switching to the Magnet Beam or Super Arm during the battle with the Copy Robot causes the Copy Robot to run around. It won't attack, and will only jump when the attack button is pressed by the player.
 * Mega Man was the only NES game in the series to not have any Robot Masters on the American box art. They are on the European and Famicom covers, however.


 * This is the only Mega Man game in which spikes still kill Mega Man if he is flashing in temporary post-damage invincibility. This is also the only game in which buoyancy is unaffected in the water. Mega Man: The Wily Wars fixed both of these issues, although Mega Man Powered Up ignored the latter.


 * This is the only Mega Man game on the NES which does not feature the Wily Castle map. However, it does feature Dr. Wily getting into his flying saucer, blinking his eyebrows, and heading to his fortress.


 * This is the only Mega Man game to have hazards in the corridor before the Robot Master.


 * This is the only Mega Man game in which Dr. Wily's UFO is red and gold, not blue and gold.


 * This is the only Mega Man game on the NES where the "READY" title isn't flashing.


 * The Robot Master names are limited to 3 to 4 characters (excluding the word man) in this game.


 * This game and Mega Man 3 are the only games to have all Robot Masters to appear in the Ruby Spears cartoon show.
 * Cut Man and Guts Man also appear in all twenty-seven episodes of the cartoon.


 * The Japanese promo commercial of Rockman shows Mega Man using the wrong Special Weapons against the Robot Masters, such as Mega Man using the Thunder Beam on Guts Man, whose weakness is the Hyper Bomb.


 * Dr Wily's "Swiss Bank Account" number (19-871-217) in Mega Man 9 is actually this game's Japanese and United States release date (1987/12/17, which means December 17 of the year 1987 in YYYY/MM/DD format).


 * This is the only game to have different noises for each weapon Mega Man uses.


 * Elec Man's stage plays during the Japanese commercial.
 * This is the only Mega Man game in which the player can continue to replay levels after the ending and credits, including Dr. Wily's Robot Manufacturing Plant.


 * Roll was originally meant to have a much larger role in the game. In addition to the storyline revolving around her being kidnapped by Dr. Wily, a giant version of her was going to be fought as the final boss.


 * Originally the score displayed when selecting a Robot Master would be amount of points that would be earned upon defeating that Robot Master. However, with the Switch version of Mega Man Legacy Collection, it is now possible to cheat by using the game's rewind feature to rewind the game to before selecting a Robot Master which will change the amount of points that are earned if that same Robot Master is chosen.

Game info

 * Mega Man game script
 * List of Mega Man enemies
 * Mega Man damage data chart
 * Mega Man walkthrough

Adaptations

 * Mega Man 1: Let the Games Begin! - The game's adaptation in the Mega Man comic series by Archie Comics.
 * Rockman - A manga based on the first Mega Man.
 * The Birth of Mega Man - The adaptation from Mega Man Megamix and Mega Man Mastermix.
 * Rockman - A parody manga of the first Mega Man by Ken Ishikawa.